ASEAN

Thailand may become the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex unions as the country’s parliament inches towards passing a draft Bill that will enable same-sex couples to enter civil partnerships, on the heels of Taiwan’s legalisation of same-sex marriages in May. Bloomberg reported today (28 Aug) that should the Bill be passed, same-sex couples in Thailand will obtain the …

iPrice Group, together with its partner App Annie Intelligence, recently updated its Map of E-commerce via the latest study to showcase the biggest developments in Singapore’s top e-commerce players based on their average quarterly traffic, mobile application ranking, social media followers, and number of staff. The study was conducted to keep track on the latest developments of the internet economy’s …

Thousands of refugees protested in Indonesia Tuesday, saying they had been stranded in the Southeast Asian nation for years because of Australia’s tighter border policies. Demonstrations were held in several cities including the capital Jakarta and Makassar on Sulawesi island where some 600 protesters demonstrated in front of the Australian consulate. They presented a letter to diplomats calling on Canberra …

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently became the first Philippine bank to successfully pilot blockchain-based remittance from Singapore to the Philippines.   This was done in partnership with OCBC Bank in Singapore, using the Adhara liquidity management and international payments platform.   Amid a continued push for financial inclusion for all Filipinos as aligned with the Philippine government’s mandate, …

Malaysia should impose an e-commerce tax against online businesses, given how their growth presently exceeds that of businesses utilising ‘traditional’ models such as physical retail stores, said Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Speaking to reporters after the 34th Asean Summit gala dinner on Sat (22 Jun), Mahathir said that governments have been collecting “less tax” as many brick-and-mortar stores have …

Despite being the fastest growing e-commerce region with over 62% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth over the last 3 years, delivery continues to be a challenge in Southeast Asia, a new survey by Parcel Perform and iPrice Group reveals. The survey was conducted with 80,000 e-commerce consumers across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia by Parcel Perform, the leading …

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen have agreed to cease revisiting past issues in the spirit of preserving diplomatic relations between the two nations at this year’s Asean Summit, which took place in Bangkok last weekend. The prime ministers’ move took place in the aftermath of the diplomatic rift surrounding Mr Lee’s remarks regarding the …

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc criticised Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for his comments on Vietnam’s march into Phnom Penh, Cambodia in January 1979 which uprooted the ruthless Khmer Rouge regime. Mr Phuc was reported to have said that PM Lee’s claim was incorrect and had offended both Vietnam and Cambodia. He also was quoted saying that history …

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has allowed the hearing of opposition former presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s lawsuit against his political opponent President Joko Widodo, who remains keen on challenging the latter’s victory in the archipelagic nation’s Presidential Election held in Apr. The Straits Times reported that the court has decided to schedule a hearing next Tue (18 Jun), a day later than …

Two weeks ago (31 May), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sent a condolence letter to Thailand on the passing of former Thai PM General Prem Tinsulanonda. In his condolence message, PM Lee mentioned about Vietnam’s invasion into Cambodia in the late 70s, triggering unhappiness among Asean members Cambodia and Vietnam. “As the President of the Privy Council from 1998 to …