Asia

Social media anger from Chinese nationalists over a Thai internet model's comments on the coronavirus has set off a storm, uniting pro-democracy campaigners against pro-Beijing cyber-warriors, with insults and mocking memes flying. The quarrel, which has seen Southeast Asian internet users join forces with those in Taiwan and Hong Kong, has highlighted old tensions between China and its smaller neighbors fanned by the emergence of the new coronavirus. Political analysts and activists said the online row, which started at the weekend, was unique in volume and regional spread at a time when ever more of life has been forced online. "This is the first transnational geopolitical Twitter war Thais have engaged in," said Prajak Kongkirati of Bangkok's Thammasat University. "We see people questio

The Transportation Ministry will restrict all passenger travel starting on Friday as the government attempts to prevent citizens from participating in the annual Idul Fitri tradition of mudik (exodus) to curb the spread of COVID-19. The ban will not apply to cargo transportation or to vehicles serving special purposes, such as ambulances and fire trucks.  “The ban will apply to all types of public and private transportation by air, sea, land and railway, except for vehicles carrying leaders of state institutions, police and military vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, hearses and vehicles transporting logistical supplies, staple goods and medicines,” ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said in a statement on Thursday. She added that the ban would apply to vehicles enteri

Imagine checking your phone and instead of finding a list of unread WhatsApp messages from families and colleagues, you find a harrowing notification saying, “You’ve registered your number on another phone”. After scrambling on social media to announce the hacking, you gain control of the text messaging application, but only to find that whoever hacked your account has broadcast a message inciting people to take part in nationwide riots a day before May Day. You realize there is something sinister about the whole incident and seek advice from human rights organizations who tell you to switch off your phone and find a safe house. But the police get to you first. They arrest you on incitement charges, along with a foreign national, just before you step into a vehicle owned by a local

Three Southeast Asian nations — Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar — are using fears over the coronavirus to double down on repressive measures aimed at silencing critics or opponents. In Thailand, general-turned-prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared a state of emergency on March 26, granting him broad powers to protect the "safety of the people." It allows him to confine people to their homes, prohibits public assembly and includes additional powers of arrest and search and seizure. The most public examples of its use so far are a limited lockdown in Bangkok and a nationwide curfew that begins today. The curfew will be in effect each night from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thailand's restrictions extend to the news media. They are prohibited from sharing "any kind of news or information re

SITTWE, MYANMAR (AFP) - Myanmar shipped hundreds of recently released Rohingya inmates back to the country's restive western borderlands on Monday (April 20), after fears that its overcrowded prisons could become hotbeds for runaway coronavirus outbreaks. Men, women and children belonging to the stateless and long-persecuted Muslim minority were among nearly 25,000 prisoners freed last week by a presidential pardon to mark the country's April New Year celebrations. A Navy vessel transported the group from Yangon to Rakhine state, where most Rohingya live under tight movement restrictions and in conditions Amnesty International has condemned as "apartheid". More than 600 disembarked near state capital Sittwe, while another 200 were taken further north to townships on the border wi...

JAKARTA A magnitude 5.0 earthquake jolted Indonesia's North Sulawesi province Thursday, according to the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG). BMKG said the earthquake’s epicenter was 66 kilometers (41 miles) northeast of Melonguane district in the Talaud Islands. The quake occurred 21 kilometers (13 miles) below the surface, it added. There were no immediate reports of casualties, said officials.