A non-coronavirus update

Elsewhere in the region

Hello friends!

As we adjust to our new normal (Christ, how many times today have you read the term ‘new normal’) I’m getting back to the regular Monday premium newsletter. We’ve had nearly a hundred new subscribers join us in the last week and a bit, so today’s will remain free for all readers to give a bit of a taste and from next week on will go premium.

Regular premium readers will notice that it’s less than half the usual length and not every country is here because this is an almost totally pandemic-free update. We’ll continue pandemic coverage throughout the rest of the week. If you’d like to become a premium member do so here for $6 a month or $60 for the year:

Join me at the Splice Low-Res event this Wednesday afternoon Singapore-time. I’ll be talking about freelancing and getting it done during the COVID-19 crisis, along with Friend of the Letter Kirsten Han, Jeannette Goon and Norman Chella. Punching above my weight here, what a line-up! And it’s free!! 

Also! I’m so pleased to say I’ve picked up some funding from Substack’s very generous fund to assist creators throughout the pandemic. This means I can expand COVID-19 coverage and commission more pieces. If you’ve got any ideas, hit that reply! I’m very open to all sorts of ideas just has to be Asean + coronavirus. Tell friends too, will ya. 

Okay see you tomorrow, Erin

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The Bangladesh Coast Guard says it has rescued 400 Rohingya refugees who had been at sea for two months. At least 32 died during the voyage from a range of causes including starvation and illness. The Coast Guard mission last Wednesday or Thursday comes after Malaysia turned back the boats, claiming it’s an inability to take the cohort. The trawler then headed to Myanmar where it was turned back by the navy. 

Human Rights Watch slammed the Malaysian government, saying the pandemic is not grounds to not help. “Malaysia’s claims to support the rights of the Rohingya mean shockingly little when they push desperate refugees back to sea. The COVID-19 pandemic does not create a justification for risking the lives of refugees on overcrowded boats,” HRW’s Asia director Phil Robertson said.

Yeah, yeah, says UMNO’s Acting President Mohamad Hasan (Tok Mat). “We have far exceeded our capacity to host refugees. Some parts of our cities have become too concentrated with refugees, and the resources to take care of their welfare have been depleted.”

Back in Myanmar, violence continues. The United Nations calls the situation ‘dire’ with fighting reported near-daily in the west of the country including in Rakhine and Chin states. A recent Inside Story from Al Jazeera goes deeper into these conflicts. 

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No ceasefire between the Philippine military and Abu Sayyaf. Eleven soldiers were killed in a clash between insurgents on Friday while on a combat patrol in the heated Patikul island in Sulu. Military authorities have not confirmed if or how many insurgents were killed. “Our flags in all military camps around the country will be flown at half-mast as 11 army heroes offered their lives,” said Armed Forces spokesman Marine Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo. 

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Excuse me, says Vietnam to China after the latter ‘established two administrative units’ on the Paracel and Spratly islands. The moves are a ‘violation of sovereignty’ Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement as reported by Reuters.

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China’s Haiyang Dizhi 8 survey vessel is back, getting on the nerves of Southeast Asian states. The latest: Malaysia. According to three separate researchers and as reported by Reuters, the vessel entered Malaysia’s claimed area and got close to the Petronas-operated West Capella. One source told the newswire the vessel was flanked by others from the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia. It also reported a Vietnamese vessel in the mix. Relax, says China’s foreign ministry. It’s regular operations and the US is just stirring.  No comment yet from Malaysian authorities or Petronas. Go ask Mahathir, just for fun. 

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Okay, I lied there is a tiny bit of COVID-19 news here for Indonesia. The outbreak and the likely economic devastation across the globe and domestically has the capital city move on hold. This is a no-brainer, I think, and I doubt many in the cabinet would be keen to fund it at the moment. Still, I have been a hyper-cynic on the new move (one of the first things any foreign baby journo is taught in Jakarta is that talk of a new capital isn’t actually a story) but in recent months developments were impressive. 

But with President Jokowi not even a year into his second five-year term, could it be back on the table? “We can’t make any decision either, the president hasn’t evaluated it. Maybe after we’re done with COVID-19, we will evaluate it or something. We don’t know,” says Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. 

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Like COVID-19 wasn’t enough. Thailand is now battling an outbreak of African horse sickness, virus experts believe could have been imported to the country via zebras. It’s the first known outbreak outside of the African continent in three decades and vets are moving quickly to contain it, lest it spreads across the region. 

“A sustained, persistent outbreak of [AHS] that spreads to other countries would be devastating, not only to the racing industry and companion animals, but also to some of the poorest workers in the region relying on working horses, donkeys, and mules,” Simon Carpenter, an entomologist at the UK’s Pirbright Laboratory, told Science.

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