Stefano Vecchia

In a country where the fertility rate now stands at 1.05, surveys ask whether children are really necessary. Over the coming decade, a quarter of the population will be over 65 years old. Meanwhile, the authorities bluntly note: “We will never go back to replacement rate.”

Thailand’s prime minister, a former general, has joined a new party, leaving the ruling Palang Pracharat party in crisis. Two other parties, Pheu Thai and the Phak Kao Klai, are leading the opposition; both are heirs to parties dissolved by Thailand’s Constitutional Court.

The writer, who was 88, in 1994 was the second Japanese to receive the prestigious literature award. After the Fukushima accident, he campaigned for the closure of nuclear power plants. His work captured the inner tragedies of today's men and women.

With Singapore as a major manufacturing and financial hub, its passport has become one of the most sought after. Its professionals are among the best trained in Asia, yet the authorities are paradoxically concerned about a brain drain that goes hand in hand with a low birth rate and high proportion of foreigners in the workforce.

Three officers involved in the killing of Negros Oriental province governor Roel Dergamo. The leaders of the armed forces under indictment promise to strengthen measures against the use of military techniques and forces for criminal purposes. But collusion with private militias in the pay of local potentates is a well-known scourge in Manila.

The leader of the Homeland Fighter's Party, son of a former prime minister, minority schools are a legacy of British colonial rule, and must be overcome to build a Malaysian identity “not coloured by” people’s “ethnic background”. However, the country’s divisions are fuelled more by the fight since independence to assert Muslim Malay identity than language issues.

Accused of conspiring with foreign forces, for the chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, he was convicted in “An act of sheer vindictiveness by the Hun Sen regime.” The upcoming Cambodian elections in July, the first without any opposition, will not be “fair and free”.

The National Assembly voted 487 out of 488 to elect 52-year-old Vo Van Thuong to replace his predecessor who failed to adequately fight corruption. Close to Nguyen Phu Trong, the very powerful Communist Party’s boss, he is expected to continue to purge the party of those elements who profiteered from the pandemic.

The authorities reiterate that 30 June is the deadline for joining cooperatives, the first step towards modernising the country’s cheapest and most popular public form of transit. Reducing pollution is another goal, but almost one jeepney in three is driven by an individual owner operator who might not be able to afford the transition.

Foreign workers come mainly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Indonesia and have few rights, as indicated by a recent report by the International Organisation for Migration. Malaysia is the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, but its exports are threatened by environmental restrictions adopted last December by the European Union.

Yesterday’s march was organised by the youth wing of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), which lost in last November’s election. Reacting to the event, Islamic Affairs minister urges Muslims not to get involved in divisive activities. Muslims constitute 63.5 per cent of Malaysia’s population while ethnic Malays are 51 per cent.

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 2,000 refugees were forcibly repatriated last year, mostly ethnic Rohingya. Malaysia is not a signatory to the refugee convention, and after the pandemic, local public opinion has turned against asylum seekers.