Stefano Vecchia

Next Saturday, 21.1 million voters will go to the polls to elect 222 members of the lower house of parliament. While Malaysia’s economy is bouncing back from the pandemic, nationalism, immigration, and interethnic relations between Muslim Malays and others remain key issues.

In September, unemployment dropped to 5 per cent. However, this is due to high levels of underemployment as well as the end of summertime employment for students. The Department for Migrant Workers has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to protect Philippine workers in that country.

Over the next two weeks, scores of heads of state and governments will attend the G-20, APEC and ASEAN meetings, all scheduled in the region. Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia are the host countries. Conflicts in Ukraine and Myanmar will be key issues.

The new structure will be built near the ancient capital Luang Prabang, a UNESCO heritage site in an area that is geologically unstable. Scores of hydroelectric dams have turned the Mekong into a completely artificial waterway. Foreign energy buyers get more out of the river than the local population.

Various observers have highlighted the problem in Cambodia, ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the region. Prime Minister Hun Sen makes 20 August a day dedicated to the fight against this scourge. In Cambodia, hundreds of foreign nationals from Southeast Asian countries have been freed in recent months.

The refugees turned away include opponents of Myanmar’s ruling junta. According to the United Nations, Malaysia hosts at least 158,000 asylum seekers from Myanmar, two thirds of whom are ethnic Rohingya.

Environmentalists and workers rallied near the Department of Agriculture, a portfolio held by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in person. The Philippines continues to be one of the countries most exposed to food insecurity due to climate change. For Caritas, the government should have a subsidy programme so as not to burden farmers.

A report by UN Women and the Government of Cambodia notes that in 20 years, the proportion of women in management positions increased only by 2 per cent. Although the role of women was crucial during the pandemic, only Vietnam has a woman in charge of the Ministry of Health.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Yaakub had the king dissolve parliament. The ruling UMNO party is trying to capitalise on a favourable moment to boost its narrow majority. The economic crisis remains the issue to tackle as Malaysian face uncertainty amid rising prices.

An Islamist held Ms Leila de Lima hostage for a couple of hours during a breakout attempt from a prison inside the headquarters of the Philippine National Police. Unharmed during the incident, the former senator has been in jail since 2017 on drug trafficking charges she says were fabricated. For the chairperson of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, she should not be in prison “surrounded by criminals and terrorists”.

Located in a district that covers Bangkok’s port, Klong Toey is home to 100,000 people, many of them internal migrants. Here, the Sisters recently began providing meals to people further impoverished by the pandemic. With their school “only a few blocks away from the biggest slum,” the Sisters heeded Pope Francis’s call to “serve the poor at the borders of our society”.

A police officer kills 37 people, including 23 children. In his message of condolences, Pope Francis expressed his “spiritual closeness to all those affected by this act of unspeakable violence”. Police recruitment practices are coming under closer scrutiny as are abuses of power, drug use, and easy access to weapons.