Author: Dede Setiarini

Denpasar, Indonesia — Elon Musk and Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin launched SpaceX’s satellite internet service for the nation’s health sector on Sunday, aiming to improve access in remote parts of the sprawling archipelago. Musk, the billionaire head of SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA), arrived on the Indonesian resort island of Bali by private jet before attending the launch ceremony at a community health center in the provincial capital, Denpasar. Musk, wearing a green batik shirt, said the availability of the Starlink service in Indonesia would help millions in far-flung parts of the country to access the internet. The country is home to more than 270 million people…

Vietnam this week flew home just over 1,000 of its citizens who were stranded in wartorn Myanmar, Hanoi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, embassies and consulates in Myanmar organized nine flights to repatriate exactly 1,020 Vietnamese. Most of the repatriates were stranded in the northern areas of Shan State, where fighting between the junta and ethnic armed groups has intensified, with anti-junta forces making significant gains there in recent months. In the past, Vietnam has organized flights to evacuate its citizens from troubled areas in the world, including an effort during the COVID-19 pandemic that…

PTTEP has made three consecutive oil and gas discoveries offshore Malaysia and says it is strategically poised to expedite the development of these discoveries through a cluster development approach. Montri Rawanchaikul, CEO of PTTEP, disclosed that PTTEP’s subsidiary, PTTEP HK Offshore Limited and PTTEP Sarawak Oil Limited have made new oil and gas discoveries in three fields offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, including Chenda-1 exploration well in the block SK405B, Bangsawan-1 and Babadon-1 exploration wells in the block SK438. These fields are located in adjacent areas previously discovered by the company. All have proven to be high-quality oil and gas reservoirs, especially Babadon-1 with its…

Minister Sandiaga Uno said the president had instructed the government to consider the visa waiver as a means of boosting the economy, tourism visits and investment. Jakarta: Indonesia is considering granting visa-free entry to nationals of 20 countries, including the United States, China, Australia, India, South Korea, Germany, Britain and France, to boost its tourism and economy, its tourism minister said on Thursday. The government will finalise the list of countries included in the provision within one month, according to a statement. Minister Sandiaga Uno said the president had instructed the government to consider the visa waiver as a means…

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea agreed Thursday to launch an emergency financing program to deal with future pandemics and natural disasters, in their latest attempt to ensure financial stability in the region. The envisaged launch of the Rapid Financing Facility comes as the “ASEAN Plus Three” group is seeking to boost the safety net under the Chiang Mai initiative, created in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, to provide liquidity of up to $240 billion in times of emergency. The agreement was reached at a meeting of senior finance officials from the…

JAKARTA — Indonesia has just launched its first carbon emissions trading market in a bid to fight climate change. The Southeast Asian country is one of the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters, with a bulk of its emissions coming from the burning of coal to generate power. To fight climate change, Indonesia has pledged to reach net carbon neutrality by 2060. The government has touted the carbon market as a part of its climate policies. The market offers companies and financial institutions a mechanism to offset their emissions while providing funding for carbon reduction projects. Under the mechanism, companies…

SAN FRANCISCO – Japan and Thailand agreed Wednesday to deepen collaboration ahead of a special Japan-ASEAN summit next month in Tokyo as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed hope to unveil a new vision for cooperation. During a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in San Francisco, Kishida said he wants to work together with him to maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law, the Foreign Ministry said. The Thai leader was quoted by the ministry as responding that his nation is willing to boost ties with Tokyo. With Japanese automakers operating…

KUALA LUMPUR: The issue of sending a peacekeeping mission to Palestine will be brought up at the coming Asean defence ministers meeting, says the Defence Minister. “I will bring the matter up as a side topic during the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) next week. “We need to get the collective voice of Asean based on the concept of Asean centrality as we can’t do it on our own. “We will look into it further if Asean agrees to a peacekeeping mission under the banner of the United Nations (UN),” said Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan during his ministerial replies in…

Returns to Secureworks after six-year hiatus. Qualys general manager Simon Ratcliffe has returned to his old haunt Secureworks to lead it in ASEAN. Ratcliffe, who spent the last year at Qualys, will now hold the role of general manager for ASEAN, as well as managing director for Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ), leading the security vendor’s go-to-market strategy. Ratcliffe previously led Secureworks A/NZ and ASEAN between 2014 and 2017. He then spent a year at Singaporean telco Singtel as its Asia Pacific (APAC) head of cyber security. In the intervening years, before joining Qualys in 2022, ran his own business,…

Lili Yan Ing and Ivana Markus take stock of the current state of the global semiconductor race between China and the United States, and how the ASEAN region should navigate the growing rivalry. One of the current escalating issues between the two major powers, China and the US, is the global semiconductor race. It has caused divisions within global supply chains, such as the increased reshoring of manufacturing processes. As a result, countries globally are making readjustments and competing for a more significant role in this growing technology sector. This is just the beginning of a global race that would…