William Baldwin

Vapes are becoming a major Malaysian export Malaysia's crackdown on its booming vape trade has caused alarm from Chinese manufacturers who export to the Southeast Asian state, an advocacy group says. Malaysian E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta) chairman Allan Foo, who is currently in Shenzhen,...

Indonesia’s narcotics agency has called for a prison on an island guarded by crocodiles to hold death-row drug convicts, an official has said. It is a notion apparently lifted from a James Bond film. Drugs chief Budi Waseso, who says he will tour the nation looking...

An early release of Asean chairman's statement ahead of the leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur says the group's views on South China Sea disputes will remain largely unchanged from last year. The statement called for peace, security, respect for international law and freedom of navigation...

China and Thailand will conduct their first joint military air exercise with 180 Chinese officers and top pilots starting on November 12 at a Thai base that the US Air Force used for bombing missions over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The...

Malaysian woman released by Abu Sayyaf   Muslim militants in the Philippines have released a Malaysian woman held for nearly half a year. Thien Nyuk Fun and a Malaysian man were abducted in May from a restaurant in Sabah in the Malaysian section of Borneo, with Philippine...

Voters hope the military will accept their decision this time Votes are being counted in Myanmar's first openly contested general election for 25 years. Turnout is estimated in excess of 80 per cent with the elections being seen as a big step away from decades of...

A coral reef in Tubbataha Natural Park Asean has named Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park as an Asean Heritage Park (AHP). Roberto Oliva, executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, described the park as “a piece of heaven on Earth”. The 10 Asean environment ministers approved the...

Charles Santiago A group of Southeast Asian political leaders claims Myanmar’s government has ensured Sunday’s general election cannot be considered inclusive or credible. The Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a collective of politicians from the regional organisation working to improve rights and justice, said the elections...

Ho Kwon Ping Tension between Singaporeans and expats could undermine the city-state’s status an economic success story, warned leading businessman Ho Kwon Ping warned. “One of the major reasons that I think we can decline is what I would call social schizophrenia – the tension...

President Barack Obama will be the first US head of state to visit Laos when he attends an Asean summit in the landlocked country next year. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told a think tank in Washington DC that ahead of the visit “there...