These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.
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Scammers now impersonating staff from intellectual property office: Police
A new phone scam has surfaced where scammers impersonate officers from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos), said the police on Tuesday (April 12).
In a statement, the police said that they have received reports from the public of scammers approaching victims via calls purporting to be from the Ipos hotline number, 6339-8616.
The police added that no losses have been reported yet.
This comes one day after a similar scam where victims received unsolicited phone calls from individuals claiming to be bank employees and were told that their bank accounts had been misused and that they were under investigation for money laundering.
The phone numbers of these calls often contain a +65 prefix, suggesting that the calls were made from overseas.
In the latest scams, victims reported receiving unsolicited phone calls from a caller claiming to be an Ipos officer.
The caller would tell the victim he was under investigation for offences involving trademark or copyright infringement.
Victims who denied the allegations would then be told that their details had been misused and that they had to report the matter to the authorities.
The call would then be transferred to another person claiming to be in law enforcement, to whom the victims had to file a report.
The victims would be asked to provide their personal information such as passport details, home address and social media account login. – Straits Times
‘Basikal lajak’ case: Sam freed on bail, Court allows her application to appeal jail term
Sam Ke Ting, who was ordered to serve a six-year jail term by a Johor Baru High Court Judge over the basikal lajak (modified bicycle) case, has been freed on bail.
The Court of Appeal (COA) allowed the 27-year-old to be bailed after Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Manoj Kurup said the prosecution had no objection to the application.
Noting that the case had garnered a lot of publicity, Manoj said the prosecution had no objection to Sam’s application and bail should be allowed.
“Sam is not a flight risk and we have no opposition to the application,” he said. A three-member bench led by Datuk P Ravinthran freed Sam on RM10,000 bail with one surety and also allowed her application for a stay of execution and to file an appeal against the sentence and conviction.
The other judges on the bench were Datuk Lee Heng Cheong and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali while Sam was represented by Mohd Faizal Mokhtar.
Others present in court today were representative from the Bar Council, Ravinder Singh, who appeared as amicus curiae (a friend of the court) with the judge’s permission.
However, the judges disallowed a similar application from the MCA and prominent lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (on behalf of the Universiti Malaya Law Faculty alumni).
Sam had applied for leave to appeal against the High Court’s decision after she was denied a stay of execution following her six years’ jail and RM6,000 fine for reckless driving by Johor Baru High Court Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar.
The clerk, who had been charged with causing the death of eight cyclists at Jalan Lingkaran Dalam in Johor Baru at 3.20am on Feb 18, 2017, was acquitted and discharged by the magistrates’ court on Oct 28,
2019 at the end of the prosecution’s case without her defence being called. – New Straits Times
Watered-down ‘reforms’ upset
Academics have slammed proposed changes to the organic law on political parties as a step backwards, saying the amendments appear to focus on the upcoming elections rather than bring about reforms of parties.
The legislation is one of two laws being revised to reflect constitutional changes in the election system.
It is being examined by a parliamentary scrutiny committee comprising senators, MPs and representatives from the cabinet.
In the academics’ view, as far as the examination process goes, politicians are leaning towards easing regulations they see as too difficult to implement and that the changes may not reflect constitutional intent in terms of bringing about party reform. One topic to be discussed by the committee after the Songkran holiday is the process of candidate selection within the party, also known as the primary voting system.
Introduced for the first time under the 2017 charter, the process is designed to make sure party members are not dictated to by executives, most of whom are financiers.
Political parties, however, say it is problematic and want it scaled back. – Bangkok Post
Death toll from Leyte landslides rises to 170
The death toll from the landslides in Baybay City and Abuyog in Leyte has climbed to 170 while 176 remained missing as of Sunday as responders continue retrieval operations one week after the tragedy.
Local government units reported that 116 bodies were retrieved in landslide-hit villages of Baybay City and 54 in landslide-affected communities in Abuyog town.
The Baybay city disaster and risk reduction management office said that most of the corpses were found in Kantagnos village with 44, followed by Mailhi with 22, and Bunga with 17.
Bodies were also unearthed in the villages of San Agustin, Maypatag, Pangasugan, Zone 21, Candadam, Caridad, Igang, Palhi, Sto. Rosario, Gacat, Inopacan, and Can-ipa villages, all in Baybay City.
Bodies were dug from mudslides while others were washed out to the shoreline days after Tropical Depression Agaton dumped heavy rains in the province.
In Abuyog town, of the 54 landslide casualties, 51 bodies were retrieved in the coastal village of Pilar. Other victims were found in Bahay and Tib-o villages.
The landslide in Pilar on April 12 covered 80 percent of Pilar. Adding up to the number of deaths are those residents swept away by tsunami. The displacement of large volumes of seawater caused by the major landslide generated big waves.
Of the 176 reported missing persons after the landslide, 73 are in Baybay City and 103 in Abuyog town. – Philippine News Agency
Children aged 5-11 in HN, HCM City get first vaccine shot
Nearly 1,000 sixth grade pupils in three districts of Ha Noi were the first to be inoculated against COVID-19 on Saturday.
Children in Ha Dong, Phu Xuyen and Soc Son districts received Moderna vaccines.
During this on-going campaign, all sixth-grade pupils in the city who are not infected with COVID-19 or recovered from COVID-19 from more than three months, are eligible for the vaccination.
They will get the second doses after 28 days.
At vaccination sites, medical workers carefully advised parents to monitor the child’s health and nutrition after getting vaccinated. Parents are guided to immediately contact medical workers or medical centres for timely treatment in case their children show and unusual health reactions.
Examining some vaccination sites on Saturday, Director of the municipal Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha said children with underlying diseases or malnutrition or obesity would be given priority.
Under the plan issued by the municipal departments of health and education and training, the vaccination will be gradually carried out for all eligible children living in the city aged from five to under 12.
Ha Noi has more than one million children in this age range. – Vietnam News
CPP warns Candlelight Party of being linked with Rainsy
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has warned the main opposition Candlelight Party (CP) will face problems after its founder, former opposition leader Sam Rainsy has announced his return to the country if the CP wins a landslide victory in the upcoming Commune Election.
The CPP’s reaction came on Sunday as Rainsy, who currently lives in exile in France, has recently announced his return to the country after June 5 Commune Election. He predicted that the CP would defeat the CPP in a sub-national election.
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said Sunday that Rainsy’s announced return to the country after the commune election showed he has had an “indisputable connection” with the CP.
“The life of the Candlelight Party depends on how much illegal rebel convict (Rainsy) is involved, which is prohibited by the law,” he said, noting that Rainsy’s announced return was just a “political campaign” for the CP ahead of the election. Rainsy claimed that if the CP sweeps the majority of the commune council seats, a favourable political situation in the country will pave the way for his return.
However, Rainsy, who has faced a slew of court cases, said he is no longer associated with the CP leadership. But he has publicly thrown his support behind the CP and mobilised support for it. – Khmer Times
Myanmar marks traditional New Year with boycotts of junta-sponsored festivities
For the second year in a row, the Myanmar public rejected the annual Thingyan water festival activities organised by the junta as battles between the military and resistance forces raged throughout the New Year period.
From Wednesday until Sunday – New Year’s Day, according to the Myanmar calendar – people across the country would have normally reunited with family members, visited monasteries, and splashed water on one another in the streets in celebration of Thingyan.
The public first refused to commemorate the festival last year – one of many acts of defiance that followed the military coup staged on February 1, 2021, in which the army ousted the elected government headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
This year, the streets again remained dry and “eerily deserted,” as one Yangon taxi driver said. In an effort to normalise its administration – widely seen as illegitimate – the junta ordered the construction of Thingyan pavilions in townships across the country at…
