PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the Asean summit in Manila on April 29 to discuss community building as well as regional and global issues, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Various regional security matters, including the contentious South China Sea disputes, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula will be part of the discussions, said the deputy director-general of Asean Affairs Department, Suriya Jindawong.

The Philippines, which chairs Asean this year, launched the summit under the theme of “people-centred, innovation-led growth and a resilient Asean”.

The main discussion among Asean leaders will seek to forge cooperation to build and enhance the sense of community as the regional group commemorates its 50th anniversary this year, he said.

During the meeting, leaders will also be updated on the progress on the South China Sea “code of conduct”, a legal instrument being prepared by Asean and China to control the behaviour of countries in the contentious zone, Suriya said.

The Philippines and other Asean members, including Vietnam and Malaysia, have been at loggerheads with China over territorial disputes in the sea for years.

The group signed a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002 but the non-binding document failed to prevent tensions from worsening.

Experts and officials from both sides were working to construct a framework on the so-called code of conduct and were expected to conclude it by the middle of the year, Suriya said.

After the framework is agreed, the parties will begin negotiations on the text of the code of conduct.

The plight of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar was not on the summit schedule as Asean considered the controversial issue to be a domestic affair, but that did not prevent members from making recommendations and suggestions to Myanmar to solve the problem, he said.

Many Asean members, including Thailand, have offered humanitarian assistance to Rohingya in Rakhine State in the recent crisis, which saw the Myanmar armed forces crack down on communities following an attack on a police outpost last October.

On the sidelines of the Asean summit, Prayut will also deliver a speech at the Asean Business Advisory Council, focusing on the roles of micro, small and medium enterprises in generating growth within the Asean Economic Community, according to ministry spokesperson Busadee Santipitaks.

Prayut will also attend the 10th summit of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle on the sidelines of the summit, she said.

Asean holds summits twice a year. The April in-house discussion will only include the 10 state leaders of the group while the second scheduled for November will see leaders meet dialogue partners such as the United States and China.

Malaysia’s Deputy Finance Minister Othman Aziz said the current trade volume was 120,000 TEUs per year.

“Rail operators should take advantage of the double-tracking system in the country, as it is only 20% utilised,” he said.He said this at a briefing after launching the 200th intermodal chartered train services by Trili Maju Sdn Bhd.

Othman said since the double-tracking system was under-utilised, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) should review its business plans.

“This will include exploring potential joint-ventures to maximise usage. KTMB should submit to us its business plans,” he added.

On opening the Bukit Kayu Hitam border checkpoint for 24 hours, Othman said the issue was not just about facilitating the movement of cargo.

“Although I personally support the 24 hours operation, there are issues related to security that needs to be addressed before any decision is made.

“The backlog of cargo at the border could be due to the ongoing construction of the new immigration, customs, and quarantine (ICQ) complex,” he added.

Meanwhile, KTMB chairman Nawawi Ahmad said the company had submitted applications to expand its cargo storage area in Padang Besar.

“It is now occupying a 3.2 ha site, which we plan to extend to 7.2 ha.

“KTMB has placed orders for 30 locomotives. There is a need for 2,000 more wagons,” he added.

Trump’s warning came as a US naval strike group headed toward the Korean peninsula, a show of force that prompted the nuclear-armed North to declare it was “ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

“This goes to prove that the US reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase,” a spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said, according to state news agency KCNA.

The strike group — which includes the Nimitz-class aircraft supercarrier USS Carl Vinson — turned toward the Korean peninsula this weekend in response to what a top White House official called a “pattern of provocative behavior.”

A barrage of recent North Korean missile tests have stoked US fears that Pyongyang may soon have an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

Speculation also has mounted that North Korea might conduct a nuclear test to mark the 105th birthday anniversary of founder Kim Il-Sung on Saturday.

US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Sunday that Trump has asked for “a full range of options to remove that threat.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the presence of a carrier strike group “gives the president options in the region.”

“I think when you see a carrier group steaming into an area like that, the forward presence of that is clearly… a huge deterrent,” he said.

‘Looking for trouble’

In a pair of tweets on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on a vow to act unilaterally against Pyongyang if China fails to rein in its unpredictable ally.

“North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump said. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! USA.”

“I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Trump wrote in an earlier tweet.

The saber-rattling has hit a higher level since a US air strike in Syria last week to punish the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected sarin attack on civilians.

The retaliatory strike, carried out while Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Chinese President Xi Jinping, also was clearly intended as a message to Pyongyang.

“We will take the toughest counter-action against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms,” the North Korea foreign ministry spokesman said.

“We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions.”

Sixth test?

Meanwhile, preparations were underway in Pyongyang for the celebrations marking the birthday of the regime’s late founder.

Thousands of troops and top military officials gathered in Pyongyang on Monday to pledge loyalty to leader Kim Jong-Un ahead of his grandfather’s birth anniversary, state media said.

State TV showed thousands of goose-stepping soldiers marching in unison, carrying giant portraits of  founder Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il, in front of the Kumsusan mausoleum where their embalmed bodies are on display.

“If they (the US and the South) try to ignite the spark of war, we will wipe out all of the invaders without a trace with… our strong pre-emptive nuclear strike,” Hwang Pyong-So, director of the political bureau at the North’s army, said in a speech. Kim was not seen at the event televised on Tuesday.

The South’s prime minister and acting president warned of a “grave provocation” by the North to coincide with other anniversaries, including the army’s founding day on April 25.

“There is a possibility that the North launches more grave provocations such as another nuclear test to mark a number of anniversaries,” Hwang Kyo-Ahn said in a cabinet meeting.

Pyongyang has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and analysis of satellite imagery suggests it could be preparing for a sixth.

Intelligence officials have warned it could be less than two years away from achieving the ability to strike the continental United States.

South Korea’s top nuclear envoy said Monday after talks with his Chinese counterpart that the two nations had agreed to “strong” new measures to punish Pyongyang if it carried out another nuclear test.

The talks came shortly after Trump’s summit with Xi.

“(We) are prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to coordinate with us,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after the summit.//AFP

Novel Baswedan, a member of the official Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), was being treated in hospital after the attack which happened in Jakarta as he walked home from a mosque in the early hours following morning prayers in the Muslim nation.

“It is a brutal act, I strongly condemn it,” said President Joko Widodo, urging the police to track down the assailants.

The KPK condemned the “barbaric” attack and said they would not back down in their fight against corruption. “We believe that the fight against corruption eradication must not stop due to any sort of threats, intimidations or attacks,” the body said in a statement.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi, who visited Baswedan in hospital, gave details of the attack, telling AFP the investigator had injuries on his forehead and blurred vision in his left eye.

Anti-graft investigators in Indonesia, one of the world’s most corrupt countries, have been targeted in the past and have reported having cars driven at them and receiving threats.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the latest assault but anti-graft NGO Indonesian Corruption Watch said they suspected it was linked to Baswedan’s role in probing a corruption scandal that allegedly saw about $170 million pilfered from government coffers. The investigation is being led by the KPK.

Senior politicians, including the justice minister and ex-interior minister, have been implicated in the scandal, with investigators alleging they were among many who received kickbacks from funds earmarked for a government project to issue new ID cards.

Parliament speaker Setya Novanto, who has been implicated in the case, was late Monday hit with a six-month ban on travelling outside Indonesia, said immigration authorities. Such a step is usually taken in Indonesia when people are under investigation.

Indonesia was ranked 90th out of 176 countries and territories in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index last year. A number one ranking represents the least corrupt.//AFP

Tens of thousands of people from Rakhine’s Muslim and Buddhist communities ended up in internal displacement camps after sectarian violence ripped the impoverished region apart five years ago.

The move to shutter the first of those camps comes after a commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan last month called on the government to close them as part of a series of measures designed to heal simmering ethnic tensions.

National Security Advisor Thaung Tun said the government had begun with three camps named in the commission’s report, including one sheltering ethnic Rakhines and one that houses Kaman Muslims.

The largest of the three includes more than 200 houses full of Rohingya Muslims, a heavily persecuted minority.

“We have initiated the process to close down three IDP (internally displaced persons) camps,” Thaung Tun told a briefing, without giving details of where people would be moved to.

“In Kyauk Phyu, there are IDP camps for Rakhines… Sittwe for the Rohingya group and Ramree… mostly for Kamans.”

Myanmar has long faced international condemnation for its treatment of Rakhine’s more than one million Rohingya, who many from the Buddhist majority reject as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The vast majority are not granted citizenship and face severe restrictions on their access to education, healthcare, food and movements despite many living there for generations.

The issue has reached boiling point in recent months after the army launched a bloody crackdown in the north of Rakhine thought to have claimed hundreds of lives after attacks on several police border posts in October.

United Nations investigators say Myanmar’s security forces may have carried out crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya during that crackdown.

De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week rejected the accusations, telling the BBC that the term ethnic cleansing was “too strong an expression”.

Thaung Tun also defended the government on Monday, saying authorities were doing their best to push forward the citizenship verification process.

“We want to dissolve the issue of statelessness. We need the cooperation of all stateholders in order for us to go forward,” he said.

“It has nothing to do with discrimination… It has nothing to do with ethnic cleansing.”//AFP

According to the Wall Street Journal, President Trump is considering “extreme vetting” which will also include visitors from the US’ allies including the UK, Germany and France.

“We will do it when we think there’s a reason to do it,” US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a US Senate committee hearing last week.

“The vast majority of people will not be questioned in that way.” However, he did not elaborate on the plans.

Kelly suggested in February that asking for passwords may become an option.

“We want to say for instance, ‘What sites do you visit? And give us your passwords,’ so that we can see what they do on the internet. If they don’t want to give us that information then they don’t come,” he told the congressional Homeland Security Committee.

It is believed that Border officials will have the power refuse entry to any tourist who fails to comply with the new rules. Changing passwords and two-factor recognition are all options but this just heighten suspicion.

There are plenty of examples of visitors being required to hand over phones so that they can be checked for political views that are not in line with US thinking.

The US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) told the Guardian last year: “All international travellers arriving to the US are subject to CBP inspection. This inspection may include electronic devices such as computers, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones and other communication devices, cameras, music and other media players and any other electronic or digital devices.

“Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation’s laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the US.”