
Pride Month kicks off in Thailand
Pride Month started with a parade in central Bangkok on Sunday. Thousands from Thailand and around the world marched through the streets of the capital with rainbow flags.
The celebration month is the first to be held since Thailand legalized same-sex marriage in January. Such couples are guaranteed the same rights as those in heterosexual unions, including those for tax benefits, inheritance and adoption.
But rights activists say more is needed for gender equality, including laws to allow citizens to identify as they choose, regardless of sex assigned at birth.
More parades are scheduled across the country throughout the month.
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NHK
2 days ago
- NHK
Myanmar to hold general elections starting December
Myanmar's election commission has announced that general elections will start in late December. The Union Election Commission on Monday said the "multi-party democratic" general elections will start on December 28. The military seized power in a 2021 coup, alleging that there had been fraud in general elections held the previous year. It detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Fighting continues between the military and pro-democracy forces in border areas and elsewhere. In late July, the military lifted a state of emergency put in place when it staged the coup. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing has insisted that elections would be held in December and January. It remains to be seen whether the elections will be held as announced, as they face strong opposition from pro-democracy forces. A person with ties to the forces told NHK that the elections cannot be recognized as legitimate and that they are illegal and fraudulent.


Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
Indonesia's ‘gasoline godfather' targeted in $18 billion graft probe
A reclusive oil merchant dominated Indonesia's fuel trade for decades. Now he is embroiled in an $18 billion probe into the country's state-owned oil producer that has become a litmus test for President Prabowo Subianto's anticorruption drive. Mohammad Riza Chalid, who has long maintained high-level political ties, is known in the industry as the "Gasoline Godfather' for his key role in importing billions of dollars of oil products, mostly from neighboring Singapore. His star has been waning — Indonesia wants to rely less on costly overseas purchases of gasoline or diesel — but he is the most audacious target to date for the current administration, as it reshuffles its energy procurement and attempts to supercharge growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Though Indonesia was an early member of OPEC, oil production has declined sharply in recent decades, falling almost 60% in the last quarter-century as fields age and investment falters, driving up its import bill. State oil-and-gas giant PT Pertamina has faced repeated criticism, including from Indonesia's parliament, for its inefficiency. It is now being investigated for irregularities over the import of crude and oil products between 2018 and 2023 that authorities say have cost the state 285 trillion rupiah, or roughly $18 billion. The probe involves multiple companies, including at least one controlled by Chalid, according to statements made by the attorney general's office. "Prabowo wants to be seen as a clean president, the leader that is brave enough to eradicate corruption,' said Siwage Negara, a research fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. "This is one thing that the Prabowo administration needs to fix if they want to really improve the quality of governance within the state-owned enterprises.' The widening inquiry into Pertamina, its subsidiaries and trading companies — one of the biggest antigraft investigations in decades in Indonesia — has already resulted in the detention of more than a dozen executives, including Chalid's son, and the questioning of more than 250 witnesses. Chalid himself is alleged by the attorney general's office to be the beneficial owner of PT Orbit Terminal Merak, which authorities believe secured a long-term lease deal with Pertamina that enabled unjust enrichment through opaque fuel-storage contracts. His son, Muhammad Kerry Adrianto Riza, is listed in company filings as a major shareholder in OTM via a series of holding companies. Indonesia's attorney general has yet to formally charge Chalid, who has failed to appear after being summoned three times since the investigation into Pertamina and its subsidiaries began. Officials say immigration records show he left Indonesia in February for Malaysia. He has not made any public statement on the case, and has no known legal representative. A lawyer for the son, currently being detained, did not respond to requests for comment, but had previously told Tempo magazine that his client's business had "nothing to do with his parents.' Queries delivered in person to the registered office of OTM were not answered. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto | Bloomberg Still, authorities have publicly named Chalid several times as a suspect in the sprawling case and earlier this month said they would seek a so-called Red Notice from Interpol. Such a notification is an international alert for a wanted person, not an arrest warrant. The process is currently still in train, according to the attorney general's office. Investigators have also seized assets they say are linked to Chalid, including a Toyota Alphard, a Mini Cooper, three Mercedes sedans and cash in multiple currencies. Pertamina Chief Executive Officer Simon Aloysius Mantiri, appointed by Prabowo last year, has apologized for the probe, without specifically addressing the details of the investigation. He said the firm welcomed the attorney general's actions and would work with the government to improve transparency. Corruption probes are not new to Indonesia, and Prabowo's 10-month-old government has already pursued several — two high-profile political figures, seen as opponents of his coalition and of the previous administration, were convicted of corruption-related offenses last year and granted clemency this month — but this is the first attempt to tackle a major state-owned entity and a businessman of Chalid's stature. Chalid's political links date back at least three decades to the era of authoritarian leader Suharto, when he is reported to have helped acquire a Russian Sukhoi jet. According to state news agency Antara, he was trusted to represent an arms purchasing company in order to secure the deal. He has not commented on the report. But it was through his oil trading business that Chalid made waves, leveraging his political connections to take an expansive role in Indonesia's imports of oil products, according to former associates and business partners who asked not to be named given the sensitivity of the matter. Pertamina's Singapore-based trading arm, Pertamina Energy Trading Ltd., also known as Petral, was core to the trade — at the peak, companies affiliated with Chalid accounted for as much as 70% of the unit's contracts, according to comments made by Sudirman Said, a former energy minister who commissioned a 2015 government audit into Petral, on a podcast last month. That audit, which covered Petral's operations from January 2012 to May 2015, found that intervention by third parties resulted in Pertamina paying higher prices for fuel and crude imports, according to then-CEO Dwi Soetjipto. The conclusions were reported to Indonesia's antigraft agency, but no case was ever launched against those involved. Petral, though, was shut down. Chalid, who is part of Indonesia's Arab minority, has never been a public figure, eschewing high-profile outings, but his fortune grew steadily — in 2016, business magazine GlobeAsia estimated his wealth at $460 million. He invested widely, including in palm oil plantations and real estate. Among other bets, he is a significant shareholder of budget airline PT AirAsia Indonesia, corporate filings show. His political links grew accordingly, as he cultivated ties and welcomed politicians to his office in Jakarta's business district, according to former contacts. He helped finance Prabowo's first failed presidential bid in 2014, according to his former associates, though during a second campaign five years later he backed a party supporting Prabowo's opponent, and the ultimate victor, Joko Widodo. Still, his rise was predicated on Indonesia's heavy dependence on imported fuels. While it still produces significant volumes of crude, Indonesia has long lacked the refining capacity to meet more than 280 million people's demand for gasoline, diesel and other products. But Prabowo in particular had made reducing that vulnerability a priority, seeking to attract investment into onshore processing but more immediately cutting back on heavy reliance on Singapore — where Chalid and his profitable business were based, working out of a modest office. "We are importing fuel from a country that does not even produce it. That is funny,' Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told a conference in May. Some of those imports have been replaced with purchases from other countries including the U.S., with whom it struck a trade deal last month. Ultimately, the renewed push for energy self-reliance has left Chalid at odds with the government's targets. According to political analyst Kevin O'Rourke, it was a change that left "literally the biggest player' looking far less untouchable — just as a new government sought to make its mark."The oil business has just been too stable, it's not been as dynamic as nickel and palm oil,' O'Rourke, principal at Jakarta-based consultancy Reformasi Information Services, said. "He's not the only game in town anymore.'


Japan Times
6 days ago
- Japan Times
China urges Thailand and Cambodia reconciliation in three-way talks
China expressed support for Thailand and Cambodia in resolving their border dispute on Thursday and offered to provide assistance based on the wishes of both nations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. Wang said China supports the Southeast Asian countries in strengthening dialogue and eliminating misunderstandings, adding he hoped they would rebuild mutual trust and restore friendship, according to statements from his ministry. He met his Thai and Cambodian counterparts separately during the day but also convened a three-way conversation on the sidelines of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in China's southwestern Yunnan province, readouts of the three meetings showed. In their "friendly and candid communication", Wang said China hoped that the two countries could reopen border crossings as soon as possible, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said. China also promised support and assistance for land mine clearance in the border areas of Cambodia and Thailand, and the three ministers agreed to continue communication in a "flexible manner", the Chinese statement added. Thailand and Cambodia have wrangled for decades over border territory and a border conflict erupted last month after the killing of a Cambodian soldier in a skirmish late in May. It was the worst fighting in more than a decade and only eased after a ceasefire was struck in late July. In a bilateral meeting with Thailand's Maris, Wang spoke about China's readiness to accelerate a China-Thailand railway construction project, encourage more investments from Chinese enterprises in Thailand and ensure the stability of the regional production and supply chain. It is hoped that Thailand will provide more policy support and facilitation for Chinese enterprises, he told his Thai counterpart. While meeting with Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, Wang sounded support for Cambodia maintaining political stability, and said China is appreciative of the country's crackdown on online gambling and wire fraud. He also expressed hopes that Cambodia will continue strong measures for joint efforts in the region against cross-border criminal activities.