People and government

The Government has agreed on suspending the collection of the controversial road maintenance fees from motorbike users starting in 2016 after public criticism said the fee was unfair. The decision was reached in a monthly regular cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that ...

Human rights violations are again an issue in Laos – and a thorn in the side of a government more concerned with centrally-planned economic policies – following the death 61-year-old Tiang Kwentianthong. Tiang was originally arrested for praying for a sick woman without government approval. Reports ...

Nearly 2,000 people have been deported from Cambodia – the vast majority of them Vietnamese – in the first nine months of 2015, according to new government figures. From January through September, 1,919 people were expelled from the Kingdom, a report issued by the General Department ...

Despite a recent government announcement that four more refugees on the Pacific island of Nauru had agreed to move to Cambodia, Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday revised that number downward, saying two who had reportedly shown interest had backed out after meeting with Cambodian officials. In ...

The government is threatening legal action against web activists who launched cyber attacks on state agency websites on Wednesday in a bid to derail the government’s proposal to restrict the flow of online information, causing sporadic disruptions of several government home pages. Keep reading ...

The National Council for Peace and Order could meet as early as 2 October to pick prospective members of the new Constitution Drafting Committee and the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA), Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on 1 October.  Keep reading ...

Myanmar ranked near the bottom of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 released on 30 September, placing 131st overall out of 140. The positioning represents little change on the rankings in the 2014-15 report, when Myanmar came 134th out of 144 economies. Keep reading ...

Only one month after the Ministry of Finance proposed increasing luxury taxes on cars with large engines to up to 75 percent, trade officials now say the maximum tax rate should be raised to 150 percent to restrict the use of expensive, fuel-hungry vehicles.  Keep reading ...

Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra has proposed an initiative to ban new car purchases for people who don’t have a place to park their vehicles, as part of a raft of new measures to combat traffic congestion. Keep reading ...

Hackers have stepped up their attacks on government organizations and companies in Southeast Asia and made the region one of the most targeted in the world amid heightened regional tensions, according to security provider FireEye. Keep reading ...