PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a new column, Asean Today.



christiantoday.com As religious tensions increase across the country, the Bible Society of Malaysia could be facing government intervention after receiving notice that it will be investigated by officials. Religious freedom is protected by the Federal Constitution in Malaysia, but Islam is recognised as the state religion.



asiancorrespondent.com On the same day the US Supreme Court voted in favor of same sex marriage, a different story emerged from Burma (Myanmar). Ruling party MP and infamous bigmouth Hla Swe took to Facebook to launch a homophobic tirade, casually bragging about using gay men as porters during junta rule. ''I hate gays very much because they are useless. I call them 'fake people','' wrote the former lieutenant colonel, according to the Myanmar Times.

Full Report
http://asiancorrespondent.com/133860/homophobic-war-crimes-boast-betrays-the-arrogance-of-burmas-junta-leaders/



channelnewsasia.com Malaysia's police will hold talks with the Thai police on the fate of a Swiss national accused by the Malaysian government of leaking information to discredit Prime Minister Najib Razak. Xavier Andre Justo was arrested in Bangkok last Monday.



ft.com Foreign investors will soon be able to take 100 percent stakes in big Vietnamese companies as the populous Southeast Asian country seeks to revive its stuttering economy with international money and trade deals.



cambodiadaily.com NGOs brought about 300 people together in front of the National Assembly on Sunday to protest the pending passage of a law that would force all non-government groups and associations in the country to register and file regular reports with the state.



smh.com.au Indonesia was asked by the US to send troops to join the fight against the Islamic State terror group in Iraq but declined because it feared a backlash among radical Muslims at home, the country's former foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, has revealed.



philstar.com Same-sex marriage is impossible to be legalised in the country, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said. ''From the point of view of our culture, it's an impossibility for quite some time,'' he told reporters.



rfa.org Luxury rosewood illegally logged throughout Laos is routinely smuggled north across the border to China by family members of the country's elite officials along a route paved with bribes to local authorities, according to sources with knowledge of the network.



atimes.com Four Southeast Asian nations - Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia - currently are negotiating to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (The Philippines has expressed interest in joining the negotiations.) Singapore and Brunei were two of the founders of the predecessor to the TPP, long before the agreement was enlarged and the US decided to join negotiations, and Vietnam decided to participate in TPP negotiations very early on.



straitstimes.com Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott marked 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries by witnessing the adoption of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that will bring about new levels of cooperation and exchanges in defence, the economy, foreign affairs, and arts and culture.