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.

INDONESIA'S representative on Asean's human rights commission regrets his country has regressed on the death penalty, missing a chance to lead in the region. Rafendi Djamin says Indonesia could be encouraging its neighbors Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia towards abolishing capital punishment, reports AAP.



nytimes.com At least 43 police officers in the southern Philippines were killed during an attempt to capture one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorism suspects, police and government officials said. The raid resulted in the largest single loss of life by Philippine police officers in recent history and was the first breach of a more than yearlong cease-fire with Muslim rebels under a fragile peace deal with the government.



theage.com.au The Malaysia Airlines website has been commandeered by hackers who referenced Islamic State and claimed to be from the ''Lizard Squad,'' a group known for previous denial-of-service attacks. The website's front page, malaysiaairlines.com, was replaced with an image of a tuxedo-wearing lizard, and read ''Hacked by LIZARD SQUAD - OFFICIAL CYBER CALIPHATE''.
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/hackers-deface-malaysia-airlines-website-upload-rap-song-20150126-12yghh.html

cnbc.com The carrier admitted that its Domain Name System (DNS) has been compromised resulting in users being re-directed to a hacker website when the www.malaysiaairlines.com URL is keyed in, but maintained that its database is secure.

express.co.uk Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may NEVER be found as the wreckage lies in a deep and huge ocean, the man who once led the search operation has claimed.



heraldsun.com.au Indonesia will not order the executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran for at least another week. Spokesman for Indonesia's attorney-general, Tony Spontana, says the executions of six drug offenders held last week are still being evaluated.

dw.de Joko Widodo came to power on pledges of ushering in an era of change and a new leadership style. But while many praise the Indonesian President for economic reforms, analysts say his 'Mr Clean' image has been dented.



worldbulletin.net Cambodian authorities appear to have deported a group of ethnic minority Vietnamese after refusing to recognise them as a religious group that claims it is being persecuted in Vietnam. The Phnom Penh Post said eight Vietnamese Jarai - many of whom are members of the ''persecuted'' Christian Montagnard group - were arrested and sent back after crossing into Cambodia in search of a relative.



voanews.com Vietnam has not legalised same-sex marriage, but a new law effectively decriminalizes it, putting Vietnam at the vanguard of gay rights in Southeast Asia. Many in the LGBT community interpret this as tacit permission for, at least, the ceremonial aspects of matrimony. Gay couples have responded by resuming nuptials, which had been on hiatus after repeated headlines about local officials breaking up gay weddings.



asiancorrespondent.com The Laos government is moving backward on human rights, says Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division. HRW issued a submission to the United Nations ahead of Laos' Periodic Review last week, urging it to emphasise the need for reform related to enforced disappearances, freedom of speech, association, and assembly, the treatment of detainees in drug detention centers, and labor rights.



hrw.org The authorities in Burma should stop arresting peaceful protesters and immediately and unconditionally free those imprisoned, Human Rights Watch said today. Burma's donors should press for amendments to Burmese law so that it protects the rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression.



straitstimes.com Singapore's manufacturing sector stayed in contraction mode in December, according to numbers released by the Singapore Economic Development Board. Factory output last month fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier, partly due to a comparison against a high base then.