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.

THIS YEAR will see the formal unveiling of Asean as a community, reports the Straits Times. Sadly, this momentous step is being taken amid alarming signs of widening fissure and friction among South-east Asia's half a billion people.

The principle reason for this is the weakening of traditional forms of religious tolerance. Without a doubt, South-east Asia's traditional models of pluralism and tolerance are under stress.
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/columns/story/sectarianism-rears-its-head-asean-launches-community-20150115



washingtonpost.com Hun Sen has remained in power by manipulating elections, controlling the army and police, imprisoning critics and running a kleptocracy that has enriched him and his cronies. Ten years ago, a State Department official told me that the US estimated his personal fortune at $500 million, attained largely through the plunder of the country's rainforests and other natural resources. Hun Sen has never shied away from using violence to achieve political goals.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/brad-adams-the-worlds-indifference-empowers-cambodias-ruthless-despot/2015/01/14/31307260-9b68-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html

kyodo news Japan signed a bilateral aviation agreement with Cambodia on Wednesday to allow airlines to operate regular direct flights between the two countries, a Cambodian government official said.



themalaysianinsider.com Fully-clothed Malay girls who were seen hugging and kissing members of a K-pop band at a concert in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday have been given a week by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) to come forward or face arrest, Utusan Malaysia reports. The case will be investigated under Section 29 of the of Shariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 (Act 599 Indecent Acts in Public Places).

afp The incident has prompted a public outcry in the Muslim majority country, with Islamic conservatives denouncing both the popular Korean K-pop genre and the girls.

bangkokpost.com The Malaysian government is considering visa exemptions for tourists from China in a move to lure them back to the country after a plane carrying mostly Chinese passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing last year.

afp A group of Muslim girls in Malaysia were threatened with arrest after a video emerged showing them hugging members of K-pop boy band B1A4, local media reported.



onenewsnow.com The American Family Association opposes giving ''most favored nation status'' to countries that don't allow citizens to practice their faith freely, noting that Brunei is now ''imprisoning missionaries and forbidding the importation of bibles.'' .



usatoday.com Jose William Arana is just one of millions of worshipers in this most Catholic of Asian nations enthusiastic to see Pope Francis when he arrives Thursday for a five-day trip to the Philippines. The 75-year-old priest hopes the pope's visit will inspire change. ''It will (breathe) more life to our way of living, our faith as Catholics,'' he said.



aap Lawyers for an Australian man sentenced to seven years jail in Indonesia after police found his drug stash will appeal, arguing he deserves sympathy and rehabilitation. Andrew Roger, 52, has been in Indonesian custody for eight months after police found marijuana, crystal meth and various pills in his home at Surabaya, East Java.

thelocal.dk Danish man Anker Hansen, 56, who faced the death penalty for drug smuggling in Indonesia said he was ''relieved'' to only be given a 13-year prison sentence.

theguardian.com Indonesian authorities have conducted mass arrests and burned down the homes of West Papuan villagers in response to the deaths of two police officers, a West Papuan independence leader in exile has claimed.



bangkokpost.com Laos plans to sell electricity to Singapore through the Southeast Asian power grid, which links transmission lines of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Vientiane Times online said senior officials of Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore held talks on the issue on Tuesday on the sidelines of an Asean energy meeting in Vientiane



eurasiareview.com The Burmese government should accept the United Nations call to amend the discriminatory law that deprives Rohingya Muslims of Burmese citizenship, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to President Thein Sein.



afp Two young German men facing flogging in Singapore for vandalising a train were unable to reach a deal to reduce their charges, their lawyer said.

straitstimes.com Chinese restaurant Hot Pot Culture in Marina Square, photographed with a dead rat in one of its vegetable dishes, also had rat droppings on the premises, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has revealed. The business remains suspended indefinitely.