met Myanmar migrants in Samut Sakhon

province — who gave her a rousing welcome

— as well as dignitaries including Thai Prime

Minister Yingluck Shinawatra

Following Thailand, Aung San Suu Kyi will

travel to Oslo, Norway to formally accept

the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1991, to

Dublin, Ireland where she will participate in

a concert with Bono, and then to London

where she will address both Houses of

Parliament

Why it matters: Aung San Suu Kyi’s

presence highlights Myanmar’s rapid

changes and signals many more to come for

the ASEAN regional community ahead of

economic integration in 2015

BBC (1 June 2012)

04 JUNE 20 12 I SSUE 79

CARICAPTURES

BETA

1

4

82

5

9

3

7

6

10

The advantages of East Asia

integration outweigh risks if growth

spurs domestic economies, agreed

panellists at the World Economic

Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2012. ASEAN has all the characteristics to be a

global economic pillar and sustained growth

is dependent on an integrated region,

thus protectionism is the biggest risk,

noted Director-General of the World Trade

Organisation, Pascal Lamy

Thai Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong

emphasised the need for countries to

strike a balance between driving domestic,

Myanmar, Thailand

02 Aung SAn Suu Kyi’S hiStoric

viSit to thAilAnd

After 24 years, Aung San Suu Kyi

made her first trip beyond the

borders of Myanmar to Thailand,

where she spoke at the World

Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia

2012. In her first major speech outside

Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi emphasised

the need for investments in her country

to lead to job creation and training for its

young population

Myanmar is committed to reforms, she

said, and would like to be “linked to a

regional and global commitment to share

growth”

Since arriving in Bangkok on 29 May, she

regional and global economic growth, and

creating a buffer for external shocks

Integration will safeguard the region from

external pressures, but countries may turn

to protectionist policies during economic

downturns, said Gita Wirjawan, Minister of

Trade of Indonesia

The “toxic combination” of inequality

and corruption are the major sources of

vulnerability to deeply integrated markets

and growth should not only benefit the elite,

stressed Professor Eswar Prasad of Cornell

University

The Nation (1 June 2012)

Thailand, ASEAN

01 WEF: intEgrAtion For ASEAn

iS A muSt

04 08 0606 ‘12 ‘12

DISCLAIMER: The news articles contained in this report are extracted and republished from various credible news sources. As such, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) does not make any guarantee, representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness, reliability or fairness of any such information and opinion contained in this report. Should any information be doubtful, readers are advised to make their own independent evaluation of such information.

ASEAN

ASEAN

Indonesia

03

0504

ASEAn thE nEW hot-Spot For

ForEign invEStmEnt

SinglE ASEAn

currEncy

JAKArtA to dEvElop ‘ASEAn

diplomAtic zonE’

Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

are seeing the sharpest rise in

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in

the region. While FDIs in China and India have

levelled off, in ASEAN it has roughly

tripled in the last few years, according to

Amar Gill from Lyonnais Security Asia

A fast growing middle class, stable

political and economic environment, the

strengthening of currencies in the region

and one of the best performing markets in

the world, helped make the region a more

attractive investment destination

ASEAN will also see big growth in high

net-worth individuals in the next five years,

with Indonesia recording the fastest growth

as it started from a lower figure, adds Gill

Jakarta Globe (28 May 2012)

The Philippines is lukewarm to the

idea of having a single currency for

Southeast Asia, saying such a move

is unnecessary. “We don’t need a single currency (for

ASEAN) in order to achieve economic

integration and faster growth,” Philippines

central bank governor Amando Tetangco Jr

said, adding that the adoption of a common

legal tender for the region may complicate,

instead of facilitate the achievement of

development goals

ASEAN members were poised to achieve

the goal of boosting economic growth of

each member-country through various

mechanisms such as increased trade,

integrated financial systems and freer

movement of labour, Tetangco Jr added

His statement came amid suggestions to

temporarily shelve the idea of a common

ASEAN currency, especially since the

Eurozone is still confronted with a crippling

debt crisis

ADB chief economist Chanyong Rhee said

it was better for ASEAN to first see how

the Eurozone economies solved their debt

problems

Philippine Daily Inquirer (28 May 2012)

Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta

is to be turned into a special zone

for diplomatic affairs to support

ambassadors at the ASEAN

Secretariat. Jakarta has long been considered the

informal capital of ASEAN as it hosts

the organisation’s secretariat on Jalan

Sisingamangaraja in Kebayoran Baru

Currently, 33 nations including the US,

the UK, Germany, China and India, have

accredited ambassadors to ASEAN, in

addition to ambassadors representing the

countries to the Indonesian government

“We are currently mulling a plan to build

international schools, international-level

clinics and other facilities [in Kebayoran

Baru] aimed at foreigners living in the

area”, said Izhar Chaidir, the head of spatial

planning for the Jakarta Development

Planning Agency, adding that the facilities

would be bolstered by a subway station in

2016

Jakarta Post (29 May 2012)

Fdi in 3 ASEAn countries

idEA loSing StEAm

Source : UNESCAP

04 08 0606 ‘12 ‘12

DISCLAIMER: The news articles contained in this report are extracted and republished from various credible news sources. As such, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) does not make any guarantee, representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness, reliability or fairness of any such information and opinion contained in this report. Should any information be doubtful, readers are advised to make their own independent evaluation of such information.

myAnmAr

monitor06Foreign Affairs

Myanmar has abandoned its nuclear

ambition, Myanmar’s defence minister,

Lieutenant General Hla Min, declared at

the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore. He

indicated that there had previously been

academic studies of nuclear power, but

have since ended the pursuit. There was

no interest to develop nuclear weapons,

he added. Delegates at the defence

conference found the minister’s remarks to

be frank.

Washington Post (2 June 2012)

The United States was open to building

military ties with Myanmar if democratic

political and human rights reforms

continued on the same track, US Secretary

of Defence Leon Panetta told Asian leaders

at the Shangri-la Dialogue. His comments

are in line with the Obama administration’s

move to ease ties with Myanmar. If the

reforms continued, the Pentagon would be

willing to advance the relationship. Panetta

also said the US Navy would shift most of

its fleet to the Asia-Pacific by 2020.

Associated Press (2 June 2012)

Politics

President Thein Sein will visit Thailand

after postponing his trip during the WEF.

The president hopes to strengthen the

bilateral relationship with Thailand and

will meet Thai Prime Minister Yingluck to

sign two memoranda of understanding on

cooperation and development. Myanmar

hopes to enhance its human resources

in foreign service and prepare for its

chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.

Bernama (1 June 2012)

Economy

Financial development is gradually

improving as private banks begin the use

of automatic teller machines. Not long ago,

doing business meant carrying suitcases

of cash to make transactions. Visa and

MasterCard will begin international banking

operations by the end of the year. In two

months the central bank will introduce a

debit card network that will enable banks

to share ATMs and other services.

Reuters (30 May 2012)

Myanmar’s immigration department

will introduce visa-on-arrival for US$50

at the Yangon International Airport for

businessmen to 27 countries including the

United States and United Kingdom. The

visa is not offered to tourists and the Union

still maintains a blacklist of foreigners who

are outspoken critics of the military that it

bars from entering the country.

Washington Post (28 May 2012)

Indonesia

Thailand

07

08

indonESiA oFFErS uS dollAr

dEpoSitS to Aid rupiAh

thAi SmEs rAnKEd lEASt

compEtitivE in 5 ASEAn mEmbErS

Indonesia’s central bank moved to

stem its sliding currency on 29 May,

saying it would start issuing US

dollar term deposits as the rupiah

tumbled to its lowest since 2009. Global investors spooked by Europe’s

debt crisis have been dumping riskier

emerging market assets and are fleeing

to the safety of the greenback, but a lack

of US dollar liquidity has prevented some

investors from liquidating their Indonesian

assets

After the recent increase in the

minimum wage, the competitiveness

of Thai small and medium-sized

enterprises was ranked the lowest

among five key Southeast Asian

countries, from second previously. This change resulted from a 40% increase

in labour costs after the government

raised the daily minimum wage to THB300

(US$9.42) in April with no improvement in

Indonesian banks have US$43 billion

in cash and other instruments but were

reluctant to do interbank trading, preferring

to place US dollars overseas, Bank

Indonesia governor Darmin Nasution said

There are limited market instruments for

currency hedging, he said, adding it was

studying other options to manage rupiah

and US dollar liquidity in a country where

shallow markets and high foreign ownership

could magnify price swings

Today (29 May 2012)

labour quality, said Kiatanantha Lounkaew,

director of Dhurakij Pundit University

Research Centre which conducted the

survey

The research made use of the World

Bank’s Enterprise Survey Data from 2006

to 2009 with total sample size of 3,161

enterprises from five countries: Thailand,

Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the

Philippines

The Nation (29 May 2012)

04 08 0606 ‘12 ‘12

DISCLAIMER: The news articles contained in this report are extracted and republished from various credible news sources. As such, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) does not make any guarantee, representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness, reliability or fairness of any such information and opinion contained in this report. Should any information be doubtful, readers are advised to make their own independent evaluation of such information.

truly become the bridge between India and

ASEAN countries and place it at the heart

of India’s Look East policy

The agreement was reached during

Manmohan Singh’s three — day visit to

Myanmar — the first by an Indian prime

minister in a quarter century

Why it matters: The road is a key part of

a plan to open the ‘Mekong-India Corridor’

to link the world’s second-fastest-growing

market, India, with the new Asian Tiger

economies of Indochina, according to

analysts

Economic Times (29 May 2012)

Editorial Team: Angela Goh, Manissa van Geyzel, Han Fang Rong, Chayut Setboonsarng, Lore Kin Nyung

Consultant Editor: Tunku ‘Abidin Muhriz Designer: Iqbal Hakim

Thailand, India

10 driving to thAilAnd From indiA

could bE A rEAlity by 2016

Indian PM Manmohan Singh and

Myanmar President U Thein Sein for

the first time set a deadline, 2016, for

trilateral road connectivity which will

make it possible to drive right up to

Thailand from India via Myanmar. India will undertake the repair of 71

bridges on the Tamu-Kalewa Friendship

Road which India helped to build and the

plan now is to link it with a place called

Yargyi which will effectively link Moreh in

India to Mae Sot in Thailand

Indian officials believe this highway will

Indonesia

09 indonESiA to movE to SinglE

timE zonE

Indonesia plans to switch to a single

time zone on 28 October, allowing

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy to

match clocks in Singapore, Malaysia

and China. Indonesia, which stretches about 5,300

kilometres, currently has three time zones

– the western part of the country, which

includes Java, is GMT+7, the central region

is GMT+8 and the easternmost islands are

GMT+9

“The benefit will be in synchronised trade

and financial transactions with regional

markets”, said Anton Gunawan, chief

economist at Bank Danamon Indonesia

The change will also put Indonesia in

the same time zone as the whole of China,

which spans five time zones but adopted

GMT+8 for all its territory in 1949

Malaysia once had two time zones but

synchronised in 1982

Bloomberg (30 May 2012)