16/09/2026

WEDNESDAY | SEPT 16, 2026

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Cambodia playing the victim, Thailand tells mediators

autonomous region, with unofficial results suggesting no single bloc is on course to dominate the new 80 member parliament. The race has largely been shaped by rival camps from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the former separatist movement that negotiated autonomy with the Philippine government. One is led by MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, the other by Abdulraof Macacua, a former MILF commander appointed interim chief by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last year. With 98.56% of votes counted in the party-list race, the camp aligned with Macacua led with 35.2% of votes, ahead of the bloc associated with Murad with 32.4%, according to partial and unofficial results from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, a church-backed election watchdog. A third party, the BARMM Grand Coalition, has 20.5% so far and could hold the balance of power in coalition negotiations. Benedicto Bacani, executive director of the Institute for Autonomy Bad weather hampers ferry rescue BANJARMASIN: Rescuers brought ashore yesterday nearly two dozen survivors from a passenger ship that capsized off Java at the weekend, their evacuation delayed by bad weather, officials said. Dozens of people remain unaccounted for three days after the Virgo Transport 8 , which carried 213 passengers and 30 crew, went down on Sunday. Six people have died while 108 have been rescued alive and 129 others are still missing, the national search and rescue agency, Basarnas, said in a statement yesterday. The death toll and the missing figure have remained unchanged since Sunday. The ferry had lost contact with its shipping company shortly after leaving Surabaya for Banjarmasin on Borneo. Footage released by the rescue agency on Monday showed the capsized vessel with a part of the hull visible above the water line. Basarnas said that 22 survivors were brought to a harbour in Banjarmasin yesterday, after bad weather had prevented their rescue a day earlier. “The plan was to evacuate them to Trisakti Port yesterday but adverse weather conditions prevented us from doing so,” local search and rescue agency head I Putu Sudayana told reporters. “We cannot fight nature, the swells and waves in the area were extremely high.” Four bodies were also airlifted to Banjarmasin yesterday, Basarnas said. Nearly 1,100 rescuers, including from the navy and police, were involved in the search operation, which also included more than a dozen vessels and five aircraft, the agency said. – AFP

o Arbitration hearing begins

SINGAPORE: Thailand accused Cambodia yesterday of “playing the role of a victim” in a dispute over maritime resources, as the Southeast Asian neighbours brought their dispute before mediators. The hearing at the Singapore outpost of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) comes after the countries fought two rounds of border clashes last year. In May, Thailand unilaterally pulled out of a framework agreement with Cambodia that aimed to resolve overlapping maritime border claims, but denied any link to their land dispute. Cambodia subsequently initiated a UN-backed conciliation process at the PCA, saying it hoped to return to constructive negotiations. Opening Bangkok’s case before a five-member panel of international legal experts, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Cambodia sought to “vilify Thailand through false narratives, distortion of facts, and unfounded accusations ... including at international forums”. “It does this by playing the role of a victim with a sense of self righteousness aimed at claiming the moral high ground,” he said. Last year’s clashes left dozens of people dead and displaced more than a million before a ceasefire. Thailand has said it withdrew from the framework agreement, called “MoU 44”, because “no progress had been made” in implementing it. The 2001 memorandum of understanding covers a resource-rich

maritime territory of around 27,000 sq km to which both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim. Cambodia said last week that it had resorted to conciliation “after Thailand unilaterally terminated the agreed bilateral framework” through which the two nations had “negotiated their overlapping maritime claims for more than two decades”. Prime Minister Hun Manet said in June that the move was also to “protect Cambodia’s sovereignty and maritime rights in accordance with international law”. Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told the PCA panel yesterday that Phnom Penh saw the process “as a means to rebuild trust, not as a form of escalation”. Cambodia’s goal was to agree with Thailand on a “single, all-purpose maritime boundary”, or alternatively agree to jointly develop and equitably share resources until a boundary is drawn, he said. “Cambodia sincerely hopes that Thailand will engage constructively in this process.” Sihasak said Thailand was also seeking maritime delimitation and to rebuild trust. Set up in 1899, the PCA is the world’s oldest intergovernmental dispute-resolution body and resolves disputes between countries and private parties by referring to contracts, special agreements and treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The PCA office here is the Hague based court’s first in Asia. – AFP

Australian diplomat and international lawyer Katrina Cooper chairs the commission hearing the conciliation proceedings in Singapore. – REUTERSPIC

Moro factions eye unity talks MANILA: Coalition talks may be needed to choose the first elected chief minister of the Moro and Governance, a policy research group focused on autonomy and governance, said neither camp appeared likely to secure the 41 seats needed for a majority, making coalition-building essential.

Ousted Indonesian finance minister was upset JAKARTA: Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who was sacked as Indonesia’s finance minister on Monday, said yesterday he was upset to be removed from his job, but was half expecting the decision.

He said cooperation would be the best outcome for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao because it could strengthen peace and political stability. “The best scenario for me is the unification of the MILF,” he said. The election drew about an 80% turnout, according to election officials, with roughly 1.8 million votes cast from 2.39 million registered voters. Voters elected party, district and sectoral representatives who will make up the 80-member parliament tasked with selecting the region’s first elected chief minister. The vote is widely viewed as the most significant milestone since a 2014 peace agreement between Manila and the MILF paved the way for greater autonomy in the south. In one of the remote islands in the region, Tawi-Tawi, civil society leader Arlene Sevilla said she and her family made a point of voting, with all four of her children travelling home from Manila to cast their ballots. – Reuters

President Prabowo Subianto removed Purbaya as finance minister and named his deputy, Suahasil Nazara, to the top finance job, in a move that surprised markets, but was also seen as an attempt to restore trust in fiscal policies. After a terse handover ceremony at the Finance Ministry, Purbaya told reporters he found out about his termination in a phone call with the president’s spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi on Monday. Purbaya was seen receiving a phone call and leaving in the middle of a parliamentary meeting just hours before Suahasil was sworn in. “Last night, going to sleep was difficult. I was upset, but now it’s not too bad,” Purbaya told reporters. “Tonight I can sleep soundly,” he said, adding he had half expected to be fired over a recent decision he took. He did not elaborate. While he said he had no policy disagreement with the president, Purbaya said his ouster partly had to

Suahasil (left) receiving a memento from Purbaya at the Finance Ministry in Jakarta yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

ceremony, Suahasil asked all stakeholders to open their doors for collaboration. He has pledged to safeguard Indonesia’s fiscal credibility and abide by the legislated fiscal deficit limit of 3% of GDP. A veteran technocrat, Suahasil, 55, is well known to investors and analysts, some of whom said he would likely reassure investors. – Reuters

do with differences with other officials. Prabowo’s sacking of Purbaya came just days after the former economist marked one year as finance minister. Purbaya said his tenure was “decent”, citing rising economic growth. He said he would spend his retirement fishing in a pond at the back of his house. Speaking at the handover