29/10/2025

WEDNESDAY | OCT 29, 2025

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Campaigning begins in Myanmar general election

Indonesian govt projects to get cheaper funding JAKARTA: Indonesia has drawn up new rules that will allow the central government to lend to local authorities and state-owned enterprises to support development projects. According to a copy of the new regulation, signed last month but made public this week, such loans could be granted after taking into account potential risks as well as the central government’s financial capacity. The policy is designed to provide cheaper funding for central government infrastructure projects and other development programmes carried out by provincial and district governments. President Prabowo Subianto has cut the “regional autonomy” funds to be paid to local governments next year to US$41.82 billion (RM175.67 billion), down 20%, a decision that has drawn criticism from provincial and district leaders. Local leaders have said they may have to raise local taxes to make up the shortfall. Prabowo has reduced next year’s transfers to local governments to make space for his priority policies, including a flagship programme to give free meals to 83 million children and pregnant women. He has also sought to raise defence spending while keeping the annual fiscal deficit under the legally binding ceiling of 3% of GDP. Any loan to be funded by the central government’s budget, must be approved by parliament and must have a tenure longer than 12 months. Any loan proposed by a local government must also be approved by its own parliament. Borrowers must show healthy financial metrics and state-owned firms, will need the approval of stakeholders.– Reuters HSIEN LOONG URGES STRONGER TRADE TIES SINGAPORE: Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday called on countries to strengthen cooperation and not give up on the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as global trade faces rising fragmentation and geopolitical competition. “Do not give up on the WTO,” Lee said at a dialogue in London. Though the WTO has shortcomings, nations could still act within its framework because it represents “a certain ideal, a certain conception of the way we should work together”. “On trade within regions, we ought to work to enhance cooperation and bring down obstacles.” Lee stressed the importance of linking different regions. “You want to link up between blocs so that you can work together and have a network, a web which encompasses the world.” – Bernama ABE SHOOTER PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER NARA: A man indicted for killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 pleaded guilty to the charge yesterday. Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, is accused of murdering Abe with a homemade firearm during an election stump speech in western Japan. The Nara District Court will hold hearings before ruling on the case in January. Yamagami has told investigators that he committed the crime due to a grudge he held against the Unification Church over the financial ruin caused to his family as a result of massive donations, some ¥100 million (RM2.8 million), that his mother made to the group. Police sources said Abe was targeted as his grandfather, ex- premier Nobusuke Kishi, helped introduce the group to Japan. – Bernama

o Balloting to be held in phases from Dec 28

YANGON: Parties approved to take part in elections started campaigning in Myanmar yesterday, two months ahead of a poll being shunned at home and abroad as a ploy to legitimise military rule. Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, deposing and jailing democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi after her party won the last election by wide margins. The military has lost swathes of the country to pro-democracy guerillas and powerful ethnic-minority armed factions, but has touted elections as a path to reconciliation. Rebels have pledged to boycott the vote in huge enclaves they control, while human rights groups and a UN expert have denounced the poll’s restrictive conditions in military-held zones. “This election means nothing to me,” said one 60-year-old man in Sittwe city, the capital of western Rakhine state. “It is not a genuine election and I see no one supporting it.” “People are struggling with their own problems,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons in a region where fighting has triggered a humanitarian crisis. “I see more and more beggars in town as people are starving. People have no jobs and so the election seems like a distant prospect. They

Election campaign billboards have sprung up across Yangon ahead of the polls. – AFPPIC

generally low-key with high security amid the civil war. “It is unlikely I will go for voting and I have no idea if I am on the voter list,” said one civilian displaced by fighting to the central city of Mandalay, speaking anonymously for security reasons. “We are not very interested. We just want to go home,” he said. Asean will not send observers to the election. Numerous rights groups lobbied the “11 nation bloc to hold back monitors, lest they lend legitimacy to a vote which they say is critically flawed. – AFP

have no time to be interested in it.” There will be 57 parties on the ballot when polls take place in phases beginning on Dec 28. Suu Kyi’s popular National League for Democracy, which won 82% of elected seats in the last poll in 2020, will not be among them, because the government dissolved the party after jailing her and making allegations of voter fraud. The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party plans to begin its campaign by unveiling election billboards in the capital Naypyidaw, while party adverts will air on state media in the evening. However campaigning is expected to be

An Afghan border guard manning a checkpoint in Spin Boldak, Kandahar province. – AFPPIC

BR I E F S

Afghanistan, Pakistan peace talks break down ISLAMABAD: Talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Istanbul to broker a long-term truce have ended without a resolution, two sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. been unwilling to commit to reining in a group hostile to Pakistan that Islamabad says operates with impunity inside Afghanistan.

capital, among other locations, targeting the head of a group hostile to Pakistan. Afghanistan responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600km border. The breakdown in talks that have caught the attention of President Donald Trump, could strain the ceasefire. On Saturday, Pakistan’s defence minister said he believed Afghanistan wanted peace but that failure to reach an agreement in Istanbul would mean “open war”. Despite a ceasefire, weekend clashes killed five Pakistani soldiers and 25 gunmen, the military said on Sunday. – Reuters

An Afghan source familiar with the talks said they had ended after “tense exchanges” over the issue, adding that the Afghan side said it had no control over the group, which has launched attacks against Pakistani troops in recent weeks. The sources sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly. Afghan and Pakistani government spokespersons did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The October clashes began after Pakistani airstrikes this month on Kabul, the Afghan

The talks aimed to reach lasting peace between the South Asian neighbours after dozens were killed along their border in the worst such violence since the change in Afghan government in 2021. Both agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on Oct 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkiye and Qatar in Istanbul, said Afghan and Pakistani sources briefed on the issue. A Pakistani security source said Kabul had