Dyson to build new electric car in Singapore
The huge plant will be ready from 2020 ahead of the project launch of the new car in 2021, Dyson said.
Southeast Asia
Indonesia completes and begins operating its first-ever utility wind farm
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated the 247-acre Sidrap Wind Farm in Sindereng Rappang Regency, South Sulawesi, in July 2018. It immediately became the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia and among the first major non-hydro renewable energy projects in the world’s fourth most populous nation. The farm produces 75 MW of electricity and can power up to 70,000 households.
Myanmar and U.N. announce deal for safe return of Rohingya
United Nations says staff will visit Rakhine state in first step towards repatriation of 700,000 refugees camped in Bangladesh
Singapore to introduce carbon tax in 2019
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said the tax would be levied on all facilities producing 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
Myanmar LGBT festival goes public for first time
The widening acceptance boosted numbers with some 6,000 people coming along on the first day alone, compared with 2-3,000 over the whole festival in previous years.
Myanmar to raise minimum wage
The authorities are exerting efforts to increase the minimum pay rate as workers are struggling with the rising cost of living in their daily lives.
Singapore opens country’s first sustainability academy
The Singapore Sustainability Academy (SSA) has been built to highest energy efficiency and green building standards and will serve as the city-state’s sustainability learning and collaboration hub.
Aung San Suu Kyi forms Myanmar’s National League for Democracy to combat dictatorship and promote democracy
The National League for Democracy is a liberal democratic political party in Myanmar that has become one of the most influential parties in the country’s pro-democracy movement.
The Khmer Rouge falls from power in Cambodia
The regime was removed from power in 1979 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia and quickly destroyed most of the Khmer Rouge’s forces. Before this, the regime murdered hundreds of thousands of Cambodians and perpetrated genocide of Cambodian minorities.
The Malaysia Agreement creates the modern nation of Malaysia
Under the agreement, the United Kingdom, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore combined North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore with the existing states of the Federation of Malaya in order to create the modern nation of Malaysia.