Asean Tribune

KABUL – Three suspected drug and weapons traffickers have been arrested in Kabul, Afghanistan, the country’s Ministry of Interior confirmed yesterday.

 

The ministry said in a statement that, “Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, stationed in Police District 3 of Kabul” have arrested the three suspected drug and weapons traffickers.

 

Further investigation is underway.

 

Last week, three groups of armed thieves were arrested, during a series of counter-crime operations in Qala-e-Haydar Khan and Arghandi areas of Paghman district, on the western outskirts of Kabul, according to the ministry.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

TOKYO– The newly elected leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Fumio Kishida, will take office as Japanese prime minister tomorrow and launch his new government, aiming to promote economic recovery, while keeping COVID-19 infections under control.

 

With the LDP-led ruling coalition controlling both chambers, the 64-year-old Kishida is almost guaranteed to be elected prime minister, at an extraordinary parliamentary session tomorrow.

 

The new leader plans to dissolve the House of Representatives on Oct 14, and consequently, a general election is likely to be held on Nov 7, local media reported.

 

Kishida promised to increase middle-class incomes and reduce wealth disparity under his “new form of capitalism,” which is viewed as a break from the “neoliberal policies” that the Japanese government has pursued over the past two decades.

 

In addition, he said that an economic package worth “tens of trillions of yen” is in preparation, to help people and businesses suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

His predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, who took office last year, announced not to seek re-election last month, amid the public dissatisfaction with his COVID-19 response.

 

As Japan’s COVID-19 infections declined recently, and nearly 60 percent of Japan’s population received a second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Kishida will need to handle tasks of gradually lifting restrictions on social and business activities, and opening the border to foreign travellers.

 

Kishida plans to finish the lineup of his cabinet today. In his prospective Cabinet, former education minister, Hirokazu Matsuno, 59, is set to become chief Cabinet secretary, and former environment minister, Shunichi Suzuki, 68, is likely to replace his brother-in-law, Taro Aso, as finance minister, local media reported.

 

Kishida also plans to create a new ministerial post for economic security, with a responsibility to craft a national strategy, designed to end the drain of intellectual property from Japan. It is not known who will take up the post so far.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

MANILA – Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, announced yesterday, he will not run in the 2022 elections, and will retire from politics.

 

“Today, I announce my retirement from politics,” Duterte, 76, told journalists, at the site of the Commission on Elections in Metro Manila.

 

On his surprise announcement, Duterte said, he is heeding the Filipinos’ “overwhelming sentiment” for him to quit politics.

 

“The universal sentiment of the Filipinos … is that I am not qualified. It would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution,” Duterte said, adding that, he would act “in obedience to the will of the people.”

 

Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, said that, Duterte “would spend the remainder of his term guiding the country towards post-COVID-19 recovery.”

 

Moreover, to ensure the legacy of his programmes and projects, and the continuity of his reform initiatives, Roque added, Duterte “would pro-actively campaign for his candidates and make sure that the conduct of the coming 2022 elections would be free, honest, peaceful and credible.”

 

Duterte’s term ends on June 30, 2022.

 

Duterte was at the poll body in Metro Manila yesterday, to accompany his former longtime aide and Senator, Christopher Go, 47, who filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president.

 

Duterte’s PDP-Laban faction had nominated him and Go for vice president and president, respectively. Duterte accepted the ruling party’s nomination but Go declined.

 

Duterte was elected the Philippine president in the May, 2016 elections. The constitution limits Philippine presidents to a single six-year term.

 

Candidates for the 2022 elections could file their certificate of candidacy until Oct 8. Philippine boxing icon and Senator, Manny Pacquiao, on Friday, officially filed his certificate of candidacy for president, becoming the first presidential aspirant to do so.

 

The elections are scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022. According to the Philippine law, the vice president is elected separately from the president. The vice president takes over the presidency, if the president passes away or is incapacitated in office.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, officially launched an electronic seal with a nominal value of 10,000 rupiahs (0.70 U.S. dollars) per stamp, which can give legal certainty to electronic documents.

 

According to the minister, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the application of digital technology, including in transactions using no papers.

 

“We are forced by circumstances to make many transactions switch to digital platforms. Transactions with significant value require physical seals to be affixed to transaction documents, while digital transactions use electronic documents,” Indrawati said, at the electronic seal launch in the capital Jakarta on Friday.

 

In accordance with the law, the Indonesian government has acknowledged that an electronic document is a legal one that can be an object of a stamp duty.

 

In one year’s time, the Indonesian finance ministry’s Directorate General of Taxes will make the necessary technical preparations for stamp duty, in collaboration with the state-owned banknote printer and mint, Perum Peruri to realise what is known as an e-seal or electronic seal, said the minister.

 

Perum Peruri has been appointed by the government as the official manufacturer of electronic stamps in the country.

 

The electronic stamps will come into use gradually in Indonesia, with first users being state-owned banks, Indrawati said.

 

She said, the Directorate General of Taxes and Perum Peruri will monitor the security of electronic stamps to avert crimes, including counterfeiting.

 

The minister also asked the Directorate General of Taxes and Perum Peruri, to keep educating the public on the security of electronic documents and electronic stamps.

 

Indrawati said, she expects electronic stamps will make it easier for people to pay taxes through stamp duty.

 

Suryo Utomo, director general of taxes, hoped that the electronic seal can facilitate public transactions, especially electronically, and reduce stamp counterfeiting.

 

The electronic seals are also expected to have a positive impact to state revenues, he said on Friday, adding that, his agency is collaborating with Perum Peruri, the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), and the supervisory agency on finance and development BPKP to control the use of electronic stamps.

 

E-stamps provide opportunities and convenience for the public to carry out their tax obligations, especially related to civil transactions between two parties with documents that are objects of stamp duty, said Utomo.

 

The state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) voiced support for the use of electronic seals on electronic documents as one of the steps to realise digital transformation.

 

“The application of electronic seals on electronic documents is a concrete manifestation of the digital transformation that is also being carried out by BNI,” the bank’s director for small- and medium-sized businesses, Muhammad Iqbal, said in a statement.

 

Iqbal said that as a state-owned bank, BNI has been committed to using electronic seals within the BNI group to support digital financial transactions in Indonesia.

 

In the future, e-stamps will be used in various public electronic transactions that belong to the category of transactions subject to stamp duty, he said.

 

The e-stamp application, he said, will provide legal certainty for electronic documents and optimise state revenues at the current stamp duty rates.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK