Ministry of Transportation officer examine cars registered to rideshare apps GO-Car, Uber, and GRAB that are confiscated by the Jakarta Police Department. Photo by Muhammad Adimaja/Antara Foto via REUTERS.
Indonesia News
Soon, online taxis are required to have a sticker that says "Angkutan Sewa Khusus" or "special transportation for hire" on them. Online taxi providers GO-JEK, GRAB and Uber has agreed to abide by the rule starting this February. Drivers without a sticker on their car before February 15th will get a first warning, but after the cutoff date, they won't get away with it. "Our officers will disguise as customers and fine those drivers," said Budi Setiyadi, a Ministry of Transportation director. —Rakyat MerdekaPapua Hit With Health Emergency
Last week, Asmat Regency in Papua gained attention after dozens of toddlers died from measles and malnutrition. This week, measles have spread to Okbab District in Pegunungan Bintang Regency. To date, 27 people have died and 23 of them are toddlers. So far, much of the aid from the central government is targeted to Asmat. —Liputan6
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The People's Representative Council (DPR) is drafting a law that will criminalize the LGBTQ community in Indonesia. Bambang Soesatyo, the new speaker of DPR, said reaffirmed that the chances in the country's Crimical Code will broaden the definitions of rape, so same-sex sexual relations can be criminalized. Marriage equality is definitely of out of the question. "We need to say no to legalization of LGBTQ because that causes moral degradation," said the Golkar politician who officially replaced Setya Novanto last week. —CNN IndonesiaWant To be an Instant Millionaire? Go to Changi Airport
It's unclear how Indonesian tourists keep winning lotteries at Singapore's Changi Airport in the last seven years. Indonesian citizens have won the $1 million SGD lucky draw multiple times. Oddie Rehatta from West Java won the lucky draw last weekend, after buying a $50 t-shirt at the airport. In 2016, Ade Iskandar Roni, another Indonesian won the same contest. In 2013, the winner was an Indonesian entrepreneur Irvung Tio. —Tribunnews
International News
Is Bangkok the new hub for those annoying call scams? The police think so after six Malaysian scam artists were arrested by authorities in Thailand, marking a shift from scam shops set up in Malaysia but staffed with Chinese and Taiwanese migrants to Malaysian nationals operating overseas. —MalaysiaKiniRohingya Refugees Resist Repatriation Deal
Mustafa Khatun has no intentions of returning to Myanmar. The Rohingya women is among the 800,000 refugees who have crossed the border into neighboring Bangladesh to flee state-sponsored violence and are now being told they have to return. But when you're whole life has been punctuated by period of intense violence, who would want to go back? —ABC News
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The Cambodian PM, fresh off one of the most-repressive years in recent history, took a moment to accuse journalists of spreading fake news. “I think President Donald Trump has correctly created an award that he just announced in recent days, the Fake News Award,” Hun Sen said. “And in Cambodia there is also this type of media.”—ReutersKim Jong Nam Trail Resumes in Malaysia
A Malaysian court examined video feeds from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and heard testimony of how the videos and images were extracted as the trial against Indonesian Siti Aisyah and her Vietnamese accomplice in the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's half-brother continued. —Associated Press