Malaysia, Indonesia to pursue single time zone for ASEAN

KUALA LUMPUR: The leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to pursue a single time zone for countries in the ASEAN region.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the idea would "enhance the spirit of ASEAN solidarity".

There are currently three different time zones spanning ASEAN – a 90-minute time difference between Myanmar in the west and Singapore and Malaysia in the east.

Indonesia is divided over the three time zones despite previous plans to implement a single zone for the country.

Singapore Foreign Minister K Shanmugam has previously indicated support for the idea, which was also discussed at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Kota Kinabalu on Jan 28.

Supporters say a single time zone would make regional banking more efficient, with coordinated opening times for banks and stock markets.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/malaysia-indonesia-to/1641214.html#.VNb1RzR4ViE.twitter

--ChannelNewsAsia 2015-02-08

So any country can decide what time zone they want stay in?

Great idea and would rezone most of the asian countries north and west of Australia into the same time zone as China that spans by lattitude all its neightbors to the south.

don't the Presidents of Malaysia and Indonesia have other problems in their respective countries ?

Like fighting growing religious extremism ?

don't the Presidents of Malaysia and Indonesia have other problems in their respective countries ?

Like fighting growing religious extremism ?

they are multi tasking. so must be women.

The same timezone for the whole country of Indonesia? So when people get up in Aceh about 06:00am during sunrise, so folks in new guinea should also go out to the fields at the same time, but still in the middle of the night there. Will teh animals get used to it too?

The same timezone for the whole country of Indonesia? So when people get up in Aceh about 06:00am during sunrise, so folks in new guinea should also go out to the fields at the same time, but still in the middle of the night there. Will teh animals get used to it too?

I think you have that one backwards. With three time zones in Indonesia, and with the sun rising in the east, the folks in or near New Guinea would see the sunrise 2 hours before those in the far west.

Compromising with the entire country aligning with the middle time zone should not be a great encumbrance on anyone. That said, however, there will still be some odd early or late sunrises and sunsets in some places. Not unlike when the northernmost countries implement "summer time" to take advantage of the earlier sunrises in the summer months.

Whatever they do, if anything, won't be decided by us here on the forum.

Great idea and would rezone most of the asian countries north and west of Australia into the same time zone as China that spans by lattitude all its neightbors to the south.

China, for as large as it is, has only one time zone. They used to have 5 time zones, but that was changed to one in 1949. All of China is one hour ahead of Chiang Mai.

I had never ran into a 30 minute time zone change till I went over to Burma a couple of years ago. I did not even know that was such thing. Turns out there are several. Not a lot but a half dozen or so. There is even one at the :45 minute mark! Don't recall where and I'm too lazy to look right now.

I wonder how those kinda odd changes came to be. I'll check that out as well when I'm not so lazy . . . if ever.

So any country can decide what time zone they want stay in?

pretty much, if you take a look at the time zone maps the lines are "adjusted" to suit

And presumably the time zones will go along with this idea?

I had never ran into a 30 minute time zone change till I went over to Burma a couple of years ago. I did not even know that was such thing. Turns out there are several. Not a lot but a half dozen or so. There is even one at the :45 minute mark! Don't recall where and I'm too lazy to look right now.

I wonder how those kinda odd changes came to be. I'll check that out as well when I'm not so lazy . . . if ever.

New Delhi does; and I believe parts of the middle east, too.

They make me die with this , Mainland Malaysia is pretty much <script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Great idea and would rezone most of the asian countries north and west of Australia into the same time zone as China that spans by lattitude all its neightbors to the south.

China, for as large as it is, has only one time zone. They used to have 5 time zones, but that was changed to one in 1949. All of China is one hour ahead of Chiang Mai.

Yep all based on Beijing time, Some very strange daylight hours in the West

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

don't the Presidents of Malaysia and Indonesia have other problems in their respective countries ?

Like fighting growing religious extremism ?

Malaysia no , the Prime Minister and his coalition make sure the Bumi Putra (Princes of the soil) are well looked after within Government owned industries, preferential discounts on new houses , lower interest on loans and more national holidays that you can shake a stick at. No way are they going fundamentalist

Malaysia should be the same as Thailand at least the Mainland should be , why they changed the time to the same as East Malaysia , Sabbah and Sarawak to an hour plus is anyone guess