ASEAN Common Time
ASEAN Common Time is an idea proposed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to adopt a standard time of UTC+08:00 for all member countries. Some regional businesses have already begun adopting the phrase "ASEAN Common Time," and often use the abbreviation ACT in their press releases, communications, and legal documents.
There are also ASEAN citizens who have started using "ACT" on their websites and blogs. Authorities are looking to bring the unified time zone into use by 2015, when they expect the ASEAN Free Trade Area to be fully implemented, with the potential time realignment promoted as a way to better expedite commerce.
But some commentators suggest using UTC+07:00 instead, as UTC+08:00 would create problems in the Kachin State of Myanmar during summer months, with a late sunrise taking place at 07:20 and a late sunset at 20:45. Other experts advocate calling UTC+08:00 ASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar at UTC+07:00, and leaving less populous eastern Indonesia at UTC+09:00.
This would result in the vast majority of the region's people and territory lining up at UTC+08:00—in sync with China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Western Australia. The eastern islands of Indonesia would remain at UTC+09:00—in sync with North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Palau, and East Timor.
As of 2012, the four different time zones used by ASEAN countries were UTC+06:30 (Myanmar); UTC+07:00 (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and western Indonesia); UTC+08:00 (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, and central Indonesia); and UTC+09:00 (eastern Indonesia).
List
ASEAN relation | Country | UTC offset | Acronym | Notes | More |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ASEAN member | Burma | +06:30 | MST | Some experts suggest that moving to UTC+07:00, rather than UTC+08:00, would be a more natural change. | Time in Myanmar |
ASEAN member | Thailand | +07:00 | ICT | Tried unsuccessfully to switch to UTC+08:00 in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Issue remains under discussion. | Time in Thailand |
ASEAN member | Laos | +07:00 | ICT | ||
ASEAN member | Vietnam | +07:00 | ICT | From 1975-06-13 after reunification | Time in Vietnam |
ASEAN member | Cambodia | +07:00 | ICT | Time in Cambodia | |
ASEAN member | Indonesia | +07:00 +08:00 +09:00 | WIB (WST) WITA (CST) WIT (EST) | A single national time zone of UTC+08:00 may be in place by Independence Day (17 August), although some scientists favour leaving the east at UTC+09:00. | Time in Indonesia |
ASEAN member | Singapore | +08:00 | SGT | From 1982-01-01 | Time in Singapore |
ASEAN member | Malaysia | +08:00 | MYT | Peninsular Malaysia switched from UTC+07:30 on 1982-01-01, and East Malaysia uses it since 1933, except for the Japanese Occupation during World War Two. | Time in Malaysia |
ASEAN member | Brunei | +08:00 | BNT | ||
ASEAN member | Philippines | +08:00 | PHT | Time in the Philippines | |
ASEAN observer | Timor-Leste | +09:00 | TLT | ||
ASEAN observer | Papua New Guinea | +10:00 | PGT | ||
ASEAN Plus Three | Japan | +09:00 | JST | Time in Japan | |
ASEAN Plus Three | South Korea | +09:00 | KST | Korean Standard Time | |
ASEAN Plus Three | People's Republic of China | +08:00 | CST | Time in China |
Citations
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: "... in order to keep ASEAN with the people, ... some possibilities come to mind, such as an ASEAN common time zone...".[1]
The Nation, December 1996: "...deferred a plan for the creation of a common Asean time zone ..." [2]
"The idea has since been under discussion by ASEAN, with Singapore supporting it strongly." [3]
External links
- "Press Statement The First Informal ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting Jakarta" (Press release). 30 November 1996.
- "Joint Communique of The 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Jakarta, 1996-07-20/21".
- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (7 August 2004). "Towards an ASEAN Community" (speech).
Sites using ACT
Companies
Sites
See also
References
- ↑ "Association of Southeast Asian Nations · ASEAN Anthem". Aseansec.org. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=437&dat=19961201&id=3hYuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zjADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2560,68698
- ↑
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