ASEAN Common Time

The ASEAN Common Time (ACT) is a proposal to adopt a standard time for all Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states.^[1][2] It was proposed in 1995 by Singapore, and in 2004 and 2015 by Malaysia to make business across countries easier.^[3][4] The proposal failed because of opposition in Thailand and Cambodia:^[3][5] Thais and Cambodians argued that UTC+08:00 was not better than UTC+07:00, which is the current time zone of their countries.^[3]

Map showing the member states of ASEAN.

Currently, there are four different time zones used by ASEAN countries. UTC+06:30 (Myanmar); UTC+07:00 (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Western Indonesia); UTC+08:00 (Brunei, Central Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore); and UTC+09:00 (Eastern Indonesia).

The proposal would institute UTC+08:00 as the ASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar at UTC+07:00, and leaving the less populous eastern Indonesia at UTC+09:00.^{[citation needed]} 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, while eastern islands of Indonesia would remain at UTC+09:00—in sync with Japan, South Korea, North Korea, East Timor and Palau.

Some regional businesses have already begun adopting the phrase "ASEAN Common Time", also using the abbreviation ACT, in their press releases, communications, and legal documents. The idea has since been under discussion by ASEAN, with Singapore supporting it strongly.^[6][7]

List

ASEAN relation	Country	UTC offset	Time Zone Abbreviation[8]	Notes	Ref
ASEAN members	Myanmar	+06:30	MMT	Some experts suggest that moving to UTC+07:00, rather than UTC+08:00, would be a more natural change.	Myanmar Standard Time
	Thailand	+07:00	ICT	Tried unsuccessfully to switch to UTC+08:00 in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The issue remains under discussion.	Time in Thailand
	Laos				Time in Laos
	Vietnam			From 13 June 1975 after reunification.	Time in Vietnam
	Cambodia				Time in Cambodia
	Indonesia	+07:00	WIB	A single national time zone of UTC+08:00 has been proposed, however, it is unclear when or if it may be implemented.[9]	Time in Indonesia
		+08:00	WITA
		+09:00	WIT
	Singapore	+08:00	SGT/SST	Followed Malaysia to switch to UTC+08:00 on 1 January 1982,[10] except under Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II.	Singapore Time
	Malaysia		MYT/MST	Peninsular Malaysia switched from UTC+07:30 on 1 January 1982,[10] and East Malaysia uses it since 1933, except under Japanese occupation during World War II.	Time in Malaysia
	Brunei		BNT/BDT		Time in Brunei
	Philippines		PHT/PST	First implemented on 1 January 1845 by redrawing the International Date Line.[note 1][11][12] It became permanent on 29 July 1990 when the country ended the use of daylight saving time, then set at UTC+09:00.[13]	Philippine Standard Time
ASEAN observer states	Timor-Leste	+09:00	TLT		Time in Timor-Leste
	Papua New Guinea	+10:00	PGT		Time in Papua New Guinea
		+11:00	BST
ASEAN Plus Three	Japan	+09:00	JST		Japan Standard Time
	South Korea		KST		Time in South Korea
	China	+08:00	CST		Time in China

External links

• "Press Statement The First Informal ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting Jakarta". 30 November 1996. Archived from the original on 14 February 2006.
• "Joint Communique of The 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Jakarta, 20-21 July 1996". Archived from the original on 8 January 2006.
• Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (7 August 2004). "Towards an ASEAN Community". Archived from the original on 17 October 2004.

See also

• Time in Southeast Asia
  • Myanmar Standard Time
  • Philippine Standard Time
  • Singapore Time
  • Time in Brunei
  • Time in Cambodia
  • Time in Indonesia
  • Time in Laos
  • Time in Malaysia
  • Time in Thailand
  • Time in Vietnam

Notes

1. The Philippines was one day behind neighboring countries in Asia since Ferdinand Magellan's arrival on 16 March 1521, then later claimed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España) known as Spanish Empire on 27 April 1565 until Mexico's independence on 27 September 1821. More than two decades later, on 16 August 1844, then Governor-General Narciso Claveria reformed the Philippines calendar by removing Tuesday, 31 December 1844, to align with the rest of Asia. Monday, 30 December 1844 was immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845. The change also applied to Caroline Islands, Guam, Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands and Palau for being part of the Captaincy General of the Philippines during those times.