ASEAN Common Time

Proposed time zone for southeast Asia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

More information Country, UTC offset ...
ASEAN relationCountryUTC offsetTime Zone
Abbreviation[8]
NotesRef
ASEAN members Myanmar+06:30MMTSome experts suggest that moving to UTC+07:00, rather than UTC+08:00, would be a more natural change.Myanmar Standard Time
 Thailand+07:00ICTTried unsuccessfully to switch to UTC+08:00 in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The issue remains under discussion.Time in Thailand
 LaosTime in Laos
 VietnamFrom 13 June 1975 after reunification.Time in Vietnam
 CambodiaTime in Cambodia
 Indonesia+07:00WIBA 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
+08:00WITA
+09:00WIT
 Singapore+08:00SGT/SSTFollowed Malaysia to switch to UTC+08:00 on 1 January 1982,[10] except under Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II.Singapore Time
 MalaysiaMYT/MSTPeninsular 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
 BruneiBNT/BDTTime in Brunei
 PhilippinesPHT/PSTFirst 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+09:00TLTTime in Timor-Leste
 Papua New Guinea+10:00PGTTime in Papua New Guinea
+11:00BST
ASEAN Plus Three Japan+09:00JSTJapan Standard Time
 South KoreaKSTTime in South Korea
 China+08:00CSTTime in China
Close
  • "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

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.

    References

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