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TheASEAN Common Time (ACT) is a proposal to adopt astandard time for allAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations member states.[1][2] It was proposed in 1995 bySingapore, and in 2004 and 2015 byMalaysia to make business across countries easier.[3][4] The proposal failed because of opposition inThailand andCambodia:[3][5] Thais and Cambodians argued thatUTC+08:00 was not better thanUTC+07:00, which is the current time zone of their countries.[3]
Currently, there are four different time zones used by ASEAN countries.UTC+06:30 (Myanmar);UTC+07:00 (Cambodia,Laos,Thailand,Vietnam, andWestern Indonesia);UTC+08:00 (Brunei,Central Indonesia,Malaysia,Philippines, andSingapore); andUTC+09:00 (Eastern Indonesia andTimor-Leste).
The proposal would instituteUTC+08:00 as theASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar atUTC+07:00, and leaving the less populous easternIndonesia atUTC+09:00.[citation needed] This would result in the vast majority of the region's people and territory lining up atUTC+08:00—in sync withChina,Hong Kong,Macau,Taiwan, andWestern Australia, while eastern islands of Indonesia would remain atUTC+09:00—in sync withJapan,South Korea,North Korea,East Timor andPalau.
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]
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