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:[5] Thais and Cambodians argued that was not better than, which is the current time zone of their countries.
Currently, there are four different time zones used by ASEAN countries. (Myanmar); (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and western Indonesia); (Brunei, central Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore); and (eastern Indonesia).
The proposal would institute as the ASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar at, and leaving the less populous eastern Indonesia at . This would result in the vast majority of the region's people and territory lining up at —in sync with China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Western Australia, while eastern islands of Indonesia would remain at —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]
| ASEAN relation | Country | Time Zone Abbreviation[8] | Notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMT | Some experts suggest that moving to, rather than, would be a more natural change. | Myanmar Standard Time | |||
| ICT | Tried unsuccessfully to switch to in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The issue remains under discussion. | Time in Thailand | |||
| Time in Laos | |||||
| From 13 June 1975 after reunification | Time in Vietnam | ||||
| Time in Cambodia | |||||
| +07:00 | WIB | A single national time zone of has been proposed, however, it is unclear when or if it may be implemented.[9] | Time in Indonesia | ||
| WITA | |||||
| WIT | |||||
| SGT/SST | Followed Malaysia to switch to UTC+08:00 on 1 January 1982,[10] except for Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. | Singapore Time | |||
| MYT/MST | Peninsular Malaysia switched from on 1 January 1982, and East Malaysia uses it since 1933, except for the Japanese Occupation during World War II. | Time in Malaysia | |||
| BNT/BDT | Time in Brunei | ||||
| PHT/PST | First implemented on 1 January 1845 by redrawing the International Date Line.[11] [12] It became permanent on 29 July 1990 when the country ended the use of daylight saving time, then set at .[13] | ||||
| TLT | Time in Timor-Leste | ||||
| PGT | Time in Papua New Guinea | ||||
| BST | |||||
| JST | Japan Standard Time | ||||
| KST | Time in South Korea | ||||
| CST | Time in China |