Dear ST reader, 

We hope you’ve been keeping well. 

It’s less than two weeks to go before the US presidential election but Asia’s own politics is keeping it busy.

In Indonesia, President Prabowo Subianto unveiled a 48-minister Cabinet hours after his inauguration on Sunday (Oct 20), a move that’s aimed at shoring up support from his myriad backers but could slow down decision-making, analysts tell Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja.

Meanwhile, Japan is getting ready for its snap election this Sunday, for 465 parliamentary seats. Several pollsters have forecast a hung Parliament, reports Walter Sim, which would be a stunning repudiation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s one-month-old government. 

Turning to geopolitics, Asian giants China and India took a step this week to thaw their frosty relations via a patrolling and disengagement agreement for their disputed frontier in the Himalayan region. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi later met on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Russia, which was seen as a reaffirmation of this breakthrough in ties, report Michelle Ng and Nirmala Ganapathy.

On the business front, Bhavan Jaipragas discusses the soft skills needed to revive Hong Kong’s economy, while Vikram Khanna explores whether Dubai is really “Singapore on steroids”.

Also read Aqil Hamzah’s missive from Jakarta on jasa keliling, the city’s vendors on wheels who mend your shirt or take your blood pressure, conveniently at your doorstep.