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Especially because it sounds like the Philippines is pushing for a 4 day workweek, but the rest of SEA is asking people to work from home, use less AC, take the

Especially because it sounds like the Philippines is pushing for a 4 day workweek, but the rest of SEA is asking people to work from home, use less AC, take the stairs…

alephnerd 7mo ago
It's also Vietnam, Thailand, and unofficially Pakistan. The reality is the bigger Asian nations like China, India, SK, and Japan that worked on building resilient alternatives after the 2022-23 ONG shock due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine aren't as dramatically impacted. The others didn't or were hit by other crises at the same time. For example, in Pakistan's case, their government raised fuel taxes by around 33% because they didn't meet their IMF loan terms [0] but somehow found $11M to buy a private jet [1] for the CM of Punjab who is also the niece of the PM and the daughter of the former PM and Pakistan is in the middle of a war with Afghanistan [2]. Edit: can't reply > gas cylinder booking... The gas cylinder/LPG issue is due to consumer habits - induction and electric stovetops have been available in India for decades, but there has been a cultural aversion to adopting electric. Even Indian Americans in the US prefer using Gas Stovetops over Electric for cultural reasons (eg. I've had my parents say the "taste" of food is worse on electric instead of gas stovetops despite living here since Clinton was president). And dhabas and restaurants used to use coal briquettes or kerosene until those were banned in the 2000s-2010s for pollution reasons (much help that did /s) and to promote LNG and CNG, and will most likely revert back to those. Additionally, India has shifted from Qatari to Omani LNG [3], which was what India was already using before the India-Qatar FTA led to a diplomatic thaw between the two. It's the same situation in Vietnam as well. > freight is pretty much fucked Indian diesel prices are being subsidized and kept constant [4]. That said, this is a good forcing function to begin India's shift to electric trucks. And freight and passenger rail is already around 98-99% electrified in India [5] which reduces the need for diesel. [0] - https://www.dawn.com/news/1979709 https://www.dawn.com/news/1979709 [1] - https://www.arabnews.com/node/26978/pakistan https://www.arabnews.com/node/26978/pakistan [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakistan_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakis... [3] - https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-gail-buys-oman-lng-cargo-sources-say-2026-03-11/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-gail-buys-oman... [4] - https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/petrol-diesel-prices-to-remain-stable-despite-iran-war-risks-government-sources-11204150 https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/petrol-diesel-prices-to-rema... [5] - https://infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/railways/indian-railways-achieves-near-100-electrification-reduces-diesel-use-by-62/128239209 https://infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/railways/ind...
- fakedang 7mo ago
  There's currently a gas crisis in India. A country that had a $10 billion investment in an Iranian port to trade oil and gas directly with them, except they decided to become America's bitch and halted the project after American sanctions. Anyways, everyone's affected - gas cylinder booking requests which usually take a couple of days to fulfill currently have a 30 day period to fulfill in some major cities. Roadside vendors are shutting down temporarily, as are many restaurants. At least EVs have had a good success rate in adoption, so commuting isn't as much affected. But freight is pretty much fucked. Again, this is a country that could have gotten a sweetheart deal from Iran, just like China, but apparently decided to become a little bitch.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - throwaway473825 7mo ago
    Freight will eventually go electric as well. It's crazy how fast it's happening in China: https://www.electrive.com/2026/01/23/year-end-surge-electric-trucks-outsell-diesel-for-the-first-time-in-china/ https://www.electrive.com/2026/01/23/year-end-surge-electric...
    - mschuster91 7mo ago
      > It's crazy how fast it's happening in China The benefits of living in an authoritarian state. The CCP says "we will provide for cheap electric trucks" and it happens, no matter if that displaces tens, if not hundreds of thousands of workers in ICE car manufacturers.
    - fakedang 7mo ago
      But until that happens in India, the country's freight is still dependent on oil prices.
  - garyfirestorm 7mo ago
    Poverty doesn’t have the luxury to choose or take moral stands. When a dollar worth oil price fluctuation can lead to thousands going hungry for a day, you as a leader will do everything to avoid catastrophic sanctions.

Especially because it sounds like the Philippines is pushing for a 4 day workweek, but the rest of SEA is asking people to work from home, use less AC, take the stairs…

alephnerd 7mo ago

It's also Vietnam, Thailand, and unofficially Pakistan. The reality is the bigger Asian nations like China, India, SK, and Japan that worked on building resilient alternatives after the 2022-23 ONG shock due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine aren't as dramatically impacted. The others didn't or were hit by other crises at the same time. For example, in Pakistan's case, their government raised fuel taxes by around 33% because they didn't meet their IMF loan terms [0] but somehow found $11M to buy a private jet [1] for the CM of Punjab who is also the niece of the PM and the daughter of the former PM and Pakistan is in the middle of a war with Afghanistan [2]. Edit: can't reply > gas cylinder booking... The gas cylinder/LPG issue is due to consumer habits - induction and electric stovetops have been available in India for decades, but there has been a cultural aversion to adopting electric. Even Indian Americans in the US prefer using Gas Stovetops over Electric for cultural reasons (eg. I've had my parents say the "taste" of food is worse on electric instead of gas stovetops despite living here since Clinton was president). And dhabas and restaurants used to use coal briquettes or kerosene until those were banned in the 2000s-2010s for pollution reasons (much help that did /s) and to promote LNG and CNG, and will most likely revert back to those. Additionally, India has shifted from Qatari to Omani LNG [3], which was what India was already using before the India-Qatar FTA led to a diplomatic thaw between the two. It's the same situation in Vietnam as well. > freight is pretty much fucked Indian diesel prices are being subsidized and kept constant [4]. That said, this is a good forcing function to begin India's shift to electric trucks. And freight and passenger rail is already around 98-99% electrified in India [5] which reduces the need for diesel. [0] - https://www.dawn.com/news/1979709 https://www.dawn.com/news/1979709 [1] - https://www.arabnews.com/node/26978/pakistan https://www.arabnews.com/node/26978/pakistan [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakistan_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakis... [3] - https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-gail-buys-oman-lng-cargo-sources-say-2026-03-11/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-gail-buys-oman... [4] - https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/petrol-diesel-prices-to-remain-stable-despite-iran-war-risks-government-sources-11204150 https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/petrol-diesel-prices-to-rema... [5] - https://infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/railways/indian-railways-achieves-near-100-electrification-reduces-diesel-use-by-62/128239209 https://infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/railways/ind...

fakedang 7mo ago
There's currently a gas crisis in India. A country that had a $10 billion investment in an Iranian port to trade oil and gas directly with them, except they decided to become America's bitch and halted the project after American sanctions. Anyways, everyone's affected - gas cylinder booking requests which usually take a couple of days to fulfill currently have a 30 day period to fulfill in some major cities. Roadside vendors are shutting down temporarily, as are many restaurants. At least EVs have had a good success rate in adoption, so commuting isn't as much affected. But freight is pretty much fucked. Again, this is a country that could have gotten a sweetheart deal from Iran, just like China, but apparently decided to become a little bitch.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- throwaway473825 7mo ago
  Freight will eventually go electric as well. It's crazy how fast it's happening in China: https://www.electrive.com/2026/01/23/year-end-surge-electric-trucks-outsell-diesel-for-the-first-time-in-china/ https://www.electrive.com/2026/01/23/year-end-surge-electric...
  - mschuster91 7mo ago
    > It's crazy how fast it's happening in China The benefits of living in an authoritarian state. The CCP says "we will provide for cheap electric trucks" and it happens, no matter if that displaces tens, if not hundreds of thousands of workers in ICE car manufacturers.
  - fakedang 7mo ago
    But until that happens in India, the country's freight is still dependent on oil prices.
- garyfirestorm 7mo ago
  Poverty doesn’t have the luxury to choose or take moral stands. When a dollar worth oil price fluctuation can lead to thousands going hungry for a day, you as a leader will do everything to avoid catastrophic sanctions.