Mr. Adirek Sripratak (Forth from right), Chairman of the Executive Committee of Charoen Pokphand Foods, and Mr. Sooksunt Jiumjaiswanglerg (Third from left), Chief Executive Officer – Agro Industrial Business and Co-President, visited US-based Overhill Farms’ production plant in California. It is a subsidiary of Bellisio Foods, a leading frozen foods manufacturer and distributor owned by CP Foods. The company produces custom manufacturer of high quality prepared frozen foods for customers in the branded retail, private label and foodservice sectors across United States. Mr.Terry O’Brien (Forth from left), President of Overhill Farms, and Mr. Boonchai Opas-Iam-Likit (Second from left), US Business Chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, jointly welcomed the executive group.
Park Hyatt Bangkok Wins Best Hotel in Thailand (Sponsored)
BANGKOK — Park Hyatt Bangkok is delighted to acknowledge and accept DestinAsian’s “Best Hotel In Thailand Award”, announced in Singapore on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2019.
The award is all the more welcome as the Park Hyatt brand in general has made a big impression throughout the region with Park Hyatt hotels also winning the top awards in Japan, South Korea and Australia, making it the most awarded single hospitality group.
“The number of repeat winners this year reflects the staying power of established brands, but at the same time it’s wonderful to see new entries like Park Hyatt Bangkok.”
“We are very gratified to see the people who count, guests, appreciating the Park Hyatt brand presence across major cities in Asia and especially thrilled to have the first Park Hyatt in Thailand win this award after less than two years operation,” declared the hotel’s General Manager, Michael Golden.
The 14th annual DestinAsian Readers’ Choice Awards (RCA) ran from August 1 to October 31, 2018, and had a total of 3,384 respondents.
The full results can be found in the February/March 2019 print issue of the magazine and published online at www.destinasian.com/RCA2019.
For more information and reservations for personalised stays, please email [email protected]
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Democrats Accuse Prayuth of Illegal Canvassing
BANGKOK — Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called upon election regulators Monday to investigate whether junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha has abused his office to canvass for votes.
At a campaign stop this morning, Abhisit slammed the incumbent prime minister’s Saturday visit to the Chatuchak Weekend Market where he greeted vendors in a campaign-style appearance. Abhisit said it was little different than the type of campaigning that Prayuth is forbidden from engaging under election law.
“When I saw the news, I wasn’t sure how the prime minister’s field trip could be related to running the government,” Abhisit said while campaigning in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district. “Since Gen. Prayuth decided not to resign, he should focus on working on policy and solving existing problems. But from what I’ve seen, his visits didn’t solve any problems.”
He also told reporters the Election Commission should look into the case. Abhisit and other politicos have long accused Gen. Prayuth of breaking the law set by his own government, which bans the use of political office to canvass for the March 24 poll.
“My main point is: Why don’t we properly stick to the standard?” Abhisit said. “We want to progress like other civilized countries, but that will be difficult to do if we don’t enforce standards in our politics.”
Apart from holding office as the prime minister, Prayuth has been nominated to return as prime minister by the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat Party.
Phalang Pracharat spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana today disputed Abhisit’s claim. Thanakorn said the junta leader was merely listening to the people in order to find solutions for their problems.
“If a prime minister’s visit to help the people is taking advantage, I wouldn’t know what to do,” Thanakorn told reporters. “And the party will not engage in this debate, because the people won’t benefit from it. I believe the people understand that Prayuth has worked hard for them.”
But Prayuth got a note of support from an unlikely source: the Pheu Thai Party, which routinely lashes out at the junta, defended his appearance as legitimate.
Speaking at a Sunday rally, Chalerm Yoobamrung said he’s “not narrow-minded like the Democrats.”
“Even though I disagree with the coup, now that he has his name as a prime minister candidate, visits are normal,” Chalerm said. “But the losers here are the Phalang Pracharat, because they don’t have the talent to campaign on their own. No one listens to them.”
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Scorcher 2019: Summer of Heat Ignites This Week
BANGKOK — Summer officially begins Thursday and will be even hotter than last year, according to the national weather service.
Temperatures during the hottest period of the year to end mid-May will average 1C to 2C higher than 2018, the Meteorological Department said. The north and central provinces will feel the most heat.
While most areas in the north and northeast could see highs of about 40C, temperatures in Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Uttaradit, Sukhothai, Tak, Nakhon Sawan and Kanchanaburi provinces could peak at 43C. Still, Mae Hong Son City is unlikely to top what was its hottest day ever three years ago when temperatures spiked to 44.6C.
The capital is expected to simmer at up to 39C and could see thunderstorms in some periods.
The swelter in the south is likewise forecast to hit highs of 39C, with more rain and storms coming in late April.
Unicorns Are Real: Indonesian Candidate Baffled by Tech
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s presidential candidates debated some of the most pressing issues facing the world’s third-largest democracy: dilapidated infrastructure, struggling farmers, forest fires — and unicorns.
When President Joko Widodo, who is seeking a second term, asked challenger Prabowo Subianto about his policies for supporting Indonesian unicorns a look of bafflement passed across the former general’s face.
Wondering aloud, he replied: “What are unicorns? You mean those online things?” Widodo sagely nodded in the affirmative before Subianto explained he supports online businesses.
Subianto was probably not alone in his ignorance, but social media in Indonesia gleefully seized on Sunday night’s exchange as proof of his lack of qualification to be president.
In the tech world, a unicorn is a start-up company valued at USD$1 billion. Indonesia has several of them, and they are transforming areas of the national economy such as transport and shopping.
Twitter and Facebook were awash with unicorn memes after the debate.
In one, juxtaposed photos of Widodo and Subianto with thought bubbles above their heads showed Widodo projecting tech start-up logos and Subianto imagining the magical horned horse creature.
Sunday night’s debate was the second of five televised face-offs between the opposing campaigns before April’s election.
Opinion polls show Widodo about 20 percentage points ahead of Subianto. The former general, who is campaigning on a Trump-style Indonesia First platform, narrowly lost to Widodo in the 2014 election.
After the debate started, smoke and the sound of an explosion caused panic near the venue in central Jakarta. City police are investigating and said it was probably firecrackers. No one was injured.
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Checks, Tie-Dye, Baby Dolls: It’s All at London Fashion Week
LONDON — From young talents like Alexa Chung and Simone Rocha to London design veteran Jasper Conran, London Fashion Week showed off a diverse range of womenswear ideas for the upcoming autumn and winter season with a busy day of catwalk shows Saturday.
The spectacle is bringing much needed color and verve as gray London shakes off its winter blues amid the first hints of warmer weather. A look at some highlights:
House of Holland
London may not have Paris’s haute couture or Milan’s grand fashion houses, but the British capital has always been proud to be the wild child on the style front.
That irreverent, street-wise London sass was on full display at House of Holland’s show, where designer Henry Holland threw together ’80s power dressing, Asian dress details and loud, clashing tie-dye prints for his latest collection.
Holland said the show was all about the rebellious, and indeed these were flamboyant, look-at-me statement clothes. Models opened Saturday’s show with tailored coats and jackets in the traditional Prince of Wales check – albeit in bright orange and paired with slinky green velvet animal prints.
Then came everything from patchwork print kaftans, oversized silky pussy bow neckties to denim overalls, all worn with berets, clunky platform boots and plenty of attitude.
Quilted jackets and miniskirts, Mandarin collars and obi tie belts brought an Asian aesthetic. The designer emphasized a “global citizen” as his show’s theme and incorporated traditional Cambodian textile techniques into the urban mix.
Monastic Chic at Jasper Conran
Who knew monks’ garbs could be so fashionable?
High necks, long sleeves, dropped waistlines, skirts that brush the calf or ankle: Veteran designer Jasper Conran took inspiration from “monastic” shapes with a new collection of utilitarian, sleek tunics and dresses that quietly exuded sophistication rather than screamed glamour.
Conran, a founding father of London Fashion Week, dialed down his signature flair for color for the upcoming autumn and winter season, opting instead for a mostly severe palette of earthy browns, rust, mustard and indigo.
The designer focused on dresses that rival the comfort of sportswear. Some outfits – like several brown-all-over sweater dresses – bring to mind something a friar might wear. But Conran always kept things modern with a thigh-high side slit here, a slashed neckline there, a bright sporty piping or geometric color blocks.
Conran ditched the covered-up look for the show’s final section, a collection of architectural column gowns. The colors are still understated here, but bare shoulders and sheer organza panels brought out the drama.
Simone Rocha Impresses With Imaginative Show
Designer Simone Rocha turned in a bold, confident show impressive for its variety and thoughtfulness. Even American Vogue editor Anna Wintour skipped her signature sunglasses for a closer look at the stunning array of ensembles.
Rocha seems to grow in stature each year, earning her reputation as one of the major new talents on the London scene. She said the theme Saturday was “intimacy, privacy, security, femininity.”
There was no single look to the show, but Rocha did experiment with outfits that used sparkly bras or camisole tops on top of dresses. Elaborate coat-dresses, some with gauzy skirts, appeared, along with ethereal, pale pink dresses and one extremely gaudy gold number.
A series of gorgeous, black-themed floral dresses, many tiaras, some whimsical Alice In Wonderland dresses and updated baby doll outfits also turned up.
Rocha’s approach was playful, but her fashion intent was serious, and she made a point of using some slightly older models and also ones who were not rail-thin.
She said after the show that she had asked many of her close model friends if they would take part in a show about intimacy and exposure.
“Last season was all about my family, and by the end of it I felt so exposed, like telling everybody about my aunties and uncles,” she said. “I felt like I needed to look in, and I looked at all these photographs of women being exposed.”
Alexa Chung Shows Quirky Classics
Model and TV presenter Alexa Chung has a loyal fan base and her many admirers flocked to Saturday’s show in London’s redeveloped King’s Cross neighborhood. They weren’t disappointed as Chung offered a new collection featuring her quirky, feminine take on classic designs.
For her second London Fashion Week show, called “Off the Grid,” the designer announced she had lost all interest in “prettiness” and was imagining a “gaggle of women” who have retreated to California’s Big Sur coastal wilderness to regroup.
Some of the models wear long coats with matching head scarves that are evocative of the American prairie. Many of the deceptively simple dresses emphasize the shoulders, giving the women an outline of physical strength, and much of the outerwear is masculine in style, particularly a forest green suit.
Chung showed an easy, eclectic touch in a collection that included long black coats, several sexy gold dresses, and a few beautiful green midi dresses, including one that she wore to the show.
Story: Sylvia Hui, Gregory Katz
Opinion: Prayuth Returns as Only Viable Anti-Thaksin Candidate
Former Princess Ubolratana Mahidol’s short-lived bid to become prime minister – which ended when a royal command opposing her candidacy was issued Feb. 8 – revived the anti-Thaksin Shinawatra camp.
Many who oppose the exiled former prime minister and supported the coup that ousted his sister’s Pheu Thai government in May 2014, have become disappointed at junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha. But Ubolratana’s surprise nomination by Thai Raksa Chart party – a new pro-Thaksin party with some key Pheu Thai party members – has stoked fears that the ousted leader might again pull the strings of power from backstage in the March general elections.
The fact that the pro-Thaksin party has the support of an immediate member of the royal family frightened royalists who hate the fugitive former premier. Now – like never since the May 2014 coup – those opposing the ousted leader feel threatened and will likely support Prayuth and the pro-junta Palang Pracharat party in the upcoming poll, as the coupmaker is the only viable anti-Thaksin candidate.
Trying to frame what’s coming in a new light as a result of the Feb. 8 events, Palang Pracharat Party deputy leader Suvit Maesincee wrote on a Tuesday Facebook post that to support Prayuth and his party is to stop the Thaksin-proxy parties from regaining power.
Another pro-junta anti-Thaksin party – Action Coalition for Thailand – is also expected to gain more support for its rabid stance against the former premier and its ultra-royalist ideology. The party’s executive member Anek Laothamatas also posted Tuesday on Facebook questioning the framing of elections as being a showdown between pro-versus-anti-junta forces. Instead, Anek sees them as a showdown between pro- versus anti-monarchy forces.
Their rationale is that by bringing Ubolratana into politics, no matter how briefly, the former princess had taken a stance in support of the pro-Thaksin camp – regarded by self-styled ultra-royalists as being anti-monarchic. They see it as a way to sow division within the royal family. It’s a fact that Ubolratana’s candidacy – which lasted 14 hours before the royal command calling it “highly inappropriate” and unconstitutional was televised – led to both criticism and sympathy for her. Suddenly the public were made to decide whether they support Ubolratana’s candidacy – and one of the key determinants was whether they supported or opposed Thaksin.
Anti-Thaksin camps viewed the coup rumors which spread widely Sunday night – and a fake junta order firing leaders of the armed forces – as a psychological game by the fugitive premier’s supporters to confuse, instil societal chaos and divide the military and the military government.
For those subscribing to this narrative, March 24 will see another epic electoral showdown.
The junta seems to be enjoying the windfall now – combined with the unfair rules of the constitution its rubber-stamped parliament drafted, which enable Prayuth to select all the 250 upper house senators. Given that the upper house will also be allowed to vote the prime minister, pro-junta camps will only need 126 of 500 lower house MPs to reinstall Prayuth as the head of government.
On the other hand, the anti-junta camp is split. Future Forward Party is keeping its distance from pro-Thaksin camps and the Constitutional Court looks likely to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart party in the coming days for dragging the monarchy into politics through Ubolratana’s failed candidacy. This leaves the pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai and Pheu Chart parties to pick up the pieces left by the past week’s political tsunami.
Viral Video Uses Pooches to Explain Dog-Eat-Dog Thai Elections
BANGKOK — An amusing and educational animation explaining how the March 24 Thai elections will work – through dog cartoons – was going viral Saturday.
Facebook page Nual the Dog posted an eight-minute animated video Friday night of dogs voting and running for parties, which today had been liked more than 13,000 times and shared more than 14,000.
“The Poodle Party looked as if it was going to win. If they get seats through the party-list system, then it’s ggez for them,” the white dog Nual says, using gaming slang for an easy win to explain why the junta changed the voting system for this election to disadvantage the Pheu Thai paty.
Not only is Thailand’s recent election history explained through dogs, there’s also a simple and easy explanation of gerrymandering and the party-list electoral system – which Thailand used before – and the mixed-member apportionment system, which will be used in March.
Voters will get one vote to choose both their representative and party. MP seats will then be proportionally allocated by party – giving more power to smaller parties. The video explains that because the 250 junta-appointed senators will be allowed to vote for the prime minister and automatically choose incumbent Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, he will only need 25 percent of the vote in the elected lower house – the House of Representatives – to win.
The Pheu Thai party is represented by a pink poodle, with one part of the video even showing an uncanny likeness between it and the party’s prime minister candidate Sudarat Keyuraphan. The Democrat Party are suited Corgis. The ruling junta – called the “municipal gang” in the video – are represented as dogcatchers. Firebrand politico Suthep Thaugsuban’s party is briefly represented as a bulldog with a whistle around its neck, in reference to him leading street protests which paved the way for the 2014 coup.
“You can feel hopeless with the system, and that’s your right. But if you don’t exercise your voting rights, when there’s something fucked up or stupid corruption happening later, know that your apathy contributed to that crappiness,” Nual said.
“You gotta choose the MPs you want to represent you. The money they’re using is your money,” Nual said. “If you’re one of the dogs that want change, please go vote. A dog is begging you.”
Nual added that the clip had not been sponsored by any political party.
Related stories:
Thai Election for Dummies: Find Your Polling Place, Candidates – Right Now
Thai Election for Dummies: Guide to the Parties
Thai Election for Dummies: How, When, Where to Cast Your Vote
Court Orders Voice TV Back On Air
Update Feb. 27: The Administrative Court on Wednesday lifted the 15-day ban of Voice TV ordered by the broadcast regulator. The channel has remained on air while the case was considered.
BANGKOK — A TV channel authorities ordered off the air earlier this week was back Friday due to a court ruling.
The Administrative Court ruled at 9pm that Voice TV could continue broadcasting after the National Broadcasting and Communication Commission ordered the channel off the air on Monday.
The court said ordering Voice TV off the air would result in “irreparable” and “difficult to recall” losses for the channel and loss of trust from its viewers.
The court ruled that the Thai constitution included the protection of press freedom, and that broadcasters could only be ordered off the air if their content broke Article 37 of the Broadcasting and Television Businesses Act of B.E. 2551.
The act states that broadcasters can be suspended only if their content “supports the destruction of democracy with the King as its head of state or affects national security and public order and morals.”
Such content could be ordered amended or have the broadcaster’s rights revoked.
The National Broadcasting Communication Commission can file an appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days, if displeased with the Administrative Court’s decision.
Voice TV was founded by Panthongtae “Oak” Shinawatra, son of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and a member of the Pheu Thai party. Since the May 2014 coup, the channel has been targeted by shutdowns 18 times, according to Voice’s online editor Pinpaka Ngamsom.
“The authorities want to shut citizens’ eyes and ears as the election draws near. They think they can do anything they want,” Facebook user Langsuan Panyutphoom commented Friday on a news article about the channel resuming its broadcast.
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Trump Claims Japan’s PM Nominated Him for Nobel Peace Prize
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump claimed Friday that Japan’s prime minister had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for opening a dialogue with North Korea.
Trump also complained about President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and doubted he would be similarly honored.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize,” Trump said at a White House news conference when asked about his late February summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “He said, ‘I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'”
The Associated Press could not immediately confirm Trump’s claim.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it was aware of Trump’s remark but cannot comment on details of the exchanges between Trump and Abe.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who also has credited Trump with starting negotiations with the reclusive North, has endorsed the U.S. leader for the Nobel Peace Prize as well.
Trump said early exchanges with Kim were filled with “fire and fury,” but that the two have established a good relationship since their first meeting last year in Singapore. He said claimed Abe nominated him because he was worried about North Korea conducting missile tests over Japan.
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, his first year in office, for laying out the U.S. commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Trump complained Friday that Obama was there “for about 15 seconds” before he was awarded the prize.
“I’ll probably never get it, but that’s OK,” Trump said. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for.”
Story: Deb Riechman
