Residents in Kanchanaburi Province hold signs asking about a digital wallet scheme to welcome Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's visit in December 2023.
BANGKOK – The 10,000 baht top-up scheme via digital wallets for people has made headlines once again, with Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin confirming that the project will begin paying eligible citizens in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The prime minister simply replied to journalists’ questions about the source of the 500 billion baht financing for the project, saying, “Please wait for details to be made clear on April 10.”
The Prime Minister started the Digital Wallet Policy Committee meeting at Government House on March 27 by asking about the Governor of the Bank of Thailand, Setthaput Suthiwat Narueput, who was not present. According to reports, he disagreed with the Prime Minister over interest rate policy, which the Bank of Thailand refused to cut despite the government’s request to benefit the people.
Ronadon Numnon, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Thailand for Financial Institution Stability, stated, “The governor is on a mission abroad, sir.” The Prime Minister nodded in acceptance and began the discussion.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin presides over the digital wallets policy committee meeting at the Government House on March 27, 2024.
He highlighted that the Thai economy has been developing below its potential for a long time and is facing internal and global challenges, such as unequal income recovery following the pandemic, and that the interest burden remains high at all times. Therefore, economic stimulus measures are essential.
“I’d want to emphasise the 10,000 baht top-up scheme using digital wallet. It is one of the short-term steps that will assist raise the amount of money circulating in the economy, which will then be distributed to people. As a result, the Prime Minister stated, “This project should be driven and pushed to become concrete as soon as possible.”
He then directed the project’s responsible organizations, including the Ministry of Finance, to study and prepare specifics that were consistent with the situation and the precautions or opinions provided by various agencies. Each of the stages required by law and regulations must be carried out in a transparent and verified manner, with the state maintaining rigid fiscal discipline.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin presides over the digital wallets policy committee meeting at the Government House on March 27, 2024.
He also directed the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the Digital Government Board to outline the system’s progress and readiness for open or open-loop participation by financial institutions and wallet business operators in the initiative.
The Royal Thai Police is in charge of setting up a framework for investigations, accepting complaints and accusations, and imposing the refunds.
The Prime Minister stated that on April 10, all parties will reach a conclusion and bring it to the Cabinet for discussion. He also reiterated the timeline, previously disclosed by Deputy Finance Minister Chulaphan Amornvivat: retailers and the general public will start registering in the third quarter. The people will receive the money in the fourth quarter.
“All sectors have agreed, including the Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Governor of the Bank of Thailand. So wait for the good news on April 10,” added the Prime Minister.
Last year’s election, the Pheu Thai Party’s main campaign policy was its digital wallet initiative. However, independent organisations and fiscal experts have questioned its practices. The National Anti-Corruption Commission has put the project on hold to conduct a review. However, people in many areas continue to question the prime minister during his visits.
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FILE - Participants hold a rainbow flag during a Pride Parade in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
BANGKOK (AP) — Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.
The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of Representatives who were in attendance, with 10 voting against it, two abstaining and three not voting.
The bill amends the Civil and Commercial Code to change the words “men and women” and “husband and wife” to “individuals” and “marriage partners.” It would open up access to full legal, financial and medical rights for LGBTQ+ couples.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which rarely rejects any legislation that passes the lower house, and then to the king for royal endorsement. This would make Thailand the first country or region in Southeast Asia to pass such a law and the third in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal.
The House of Representatives on March 27 passed the Same-Sex Marriage Bill to allow for same-sex marriage through its third reading by 399 votes against 10, 2 abstentions and 3 no vote. All will have the same rights, benefits and wefare. The minimum marriage age has also been raised to 18. (Khaosod Photo/Worapong Charoenpol.)
Danuphorn Punnakanta, a spokesperson of the governing Pheu Thai party and president of a committee overseeing the marriage equality bill, said in Parliament that the amendment is for “everyone in Thailand” regardless of their gender, and would not deprive heterosexual couples of any rights.
“For this law, we would like to return rights to the (LGBTQ+ group). We are not giving them rights. These are the fundamental rights that this group of people … has lost,” he said.
Lawmakers, however, did not approve inclusion of the word “parent” in addition to “father and mother” in the law, which activists said would limit the rights of some LGBTQ+ couples to form a family and raise children.
Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity but has struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law.
The new government led by Pheu Thai, which took office last year, has made marriage equality one of its main goals.
A model stands next to CHANGAN's electric vehicle "Deepal LO7" during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese electric vehicle makers are showcasing their latest models, including a flying car, as they take on global rivals at the Bangkok International Motor Show.
Companies like BYD, XPeng and Great Wall Motors are quickly growing their sales in Thailand, challenging longstanding market leaders like Toyota, Isuzu and Ford, as they expand exports across the globe.
And Thailand, one of the biggest markets in Southeast Asia, a region of more than 600 million people, has made developing its EV market a priority.
Tesla launched sales in late 2022, offering its popular Model 3 and Model Y at prices aimed at competing with rivals like China’s BYD.
BYD, or Build Your Dreams, displayed a wide range of its EV lineup, including its Dolphin, a pure EV that it says runs 490 kilometers (about 300 miles) on a single charge and is priced at 859,999 Thai baht ($23,700).
Visitors look at BYD’s electric vehicle “Sealion” during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi , Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
At the higher end of the spectrum is the Seal, promising 580 kilometers (about 360 miles) on a charge and costing nearly 1.6 million baht (about $44,000).
BYD sold 30,650 EVs in Thailand last year, followed by 12,777 sold by Neta, a brand of Chinese electric vehicle maker Hozon Auto, which is based in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. They were trailed by Tesla, British brand MG and Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor.
“It’s very colourful now. Many brands come in. I think this is very good and it’s looking very bright for the whole market of EV cars to be honest,” Pratarnwong Phornprapha, chief executive officer of the REVER Group, BYD’s distributor in Thailand, said in an interview.
Also at the show: VinFast, a Vietnamese newcomer that says it plans to expand sales of its EVs to 50 countries by the end of this year. It is building or planning factories in the U.S., India and Indonesia.
A Thai model poses next to Vinfast’s electric concept pickup trucks called “Wild” during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Neta has announced plans to begin assembling EVs in Thailand, and Great Wall Motor bought a former General Motors plant in Rayong, south of Bangkok, as a base for its expansion into Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s market for EVs accounted for just 0.5% of all EV sales globally, but nearly 60% of EV sales in Southeast Asia in 2022, ahead of both Vietnam and Indonesia, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.
Thailand is already an auto manufacturing hub, with strong sales especially of pickups that are widely used for taxi services, hauling equipment for people running food stalls and carrying farmers’ crops to markets.
The roads are jammed with a wide array of models, with a strong presence of Toyotas, Hondas, Isuzus, Fords, Nissans and Mercedes-Benz. There’s also a hefty share of luxury models such as Porsches and Maseratis.
The variety of automakers keen to win Thai customers was evident in the displays.
“The highlight this year would be that most automakers are joining us here, including Japanese, European and Chinese,” said Peeraphong Eamlumnow, an organizer of the show.
“If you compare to (motor shows in) other countries, in Japan, most of them would be Japanese brands. In Europe, most of them would be European auto-makers. But Thailand welcomes every country to invest and sell their products,” he said.
The show opened to the public on Wednesday.
Visitors look at Great Wall Motor’s electric vehicle “Poer Sahar” pickup truck during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thailand is working to quickly expand a nationwide network of charging stations to accommodate EVs, though most vehicles on the roads are still gasoline, diesel or LPG-fueled.
XPeng, a start-up based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, is another newcomer to an already overcrowded market back home. But Paramee Thingcharoen, its chief marketing officer, said the company saw plenty of opportunity and was testing the waters.
“We target the premium segment, however, in the very high tech products that we have to offer. We’re pretty confident that we have a wide space to enter the market with that positioning, and we’re not quite worried about the competition,” she said.
XPeng was displaying its XPeng AeroHT Voyager X2, a flying concept car.
The flying car can be flown in China but was only on display in Bangkok since the company does not have a license to fly it in Thailand, Paramee said.
“We believe the future mobility is not limited to only on wheels,” she said. “It can be a unicorn you can ride on in the future. It’s unlimited.”
B.Grimm Power joins in celebrating the Groundbreaking ceremony of NTT GDC’s new data center in Thailand, NTT Bangkok 3 Data Center (BKK3).
Mr. Attacha Atipongvanich (3rd from right), Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at B.Grimm Power Public Company Ltd., along with Mr. Chawalit Tippawanich (2nd from right), Chief Executive Officer of Amata U Company Ltd., and Mr. Junji Ozawa (Right), Head of Business Development Division at Sumitomo Corporation Thailand Ltd., had the honor of extending their congratulations at the Groundbreaking ceremony for NTT Global Data Centers (Thailand)’s esteemed business partners.
They were accompanied by Mr. Sutas Kongdumrongkiat (center), CEO of NTT Limited Thailand, and Mr. Suthipat Lueprasert (4th from right), CEO of NTT Global Data Centers (Thailand) Limited, in warmly welcoming the Groundbreaking ceremony of NTT Bangkok 3 Data Center (BKK3) in Thailand that is set to begin commercial operations in the second half of 2025 with 12MW of IT capacity across approximately 4,000 m² of IT space located in Amata City Industrial Estate in Chonburi.
Management list from left:
Mr. Kam Leung, Vice President of NTT Hyperscale & Enterprise Sales (APAC).
Mr. Chokchai Voraviwat, Senior Data Centre Operations Manager of NTT Global Data Centers (Thailand) Limited
Mr. Sanit Kashemsanta Na Ayudhaya, Senior Director, Network Services of NTT Limited Thailand.
Mr. Kenta Nishimura, Finance Director of NTT Global Data Centers (Thailand) Limited
Mr. Suthipat Lueprasert, CEO of NTT Global Data Centers (Thailand) Limited
Mr. Sutas Kongdumrongkiat, CEO of NTT Limited Thailand
Mr. Attacha Atipongvanich, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at B.Grimm Power Public Company Ltd.
Mr. Chawalit Tippawanich, Chief Executive Officer of Amata U Company Ltd.
Mr. Junji Ozawa, Head of Business Development Division at Sumitomo Corporation Thailand Ltd.
Newspaper front-pages are seen at a newsagent in London, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/David Cliff)
NEW YORK (AP) — A media frenzy was born on Feb. 27, when the hashtag #WhereIsKate exploded online with speculation about the whereabouts of Britain’s Princess of Wales. It opened a rabbit hole of amateur detective work, memes, bizarre theories and jokes — mixed with genuine concern about Kate’s health — into which thousands of people descended until her announcement last week that she was recovering from cancer.
The episode offered the royal family — and everyone else — a lesson in the modern world of online media: If your silence leaves an information vacuum, others will rush to fill it. And the results may be messy.
“The royal family’s mantra is never complain, never explain,” said Ellie Hall, a journalist who specializes in covering Britain’s king and his court. “That really doesn’t work in a digital age. It doesn’t take much to get the crazy things going.”
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales ahead of the State Banquet, for the state visit to the UK by President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee, at Buckingham Palace, London, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. (Yui Mok/Pool Photo via AP)
It was, in part, entertainment for some people with too much time on their hands. Except it involved real people with real lives — and, it turns out, real medical challenges.
Anatomy of an information vacuum
On Jan. 17, Kensington Palace announced that Kate was in the hospital recovering from a planned abdominal surgery and would not be doing any public events until after Easter. There was relatively little online chatter, or official updates, until it was announced on Feb. 27 that her husband, Prince William, would not be attending his godfather’s memorial service due to a “personal matter.”
That’s when the theorizing really began, noted Ryan Broderick, who writes the Garbage Day newsletter about the online environment.
Where was Kate? Was she seriously ill — in a coma, perhaps? Did she travel abroad to undergo plastic surgery? Had she been replaced by a body double? Was there trouble in her marriage? Did she leave William? Had she been abused? Unsubstantiated rumors made it all the way to American talk show host Stephen Colbert. Memes appeared that included putting Kate’s picture on the face of an actress in “Gone Girl,” a 2014 film about a missing wife.
Britain’s Prince William, left and Kate, the Princess of Wales arrive to attend the BAFTA Film Awards 2023, at The Royal Festival Hall, in London, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photos via AP)
After two decades in which people have uploaded their lives to a system of platforms run by algorithms that make money off our worst impulses, “we have wondered what the world might look like when we crossed the threshold into a fully online world,” Broderick wrote on Garbage Day. “Well, we did. We crossed it.”
“Conspiracy is the Internet’s favorite sport,” Sarah Frier, author of “No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram,” posted on X, formerly Twitter. “It starts here and becomes mainstream. At one point last week, MOST of the content on my (X) feed was about her. None of it was right. This is just what people do for fun and followers now.”
Then came the grand, unforced error — the palace releasing a photo on March 10 of Kate and her children that it later admitted had been digitally manipulated, without leaving clear exactly what was done.
Even before that, a ham-fisted public relations strategy by the royal family’s handlers had lost control of the narrative, said Peter Mancusi, a journalism professor at Northeastern University and a lawyer with his own business in crisis counseling.
Providing some proof of life, some morsels of information — even a staged shot of Kate waving from a balcony — would have filled the vacuum, he said. Mancusi contrasted the strategy with that surrounding King Charles, where it was quickly announced around the same time that he was fighting cancer. It has never been made clear exactly what kind of cancer the king has, but people are inclined to grant some degree of privacy with that diagnosis, Mancusi said.
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave The London Clinic in central London, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. King Charles III was in hospital to receive treatment for an enlarged prostate. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Mancusi frequently deals with clients who resist releasing damaging or uncomfortable information that usually winds up getting out anyway. Best to be pro-active or, as Hall said, “feed the beast.”
“It’s just human nature, and it’s the nature of a lot of companies when bad news hits, to go into a defensive crouch,” Mancusi said. “But hope isn’t a strategy anymore.”
Clear and verifiable information can help matters
Despite the temptation to ignore rumors and conspiracy theories, it’s best to respond quickly with clear and verifiable information, said Daniel Allington, a social scientist at King’s College in London who studies disinformation. “Once people start speculating that you are lying to them,” Allington said, “it’s very hard to get them back on board.”
In an article published on vulture.com 12 days before Kate announced she had cancer, author Kathryn VanArendonk seemed to anticipate that truth in a discussion about how the monarchy is not built for the modern information era.
“Catherine may be going through some private experiences she does not want to share widely,” she wrote, “and the internet has broken everyone’s ability to assess what’s a supervillain-level coverup and what’s more likely to be something sad and mundane.”
Cancer is something too many people can relate to. They understand how hard it is to speak those words to loved ones, much less the entire world. Kate’s video was a candid, emotional and effective way of sharing very personal information, said Matthew Hitzik, a veteran in crisis communications from New York.
It didn’t end wild online speculation, though. Almost immediately, suggestions popped up that the speech was generated by artificial intelligence or, in an unholy alliance of conspiracy theories, that her cancer was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
But that was nonsense, and felt churlish. A corner had been turned. The Sun in London now runs daily stories with “Brave Kate” in the headline. Trolls “should hang their heads in shame,” the newspaper editorialized. The Atlantic magazine headlined: “I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now.”
Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales recording her message announcing that following her abdominal surgery in January “tests after the operation found cancer had been present.” Kate, said Friday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. (BBC Studios via AP)
What shouldn’t be lost, however, is how preventable it all was.
“You cannot blame British newspapers for the miseries heaped on the Prince and Princess of Wales,” columnist Hugo Rifkind wrote in The Times of London. “Certainly we didn’t help, if only because a princess releasing doctored photographs to the public, for reasons at that point unclear, is an objectively grabby and fascinating story. But the conspiracy theories? The juggernauts of dirty speculation? You could argue, I suppose, that papers should have simply pretended none of this was happening.
“But it was, and it wasn’t driven by us,” he wrote. “It was driven by you.”
Two Russian guys admitted to being the males shown in the video spraying paint on public buildings and traffic signs on sidewalks in Patong, Phuket.
PHUKET – Patong Provincial Police Station officials arrested two foreign individuals who appeared in the video spray-painting a public road. Both are Russian men.
Mr. Evgeni, 23, and Mr. Oleg, 22, admitted to being the males shown in the video spraying paint on public buildings and traffic signs on sidewalks near the Government Savings Bank intersection, Patong branch, Baramee Road, Patong Subdistrict, Kathu District, Phuket Province, on March 23, around 9 p.m. They claimed to have done it for fun after taking marijuana.
The officers started looking at their vehicles. On March 25, police discovered the suspects staying in a dormitory on Thaweewong Road, Patong Subdistrict, Kathu District, Phuket Province.
They proceeded to investigate and discovered the two offenders inside the dormitory, with the vehicle matching the date of the incident. They found a red and black Yamaha Model G motorcycle parked in front of the hotel.
The traffic signs on sidewalks were sprayed with letters.
The police displayed the video to the two men, who admitted their actions. The police next took them to the Patong Provincial Police Station.
They charged the two individuals with “jointly causing loss of property.” The law imposes penalties that include up to three years in prison, a 60,000-baht fine, or both.
Vu Dang Yen Hang, chief executive officer of VinFast Thailand, poses in front of its electric vehicle VF7 during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnamese automaker VinFast announced Tuesday that it plans to sell its electric vehicles in Thailand and said it had tied up with auto dealers to open showrooms in the country.
VinFast, which only began exporting its EVs last year, faces stiff competition in Thailand from Chinese automakers like BYD. Tesla also recently entered the fray. All were displaying their latest models at the Bangkok International Motor Show.
The Thai EV market is small but growing fast, buoyed by incentives and subsidies from the government. The country of more than 70 million plans to convert 30% of the 2.5 million vehicles it makes annually into EVs by 2030.
VinFast hopes to start selling both its electric scooters and electric SUVs in the country in the next two months, Vu Dang Yen Hang, chief executive officer of VinFast Thailand, told The Associated Press.
Vu Dang Yen Hang, chief executive officer of VinFast Thailand, smiles in front of its electric vehicle “VF7” during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Details about pricing and buying the EVs are likely to be announced later this year.
Thailand accounted for 58% of all EV sales in Southeast Asia in 2022, ahead of both Vietnam and Indonesia, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research. But the EV market remains small, accounting for only 0.5% of EV sales worldwide in 2022.
Thailand is trying to change this with incentives to promote manufacturing and sales of EVs, such as reducing import duties and paying subsidies to make them more price competitive.
VinFast has set a target of selling its cars in 50 markets worldwide by the end of 2024.
Initially it’ll rely on existing charging developers in Thailand, but the long term plan was to work alongside V-Green, a company that builds EV charging stations and is owned by VinFast’s parent company, said Hang.
“We will be working alongside (V-Green) to build infrastructure for our customers in Thailand who are using our cars,” she said.
A Thai model poses next to Vinfast’s electric concept pickup trucks called “Wild” during the 45th Bangkok Motor Show in Nonthaburi, Thailand, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
V-Green was launched this month and plans to spend $404 million in the next two years to build charging stations for VinFast cars in different countries. Like VinFast, it is a part of the sprawling conglomerate Vingroup, that began as an instant noodle company in Ukraine in the 1990s. It is founded and run by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong.
VinFast’s foray into Thailand is part of a global expansion that has included exports of EVs to the United States. The company is building an EV factory in North Carolina, where production is slated to begin later in the year. Another factory is under construction in India, and it plans another in Indonesia.
VinFast has begun shipping EVs made in Vietnam to neighboring Laos to supply vehicles for Green SM, an EV taxi operator that is mostly owned by VinFast’s founder Vuong.
Last year, the company listed its shares in August on Nasdaq, where they initially soared, pushing its market value briefly above those of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. But investor enthusiasm has cooled and the company lost more than $1.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2023.
VinFast has struggled to sell its EVs in the U.S. and its early cars have received bad reviews, but the company maintains that if it can succeed in the crowded and competitive American market, it can succeed anywhere.
A file photo of Thai workers preparing durians for exports to China.
BANGKOK – Mr. Chantanon Wannakejohn, Secretary-General of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, revealed the overall picture of Thailand’s agricultural trade with the world in 2023. Thailand had a total trade value of 2.372 trillion baht (65.2 billion USD), down 0.13 percent from 2022, which was 2.375 trillion baht. However, Thailand still had a trade surplus of 951 billion baht (26.1 billion USD).
Looking only at the countries that have joined the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, India and Hong Kong (with the exception of the ASEAN countries), it can be seen that they continue to show steady growth. In 2023, Thailand’s total agricultural trade with these 9 countries grew by 3.25 percent or 1.01 trillion baht (27.7 billion USD) compared to 2022, with Thailand achieving a trade surplus of 529 billion baht (14.5 billion USD).
Durian Ice Cream made in the ice cream maker is fresh and creamy with a delicious tangy and sweet flavour, It is the most expensive and most delicious of all durians.
The most important export markets for agricultural products are China, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia. The top 5 agricultural products exported by Thailand are durian (139 billion baht), processed chicken meat (53.2 billion baht), natural rubber (49.1 billion baht), cassava (39.9 billion baht) and frozen chicken meat and edible offal (36.1 billion baht).
Looking at the value of trade and the growth rate of the individual FTA partner countries compared to the same period last year, it is clear that China is still the market to which Thailand exports the most agricultural products. They were worth over 449 billion baht, an increase of 10.60 percent. Major exports include durian (137 billion baht), cassava crisps or pellets (39.4 billion baht) and natural rubber (35 billion baht).
Other FTA partners where Thailand’s agricultural exports increased last year include:
New Zealand: 7.39 billion baht, an increase of 11.18 percent. Major exports include dog and cat food (878 million baht), canned tuna (860 million baht), and sugar from cane (801 million baht).
Chile: 2.42 billion baht, an increase of 11.75 percent. Major exports include canned tuna (1.69 billion baht), dog and cat food (294 million baht), and processed pineapple (95 million baht).
Peru: 1.79 billion baht, an increase of 15.98 percent. Major exports include canned tuna (1.3 billion baht), corn for planting (187 million baht), and rice (179 million baht).
Countries where Thailand’s agricultural exports declined include: Japan: down 5.31 percent, South Korea: down 8.47 percent, and India: down 22.49 percent. Major exports include crude palm oil (24.4 billion baht), natural rubber (3.48 billion baht), and soybean oil (2.88 billion baht).
“Despite volatility in the global economy due to rising interest rates and unresolved geopolitical issues in many areas, exports have grown at a slower pace overall. Nevertheless, Thai agricultural products are still able to grow and provide steady income for the country. However, Thai agricultural products still need to improve the quality and standards of products to compete in the still highly competitive global market, especially in terms of environmentally friendly production,” said the Secretary General of the OAU.
BANGKOK – Dennis, a 31-year-old Norwegian, and his Thai wife, Ms. A, filed a complaint with Mr. Ekkapop Ruangprasert, the founder of the “Saimai Must Survive” Facebook group, on March 26. They stated that their possessions, including 30,000 baht in cash saved for their wedding, had been taken. He had already reported the incident, but there had been no progress.
Some people reported their cases to the Saimai Must Survive page, which shared them on social media to pressure officials to conduct an investigation.
Ms. A reported that the incident occurred on March 24, 2024, when she and her husband visited Central World to purchase rings and wedding outfits for their April 12 wedding. Following that, they waited for a bus to return home at the bus stop outside the Big C department store.
CCTV footage showed the moment a group of four thieves—one guy, two women, and one transgender woman—came across the scene. One of the members approached her and pressed against her as she was ready to get into the car. She turned around and questioned why she hadn’t gotten in the car instead of pushing her.
Less than a minute later, when she boarded the bus and went to pay with her wallet, she realised her wallet had been taken.
The stolen items were an iPhone 14 Pro Max phone, 30,000 baht in Thai money, 200 kroner in Norwegian cash, two credit cards, one debit card, and one Norwegian lottery ticket.
She and her Norwegian husband immediately proceeded to Lumpini Police Station to report the crime. The police officer instructed them to obtain proof by reviewing the CCTV footage. Because there were no police officers inside the police station at the time, they all stepped outside to do their jobs and apprehend drug dealers.
Dennis and his wife are really upset. They had to go examine for themselves the footage from the CCTV cameras at the Big C department store near the incident’s site. The camera caught all four thieves. Everyone had been following Dennis and Ms. A since they entered the mall, but the couple hadn’t noticed.
They later reported the incident to immigration officials. But the officer told them, “This could be the karma you did 100 years ago.”
The Norwegian man expressed his sadness, saying he loves Thailand and had intended to marry here. However, he never expected Thais to take such ashamed acts. He doesn’t expect the property to return to its original condition, but he begs the authorities to act fast in apprehending and punishing the criminal in order to prevent similar incidents from happening to others.
Mr. Ekaphob stated that he will hasten to communicate with the superintendent of Lumpini Police Station to help find the perpetrator and prosecute them as soon as possible.
