A menu with the most unusual name, ‘Dog Food Menu,’ has become a viral sensation on the Internet. The original restaurant named Auntie Oi is located in the heart of Nakhon Sawan province, in a commercial building near Nakhon Sawan School.
Ananya Phinthong, or Auntie Oi, 60, the cook and owner of the restaurant, said the “dog food menu” came about unintentionally. This is because her eatery is located near the provincial school, and in the early evening, boarders come in, hungry and wanting to order fried rice. However, it is close to closing time, so the restaurant’s ingredients at that time are only rice and a few packets of instant noodles.
Auntie Oi, 60, has created the “dog food menu.”
But the children’s hunger confirmed that they would eat the rice. Since the children were so hungry, she decided to fry the rice along with the instant noodles so that the children could enjoy the meal.
“When the children first saw it, they joked, ‘It looks like dog food.’ But as it turned out, the same children came back the next day to order the ‘dog food’ again. They liked it so much that their friends got curious and ordered it too. From then on, they came back every day to order the same dish. It eventually became a legend – the ‘Dog Food’,” said Aunt Oi.
The “dog food” dish does not look good but is delicious.
The “dog food” dish looks like fried rice made from leftover ingredients, consisting of boiled instant noodles, spicy chili paste, Chinese morning glory and minced pork. Many people were skeptical at first because it looked like dog food. However, the taste was surprisingly delicious, similar to regular fried instant noodles with eggs.
The special touch comes from the fragrant aroma of roasted chili, which creates a perfect balance of spicy, sour, sweet and salty flavors and has made it a popular dish at the restaurant. Not only do customers come to dine at the restaurant, but they also order a significant number of dishes through the delivery service, hundreds of plates a day. Even celebrities are fond of it.
The “dog food” menu costs 35 baht per plate. However, if you want something special, you can opt for the special version with extra ingredients like diced chicken, which costs 40 baht per plate. This extra version is called ‘dog food with chicken’.
One of the delivery drivers mentioned that most of the orders at Auntie Oi’s restaurant are for the “dog food” dish. This has had a positive impact on the food rider group as they have seen a significant increase in their revenue due to the popularity of this dish.
The original restaurant named Auntie Oi is located in the heart of Nakhon Sawan province.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) shows off his inked finger, standing next to his wife Bun Rany, left, after voting a ballot at a polling station in Takhmua in Kandal province, southeast Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Longtime Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cast his ballot 10 minutes after polls opened at 7 a.m. Sunday, in an election in which his party is all but assured a landslide victory thanks to the effective suppression and intimidation of any real opposition that critics say has made a farce of democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.
The European Union, United States and other Western countries refused to send observers, saying the election lacked the conditions to be considered free and fair. That left international officials from Russia, China and Guinea-Bissau to watch as Hun Sun voted at a polling station in his home district outside of the capital, Phnom Penh.
He held his ballot high for all to see, before depositing it into the silver metal box and leaving the station, pausing to take selfies and shake hands with supporters outside.
Six hours after polls closed, the National Election Committee said 84.6% of eligible voters had cast ballots. Sok Eysan, spokesperson for Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, said he believed his party captured 78-80% of the total turnout.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) kisses a ballot before voting at a polling station at Takhmua in Kandal province, southeast Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
“I have no results about the allocation of seats, but as of now but I can say that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has won a landslide victory,” he told the Associated Press, although no official vote count had still been issued.
The longest-serving leader in Asia, Hun Sen has steadily consolidated power with his strong-arm tactics over the last 38 years. But, at age 70, he has suggested he will hand off the premiership during the upcoming five-year term to his oldest son, Hun Manet, perhaps as early as the first month after the elections.
Hun Manet, 45, has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as well as a master’s from NYU and a Ph.D. from Bristol University in Britain. He is currently chief of Cambodia’s army.
Despite his Western education, however, observers don’t expect any immediate shifts in policy from that of his father, who has steadily drawn Cambodia closer to China in recent years.
Locals look at a registration list before voting at a polling station on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
“I don’t think anyone expects Hun Sen to sort of disappear once Hun Manet is prime minister,” said Astrid Norén-Nilsson, a Cambodia expert at Sweden’s Lund University. “I think they will probably be working closely together and I don’t think that there is a big difference in their political outlook, including foreign policy.”
Hun Manet is just part of what is expected to be a broader generational change, with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party planning to install younger leaders into most ministerial positions.
“That’s going to be the big change of guard, that’s what I’m watching,” Norén-Nilsson said. “It’s all about the transition, it’s all about who’s going to come in and in what positions they find themselves.”
At the station where Hun Sen cast his ballot, voter Nan Sy, a former lawmaker himself with a smaller royalist party, said the main issue for him was stability.
“Without stability we cannot talk about education, we cannot talk about development,” the 59-year-old said without saying who he voted for.
Locals look at a registration list before voting at a polling station on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
There were few reports of any protests against the elections, but Gen. Khieu Sopheak, Cambodia’s national police spokesperson, said 27 people were being sought over allegations they called for voters to spoil their ballots in a Telegram chat channel. He said there had been two arrests at polling stations as well.
Hun Sen had been a middle-ranking commander in the radical communist Khmer Rouge responsible for genocide in the 1970s before defecting to Vietnam. When Vietnam ousted the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, he quickly became a senior member of the new Cambodian government installed by Hanoi.
A wily and sometimes ruthless politician, Hun Sen has maintained power as an autocrat in a nominally democratic framework.
His party’s stranglehold on power faltered in 2013 elections, in which the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party won 44% of the popular vote to CPP’s 48%. Hun Sen responded to the wake-up call by going after leaders of the opposition, primarily through sympathetic courts, which eventually dissolved the party after local elections in 2017 when it again fared well.
Ahead of Sunday’s election, the Candlelight Party, the unofficial successor to the CNRP and only other contender capable of mounting a credible challenge, was barred on a technicality from contesting the polls by the National Election Committee.
While virtually assuring another landslide victory for Hun Sen and his party, the methods have prompted widespread criticism from rights groups.
Russian observation members stand at a polling station in Takhmua in Kandal province, southeast Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Human Rights Watch said the “election bears little resemblance to an actual democratic process,” while the Asian Network for Free Elections, an umbrella organization of almost 20 regional NGOs, said the National Election Commission had showed a “clear bias” toward the CPP in barring the Candlelight Party.
“Such disqualification further exacerbates the imbalanced and unjust political environment, leaving minimal room for opposition voices to compete on equal footing with the ruling party,” the group said in a joint statement.
“Moreover, the shrinking space available for civil society and the deliberate targeting of human rights defenders and activists raise serious alarm. The constriction of civic space undermines the active participation of civil society in the electoral process without fear of reprisal.”
After the “vastly unpopular” way the opposition was neutralized in 2018, this time around there is little sign of widespread popular discontent, Norén-Nilsson said, because Hun Sen and the CPP have done a very effective job over the past five years of building a sense among many Cambodians that they are part of a new national project.
The strategy has involved careful messaging, with sweeping slogans like “small country, big heart,” and little talk about policy, she said.
“It’s really quite astonishing how the CPP has managed to gain at least acceptance for what we see now,” she said. “If before people thought that the glass was half empty, now it’s half full, so you focus more on what you have than don’t have.”
With the Candlelight Party out of the running, the largest beneficiary of any anti-CPP vote will likely be FUNCINPEC, a royalist party whose name is an unwieldy French acronym for the National Front for an Independent, Neutral and Cooperative Cambodia.
Founded in 1981 by Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s former king, the party defeated the CPP in 1993 U.N.-run elections, but his son, Norodom Ranariddh, ended up having to agree to a co-prime ministership with Hun Sen.
Today’s party president, Norodom Chakravuth, who returned from France to take control of the party a little over a year ago after the death of his father Norodom Ranariddh, told The Associated Press that his sights are more on the 2028 election but is hoping this time to possibly win one or two seats.
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SOPHENG CHEANG and DAVID RISING reported from Phnom Penh.
Protesters burn a symbolic coffin during a protest against the Constitutional Court's decision to suspend Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from his MP duties pending its ruling on whether he violated election law at the Democracy Monument on July 19, 2023.
What happened on July 13, and again on the past Wednesday, July 19, was nothing short of a silent semi-military coup which succeeded in twice rejecting and removing Move Forward Party PM candidate Pita Limjaroenrat from the PM race. It now will most likely succeed in pushing the party, which won the most seats in the general election, into the opposition camp and possibly more.
No tanks have patrolled the streets of Bangkok over the past week as it was not needed unlike in the conventional military coup. There was no announcement by any coup leader on television. And there was no summoning of opponents of the silent putsch to be detained for “attitude adjustment.”
Yet it was very effective, stealth even. Pita, arguably the most popular politician in a generation and for the past two months since the May 14 general election victory, the presumptive new prime minister has been rejected by the junta-appointed senators twice and is no longer able to be nominated again.
On Wednesday, not only was Pita overwhelmingly rejected by the senators in a bicameral vote to determine whether his name could be renominate after some parliamentarians cited Regulations 41 (which basically states that a rejected motion cannot be resubmit for a second vote unless there is a good reason to believe the outcome would be different), but the Constitutional Court, which came to power via the selection process of various junta-appointed bodies including the senate itself, suspended Pita from his duty as MP pending the decision on whether Pita is unfit to be an member of parliament due to his shareholding of the defunct ITV media.
In the weeks ahead, the Constitutional Court may even ban Pita from politics for 10 years along with all of the party executive committee members and dissolve the party itself if they ruled the party is undermine the democratic system with the king as head of state through their pledge to reform the controversial lese majeste law.
Tell me if this is not a silent coup. What we are seeing is the legacy organs of the military junta robbing the will of the people who clearly expressed themselves during the general election two months ago yet again. In a way, it is more effective and less blatant than having tanks on the traffic-choke streets of Bangkok and armed soldiers dispatched to guard television stations to make sure their coverage of the current affairs is sympathetic.
Yet the response by the so-called pro-democracy camp has not been unified. This is due to the fact that the other major rival “pro-democracy” party, the Pheu Thai Party, whose de facto leader in exile is fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is now, as I write these words, juggling for power and soliciting support from parties that used to either support or were in bed with junta leader Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha.
In the days ahead, we could see a new coalition led by Pheu Thai emerging but without Move Forward. This is why many die-hard redshirt supporters will not be joining the numerous angry street protests anytime soon. These Pheu Thai supporters love their party and leaders too much; they see the silent coup as an opportunity for the Pheu Thai Party which lost to rival Move Forward Party by four million votes, or 10 MP seats, to lead the new government and get its own PM.
For months prior to the May general election, the rivalries within the so-called pro-democracy camp have turned toxic – and that might be an understatement as some Pheu Thai supporters publicly celebrate the silent coup over the past ten days. The pro-democracy camp is split, unlike in the aftermath of the May 2014 military coup which was led by Prayut.
One other key factor is the normalization of the militarization of Thai society and rules over the past nine years. Most Thai media simply refer to the junta-appointed senators as “senators,” and not “junta-appointed senators,” and the ludicrous fact that these 250 unelected senators command one third of the bicameral vote for new PM along with the 500 elected MPs is no longer scandalous for many news analysts who just accepted it as the rules.
The 151 elected MPs from Move Forward Party, with 14 million votes behind them, have much less say in the bicameral vote when compared to the 250 senators who were basically appointed by one man – then junta leader Gen. Prayut.
This special junta-appointed senatorial powers, which are good for five years under the current 2017 junta-sponsored constitution that narrowly passed a referendum under the threat that if people do not approve it, the military junta will be in power even longer, are no longer seen as an anomaly or cheating by many in the mainstream mass media and political analysts.
By not pointing out the systemic rigging of the rules, they end up acting as a lubricant to enable this silent semi-military coup and prolong military influence, to be acceptable – normal even.
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It was expected that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand would increase rapidly after the country reopened. However, this growth has failed to materialize as China is currently struggling with economic problems, trade disputes, production relocations, and technology conflicts.
According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the current market for Chinese tourists coming to Thailand remains relatively sluggish. In the first six months, about 1.6 million Chinese tourists visited the country, making it difficult to reach the target of 5 million.
Chinese tourists take photos at the Grand Palace scenic spot in Bangkok, Thailand on May. 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
Sisadiwat Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), and representatives of the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (FETTA) said the private tourism sector is preparing an urgent proposal for the government. The proposal includes waiving visa fees for Chinese tourists for a period of three months.
This measure had already been introduced after an incident in 2018 when a tourist boat carrying Chinese visitors sank off Phuket province in an effort to restore confidence in the industry.
Pattaya
This suggestion results from comparing the competition in the Chinese tourism market with Thailand, such as Malaysia, where it is easier to obtain a visa. Processing a visa takes only 1-3 days and costs 200 yuan per application. As a result, some Chinese group tourists have changed their plans and are now visiting Malaysia instead of Thailand.
Sisadiwat mentioned that the market for Chinese group tourists is expected to recover gradually if Thailand adjusts in time, possibly by 2024. TAT has set a target to attract 7-8 million Chinese tourists and a total of 25.8 million foreign tourists.
Among them, about 3 million tourists from Japan and South Korea combined, 1 million from Hong Kong, about 600-700 thousand from Taiwan, and the ASEAN market will account for about 10.5 million tourists.
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward its western sea Saturday, South Korea’s military said, marking the second launch event this week, apparently in protest of the docking of a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine in South Korea.
While adding to its barrage of missile launches in recent months, North Korea remained publicly silent for a fifth day on the fate of an American soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border this week.
A TV screen shows a file image of American soldier Travis King during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launches were detected beginning around 4 a.m. but did not immediately report how many missiles were fired or how far they flew. It said the United States and South Korean militaries were closely analyzing the launches.
North Korea in recent years has been testing newly developed cruise missiles it describes as “strategic,” implying an intent to arm them with nuclear weapons. Experts say the main mission of those weapons would include striking naval assets and ports. Designed to fly like small airplanes and travel along landscape that would make them harder to detect by radar, cruise missiles are among a growing collection of North Korean weapons aimed at overwhelming missile defenses in the South.
On Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. They flew about 550 kilometers (340 miles) before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.
The flight distance of those missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky on Tuesday made the first visit by a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.
Also Tuesday, American soldier Pvt. Travis King sprinted across the border into North Korea while on a tour of an inter-Korean truce village.
The USS Kentucky, a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine, is anchored at the Busan Naval Base in Busan, South Korea, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Woohae Cho/Pool Photo via AP)
North Korea’s state media has yet to comment on King and the country has not responded to U.S. requests to clarify where he is being kept and what his condition is. U.S. officials have expressed concern about King’s well-being, considering North Korea’s previous rough treatment of some American detainees. It could be weeks, or even months, before North Korea releases meaningful information about King, analysts say, as the country could drag out his detention to maximize leverage and add urgency to U.S. efforts to secure his release.
Some experts say the North may try to use King for propaganda or as a bargaining chip to coax political and security concessions from Washington, possibly tying his release with the United States cutting back its military activities with South Korea.
A TV screen shows file images of U.S. President Joe Biden, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program reporting on American soldier Travis King, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
“With so many moving pieces, it’s important not to attribute causation to mere correlation of events. But North Korea’s missile provocations do not foreshadow an easy negotiation to secure Travis King’s release,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at South Korea’s Ewha University. “Unauthorized border crossings endanger personnel, risk a political and even military incident, and can be exploited by North Korean hostage diplomacy.”
The United States and South Korea have been expanding their combined military exercises and have agreed to increase the regional deployment of U.S. strategic assets like bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines in a show of force against North Korea, which has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022.
The allies also kicked off new rounds of nuclear contingency planning meetings that are partially aimed at easing fears among the South Korean public about the North’s growing nuclear threat and suppressing voices within the country that it should pursue its own deterrent.
North Korea’s defense minister issued a veiled threat Thursday suggesting the docking of the Kentucky in South Korea could be grounds for a nuclear attack by the North. North Korea has used such rhetoric before, but the comments underscored how much relations are strained now.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Friday described the deployment of the Kentucky and the nuclear contingency planning meetings between Washington and Seoul as “defensive response measures” to counter the North Korean threat. The ministry said in a statement it “strongly warns” that any nuclear attack by the North on the allies would face an “immediate, overwhelming and decisive response … that would bring an end to the North Korean regime.”
Deputy police commissioner Surachate Hakparn inspects a luxury watch seized from an online gambling network at the Crime Suppression Division on Jul. 21, 2023.
BANGKOK — Police on Friday said they arrested 14 people suspected of running an online gambling network which might have been responsible for the cyanide serial killer.
The arrests were made after police concluded the investigation into the “Am Cyanide” case, a woman accused of murdering at least 14 people by lacing cyanide into their food, and found that the suspect, Sararat “Am” Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, had massive online gambling debts, deputy police commissioner Surachate Hakparn said.
Pol. Gen. Surachate said a large amount of money circulated in Sararat’s bank accounts was linked to the online gambling website Fun88, where she allegedly used stolen money from the victims she murdered to place bets.
The suspects arrested were accused of operating the website, which circulated about 250 million baht in bets. They were charged with organizing a gambling and money laundering. Warrants were issued for 21 suspects, but only 14 were arrested so far, Surachate said.
Police also seized their assets worth over 15 million baht, which included three cars, luxury goods, and bank accounts.
In what the authorities called Thailand’s worst-ever crime, Sararat was arrested in April following an investigation into a friend’s death, who died on a trip with her earlier that month. The subsequent investigation connected her to the killings of 14 others, who had died in a similar way, and an attempted murder as the victim survived.
The murders began in 2015 and were motivated by financial reasons, police said.
Sararat stands accused of 75 charges including multiple counts of premeditated murder, thief, and adulterating food. Her ex-husband, Withoon Rangsiwuthaporn, and her ex-lawyer, Tannicha Aeksuwannawattana, were also accused of concealing evidence.
Sararat is being detained at a prison, while Withoon and Tannicha are currently out on bail.
Nine police officers who were transferred from the Immigration Division Suvarnabhumi on July 19 in response to allegations that they facilitated Jackson Wang, a Hong Kong K-Pop star’s entry, leaving other foreign tourists in long queues, are awaiting the investigation.
The National Police Chief, Pol. Gen. Damrongsak Kittipraphat, stated on July 20 that the Immigration Office had set up a committee to investigate the nine police officers in inquiry. They are awaiting the results of the investigation in order to determine if this duty was requested by Jackson Wang’s team in order to help facilitate it or if they were ordered to perform it by any party.
He stated that they were not deterred by the transfer order, which has been criticised by some as being unjust.
“We will be fair to all parties. In the past, the police already had measures to take care of famous people and important people in security guard. Please wait for the facts to be clear first,” he said.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Montri Pancharoen, Immigration Commander 2, quickly ordered the official transfer after receiving complaints that they facilitated Jackson Wang while other foreign tourists had to wait in a long queue. There were numerous videos on the internet showing a group of officers surrounding Jackson Wang on July 18.
Thai police are more wary of the scandal following a case in January this year in which a Chinese female tourist posted videos in which she paid no more than 7,000 baht to be escorted through immigration at Suvarnabhumi airport and then to her hotel in Pattaya in just one hour.
Secretary of the Move Forward Party Chaithawat Tulathon, left, and leader of Pheu Thai party Chonlanan Srikaew, right, at a joint press conference at Pheu Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI and JERRY HARMER — A coalition of Thai political parties, struggling to form a government after two failed attempts, announced Friday it would try again next week to persuade conservative parliamentary opponents to back it, and suggested it might consider removing its most progressive member which won May’s election.
The eight-party grouping met in Bangkok on Friday for the first time since a combined sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday voted to block Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, from becoming prime minister. Pita was rejected last week in a first vote on whether to name him prime minister, and was knocked out of contention on Wednesday when a procedural vote decided he could not be nominated a second time.
Pita was further handicapped by a Constitutional Court decision on Wednesday that suspended him from Parliament while it decides whether he violated the constitution, as the state Election Commission said. The allegation involves whether he ran for office while holding prohibited shares in a media company, a charge he has denied.
Pita Limjaroenrat, left, the leader of Move Forward Party and top winner in the May’s general election attends a meeting at Parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
The Move Forward Party finished first in May’s general election and assembled the eight-party coalition, which together held a majority of 312 seats in the 500-member House. But under the military-enacted constitution, a new prime minister must receive the support of a combined majority of both the House and 250-seat unelected conservative Senate, and Pita fell short by more than 50 votes, capturing just 324 in all.
The Senate, which was appointed by a previous military government and serves as the royalist establishment’s bulwark against change, gave only 13 votes to Pita. Many senators strongly oppose his party’s call for amendment of a law that makes it illegal to defame Thailand’s royal family. Critics say the law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, has been abused as a political weapon.
After Pita’s failure, the coalition agreed to replace him as its choice for prime minister with a candidate from the Pheu Thai party, which won the second most seats in May’s election. It is to name the candidate next Wednesday.
Pita was Move Forward’s sole candidate, while Pheu Thai registered three names: real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin; Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup; and Chaikasem Nitsiri, the party’s chief strategist.
Srettha, who has emerged as the favorite, entered active politics only last year.
Friday’s meeting of coalition partners decided to try to win over enough senators and House members by offering possible compromises on its agenda, most notably the reform of the law against royal defamation, before the next parliamentary vote on Thursday.
“This is the way we think would be best,” Chonlanan Srikaew, leader of the Pheu Thai party, said after the meeting.
Secretary of the Move Forward Party Chaithawat Tulathon, left, and leader of Pheu Thai party Chonlanan Srikaew, right, at a joint press conference at Pheu Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
But there is growing speculation that the only way to break the deadlock would be to remove the Move Forward Party from the coalition. Asked about the likelihood of this, Chonlanan agreed there was an option “that may exclude a certain party from the equation.”
He said the meeting agreed to leave that up to Pheu Thai.
“The thing we said today is a promise that we will try our best to act within the principles upheld by the eight parties,” he said. “Any course of action that is outside the agreement made today by the eight parties -– this is just something we are allowed to do. That will be what Pheu Thai thinks and does only after the other options have failed.”
Move Forward’s victory in May’s election was powered by a widespread desire, particularly among young people, for deep structural change in Thailand after nine years of military-aligned rule. The party also wants to reduce the influence of the military, which has staged more than a dozen coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and of big business monopolies.
Any move to cast the popular party into opposition, instead of government, could lead to a return of sustained street protests, and several demonstrations are planned for the coming days.
A member of anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International, (HSI) carries a dog from a slaughter house in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammad Taufan)
TOMOHON, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities on Friday announced the end of the “brutally cruel” dog and cat meat slaughter at a notorious animal market on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi following a years-long campaign by local activists and world celebrities.
The Tomohon Extreme Market will become the first such market in Indonesia to go dog and cat meat-free, according to the anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International, or HSI. Images of dogs and cats being bludgeoned and blow-torched while still alive had sparked outrage.
The permanent end of the slaughter and trade was announced on Friday by the mayor of the city of Tomohon, Caroll Senduk. HSI said they will be rescuing all the remaining live dogs and cats from the slaughterhouse suppliers and taking them to sanctuaries.
Members of anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International, (HSI) transport a cage containing dogs from a slaughter house in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammad Taufan)
The Tomohon Extreme Market had previously been touted as a tourist attraction and listed on TripAdvisor as a destination that also sells cat meat and the carcasses of wild and protected species such as bats, snakes and other reptiles.
HSI and Indonesian groups operating under the banner of Dog Meat Free Indonesia are campaigning to end the trade in live dogs for human consumption as rabies could spread to humans during the slaughter or contact with infected meat.
Videos shot by the campaigners at two markets in North Sulawesi province in 2018 showed dogs cowering in cages as workers pulled the howling animals out and bludgeoned their heads with wooden batons. Often still moving, the animals are then blasted with blowtorches to remove their hair in preparation for butchering and sale.
The welfare groups called the treatment of the animals at the markets “brutally cruel” and like “walking through hell,” generating sympathy among Indonesians and around the world.
A member of anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International, (HSI) carries a dog from a slaughter house in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammad Taufan)
International actors and celebrities in 2018 appealed to President Joko Widodo to close the markets, saying if Indonesia joined other Asian nations that have already banned the trade, it would be “celebrated globally” and end a stain on the country’s reputation.
Actress Cameron Diaz, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, talent spotter Simon Cowell, comedian Ricky Gervais, Indonesian pop singer Anggun and musician Moby are among the more than 90 celebrities listed in the letter.
“These animals, many of them stolen pets, are subjected to crude and brutal methods of capture, transport and slaughter, and the immense suffering and fear they must endure is heartbreaking and absolutely shocking,” the letter said, prompting Indonesia’s central government to issue a regulation saying that dog meat is not food and thus local administrations should act to ban the trade.
North Sulawesi province is home to more than 2.6 million people, who are mainly Christian in the mostly Muslim archipelago nation.
Thousands of dogs and cats are slaughtered weekly in North Sulawesi, according to the anti-animal cruelty groups.
Authorities on Friday announced the end of the “brutally cruel” dog and cat meat slaughter at a notorious animal market on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi following a years-long campaign by local activists and world celebrities. (AP Photo/Mohammad Taufan)
Karanganyar district in Central Java became the first to issue a formal ban in 2019, followed by other regions in 2020 and 2021. Most recently, authorities in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, announced in March they have banned the dog and cat meat trades. But the dog and cat markets were on Sulawesi.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, might not seem a likely hub of dog meat cuisine as nearly 90% of the country’s 270 million people are followers of Islam, which considers and view dog products as haram, or forbidden, in the same way as pork. Most Muslims won’t touch a dog, much less eat one.
But the archipelagic nation is also home to many other faiths, some of whom consider dog meat a traditional delicacy or believe it has health properties. As much as 7% of Indonesians eat dog, according to Dog Meat Free Indonesia, mostly in North Sulawesi, North Sumatra and East Nusa Tenggara provinces that have a majority of the population identifying as Christian
Many countries and territories across Asia—such as the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia—have already banned the dog meat trade and consumption of dogs, according to the HSI.
