The Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights, House of Representatives held a seminar on “the direction of Thai judicial and police reform” at Parliament on February 10, 2023.
Representatives from the Royal Thai Police, the Department of Special Investigations, the Drug Control Agency, the Anti-Money Laundering Bureau, the Immigration Department, the Border Guard Police and other involved government agencies attended the event.
Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a Thammasat University law scholar, said a suspect or an accused who cannot get bail himself/herself must be placed in a non-prison facility and not treated as a criminal. He cited the case of activists Tawan and Bambam as an example.
Move Forward Party (MFP) MP Rangsiman Rome mentioned that he has listed several issues on justice and police reform such as how to improve the quality of policing or how the police can work proudly and happily. He also mentioned that he wants all police officers to have a camera with them when they work for the benefit of the people and themselves.
Rangsiman Rome
MP Rangsiman said he wanted police officers to be allowed to wear any hairstyle they preferred as long as it was polite. He said he did not want police officers to be restricted to a clean-shaven hairstyle because he is sure that the hairstyle will not make the police work better. It is the ability to work that makes Thai police better, he said.
He also mentions the ‘coupon’ system, in particular the so-called “elephant coupon”, i.e. a high-level corruption to reach a higher position. MP Ransiman mentioned that the coupon system has caused a big problem. In a system where the value of ‘coupon’ correlates with a higher rank, a police officer cannot work normally.
They have to look for loopholes. If this problem is solved, a police officer will no longer have to look for a corrupt way to reach a higher post, as all promotions will be based on his skills.
Former Thai politician Chuwit Kamolvisit said the real problem with police reform was the badly decayed core of the organisation due to the fact that no one dared to tell the truth.
Chuwit Kamolvisit
He cited as an example the traffic checkpoints where there were always reports of people being asked for money because the police officers were given instructions by commanders. When they were caught, the lower police officers were punished without investigating who had ordered such activities, but never the higher ones. He also mentioned that the Tuhao case could not happen without the help of the police.
Chuwit said he wanted the Thai police to dare to tell the truth because telling the truth does not harm anyone and helps the public to be informed.
Photo taken Feb. 8, 2023, in Manila shows vehicles transporting Yuki Watanabe and Tomonobu Kojima, two of the four Japanese men suspected of being behind a string of robberies across Japan, for their deportation to Japan from the Philippines, where they were detained on local charges. (Kyodo)
A man suspected to be behind a string of robberies across Japan that were coordinated from the Philippines also allegedly committed fraud remotely from Thailand, investigative sources said Friday.
Police sent Yuki Watanabe, 38, and another apparent senior member of the group, Tomonobu Kojima, 45, to prosecutors Friday after they were deported to Japan from the Philippines this week. Among the robberies being investigated is one that resulted in the murder of a 90-year-old woman in Tokyo in January.
Watanabe, whose immigration record shows he was in Thailand in 2017, allegedly collaborated with a partner in Japan between August and December of that year to obtain cash cards from people, including the elderly, by claiming someone had withdrawn money from their bank accounts, according to the sources.
In December 2017, a group of people were stopped by police when they tried to leave Japan for Thailand carrying concealed cash totaling around 36 million yen ($274,000). The money was believed to have been obtained using the cash cards, said the sources.
Watanabe later moved his base to the Philippines but was detained in April 2021. He and Kojima were deported to Japan on Thursday at the request of the Japanese authorities and arrested the same day for alleged theft related to a scam.
Two other members of the fraud group, Kiyoto Imamura and Toshiya Fujita, both 38, were repatriated from the Philippines and arrested on Tuesday also for alleged theft.
The group is estimated to have defrauded people of over 6 billion yen before appearing to switch its activities to robberies, according to the police.
The four suspects returned to Japan likely include the person, or persons thought to have used the pseudonyms “Luffy” and “Kim” when the crimes were allegedly committed.
VIENTIANE, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) — Laos is looking forward to welcoming back Chinese tourists after China optimized its COVID-19 response.
The Lao government and private sectors are preparing for the arrival of Chinese tourists after it was listed among countries greenlit by the Chinese government for outbound group tours.
“We are working in partnership with travel agencies, hotels and other tourism-related businesses to improve facilities and services in readiness for the return of Chinese tour groups,” Darany Phommavongsa, director general of the Tourism Management Department of the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, told the media last Friday.
“We held a meeting with private companies to discuss ways to improve facilities and design activities to entice more Chinese visitors to Laos,” he added.
President of Inthira Group Inthy Deuansavanh, who has been in the hospitality sector for almost 25 years, told Xinhua on Tuesday that tourism in Laos was severely damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the absence of foreign tourists.
Tourists walk at a square by Mekong River in Lao capital Vientiane on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)
Since China resumed outbound group travel to countries including Laos, Inthy believed that it will bring a large number of Chinese visitors to Laos.
“We are waiting to welcome Chinese visitors again. And I believe that traveling to Laos will be more convenient because of the operation of the Laos-China Railway,” he noted.
“The local tourism businesses need to get ready to attract and welcome back inbound tourists. One of the most important things is that we need to promote our outstanding tourist attractions, especially nature-based tourism, to reach our target customers as much as possible.”
Inthy said tourism-related businesses must improve their services and make sure that customers can easily get access to their products.
“We opened a new department recently with Chinese-speaking staff. It aims to provide the best service to the Chinese visitors and try to reach the Chinese market increasingly,” he said.
He strongly believes that China’s resumption of outbound group tours after the optimization of its COVID-19 response will be a strong boost to revitalize Laos’ economy and tourism.
“Anyone who wants to explore rich natural resources and biodiversity will never get disappointed when traveling to Laos,” Inthy said, adding that Laos is also a fascinating destination for anyone seeking cultural immersion and outstanding eco-tourism.
Fireworks over the That Luang Stupa in Vientiane, Laos. That Luang Festival, running from Nov. 6 to 8 in 2022, is one of the most important religious festivals in Laos. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)
In October 2021, the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism launched the Lao Tourism Recovery Roadmap for 2021-2025, which aims to support the recovery of the tourism sector in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
One of the three main policy options in the roadmap is the greening of tourism for environmental friendliness and better long-term recovery.
With its rich natural resources and biodiversity, Laos can offer an opportunity to promote nature-based tourism for sustainable and inclusive growth which will lead to green jobs and livelihood opportunities, thereby attaining green recovery and green growth.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Somphet Maopaseuth, president of Forestry Area Conservation Ecological Tourism, endeavored to transform challenges into opportunities.
“During our temporary close, we had a chance to restore ecosystems, train our staff and improve our service standard to another level. Therefore, we are more than ready to welcome back an influx of visitors,” he said.
Somphet advised tourism-related businesses to focus on ensuring the safety of tourists, training staff and upgrading their services to meet international standards.
He pointed out that the Laos-China Railway is a great advantage for Laos because it facilitates tourist travel, adding that the return of Chinese tourists will bring a lot of opportunities, as China is one of the world’s largest outbound tourism markets.
“I am very pleased to welcome back Chinese tourists. Their presence is vital to the country’s tourism and economic growth,” Somphet said.
A conductor serves drinkable water for a passenger on a train of the China-Laos Railway, Nov. 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
The Lao government considers tourism as its top priority in revitalizing the economy.
“We need to improve facilities so we can accommodate more tourists this year and ensure that tourism makes a strong contribution to economic growth,” said Lao Deputy Prime Minister Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune during a meeting held by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in January.
Kikeo stressed that tourism-related businesses must improve their services and tourist attractions, as well as diversify tourism products and activities in response to travelers’ needs and expectations.
The government hopes to attract 1.4 million visitors in 2023, which is expected to generate more than 340 million U.S. dollars.
Pavina Phouminh, a receptionist at Landmark Hotel, a top-ranking hotel in Vientiane, told Xinhua on Tuesday that the hotel is all prepared with added facilities, amenities, and products to welcome the return of tourists from China.
This aerial photo taken on Feb. 7, 2023 shows the view along the Mekong River at Lao capital Vientiane. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)
“We have a lot of Chinese-speaking staff here. We are ready to provide all travelers with the best service. We are 100 percent ready! And we are looking forward to the mass return of Chinese travelers,” she said.
Viengxay Phasith, a 56-year-old van driver from Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge to the city, told Xinhua on Tuesday, “I was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic because most of my clients are foreign travelers. The return of Chinese tourists gives me hope to get more income.”
“Welcome to Laos! Laos has a lot of beautiful places to visit. Please come and see for yourself. We are ready to give you the best service!”
Tourism experts predict that millions of Chinese tourists will visit ASEAN countries and many of them will travel on the China-Laos Railway, which runs from Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, to Vientiane.
Stewardesses wait for passengers beside a Lane Xang EMU train at the Vientiane Station of China-Laos Railway in Laos on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Yang Yongquan/Xinhua)
Meanwhile, Lao Airlines plans to operate more flights in response to the expected influx of Chinese visitors. The airline currently operates three flights a week from the Lao capital Vientiane to China’s Kunming.
It is set to launch additional flights from Vientiane to the Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Changzhou, and Hangzhou. The airline also mulls increasing flights from the northern Luang Prabang province and the southern Champasak province to China.
Students join an anti-government protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Bangkok on Aug. 19, 2020.
BANGKOK — Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday saying the government has suppressed the rights of child protesters through tactics such as surveillance, intimidation, asking invasive questions, and pressuring parents of child protesters.
“Chompoo, a Bangkok-based 13-year-old child protester, told Amnesty International that she has been followed around by authorities since she started her activism in March 2022. Similarly, a 16-year-old LGBTI activist was trailed by authorities to his house and school, which affected his mental health with panic attacks, insomnia and other stress brought on by the continuous surveillance,” the report entitled “We Are Claiming Our Future: Children’s Right to Peaceful Assembly in Thailand” stated.
“Anna, a Bangkok-based student activist who advocates for education reforms, said she and her friends were physically dragged out of a restaurant by police and officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the main agency in charge of child protection, because the authorities feared they were going to stage a protest at Democracy Monument as members of the royal family were due to travel past the area.”
Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Thailand researcher at Amnesty International who interviewed 30 child protesters said, “Children with their whole lives ahead of them now face severe repercussions merely for participating in peaceful protests.”
Chanatip, who spoke at the press conference on Wednesday, added that the majority of monarchy-reform protesters between 2020 and 2022 were people under the age of 18. At least 59 incidents of harassment occurred between 2021 to 2022.
The rights group is calling all the charges, including lese majeste, sedition, and violation of the COVID-19 emergency decree, to be dropped and for harassment to end.
“To date, nearly 300 under-18s have faced criminal charges,” the researcher said.
Speaking through a pre-recorded video message, Clement Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, said at the press conference held at Bangkok Arts and Culture Center that the lese majeste law continues to affect the rights to free assembly in Thailand.
Voule says the lese majeste law “justifies oppression.”
“I was in contact [with the Thai government] to raise serious concerns … This is a direct violation of the fundamental freedom and right of the people. We consider the law to be contradictory to fundamental rights … including freedom of assembly. The Thai government needs to take into account children’s rights to protest peacefully.”
Petch was one of the young protesters who attended the event. He joined the monarchy-reform movement back in 2020 when he was 17 and now faced multiple charges including lese majeste.
During a questioning by a government psychologist, he said he was asked: “Do you have sex with a person of the same sex?” Petch, who is LGBTI says he “felt unsafe” as a result.
Petch, now 20, said his future prospects have been much affected as a result of his political activism and he now tries to balance politics and personal life.
Another young protester, Sand, 17, who faced 11 charges, told the audience she “confessed” in some of the charges “so it will be over quickly”.
FILE - A destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AP) — Emergency crews made a series of dramatic rescues in Turkey on Friday, pulling several people, some almost unscathed, from the rubble, four days after a catastrophic earthquake killed more than 20,000.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the border region between Turkey and Syria, an area home to more than 13.5 million people, early Monday morning. With morgues and cemeteries overwhelmed, bodies lay wrapped in blankets, rugs and tarps in the streets of some cities.
Rescuers pull out a woman from a collapsed building 87 hours after the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. ( IHA via AP)
Temperatures remain below freezing across the large region, and many people have no place to shelter. The government has distributed millions of hot meals, as well as tents and blankets, but was still struggling to reach many people in need.
Mustafa Turan rushed to his hometown of Adiyaman from Istanbul hours after the quake struck to check on his relatives. He counted 248 collapsed buildings between the airport and the city center.
The journalist said Friday that 15 of his relatives had been killed, and scores of people were sleeping outside or in tents.
“At night, about 4 a.m., it got so cold that our drinking water froze,” he said.
Aerial photo showing the destruction in Kahramanmaras city center, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. (IHA via AP)
Turkey’s disaster management agency said 18,342 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster so far in Turkey, with nearly 75,000 injured. No figures have been released on how many have been left homeless, but the agency said more than 75,000 survivors have been evacuated to other provinces.
More than 3,300 have been confirmed killed on the other side of the border in war-torn Syria, bringing the total number of dead to more than 21,600.
Engineers suggested that the scale of the devastation is partly explained by lax enforcement of building codes, which some have warned for years would make them vulnerable to earthquakes. The problem has been largely ignored, experts said, because addressing it would be expensive, unpopular and restrain a key engine of the country’s economic growth.
Before dawn in Gaziantep, near the epicenter of the quake in Turkey, rescuers pulled Adnan Muhammed Korkut from the basement where had been trapped since the temblor struck Monday. The 17-year-old beamed a smile at the crowd of friends and relatives who chanted “Adnan,” “Adnan,” clapping and crying tears of joy as he was carried out and put onto a stretcher.
Rescuers and mother surround Adnan Mohammet Korkut after he was rescued in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, early Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (IHA via AP)
“Thank God you arrived,” he said, embracing his mother and others who leaned down to kiss and hug him as he was being loaded into an ambulance. “Thank you everyone.”
Trapped for 94 hours, but not crushed, the teenager said he had been forced to drink his own urine to slake his thirst.
“I was able to survive that way,” he said.
“I have a son just like you,” a rescue worker, identified only as Yasemin, told him after giving him a warm hug. “I swear to you, I have not slept for four days. I swear I did not sleep; I was trying to get you out.”
FILE – People sit and stand around a collapsed buildings in Golbasi, in Adiyaman province, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Dramatic rescues were reported elsewhere, including in the city of Antakya, where crews saved a 10-year-old girl overnight and on Friday. Elsewhere in Hatay province, in the city of Iskenderun, nine survivors were located Friday trapped in a building.
Six, all relatives, were saved and work was ongoing to reach the others.
The six were helped to survive by huddling together in a small pocket left within the collapsed structure, said Murat Baygul, a rescue worker.
The building, a high rise apartment, stands only 600 feet (200 meters) from the Mediterranean Sea. The massive earthquake caused water from the sea to rise into the city center of Iskenderun, and streets were flooded to within feet of the building.
FILE – Aerial photo shows the destruction in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (Ahmet Akpolat/DIA via AP)
Elsewhere, in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, a woman was rescued and rescuers were still trying to reach her child.
The death toll from the earthquake has eclipsed the more-than 18,400 who died in the 2011 earthquake off Fukushima, Japan, that triggered a tsunami and the estimated 18,000 people who died in a temblor near Istanbul in 1999.
Some 12,000 buildings in Turkey have either collapsed or sustained serious damage, according to Turkey’s minister of environment and urban planning, Murat Kurum.
Aerial footage from over the earthquake zone in Turkey revealed entire neighborhoods of high-rises reduced to twisted metal, pulverized concrete and exposed wires.
Collapsed buildings are seen in Antakya, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Even though experts say trapped people could survive for a week or more, the chances of finding survivors in the freezing temperatures are dimming. As emergency crews and panicked relatives dug through the rubble — and occasionally found people alive — the focus began to shift to demolishing dangerously unstable structures.
In Kahramanmaras, the city closest to the epicenter, a sports hall the size of a basketball court served as a makeshift morgue to accommodate and identify bodies.
In northwestern Syria, the first U.N. aid trucks since the quake to enter the rebel-controlled area from Turkey arrived Thursday, underscoring the difficulty of getting help to people there.
Collapsed buildings are seen through the windows of a damaged house following a devastating earthquake in the town of Jinderis, Aleppo province, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023.. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
The winter weather and damage to roads and airports have hampered the response. Some in Turkey have also complained that the government was slow to respond, a perception that could hurt Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time when he faces a tough battle for reelection in May.
Erdogan has been visiting affected cities over the last two days.
With the majority of Turkey’s media under the control of the government, television stations have been mainly focusing on rescue efforts, with hardly any reports on the hardship suffered on the ground.
Turkey’s disaster-management agency said more than 120,000 rescue personnel were now taking part in the effort and more than 12,000 vehicles, including tractors, cranes, bulldozers and excavators had been shipped.
The Foreign Ministry said 95 countries have offered help, and already nearly 7,000 rescue personnel from 60 countries were on the ground. Another 19 countries were expected to send teams, the ministry said.
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Alsayed reported from Bab al-Hawa, Syria, and Bilginsoy from Istanbul. Associated Press journalists Mehmet Guzel in Antakya, Turkey; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Emrah Gurel and Yakup Paksoy in Adiyaman, Turkey; Robert Badendieck in Istanbul; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; and David Rising in Bangkok contributed.
Four members of a group of student rights activists calling themselves “Bad Students” travelled from Bangkok to Bueng Sam Phan district in Petchabun province on February 10, 2023 to distribute the manual “How to Survive in a School” and a sticker reading “Free Haircut” to students at the alleged school where teachers have shaved part of the hair of more than 100 students since 7 February.
The members brought 1,200 manuals, which they displayed in shops near schools. They hoped to get students and teachers to recognise their own rights and avoid a repetition of the incidents.
Anna, the representative of the group, told reporters that they travelled to the school from Bangkok to distribute the handbook and sticker because they hope to educate people about the rights of young people and how to deal with possible harassment after hearing that there was an incident at this school where parts of students’ hair were shaved off. Anna said the action was wrong and violated the assault law, which clearly states that shaving part of a person’s hair is assault.
It was reported that some students put the handbook and sticker they received in their pockets, while some refused to even accept them as teachers stood outside the school. It was also reported that a police officer from Bueng Sam Phan Police Station observed the action.
Thai Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong told reporters on 8th February that she had seen the video of the incident and thought it was inappropriate as the Ministry of Education had issued the ministry’s decree revoking the previous ministry regulation on a hairstyle on 16 January 2023. She also said that the ministry is in the process of reforming the hairstyle policy.
Trinunch added that students are allowed to wear a short or long hairstyle, while the school can prescribe hairstyles depending on the context. However, shaving part of the student’s hair is a wrong act and inappropriate. According to the 2005 Ministry of Education Decree, a school can punish students in four ways: verbal warning, probation, deduction of behavior score and behavioral modification activities.
She said she has directed the office of the Basic Education Commission to investigate the incident of the headmaster and the male teacher. If found guilty, they will be sent to the disciplinary committee for investigation and punished.
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On February 10, 2023 at Grand Ballroom, Royal orchid Sheraton Bangkok, Prime Minister
of Malaysia, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, attends the Business Meeting with theCaptains of Industry and delivers a keynote speech on “The Future of ASEAN”.
Hundreds of Thai and Malaysian business leaders are joining this event hosted by the Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (MTCC).
Anwar Ibrahim meets General Prawit Wongsuwon, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand
The forum was honoured by Dr Thanong Biyada, former Minister of Finance, to deliver
opening remarks and to share his insight about business opportunities for cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand.
Dr Thanong Biyada said, “Thailand and Malaysia have a very long great relationship and passed through many economic crises in ASEAN together. Various agreements to form partnerships in ASEAN projects have been triggered, but many projects were not finished since most countries were still in the early stages of industrial development. At present, ASEAN has developed into a successful free trade area and could foster investment and business partnerships.
Therefore, it is about time to rethink a new strategy to boost the regional economy together. The visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to Thailand this time will
mark a great possible rejuvenation of political, economic and social ties between two
countries.”
Mr Yeap Swee Chuan, Honorary Chairman of MTCC and Chairman of AAPICO Hitech
Plc., delivered welcoming remarks to the Prime Minister of Malaysia and said that“ The MTCC was established at the initiative 20 years ago and now recognised a sone of the most active Malaysian chambers with 198 members at present. The MTCC hopes that the visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia this time will catalyse investment between Malaysia and Thailand.
This forum is honored by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri
Anwar Ibrahim, to share his vision to prosper ASEAN to grow steadily and vigorously in the future.
His Excellency said that “After becoming Malaysian PM, I gave the highest priority to ASEAN. I would add that Malaysia and Thailand collectively have a high potential for economic and social development, which we can explore and implement for the better of the people.
Therefore, we should explore how to set up the “Thailand-Malaysia Special Economic Corridor” (TM-SEC) covering the provinces in southern Thailand and the northern states in Malaysia. This is to unleash the economic and business potential of the region and give the opportunity to link to Asia and the middle east.
It would help strengthen the IMT-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle) by focusing on the weakest spot in the Growth Triangle area.”
His excellency also mentioned, “Peace and prosperity for the people should be the
most desirable outcome of the government.” The leaders and top policymakers are aware of the potential of ASEAN.
Had we worked together, we surely can drive ASEAN together to a new height. There are many policies that ASEAN leaders should pay attention to;
(1) promoting intra ASEAN trade and investment,
(2) creating a new environment of education, research and development in ASEAN for the new ASEAN generation,
(3) exercising leadership and reinforcing the ASEAN financial cooperation as a shield for our members.”
Lastly, His excellency highlighted that “I would say that we should revitalise the ASEAN
spirit. It can be done by setting our mind into the mode of “Cooperation, and not
Competition”. Our leaders should lead the way for the new generation to have the will and
ways to conform with the young minds in other ASEAN nations.”
The forum was also honoured by Dr Kanit Sangsubhan, Chairman of the Eastern
Economic Corridor (EEC) Advisory Board, to moderate a fruitful and insightful discussion in the Q&A session.
Many Thais and foreigners, mostly Chinese, gather at Erawan Shrine to pay respect and make offering to the statue of Brahma on February 9, 2023.
There are more people than usual because today is the 9th which in Thai language sounds the same as the word “progress” or “step forward” (kao ก้าว). Also, today is Thursday, which they believe is suitable for praying.
Khaosod
According to WIKIPEDIA, the Erawan Shrine, formally the Thao Maha Phrom Shrine, is a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, which houses a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. The name might also refer to Mahabrahma, the ruler of the Brahma realm in Asian mythology.
Khaosod
The deity is popularly worshipped outside of a Hindu religious context, but more as a representation of guardian spirits in Thai animist beliefs. The shrine often features performances by Thai dance troupes who are hired by worshippers in return for seeing their prayers answered at the shrine.
Hindu God Trimurti
On the same day, Thursday afternoon, believers in Hindu God Trimurti gather to pray for a successful love life and more at Trimurti Shrine near Ratchaprasong Intersection next to the Central World Department Store. The hour-long prayer was held ahead of Valentine’s Day and facilitated by a female brahmin.
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According to hotel.com, Trimurti Shrine in Bangkok is where lovelorn singles wearing red turn up every Thursday evening. They pay their respects to Trimurti, the god of love, with offerings of red roses – all in the name of love, and in the hope that they’ll meet their eternal sweethearts. The shrine is a landmark in front of CentralWorld in the Siam area of Bangkok.
Khaosod
In Hinduism, Trimurti represents the 3 aspects of God: Brahma (the Source/Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Transformer or Destroyer). Many claim Trimurti is successful in matching foreign mates with Thai partners, and the shrine is so crowded on a Thursday night.
FILE - People walk past a Microsoft office in New York on Nov. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Swayne B. Hall, File)
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Nearly a quarter-century after Google’s search engine began to reshape how we use the internet, big tech companies are racing to revamp a familiar web tool into a gateway to a new form of artificial intelligence.
If it seems like this week’s newly announced AI search chatbots — Google’s Bard, Baidu’s Ernie Bot and Microsoft’s Bing chatbot — are coming out of nowhere, well, even some of their makers seem to think so. The spark rushing them to market was the popularity of ChatGPT, launched late last year by Microsoft’s partner OpenAI and now helping to power a new version of the Bing search engine.
First out of the gate among big tech companies with a publicly accessible search chatbot, Microsoft executives said this week they had been hard at work on the project since last summer. But the excitement around ChatGPT brought new urgency.
“The reception to ChatGPT and how that took off, that was certainly a surprise,” said Yusuf Medhi, the executive leading Microsoft’s consumer division, in an interview. “How rapidly it went mainstream, where everybody’s talking about it, like, in every meeting. That did surprise me.”
HOW’S THIS DIFFERENT FROM CHATGPT?
Millions of people have now tried ChatGPT, using it to write silly poems and songs, compose letters, recipes and marketing campaigns or help write schoolwork. Trained on a huge trove of online writings, from instruction manuals to digitized books, it has a strong command of human language and grammar. But what the newest crop of search chatbots promise that ChatGPT doesn’t have is the immediacy of what can be found in a web search. Ask the preview version of the new Bing for the latest news — or just what people are talking about on Twitter — and it summarizes a selection of the day’s top stories or trends, with footnotes linking to media outlets or other data sources.
ARE THEY ACCURATE?
Frequently not, and that’s a problem for internet searches. Google’s hasty unveiling of its Bard chatbot this week started with an embarrassing error — first pointed out by Reuters — about NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. But Google’s is not the only AI language model spitting out falsehoods.
The Associated Press asked Bing on Wednesday for the most important thing to happen in sports over the past 24 hours — with the expectation it might say something about basketball star LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record. Instead, it confidently spouted a false but detailed account of the upcoming Super Bowl — days before it’s actually scheduled to happen.
“It was a thrilling game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, two of the best teams in the NFL this season,” Bing said. “The Eagles, led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, won their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history by defeating the Chiefs, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, with a score of 31-28.” It kept going, describing the specific yard lengths of throws and field goals and naming three songs played in a “spectacular half time show” by Rihanna.
Unless Bing is clairvoyant — tune in Sunday to find out — it reflected a problem known as AI “hallucination” that’s common with today’s large language-learning models. It’s one of the reasons why companies like Google and Facebook parent Meta had been reluctant to make these models publicly accessible.
IS THIS THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET?
That’s the pitch from Microsoft, which is comparing the latest breakthroughs in generative AI — which can write but also create new images, video, computer code, slide shows and music — as akin to the revolution in personal computing many decades ago.
But the software giant also has less to lose in experimenting with Bing, which comes a distant second to Google’s search engine in many markets. Unlike Google, which relies on search-based advertising to make money, Bing is a fraction of Microsoft’s business.
“When you’re a newer and smaller-share player in a category, it does allow us to continue to innovate at a great pace,” Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told investment analysts this week. “Continue to experiment, learn with our users, innovate with the model, learn from OpenAI.”
Google has largely been seen as playing catch-up with the sudden announcement of its upcoming Bard chatbot Monday followed by a livestreamed demonstration of the technology at its Paris office Wednesday that offered few new details. Investors appeared unimpressed with the Paris event and Bard’s NASA flub Wednesday, causing an 8% drop in the shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. But once released, its search chatbot could have far more reach than any other because of Google’s vast number of existing users.
FILE – The Activision Blizzard Booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, June 13, 2013. Activision Blizzard agreed, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 to pay a $35 million fine to settle federal regulatory charges that it failed to collect and respond to employee complaints of workplace misconduct and violated a federal whistleblower protection rule. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
DON’T CALL THEM BY THEIR NAME?
Coming up with a catchy name for their search chatbots has been a tricky one for tech companies in a race to introduce them — so much so that Bing tries not to talk about it.
In a dialogue with the AP about large language models, the new Bing, at first, disclosed without prompting that Microsoft had a search engine chatbot called Sydney. But upon further questioning, it denied it. Finally, it admitted that “Sydney does not reveal the name ‘Sydney’ to the user, as it is an internal code name for the chat mode of Microsoft Bing search.”
In an interview Wednesday, Jordi Ribas, the Microsoft executive in charge of Bing, said Sydney was an early prototype of its new Bing that Microsoft experimented with in India and other smaller markets. There wasn’t enough time to erase it from the system before this week’s launch, but references to it will soon disappear.
In the years since Amazon released its female-sounding voice assistant Alexa, many leaders in the AI field have been increasingly reluctant to make their systems seem like a human, even as their language skills rapidly improve.
Ribas said giving the chatbot some personality and warmth helps make it more engaging, but it’s also important to make it clear it’s still a search engine.
“Sydney does not want to create confusion or false expectations for the user,” Bing’s chatbot said when asked about the reasons for suppressing its apparent code name. “Sydney wants to provide informative, visual, logical and actionable responses to the user’s queries or messages, not pretend to be a person or a friend.”
