Headlines summary as of 16 June 2022

KEY ISSUES AT A GLANCE

• Ministry recommends boosters every 4 months. The Public Health Ministry has approved additional booster jabs against Covid-19 every four months for those who have already received three doses. Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Disease Control (DDC), said the DDC’s sub-committee on promoting disease immunity cited data indicating that immunity declines three to four months after vaccination. Dr Opas said high-risk groups — people aged 60 and older, those with underlying conditions and pregnant women — can get boosters every four months as necessary. Those with plans to travel abroad, or with compromised immunity, are advised to do the same. Source: Bangkok Post
• Opposition submits motion to censure PM, 10 other ministers. Thailand’s opposition submitted a motion to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai today (Wednesday), to censure Prime Minister Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and ten of his ministers, with the debate tentatively scheduled for July 18th to 22nd. The motion was seconded by 182 opposition MPs. In the motion, the opposition accuses the prime minister of the mismanagement of state affairs, violations of the Constitution and laws regarding ethical standards, negligence in the performance of his duties, allowing rampant corruption to take place, failure to implement policies stated in parliament, violations of human rights and the undermining of parliamentary democracy. The other ten ministers to be censured include Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Deputy Finance Minister Santi Promphat, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, Social Development and Human Security Minister Juti Krairiksh, Deputy Interior Minister Nipon Boonyamanee and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Source: Thai PBS
• Cooking gas price to increase by ฿1/kg every month from July to September. The price of cooking gas in Thailand will be increased by one baht/kg every month for three months, which will send the price of a 15kg cylinder of household cooking gas to 378 baht in July, 393 baht in August and 408 baht in September, according to a decision by the Committee on Energy Policy Administration (CEPA) yesterday (Wednesday). The panel also agreed to reduce the palm oil content of bio-diesel from B7 to B5 until the end of September. Energy Permanent Secretary Kulit Sombatsiri said that even though the price of cooking gas is to increase, the government continues to partially subsidise the price, because the actual price of a 15kg cylinder of cooking gas should be 460 baht. Source: Thai PBS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Cooking gas price to rise slowly. Oil Fund subsidies draining coffers. The Energy Policy Administration Committee (Epac) has decided to have the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used as household cooking gas, gradually increase over the next three months. The price which consumers pay will be allowed to approach its market price, as authorities are struggling to control huge spending to support an LPG price subsidy programme. The LPG price, which currently stands at 363 baht per 15-kilogramme standard cylinder, will rise to 378 baht next month and continue to increase to 393 and 408 baht in August and September respectively, said permanent secretary for energy Kulit Sombatsiri, who sits on the Epac. The new prices will be applied to Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. Households in other provinces may pay more due to transport costs added to the prices. The market price of LPG is now 460 baht. Mr Kulit said authorities need to carefully manage the Oil Fuel Fund, which is used to support diesel and LPG subsidy programmes, as the amount of money is dwindling. So far the government has spent over 30 billion baht alone to cap LPG prices, he said. The LPG price was fixed at 318 baht for months before the government decided to have the price increase to 333 baht in April and gradually rise to 363 baht this month. Source: Bangkok Post
• Parliament passes marriage equality bill, 3 other drafts. The marriage equality bill cleared its first reading in parliament on Wednesday in what was billed as a historic move by the sponsor. Three related draft bills conferring differing legal status to civil unions between people across all genders were also approved. After four hours of deliberation, the marriage equality bill passed its first reading in a vote of 210 to 180 with four abstentions. The bill was sponsored by the Move Forward Party (MFP). Source: Bangkok Post

AUSTRALIA IN THE NEWS

• New Bangkok Governor has links to Australia. Chadchart proves he can achieve miracles with tenacity, determination. Bangkok’s new governor Chadchart Sittipunt is admired by his fans not just for his innovative ideas but also for his perseverance and doggedness as evidenced by his long battle for his only son. For the past 20 years, Chadchart has been doing what he can to ensure his son, Sanpiti “Sandee” Sittipunt, can lead a normal life despite being born without any hearing ability. Sanpiti, 22, recently graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with a bachelor’s in history and thanks to his father’s determination, he has never had to go to special schools. Ever the devoted father, Chadchart was not afraid to openly announce he was taking his first few days in office off because he wanted to attend his son’s graduation ceremony. When Sanpiti was young Chadchart did not give up searching for a solution to his deafness and kept hunting until he learned that a surgeon at a children’s hospital in Sydney had been successful with more than 1,000 cochlear implant surgeries. When he approached the surgeon, he was rejected on grounds that there were many Australian patients on the waiting list. The doctor finally relented when Chadchart would not stop begging. However, this surgery was just the beginning of the battle. He had years of hard work ahead of him, teaching his son how to speak and form words. At that time, Chadchart was a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Engineering Faculty and could not take leave too often to help his son. So he decided to apply for a research scholarship in Australia, so he could be with his son in Sydney. While there, the devout father escorted his son to a speech therapist three times a week and also held lessons at home until Sanpiti began speaking normally. This took six months of intense hard work. Source: The Nation
• The Government’s Inflation Woes. The leader of the Thai Pakdee Party, Warong Dechgitvigrom, recently posted a photo of himself at a gas station in Australia. “Gas prices in Australia are not cheap,” he said. “In Thailand, the government is still helping reduce the price.”  Netizens swamped his post, pointing out that even if gas prices are higher in Australia, an Australian worker makes more in an hour than a Thai worker does in a day on minimum wage. Warong later edited his post to respond, saying that people are not supposed to compares wages or income with gas prices. This episode encapsulates the difficulties facing the Prayut administration. A rising cost of living, driven by global conditions such as increased gas prices, is plaguing governments all over the world. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven to be the catalyst of an economic headache for which Thailand’s prime minister cannot be blamed. Source: Thai Enquirer
• $100m set aside for Metaverse R&D Centre. Translucia Global Innovation, a subsidiary of T&B Media Global (Thailand), is joining hands with Two Bulls, an Australia-based specialist in gamification design and innovative tech, to launch the Metaverse Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Melbourne with an initial budget of US$100 million. Last year, T&B announced its plan to invest 10 billion baht in the Translucia metaverse project with various partners. Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, founder and chief executive of T&B, said Translucia would be soft-launched in November this year during its virtual expo. Translucia will support multiple kinds of tokens and has its own cryptocurrency called Lucium. He said the project would bridge the virtual and physical worlds while creating goodness, happiness and prosperity. According to him, the Metaverse R&D Centre developed by Translucia Global Innovation will be one of the world’s few specalised research centres, recognised by the Australian government with the help of Two Bulls. Source: Bangkok Post

COVID

• 2, 153 new cases and 17 deaths. Source: Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health
• Ministry recommends boosters every 4 months. The Public Health Ministry has approved additional booster jabs against Covid-19 every four months for those who have already received three doses. Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Disease Control (DDC), said the DDC’s sub-committee on promoting disease immunity cited data indicating that immunity declines three to four months after vaccination. Dr Opas said high-risk groups — people aged 60 and older, those with underlying conditions and pregnant women — can get boosters every four months as necessary. Those with plans to travel abroad, or with compromised immunity, are advised to do the same. Source: Bangkok Post
• CCSA may lift mandatory mask-wearing in public. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered government agencies to study the pros and cons of lifting the mandatory mask-wearing measure and present their findings to a national Covid meeting on Friday. Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the proposal to do away with mask wearing in public would be considered by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on the orders of the prime minister during its Friday meeting. Thanakorn said Prayut, in his capacity as CCSA director, had instructed all government agencies concerned to analyse the current Covid-19 situation and study measures to cope with the improved situation if the CCSA decides to lift its mask wearing requirement. Source: The Nation

POLITICS

• Opposition submits motion to censure PM, 10 other ministers. Thailand’s opposition submitted a motion to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai today (Wednesday), to censure Prime Minister Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and ten of his ministers, with the debate tentatively scheduled for July 18th to 22nd. The motion was seconded by 182 opposition MPs. In the motion, the opposition accuses the prime minister of the mismanagement of state affairs, violations of the Constitution and laws regarding ethical standards, negligence in the performance of his duties, allowing rampant corruption to take place, failure to implement policies stated in parliament, violations of human rights and the undermining of parliamentary democracy. The other ten ministers to be censured include Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Deputy Finance Minister Santi Promphat, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, Social Development and Human Security Minister Juti Krairiksh, Deputy Interior Minister Nipon Boonyamanee and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Source: Thai PBS
• Pheu Thai party welcomes Nattawut Saikua’s return. Former Pheu Thai MP Nattawut Saikua has returned to the party as the director of the “Pheu Thai family”, whose first assignment is to visit the north-eastern province of Si Sa Ket to recruit new “family” members, with an ambitious aim at a landslide win in this province in the next general election. Nattawut, who is best known for his role as one of the leaders of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) or the Red Shirts, was given a hero’s welcome at a book store event, in Khlong San district of Bangkok today (Wednesday), presided over by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, head of the so called Pheu Thai Family and advisory chair of public participation and innovations for the party. Nattawut said today that a simple election win by the Pheu Thai party is not enough under the present election rules, but the party and its allies must win more than half of the seats in the Lower House to prevent the other camp from forming the government. According to Paetongtarn, Nattawut has been assigned to recruit new members across the country, in preparation for the next general election, in which the Pheu Thai expects to stage a political comeback with a landslide win. Source: Thai PBS

ECONOMICS

• Projects given approval to bolster water supply in EEC. The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office looks set to implement a public-private partnership (PPP) deal for seawater desalination projects at Map Ta Phut and Pattaya worth a combined 7.7 billion baht to ensure sufficient water supply in the EEC areas. A meeting of EEC sub-committees on Wednesday, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, greenlighted the EEC Office to implement the deal. The joint investment project at Map Ta Phut will be handled by the EEC Office and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), while the Pattaya project will be jointly implemented by the EEC Office and Pattaya Municipality. The PPP projects are expected to help supply 200,000 cubic metres of water per day to the EEC in 2027, rising to 300,000 cu m per day in 2037. Source: Bangkok Post
• $100m set aside for Metaverse R&D Centre. Translucia Global Innovation, a subsidiary of T&B Media Global (Thailand), is joining hands with Two Bulls, an Australia-based specialist in gamification design and innovative tech, to launch the Metaverse Research and Development (R&D) Centre in Melbourne with an initial budget of US$100 million. Last year, T&B announced its plan to invest 10 billion baht in the Translucia metaverse project with various partners. Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, founder and chief executive of T&B, said Translucia would be soft-launched in November this year during its virtual expo. Translucia will support multiple kinds of tokens and has its own cryptocurrency called Lucium. He said the project would bridge the virtual and physical worlds while creating goodness, happiness and prosperity. According to him, the Metaverse R&D Centre developed by Translucia Global Innovation will be one of the world’s few specalised research centres, recognised by the Australian government with the help of Two Bulls. Source: Bangkok Post
• Bank of Thailand ready to manage excessive baht volatility. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) said on Wednesday it was closely monitoring capital movements and the baht currency and was ready to take action on any excessive volatility. The weakening and fluctuation of the baht were driven by expectations the US Federal Reserve would accelerate policy tightening, and concerns over a global economic slowdown, said Daranee Saeju, senior director at the BoT, in a text message to media. Such factors have pushed up the dollar to its strongest level in nearly 20 years, resulting in a steady weakness in regional currencies and the baht, she said. Source: Bangkok Post

OTHER

• Axes of Nought: Thai air guitar championship goes off Saturday. All those years shredding and wailing with an imaginary guitar will pay off Saturday when would-be air guitar champions raise furious fingers to the sky. Anyone can enter the second Thai Air Guitar Championship taking place at On Nut music venue Brownstone, with a THB10,000 cash prize to be split between the three best rock ‘n roll mimes. Thai Air Guitar Championship 2022. 8pm to midnight, Saturday, June 18, 1395 On Nut Road, Suan Luang district. Source: Coconuts Bangkok

For further information please see the embassy’s Facebook Page ‘Australian Embassy, Thailand’ or the Ambassador’s Twitter Page https://twitter.com/AusAmbBKK