Displaying items by tag: Thailand

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 37, has been officially endorsed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn as Thailand’s new prime minister, just two days after her election by parliament. The country’s youngest and second female leader, she follows in the footsteps of her father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, the country's first female premier. She has taken over after the dismissal of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, by the constitutional court. In her first speech, she pledged to govern with an open heart, emphasising stability and continuity. She has vowed to maintain key policies of her predecessor, focusing on economic stimulus, healthcare reform, tackling illegal drugs, and promoting gender diversity. The economy is a real concern for voters, with many asking why her party has failed to fulfil its promise to give about $300 to every voter in Thailand.

The constitutional court has ordered the dissolution of the Move Forward Party, which won the most parliamentary seats in the 2023 election on an anti-establishment reform agenda. The court ruled that Move Forward was undermining the country’s powerful monarchy through its campaign to amend the lèse-majesté law. It has disbanded the party and banned its executives from politics for ten years. This verdict, which disenfranchises 14 million voters, raises concerns about the erosion of democratic rights in Thailand. Move Forward's leaders vowed to continue their movement despite the dissolution. This decision reflects an ongoing power struggle with the military-backed establishment, which has a history of toppling elected governments. The court's ruling comes amid political turbulence, with another high-profile case pending against the prime minister. Move Forward's dissolution follows the pattern of its predecessor, the Future Forward Party, which was also dissolved by the court, sparking nationwide protests in 2020.

Thailand's constitutional court has ruled that the Move Forward party's campaign promise to amend the strict royal insult law during the 2023 election amounted to an attempt to overthrow the monarchy. The case was initiated by a conservative activist lawyer, who argued that the party's pledge to amend the lèse-majesté law violated Section 49 of the constitution. The nine judges unanimously ruled against Move Forward, stating that its efforts to change the law undermined and weakened the monarchy, posing a significant danger to the state's security. Move Forward was ordered to cease any activities violating Section 49. The party is not being disbanded, but the lawyer has said he might make a new petition asking the election commission to do so. Move Forward's leader warned that the ruling could further make the royal institution increasingly ‘a factor behind conflicts in Thai politics’.

62 members of China's Mayflower Church fled to South Korea seeking political asylum after China’s government imposed revised regulations. Pastor Pan said, ‘Government authorities ordered my landlord to force us to leave. Police were posted right outside our residence and I was being followed.’ He said that police persecution was becoming more serious, and the space where they could live was becoming smaller. ‘Our only hope is that our family can live in a place where we can worship God and teach this to our children. For them to freely worship God their whole lives.’ After two and a half years South Korea’s government denied the Mayflower families' request for asylum, so they fled to Thailand, where they are seeking refugee status in order to apply for political asylum in the USA. They still face many challenges, including being sent back to China by Thai immigration police.

Duangphan Patphaothanun is wandering outside a childcare centre, clutching a bag full of toys. She wants to know when she can see her grandson, so she can place his most treasured possessions with him in his coffin. Three-year-old Pattarawut is among the 23 children who died on 6 October in an attack at the centre, in the north-east of Thailand. Panya Kamrab, a former policeman, killed at least 37 people, including his wife and stepson, before killing himself after a manhunt. His stepson used to attend the centre but had not been there for a month. The motive for the attack is not yet known, but police said Kamrab was fired from his job in June for drug use. More than 90 children usually attend the centre, but because of poor weather and a bus breakdown only 24 of them were there on Thursday. Only one child has survived.

Sixty members of a Chinese church have submitted applications for asylum in Bangkok, after being denied refuge in South Korea. They had fled the communist regime to escape religious persecution. Pastor Pan’s church has been on the run for years. He said the persecution is growing worse. The group remains stateless, jobless, and homeless, but not without faith. ‘We're thinking of our children's future. We refuse to put their education in the hands of the Communist Party, to give them an atheist education, and to turn their backs on God. So we are willing to pay this price to flee China to allow them to keep going to church school and to know God. Although we don't know what we will encounter in the future, what our God gives us is the best. He will lead us through these issues; God always has the best plan and arrangement.’

By 9 April authorities were struggling to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak just days before the country's New Year's holiday (April 13 - 15) when millions of people travel around the country. The government response was to close nightlife venues for two weeks. New infections are expected to rise to 10,000 per day if no adequate measures are taken. Some provinces are preventing travellers arriving from elsewhere, The government’s pandemic control is minimal and criticised. The New Year holiday was cancelled last year during the first outbreak. The slow vaccination drive means less than 1% have had their jabs. The government has field hospitals to accommodate any surge in patients, and said vacant rooms in hotels could be converted to accommodate infected people if numbers keep rising.

It is fire season in Thailand, with hundreds of patches of farmland and forest ablaze in the north, belching toxic fumes into the atmosphere and poisoning the air. Tiny pollution particles caused an estimated 32,000 premature deaths in Thailand in 2019, according to a global report. Along with exhaust fumes and crop burning, smoke from the wildfires contributes to the problem. On the worst days this year, drifting smoke made Chiang Mai the most polluted city in the world. As the years go by, the pollution is getting worse. Each year, on average, northern Thailand has been swathed in smoke for eight weeks, causing thousands of health problems. In the first three months of this year 200,000 people in eight provinces have been made ill by toxic particles in the air, according to health officials. ‘Most of the people hospitalised already had chronic diseases,’ said the director-general of the ministry of public health.

Handicap International’s involvement in Thai refugee camps gives children the opportunity to be a cared-for child. Being a child in poverty and stress is particularly challenging if you are disabled. Since 1984, Thailand has sheltered people fleeing Myanmar’s violence in camps along the border. Some refugees were born in the camps and have never set foot outside. Most are Karen, a mixed people group without a shared language or religion. Since the 1940s, ongoing conflicts between Karen separatists and the Burmese army have forced many to flee. 400,000 Karen people are homeless. Camp conditions are extremely poor; in the past cholera and malaria have occurred. Children suffer from chronic malnutrition and respiratory infections. There is no electricity, phone signal, healthcare, or education.

IJM Thailand was informed by the Myanmar embassy of a potential human trafficking and forced labour case. 18 Myanmar workers needed rescuing from a confectionery factory in Bangkok. They were illegally brought in and wanted to leave, but could not. IJM personnel, embassy staff, and other agencies went to a residential neighborhood and attempted to call out to the workers locked in the upper floors of a building behind locked gates. Eventually, one worker began to climb out over the gate and a ladder was brought to help him escape. 17 other migrant workers followed him to freedom. They will undergo Covid testing and continue to receive IJM legal and aftercare support in a safe location. Pray for the successful prosecution of their captors and traffickers.