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Tag: Thailand

  • Thai Woman Charged With Royal Slur After Mob Action

    Thai Woman Charged With Royal Slur After Mob Action

    Thai police on Sunday (Oct 16) charged a woman with royal defamation after a mob demanded action over a Facebook post allegedly smearing the “heir and regent”, as the country mourns King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

    Thailand has one of the world’s harshest lese majeste laws, with jail terms of up to 15 years for each count of defaming or insulting the king, queen, heir or regent.

    The woman, who has not been named, was accused of posting a derogatory statement on Facebook on Friday, according to Thewes Pleumsud of Bo Pud police in the southeastern island of Koh Samui.

    “She did not post against the late King — it involved the heir and the regent,” he said, referring to Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, and the 96-year-old Prem Tinsulanonda who in a surprise move became temporary regent on Friday.

    He declined to give further details since doing so could violate the catch-all law.

    Mr Prem, a former prime minister and Bhumibol’s Privy Council head, will act as regent until the Crown Prince formally ascends the throne.

    An angry mob descended on Bo Pud police station on Sunday demanding the woman be charged.

    The crowd hurled insults at the woman, according to videos widely shared on Facebook.

    Police said she was charged and then publicly prostrated herself in apology before a portrait of the king, who died on Thursday aged 88 — prompting a wave of grief across the nation.

    Two other similar cases since the king’s death — in which angry crowds urged punishment for alleged royal defamation on social media — have raised fears of mob action.

    Domestic and foreign media outlets based in the country routinely self-censor to avoid falling foul of the broadly worded law, while social opprobrium follows those perceived to have overstepped the mark.

    Critics say the law — known as ‘112’ after its criminal code — has encouraged witch hunts by the public, with police and courts obliged to investigate all accusations.

    The law prevents all but the most cursory public discussion of Thailand’s monarchy, or reporting or debate on the issue.

    Cases have surged since royalist generals ousted a civilian government from power in 2014.

    The generals have vowed to defend the monarchy from criticism. But analysts say the law has overwhelmingly been used to skewer their political rivals.

    A number of people with mental health problems have also been prosecuted.

    Cyber patrol teams trawl the internet for royal insults, while self-appointed ultra-royalist civilian groups also monitor the web and report violations.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

  • Thailand’s First Halal Hotel Hopes To Help Boost Muslim Arrivals

    Thailand’s First Halal Hotel Hopes To Help Boost Muslim Arrivals

    Predominately Buddhist Thailand has opened its first halal hotel as hopes to attract more Muslim visitors and boost one of the few bright spots in its economy.

    Nearly 30 million foreign tourists came to Thailand last year but only about 658,000 were from the Middle East, according to industry data.

    The four-star Al Meroz hotel in Bangkok, which opened in November 2015, hopes to play its part in changing that, and to cash in.

    “There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. It’s a huge market,” said the hotel’s general manager, Sanya Saengboon.

    “Just one percent of that market is enough for us to thrive.”

    The Al Meroz, which boasts mosque-like architecture, has two prayer rooms and three halal dining halls.

    Rooms cost from 4,000 baht all the way up to 50,000 baht (US$116 to US$1,445) a night, said Sanya.

    A guest at the hotel, Aamir Fazal, 28, a security officer from Australia, said access to a halal hotel was a comfort to Muslim travelers in Thailand where halal food can be hard to find.

    “It’s a really nice experience. It’s the first halal hotel here and I find that amazing,” said Fazal.

    Eager to tap into a growing Muslim tourist market, Thailand launched a mobile application last year which helps tourists search for halal eateries and Muslim-friendly attractions.

    Parts of Thailand’s south, near the border with Muslim Malaysia, are majority Muslim.

    Many Malaysians pop over the border for short visits but a low-level separatist insurgency in the far south, that has included bomb attacks in border towns frequented by Malaysian tourists, has dented business there.

    A series of bomb attacks in more mainstream tourist towns south of Bangkok this month, in which four people were killed and dozens wounded, has led to fears the insurgency is spreading.

    Thailand saw a 10 percent increase in arrivals from the Middle East in 2015 compared with 2014, data from the Department of Tourism showed.

     

    Source: ChannelNewsAsia

  • ISIS Launches Malay-Language Propaganda Newspaper In Southeast Asia

    ISIS Launches Malay-Language Propaganda Newspaper In Southeast Asia

    KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Terror group Islamic State (IS) is trying to increase its reach in South-east Asia by launching a Malay-language publication for its supporters in the region, according to a Berita Harian (BH) report.

    The Malay daily reported today that the publication called Al Fatihin was launched in southern Philippines on June 20, and is being distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, southern Thailand, as well as southern Philippines itself.

    An unnamed security expert was quoted saying that the act can be seen as an “unofficial warning” that the Malay archipelago is in IS’s sights.

    “This psychological campaign means that the terrorists have a big objective, which is to expand their influence among people who understand the Malay language,” said the source.

    “Based on the way the language is used, we believe the writer or editor of the paper may be from this country,” the source added.

    Al Fatihin means “The Conqueror” in Arabic.

    A paper by the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore last month gave some details on the newspaper’s first issue’s contents.

    The 20-page edition focussed on the month of Ramadan and the act of jihad or “holy struggle”, with a three-page message from Egyptian ideologue Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, calling on IS fighters to “continue their jihadist activities, search for martyrdom and kill and crucify the polytheists, disbelievers, oppressors and transgressors”.

    It also featured Syrian martyr Abu Bilal al-Himshi, and various news excerpts from Raqqa in Syria to the Philippines, information and statistics on military operations, a map of IS provinces across the glove, and alms collection and distribution statistics in Syria.

    According to BH, its editor also invited all militant groups in Indonesia and the Philippines to unite and pledge allegiance to IS leader and self-styled caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

    Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division senior assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay refused comment on the matter to the daily, claiming the matter was still being investigated.

    However he told the daily that IS is believed to be expanding its media arms, in the fields of information technology, audio visual, processing and publishing to maintain its global communications.

    “It is proven through the production of their official IS applications including an official ‘live broadcast’ radio from the official IS media centre in Iraq that is broadcasted all over the world,” said Ayub.

    Regional security expert Bilveer Singh, an adjunct senior fellow at Centre of Excellence for National Security at RSIS recently warned of possible increase in IS activities in the region as the terrorist organisation has begun losing its hold on territories in Iraq and Syria.

    There had been a recent increase of attacks linked to IS globally, including bombings at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, the slaying of hostages in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and in South-east Asia, a suicide bombing in Solo, Indonesia, as well as the grenade attack which injured eight people at a bar in Puchong — reportedly the first in Malaysia linked to the IS.

     

    Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Hot Weather Means More Expensive Vegetables And Coconuts

    Hot Weather Means More Expensive Vegetables And Coconuts

    JOHOR BARU — Consumers in Singapore can expect to pay more for vegetables from Malaysia and coconuts from Thailand, as the hot weather and lack of rain caused by the El Nino phenomenon continue to hurt crop production in the region and push up prices.

    Federation of Malaysian Vegeta­ble Farmers’ Association president Tan So Tiok told The Star newspaper that local vegetable output had dropped 20 per cent since last month. The shortage has also affected supply to Singapore by about the same percentage, he said.

    Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary Chay Ee Mong said output from the highlands has dropped between 30 and 40 per cent. About 80 per cent of the output is consumed locally while the rest is exported to Singapore.

    Mr Tan said the situation had improved because of the recent rains but the upcoming Ramadan month would create new problems. “Indonesian farm workers will usually head back to their hometowns for the fasting month, which leaves us shorthanded,” he told the paper. “The situation is made worse by the freeze on foreign workers because we can’t take in labourers from other countries to replace those heading home.”

    Over in Thailand, the hot weather has affected Thai coconut production and prices have gone up almost 100 per cent in Singapore as a result.

    Coconut importer Kelvin Ngian of Siam Coconut told Channel NewsAsia that the prices are the highest he has seen in 15 years.

    In the case of coconuts, apart from the hot weather, prices have gone up because there has been an increase in demand for coconuts as drinking coconut water has become a health fad.

    The hot weather is also affecting the supply of durians. Last month, it was reported that durian yields in Perak were expected to fall by 50 per cent because durian trees were not flowering and trees were dying because of the lack of rain.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Protect Your Children – Malaysian Syndicate Selling Organs Of Children

    Protect Your Children – Malaysian Syndicate Selling Organs Of Children

    Price of organs in Malaysia:
    Heart RM800k
    Kidney RM600k
    Eye RM10K
    Lung RM100K
    Liver RM200K

    Please be careful everyone… kidnappers are now looking for CHILDREN under 15 years old… They are looking for CHILDREN’s ORGANS as they still works well… Be aware if u see Thailand car number plates or strange looking cars or foreign cars around your housing area…

    Source: Lee Khye Hong