Thailand News Today | Baht rises, Amnesty condemnation, Govt scheme 'crashes' web | Jan 20

There’s been one new Covid-19 death announced in the past 24 hours, pushing Thailand’s toll to 71. 

The fatality was a 48 year old Thai woman who drove Myanmar workers at the Saphan Song border checkpoint in Mae Sot district, north west Thailand.

There’s been 59 new cases, comprising 51 local infections and 8 imported cases, raising the total over the past 12 months to 12,653.

Of the 59 new Covid-19 infections, 28 were confirmed at hospitals and 23 detected through active case tracking and testing. Of the 23 new cases found through active testing, 20 were Thais in Samut Sakhon and the three others migrant workers in Bangkok.

Social media users are up in arms after registration for the government’s Kon La Khreung (translated as … “Let’s Go Halves”) co-payment scheme, filled up in just 10 minutes. 

The scheme, first introduced as an economic stimulus measure in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, gives Thai shoppers 50% off the purchase of everyday items, and up to 150 baht a day, capped at total of 3,500 baht for the duration of the scheme.

The third phase of registration had a quota of 1.34 million users, but interested parties had to be quick. Having lost their chance to register, many disgruntled people took to social media to complain, with the hashtag #คนละครึ่งเฟส3 (#Let’s Go Halves3) trending on Twitter.

Several netizens say they filled out the online registration form at exactly 6.01am, only a minute after the registration opened, but were then forced to wait for the one-time password to be delivered to their phones before they could complete the process. In many instances, by the time they received the OTP code, registration was full. 

Five police teams are tracking down a masked robber who got away with gold necklaces valued at 1.9 million baht from a shop in the Tesco Lotus mall in Non Thai district last night.

The man with a hood and mask covering his face, was wearing red trousers and a light-green jacket, and held up the Yaowarat Bangkok gold shop in the department store mall.

The man threatened staff with a gun, ordering them to crouch on the floor, climbed over the display cases and then grabbed gold necklaces, stuffing them into a cloth bag before fleeing the scene on a motorbike.

Amnesty International has roundly denounced Thailand’s sentencing of a 65 year old woman to 87 years’ imprisonment for the offence of lèse majesté (lays marjestay), and violation of the Computer Crimes Act. 

The long sentence has also been condemned by Human Rights Watch, who described it as, “a spine-chilling signal that not only criticisms of the monarchy won’t be tolerated but that they will also be severely punished”.

Former civil servant Anchan Preelert was sentenced by the Bangkok criminal court yesterday, with the prison term halved, yes HALVED, as a result of her guilty plea. She is accused of sharing audio clips that are considered insulting to Thailand’s Monarchy. The country’s lèse majesté law is widely seen as one of the harshest in the world, but yesterday’s ruling still constitutes a new record.

Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra says it illustrates the Thai government’s determination to shut down opposition voices and goes against international human rights law.

In June last year the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announced that His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn had expressly asked the Thai Government not to use the lèse majesté as a weapon of arrest against the Thai people. The government said they would be able to use the country’s Computer Clime Act to crackdown on any commentary on asocial media they deemed against the law.

The Thai baht opened at 30.12 to the US dollar yesterday, showing signs that it could drop to below the 30 baht level… an indication of the baht’s continued strength against many foreign currencies.

But a Krungthai market strategist say the Thai currency is likely to move between 30.05 and 30.25 in the next few days.

The market strategist explained that if the US political situation stabilises, the Biden government would push stimulus measures and the US currency would likely rise to above the current levels.

In the short term, he advised investors to keep an eye on stimulus packages issued by the government this week, adding that they will probably strengthen the baht further.

[jerryjungle]

The woman imprisoned for 43 years is 65 years old.
So basically it's a death sentence, unless of course she lives to 108 when she will be released.
Draconian or what ? 😪

[thailandfan]

Slowly started liking the new presenter :) he is great with Thai and English .. well done mate

[sflxn]

14 day quarantine, requirement to report daily to the government, and rising strength in the Baht. We maybe witnessing the end of the golden age of travel to Thailand. Even after the pandemic, the situation is no longer favorable. This really makes me sad. I just started to travel again last year and had not made it to Thailand yet. I haven’t seen it in so long.

[jamesstevens]

Great elocution and enunciation skills. Appreciate the absence of “up talking” and the overuse of the word, “like”. Thanks for the concise coverage of the news from Thailand.

[newtomthai]

youre a good anchorman keep it up and well done

[huagrapo]

I hope one day in the future, for the first time in history, the Thai people can experience the freedom of not being ruled by putrid filth and will finally have a say in their own governance.

[cxpvrpi]

Can the king of thailand interfere in the case of the thai granny and give her a pardon?

[rickchase]

Stimulus weakens the dollar, not strengthens it. Printing money does not add value to currency.

[prebenhansen]

Thai tourism is finished with 14 day quarantine, 3 - 4 day O K !?

[akejitraaeschbacher]

The one and only news i'll be excited by is no more quarantine entering to my Motherland or reduce to 3 days max. Tbh at this point i have no hope.
Ps. Keep doing great job thaiger team!

[marcuscaruana]

Add insult to injury. Punish the wrecked tourism sector with an even higher baht value. Im beginning to wonder if they really are after foreign investment or else they just want to kick it out forever.

[jeremycoombes]

71 dead the same has what die on thai roads every day.

[ericsimpson]

Wow...the " new guy" speaks fantastic English.

[johntheaccountant]

It was not a strong baht but a weak US Dollar because it fell against the GB Pound and many other currencies.

[leolattanzi]

Let's be realistic about Thailands tourism, strong thai baht & 2 week quarantine upon arrival on your dime, thee average working person only gets 2-3 weeks hollidays, so obviously thailand is out of the question for most people now, that being said there are more attractive destinations, such as Cambodia, Vietnam ect. Where you money will go much further & you are not jailed upon arrival

[drunkenswordsman]

Why is the bht strong, no tourists, a pandemic, house prices falling, recession. Why.

[ianbarnet]

Wow. thailand more expensive than london england, i remember the baht at 67 to the pound

[TribalFusion]

6th. Thai tourism is finished with 14 day quarantine and pointless lockdowns will put more people off. There are other places open in the world with no quarantine and a negative PCR test to enter.

[MilesBellas]

It's impossible to state what videos Anchan Preelert shared ?
It's like 1984 by Orwell.

[sidmarx]

What happened to the report on the thai police debt?