Political naiveté on the part of the leading Pheu Thai Party in believing that the coalition government, through the electoral reform process, was going to gift it the means to achieve an outright majority. This has been evident since April this year and yet the party continued with the charade. Now with an impressive victory in the censure debate in July and changes underway to see a return to the one ballot voting process, not only is the government looking like it will survive until a snap election is called but there is now an increased likelihood of a return of a coalition government if not led by General Prayut Chan ocha then by his ‘brother in arms’ General Prawit Wongsuwan.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/08/01/prayut-has-the-cards-with-one-ballot-pivot/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

On Thursday, in response to Minister Somsak’s warning about the viability of electoral reforms being put into practice, the Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul did not dismiss the concerns raised but suggested that he would win his seat as a constituency MP and that his party would work with whatever electoral system is being used. Mr Somsak had said that Mr Anutin’s party may be critical in finding a resolution to the present conundrum which has the potential to derail forthcoming elections if not clarified.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/22/possible-crisis-brewing-over-election-count/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

Man appears to have killed his mother when tensions over business matters and his consumption of alcohol boiled over on Friday night. It is thought he used a 9mm Colt revolver to shoot the woman twice in the stomach before threatening to kill himself and his family before police successfully intervened.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/31/son-appears-in-court-after-shooting-mother-kelvin-shuo-gao/

James Morris reports from Bangkok.

30-year-old Nicolas Hinckxt, a computer programmer, who worked in Belgium and was of Thai Belgian descent with a Thai mother, was in the country on holiday with four friends who arrived on June 24th last. His wife was also in Thailand with him before tragedy struck last Friday afternoon.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/24/belgian-body-found-nicolas-hinckxt-after-rafting-incident/

James Morris reports from Chiang Mai.

The decriminalisation of marijuana is turning into a major problem for the government with chaos in ministries and agencies responsible including an anxious request to police for enforcement of an older law. On Wednesday, Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul, the architect of the drive to decriminalise the drug, told reporters unequivocally that recreational use of cannabis was still illegal as his ministry attempted to get police to enforce a 1999 law while the minister himself promised that legislation before parliament would again make cannabis as a recreational drug strictly illegal and open the way to effective police enforcement. In the meantime, Mr Anutin warned those abusing the hiatus between legal measures, that they were undermining the signature project of his Bhumjaithai Party in government.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/30/recreational-pot-cannabis-use-to-be-recriminalised/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok and Nakhon Phanom.

City’s public health services and officials are monitoring all public health facilities to identify possible new cases and track the activities of those who may be infected by the disease. It comes as a top medical practitioner in Phuket, where the first case was detected last week, wants the government to allow lower-level laboratories to be allowed to test for the disease.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/28/second-case-of-monkeypox-in-bangkok/

Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok and Phuket.

Monkeypox patient captured in Cambodia: African Osmond Chihazirim Nzerem identified a Chiang Mai language school as linked with his stay in Thailand on arrival last October but the Deputy Governor of Phuket, Pichet Panapong, on Friday, told reporters that he had overstayed his visa in Thailand by 4 months after arriving in the kingdom on October 21st last from Abuja, Nigeria. On Saturday, the Head of the Department of Disease Control, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, said the man appeared not to have been a normal tourist and after he have crossed Thailand’s border into another country with authorities believing he had help from others to avoid working with officials.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/23/african-monkeypox-case-nigerian-arrested-in-cambodia/

Carla Boonkong reports from Sa Kaeo Province and Phuket.

As the government put off indefinitely its foreign tourism levy, this week, one of the country’s most successful conglomerates, Minor International (MINT) announced the addition of 60 new hotels and 10,000 rooms to its portfolio. This is positive news as a mild recovery is underway in foreign tourism with a key focus now on the improvement of flight connectivity amid fears that it may be as late as 2026 before the industry sees a return to normality with top executives in Thailand hoping that this will happen two years earlier by the end of 2024.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/27/british-airways-snubs-bangkok-for-singapore/

James Morris reports from Bangkok.

Human rights groups have noted since a junta official confirmed in early June that the death sentences on the men would be carried out, that the number of people on death row has risen sharply to 114 with fears that the military regime in Nay Pyi Taw is using the death penalty and Monday’s executions as a way to intimidate the public which overwhelmingly supports the ongoing violent resistance to its rule being waged by the armed forces of the legitimate government of the country formed from elected MPs, the National Unity Government (NUG).

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/26/myanmar-junta-executes-4-including-ex-mp/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Yangon and Bangkok.

The fee will provide automatic insurance cover with 11.3% of the money from it going to pay for limited medical insurance coverage for visitors with a ceiling of ฿500,000 for 30 days after they first enter Thailand while 88.7% will go to a fund to be used by the government to develop foreign tourism infrastructure in the kingdom. However, ongoing efforts to implement the proposal have repeatedly been stalled or postponed since 2019 and even before this, similar moves in 2006 and 2013, all fell through. Many observers feel that the likelihood of a General Election being called between now and the end of 2022 as well as the pressing and critical economic need to boost foreign tourism numbers with increased international flight connections and frequency into Thailand may see the plan being postponed yet again.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/07/18/tourist-levy-or-fee-hits-further-turbulence-airline-flights/

James Morris reports from Bangkok.