Bangkok Informer

A thigh injury has hit world No 5 Ratchanok Inthanon’s hopes of boosting the Thai badminton team in the quarter-finals of the Sudirman Cup World Mixed Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Full News here – NationMultimedia.com – Sports

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Chai Lorlam is a 9-year-old, 50-pound boxer in northeastern Thailand. The young fighters go through intense training for fights that are held for the benefit of gamblers who often wage large sums on the outcome. Chai is shown here at a recent match.   BANGKOK – Under the fluorescent lights of the boxing ring, the [...]

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The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has stopped issuing 12-month non-immigrant B visas. KUALA LAMPUR – The Royal Thai Embassy of Kuala Lumpur, a popular visa run destination for Phuket expats, has confirmed that it is no longer issuing 12-month non-immigrant B visas. Embassy official Orawan Heemmamhad confirmed to the Phuket Gazette that [...]

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  BANGKOK  – Dozens of Thai royalist activists packed a Bangkok courtroom on Monday to face charges relating to their roles in 2008 rallies that paralyzed Thailand’s main airports, stranding thousands of tourists. Almost 100 members of the nationalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) “Yellow Shirt” group appeared at the Thai Criminal Court over a [...]

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BP has blogged (also here) about the universal healthcare scheme (UCS) previously and particularly its popularity, but also the dislike of the scheme from some sectors of Thai society. The scheme was one of those policies that in the words of The Nation pandered to the “unprincipled wants and needs of the attention-deficient, politically apathetic masses”. Nevertheless, as The Economist, citing an [...]

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Young people shopping and hanging out   CHIANG RAI – Walk around a busy shopping mall anywhere in Thailand on a Saturday afternoon and you may think that this is a youthful country. Scores of young people shopping, hanging out; many young couples with children. Where are the old people, you might ask? What if [...]

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Over the next two years, Thailand’s Public Health Ministry is going to try and reduce instances of food poisoning and diarrhea in the country’s public schools by 30%. Wichai Thienthawon, assistant to the Minister of Public Health, announced the initiative while chairing a seminar on food safety in schools earlier this week. According to Wichai, [...]

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Thai shuttlers challenge defending champions Indonesia while All-Star Asia face hosts Malaysia in today’s semi-finals of the US$ 1-million Axiata Cup, the world’s richest team badminton tournament, in Kuala Lumpur. Full News here – NationMultimedia.com – Sports

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Late last year, Deputy PM Chalerm was appointed to oversee security operations in the the Deep South, but until a few days ago he had not visited Thailand’s Deep South. It comes after he called off a previous visit in March. The Bangkok Post on March 19: Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung “postponed” his first trip [...]

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Japanese carmakers in particular that use the country as a manufacturing hub.   RAYONG – Thailand is the “Detroit of  Asia” and it is Japanese car makers in particular that use the country as a manufacturing hub. In 2012 production reached 2.45m vehicles of which 1m were exported. This made Thailand the 7th largest car [...]

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This is what happens when the problem is that the critics like the investment, but don’t like the cost and so other aspects of the policy. The criticism then is really narrow on the overall substance of the details. The Bangkok Post in an editorial on March 21: The 2 trillion baht in debt, he said, [...]

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The 14th Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) Contest of the Best Sommeliers in the World, informally known as “the Olympics of Sommeliers,” saw its first ever Thai contestant when the competition took place from March 26 – 30 in Tokyo this year. Although he did not win, Mr. Chalong Songkroh still made history for the [...]

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BP has blogged numerous times about education in Thailand, particularly in regards to the inequality of opportunities, education policy, and also a post noting that despite the increasing amount of money spent on education that Thailand’s results in international tests show little improvement. Somkiat Tangkitvanich of TDRI has an op-ed in the Bangkok Post on education reform. Key excerpts: One [...]

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Prayad Marksaeng shot a 67 to be at 12 under overall and holding onto the lead by two strokes   CHIANG MAI – Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng maintained his tight grip on the Chiangmai Golf Classic with a six-under-par 66 in the penultimate round on Saturday to open up a five-shot lead at the top of [...]

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BP hasn’t finished watching the ThaiPBS series on the monarchy so haven’t got around to blogging about it yet, but see that tonight at the FCCT there is an event on this subject. Below is the blurb: Media Censorship and Self Censorship: What Is the Role of Thailand’s Public Broadcasters? A panel discussion 8pm, Thursday [...]

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