Category: The Bangkok Post

A bar manager is facing backlash after a viral clip showed him shaving a female customer’s head with clippers over an unpaid bill, a case that has drawn calls for a police investigation and concern for the young woman’s welfare.

The case was brought to light by Chalida Phalamat of the Pen Nueng Foundation, who on Aug 27 shared footage of the manager shaving the woman’s head before taking her to a police station and accusing her of running up a bill without paying. The bill reportedly came to 60,000 baht and some claim the woman has done this many times before.

According to the bar’s account, the woman had used a fake ID to enter the venue on Aug 25 and had no money to cover the bill. The woman had a reputation of avoiding paying to a couple of venues. The manager then reportedly had her sign a contract agreeing to sell her hair, cut from root to tip, for 3,000 baht.

Chalida said she sympathised with the bar’s losses and the manager’s financial responsibility for the employees, but called the head-shaving excessive and unlawful, questioning why the bar did not simply file a police report instead of taking matters into its own hands.

She also raised doubts about whether the woman’s “consent” was genuine given the circumstances and questioned the bar’s explanation that the shave was for a hair donation, noting the woman’s hair had already been scissorsed short before shaving.

Chalida said the manager told her that he will contact the woman’s family for apologies and compensations.

She also urged the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to check on the woman’s welfare, saying she may be below the age of 20 and that it is unclear whether she is a minor or has underlying mental health issues.

The woman’s mother has since disputed the bar’s version of events, saying she had offered to pay the bill in installments but was refused. She also alleged signs of physical violence, including bruising and said she would take her daughter to file a report at Bang Yai Khan police station on Friday.

Eight students were arrested after a fight between groups from two rival educational institutions broke out on the OneSiam Skywalk in Bangkok’s Pathumwan district on Friday morning, leaving four people injured.

The scene was stated to cause a scare among passersby.

Police at Pathumwan station received a report of the brawl at around 7.50am on Friday. Patrol and investigation officers were sent to the scene, where they found the groups from rival educational institutions fighting.

Officers intervened and detained eight people. Four others suffered injuries consistent with physical assault and were given first aid by emergency responders before being taken to Hua Chiew Hospital for treatment.

The eight suspects were taken to Pathumwan police station for questioning and legal proceedings.

IRPC Plc, the petrochemical arm of PTT Plc, is accelerating its restructuring programme as prolonged weakness in the global petrochemical and refining industries pressures earnings and forces producers to adapt to a more challenging business environment.

The downturn is driven by significant capacity expansions, particularly in China and the Middle East, subdued demand for plastic-based consumer goods, trade tensions and rising transport costs.

In response, IRPC is moving away from commodity-grade products and reducing its exposure to petrochemical market volatility.

Torsang Chaipravat, senior executive vice-president for corporate accounting and finance at IRPC, said the company is focused on building long-term operational flexibility by improving production efficiency and aligning output more closely with market demand.

“We want to produce exactly what customers need rather than hold inventories while waiting for orders,” she said.

As part of its risk management strategy, IRPC plans to cut its reliance on Middle Eastern crude oil imports, reducing the share from 70% to 30%, to minimise risks associated with oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Ms Torsang said crude oil prices are expected to remain between US$80 and $90 per barrel in the second half of the year if geopolitical conflicts continue, but could fall to $70-80 per barrel should tensions ease.

While disruptions to oil transport linked to conflicts in the Middle East have boosted gross refining margins as a result of higher oil prices, she said the benefit has largely been offset by increased crude shipping costs, freight charges and marine insurance premiums.

The global petrochemical sector, particularly in Asia, is also facing greater feedstock price volatility and intensifying regional competition.

To protect profitability, IRPC plans to diversify its plastic resin portfolio and broaden its range of products.

The company is also pursuing asset recapitalisation by evaluating the monetisation of non-core assets. Potential projects include using its land and utility infrastructure for data centre development and expanding commercial tank farm services.

The plan also includes debt reduction measures.

IRPC is increasing its focus on higher-value products, including speciality materials and environmentally friendly products, said Ms Torsang.

The company aims to accelerate commercialisation of speciality innovations such as high-performance protective coating solutions.

In March, IRPC and Germany-based Berger, a paint and coatings manufacturer, established the joint venture IBIC to operate in the industrial steel structure paints and coatings business.

To improve competitiveness, IRPC plans to deploy artificial intelligence technologies, including AI chatbots and automated flare-monitoring and plastic-defect detection systems, while improving workforce efficiency to lower production costs.

Capital expenditure is capped at about 3 billion baht annually over the next three years, focused mainly on plant maintenance and small, high-return projects, she said.

The company also remains committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The House of Representatives has approved an emergency decree authorising the Finance Ministry to borrow up to 400 billion baht to address the impact of the energy crisis and support the country’s energy transition.

The measure was approved by 285 votes to 141, with 52 MPs abstaining. The decree, proposed by the cabinet, was debated for about 12 hours before the vote at 8.28pm on Wednesday.

The measure authorises borrowing to tackle the effects of the energy crisis and facilitate the country’s transition to cleaner energy.

During the debate, People’s Party deputy leader and list MP Sirikanya Tansakul criticised the decree, despite the Constitutional Court having ruled by a majority that it did not violate Section 172 of the constitution.

She said the ruling had established a potentially harmful precedent by adopting a broad interpretation of “economic security”, which could allow future governments to invoke emergencies to borrow money for general policy programmes.

She also warned that borrowing the full 400 billion baht could impose an interest burden of at least 10 billion baht a year, while raising public debt to 69.4% of GDP, based on assumptions of 2.5% economic growth and 2.2% inflation. If either assumption fell short, she said, public debt could exceed the 70% ceiling.

Ms Sirikanya said her party did not oppose measures to help people affected by the crisis, but criticised the proposed “Thais Help Thais Plus” co-payment scheme, which requires people to contribute alongside the government.

She also questioned the lack of clear plans for the remaining 200 billion baht and alleged irregularities involving proposed solar-related projects and possible “kickbacks”.

She called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission to scrutinise the spending before all the funds were approved.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul defended the decree, saying the government’s intention was honest, transparent and focused solely on the country and its people.

He acknowledged that the funds were borrowed money, not budgetary funds, and therefore carried a cost. However, he said the government had assessed that the benefits of the programmes would outweigh the borrowing costs, noting that the applicable interest rate was 1.2%.

The Finance Ministry has no immediate plan to tax gold trading but wants the Gold Traders Association to help strengthen oversight and prevent money laundering, a leading gold trader said.

Kritcharat Hiranyasiri, chairman of MTS Gold Group, said Finance permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit confirmed the policy after a meeting with the association on gold industry regulation and anti-money laundering measures.

Instead, the ministry plans to include the association in a national-level committee to help link financial data and trace suspicious money flows, he said.

Mr Kritcharat said gold traders were concerned that taxation could undermine the industry’s competitiveness against global trading centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which offer tax incentives.

Gold is also strategically important to Thailand, ranking second in terms of the value of imports and exports relative to GDP, he said.

As an alternative to taxation, the government plans to involve the association in the Connect the Dots committee, a national mechanism that has been operating for more than six months to tackle illicit funds and so-called grey capital.

The committee comprises the Finance Ministry and Fiscal Policy Office, the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo), the Bank of Thailand and the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau.

Its main objective is to close gaps in financial trails so authorities can identify the source of money used to purchase gold and where the proceeds go after it is sold.

Gold’s high liquidity makes it attractive to criminal networks seeking to launder money through complex schemes, including nominee or mule accounts.

The meeting also discussed creating a Centralised AML Intelligence Platform to assess customer risk.

The Comptroller-General’s Department is amending the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act to improve the quality of government-funded projects.

According to Patricia Mongkhonvanit, the department’s director-general, under the proposed amendments, if a bidder offers to undertake a government project at a price that is considered unreasonably low, the agency responsible for the project can reject the bid to safeguard the quality of the work.

“In fact, the current procurement law does not require agencies to accept the lowest bid. They can reject it. Everything is already provided for in the law. If the price is too low and, after consideration, the agency believes it does not represent good value or is significantly below a reasonable level, it can reject the bid,” she said.

However, not many agencies take this approach because they are afraid of being audited, said Mrs Patricia.

“We need to be aligned with the auditing agencies on this issue. We probably need to discuss with them how rejecting the lowest bid should be handled. To address this issue, we need to tell the auditing agencies they should consider multiple factors rather than looking only at the price. We need to establish clear criteria for this,” she said.

In addition, the government is considering introducing a new price-performance criterion for public construction projects.

Price-performance is a measure of the value delivered in relation to cost, assessing whether a product or service can provide the required quality, speed, features or other benefits at a reasonable price. A high price-performance rating means a product or service delivers strong performance relative to its cost.

For example, if the government wants to develop a particular system and needs to determine whether a bidder is actually capable of delivering it, the bidder could be required to produce a proof of concept or prototype. The proposal would then be assessed against specific criteria, with points awarded for each aspect.

In other words, there needs to be evidence the bidder’s proposed solution is technically feasible, said Mrs Patricia.

Regarding contractor performance assessments, the current system is largely punitive, with points deducted when contractors fail to meet specified requirements.

The government plans to introduce positive incentives by awarding discretionary points to contractors that perform well as a form of reward. For example, discretionary points could account for 5-10% of the total score, while the bidding component could account for around 90%.

“People have complained that there is no reward for doing a good job. Under the new system, there could be an additional X% in discretionary points. For example, if a contractor receives discretionary points and has never had any points deducted, they would receive the full amount,” she said.

Regarding the blacklisting of government contractors, which prevents them from undertaking government projects, the existing procedure requires the government agency responsible for a project to terminate the contract before the contractor can be placed on the blacklist.

In practice, however, some agencies are reluctant to terminate contracts because they may be unable to find a new contractor willing to take over the work at the stipulated price. To address this problem, the proposed amendment would allow a contractor to be blacklisted without first terminating the existing contract.

In other words, the contractor would be prohibited from taking on new government projects while remaining responsible for completing the existing contract.

In addition, the draft amendment establishes clearer criteria for appealing government tender decisions. In the past, there were several appeals that lacked sufficient grounds, resulting in projects being suspended until the appeals process was completed.

The proposal would require anyone wishing to appeal a tender decision to provide an appeal bond. The initial proposal sets the bond at one-third of the project value, although stakeholders have argued this is too high, and the government is considering their concerns, said Mrs Patricia.

If an appeal is found to be without merit, the appeal bond would be forfeited.

There have been roughly 160 appeals of construction tenders per month. In fiscal 2026, from Oct 1, 2025 to July 30, 2026, a total of 2,532 appeals were filed and 81% or 2,051 cases have been completed.

Thailand’s public and private sectors have joined forces to launch a bold roadmap that repositions the country as a prime destination for foreign investment and business growth.

The “Reinvent Thailand” initiative began last year as an effort to establish strategic priorities for future development. The initiative is a collaboration involving the private sector’s Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking and public agencies including the Fiscal Policy Office, the Bank of Thailand and the National Economic and Social Development Council.

The goal is to develop a blueprint to address structural economic bottlenecks, overhaul workforce capabilities, accelerate decarbonisation, and ease barriers for businesses and investors.

Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Board of Trade, said the country is well-positioned to benefit from the restructuring of global supply chains given current geopolitical fragmentation and the rise of new technologies.

“The chamber believes Thailand is in a very important position for global trade and investment,” said Mr Poj.

“Based on geopolitics, geography and geoeconomics, we are the centre. We have very good friendships with every country in the world. We never take sides in politics”.

He said Thailand’s key strength is its position as a safe haven for investors and manufacturers.

“One word — safe haven. Safe area, safe and good people … with the infrastructure to support investment, imports and exports. Thailand is the best for investment and trade,” said Mr Poj.

Pimjai Leeissaranukul, chairwoman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said Thai businesses are shifting away from competing on cost, focusing instead on technical capacity and trust.

“The long supply chains of Thailand … have been growing for more than 60 years,” Mrs Pimjai said, noting deep competencies across advanced automotive, integrated circuit design, printed circuit boards and semiconductors.

This experience, coupled with ongoing projects to reskill and upskill the industrial workforce, bode well for the country as it transitions to focus more on high-tech industries.

“Thailand produces at least 30,000 engineering graduates and 100,000 STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] graduates each year,” she said.

“Thailand is neutral. We have perfect infrastructure and confident supply chains waiting for foreign investors.”

Phacharaphot Nuntramas, chief economist at Krungthai Bank, said seven key industries were identified for future development under the Reinvent Thailand initiative: agriculture and food processing, automotive, smart electronics and digital services, medical and wellness, tourism, retail and trading, and the creative economy.

A second component of the initiative dubbed “Resilient Asean” reflects Southeast Asia’s position as a “resilient, flexible and dynamic star on the global stage”, he said.

“Resilient Asean reflects our conviction that Thailand plays a pivotal role in the bloc. Asean is currently the world’s rising star — a safe geopolitical haven insulated from global conflicts, advanced in technology adoption offering business efficiency, and primed for the low-carbon economy,” said Mr Phacharaphot.

“Reinvent Thailand, Resilient Asean” is the theme for the upcoming Bangkok Business Summit, scheduled for Queen Sirikit National Convention Center on Sept 3, with hundreds of local and international business leaders expected to participate. The keynote addresses are by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, and Bank of Thailand governor Vitai Ratanakorn.

The World Bank is slated to launch its report on Thailand’s path to high-income status, “Building Thailand’s Future Today”, at the summit, while later sessions with business leaders cover actionable deliverables on topics such as energy transition, climate-resilient infrastructure, future industries, human capital, agribusiness and wellness sectors.

“The summit will help establish a clear, unified national direction [for growth],” Mr Phacharaphot said.

“It will provide confidence that the government, the private sector, and development agencies are aligned on a single roadmap, helping the public and small businesses understand where new economic opportunities and jobs will emerge.”

The summit should help business leaders and investors see three clear messages, he noted.

The first is investors should come away with greater understanding about how Thailand is moving from “dialogue to action”. Second, the summit is building a strategic direction for the next two years leading to 2028, when Thailand chairs Asean. Lastly, the summit serves as a public-private catalyst for the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok this October, said Mr Phacharaphot.

“Globally, supply chains are actively relocating away from geopolitical conflict zones towards destinations that are safe, efficient and low-carbon — attributes Thailand offers,” he said.

Thailand’s hopes of reclaiming the regional title slipped away in Hanoi on Wednesday night as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Vietnam in the second leg of the Asean Hyundai Cup 2026 final, losing 4-2 on aggregate.

Coach Anthony Hudson insisted his side deserved more than defeat, arguing that the War Elephants had produced the better football across the two legs.

“I felt the players deserved more out of the two games,” he said. “We were the better team, particularly in the first half tonight when we played some fantastic football and created chances. My biggest disappointment is not getting these guys over the line because we nearly turned the tie around.”

Thailand twice led at the My Dinh National Stadium as they chased the three-goal margin required to overturn the 2-0 first-leg deficit. But own goals from goalkeeper Chatchai Bootprom and defender Wanchai Jarunongkran, coupled with a missed penalty by Kakana Khamyok, proved decisive.

Hudson’s squad selection had been questioned before the tournament, which marked its 30th anniversary, with critics pointing to his blend of youth and experience from the domestic league.

However, the Englishman defended his choices, saying: “At the beginning everyone said: what is this squad you’re picking, they’re not going to get out of the group. I’m proud of what the players did because they proved people wrong. We were so close tonight — the missed penalty was a momentum shift.”

The defeat was Thailand’s second successive final loss to Vietnam. They have so far made 12 appearances in the title showdown of the regional championship, winning seven of them.

Hudson drew encouragement from the emergence of younger players, notably striker Yotsakon Burapha, who won the adidas Rising Star award.

“We’ve seen a lot of young players come through who are exciting and talented. They showed tonight they can handle big games. That’s a big positive for the national team going forward,” said the English coach.

Yotsakon himself reflected on missed opportunities.

“It was a pity we had chances to get ahead and then many more but could not take them. Every player gave his best. When we led I still believed we could come back but we could not make it. We will go back, improve ourselves and return stronger,” he said, while congratulating Vietnam on their victory.

Thailand returned home yesterday and will now regroup for the Fifa Asean Cup 2026, which will be staged in Indonesia and Hong Kong from Sept 24 to Oct 5.

The competition will feature a two-division format, with a reported prize pool of US$4 million and $1 million on the offer for the Premier Division champions.

Thailand have been drawn in Group B alongside Vietnam, the Philippines and Pakistan, while hosts Indonesia face Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh in Group A.

Hudson acknowledged the disappointment but looked ahead. “We have around six weeks to prepare for the next tournament. Tonight was close, but the future is bright,” he said.

The Constitutional Court will rule on Sept 28 on whether barcodes and QR codes printed on ballot papers used in the Feb 8 general election breached constitutional protections for secret voting.

The case stems from 22 complaints received by the Ombudsman alleging the Election Commission (EC) violated voters’ constitutional right to a secret ballot by designing and printing ballot papers containing barcodes and QR codes.

The petitioners argue the codes could be used to trace individual voters and determine how they voted, meaning the ballot was not genuinely secret.

The Ombudsman asked the court to rule on whether the ballot design was consistent with several constitutional provisions, including those concerning rights and freedoms, elections and the duties of the EC. The court began hearing five witnesses on Wednesday.

EC Chairman Narong Klanwarin attended the proceedings as an obser­ver.

The witnesses included officials and representatives involved in the production and administration of the ballots, including senior EC officials and executives from TKS Technology Plc and Chan Wanich Security Printing Co.

The EC was also allowed to demonstrate the process for storing ballot papers. At the request of the EC chairman and the company that printed the ballots, the court suspended live audio and video broadcasts of the hearing.

The court said public disclosure of ballot security measures could undermine safeguards against counterfeiting and fraud, potentially affecting the integrity and stability of elections.

Those attending the hearing were therefore prohibited from disclosing information obtained during the proceedings to outsiders. After the hearing, the court said it was necessary to inspect evidence at the ballot storage facility in Bangkok.

Two Constitutional Court judges and officials responsible for the case will conduct the inspection from 10am on Thursday.

The inspection will cover ballot papers, ballot stubs, unused ballots, electoral rolls and equipment used in the Feb 8 election.

The parties may attend, but those who fail to participate at the appointed time will be deemed not to object.

Thailand has the world’s highest usage of Google’s Gemini Nano Banana for image generation, indicating a high level of creativity among Thai users. However, the country still lags behind its neighbours in using AI to boost productivity and economic value.

Saruj Thipsena, country manager of Google Cloud Thailand, said the finding came from the recently released Gemini Report for Southeast Asia 2026, which highlights Thailand’s strong creative economy and the “super creative” nature of Thai users.

“Thailand has the highest usage of Gemini’s Nano Banana for generating images in the world, even exceeding India. That is the level of creativity Thai people have,” Mr Saruj said during a panel discussion titled “Rebooting Thailand’s Future: Digital, Data and the Next Growth Catalysts” at Thailand Focus 2026.

However, he said Thailand was clearly behind neighbouring Singapore in using AI for work, including data analysis, streamlining workflows and improving efficiency and productivity, or what he described as “AI at Work”.

Mr Saruj also highlighted how Vietnamese users are making clever use of AI.

“People in Vietnam use AI very cleverly. They use AI to bridge the language gap between Vietnamese and English to support their work and businesses,” he said.

Thailand, meanwhile, has good digital infrastructure that is developing rapidly, along with strong momentum in technology adoption, particularly in daily life, he said.

“The challenge is how do we capitalise on this infrastructure and people’s readiness and deliver high value from technology. That is where the next curve that Thailand is going to be.”

Mr Saruj said the value of AI came from three main areas: its ability to process data more effectively than humans, its capacity to streamline and transform business processes, and its potential to distribute knowledge to people and businesses.

“With AI and digital technology, data silos are no longer a challenge. The biggest challenge is now on the business side, not the technology side,” he said.

“Technology is beyond ready, but businesses need to have the right mandate to drive technology adoption,” he said.

Mr Saruj also said technology was creating a more equal playing field.

“Three years ago, if you wanted to prototype an idea, you might have had to take six months to develop software to support it. Now, six weeks is too long to test your idea.”

Teeranun Srihong, chairman of the Digital Economy Promotion Agency, said Thailand had made significant progress in digital infrastructure and high-speed networks, describing them as a “digital highway” that was sufficiently developed to attract major global cloud service providers, or hyperscalers, to invest in the country.

However, Thailand ranked 37th out of 70 countries in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) digital competitiveness ranking, while ranking 29th in technology and infrastructure. This shows good infrastructure alone is not enough to strengthen competitiveness, he said.

Thailand needs to accelerate the application of data and increase investment in AI, as AI is becoming a critical technology affecting productivity, Mr Teeranun said.