Category: The Bangkok Post

The Thai Cement Manufacturers Association (TCMA) presented its perspectives from the cement industry at the Thailand Climate Action Conference 2025 (TCAC 2025), highlighting that clear policies, laws, funding, and mechanisms aligned with the Paris Agreement-together with ‘systematic action’ under a Public-Private-People Partnership-are vital for achieving sustainable success and tackling the global climate crisis.

Dr Chana Poomee, Chairman of TCMA, shared his insights on the upcoming COP30 negotiations during the conference held under the theme ‘Inspiring Climate Solutions for All’ at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok.

Dr Chana emphasised that, from the cement industry’s perspective, urgent action to address climate change is critical. To achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets, it is essential to ‘establish a systematic mechanism,’ ‘be part of the solutions,’ and ‘take meaningful action.’

He added that clear policies, laws, and plans are fundamental to ensuring effective implementation of national strategies. TCMA has prioritised the passage of the Climate Change Act, Thailand’s first law addressing global warming, which establishes a framework for greenhouse gas reduction, climate adaptation, and systematic participation across all sectors-supporting the country’s progression towards its Net Zero goal.

Driving climate action also requires a structured, integrated mechanism linking all sectors through a Public-Private-People Partnership (PPP). This approach fosters collaboration among government, business, and civil society to jointly pursue climate targets.

An exemplary initiative is the SARABURI SANDBOX LOW CARBON CITY, which aims to make Saraburi Province Thailand’s first low-carbon city, with a particular focus on transitioning the cement industry to Net Zero by 2050. The SARABURI SANDBOX is also the first industrial cluster in Thailand to join the World Economic Forum’s Transitioning Industrial Clusters programme, promoting economic growth, job creation, and carbon reduction through synergistic collaboration.

Dr Chana stressed that climate action cannot be achieved by one sector alone. ‘Collaboration benefits industry, communities, and the nation alike,’ he said. This principle underpins TCMA’s ‘3Cs’ framework: Collaborative Mindset to foster shared understanding and cooperation; Collaborative Action to turn commitments into tangible results; and Collaborative Value to ensure measurable social and environmental benefits.

He also noted that bilateral and multilateral international cooperation would enable access to green finance-an essential component for advancing Thailand’s green economy, reducing emissions, and strengthening competitiveness through investment in low-carbon infrastructure.

In recent years, TCMA has secured funding support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). This collaboration allows Thailand’s cement industry to adopt advanced technologies and innovations, such as Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS), and promotes knowledge exchange with leading global organisations including the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA).

‘Saraburi Sandbox is a field-based pilot project and a model of integrated collaboration between government, industry, and civil society. At the same time, we are strengthening cooperation with international networks, both bilateral and multilateral, to ensure that Thailand’s progress is recognised globally,’ Dr Chana said.

He concluded by expressing confidence that Thailand would leverage COP30 in Brazil this November to enhance its greenhouse gas reduction commitments and accelerate climate-related legislation. ‘This is a key opportunity to build international cooperation and secure financial resources to support Thailand’s emission reduction goals. TCMA stands ready to support these efforts,’ he affirmed.

Former justice minister Pol Col Tawee Sodsong, leader of the Prachachart party, has always been a loyalist and strong supporter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He was “The One” who firmly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the doctors at the Police General Hospital and the Corrections Department, and key figures at the Corrections Department and Bangkok Remand Prison in facilitating Thaksin’s VIP stay at the 14th floor of the PGH for six months in lieu of his one-year prison term.

Pol Col Tawee’s unflinching loyalty toward Thaksin has made some critics wonder whether there is space left in his heart and mind for conscience to distinguish black from white.

But during the last few days before the departure of the Pheu Thai-led government, Pol Col Tawee did something untypical of a Thaksin loyalist. In a 12-page confidential letter dated Sept 23, stamped “top secret”, addressed to caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, he rejected Thaksin’s second petition for a royal pardon which was widely criticised as being inappropriate and not possible.

Surprisingly, in the letter, Pol Col Tawee inadvertently revealed some of the content of Thaksin’s latest petition to HM the King for a royal pardon which reads as follows: “I am very old now and suffering from health problems from old age. But I have to spend time in prison, making me suffer a lot, both physically and mentally. I don’t know I will have a chance to live a normal life outside of prison again. Now, I feel guilty of the wrongs that I did and will remember them for the rest of my life.”

Thaksin’s overly dramatic and hollow petition might have been penned by his lawyer. The petition was submitted only after he stepped into prison.

Can Thaksin be trusted this time? Does he actually feel guilty for the outcome of the 14th floor saga?

For sure, his loyal supporters and Pheu Thai die-hards will always believe him and give him unconditional support. These die-hard supporters even call him a hero for the mere fact that he was sent back to the prison by the Supreme Court after his false sickness was exposed by the Medical Council.

The question that now arises is whether Pol Col Tawee’s loyalty is still rock solid. For what it’s worth, his rejection of Thaksin’s petition for royal commutation could be interpreted as his final act in the previous government to distance himself from speculation that he might have a role behind-the-scenes in facilitating Thaksin’s VIP stay at the PGH.

As Thaksin walked into jail and those officials in the 14th floor saga started to bear the consequences, the big question mark in the minds of his doubters is: How could the bureaucrats such as the Corrections Department director-general dare to transfer Thaksin to the PGH with full knowledge that he was not seriously sick without someone higher up giving the signal to do so?

Karma is catching up with some culprits who helped arrange for Thaksin’s VIP stay at the PGH instead of the cell at Bangkok Remand Prison.

Last week, the PGH chief physician, Pol Lt-Gen Thaweesilp Wechwitarn, was transferred out of the hospital to an inactive post at the operations centre of the Royal Thai Police by the national police chief, Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch, after his doctor’s licence was suspended for six months by the Medical Council for ethical misconduct.

It remains to be seen whether the Royal Thai Police will take disciplinary action and criminal litigation against the PGH chief doctor or not. Obviously, there are sufficient grounds to file charges of criminal malfeasance in office in accordance with Section 157 of the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has been investigating 12 bureaucrats, including Shakarn Petnarin, director-general of the Corrections Department, for their alleged roles in helping Thaksin escape imprisonment.

As for Thaksin, it is unlikely that his appeal for a pardon will go through the Office of the Privy Council before reaching HM the King. Former justice minister Pol Col Tawee has already rejected his appeal and his successor, Pol Lt-Gen Rutthapon Naowarat, is likely follow in his footsteps even though he has set up a panel to look at the matter which is now considered so hot that no one in their right mind wants to touch.

Legal experts have maintained Thaksin had already sought a pardon and it was granted to him, with his eight-year prison term being commuted to just one year. But the imprisonment was not enforced by the Corrections Department through as ruled by the Supreme Court on Sept 9.

In other words, it is an old case and there is no moral or legal justification for a second pardon.

Thaksin’s lawyer and probably Thaksin himself, should have realised it. Yet they went ahead with the appeal anyway, without showing any sense of guilt and shame that the first pardon was already granted, and that Thaksin himself defied the pardon by resorting to trickery to dodge the one-year term which remained.

Seen in this context, his second appeal for a pardon is likely to go nowhere. Who else would dare to submit his appeal to the Office of Privy Council whose responsibility is to screen all matters to be sent to the King?

Even a Thaksin loyalist like Tawee Sodsong has taken a step back to save his own skin.

So, Thaksin’s predicament today is all of his own making. It would appear that karma has caught up with him and of course those other officials who were involved in the 14th floor saga.

A man and a boy were wounded when they were attacked by a pet lion which escaped from its house in Kanchanaburi on Saturday night.

The injured were identified as Arthit Nueangnui, 11, who was bitten and clawed in his hip, and Sarawut Tokaeo, 43, who was clawed in his leg. They were treated at local hospitals and discharged on Saturday night.

The victims and the lion owner were residents of the same village. The lion owner was identified as Parinya Parkpoom, 32, a social media influencer who frequently shared posts about exotic pets, including the lion.

Officials were checking the ownership of the lion. The man owned one lion at his house.

Mr Parinya, the lion owner, said that he chained his female lion aged one year to a steel pole in his house but it got loose.

At about 8pm Saturday he heard people shouting that his lion was mauling people. He found it walking on a road in front of his house, so he chained it again.

The attack happened on a public road.

The Natural Resources and Environment Minister ordered the seizure of the lion from its owner and said it would be kept at a wildlife centre.

Letting a wild animal out of its cage without a proper reason is liable to a jail term of up to six months and/or a fine of up to 50,000 baht.

The First Army Region has sent a letter to the commander of Cambodia’s Military Region 5, requesting an evacuation plan for Cambodian civilians living in three border communities in Sa Kaeo province by Tuesday.

The areas listed are Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo in Khok Sung district and Ban Ta Phraya in Ta Phraya district. The letter was signed by Lt Gen Worayot Luengsuwan, commander of the First Army Region.

The First Army Region demands the evacuation plan be submitted by Oct 7 and be presented to a Regional Border Committee meeting on for Oct 10-12 in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province.

The meeting is being prepared by Cambodia’s Military Region 5.

Lt Gen Worayot, in the letter, said the First Army Region will attend the meeting only if Cambodia’s Military Region 5 accepts these conditions.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin said the land near Ban Nong Chan, once the site of a camp for Cambodian refugees fleeing a civil war, belongs to the Royal Forest Department.

So, the department has been instructed to file criminal complaints against Cambodian encroachers to protect the state’s claim under the Forest Act, he said.

He said the forest land cannot be unlawfully occupied by anyone, regardless of nationality, and warned martial law is in effect, and the security forces are responsible for enforcing it. “We must absolutely take back our territory. We will not give in on this,” he said.

The demolition of the new Samsen police station started at the Bangkok’s sinkhole site on Samsen Road Saturday night, according to Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt.

The governor said at the site Sunday morning that robots were used to first remove windows and facades of the newly built police station which was subsiding. Vehicles were moved out of the station.

Officials at the site told him that the four-storey police station moved and cracks were heard Saturday night. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration reported on its Facebook page that soil under the station slid as it rained and the station then subsided.

However, adjacent police flat buildings and commercial buildings remained stable, Mr Chadchart said.

In the meantime, the Bangkok governor said, sand was being dumped to fill the sinkhole.

Workers already dumped 3,800 cubic metres of sand into the sinkhole as of Saturday night and 1,200 cubic metres more of sand would be added Sunday morning, he said. He did not see a new crack in the sinkhole Sunday morning.

The governor also said that adjacent Vajira Hospital operated as usual on Sunday.

The sinkhole happened with the original dimension of 30 metres wide, 30m long and 20m deep in the morning of Sept 24 above an underground station under construction for the Purple Line extension route of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority. The state enterprise blamed the subsidence on soft soil in the local area.

Officials concernred decided on the police station demolition and thus the reopening of Samsen Road in Dusit district of Bangkok was postponed indefinitely.

A man and a boy were wounded when they were attacked by a pet lion which escaped from its house in Bo Phloi district Saturday night.

The incident happened near a house number 140/2 in Moo 8 village of tambon Nong Kum at about 8pm on Saturday.

The injured were identified as Arthit Nueangnui, 11, who was bitten and clawed in his hip, and Sarawut Tokaeo, 43, who was clawed in his leg. They were treated at local hospitals and discharged on Saturday night.

The victims and the lion owner were residents of the same village. The lion owner was identified as Parinya Parkpoom, 32, a social media influencer who frequently shared posts about exotic pets, including the lion.

Officials were checking the ownership of the lion. The man owned one lion at his house.

According to Athapol Charoenshunsa, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, officials ordered the owner on Oct 3 to improve the security of the lion’s cage but the incident occurred before the improvement was completed.

Letting a wild animal out of its cage without a proper reason is liable to a jail term of up to six months and/or a fine of up to 50,000 baht.

Mr Parinya, the lion owner, said that pending the improvement of the cage, he chained his female lion aged one year to a steel pole in his house but it got loose.

At about 8pm Saturday he heard people shouting that his lion was mauling people. He found it walking on a road in front of his house, so he chained it again.

The man bought the lion from its previous owner in Chachoengsao, and the animal was registered and had a microchip. The attack happened on a public road.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin ordered the seizure of the lion from its owner and said it would be kept at the Bungchawak Wildlife Extension Centre in Suphan Buri province.

The alleged collusion in the vote to appoint new Senators is under review by an Election Commission subcommittee before the EC’s main panel pass final judgment.

The EC recently addressed growing criticism over delays in investigating the case, stressing that all actions by itself and its secretary-general, Sawaeng Boonmee, are in line with the law.

The investigation is now in its third stage, it said, with the 36th subcommittee reviewing the case files and preparing recommendations. Once complete, the findings will be submitted to the EC for a final ruling.

The commission also outlined the process for dealing with the case: first, the EC’s provincial offices investigate and forward opinions to its central office; second, the central office reviews and analyses the case; third, the EC’s subcommittees examine the evidence and prepare conclusions; and fourth, the EC makes the final decision.

The clarification followed a complaint filed on Friday by reserve senator Akarawat Phongthanachalitkul, who lodged a criminal complaint against the EC and Mr Sawaeng, accusing them of dereliction of duty under Section 157 of the Criminal Code and Section 172 of the Organic Act on Counter Corruption.

Mr Akarawat argued the move was not political but an effort to defend democratic principles, stressing that as a stakeholder in the Senate election, he has the right to demand transparency.

He also expressed concern about recent appointments within the Ministry of Justice, warning they could undermine judicial independence.

“We have repeatedly asked the EC for answers but have never received a clear one. The public has yet to receive justice. There are several cases that have been left to drag on, even though many facts are already evident. This should not happen in a democratic system.”

Ammar Siamwalla, one of Thailand’s most respected economists and a leading rice expert, has died at the age of 86.

His death was announced on Sunday by Somchai Jitsuchon, research director at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), who praised Ammar as one of Thailand’s foremost economists.

Admired for his intellectual integrity, courage and independence, Ammar was known for his deep fascination with data and numbers, he said.

Mr Somchai said Ammar once asked to work closely with the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council to better understand how GDP data were compiled. Ammar conducted key research studies on rice and farmers’ debts and took a leading role in addressing issues faced by the economy following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, he said.

Ammar also committed to studying the struggles of ordinary people, including poverty and household debt, Mr Somchai said, noting his work largely focused on agricultural economics and rural development.

‘I often told foreign academics that Ammar Siamwalla was the most brilliant Thai economist of his generation. Even today, I have yet to meet another economist who has impressed me as deeply as he did,’ said Mr Somchai. Mr Somchai said Ammar suffered from diabetes and various other ailments before his death.

Ammar’s funeral ceremony was held on Sunday at 11am at the Sulaimaniyah Foundation Cemetery in Thung Kru district. Born on May 29, 1939, Ammar served as the president of the TDRI between 1990 and 1995 and as a member of the National Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2008.

A descendant of Indian immigrants, he was the youngest child of Tahir and Khadijah Siamwalla, who owned a stationery import business in Thailand.

He attended Assumption College in Bangkok and St Paul’s School in Darjeeling, India, before earning his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of London and his PhD from Harvard University.

He later taught economics at Yale University and served as a special professor at Thammasat University before resigning following the Oct 6, 1976, massacre.

Flooding struck 16 provinces on Sunday, mostly in the Central Plain hit by deluges of water from the Chao Phraya River, and the highest number of affected households was in Ayutthaya province.

However, the present flow in the Chao Phraya River was not affecting Bangkok, according to its governor.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported that flood levels were either stable or lower in six northern provinces – Nakhon Sawan, Phetchabun, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and Uttaradit.

Meanwhile, the Chao Phraya River basin in the Central Plain was receiving deluges of water from the upper section of the Chao Phraya River. The river basin is low-lying and the local section of the Chao Phraya River is a bottleneck, the DDPM said.

Floods struck parts of eight provinces in the Central Plain, namely Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Pathom.

Floodwater receded in Uthai Thani and Sing Buri and remained unchanged in Chai Nat and Suphan Buri.

Flood levels were rising in Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Pathom. The highest number of affected households nationwide was 43,458 in 11 districts of Ayutthaya.

The DDPM warned people in Muang and Sam Khok districts of Pathum Thani that the levels of the Chao Phraya River were increasing there.

In the Northeast, only Ban Khawao district of Chaiyaphum province suffered flooding and its level was rising.

In the East, people in Bang Nam Prieo district of Chachoengsao province saw declining flood levels.

The DDPM said 102,051 households were affected in the 16 flooded provinces and the dealth tolls in the provinces reached 12 as of Sunday.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Sunday that the Chao Phraya barrage across the Chao Phraya River in Chai Nat province was discharging water at the rate of 2,500 cubic metres per second.

The rate remained safe for the capital as the safety threshold was at 3,500 cubic metres per second.

The demolition of the new Samsen police station began at the sinkhole site on Samsen Road on Saturday night, according to Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt.

The governor said at the site Sunday morning that robots were used to first remove windows and facades of the newly built police station, which was subsiding. Vehicles were moved out of the station.

Officials at the site told him that the four-storey police station had shifted and cracks were heard on Saturday night. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration reported on its Facebook page that soil under the station slid as it rained and the station then subsided.

However, adjacent police flat buildings and commercial buildings remained stable, Mr Chadchart said.

In the meantime, the Bangkok governor said, sand was being dumped to fill the sinkhole.

Workers had already dumped 3,800 cubic metres of sand into the sinkhole as of Saturday night and 1,200 cubic metres more of sand would be added on Sunday morning, he said. He did not see a new crack in the sinkhole on Sunday morning.

The governor also said that adjacent Vajira Hospital was operating as usual on Sunday.

The sinkhole formed with original dimensions of 30 metres wide, 30m long and 20m deep on the morning of Sept 24 above an underground station under construction for the Purple Line extension route of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority. The state enterprise blamed the subsidence on soft soil in the surrounding area.

Officials decided to demolish the police station and thus the reopening of Samsen Road in Dusit district of Bangkok was postponed indefinitely.