Category: The Bangkok Post

Macau: Lee Westwood is back at the Macao Open — 26 years after lifting the trophy — and credits his regular appearances in the region for helping him become one of his country’s greatest players.

“Asia tested me,” said the Englishman ahead of the US$1 million event, which will tee off at Macau Golf and Country Club tomorrow.

“I needed to adapt — to the grass and heat. It made me improve quickly. It’s nice to be back. A lot has changed, I have changed, the city has changed.”

He is part of an elite line-up of marquee names competing that includes China’s Haotong Li, Im Sung-Jae from Korea, Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho and the defending champion Rattanon Wannasrichan from Thailand.

He added: “I didn’t get a chance to defend my title after 1999, although played in 2001. My form is good; I am starting to play really well.

“I have been putting in some low scores, shooting some mid-60 rounds. I am looking forward to the week.”

His performances of late, particularly on the LIV Golf League, suggest he may be a threat this week.

At LIV Golf Virginia, in June, he returned a stunning final round nine-under-par 62 to tie for 10th.

The following month in the British Open at Royal Portrush he caught fire on the back nine shooting a six-under-par 29 to become only the second player to do so in the 153-year history of the game’s oldest Major. He eventually finished tied 34th, in an event he has finished in the top-five on five occasions, including second in 2010.

And at LIV Golf Indianapolis he closed with rounds of 65 and 66 over the weekend for a top-20 finish.

It is impressive for a player aged 52 and just the right preparation as he attempts to win his 10th event in Asia at the Macao Open. His most recent win on the Tour was at the Indonesian Masters 10 years ago — an event he has won three times.

“I pride myself in the fact that in my career I have won in more countries than anybody else and Macau is a very special tournament to have won,” he said.

“It was at the start of my career. I was amassing a lot of wins back then; in ’98 and ’99 and 2000 I won 20 tournaments. It was a very special time.”

He beat American Andrew Pitts, now part of the events team at the Asian Tour, in a sudden-death playoff to win in 1999. The total purse that year was US$200,000 and he picked up a cheque for $32,300. This week the champion will win slightly more: $180,000.

“The game of golf, certainly professional golf, has always been an adventure to me. I have got to play the best courses in the world, against the best players and I wanted to do it all over the world. I didn’t want to stick to one country. I wanted to play all around the world. I enjoy travelling, getting to know different cultures. I have embraced it,” he explained.

The cabinet has approved a budget framework of 264.35 million baht for hosting the Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok from 2025 to 2027, as part of the prestigious World Capital Marathon Series.

Siripong Angkasakulkiat, spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister, said on Tuesday that the three-year budget, proposed by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, will cover licensing fees and related taxes.

The Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) will oversee implementation and ensure that all preparations align with recommendations from the Budget Bureau and other relevant agencies.

The event is expected to deliver substantial economic benefits, generating at least 1.46 billion baht in direct and indirect value through employment, tourism, international participation, and global exposure, Mr Siripong said.

Thailand is projected to earn more than 3.29 billion baht across the three years, roughly 1.1 billion baht per year, from spending by participants, supporters, and visitors, both local and foreign.

The marathon is also anticipated to create over 21,000 jobs, or about 7,000 positions annually, covering roles for staff, volunteers, students, and contractors during each six-month preparation period.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has issued its first sustainability bond worth 2 billion baht, offering a 1.4% interest rate and attracting investor subscriptions 3.29 times the offering.

According to Chanunporn Phisitvanich, deputy director-general of the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), the office procured a loan for Egat through the issuance of a sustainability-linked bond (SLB) valued at 2 billion baht with an interest rate of 1.4% per year.

The bond has a five-year maturity and is offered to institutional investors without a guarantee from the Finance Ministry.

The bond was issued under the Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework, with the Asian Development Bank serving as advisor and DNV (Thailand) Co acting as the external reviewer to certify the framework in accordance with International Capital Market Association sustainability-linked bond principles and Asean SLB standards.

Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) served as the underwriter.

According to Mrs Chanunporn, Egat set sustainability targets to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity produced by at least 30% by 2030, equivalent to 0.3877 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt-hour, using 2021 as the baseline year.

The issuance makes Egat the first state-owned enterprise in Thailand to issue an SLB, attracting interest from institutional investors, life insurance companies, asset management companies and other funds.

The total subscription reached 6.57 billion baht, 3.29 times the amount offered.

She said the PDMO was confident the successful issuance would serve as a benchmark for other state-owned enterprises, helping to expand benefits in economic, social, and environmental sustainability over the long term.

A red-shirt leader has petitioned the Constitutional Court to dissolve the ruling Bhumjaithai (BJT) Party and the main opposition People’s Party (PP) over a controversial memorandum of agreement (MOA) they co-signed, which enabled the formation of the current coalition government.

Niyom Nopparat, known as “K Samthuis”, a prominent red-shirt activist and supporter of the Pheu Thai Party, has formally asked the Constitutional Court to disband the BJT and the PP.

The petition challenges the legality of the MOA signed between the two parties to form a BJT-led minority government, which Mr Niyom claims may violate Section 49 of the charter concerning attempts to overthrow the democratic system.

Mr Niyom previously submitted the case to the attorney-general, who declined to forward it to the court. Frustrated by the rejection, he opted to file directly with the Constitutional Court.

He cited parliamentary debates by former public health minister Dr Cholnan Srikaew and former justice minister Pol Col Tawee Sodsong, who questioned whether the five-point MOA constituted an unconstitutional power arrangement.

Mr Niyom also criticised the procedural barriers faced by ordinary citizens in filing constitutional complaints, referencing a past ethics case against Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul involving the use of public land for a private airstrip.

That case was dismissed due to procedural requirements to first file with the ombudsman.

On Sept 30, Akkarawat Pongthanachalitkul, a reserve senator, went to the attorney-general to lodge a petition against Mr Anutin and opposition leader Natthaphong Rueangpanyawut for allegedly undermining democracy through the MOA.

The agreement stipulates that Mr Anutin would become prime minister under a minority government, with a commitment to dissolve parliament within four months — a condition critics call a “slave contract” that could destabilise democratic governance.

Mr Akkarawat argued that such arrangements could lead to a weak government unable to balance power, erode public trust, and waste taxpayer funds on premature elections. He also criticised the PP for abandoning its watchdog role, disappointing voters who had supported it since its earlier incarnations as the Future Forward Party and then the Move Forward Party.

Paradox, a cocktail-forward bar opened early this year in Mumbai, India and is headed by Ankush Gamre. From the same team that created Masque, India’s No.1 restaurant on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, Gamre also does the cocktails and the cocktail pairing at Masque.

The ground floor of the bar is dedicated to an open kitchen and a dining room. Working with a little more fire and a little less restraint, Gamre’s menu at Paradox is, like the name suggests, a study in contrasts: structured yet fluid, familiar yet strange. This is the stage for his boldest, most audacious cocktails with some daring pairings bursting with flavour and technique. Drinks at Paradox are built to shift, not settle. They’re poured with technique and layered with flavour, designed to evoke questions, not answer them. But he does answer questions here:

How did you get into bartending and mixology?

Though not a trained chef, I enjoy cooking a lot. Everything I know about cooking has been passed on from my mother. I first got into hospitality as a bar back for different restaurants. This generated a lot of interest in bartending and everything that came with it. Enough to sign up for Diageo’s Bar Academy programme, which I completed alongside my job.

Once I was done with that, I landed a full-time gig at Please Don’t Tell, a Mumbai bar. One of my seniors joined Masque and called me over to work with him. I joined Masque in 2017 as assistant bartender. I worked my way up the ranks and today I head the beverage programmes at Masque and cocktail bar Paradox, which opened earlier this year.

How did the drinks concept for Paradox come about?

When I first heard the word ‘paradox’, what struck me was the idea of ‘no rules’, which incidentally was also the brief that Aditya [Dugar] gave Varun [Totlani] and me.

A paradox doesn’t have a straight explanation, does it? And that’s exactly how our cocktails are. We take the spirit of experimentation we’re known for, and turn it on its head. The flavours and techniques are fresh, unpredictable; what’s in your glass might have taken two hours or two months to craft. No one will tell you this, but you’ll subconsciously feel that complexity and technique with every sip. That’s what Paradox is about: pushing boundaries, breaking limits. We didn’t build this bar around a story, we built it around an imagination that refuses to colour inside the lines.

Take us through the different sections of the menu.

There is a beautiful harmony in the drinks menu, where there is everything from sweet to savoury to umami-based drinks.

First off, we have a special zine menu – Revelations – which feels like it has a life of its own. It’s the start of an evolving series that changes with the seasons, based on what the team’s been tinkering with in the lab. The zine format made sense because it gave us space to be playful, raw and instinctive. Think of it as the problem child of Paradox that doesn’t follow the rules, but is still very much part of the bloodline.

Then there’s our regular drinks menu; you open it and we have 10 house cocktails (and one ‘Cheap Date’ that has Johnnie Walker Blue Label and caviar!), followed by four cocktails on tap. Then you come to our selection of wines and straight pours, rounded off with zero-proof beverages.

Why did you choose the Tap cocktails and what’s the reason behind that?

Paradox is the first bar in the city to offer tap cocktails. It’s a great customer experience to walk into a bar, make your way to a table and order a tap cocktail that appears quickly, within minutes. Sipping on a drink while you decide what to eat makes the experience even more fun. They set the tone for what to expect from the evening.

Are you more inclined to cater to the Indian palate when formulating the cocktails?

Paradox is from the same family that has brought Masque to India, so at heart, we will always have local, seasonal Indian ingredients in mind. But it’s also catering to an audience which loves global experiences and flavours. Nothing at Paradox can be boxed into one thing conceptually, whether it’s the food or the drinks.

Tell us about the secret snack only reserved for bar counter seats? Why is it only for those seats?

You’re making me give away my best-kept secret!

If you’re a friend of the bartender or a Paradox regular sitting at the bar, we have a small mushroom bite that’s an umami flavour bomb. You’ll never see this anywhere but at the bar. We’ve made it in a way that it complements a drink’s acidity, so take a bite, sip your drink, rinse and repeat. It’s totally worth becoming a regular for!

How does the menu pair with the cocktail menu?

The food menu in the dining room and the bar is the same, save for two dishes – the Thai Steam Boat and the Kakigori. Those two are dining room exclusives; the rest of the food and drinks menu is available wherever you might be seated at Paradox.

How does it differ from Masque?

Masque will always celebrate Indian ingredients through its food and drinks; that’ll pretty much never change. But Paradox isn’t bound by any particular rules or format in terms of the flavours we offer. Which is why you see squid and caviar in the food and drinks, because it just made sense to put it on the Paradox menu. Overall, Paradox is designed to give guests an international experience right here in Mumbai. The drinks and food are all designed to reflect the kind of space Paradox is, which is very different from Masque in its inherent offering.

What’s next for Ankush Gamre?

I’ve only gotten started at Paradox. It’s my playground and the chance to be cheeky, fun and wild. So, the next bit is to keep upping my game at Masque and Paradox, because you’re only as good as the last cocktail you mixed!

If you return a scorecard with a wrong score for a hole; the score you entered stands if it was higher than your actual score. However, you are disqualified if you return a score that is lower than your actual score or if you fail to return a score for a hole. Putting down a lower score is considered a serious breach of the rules and results in disqualification, unless an unknown penalty was the cause. Some professional tours have adopted a rule that gives players a 15-minute window to correct an incorrect score after leaving the scoring area.

This rule was implemented to minimise disqualifications due to scorecard errors. Unfortunately, this rule came too late for Jordan Spieth in 2024 when he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard at The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club on the Friday of the tournament. Spieth wrote down a 3 at the par-3 fourth hole and a second-round 72, when in fact he made 4 on the hole. This 15-minute rule does not apply for local non-professional competitions.

Teeing off outside the tee box markers incurs penalties of a two-stroke penalty and a requirement to correct the mistake in stroke play, but offers the opponent the choice to cancel the stroke without penalty in match play. The core rule is that your ball must be teed within the defined teeing area, which is a rectangle extending two club-lengths back from the markers. Failing to correct the error in stroke play (by re-teeing from the correct area) and playing the next hole will result in disqualification.

Out of bounds: Here’s a couple of quotes that may force a smile: “I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father” — Greg Norman and from Boxer Alan Minter “Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing — but none of them serious.”

In Thailand, inclusive education for visually impaired students continues to face structural challenges, from limited access to learning resources to the societal barriers that restrict opportunities in higher education and employment. Many student-led initiatives designed to ‘help’ blind schools often remain surface-level, providing donations or short-term volunteer work without long-term impact. Seeking a deeper and more sustainable solution, I founded Focus First-a peer mentorship program uniting sighted and visually impaired students in a shared journey of learning and exchange.

The idea for Focus First grew from my earlier project, Apricity: A Tale of Color, a bilingual English-Thai braille storybook I wrote, illustrated, narrated and published with the Educational Technology for the Blind Center in Thailand. With more than 200 copies now distributed to blind schools across Thailand, the book revealed how imagination sustains visually impaired children-helping them assemble a picture of the world through fragments of sound, touch, taste and smell. Encouraged by veteran educator Kru Won, who has spent more than 40 years teaching visually impaired students, I expanded my vision into a program designed to bridge the divide between sighted and blind communities.

The limitations of visual impairment education in Thailand are complex. Many underfunded schools struggle to access adapted textbooks or braille materials, while subjects that rely on visual aids, such as sciences, often cannot be fully translated into accessible forms. Integration into society is another hurdle, with many visually impaired graduates finding opportunities only in vocational training and service work, rarely in professional industries.

Focus First was built to address these challenges directly. Structured around the disciplines of science, art and music, the program follows a ‘teach-share-hands-on’ model. Each session begins with sighted mentors teaching a subject through a tailored curriculum. This is followed by a discussion where ideas and life experiences are exchanged, allowing sighted students to share personal perspectives that visually impaired students might not otherwise encounter.

Finally, sessions conclude with hands-on activities, such as germinating seeds or sculpting clay, which provide practical, memorable engagement with the subject matter and bring theoretical concepts to life.

By situating itself within the frameworks of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities), Focus First highlights how peer-to-peer engagement can create both educational and social impact. Rather than treating visually impaired individuals as passive recipients of aid, the program positions them as active partners in reciprocal learning.

Where many service initiatives stop at temporary support, Focus First aims to build lasting change. In doing so, it provides a model for inclusive education that enriches both sides of the mentorship relationship and offers a pathway toward a more equitable, compassionate society.

The 2nd Army has postponed indefinitely the planned Regional Border Committee (RBC) meeting with Cambodia, citing Phnom Penh’s failure to present a clear plan for the withdrawal of heavy weaponry and for landmine clearance.

The 2nd Army’s operations centre announced the decision late Tuesday and reissued the statement on Wednesday, in Thai and in English.

The statement said discussions with representatives of Cambodia’s 4th Military Region on the relocation of heavy weapons and mine clearance, timelines, locations and monitoring had yet to yield a concrete action plan.

There had been two rounds of meetings and four rounds of document exchanges in the past week. However, Cambodia had still not submitted a clear proposal regarding troop adjustments or designated demining zones, in accordance with the General Border Committee (GBC) agreement.

The earlier GBC agreement called for resolution of the border conflict at RBC level to achieve mutually agreed objectives.

As Cambodia failed to present a substantive plan, the 2nd Army’s RBC had decided to postpone the scheduled bilateral meeting, to maintain the credibility of the agreements and avoid potential distortion of facts, the statement said.

The meeting would be postponed indefinitely until Cambodia came up with a concrete proposal to reduce border tensions.

‘The 2nd Army Area will continue to act within the framework of international cooperation to maintain peace, security and protection of national sovereignty to the fullest extent,” the statement said.

The RBC meeting between Thailand’s 2nd Army Area and Cambodia’s 4th Military Region was originally scheduled for Oct 15-17 at Chong Chom permanent border checkpoint in Kap Choeng district of Surin, with Cambodia the host.

Deputy Prime Minister Borwornsak Uwanno has proposed a timeline that would result in Thailand’s general election being held on March 29, 2026, along with a constitutional referendum.

He said both votes could be held together to save costs and comply with the four-month political roadmap outlined in the agreement between the coalition-leading Bhumjaithai Party and the opposition People’s Party.

Mr Borwornsak made the comments during an address to parliament on Wednesday, when MPs and senators voted to approve in principle two of three proposed constitutional amendment bills.

The bills seek to revise Section 256 of the existing military-drafted constitution of 2017 to pave the way for the establishment of a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) tasked with writing a new charter.

The Bhumjaithai bill won the most support, with 629 votes in favour, including 167 senators, comfortably exceeding the required threshold of one-third of the 200-member upper house, or 67 senators.

A bill drawn up by the People’s Party also passed first reading, receiving 568 votes in favour, including 108 senators voting in support.

However, the Pheu Thai Party’s version failed to clear the Senate hurdle, gaining 521 votes in total, with only 60 senators in support – seven votes short of the one-third requirement – causing the bill to be rejected.

Under parliamentary rules, at least 67 Senate votes must back any constitutional amendment for it to advance to the next stage.

Before the vote was called, the joint parliamentary session deliberated three consolidated charter amendment drafts put forth by the People’s Party, Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai.

Mr Borwornsak, the government’s legal expert and a veteran constitution drafter, told the session that the new Section 15/1 amendment empowers parliament to draft a new constitution.

However, the referendum process must legally proceed through the prime minister and the Election Commission (EC), which will determine the polling date and wording of the referendum question.

Under the agreement struck between Bhumjaithai and the People’s Party in exchange for the latter’s support for Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister, Mr Anutin must dissolve the House within four months of the government’s policy statement on Oct 1.

This means dissolution would occur by Jan 31, with the general election held 45-60 days later – making March 29 the most suitable date, according to Mr Borwornsak.

The Referendum Act requires at least 90 to 120 days between the announcement of the referendum and the vote. Therefore, if the government aims to hold both the referendum and election on March 29, the prime minister and the Election Commission must declare the referendum by Dec 30.

Mr Borwornsak noted that holding the referendum separately would cost about 6 billion baht, so combining it with the general election would be more efficient.

As Southeast Asia’s creative economy gains global momentum, new efforts are emerging to give the region’s artists, producers, and brands access to the financial tools needed for sustainable growth. One of the most ambitious is the THB 1.8-billion credit platform ‘Dynamics,’ launched by Friday Industries, a diversified holding company founded by Thai entrepreneur Kris Eiamsakulrat, to strengthen financial infrastructure and improve access to capital across the region’s fast-expanding creative sectors.

Friday Industries has emerged as one of the firms driving Thailand’s broader cultural rise a period that has seen local music, film, and fashion gain unprecedented international visibility.

Eiamsakulrat, an early backer of 88rising, helped bring the youth-culture company to Thailand, leading to the launch of FAM, a flagship festival with the Thai government to showcase emerging artists. The collaboration also paved the way for 88rising’s venture with Thai label YUPP, which produced rapper Milli’s historic 2022 Coachella performance, marking a breakthrough for Thailand in global pop culture.

The launch of Dynamics follows Netflix’s recent designation of Thailand as its new Asian content hub, underscoring the region’s growing role in global entertainment. Eiamsakulrat, who also produced A Useful Ghost which premiered and won the Ami Grand Prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival said the platform aims to provide more stable financing mechanisms for creative projects and companies that have often lacked institutional support.

‘Southeast Asia has the talent and the audience, but still faces a shortage of structured capital,’ Eiamsakulrat said. ‘Our goal is to help build the systems that allow creative businesses to scale sustainably, rather than rely on one-off success stories.’

Dynamics focuses on structured and data-driven credit, targeting sectors such as film, music, sports, consumer goods, and lifestyle industries often underserved by traditional lenders. The platform employs proprietary AI analytics to identify undervalued and emerging opportunities across intellectual property, distribution receivables, and consumer businesses analysing catalogue performance, engagement velocity, and market sentiment to uncover assets with asymmetric upside.

The platform has already closed 13 loans across Asia and North America. About one-third of the THB 1.8-billion facility is to be anchored by a sovereign-backed investor, earmarked for regional tax-credit programmes and production-financing facilities. The remaining capital will be deployed over the next 24 months, with plans to open to co-lenders and private-credit funds as the platform scales.

‘We see a long-term opportunity to connect creative output with disciplined financing,’ Eiamsakulrat said. ‘If Southeast Asia is to compete globally, it needs both artistic ambition and financial structure.’

Industry analysts say the move underscores a growing pivot towards private-credit strategies in Asia, as banks retreat from complex and non-core financing opportunities. Global investment groups have begun exploring similar models in film and music financing, viewing intellectual-property-backed credit as a promising growth market.

Friday Industries operates three integrated divisions: Studios, which produces and distributes film and television; Atlas, which invests in next-generation cultural brands and intellectual property; and Dynamics, which provides liquidity and financing solutions across the ecosystem. Together, the divisions are designed to link creation, capital, and distribution within a single platform.