Business
MICE: Thailand, Myanmar forge ‘landmark’ cooperation agreement

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community
PHUKET: THE THAILAND Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is teaming up with Myanmar’s largest business association to hold trade shows and related events in both countries, as Myanmar continues its rapid opening up to international business.
The TCEB and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) recently signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding at a ceremony in Yangon to improve and expand their meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industries.
Both sides referred to the MoU as a landmark partnership between Thailand and Myanmar.
“TCEB is a large organization and has [more] advanced knowledge in this area than we do. It is organizing exhibitions in many countries. Together, we will cooperate to promote trade.
We’ll also work together in renovating and maintaining facilities so that Myanmar can be like Thailand,” said Myo Thet, vice president of UMFCCI.
Myanmar is now holding more than 60 business and commodity exhibitions a year, but shortages of proper venues are hindering the full potential, he said.
TCEB president Nopparat Maythaveekulchai said: “As the Thai government’s official flagship body for the MICE sector, TCEB’s mission is to support connections and linkages through meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.
“This bilateral collaboration truly represents a deeper interaction within our respective MICE industries, which will yield profound results in both our countries,” he said. He added that the bilateral relationship between Thailand and Myanmar was very productive. The Kingdom is Myanmar’s second-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade reached 250 billion baht (US$7.82bn) last year, up 15 per cent from 2012.
“The TCEB will do our best to improve and expand trade promotion and the MICE industry in many ways, which includes encouraging public- and private-sector delegations and missions, to deepen engagement and expand collaboration in preparation for the AEC integration in 2015,” he said, referring to the Asean Economic Cooperation pact.
The new deal falls under the framework of the Joint Trade Commission formed in 2012. TCEB’s first ever roadshow in Yangon in partnership with UMFCCI was held in May 2013, helping to accelerate the growth of Myanmar MICE visitors to Thailand, especially in the meetings and conventions sectors, officials said.
Moreover, Thailand’s bustling exhibitions sector also serves as a trading marketplace and responds to the growing industries in Myanmar in various sectors, including food and agriculture, hospitality and services, medical and healthcare services, and machinery.
Last year, 7,101 visitors from Myanmar experienced the strength of Thailand’s MICE industry, injecting more than 798 million baht (US$24.9mn) into the Thai economy.
The achievement demonstrates that the relationship has the potential to prepare the two countries ahead of the AEC. In an AEC environment, the MICE industry has the potential to operate as a catalyst, boosting all sectors. “TCEB and UMFCCI are united and share our goal in developing the MICE industry with mutual understanding and friendship through enhanced human, cultural and economic exchange,” Nopparat said.
“We are committed to creating long-term competitiveness and sustainability for our service sectors in the international arena, and we both passionately believe that the best way to do this is to jointly promote and enhance cooperation in the MICE industry, especially through the strength of Thailand’s MICE industry, including diversity of destinations, unrivalled business opportunities, and high-quality professionals and industry standards.”
In building a strategic network of Asean partnerships, TCEB tries to nurture connections between Asean businesses and their counterparts as part of the Asean MICE Collaboration project.
From Vietnam (Vietrade and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry), to the Philippines (Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands), to Indonesia (Directorate-General for National Export Development) and Laos (Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Myanmar businesses join a growing partner network through this MoU, as a strategic part to drive the region through trade and investment, officials said.
Last year, Thailand drew 1,013,502 MICE visitors, with receipts totalling 94bn baht (US$2.94bn). This year, it is expected that Thailand will see 888,210 international MICE visitors, generating revenue of 93bn baht (US$2.90bn).
— Phuket Gazette Editors
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Thailand
Facebook removes “information-influencing” pages linked to Thai military

Facebook has confirmed the removal of 185 accounts run by the Thai military and allegedly involved in information-influencing. The social media giant says the accounts were deleted for engaging in what it calls, “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. In total, 77 accounts, 72 pages, and 18 groups have been removed from the platform, in addition to 18 Instagram accounts. It’s the first time Facebook has taken such action against accounts linked to the Thai government.
The accounts were associated with the Thai military and were targeting people in the southern provinces, Facebook said its regular report on coordinated inauthentic behavior. The south of the country has been the scene of decades-long conflict, with insurgent groups in the majority-Muslim, Malay-speaking region calling for independence. To date, around 7,000 people have died in the ongoing struggle.
Facebook says the deleted accounts were most active last year and used both fake and real accounts to manage pages and groups, both openly military pages and pages that hid their links to the military. Some of the fake profiles pretended to be people from the southern provinces.
The report mentioned a post by the now-removed account named “comprehending the operation” in Thai. The page posted the logo for Amnesty International Thailand and wrote “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role in society. Normal people are not famous. Any case is not big news. They are not worth the investment of foreigners so they will not do anything to help. This is why we don’t see anything from the NGO.”

Image overlay translates to “The NGO never cares about ordinary citizens because they have no role nor money.”
On another now-removed account, named “truth about my home Pattani” in Thai, a post said “Muslim leader declares southern border is a peace zone. The southern separatists started a movement by spreading the idea that Thailand is under control by different believers so that people would come and fight for their religion. This was declared that the action clearly violates Islam faith.”

Image overlay translates to “Southern border is not Jihad zone.”
When contacted by Reuters, the military had no comment on the removal of the Facebook accounts, with a spokesman saying the organisation does not comment outside of official press conferences.
The head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher, has confirmed the reasons behind the platform’s decision.
“This is the first time that we’ve attributed one of our takedowns to links to the Thai military. We found clear links between this operation and the Internal Security Operations Command. We can see that all of these accounts and groups are tied together as part of this operation.”
He adds that the accounts had spent around US$350 on advertising on both Facebook and Instagram. One or more of the pages had about 700,000 followers and at least one of the groups had 100,000 members. Gleicher says the accounts were removed because of their misleading behaviour and not because of the content being posted. The content included support for the military and the monarchy, with allegations of violence and criticism of insurgent groups in the south.
It’s not the first time accounts linked to the Thai military have been removed by a social media platform. In October, Twitter removed 926 accounts it says had links to the army and posted pro-military and pro-government content. The Thai army has denied any involvement with the accounts in question. In November, Twitter also suspended an account posting pro-monarchy content that was found to have links to the palace and to thousands of other accounts posting similar content.
To read the February 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report, click HERE.
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Central Thailand
Airline executive arrested for failure to pay wages of 150 workers

An airline executive has been arrested in the central province of Samut Songkhram, after complaints from150 employees that they had not been paid. Chawengsak Noiprasan, who had a court warrant issued against him in October, was taken to Don Muang police station from a property in the Bang Khan Take sub-district. He is a board member of Siam Air Transport.
The airline began operations in October 2014 with services out of Don Mueang to Hong Kong, using 2 Boeing 737-300s. 2 Boeing 737-800s were added to its fleet in late 2015. It expanded by adding Zhengzhou and Guangzhou in China to its network in early 2015. In late 2015, the airline launched flights to Macau and Singapore. In 2017, the airline ceased all operations.
But according to an article in the Bangkok Post, the carrier operates a number of scheduled and charter flights from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. The Post reports that, as Chawengsak signs the company’s legal paperwork, all legal matters concerning the airline fall to him.
The Metropolitan Police Bureau says the executive has admitted to ignoring a 30 day notice issued by the labour inspector and ordering the payment of wages to 150 workers. It’s understood he is also wanted in relation to 7 other cases.
The authorities sought Chawengsak’s arrest following complaints from employees who say they haven’t received their wages for 2 months. It’s understood the airline had previously deferred salary payments for over 8 months. 150 workers filed an official complaint with Don Mueang police and also approached media outlets, asking them to pressure the airline into paying the money owed.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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