Thailand News Today | Introducing Thailand’s NEW acting Prime Minister!

The government asked Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan to step in as acting PM of Thailand after the Constitutional Court voted to suspend PM Prayut Chan-o-cha from his duties.

The court has suspended PM Prayut until they decide whether his premiership hit the constitutional eight-year limit today.

I expected a decision from the court to take around one month.

In the meantime, 77-year-old Prawit will serve as Thailand’s prime minister. But who is Prawit Wongsuwan?

The Bangkok-born minister is considered a “soldier politician.” Between 2004 – 2005, Prawit was the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army and served as Thailand’s Minister of Defence from 2008 – 2011 and again from 2014 – 2019.

He served as Deputy Chairman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta that took over Thailand in a coup d’état in 2014. According to New Mandala, Prawit is “widely considered the architect of the 2014 coup.”

In December 2017, he became the focus of a luxury watch corruption scandal. At first, Prawit was pictured wearing a Richard Millie wristwatch valued at an estimated three million baht.

Over time, Prawit was pictured wearing more and more luxury watches from brands Richard Millie, Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Audemars Piguet, Ah Languh unt Zonnu, and the most luxurious of them all: G-shock.

In total, Prawit has been pictured wearing 26 different luxury watches with a total estimated value of 40 million baht. The National Anti-corruption Commission launched an investigation into the watch collection after finding out that Prawit had not listed a single watch in his asset declaration.

Prawit said he had “borrowed” the watches from his deceased friend Patthawat Suksri Wong and had already returned them. Public outrage has met the excuse with public anger, yet the head of the NACC determined that Prawit’s explanation was valid and acquitted him of the corruption accusations.

Meanwhile, the Association to Protect the Thai Constitution remarked that

“Gen Prawit served in the army for about 40 years and was a political office holder for two terms, without any businesses. He could not possibly acquire such a great deal of wealth.”

Back in May, Prawit predicted his provisional rise to premiership. Glancing down at his Patek, he proclaimed, “there may be a substitute prime minister.”

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If you plan on using Rama II Road in Bangkok, don’t. Yesterday at 11.53, a broken concrete slab fell from a U-turn bridge onto the highway. It is the fourth time heavy construction materials have fallen onto the road in less than two months.

Here’s a timeline of incidents on Rama II road

On July 14: Dashcam footage reveals the moment a heavy steel beam fell 20 metres through the air, landing just metres in front of an oncoming pickup truck. The truck was flung into the air as the wheels collided with the beam. The couple inside the pickup were unharmed.

On July 31: A U-turn bridge over the Rama II road heading towards Bangkok collapsed, falling onto four vehicles and killing two people. One female passenger died at the scene, and a construction worker who fell from the bridge later died from their injuries in hospital.

On August 16: A 3-metre iron bar fell onto the bumper of a Sedan car on the Rama II road heading outbound from Bangkok. The vehicle was damaged, but the 50-year-old female driver was unharmed.

On August 24: A 80-centimetre by 30-centimetre slab of concrete fell from a U-turn bridge over the Rama II road in Bang Khun Thian district directly onto the expressway’s leftmost lane. No injuries were reported.

Currently, three main construction projects are going on on the Rama II Road, which began in 2018.

In very related news, Thailand has one of the world’s highest road traffic death rates.

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A survey revealing Internet user behaviour among Thailand’s government officials has led netizens to believe they have too much free time on their hands.

The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) announced the results of a report on Thailand’s Internet User Behaviour, with government officials coming out on top.

The ETDA collected the information from 46,348 participants between April and July this year. The survey results revealed the average amount of time Thais spend on the Internet.

Thai netizens scrutinised Internet usage hours categorised by careers, which showed that people working in government departments used the Internet the most. The survey showed that government officials spend about 11 hours and 37 minutes daily on the Internet. Compared to students who were online for eight hours and 57 minutes, freelancers, seven hours and 40 minutes, business owners, seven hours and 29 minutes, and employees in the private sector who spent seven hours and six minutes online.

Thai netizens voiced concerns that government officials have too much free time, considering every government department still works in the old-fashioned document-based system.

Comments include

“TikTok for 6 hours, Facebook for 4 hours, and Shoppee for 2 hours!”

“Too much free time!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I saw them listening to music and watching movies every time I went to the district office!”

“Paper documents are still required every time I work with them!”

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Residents of Thailand’s island of Koh Samui are calling on government officials to get off the Internet and work building the bridge connecting the island to the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Thai media reported yesterday that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed to construct the bridge.

Koh Samui dwellers are keeping a close eye on the bridge projects since ferry tickets are expensive. One food vendor selling grilled squid said a round-trip ticket’s price is now 340 baht, while cars are charged 550 baht each. The high transport prices have pushed up the prices of other products in Koh Samui, causing fewer Thai tourists to visit.

Food vendors urge the government to build the bridge fast to boost Koh Samui’s tourism. Not only would the bridge make transport cheaper, but it would also cut down the time it takes to travel from the island to the mainland.

Now that the MoU for the bridge has been signed, we’ll see if the government follows residents’ demands to build it fast after they finish watching Netflix.

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A famous Orangutan followed his primal instincts and grabbed a handful of a beautiful woman’s breasts at a zoo in Bangkok as she posed for a picture, which she thought was hilarious.

Tourist Angel Orangelor was on a trip to Safari World in Thailand’s capital when she saw the zoo’s Orangutan. She asked a friend to take a picture of them together, and the amorous Orangutan wrapped his arms around her and copped a feel of her breasts, much to the amusement of the 27-year-old and her friends.

The Orangutan knew what he was doing as he flashed a cheeky grin and planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek.

Angel was far from upset and thought it was hilarious.

This isn’t the first time the frisky primate has tried with women visitors to the park. He’s developed a strategy for it.

In June, the naughty Orangutan grabbed another visitor’s boobs. In a similar move, the hairy ape copped a feel and gave the woman a cheeky kiss while she posed for a photo.

Bangkok Safari World allows visitors to pose with several of its orangutans and sees it all as harmless fun.

Well, now I know what to wear this coming Halloween.