Thailand News Today | Govt to temporarily scrap TM6 immigration form
The Thai Prime Minister has revealed the government will temporarily scrap the TM6 immigration form.
The form is the arrival and departure card foreigners fill in to provide passport details, name, address, etc., on their entry and exit from Thailand.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Traisuree Traisoranakul says scrapping the TM6 would facilitate immigration checks and reduce congestion at airport immigration checkpoints.
The government did not provide a timeframe of when the measure will come into effect but it is expected to take around a week.
Traisuree says the temporary measure will be introduced because the number of foreign arrivals has increased significantly over the past 2 months and completing the TM6 form and Covid screenings has resulted in bottlenecks.
In response to how the government will collect the data of incoming foreign travellers, Traisuree replied the government can collect the data through the biometric system and information from airlines and tour agencies. This begs the question, why then do we even need the TM6 at all?
Meanwhile, the internet has responded to the announcement with mixed reactions.
One commented “What queues? Sailed through yesterday. Scrap Thailand Pass, there were 2 checks between the aircraft and immigration.”
Another welcomed the new development to scrap the TM6.
“Maybe they will make it permanent for foreigners as well as Thais.”
Others made fun of the potential new TM6 rule.
“Filling out my TM6 on the plane was always the highlight of my plane journey.”
And finally, the cynic among those commented…
“I worry about their motives!”
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Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has expressed concern over the resurgence of protests in the city after police and anti-government protestors clashed last night.
The 56-year-old Chadchart says he is increasingly worried about the confrontations and has assigned a deputy governor to work out how the city’s authorities can help in case people are seriously injured.
Police and protesters both suffered injuries after they confronted each other at Bangkok’s Din Daeng intersection yesterday.
The anti-government protesters have been out in force since Saturday when a demonstration was organized from the Democracy Monument to the Victory Monument to demand the resignation of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Many of the protesters, mostly motorcycle-riding youths, and some from the Talugas group, gathered under the flyover at the intersection late last night. The activists began throwing firecrackers at the police, who responded with tear gas, resulting in minor injuries on both sides.
The confrontation continued until about 11 pm when police finally moved in to clear the protesters from the intersection and reopened the traffic road.
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The Ministry of Public Health will suggest removing temperature measurement devices and checkpoints throughout Thailand because there is no evidence proving that the checks prevent the spread of Covid. I’m glad it took them only 2 years to come to that revelation.
The Head of the Health Technical Office from the Ministry of Public Health, Rungruang Kitphati, says temperature checks were one of the first Covid screening measures introduced because the main symptom of most patients was a high fever. As a consequence temperature measuring devices and temperature checkpoints were set up throughout the country.
Fast forward 2 years and millions of annoying beeps later, Rungruang said the ministry has concluded that the infrared temperature screening devices did not provide any evidence in effectively preventing Covid and therefore should be dropped across the country.
Singapore removed temperature checks last year, while the US and Canada never even recommended the measure.
Rungruang says the ministry would suggest cancelling the temperature checkpoints at the next CCSA meeting. He added that the ministry would continue to encourage booster doses, wearing a face mask in crowded areas, washing hands during the day, and maintaining social distance measures.
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Hotel managers in Phuket are panicking over a skills shortage in their industry.
According to some managers, many skilled and experienced staff left the industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, hotels have the numbers of staff needed, but they have half the age and experience of former workers. The area general manager of Angsana Laguna Phuket, Michael Zitek, said at a vocational training event last week…
“Before Covid, from say 2017-2019, our supervisors and mid-level management were in their 40s and already had 20 years of experience. At the moment our supervisors are maybe mid-20s.”
Zitek says Phuket’s skills shortage in hospitality is “dire”. Other hotel managers gave their feedback to the Hunter Education Group, an Australian vocational skills group that provided the vocational training event. Managers listed 3 main problems in the industry: a lack of workers with the level of service standards to meet customers’ expectations, a lack of workers from the region, and losing junior workers to other industries.
Managers noted that having workers from the region is important because workers are unlikely to move from major cities. They also noted that junior workers have moved to other industries, because they don’t see jobs in the hotel industry as “aspirational career opportunities”.
The co-founder of another group that also led the training event gave some suggestions on how to offer workers more training. Stephen Healy, the co-founder of Nurture Higher Education Group, suggested having pop-up training sessions to help hotels keep track of their workers skills.
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The Commerce Ministry says it will work hard to keep consumer goods as affordable as possible without neglecting the demands of manufacturers.
The ministry believes it has created a “win-win” strategy in which consumers, businesses, manufacturers, and farmers can all benefit,
According to the commerce minister, Jurin Laksanawisit, manufacturers are asked to fix prices. If they are unable to fix the price, they are told to raise prices by a minimum rate. But for now, none are allowed to increase prices.
Last month, the ministry’s efforts to stabilise prices resulted in a decrease in the prices of a few products. This includes a 5 kilogram bag of white rice that saw a 22% drop. Other products with lower price tags included fish sauce, oyster sauce, and canned tuna. Construction materials and cement also saw a 5% drop.
The ministry added that if capital costs are high and going higher, it will look for a balance between fixing prices for as long as possible and avoiding a shortage of products.
With increasing manufacturer demand, the ministry has refused to allow any instant noodle manufacturers to increase retail prices. Jurin promised to keep prices stable for as long as possible to avoid any negative consequences for consumers.
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And in today’s instalment this surely will never happen in Thailand, please tell me it never will, the Central Bank of Laos plans to ban residents from holding any foreign currencies to address inflation and the depreciation of its national currency.
The Laotian Times yesterday reported that the Governor of the Central Bank of Laos promised to solve foreign exchange problems during a press conference last month. The governor acknowledged public concern regarding the country’s financial stability and said the central bank will launch a number of different policies to ensure that foreign currencies enter the Lao economy at an appropriate volume.
Aside from the plan to ban possession of foreign currencies in public, the bank plans to issue special bonds with high-interest rates to reduce cash circulation. The bonds will be launched next month.
The Central Bank says it will work closely with the Ministry of Public Security to suppress any agencies or individuals involved in any illegal exchange activities that might affect the country’s financial stability.
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