B20 fare gets MRTA approval

The Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) board has approved a fare cut for the MRT’s Purple Line so passengers will pay a maximum fare of 20 baht per trip starting on Dec 1.

However, the new fare will be applicable to passengers who pay the fare with credit cards with a contactless payment system only, said MRTA governor Pakapong Sirikantaramas.

He said those who use other cards, such as prepaid cards or a one-day pass, or pay the train fare with cash are not eligible for the reduction.

The 23-kilometre Purple Line runs from Tao Pun to Bang Yai in Nonthaburi, with a total of 16 stations.

The move follows the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) board’s decision last week to cap the fare for its 41-km Red Line at 20 baht.

The MRTA and SRT fare cuts are in line with Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit’s policy that a 20-baht fare would be piloted on the Red Line and the Purple Line as a “New Year’s present” to the public.

Mr Pakapong said the current fare on the Purple Line is between 14 and 42 baht. There is an average of 56,000 passengers per day, and the new fare rate is expected to boost that number by 17%, or to 66,000 passengers per day, he said.

However, it is estimated the new rate will cost the MRTA 190 million baht per year in lost income, he said.

But the agency will not ask the government for a subsidy, and it will use its revenue from the MRT’s Blue Line to offset the financial loss, he said, adding the MRTA earns 350 million baht in revenue sharing from the MRT’s Blue Line.

According to Mr Pakapong, the loss in revenue is worth it when considering the economic value of 900 million baht from a reduction of fuel use, travel time, pollution and risk of accidents.

Mr Pakapong said the MRTA board’s decision will be submitted to the Transport Ministry for review and then to the cabinet for approval.

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Local universities rise in global rankings

Higher Education Science Research and Innovation (MHESI) Minister Supamas Isarabhakdi has praised 19 Thai universities for being listed in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024.

This year’s ranking included 1,904 universities from 108 countries and regions. As part of that, THE analysed more than 134 million citations across 16.5 million research publications, including survey responses from 68,402 scholars.

Each university is judged in five categories: teaching (the learning environment); research environment (volume, income and reputation); research quality (citation impact, research strength, excellence and influence); international outlook (staff, students and research); and industry (income and patents).

The University of Oxford topped the ranking for the eighth year in a row, while Stanford University moved up to second place, pushing Harvard University down to fourth. Ms Supamas said yesterday that among the 19 Thai universities, four universities had a better ranking than last year.

Chulalongkorn and Mahidol are Thailand’s top universities, ranked in the 601-800 world range. The ranking was an improvement on the 801-1,000 range last year. Chiang Mai University placed in the 801-1,000 range, improving from the 1,001-1,200 range. Lastly, Walailak University ranked in the 1,201-1,500 range from the previous rank of 1,501+. The University of Phayao was newly listed in the ranking and was placed in the 1,501+ bracket.

Ms Supamas said on Friday that the rankings pointed to Thai universities’ potential and academic excellence, which resulted from MHESI boosting the quality of universities and personnel, management, research and foreign cooperation.

“The ministry aims to see Thai universities reach the top 400 in the world,” she said.

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What about the constitution?

What about the constitution?
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin delivers his government’s policy statement to parliament on Sept 11. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

The government’s plan to complete the charter amendment process in four years is unlikely to be good enough for the pro-democracy alliance that has launched a campaign for wholesale charter change, according to political observers.

The government’s plan to complete the constitutional amendment process in four years is unlikely to be good enough for the pro-democracy alliance that has launched a campaign for wholesale change, according to political observers.

Both the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) and the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) group wasted no time in pursuing charter revision, advocating a directly elected body with full authority and consideration over the entire constitution.

When the new House of Representatives convened, Move Forward submitted a motion calling on the government to hold a referendum to ask the public if a new constitution should be drawn up by a charter-drafting assembly of elected representatives to replace the current charter.

The motion in question is similar in nature to the one backed by 323 MPs but shot down by the Senate before the House was dissolved in March. It is 33rd on the current legislative agenda.

Move Forward tried to move the motion for House consideration up but the bid was thwarted. The party is pinning its hopes on the government to prioritise the proposed referendum.

Meanwhile, iLaw made its move by submitting a proposal to the ruling Pheu Thai Party. Supported by more than 200,000 eligible voters, the proposal also demands a referendum on the setting up of a directly elected body to rewrite the 2017 Constitution.

Based on a Constitutional Court ruling in March 2021, a referendum is a must before an attempt to create an entirely new charter, and parliament has the power to draw up a new constitution.

If people decide they want a new constitution and a draft of a new one is then completed, another referendum must be held for people to endorse it.

To make good on the ruling party’s promise to revise the charter, the government took the first step by forming a referendum study panel.

The appointment of the panel headed by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is also a Pheu Thai stalwart, was approved by the cabinet at its first meeting on Sept 13.

However, setting up a referendum study panel, which can take months to complete, falls short of the pro-democracy camp’s expectations.

Pheu Thai stands accused of paying lip service to its own policy because the Phumtham panel is being given no timeframe or guidelines for its work. Critics were particularly frustrated by the lingering uncertainty as to whether a charter drafting assembly will be formed at all.

It is widely believed that Pheu Thai’s priority is not charter amendment but rather the economy, which resonates with a much broader segment of society. The charter issue will only trigger a new round of political conflict and possible instability that the ruling party cannot afford, according to analysts.

Phichai Ratnatilaka Na Bhuket, from the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida), agreed that Pheu Thai is likely to dedicate its resources to reviving the economy to appease the public.

The nature of the referendum study panel indicates that the party does not want wholesale charter changes, he said.

“This shows it doesn’t want a new charter written. The proposed charter writing assembly is now in doubt. We’re not hearing anything about the assembly being directly elected lately,” said Mr Phichai.

In his view, wholesale charter changes would be highly controversial because chapters 1 and 2 would be subject to revision and the conservative camp would be up in arms if these two principal chapters are meddled with.

Chapter 1 contains sections defining Thailand as a single, indivisible kingdom with a democratic regime and the King as head of state. Chapter 2 contains sections pertaining to the royal prerogatives.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Mr Phumtham insisted that chapters 1 and 2 would be left untouched.

But Mr Phichit believes the ruling party cannot drag its feet for long and will be under intense pressure from Move Forward and iLaw to declare a clear stance.

“I think iLaw will propose its own charter amendment to parliament and Pheu Thai will have to act,” he said.

“A referendum draft law involving charter amendment will be presented in the next parliament session which is around the end of this year, or early next year.”

Staff give flowers to Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha during an emotional farewell to the outgoing prime minister at Government House on Aug 31. (Photo: Thai Khu Fah Facebook)

The unity show must go on 

Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha left the political stage on what observers feel was a planned high note, leaving some wondering if he’ll be back for an encore.

The man who staged the 2014 coup might not have been the most popular prime minister while in office. However, when the curtain came down on his nine years as premier, an emotional farewell was witnessed live on social media platforms, marking the end of an era.

Some observers believe that how a prime minister leaves office can chart the course that could lead them back to it in the future.

Social media was abuzz with videos of Gen Prayut exiting Government House for the last time as the prime ministerial baton was being passed to his successor, Srettha Thavisin.

On his last day as prime minister, Gen Prayut was swamped by Government House officials and staff who jostled for positions to give him roses.

In the background was live music played by an ensemble. Songs the crowd heard were those composed for the Prayut administration, which were later to become the government’s hallmark songs.

As Gen Prayut slipped into his private Mercedes sedan, which he had switched to after returning the official limousine to Government House, and the car slowly pulled away, the noise grew louder from officials and staff who lined both sides of the driveway chanting his name. Some were fighting back tears.

The observers said it would take a great deal of convincing to arrive at the conclusion that the smooth transition of power was unplanned. Signs had pointed to the transition having been the product of a move that would ultimately be tactically advantageous to Gen Prayut.

The observers explained that with the Pheu Thai-led government having taken over from the Prayut administration, the nightmare scenario dreaded by conservatives would not materialise. The Move Forward Party and the policies it represents, especially the amendment of the lese-majeste law, had been safely dispatched to the opposition benches.

Critics had heaped scorn on Move Forward’s “amateurism” in managing its political affairs, saying the prospect of the largest party occupying the seat of power was less than promising.

It transpired that Pheu Thai realised its goal of elevating itself to become the ruling party after a large number of senators rallied behind Srettha Thavisin’s bid for prime minister.

The majority of the senators who voted for Mr Srettha are close to Gen Prayut. Without them, Mr Srettha’s bid for office would have fallen way short.

If that had happened, a fresh vote would have had to be called. Next in line to be nominated as prime minister would have been Anutin Charnvirakul, the leader of Bhumjaithai, the third largest party, or Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, who leads Palang Pracharath, the previous ruling party.

The observers said it therefore came as no surprise that Mr Srettha lost no time in paying a courtesy call on Gen Prayut after winning the prime ministerial election.

The Srettha government has also admitted to its fold the 36-MP United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, in which Gen Prayut had been and still is an imposing patriarchal figure, despite having parted ways with the party.

The observers said some of Gen Prayut’s political legacy will live on in the new government through the UTN which has been allocated two top-tier cabinet portfolios — the Energy and Industry ministries — despite being a small party.

The way Gen Prayut departed office on a positive note, according to a source, may help many people remember him more fondly.

Also, with Pheu Thai in charge of the government and the “gratitude” it is thought to harbour towards Gen Prayut for Mr Srettha’s victory, the old soldier is believed to be on good speaking terms with the new government.

That might give peace of mind for Gen Prayut who may feel assured that the government will have no “score” to settle or bone to pick with him.

If Gen Prayut can manage to preserve a relatively unblemished record in the eyes of the people, there may come another time of political impasse and a leadership crisis where he might be considered for a prime ministerial comeback.

In a farewell remark he wrote on his Facebook page, Gen Prayut said: “The country’s journey in the past nine years hasn’t been smooth or easy, with disputes raging elsewhere in the world which affected energy prices, the cost of living and inflation.

“However, we must unite and get through it,” he added.

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At least 500 houses inundated in Trat

Flooding in Khao Saming district causes canals to overflow, affecting at least 8 villages

At least 500 houses inundated in Trat
An aerial view shows the extent of flooding in a community in Khao Saming district of Trat. (Photo: Jakkrit Waewkraihong)

TRAT: Flooding is worsening in Khao Saming district of this eastern province with at least 500 houses in eight villages inundated on Friday.

Heavy downpours pounded many areas in the district on Thursday night, particularly tambon Sator. The situation became worse as runoff from nearby tambon Nong Bon in Bo Rai district flowed into Khlong Sator, causing the water level to rise above 10 metres, far exceeding the safety level of 6 metres.

Overflows from the canal flooded eight out of the nine villages in tambon Sator. At least 500 households were affected.

Pongpat Sinrai, the Khao Saming district chief, said three tambons — Sator, Thep Nimit and Praneet Wang Takhian — were badly flooded, particularly Sator, which had also been hit earlier this month. Many roads were impassable to vehicles, he said.

Floods also hit three other tambons: Wang Takhian, Thung Nonsee and Khao Saming.

Local officials on Friday distributed relief items to residents in the food-hit villages. Floodwater was about 150cm deep and reaching the second floor of many houses, said Pramote Chankrachang, mayor of tambon Sator.

Soldiers, border patrol police and volunteers helped affected residents to move their belongings to higher ground. Elderly and sick people were evacuated from their flooded homes.

Officials and volunteers distribute relief items to flood-affected residents in Khao Saming on Friday. (Photo: Jakkrit Waewkraihong)

(Photo: Jakkrit Waewkraihong)

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As looted relics return, Cambodian researchers uncover history

Additional reporting and photography by Anton L. Delgado.

On an unbearably hot day in April, Kong Mok pantomimed wrapping a material around his neck with one hand.

Mok, 67, was on duty as a guard at the ancient Koh Ker temple complex in northern Cambodia, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List earlier this month. As a small group watched, Mok mimicked how he believed looters used some form of explosive to break off the valuable heads from stone statues before transporting them out of the country.

He slowly moved his other hand around his neck before shooting his arms out to both sides. Bang – no more head. 

Throughout this year, far from the heat of Koh Ker, the U.S. federal government coordinated the return of illegally looted Cambodian relics from the Denver Art Museum and the private collections of billionaires as a wider reckoning in the art world has pressured collectors across the globe to give back pieces of dubious provenance.

Cambodia received 13 antiquities from the U.S. in March. Some of these had been looted from the Koh Ker complex in the grinding decades of strife that followed the Khmer Rouge regime, which collapsed in 1979 but waged insurgency until the late 1990s. These works included Hindu-era relics such as a warrior from a set of nine statues depicting a battle from the Mahabharata epic, a sandstone figure of the war god Skanda riding on a peacock and an enormous embodiment of the god Ganesha.

Cambodian authorities unboxing returned artefacts in March, 2023. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

As foreign governments and law enforcement agencies track pilfered artefacts in their own jurisdictions, Cambodian researchers are investigating for themselves. Their work is part of a broader, often behind-the-scenes effort in the country to restore a historical legacy sold off to international dealers such as the late antiquities collector and accused smuggler Douglas Latchford.

The inquisitive group who spoke with Mok had come on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts with a twofold purpose – to patch together Koh Ker’s history with local narratives, however incomplete, and to track down missing pieces of ancient sculptures. 

At Koh Ker, researcher Tek Soklida filmed the interview with Mok on her phone as another member of the team sat nearby, jotting details in a notebook. Senior researcher Chhoun Kunthea led the interview and interpreted for Bradley J. Gordon, a U.S. attorney representing the Ministry of Culture and working on the project. 

Run Ran, a guard at the Koh Ker temple complex, is interviewed by Bradley J. Gordon, a U.S. attorney representing Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture, and senior researcher Kunthea Chhoun as the pair studies the origins of looted statues. Photos by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

For Soklida, the work wasn’t just a way for her to help others understand the country’s history. She felt the sculpted figures were a way her ancestors intended to communicate with the future – in other words, with her.

“A statue is not just a stone; it’s an achievement from my ancestors, who made it,” she said. The icons show her “how hard they worked at that time, even bringing the stones to the temple and carving it into a human or animal statue to show their descendants.”

A first-time visitor to Koh Ker might see only toppled stone carvings and collapsed chamber walls, lying nearby a massive pyramid erected in the 10th century. But the research team, which has been studying the temples for years, envision the outlines of what these places looked like when they were first built. 

Assisted by other historians and archeologists, the team has created original drawings and maps of the area, scrutinised photos found on Latchford’s laptop, and gathered historical details through interviews with neighbouring communities.

In their on-site interviews, the team often uses photographs to help jog residents’ memories. Now, with the recent returns, the women have a new set of photos. Before moving on to another area of Koh Ker, Kunthea pulled up a picture of the Ganesha statue, which had been presented earlier at a celebration in Phnom Penh. 

Mok laughed, surprised to see the statue he remembered from childhood. He hadn’t yet heard about its return. 


Later, the team hiked to the back of the central structure in the complex, a seven-tiered pyramid standing more than 35 metres tall. There, Kunthea found another guard with whom she had previously spoken. Often, the team gradually gets to know people before meeting again with more explicit questions about looting. 

“The information, it is not easy to get it … We try step by step to get more and more,” she said. “The questions [have to] be careful. Sometimes it’s not direct, a little bit around, and then you get to the main point of what you want to know.”

The guard, 68-year old Run Ran, suspected he was one of the oldest living villagers from Koh Ker. 

Around 1980 he worked to clear the temple grounds for a time under the direction of Ta Mok, a senior leader of the Khmer Rouge nicknamed “the Butcher” for overseeing mass killings. After living near and working at the site for many years, Ran was sure he had a connection with the temple in his past lives. 

The guard told the researchers he remembered seeing the complex’s 10th-century dancing Shiva statue when it still had three intact faces of its original five. Shattered into more than 10,000 pieces, the seven-tonne piece is now undergoing restoration in Siem Reap. French archeologists had moved two of the heads and some other fragments to Phnom Penh before the 1970s. And while a third face was shattered before looters got it, the remaining two heads were likely looted during the early 1990s and are still missing.

After Kunthea tried to pin down when exactly Ran had seen the statue with three heads, which would help in understanding the timeline of the looting, the women were ready to move on to Koh Ker village, where they hoped to talk with more elders. 

The temple guard lamented before they left that those most knowledgeable about the statues had already died. 

Run Ran, 68, suspects he is one of the oldest living villagers in Koh Ker. He now works as a guard at the Koh Ker temple complex. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Even when foreign museums have returned pieces to Cambodia, such institutions don’t always offer up all of the information or documentation that could shed light on the journey the piece took, according to U.S. attorney Gordon. Without more official information, he said details from fragmented interviews, such as the ones gathered by the team at Koh Ker, are key to tracing the supply chains of looted relics. 

“There’s a very small number of experts out there on Cambodia,” he explained. “They have their theories and they are doing their research, but we’re still at a point that we haven’t been able to connect the dots yet. We’re getting lots of individual pieces of the past. The question is: what does it all add up to? Why was this here?”

Despite the rounds of returns, many pieces are still missing or outside the country. A standing female deity on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is thought to be originally from the Koh Ker. 

Back in the village far from the galleries of Manhattan, the team of Cambodian researchers spoke to some older women sitting under a wooden home raised on stilts. 

Yeam Koun and her niece Deb Sem, both 63, remembered seeing the set of nine warrior statues before several were looted. Sem said she remembered the area because a family member was bitten by a tiger there. At least one of these statues has still yet to be identified and brought back to Cambodia. The women suggested the team meet up with another older man in the village who might know more.

While on a research trip in Preah Vihear province, senior researcher Chhoun Kunthea shows images of recently returned looted artefacts to people living near the Koh Ker temple complex in an effort to identify where the artefacts originated. Photos by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

The research team stopped at a few more places in search of the village elder. They found his son-in-law, who told them to try looking for the man at a nearby pagoda. The team wasn’t able to track him down, and decided to end their research for the day. 

But spirits were not low. The team made new connections and dug up new details. Plus, they had already received a tip with names of Thai families who may have received the missing looted dancing Shiva heads. 

The team plans to travel to Thailand this year to follow the trail of the heads. Though plenty of investigation remains ahead, efforts such as theirs are slowly, finally bringing home the lost relics of Cambodia.


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Congestion at land checkpoints during long weekends, holidays not caused by Singapore: ICA

HOURS-LONG TAILBACK FROM MALAYSIA

In its statement on Friday, ICA noted that during the most recent long weekend from Aug 31 to Sep 4, there was “severe traffic tailback” stretching from both of Malaysia’s land checkpoints to Singapore’s.

This was when Singapore went to the polls to elect its next President. The week-long September school holidays also began on Sep 2.

A record number of more than 1.7 million travellers passed through Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints during that long weekend, with more than 237,000 and 227,000 travellers departing on Aug 31 and Sep 1 respectively.

At the Causeway on Sep 1, which was Polling Day, the tailback of cars from Malaysia began at 9am and only subsided at 11.30pm, said ICA.

Tailback refers to a long queue of stationary or slow-moving traffic extending back from a busy junction or road obstruction.

At Tuas Second Link, traffic tailback began at 1pm and subsided at 7pm.

ICA said that cars could not clear Malaysia’s checkpoints fast enough, which prevented cars that had already cleared Singapore’s checkpoints from moving on towards Malaysia. This affected the waiting time and clearance on the Singapore side.

This also happened during other long weekends and holiday periods, the agency added.

ICA further pointed out that congestion is heavier on Singapore’s side on some days, with travellers commenting on social media about faster clearance times on Malaysia’s side.

“(They) observed that this is due to the different levels of checks at the respective checkpoints, as the Malaysian authorities conduct fewer checks than ICA,” it added.

“ICA needs to strike a balance between keeping our border secure on the one hand, and facilitating traveller and cargo movements on the other. Border security is important for Singapore, in particular, preventing the entry of smuggled, illegal, or undesirable persons and goods.”

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LTA to reallocate additional 300 COEs for smaller cars in October

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will reallocate an additional 300 Category A Certificates of Entitlement (COE) for October.

This marks a 24 per cent increase in the Category A quota available for the month, LTA said in a news release on Friday (Sep 29).

The two October bidding exercises will see an additional 150 COEs each. The reallocation will be drawn upon the same pool of COEs from guaranteed deregistration of cars with five-year non-extendable COEs.

LTA added that this is to meet anticipated demand from car buyers following the announcement of changes to the Vehicular Emissions Scheme (VES) rebates, which aims to encourage the adoption of cleaner cars with lower emissions of carbon, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

Under the VES, buyers of newly registered cars and taxis may enjoy a rebate off the Additional Registration Fee (ARF), subject to the minimum ARF payable where applicable, or pay a surcharge depending on the VES band of the car or taxi.

The VES Band A1 rebate, which will apply to cars with zero tailpipe emissions such as EVs, will remain at S$25,000 in 2024.

However, the VES Band A2 rebate for cars will be lowered next year to S$5,000 from the current S$15,000. This will impact cars like EVs with high power consumption, most hybrids, and some pure internal combustion engine cars that are smaller and more efficient.

Premiums for Category A cars, or those 1,600cc and below with horsepower not exceeding 130bhp, reached a record high of S$105,000 (US$77,000) in the latest bidding exercise on Sep 20.

The authority previously reallocated an additional 700 Category A COEs to the supply for the period of August to October by bringing forward the distribution of certificates from the future expiry of five-year non-extendable COEs.

There will be no change in quota for the other categories. The next quota announcement for the bidding period of November 2023 to January 2024 will be in October 2023.

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Study on heart disease looks to 'unmuzzle this silent killer'

FITNESS AND HEALTH ARE NOT THE SAME THING

Led by Professor Roger Foo and his team behind the Cardiovascular-Metabolic Disease Translational Research Programme, the project received a S$25 million grant at the launch.

The team is “looking under the iceberg” for people who may look very well on the surface, said Prof Foo. 

“But actually, once you start screening them deeply, they start to reveal all kinds of early signs of disease,” he said, adding that they will be studied from “many different angles”.

Some people who are living healthy lifestyles today may be lulled into thinking that they are completely healthy, he said. 

“We have become very aware that fitness and health are not the same thing,” said Prof Foo, who is also senior consultant at the National University Heart Centre. 

For instance, in studying marathon runners, the team found that while these athletes clock in very quick timings, “their arteries and the liver and the metabolism may not be what you expect”, he said.

The participants will be looking to enroll those with moderate risk of heart disease and strong family histories of issues like high cholesterol and hypertension, he said. 

“We will then want to try and understand what it is we need to take more notice of, how we can figure out which people have more risk than others, which aspect we need to pay more attention to and then beyond that, the lessons learned from it would be how we want to treat our patients in the future.”

He added that when the findings come out at the end of the five-year research, primary care physicians will know what tests to do to pick out patients with potential heart disease better.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY 

The study will use new technology like a virtual reality glove that will allow participants to hold their heart and feel how stiff the muscles are.

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Artificial reef innovation under way

PTTEP and Department of Fisheries team up to develop reefs using carbon dioxide-based mineral stones

Artificial reef innovation under way
Divers inspect a reef infected by yellow-band disease off Sattahip in Chon Buri in 2022. Coral reefs are under increasing threat from pollution and global warming, and creating artificial reefs as a habitat for marine life is one way to reverse the damage. (Photo: Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

The Department of Fisheries and PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) have signed an agreement on developing artificial reefs from carbon dioxide-based mineral stones.

The memorandum of understanding also aims at further studying production of the material using a similar process that helps combat global warming.

Montri Rawanchaikul, chief executive and president of PTTEP, said the project focuses on applying technology in the process of transforming carbon dioxide into mineral stones to make sturdier reefs.

The technology is expected to help transform the chemical structure of carbon dioxide in concrete into calcium carbonate that can be deployed in reef production.

The reefs are meant to be habitats for sea creatures where they can live, breed and take refuge.

The Department of Fisheries has been working on artificial reef production since 1978 in line with its interest in sustainable fishery management, said director-general Chalermchai Suwanrak.

“This project aims to help with sea creature management as well as the recovery of their natural habitats,” he said. “The reefs are also aimed at improving the quality of life for fisherfolk as they can help with local fishing methods.”

The development’s focus also involves global warming. According to research, rising temperatures increase stress on sea creatures’ metabolic systems, which affect their breeding and growth.

Mr Montri said the artificial reefs responded well to the company’s aim to reduce carbon emissions, as PTTEP is looking to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

PTTEP is keen on projects that lead to lower carbon emissions, such as the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project behind the country’s first CCS gas storage and refinery hub at natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Thailand.

PTTEP hopes to reduce the severity of global warming while helping the country achieve a goal promised to the United Nations to reach net zero emissions by 2065, said Mr Montri.

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Over US$2.8 million in cryptocurrencies moved from Vang Shuiming’s account while he was remanded

SINGAPORE: More than US$2.8 million (S$3.8 million) in cryptocurrencies from a suspect’s account was withdrawn while he was remanded in relation to a S$2.4 billion money-laundering probe, the lead investigating officer (IO) has revealed.

This information came in an affidavit by the IO tendered to the court in support of the prosecution’s objection to bail for Vang Shuiming on Friday (Sep 29).

Vang currently faces five charges – one of using a forged document and four of possessing criminal benefits worth S$2.4 million from unlicensed moneylending in China.

The 42-year-old Turk with multiple passports was arrested on Aug 15 this year, said Mr Teh Yee Liang of the Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in his affidavit.

Two days after this, while Vang was remanded, more than US$2.8 million worth of cryptocurrencies was withdrawn from his Binance account.

“Information gathered suggests that the movement of assets was by a person of interest after the accused had been arrested,” said Mr Teh.

Vang is linked to three other wanted suspects who are on the run, including his brother.

Mr Teh said CAD had not known of these assets initially, and was alerted to them only after receiving information from “foreign authorities”.

Mr Teh said the overall quantum of cryptocurrency assets is believed to amount to more than US$30 million and investigations on this front are ongoing.

“This further strengthens my belief that the accused has connections and assets to allow him to relocate outside of Singapore, despite the seizure of his local assets, should he be released on bail,” said Mr Teh.

More than S$200 million in assets linked to Vang have been seized in Singapore.

According to Mr Teh, this comprises S$962,000 in cash, S$128.8 million in his bank accounts, S$5.5 million in his wife’s bank accounts, 15 properties worth S$104.8 million in his wife’s name but funded by him and three vehicles worth S$3.4 million in his wife’s name but funded by him.

Vang relocated to Singapore with his wife, son and daughter in 2019, and his children are attending international schools, the court heard.

He has substantial wealth and assets overseas, said the IO. This includes an estimated 32 million yuan (US$4.4 million) worth of investments in Chinese private companies, US$18 million worth of land plots in Cambodia, US$500,000 of investments in Turkey, two condominium units in Xiamen, China, worth 20 million yuan, HK$2 million in a bank account in Hong Kong and US$110,000 worth of USDT or Tether tokens.

In response to Vang’s arguing that his parents were “not physically mobile” in his bid for bail, Mr Teh pointed to travel records.

These showed that Vang’s parents recently travelled out of Singapore, returning from Hong Kong via a private jet in March this year.

Vang was ultimately denied bail, and his lawyers said he intended to contest his charges.

He will return to court for a pre-trial conference next month.

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