A senior labor official announced on Monday ( Sep 23 ) that Thailand will delay a proposed increase in the minimum wage to 400 baht ( US$ 12.15 ) per day for about two weeks due to a lack of a quorum at committee meetings working on the increase.  ,Continue Reading
Prabowo Subianto may take over as president of Indonesia next month, and there is growing hope that the soldier-turned-politician will play a more confrontational role for the country on a global scale.
While Prabowo’s aspirations for a prospective dramatic change in Indonesia’s diplomacy signal a potential dramatic change, any strategic change must be wisely balanced in light of the nation’s numerous pressing domestic economic issues.
It will be crucial to give foreign policies and initiatives a emphasizing in order to ensure that Indonesia’s people receive tangible benefits from a more activist politics.
Prabowo’s aspirations for a foreign policy, which were made known by his political appearances as defense minister, are now a major departure from Joko Widodo, who tended to adopt a cautious and pragmatic approach that emphasizes the preservation of stable international relations.
Many people anticipate that Prabowo does play a more significant role in shaping Indonesia’s world position and position. His initiatives to day, not least a proposed Ukraine harmony plan calling for a demilitarized zone and UN referendum, demonstrate a desire to uplift Indonesia’s international standing.
His high-profile visits to France, Turkey and Russia, however, underscore his ambition to develop ties with vital world powers on all sides of deepening political divides and position Indonesia as a popular, if not essential, middle-ground player and also possible mediator.
This proactive approach probably aligns with growing expectations for thick powers like Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest nation and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, to enjoy a larger role in global management.
With the world’s “non-aligned” past and current decision against joining the BRICS gathering, increasingly seen as an anti-Western alliance led by China and Russia, it is well-positioned to stake out natural terrain on the international stage.  ,
Indeed, Indonesia’s ability to bridge geopolitical divisions will likely increase its influence within important multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ).
Prabowo will also need to use his globalist diplomacy to achieve economic success. These include the establishment of strategic international partnerships, targeted infrastructure and education investments, and a commitment to industrial diversification driven by FDI.
His diplomatic contacts with nations like France and Turkey could, for instance, attract FDI to sectors like manufacturing and renewable energy.
On the other hand, strengthening bilateral relations with Russia and China could improve trade and infrastructure collaboration, giving Indonesia the tools and resources it need for economic modernization.
By aligning foreign policy with domestic imperatives, Prabowo is well-placed to diversify Indonesia’s economic partnerships and reduce dependence on any single global power. This diversification would help protect the nation from external shocks and strengthen its standing as a negotiating partner on a global scale.
Prabowo must ensure that his international engagements are pursued in Indonesia in order to benefit ordinary Indonesians in ways that are not only based on their diplomatic value but also because they are intrinsically linked to improving their livelihoods, thereby enabling them to profit from globalization.
While Prabowo’s foreign policy initiatives have generally received a favorable response from Indonesians, his administration must also set realistic expectations to counteract the enthusiasm.
To be sure, Indonesia’s ascent to a major player on the global stage will take time. The immediate focus of Prabowo’s diplomacy, thus, should remain on addressing domestic challenges and improving the economy.
This integrated strategy will not only augment Indonesia’s global power and influence but also safeguard its long-term economic prosperity, all the while building Prabowo’s stature as a respected global statesman.
Former Indonesian Foreign Ministry diplomat Simon Hutagalung He graduated from the City University of New York with his master’s degree in political science and comparative politics. The views expressed here are his own.
.jpg "OMS Group allocates US$300 mil for investments in Global Cable Systems and Terrestrial Infrastructure")
OMS Group, a global leader in integrated telecommunications infrastructure solutions, announced that it has set aside US$ 300 million ( RM1.25 billion ) for investments to expand its submarine cable systems and terrestrial infrastructure. According to the business, this capital allocation comes after KKR invested in OMS Group in 2023.
The funding will help the group expand its network and offer businesses and organizations with important connectivity infrastructure. The company hopes to improve connectivity between crucial regions and encourage the expansion of modern technologies by expanding its submarine cable networks and earth infrastructure.
Ronnie Lim, party CEO at OMS Group, said,” Our funding is a direct reaction to the growing demands of the global digital habitat. The growth of data areas, cloud solutions, and the higher consumption rates of existing wire systems have created an urgent need to develop our system. As part of this vision, we aim to be a one-stop shop for client needs across subsea, Cable Landing Stations ( CLS), and terrestrial networks, starting with the Asean region”.
This integrated approach will facilitate access to our extensive services while even laying the foundation for our development into the larger APAC market, ensuring that we can satisfy the diverse and expanding needs of our clients in this dynamic environment.
Utilizing its long-term investment capital to aid them in transitioning capital expenditures into green operating costs, OMS Group will work with telecom providers to progress crucial infrastructure. The group is positioned to deliver strong digital backbone and scalable submarine cable solutions, which are essential for regional digital transformation. The investment includes developing uplink system from Constructors to data centers, which will further strengthen its “platformization” approach.
” Our move to guide asset ownership of submarine cable networks and CLS is in line with our goal to improve global connection, particularly in Asia. This purchase is in line with our goal of expanding the world’s system of telecommunications infrastructures and addressing the growing data demand. By incorporating earth downlink into our profile, we aim to offer a complete complement to our existing position in the changing telecommunications landscape, according to Rozaimy Rahman, CEO of Interconnect Managed Services.
With a different fleet of cable ships, barges, and cable docking stations serving the international communications industry, OMS Group is one of the largest separate operators in this sector. The team’s investments include Project MIST, an intra-Asia deepwater cable system stretching 8, 100 miles with a 216 TB ability, connecting Malaysia, India, Singapore, and Thailand through landing points in Chennai and Mumbai. Additionally, LitUp Network, a subsidiary of OMS Group, has developed four CLSs and network support facilities in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, owning dark fibers and licenses to operate network facilities and infrastructure in these countries.
I’m proud to highlight our ongoing investments in vessels, subsea networks, robust terrestrial backhaul systems as we move forward with our company, OMS Group. These initiatives strengthen our commitment to comprehensive connectivity solutions and serve as a crucial backbone for the region’s digital economy. Our clients can rely on our proven experience and infrastructure as we develop to meet their changing needs, according to Lim Soon Foo, chairman of OMS Group.
Japan – In a level of the AI increase days, Japan’s Kokusai Electric is building its first fresh in-country shop in 35 years.
In the markets for Chemical Vapor Deposition ( CVD), Atomic Layer Deposition ( ALD ), and other thermal process and plasma treatment equipment used to create nanoscale thin films for the fabrication of integrated circuits ( ICs ) on silicon wafers, Kokusai squares off against Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron.
Following a successful spin-off from the Hitachi Group led by US private equity firm KKR, the business has since resurrected as a leader in semiconductor manufacturing technology.
Kokusai is significantly smaller than Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron in terms of overall sales, but according to market research firm Gartner, it holds significant market share in its key products, accounting for 34 % of batch CVD in 2023 and 70 % in batch ALD.
Kokusai’s target applications include AI processors and other advanced logic ICs, the high-bandwidth memory ( HBM ) used with AI processors, 3D NAND flash memory and silicon carbide power devices.
” As silicon products have become three-dimensional and more sophisticated in recent years”, Kokusai explains,” the edge of chips has become more difficult. This, in turn, has increased need for very difficult accumulation”.
Examples include the continuously increasing number of layers in 3D NAND, the Gate All Around ( GAA ) transistors developed with 3nm process technology, and the Complementary Field-Effect Transistor ( CFET ) architecture being developed by nanoelectronics R&, D organization imec for use at process nodes below 1nm, which were all envisioned at the end of the decade.
Kokusai has also established a significant presence in the market for advanced reasoning Circuit thermal processing products, first in Japan and China, and then in Europe and the US. In the past four rooms, just over 50 % of the company’s income were in China.
The semiconductor production equipment business started with a single diamond germanium/silicon ingot grabber in 1956, which Kokusai Electric Company, which was established in 1949 as a maker of telecommunications and other electronic equipment, began.
A propagation furnace was created in 1964, and a CVD system was created in 1970 as a result. In 1961, the business was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In 2000, Kokusai Electric merged with Hitachi Denshi, a maker of film, communications and analyze tools, and Yagi Antenna to shape Hitachi Kokusai Electric, a unified company of digital conglomerate Hitachi Ltd.
With sales and service centers in Taiwan, China, Europe, and the US, Hitachi Kokusai has grown to become a leader in the production of semiconductor production tools. It has also established companies in Japan and South Korea.
However, it was a difficult mashup of three largely related organizations. US merger business KKR seized 24.9 % of Hitachi Kokusai in a contentious deal with different foreign and Chinese investors in 2017 as part of the reform of the Hitachi Group.
Hitachi Kokusai’s semiconductor production equipment department was spun off, taken over by KKR, and renamed Kokusai Electric Corporation in 2018.
Applied Materials and KKR reached an agreement to buy Kokusai in 2019, but that deal fell apart two years later subject to objections from the Chinese competitive regulator.
The Chinese choice made sense because Kokusai’s product line would match Applied Materials ‘ and boost its market focus. If the parties involved in a package have a significant business reputation in the nation, Chinese authorization is necessary.
Kokusai Electric Corporation was listed on the bottom tier of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2023, earning DealWatch’s” IPO of the Year” accolade. ( The 1995 establishment of the DealWatch Awards helped to grow and expand Japan-related capital markets. )  ,
DealWatch wrote in its assessment of Kokusai that” we cautiously executed the deal in a tough situation with an uncertain business culture and a worsening silicon cycle. This is the first large-scale world IPO in Japan in approximately five years.” We attracted attention from blue-chip outside investors, leading to incredibly strong property value performance”. Kokusai’s IPO price was ¥1, 840, but it jumped more than 30 % on the first day of trading.
By the end of the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2024, KKR owned 43.4 % of Kokusai. In July, KKR sold about half that stake. The most recent shareholder data available shows Qatar Investment Authority at 4.9 %, Applied Materials at 14.7 %, and KKR at 23.2 %.
Since July, Kokusai’s share price has dropped from an all-time high of 5, 940 to 3, 320 yen. Applied Materials made some profit, KKR made some profit, and other investors bought shares in exchange for what it could not have acquired in a takeover. Kokusai has now gotten its independence from KKR after fleeing the Hitachi bureaucracy.
Toyama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo on the Japan Sea, will now have Kokusai’s new 24 billion yen factory, which will be able to meet its goal of double production capacity in five years, up to March 2026, with twice the efficiency of older facilities. It will also seek to strengthen the company’s R&, D capability.
” To make our operations smarter”, Kokusai’s management said,” we plan to systematically introduce cutting-edge technologies, including IT, IoT]Internet of Things], digitalization, data utilization, automation, and even AI”. The beginning of production is expected in October.
Kokusai is also expanding its service and support operations in the US, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, mainland China and Japan.
Its customers include TSMC, Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, Chinese DRAM maker CXMT, Intel and other leading semiconductor makers. The key to filling up the new factory will be having the necessary equipment to implement their advanced process technologies.
Follow this writer on , X: @ScottFo83517667
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Red Cross ( SRC ) is expanding its aid efforts for communities affected by , Typhoon Yagi and the southwest monsoon to include Myanmar.
In a media release released on Friday ( Sep 20 ), it stated that” this comes as part of a larger, region-wide effort to assist communities severely impacted across Southeast Asia.”
At least  , 293 people in Myanmar have been killed by Typhoon Yagi, with state advertising reporting that nearly 270, 000ha of rice paddies and other vegetation had been destroyed by storms.
Additionally, the UN has issued a warning that as many as 630, 000 persons in Myanmar may be in need of support as a result of the typhoon. The harm led the junta to issue a , unique appeal for international aid , previous weekend.
Almost 6 million children have been impacted by the floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Yagi, according to the UN on September 18.
The SRC will contribute S$ 50, 000 ( US$ 38, 750 ) to support , disaster relief efforts in Myanmar, working closely with the Myanmar Red Cross Society.
” This will finance the distribution of food, clean water, health products, and other vital items to the areas hardest hit by the new emergencies”, it said.
SRC will also be sending liquid frames in the upcoming days because it is urgently necessary for safe drinking water.
Following SRC’s earlier pledges of S$ 50, 000 each for humanitarian assistance for Laos and Vietnam, Myanmar receives this help.
The SRC said that its people fundraising appeal will then help relief and recovery work in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Floods and water safety call out right away
PUBLISHED: 19 Sep 2024 at 04: 59
As the area continues to experience more storms, Laos is urging Asean and other partners to work together to address the issue of Mekong River liquid stability and economic concerns.
Speaking at the beginning of the” 2nd Asean-MRC Water Security Dialogue” among Asian member states, Mekong River countries and development partners to discuss ocean safety on Wednesday, Saleumxay Kommasith, Laos ‘ assistant PM and foreign secretary, said the Mekong River is the basis of people’s livelihoods in island Southeast Asia.
It is the source of food manufacturing, electricity generation and tenacious trade and commerce.
He claimed that the Mekong River, which provides 2.6 million tonnes of fish every and feeds the lake, contributes to the area’s food safety.
The Mekong River has been dealing with problems despite its abundance of valuable natural resources because climate change, swift river development, and environmental pressure are all contributing factors.
For instance, residents living along the river have been experiencing rising water levels as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which has flooded numerous areas of the Mekong valley and destroyed people’s lives, house, and social items, Mr. Saleumxay told the website.
It was held under the style” Green Funding for a Connected, Resilient, and Water-Secure Southeast Asia”.
According to Mr. Saleumxay, a situation like this necessitates immediate actions for water security, better preventative measures, including improved risk management and early warning systems, as well as a higher level of preparation.
He argued that Asean-MRC may play a significant role in promoting ocean governance and disaster prevention among member states and protecting local communities in the basin.
Prior to the MRC’s consultation process on a electricity task along the Mekong River, it has served as the main channel for member states to openly share information, knowledge, and timely warning.
We must work together to improve our coordination and collaboration in this context to balance economic growth and environmental concerns. The key to the sustainable use and management of water resources lies in cooperation within the Mekong and beyond, he added.
” Let us keep working together to build a more dependable and secure Asean.”
Bounkham Vorachit, the Laos ‘ Natural Resources and Environment Minister, the head of the Lao National Mekong Committee, and the head of the 2024 MRC Council, stated during her remarks that the Mekong River is a crucial source of energy that supports the nations ‘ development, primarily hydropower and more recently solar, wind, and pumped storage. Beyond its role in energy production, the river and its basin support millions of livelihoods through agriculture, fisheries, and transport.
However, according to Ms. Bounkham, those who live along the Mekong are at risk of climate-related disasters because more frequent typhoons and extreme weather events are brought on by climate change, which results in more flooding and drought, and pose a threat to the area.
BBCThe search for the originator of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon has taken an unexpected turn, heading in the direction of a Chinese business that few had heard of until this day.
In the blasts that targeted Hezbollah people on Tuesday, which sparked a gepolitical upheaval in the Middle East, at least 12 people were killed and almost 3, 000 were hurt.
Caught in the issue, Chinese firm Gold Apollo’s leader Hsu Ching-Kuang bluntly denied his organization had anything to do with the problems.
Instead, Mr. Hsu has claimed that he gave his trade level to a Hungarian business called BAC Consulting so they could use the name Gold Apollo on their own websites. BBC attempts to contact BAC have so far been fruitless.
” You look at the pictures from Lebanon”, Mr Hsu told investigators outside his firm’s practices on Wednesday. ” They do n’t have any mark saying Made in Taiwan on them, we did not make those pagers”!
The headquarters of Gold Apollo are in a huge new business area in a non-descript district of Taiwan’s money, Taipei.
Except for the two police officers stationed at the gate, who are prepared to ward off the huge bunch of reporters and Television crews squatting around, they appear exactly like any of the thousands of small buying companies and manufacturers that make up the region’s economy.
A clip of little squarish plastic devices with tiny gray LCD screens hangs on the walls of Gold Apollo’s workplace. They are all pagers.
Until this day the bank’s site had a website devoted to each, extolling its values and realities. However, the site went online as soon as information emerged that Gold Apollo was the reported owner of the weapons used in the assaults in Lebanon.
Mr. Hsu claimed that BAC Consulting pagers were used in the problems in Lebanon. He claimed that BAC Consulting and his business had entered into a three-year partnership three years ago.
The cash payments from BAC had been “very strange”, he added. There had been difficulties with the repayments, which had come through the Middle East, he told investigators, but he did not go into details.
First, he said, BAC wanted to buy pagers from Gold Apollo to offer in Europe. However, they came up with a new idea after about a year to create their personal pagers and gave Gold Apollo’s title.
We merely grant the brand’s brand a license, and Gold Apollo never participated in the product’s design or production, according to a statement.
However, the fact that there is now a team from the Taipei investigation bureau working in his office, which also contains a lot of carboard boxes, suggests that the Japanese authorities are not completely at ease.
Joy Chiang / BBCNevertheless, Mr Hsu’s statement that his company did n’t make the devices is plausible.
Taiwan’s manufacturing industry is a sizable maze of small businesses, many of which do not really produce the goods they sell. They may have research and design agencies, ownership of the brand name, and the academic house. However, the majority of the genuine production is done overseas in factories in China or Southeast Asia.
Pagers are not exactly cutting-edge systems; there are many businesses all over the world that are capable of producing them.
They are tiny television receivers that can read and display emails, with LED screens. Electric pagers were regarded as the most recent technology in the 1980s and 1990s and were used by tens of millions of people. Businesses used pagers to send brief words messages to subject people before mobile phones.
Joy Chiang / BBCHowever, with the development of the wise phone, pagers have come to the brink of extinction. They are now a market system that hospitals can use to communicate with doctors and nurses even when other conversation lines are hampered.
Beginning in the late 2000s, Gold Apollo began producing additional short-range radios, primarily for restaurants. A round disc that is currently the most popular item the company sells to customers in restaurants and food courts is the company’s most popular product right now. It vibrates and lights off when the order is available.
As a trustworthy voicemail company, it’s possible that Gold Apollo’s model was instrumental in selling the pagers that ended up with Hezbollah.
However, in this remarkable tale, there are still more questions than answers.
Who is or was responsible for BAC Consulting that we are so little aware of?
If Gold Apollo did not produce the pagers used in the invasion in Lebanon, therefore who and where did they do?
Bangkok: Nearly six million children have been impacted by deadly floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Yagi in Southeast Asia, according to the UN on Wednesday ( Sep 18 ), as the death toll rises. Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar were affected by Typhoon Yagi’s strong winds and torrential rainContinue Reading
.jpeg "The number of users in Malaysia's ride-hailing market is expected to grow, reaching 11.47 million by 2029, with user penetration increasing from 28.1% in 2024 to 31.5% by 2029.")
At a media event in Kuala Lumpur last week, Natalia Makarenko ( pic ) as marketing director APAC of inDrive, said,” We are committed to providing innovative, community-focused mobility solutions that resonate with local needs.
A global mobility and urban services platform named inDrive ( short of Independent Drivers ), which was founded in Yakutsk, one of the oldest and coldest cities in Siberia, Russia, in 2013 and expanded to include Malaysia, one of the hotter and more humid regions of Southeast Asia.
Since entering Malaysia in 2021, inDrive has expanded its footprint from the Klang Valley ( Kuala Lumpur and Selangor ) to Penang, Johor Bahru, and to East Malaysia in Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, and Kota Kinabalu. It is currently looking into starting businesses in Melaka in the upcoming season.
Explaining its confidence in Malaysia, the company shared data from market data outfit Statista that showed the Malaysian market is set to grow at a CAGR of 3.5 % from 2024 to 2029, reaching a projected market value of US$ 570 million ( RM2.48 billion ) by 2029. The number of users in the ride-hailing market is expected to grow, reaching 11.47 million by 2029, with user penetration increasing from 28.1 % in 2024 to 31.5 % by 2029.
In the first half of 2024, it’s confidence increased by 20 % more rides and 21 % more active users.  ,
InDrive stated in July that it had reached 10, 000 drivers in total by the end of June in Malaysia and was boldly aiming to increase this to 20, 000 by the end of 2024. By the end of this year, it anticipates an increase in the number of active drivers of 23 %. Effective drivers are defined as those who have completed at least one walk in the previous 30 days according to InDrive.
allowing the driver and customer to communicate fare in a fight with Grab and Gojek
Meanwhile the Southeast Asian ride-hailing market is expected to reach US$ 8.87 billion ( RM38.51 billion ) in revenue by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 5.39 % between 2024-2029. With such promising development leads, inDrive is positioning itself as a major player in the area, which poses a threat to business leader Grab and Gojek in Indonesia.
One of the characteristics of inDrive that it considers to allow it to compete with Grab and Gojek is that it enables drivers and passengers to instantly bargain fares.
Although both the vehicle and the customer have the option to bargain prices that are higher or lower than the app’s recommended price, there are limitations in place to ensure fairness for both parties. What proportion of trips are based on this strategy is unknown.
However, Govin Kumaar Panirsheeluam ( pic ), inDrive’s business development lead in Malaysia, declined to share what the limits are citing confidentiality.  ,
Beyond ride-hailing, inDrive offers a range of utility solutions, including city and interstate travel, messenger, and “inDrive Services”, a system for users to supply for specialists from household assistance to pet services, catering to the varied needs of the Indonesian market.
Malaysia match strategy
InDrive is organizing a number of strategic initiatives in Malaysia to support expansion and expand its services. One involves obtaining drivers ‘ regular insurance policy, seeing how many individuals find it unnecessary to obtain monthly or yearly coverage based on their driving habits.
Govin said,” We are in debate to have regular e-hailing plan as a solution which will help individuals to get their license-to-drive with us, faster”.
This supports a profit that they already have. ” We now have established partnerships in area for car hire and insurance as well, where individuals can get them at a discounted level,” he said.
Govin anticipates that such incentives will lead to a rise in drivers because the Klang Valley’s ride-hailing industry has a known lack of drivers, which has increased customer wait times, which has led to poor motorist behavior, including canceling bookings.
Additionally, it intends to expand driver support centers to important cities like Penang and Johor Bahru, as well as look into the potential launch of an electric vehicle ( EV ) fleet to promote sustainable and creative mobility solutions, which will be implemented in all of the cities where inDrive is active.
These initiatives help the company realize its overall plan to leverage on Southeast Asia’s progress and provide its customers with value-driven solutions.
Future programs focus on improving the general driver practice, including the introduction of superior benefits such as insurance protection, loyalty programs, and training aid.  ,
In a bid to undermine its industry that has been dominated by Grab, inDrive announced recently that it will offer 100 % of its 8, 000 individuals in the Philippines. Before receiving the formal approval in December 2023, InDrive was unregistered in Manila in January 2023.
Natalia declined to respond when asked if Indonesia or Malaysia might have similar ideas. Instead, she stated that” we aim to keep the payment we apply to the driver side of the market as low as possible and not exceed 10 %.”
She also declined to disclose how much of the US$ 300 million in cash it received from General Catalyst next month is being used to expand into new markets.
inVision aims to benefit , 1 billion life by 2030
With the intention of favorably impacting the existence of over 1 billion people by 2030, inDrive continues to make a good impact on local communities through its generous shoulder, inVision.  ,
Activities like BeginIT, which educates and discovers children from homes, boarding schools, and remote institutions about the future of systems, Aurora Tech Award, which supports female tech startup members, and Underdog Tech Award, an worldwide award for the best tech companies outside big tech hubs and areas. These activities are available to submissions and entries from Malaysia, and they are open to submissions and entries from all over the world.
Through responsible practices and positive initiatives, Natalia said,” Our objective is to not only offer a better ride-hailing experience but also be a valuable part of the communities we serve.”
PUBLISHED: 18 Sep 2024 at 11: 54
After her leadership pledged to address the South Eastern nation’s plethora of financial issues, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has appointed a group of economic and legal professionals as advisors.  ,
The board of experts is headed by Pansak Vinyaratn, who served as an economic policy director to Paetongtarn’s father, former top Thaksin Shinawatra during 2001-2006. Surapong Suebwonglee, who was the finance secretary in a Thaksin-backed authorities in 2008, was named the deputy president, according to an order dated Sept 16.  ,
Supavud Saicheua, a well-known economist and current head of the National Economic and Social Development Council ( NESDC ), was also chosen as an advisor. Other people included Tongthong Chandransu, previously an adviser to Ms Paetongtarn’s father Srettha Thavisin, and Phongthep Thepkanjana, who has headed many ministries in several institutions of Thaksin and his girlfriend Yingluck Shinawatra.
According to the interview order, the board of advisors will assist Ms. Paetongtarn in conducting analysis and research of opportunities to improve the nation. They will also make recommendations related to authorities laws, it said.
Phongthep Thepkanjana, left, and Surapong Suebwonglee. ( Bangkok Post file photos )
Ms. Paetongtarn, the next Shinawatra leader in Thailand and a relatively stranger to elections, is turning to Thaksin supporters to assist her in navigating the economic and legal difficulties facing her multi-party coalition government. The decision also demonstrates how good it is that the former leading has a significant influence over his sister’s government.  ,
Thailand’s youngest excellent secretary, 38, has vowed to revive Southeast Asia’s second-largest business that is stifled by near-record household debt and high cost of living. Her government has suggested a comprehensive debt reform to address the burden of household debt, provide small businesses with financial aid, and bolster fiscal stimulus to boost the region’s lagging development rate.  ,
The visit of the advisory board was made after Ms. Paetongtarn appointed Pichai Chunhavajira as finance minister as a sign of legislation continuity from Mr. Srettha’s waning administration. In a surprise decision, the Constitutional Court found him guilty in an ethics infraction case, which was expected to be announced last month.
Mr Paetongtarn also recently appointed Prommin Lertsuridej as the Prime Minister’s Secretary-General, a article he had held under former officials Thaksin and Srettha.
Srettha Thavisin, then-prime secretary, honors Thaksin Shinawatra at his Bangkok residence during the Songkran festival in 2024. ( Photo: Srettha Thavisin X account )
