
Sex and blackmail scandal rocks Thailand's Buddhist community
KOSUKE INOUE
BANGKOK -- Thailand's revered and tradition-bound community of saffron-robed Buddhist monks, long regarded as the moral foundation of Thai society, has been significantly disrupted by a sex and blackmail scandal.

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Japan Today
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The Diplomat
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Thailand's tourism sector continues to slump, with foreign tourist arrivals having fallen by more than 7 percent so far this year, according to the country's Ministry of Tourism and Sport. In a statement yesterday, the ministry reported that the country saw a 7.04 percent decline in international tourist arrivals in the year to August 17, compared with the same period a year earlier. The country welcomed around 20.81 million foreign visitors during the period, the largest number of which came from China. On the back of the disappointing figures, the National Economic and Social Development Council yesterday reduced its forecast for foreign tourist arrivals this year from 37 million to 33 million, well down on the record 40 million people who visited Thailand in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes after the Thai central bank similarly cut its projection for foreign arrivals this year from 39.5 million to 37.5 million in May. The Thai tourism industry, the region's largest, has struggled to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused international tourism arrivals to plummet from 6.7 million in 2020 and then to just 428,000 in 2021. Thailand received 35.54 million foreign tourists last year, an increase of more than a quarter on 2023's figures. But the latest figures suggest that the recovery may have crested, raising questions about the short to medium-term outlook for the economically pivotal industry. It is hard to pinpoint a single cause for the slump. One is the growing competition from other regional destinations, particularly Vietnam, the Southeast Asian tourism market that has performed the best since COVID-19. Last year, Vietnam welcomed 17.5 million international visitors, just shy of its pre-pandemic record of 18 million. Thailand is also battling growing concerns about safety. In a horrific incident earlier this month, two Malaysian tourists were set on fire in downtown Bangkok, a story that has gained widespread international coverage. The country has also been associated with online scamming operations, following the high-profile kidnapping in January of the Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was later rescued from a scamming center in Myanmar. The ongoing border dispute with Cambodia, which flared into a five-day conflict late last month, is also likely not helping Thailand's international image as a safe and welcoming destination. According to the Bangkok Post, Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said that the government 'has been slow to reassure tourists about safety or take action to instill confidence in prospective travellers.' The scam issue has reportedly had a particularly strong impact on the perception of tourists from China, whose numbers have been particularly depressed since the lifting of China's strict 'zero COVID' policy in late 2022. While China has been the top source of international visitors in the year to August 17, with 2.93 million visitors to Thailand, the figures are also on track to fall far short of the 6.7 million Chinese nationals who visited last year, let alone the record 11 million who visited Thailand in 2019. Since COVID-19, the Thai government has introduced a number of initiatives to stimulate the tourism sector. It has loosened visa restrictions, introducing new long-term 'digital nomad' visas, while permanently waiving visa requirements for Chinese nationals in a reciprocal arrangement with Beijing. This week, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira announced an initiative known as TouristDigipay, which will allow foreign tourists to convert cryptocurrency into Thai baht for everyday purchases. The scheme, which the Thai government describes as the world's first program of its kind, will run for a trial period of 18 months. Most controversially, the government has unveiled a plan to legalize casino gambling, although this has recently stalled due to public opposition. The fact that these efforts have so far failed to revive the tourism sector only adds to the economic and political challenges facing the weak Pheu Thai government.


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The Hidden Impact of the Thailand-Cambodia Border Conflict
Amidst the elite family intrigue and international implications of the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict, the real story risks being lost. That story concerns neither Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Hun Sen, nor colonial border demarcation, nor international court rulings; instead, it is about the innocent lives lost and the indigent rural communities on both sides of the border who have been driven further into debt and desperation. On a recent trip to Surin and Sisaket provinces in Thailand, I witnessed and documented the impact of the conflict. At a convenience store in Sisaket that had been hit by a Cambodian rocket, for example, survivors told me it took two nights before they could recover all the bodies, fearing the presence of unexploded ordnance. Even though I had seen photographs and videos of war beforehand, nothing could truly prepare me for the heartbreak of standing in that space. A place that should have been bustling with shoppers was now completely silent. Outside the convenience store, shattered glass lay scattered in every direction. Burned fragments of debris were strewn across the ground. A gaping hole in the ceiling allowed daylight to pour into the store, illuminating its charred remains. The smell of smoke still lingered, even though fire hoses and rain had washed much of the dust and ash away. Unfamiliar, haunting details stood out: a packet of peanuts, its plastic wrapper melted onto a twisted metal hook; fridge doors blown wide open, every glass pane shattered. The scene spoke volumes about the devastating power of the weapon used. Many of the locals in Surin and Sisaket that I spoke with still remember the border-related violence that broke out in 2011. They said this year's conflict is the most serious escalation since then. Not just because of the weapons used, but because of what was lost. In addition to hitting military outposts, rockets also struck homes, farms, shops, and even a hospital. Many civilians have lost their lives from or because of the conflict, including a 65-year-old man, who took his own life, reportedly after being prevented from returning to his home along the border. Just a day after a barrage of Cambodian rocket and artillery fire landed in four Thai border provinces, I spoke with a Thai rubber plantation farmer in a shelter for displaced people in Surin. With tears falling down her face, she told me: I have 30 chickens, so my husband decided not to come to the shelter. …I still call him to check if he's eaten and ask how the situation is. … Because we've had to flee like this, villagers can't tap rubber and sell it. It's affected our income. We're grateful for the support we receive here [at the shelter], but can we really sleep peacefully at night? I worry about home. This kind of testimony does not fit neatly into military briefings or diplomatic cables, but it is how war manifests for those in the firing line. 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