PM and Ung Ing to do battle in 2023 for the top job with public debt and the economy as key issues

Public debt and the management of the economy will be the key battleground for this General Election as it is clear the alternative to the Pheu Thai Party and Paetongtarn Shinawatra or Ung Ing is the incumbent General Prayut Chan ocha. Just as the opposition party has surged in the polls with its promise of a ฿600 a day minimum wage and extended public sector borrowing, even beyond the current raised limit, the prime minister will aim to counter this by emphasising financial discipline and rectitude as provided for under the 2017 Constitution. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/27/prayut-paetongtarn-shinawatra-ung-ing-to-battle-in-2023-over-debt/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

Opposition threatening to bring Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha, who is also the Minister of Defence, before a House of Representatives committee to be grilled on the HTMS Sukhothai disaster at sea. It now looks increasingly likely that 29 lives have been lost in the incident with 10 still thought to be missing. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/26/heat-is-on-over-the-sukhothai-naval-tragedy/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Prachuap Khiri Khan and Bangkok.

The scale and depth of this corruption scandal keeps growing with Saturday’s arrest of the niece of a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and last Monday’s resignation of the Secretary-general of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) after damning revelations from whistleblower Chuwit Kamolvisit. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/25/police-officer-wife-of-drug-kingpin-du-hao-arrested/ James Morris reports from Bangkok.

Palang Pracharat has risen in the polls since September with the party setting forth no-nonsense policies despite an exodus of MPs. A political expert at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) has predicted that we are likely to see a Pheu Thai-led government which could see the Palang Pracharat Party as a coalition partner. A return of the present coalition government and General Prayut to power is thought unlikely. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/24/pheu-thai-palang-pracharat-coalition-mooted-as-pm-moves/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

41-year-old man’s brother Mick Bassal was killed in a shooting in Sydney at a signage firm in a suburb of the city in 2016. Police in Ko Samui said on Wednesday that they did not think the gun was purchased to commit a crime in Thailand nor had the arrested man a criminal background. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/23/australian-held-on-gun-charges-in-ko-samui-mark-bassal/ Carla Boonkong reports from Ko Samui.

The 78-year-old thief and murderer profited handsomely and lived in luxury off his exploits since he was arrested in India in 1976 even while spending forty-one of the last forty-seven years in jail. In 2008, the then 64-year-old Sobhraj married the twenty-year-old daughter of his Nepalese lawyer while being incarcerated in Kathmandu’s main prison for the 1975 murder of 29-year-old American woman Connie Jo Bronzich for which he has never shown any remorse. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/22/the-serpent-serial-killer-charles-sobhraj-bangkok-pattaya-released-by-nepal/ James Morris reports from Bangkok and Kathmandu.

35-year-old, US-built vessel lying capsized at a depth of 40 metres. A submersible vehicle launched on Wednesday aimed to tell naval chiefs the extent of the damage done and the viability of key systems as a technical committee considers bringing in the private sector to help refloat and salvage the Sukhothai. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/21/22-now-missing-as-navy-plans-refloat-of-ship/ Joseph O' Connor reports from Prachuap Khiri Khan.

Irish Department of Foreign Affairs through the Irish Embassy in Bangkok seeking an official report on the Irishman’s death and helping to make arrangements for the repatriation of his body. The young tourist had only arrived in Thailand the week before staying just outside the capital.https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/20/family-working-to-repatriate-young-irishman-odhran-o-neill/James Morris reports from Surat Thani province.

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) moved last Thursday to seize the entire business of a luxury hotel in Samut Prakan run by a company in which Mr Chaiyanat Kornchayanant or Du Hao, the alleged Chinese drug kingpin, is a shareholder. At the scene were officials from the state security agency and police led by General Surachate Hakparn who revealed that more prosecutions are to come in what is still an expanding case. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/19/chinese-gangs-buying-identity-transfers/ Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok and Samut Prakan.

Bizarre media coverage of Thailand’s political scene this week makes it look as if the chances of a possible alliance between the Bhumjaithai Party and current Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha is a path back to power for the PM. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/18/pm-clinging-on-as-he-seeks-a-path-to-power/ News Desk report from Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima.