French Muay Thai star taught Macron to keep guard up in Bangkok
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
French Muay Thai fighter Antoine Pinto has spoken of the pride he felt when he introduced his country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, to the Thai martial art in Bangkok.
Former professional Muay Thai boxer Pinto acted as a guide for the French leader when he toured Rajadamnern Stadium on Thursday night ahead of the Apec Summit. Pinto said Macron, a keen sports fan, had thanked him for representing France as an athlete in Thailand. “[Macron] is really lovely. He admires the Muay Thai martial art. It was my honour to introduce Muay Thai to him,” Antoine wrote on his social media account. He also posted a video clip showing the French president holding a pair of Muay Thai gloves and posing with his guard up. He captioned the photo, “This is another success for Muay Thai”.
Macron visited the legendary boxing stadium for about two hours, watching a demonstration bout and meeting with students from Lycee Francais International de Bangkok (LFIB), a French international school. The president also visited the Jim Thompson Art Centre and Bangkok’s Chinatown on Yaowarat Road. Pinto, now 31 and an actor, is best known as the youngest foreign fighter to have competed at the prestigious Lumpinee Stadium, at 14, and Rajadamnern Stadium at 15.
Prayut in full bilateral talks with Xi after Bangkok Apec summit
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for full bilateral talks shortly after the Apec summit ended in Bangkok on Saturday afternoon.
Gen Prayut and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai were on hand at Government House to welcome the Chinese leader when he arrived at about 1.25pm. A welcoming ceremony was held at the Thai Khufah Building. The two leaders took part in full bilateral talks involving government ministers from both countries. Following the talks, Prayut hosted a lunch for the Chinese leader, who is on an official visit to Thailand.
Xi arrived at Government House in the China-made Hongqi luxury car that he had also used during the summit, shunning the BMW i7 electric sedans that Thailand had prepared for Apec leaders. Hongqi, which means “red flag” in Chinese, was launched in 1959 and is China’s oldest car maker.
The Thai prime minister met with Xi just after completing his task of hosting the summit of 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok. During the closing ceremony, Prayut handed over the Apec chair to Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States, which will host next year’s Apec Summit in San Francisco.
Arnon threatens police with legal action over assault on protesters
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
The Ratsadon Yoot Apec (Citizens Stop Apec) group filed police complaints against riot police officers who allegedly used violent measures to disperse protesters from Dinso Road.
The group was marching down Dinso Road on Friday morning to submit a letter to international leaders attending the Apec Summit at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. The letter called on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to resign.
One of Ratsadon’s leaders, Arnon Nampa, said several protesters were injured from the tear gas and rubber bullets fired by the police. One may even lose his eye, he said.
Arnon, a human-rights lawyer, has vowed to take legal action against police officers at all levels, saying he had both video clips and photos as evidence.
He also called on other parties who have been injured during the crackdown to file complaints as well.
Meanwhile, Dr Tosaporn Sererak, a former government spokesman, told reporters on Saturday that he visited the victims at hospitals and learned that three persons have suffered severe eye injuries from rubber bullets. One person suffered a torn eye muscle and fractured eye socket. Doctors say the patient’s eye has yet to respond to light.
Tosaporn worked as a spokesman for Yingluck Shinawatra’s government and later became famous for providing medical care to political protesters.
Police chief warns media to stay away from protest clashes
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Members of the media should maintain a safe distance from clashes between protesters and riot police, the National Police chief said.
Pol General Damrongsak Kittiprapas was on Saturday responding to allegations that police physically assaulted some reporters during an anti-government rally near Democracy Monument on Thursday. Protesters had gathered a few hundred metres from the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, where the Apec Summit was being held and clashes soon broke out, with riot police shooting rubber bullets into the crowd. Clips of a monk being pushed against a wall and a policeman reportedly attacking a reporter from the online news site, The Matter, went viral. The reporter was attacked even though he shouted out his credentials and showed his press armband. Some media reports said some protesters used violence first. A video clip showed a monk throwing himself at a row of crowd-control police and a protester hitting at a policeman with a large stick.
The police chief said a large presence of reporters and photographers in the middle of a clash made it difficult for police to perform their duty and puts them at risk of injury. He also said that sometimes there are more media people than demonstrators on the frontlines. “This makes it tough [for police] to do their job. I wonder if anything like this happens in other countries?” Damrongsak asked. He also pointed out that many of those caught in the middle of the confrontation were YouTubers posing as reporters. “They were not in the media line and did not identify themselves.”
The police chief said further investigation was required to see if any officer committed wrongdoing. He added that 15 police officers had been injured – one seriously – during their confrontation with “unruly” protesters. The officer with serious injuries is still in the hospital. A Reuters photographer reportedly sustained minor injuries from hard objects being flung around.
Thailand, Saudi Arabia sign pacts on economic and social ties
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and his Saudi Arabian counterpart, HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, met for a bilateral discussion at Government House on Friday night.
The crown prince arrived in Thailand on Thursday at the invitation of the government and is scheduled to attend the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting as a state guest on Saturday.
Also present at the discussion were Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa, Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin, Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome, and Higher Education Minister Anek Laothamatas.
The discussion saw both leaders agreeing to promote relationships and cooperation at both bilateral and multi-lateral levels with other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said.
Anucha added that Thailand is ready to support Saudi Arabia in food security, healthcare, tourism and other mega projects under the Saudi Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia, too, will promote investment in Thailand and trading between both countries, as well as provide career opportunities in Saudi Arabia for Thai workers, who are said to be “among the top-skilled workers globally”.
In the aspect of social and public relationships, both countries agreed to promote mutual travel destinations, while Prayut thanked the Saudi government for providing scholarships to Thai students. The Thai PM also said he hoped to see more cooperation in the fields of vocational training, the Halal food industry, agriculture, petrochemical, construction and manufacturing.
The two leaders then presided over the signing of five agreements pledging to increase trade and investment between the two countries, promoting tourism, deepening cooperation in energy, and enhancing anti-corruption operations, before Prayut invited the crown prince to dinner at around midnight, Anucha said.
Prayut visited Saudi Arabia in January to foster bilateral relations for the first time since the country downgraded diplomatic relations with Thailand in 1989 over the Blue Diamond Affair when a Thai janitor stole priceless jewels from a Saudi palace.
Members of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department trawling the Gulf of Thailand spotted three very rare species off the coasts of three provinces.
The officials were surveying the waters along Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and Phetchaburi from Monday to Thursday and spotted:
An Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris): Spotted at the mouth of Tha Chin River in Samut Sakhon and near the coast of Phetchaburi in Ban Laem district.
A finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides): Seen near the coast of Samut Sakhon.
12 Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni): Spotted near the coast of Samut Sakhon.
The officials were able to photograph and give identities to six Bryde’s whales. They were named Chao Mee Sap, Chao Kwan Khao, Mae Sakhon, Chao Sarin, Mae Wandee and Jao Wanrung.
Veterinarians also managed to get close enough to check eight whales and found them to be breathing normally and in a generally healthy condition. However, seven of them had developed skin disease, while the whale named Chao Mee Sap had an abrasion.
The officials said the movements and health of the Bryde’s whales will be constantly monitored.
The International Monetary Fund has predicted that Thailand’s economy will grow by 3.7% in terms of real GDP in contrast with the global economic slowdown.
In its latest world economic growth projections released last month, the IMF said Thailand was one of two nations in Asia that can be expected to grow in real GDP terms both this year and next. The other country is China.
According to IMF, Thailand’s projected real GDP growth for 2022 is 2.8% and 3.7% for 2023.
The IMF report said the cost-of-living crisis, tightening financial conditions in most regions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lingering Covid-19 pandemic all weigh heavily on the outlook. As a result, it has forecast a global slowdown from 6% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023.
The report noted that Thailand’s unemployment rate for this year and next is at merely 1%.
Kristalina Georgieva, IMF’s managing director, said at the Apec Summit in Bangkok on Saturday that the economies of most Apec members would slow down and a third of the world will enter an economic recession.
She said the US, China and European Union economies will slow down at the same time, which will affect the export markets of new-world nations because the three are the main driving forces for global economies.
The Thai government worked hard to promote its so-called BCG (bio-circular-green) Economy Model during Apec 2022 despite strong opposition from some environmental groups.
Thailand also managed to secure consensus from leaders of the 21 member countries to adopt the “Bangkok Goals on BCG Economy” as they wrapped up their meeting on Saturday. The BCG concept was introduced by the research community and promoted by the government as a new economic model for inclusive and sustainable growth. The model apparently capitalises on Thailand’s strengths in biological diversity and cultural wealth, and employs technology and innovation to help transform the economy into a value-based, innovation-driven one. The model also conforms to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is also intended to align with the sufficiency economy philosophy. The sufficiency economy philosophy is also the key principle of Thailand’s social and economic development.
The government adopted the BCG economic model as the 2021-2026 “national agenda” with the goal of boosting the country’s gross domestic product by 1 trillion baht within that period. According to the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the BCG model focuses on promoting four key industries – agriculture and food; medical and wellness; bioenergy, biomaterial and biochemical; and tourism and creative economy. Science, technology and innovation will be employed to enhance the capacity and competitiveness of players in the value chain, both upstream and downstream, in the four industries, coupled with innovative policy and supportive legal and financial measures. The four industries currently have a combined economic value of 3.4 trillion baht, accounting for 21% of Thailand’s GDP. The BCG model is expected to raise this economic value to 4.4 trillion baht, or 24% of GDP, by 2026. However, some environmental groups have voiced concerns. Penchom Saetang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH), warned that the amount of toxic waste imported to Thailand for recycling would hit dangerous levels if members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) adopted the BCG economic model. Greenpeace Thailand director Tara Buakamsri also warned that adopting the BCG economic model would only make large capitalist groups in Thailand even stronger, further widening the wealth gap.
Revolutionising Financial Reporting in the Digital Age
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Finance and Accounting team, if you ever happened to discuss what they have been suffering from their work so far, one of the most frequently mentioned issues will certainly include a painful report production process.
Repeatedly, month after month, to serve such standards and business and executive requirements, the FA people need to dedicate their time and motivation in preparing numerous spreadsheets and presentations with numbers, charts, and relevant footnotes and narratives. The process involves efforts of data gathering, manipulation, and spreadsheet gymnastics, which can consume days to weeks to produce the usable outcomes. Based on the survey of 600 global finance leaders conducted by Deloitte, it was found that companies surveyed spent 48% of their time creating and updating reports, whilst they spent only 18% of their time interacting and communicating with the business perspective (See Figure 1).
Figure 1: How finance teams spend their time
Source: “Developing insightful management reporting: Opportunities and challenges for CFOs” Deloitte UK.
More than ever, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses currently require greater support from holistic reporting in decision-making process to strengthen themselves or at least survive the upcoming crisis. Though many companies have strived to reduce time in generating reports and enhance ability to get insights more quickly by standardising reports into those ones which are necessarily required, there is still a huge room for improvement in response to the dynamically changing business requirements. We can see that the trend is shifting from periodic reporting-monthly, quarterly, and annually to a more real-time-insights manner for off-cycle reporting. Further transformation entails the interaction between working people and reported information which will replace static data merely displayed in the system or printed on paper. Underlying these mentioned characteristics, the key driver for changes lies on emerging intelligent technologies which will not only remove laborious work but also improve the user experience.
Embracing digital tools could have been one among alternatives for FA people to reshape their work life by speeding up report production process. Little by little, some companies have started implementing such tools as point or end-to-end solutions, while many are still hesitating to transform themselves. Yet, it is quite surprising to learn that many organisations are still relying on traditional ways to compile data from sources and produce into reports despite the prevalent handful technologies, such as automation, advanced analytics, machine learning, presence nowadays. Perhaps one of the factors that delay the decision to do so is just basically that the management do not know how to push the start button. Here are some tips we would like to share:
Organise your data. Because your report quality will certainly depend on the quality of your data, somehow you will need to redesign the way to manage your finance and enterprise data prior to the adoption of those digital reporting tools. This could involve implementing data platforms that can develop gradually to support structured and unstructured data or cleansing your data to avoid ‘Garbage-in, Garbage-out’.
Gain buy-in from the C-Suite. We know that the first mover role here should belong to CFO since the issue was raised from FA side. Nonetheless, it is also crucial for the CFO to bring these ideas to the entire C – suite. If other leaders support technological innovation in finance, it can also help the business to further adopt the innovation and apply to other functional processes to make the most of their capabilities.
Focus on the user experience. Early in your journey, explore “what-if” questions with key users. Ask them how they might use information differently if their reports were more intuitive, more visual, and more proactive. Build in formal and informal mechanisms for generating feedback. These actions make sure you put technologies in the right place and right way.
Take small steps. Just try applying solutions to specific segments or functions first. You do not want to make a huge investment at a time to find it hurts the most when things are not going well as you have dreamt of. Look for high-impact use cases to build a base of advocates. For many firms, sales reports can be a good choice to start with. Make sure you pilot with a range of potential users who will become your champions. Then you can span the full range of usage among those who will eventually adopt the technology.
Reassure your people. Workforce disruption is inevitable for companies trying to adopt automation or digital tools. Since some more routine and laborious tasks may be obsolete when new technologies take place, make sure you have plan to build new talents and skills for your people to cope with the changes. Work with employees to make the most of their human skills, empowering them in new roles that rely on high-level analysis, relationship-building, and creativity.
Reimagine your people. Start thinking about your people in future conditions. What types of skillsets you will need? Be aware that, with the handful digital tools armed in your company, the time allocation of the finance workforce will shift toward analysis, prediction, and decision support. Thus, in collaboration with your HR team, make sure they understand this so that you will get the right persons at hand.
Finally, let us imagine how life would be much easier if there is a personal assistant helping you gathering data and composing the first draft of all reports, or the chatbots that can retrieve insights you need to know without diving in all sources of data by yourself. Now you can focus on the value-added activities.
By Vichai Suknaibaiboon, Partner at Deloitte Thailand
One day to kick-off – but still no Thai TV World Cup schedule
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022
Just one day before the 2022 Fifa World Cup kicks off on Sunday, fans in Thailand are still confused over the TV schedule for free live broadcasts of the matches.
Hosts Qatar face Ecuador in the opening match of the tournament, which kicks off at 11pm Thai time on Sunday.
The opening ceremony from 10pm will feature performances by British pop star Robbie Williams and Jungkook from K-pop group BTS.
Williams has faced criticism for taking money to perform in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal and punished by up to three years in prison, with the possibility of the death sentence for gay Muslims. Williams has in the past won fame for supporting the LGBTQ+ movement.
Media have also reported that Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, and J Balvin could make surprise appearances at the opening ceremony.
The tournament features 32 teams, split into eight groups of four. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the last-16 knockout stage.
The round of 16 will be played from December 3 to 6.
The quarter-finals will kick-off on December 9 and 10.
The semi-finals are scheduled for December 13-14, before the losers face off in the third-place play-off on December 17.
The winners will fight for the trophy in the final on December 18.
The Thai government bought the broadcast rights for all 64 matches of the World Cup earlier this week, after three major conglomerates contributed 600 million baht to the purchase fund.
The Sports Authority of Thailand held a videoconference with digital television operators on Saturday. As a result, live World Cup matches will be broadcast on 17 digital television channels on a rotating basis.
Fans in Thailand can watch the tournament on True4U, T Sports 7, Channel 3, Channel 5, Channel 7, Channel 8, Channel 9 MCOT, NBT, TPBS, Thairath TV, Amarin TV, Mono 29, PPTV 36, GMM 25, Nation TV, ONE 31, and JKN18
The opening match will be broadcast on True4U channel while the schedule for other matches will be announced later.
Source: “Developing insightful management reporting: Opportunities and challenges for CFOs” Deloitte UK.
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