Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

Tuesday 20 December 2022

#Thailand to open all land border crossings next year


 Thailand is planning to open all land border crossings with neighbouring countries next year. The move is reportedly part of an effort to facilitate the transportation of goods to help restart one aspect of the economy. The Department of Foreign Trade says it will negotiate with Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia to reopen all 97 land borders and hold trade fairs throughout several locations next year.

According to the National News Bureau of Thailand, the DFT Director General says the department will remain committed to facilitating exports through the modernisation of specific laws. Such modernisation includes upgrading department services like permit extensions, geographical indication documents and exporter registrations.

Last year, Thailand brought in around 1 trillion baht in revenue from border trading but trade with Singapore, Vietnam and China decreased as more exporters chose air shipping.

Thai farm products including rice will be promoted at events by the DFT both at home markets and abroad. Thai rice exports exceeded 8.5 million tonnes this year, surpassing the target of 7.5 million tonnes.

Source - The Thaiger

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Friday 29 November 2019

Thailand set to introduce “Double Tourist Visa”


A leading government figure has said that #Thailand is about to introduce a “Double Entry Tourism Visa”.

This will enable a visitor to go in and out of Thailand to neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia then return to Thailand to complete their holidays, Thai news site Post Today reported.

One media outlet even mentioned that a “multiple entry” visa was being considered.

Kobsak Pootrakul, deputy secretary general to the prime minister, told a conference that Thailand was considering a number of stimulus measures to help the tourism industry.

He said that the target was to get 42 million people visiting the kingdom next year.

Apparently 20 million did so in the first half of this year according to Kobsak.

The double entry visa would have a time limit though exactly how long this might be has not yet been announced.

Kobsak also mentioned the possibility of applying online.

Changes to the visa arrangements appear to be in the latter stages of discussion though no timeframe for their implementation has been announced as yet.

But there is one relative certainty – the border checkpoints for tourists at both Nong Khai and Sadao (the posts between Thailand and Laos and Thailand and Malaysia respectively) will be open 24 hours for a three month trial.

Kobsak said this would happen either at the end of this year or the beginning of next. Following the trial the numbers would be crunched to see if it is worth continuing.

In addition the number of VAT refund spots is being increased from the current five, he said along with plans to create walking streets at several popular tourist spots.

The Deputy Secretary General’s comments come just a day after reports that room occupancy and tourism was 20% down in Pattaya.

Source - BangkokJack

Sunday 12 November 2017

#Malaysian hotel industry in the spotlight over no-headscarf uniform policy

This combination of photographs shows Muslim girls wearing the "hijab" dressed as popular cosplay characters during the "Hijab Cosplay" event in Subang Jaya, outside of Kuala Lumpur.
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 The hotel industry here is under the spotlight over complaints that some female employees are not allowed to wear headscarves while at work.


The Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) said in a statement on Monday (Nov 6) that it has received numerous complaints from female hotel employees saying that their management does not allow them to wear a headscarf at work. 


UNI-MLC said students in hospitality and tourism courses have also been instructed to remove their headscarves before going on internships or the company would not hire them.

As a result, some employees have no choice but to remove their headscarf during work before putting it back on after work.

https://12go.asia/?z=581915


“This policy is practiced in international hotel chains that use the same standard operating procedure on uniforms in all the hotels in their chain globally,” its chairman Samuel Cheah Swee Hee said.


He added that there are many other employment opportunities for Muslim employees including working in the backhouse or choosing to work with one of the many hotels that incorporate the headscarf in its uniform.


"The problem is everyone wants to join the 5-star global hotel brand, but they do not want to follow the uniform policy that is their worldwide standard," he said.


However, the International Women’s Alliance for Family Institution and Quality Education (Wafiq) sees the ban as discriminatory and unnecessary, questioning the need for such restrictions in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

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Wafiq secretary Hazlin Chong said the local owners of these international hotel chains have a responsibility to raise the issue to its headquarters and ask for flexibility that allows staff to fulfill both religious and work requirements.


“Wafiq does not see wearing the hijab as a deterrence to any Muslim woman to perform her best at work any more than a person who does not wear the headscarf,” Chong said in a statement, calling the move “religious discrimination”.


UNI-MLC has urged the Human Resources Ministry to address this issue and come up with a guideline to avoid any form of discrimination amongst women in the hotel industry.


"By not allowing female Muslim staff to wear headscarves to work, not only does this deny them of their rights to practice their religion freely but also limit them from pursuing a career of their choice," said UNI-MLC president Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal.
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Source - TheJakartaPost
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Tuesday 24 October 2017

#Indonesia and #Malaysia compete in Tanjung Pinang International Dragon Boat Race.



A total of 42 teams from Indonesia and Malaysia competed in Tanjung Pinang International Dragon Boat Race that was held at Carang River, Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands on Oct. 21.
The Dragon Boat Race, which was a part of Riau Islands Marine Festival, was opened with Makan Sirih traditional dance performed by seven female dancers, dressed up in red-colored Malay traditional costumes.

Tanjung Pinang mayor Lis Darmansyah explained that Dragon Boat Race was first held in 1992, previously named Bintang Dragon Boat Race. “The Dragon Boat Race came from a tradition of one of the ethnic groups in Tanjung Pinang,” Lis said.

 
In the early days, the race was always held on the ocean but since 2014, Carang River has been appointed as the main location for the race. The river was chosen due to its calmer waters and no ship traffic. “There’s a ruin of the Malay kingdom located near Carang River called Rebah City Castle site,” Lis added.

Apart from the race, the festival also featured other competitions such as kayaking, middle school yel-yel (cheer chants) competition and a barongsai (Chinese dragon dance) performance.

The committee had prepared a total prize of 150 million rupiahs for winners of the Dragon Boat Race and 15 million rupiahs for winners of the Kayaking competition.

Meanwhile, winners of the yel-yel (cheer chants) competition received gifts from sponsors.
Source - TheJakartaPost
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Tuesday 7 March 2017

North Korea, Malaysia step up dispute over Kim's death

A North Korean embassy staff asks police if they are allowed to leave as police puts a cordon at North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. The bitter diplomatic dispute between North Korea and Malaysia over the poisoning death of leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half-brother escalated dramatically Tuesday, with Pyongyang saying it had banned Malaysians from leaving North Korea. That was followed quickly by Malaysia saying North Korean embassy staff were barred from leaving its country. Malaysia had already expelled the North Korean ambassador on Monday. (Associated Press/Vincent Thian)
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The bitter diplomatic dispute between North Korea and Malaysia over the poisoning death of leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half-brother escalated dramatically Tuesday, with Pyongyang saying it had banned Malaysians from leaving North Korea.
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That was followed quickly by Malaysia saying North Korean embassy staff were barred from leaving its country. Malaysia had already expelled the North Korean ambassador on Monday.
The North's Foreign Ministry told the Malaysian Embassy in Pyongyang that it would temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens now in the North, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
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It said the exit ban will be valid "until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of [North Korea] in Malaysia’s fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia."
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Malaysia is pursuing several North Korean suspects allegedly involved in the killing, including a diplomat at the North's Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia has not accused the North of being behind the killing of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport three weeks ago, but South Korean has.
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Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Marican told reporters at parliament that there are 11 Malaysians in North Korea: Three working at the Malaysian Embassy, two United Nations workers and six family members.
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The North said Malaysian diplomats and citizens "may work and live normally under the same conditions and circumstances as before" during the period of the temporary exit ban.
It also said that the Malaysian ambassador would be expelled, although he has already been recalled to Malaysia.
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Source:
TheJakartaPost

Thursday 7 July 2016

The Helmeted Hornbill is still thriving in Thailand's south

The Helmeted Hornbill is still thriving in Thailand's south

Almost extinct in Indonesia and Malaysia, the Helmeted Hornbill is still thriving in Thailand's south, but for how long?

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 THE ICONIC helmeted hornbill (rhinoplax vigil), one of the most gigantic and spectacular of Asia's 30 species of hornbills, is in grave danger of extinction according to BirdLife International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) who upgraded its threat status to critically endangered last November.
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All hornbills are charismatic, mainly frugivorous (fruit-eating) forest birds of tropical forests, who take their name from the large ornamental casques on their bills, which differ in size and shape among species. The helmeted hornbill (known as Nok Chon Hin in Thai) is special, though, because unlike the other hornbills, the casque is not hollow but solid and bony.
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Casques of the helmeted hornbill have long been sought after by Chinese craftsmen, who carve this so-called "hornbill ivory" or "red ivory" into elaborate ornaments and snuff-boxes. Even as long as 2,000 years ago native peoples of Borneo were already fashioning helmeted hornbill casques into ear-pendants and toggles. But Japan and China are the major consumers of helmeted hornbills casques, demand for which has suddenly and inexplicably escalated, threatening the future of this unique species.
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 "In 2013 about 500 adult helmeted hornbills were killed each month, or some 6,000 birds in one year, and that was only in West Kalimantan," laments Yokyok Hadiprakarsa of the Indonesian Hornbill Conservation Society.
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According to Hadiprakarsa, who also works with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in West Kalimantan, and who has interviewed many villagers, foresters and officials, only 1,111 helmeted hornbill heads were confiscated by the Indonesian authorities between 2012-2014, and eight Chinese traders, along with two Indonesian citizens, arrested.
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The helmeted hornbill heads were being smuggled to major ports in Sumatra, Java and onwards to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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Such a high level of exploitation is clearly unsustainable and, if left unchecked, will quickly drive remaining helmeted hornbill populations to extinction.
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Dr Nigel J Collar of BirdLife International is an expert on these larger hornbills, noting that they have specific nesting requirements, choosing the largest living trees with nest holes topped with a perch for the male to use while provisioning the female.
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During the breeding cycle, the female remains incarcerated in the nest cavity for 160 days, when both she and the nestling are dependent solely on food delivered by the male. Hunting during the breeding season therefore has an especially severe impact, causing the death of the nestling and compromising the survival of the female too.
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Rates of forest loss in the Sundaic lowlands of Malaysia and Indonesia remain extremely high, owing partly to the escalation of illegal logging and conversion of forest land to rubber and oil-palm. Such habitat loss has already caused a massive reduction in hornbill numbers. Even inside protected areas, the best remaining stands of valuable timber may be targeted for logging.
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Forest fires have also had a damaging effect.The helmeted hornbill has apparently almost disappeared from habitats where it was previously abundant in Sumatra, Indonesia, and is equally threatened in both the Indonesian and Malaysian parts of Borneo. It is still widespread in protected areas in Thailand's southern provinces, which together support six of the country's 13 species including the helmeted hornbill.
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But even here populations of the helmeted hornbill are small and fragmented as so little of their ancestral forest habitat remains as national park and wildlife sanctuary, and all hornbills remain vulnerable to hunting, and theft of chicks for the illegal pet trade.
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The Hornbill Research Foundation of Mahidol University, Thailand, led by Prof Pilai Poonswad and her team, has done much to raise the profile of hornbills in this country, conducting long-term term ecological studies
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while monitoring populations of all hornbills in Thailand since 1978.
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The foundation has studied the breeding ecology of the helmeted hornbill at Budo-Sungai Padi National Park and worked with villagers in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat to organise a Hornbill Family Adoption Programme, under which for US$150 (Bt5,250) per year the same villagers who formerly collected hornbill chicks are employed instead as nest-guardians.
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Records sent to Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST), the Thai partner of BirdLife International, by birdwatchers over the past few decades show that helmeted hornbills survive today only in the largest areas already protected as National Parks or Wildlife Sanctuaries.
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It will take all the resources of the government's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation (DNP) to keep these safe from poachers. A Helmeted Hornbill Task Force established through international cooperation among SE Asian BirdLife Partners - BCST-Birdlife Thailand; the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association of Myanmar; the Malaysian Nature Society, Nature Society (Singapore) and Burung Indonesia - to alert, and provide technical support for, government agencies in their respective countries could help coordinate action to safeguard helmeted hornbill.
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Because of its relatively advanced capacity and knowledge, and good public awareness, Thailand is perhaps well placed to lead the way with its own a national action plan for the helmeted hornbill. The key government agencies, besides DNP, include the Customs Department, the Thai secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep).
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With timely and appropriate action, there is every hope that Thai populations of the helmeted hornbill in southern Thailand will not follow the Gurneys Pitta into extinction, but will be sustained, and even recover, as have populations of some other endangered vertebrates, such as gaur and banteng in a few, favoured protected areas of the western forest complex.
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A DISAPPEARING FOREST GIANT
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- The Helmeted hornbill is among the largest of Asian hornbills, about 110-120 cm long with a wingspan up to 2 metres Its plumage is patterned blackish- brown and white, with elongate white central tail feathers bearing a black band. The skin of the bare neck is red in the male, and pale turquoise in the female Its distinctive high red casque, yellow at the front and weighing about 300g, is the "helmet" of the common name.
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- Helmeted hornbills are confined to lowland forests, from southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia - the Sunda Region. They inhabit mature evergreen lowland forest, and though recorded up to 1,500 metres above sea level, are mostly confined to lower elevations.
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- The call of helmeted hornbill is utterly unique -once heard never forgotten. It is a series of loud, intermittent barbet-like hoots, sometimes double-toned and over two dozen in number, which gradually accelerates to culminate in a cackle reminiscent of laughter. Its unique casque is used in rarely seen aerial jousts in which two male birds fly from a treetop in opposite directions, circle round and swoop at each other, cracking their casques together in mid-air in a spectacular contest for supremacy.
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- Hornbills are important bio-indicators of good quality forest and, indeed, help maintain plant diversity and forest cover through their role as seed dispersers. They are the largest fruit-eating birds in the forest canopy, consuming the fruits of more than 200 tree species, including not only figs but lipid-rich fruits, regurgitating and defecating their seeds far and wide, at great distances from the parent tree. Their role in maintaining the forest ecosystem is so immense that they are regarded as farmers of the forest and one hornbill may plant more than 500,000 trees in its lifetime. They are also predators of small animals including squirrels, snakes, and other birds including even the chicks of their own or other hornbill species, and can live more than 30 years.
 
Source: The Nation 

 

Thursday 17 September 2015

#Bangkok, Shrine bomb suspect 'has left Malaysia'



Turkish officials have refuted claims from Thai police that the two nations were cooperating in the investigation of last month’s bomb attack in Bangkok.
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Turkey’s embassy in Bangkok yesterday denied that Thai police have reached out about a key suspect who reportedly fled to Turkey, saying it has neither been contacted nor received reply to its own inquiries.

“Up to now this Embassy has not been contacted by Thai authorities in this respect, and we do not have information concerning the investigation,” read yesterday’s statement from the embassy.

A spokesman from Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also quoted saying Thailand has ignored requests for information regarding suspects who reportedly fled to Turkey or were Turkish nationals.

“We have not officially received any information about this subject from Thailand," Tanju Bilgic said in a weekly press briefing yesterday in Ankara, Turkey, according to Reuters.

Thai officials have been uncomfortable acknowledging the increasingly international links the investigation has turned up, including a roster of foreign suspects including Turkish and Chinese nationals. Officials had reportedly been instructed to avoid mention of international terrorism or specific groups possibly involved in the attack which killed 20 people, mostly foreign tourists.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that any official credence was given to the theory the attack was linked to an ethnic group in the far west of China and those sympathetic to them in Turkey.

Turkish passports seized from the Pool Anant apartment in Nong Chok district on Aug 29 are displayed at the Metropolitan Police Bureau Wednesday. 
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A day after saying the attack was linked to anger over Thailand’s decision to deport 109 Uighurs under pressure from Beijing, Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang walked that back today, saying the media “misunderstood” his remarks.

Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang today walked back statements he made yesterday attributing the attack to anger over Thailand’s deportation of 109 Uighurs under pressure from Beijing. Today he said the media “misunderstood” his remarks.

Police Gen. Somyot said he did not intend to suggest the bombing was revenge for Thailand’s forcible repatriation in July of the Uighurs, but that the attack was a response to recent enforcement efforts against human smuggling operations in the kingdom.

“I said, the bombing at Ratchaprasong Intersection was a consequence of Thai authorities destroying a Uighur human trafficking network, which had been going on for a long time,” he said today. “So they were angry that their business and illegal operations came to an end.”

Yesterday he told the press that “The attack at Ratchaprasong Intersection and the violent incident at Thai Consulate in Turkey stem from the same reason.”

On 9 July, Turkish nationalists stormed the Thai Consulate in Istanbul in protest to the deportation of the Uighur refugees, who had fled China when they were captured in March 2014.  They claimed to be were attempting to flee from alleged persecution in China’s Xinjiang province to Turkey, which is home to a large Uighur diaspora.

Five suspects including one man under arrest have been identified as Turkish nationals. Another suspect in custody and one at large are Chinese nationals from Xinjiang province, the Uighur homeland.

On Monday, the Bangladeshi embassy in Bangkok said the one being sought as a key suspect had flown from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Istanbul, Turkey, on 30 Aug.

Correction: A photo caption in an earlier version of this story misidentified the nature of the raid on a Min Buri apartment. Officers were looking for possible suspects in the bombing but found none.

Source: Khaosod

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