Tag: Thailand

The Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Thammasat University organized an academic discussion on the Emergency Decree No. 27 “When people’s fear is a threat for government’s eyes” to provide knowledge on media and communication on issues related to news presentations in accordance with the Emergency Decree, No. 27, Section 9. Assoc.Prof. Kalyakorn Worakullattanee, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication gave an opening speech. The attending lecturers and specialists consist of Asst. Prof. Dr. Wilaiwan Chongwilaikasem from the Faculty of Journalism Thammasat University, Assoc. Prof. Ruj Komolbut from the Faculty of Journalism Thammasat University, Yingcheep Atchanon, representative from iLaw, Ajarn Surasak Bunyanukunkit from the Faculty of Law Thammasat University and Ms. Supinya Klangnarong, co-founder of Cofact Thailand.

Assoc. Prof. Ruj Komolbut, Lecturer at Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Thammasat University said that the Covid-19 situation urged the government to enforce the Royal Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations which 28 measures had been announced. The Regulation No. 1 and 27 mention the prohibition of dissemination of information, which brought up this discussion. In summary, the main point of the Regulation No. 1 is the dissemination of false news that incite fear in the public and misunderstanding in emergency situations. Authorities have the power to give a warning, suspend and adjust information and can be prosecuted under the Computer Crime Act if such news is not true and causes fear and the authorities can order to suspend and can take legal action. Regulation No. 27 contains different condition from No. 1 which is if the information is true but contains statement that may cause fear, it could be considered a violation.

“Based on the timeline, on July 10, 2021, Regulation No. 27 was announced. Two days later, the Deputy Prime Minister said that if the information is a fact, it can be presented. Three days later, the professional media organizations issued a statement to review these regulations because there was a discretionary issue, e.g. fear. Subsequently, Regulation No. 28 was announced then most people called out. After that the government issued the statement that the movement of artists and influencers is illegal. Thus, this meeting discussed how the regulations had the social and communicative effects.”

Ajarn Surasak Bunyanukunkit, Lecturer at Faculty of Law, Thammasat University stated that he would like to point out the Regulation No. 27, item 11, the restriction of freedom of expression and freedom of mass communication. The enforcement of the Royal Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations authorized the Prime Minister special powers in issuing requirements to deal with problematic situations. Regulation No. 1 and 27 had caused the issue on right and freedom restriction. The provision of Regulation No. 27 is too broad and may cause problems in interpretation because due to the vague provision, the terms can be applied to matters not directly related to the COVID-19 situation. This is to prohibit comments on government administration. Technically, the issuance of requirements should be adapted to the situation but such requirements are copied from the Emergency Decree which is too broad and can be interpreted in many ways. The provision has not yet clearly defined the scope, channels of dissemination, which refers to disseminate in “any other media” that may include social or digital media. The main point and issue is the term “contains message that incite fear” without specifying that such statement is a false or a true.

“Words with a broad meaning can mean true or false statement. The legislation for emergency situations should not contain broad wording which could lead to more distortion of the law. Such measures may be used to create a monopoly on information or to block information that the government would not like to reveal. The effect of the provisions shows that the government has chosen criminal measures to deal with personal opinions about the situation.”

Asst. Prof. Dr. Wilaiwan Chongwilaikasem, Lecturer of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication Thammasat University said that in the current situation, government should explain and make people understand the situation. During the past 2 weeks, the Prime Minister has made fewer clarifications to the public. After clarification, the people felt that it was not clear at all. Instead, government tried to censor the public opinions. The regulation enforced by the government which had constantly threatening people. It can be defined that this situation is about how government managed their fear by regulating the law of media in the digital age. For the Regulation No. 28, although the media has not had any comment yet, but I believed that the editorial might proceed with the content censorship to avoid such issue. “The regulations enforced by the government have frightened both the media and the public reflects that the voice of people is also loud and powerful. Three days ago, people called out with fake news issue. We could tell that the government’s act was unsuccessful. In the past, when the revolution was about to happen, the media were invited to listen the guidelines of news presentation. Recently. Influencers were also invited to participate after the issuance of the Regulation No. 28.”

Thammasat University students, the Pro-Tech team consists of Mr. Teeradon Pakalak, a 4th-year student from Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT). Ms. Sirintra Ngamviriyapong, a 4th-year student from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Mr. Nattapong Wongthaveethong, a 4th-year student from the Faculty of Political Science, and Mr. Akkarachai Jintanakarn, a 2nd-year student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, was award-winning with a technology certificate from the Hackathon Competition: Smart Voter Application (Application for quality voting) organized by King Prajadhipok’s Institute, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Orathai Kokphon, Deputy Secretary-General of King Prajadhipok’s Institute to present the award and congratulate the youngster’s Student at Thammasat University.

Mr. Teeradon Paklak said that the Hackathon: Smart Voter Application is organized to design and create voting applications by using innovations to encourage and assist voters in making decisions about the use of their own voices, facilitating and supporting voters’ access to decision-making information and further develop the body of knowledge in democratic innovation including creating public participation to reach all target groups.

Mr. Nattapong Wongthaveethong added that together, we brainstormed to create this Smart Vote app, our app is transparent and accurate as it is the first voting app that uses the Blockchain system to help verify the transparency of the voting system, including checking the identity of the people who have the right to vote against corruption or omissions. We are more advanced than other applications with the community system for posting topics and issues that require additional information or comments. This is a space to gather experts and people involved in the issue to discuss and share ideas. On top of that, data is also processed through a CIPP evaluation tool, indicating that our app is newer and more reliable than others with interesting technology and promising ideas to develop an applicable electoral system for our country.

Miss Sirintra Ngamviriyapong revealed that in the future, if we have the opportunity to develop and extend innovations from this idea further, we would like to further our work by collaborating with King Prajadhipok’s Institute to start implementing our innovations on a small scale first, such as student council elections. Then, in the future, we expect that this application will be able to extend to the national and international level to address the issue of the electoral systems that are not able to reflect the needs of people, for example, we want to create a community to provide a way to safely and transparently reflect people’s needs that can be monitored more efficiently.

“We are very proud to know that we have won this competition because it is the first-time championship for all of our team members and that it is regarded as an important initial step in proving our abilities which motivates us to work harder than ever. This competition has helped us bring out a lot of our potential. We learned a lot from the mentors and that they helped us develop and expose ourselves to the real world of work. And finally, the friendship that arises after the victory of the competition makes us closer, the relationship developed that can’t be found anywhere else,” concluded Mr. Akarachai Jintanakarn.

A name has been initiated and a botanical description has been written in accordance with the international rules for determining the scientific name of plants (ICN) by Dr Thiwthawat Napiroon, Lecturer in the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University with Mr Arun Sinbumroong, Forestry Technical Officer, Professional Level, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Mr. Manop Phuphat, Forestry Technical Officer, Professional Level, Office of the Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks.

“Cute Star Flower” has the scientific name Lasianthus ranongensis Sinbumroong & Napiroon, which was named in honour of Ranong Province, the area where it was first discovered, and the study team. It has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of Plant Biology PeerJ (Plant biology section), where part of the research was supported by the cooperation in the Flora of Thailand project.

Dr. Thiwthawat Napiroon, Lecturer in the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University who examined the genetics of this plant, said that from researching scientific evidence, this plant had never been reported or discovered before. It has been first discovered here in Thailand, in a tropical rainforest of the Andaman Sea at Namtok Ngao National Park, Ranong Province.

“The time of collecting this plant was right at its flowering period of around this April to May, using the laboratory of the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University. It took about a month to prove all of the plant genetic identification,” said Dr Thiwthawat.

Cute Star Flower is one of the members of the Lasianthus Jack genus. Various Rubiaceae species within this genus are wild medicinal plants that are rich in important phytochemicals such as scopoletin of a high amount. From the number of petals according to plant biology or botany, the number of petals is not within the range of 4-5 petals or is a multiple of that number according to the common dicotyledon, but appearing in the tropical forests of Thailand.

With the characteristics of the reproductive organs that are different from neighbouring species within the same genus, including other plant components; such as leaf morphology, monofilament-like strings corolla surface covering, beaded calyx, calyx, auricle morphology, etc. These traits are genetically controlled and they vividly indicate the uniqueness of a species in evolutionary biology and botany.

“I have discussed with the Department of National Park on the ongoing research and Namtok Ngao National Park in relation to the application of plant biotechnology or tissue culture to increase the number of plants in equilibrium or reduce the risk of disappearance which will be made into an area-specific model to keep plants in an environment where they can settle and later increase the chance of survival. In other areas, if the environment is suitable or similar to what was discovered, there is a chance to be found as well,” said Dr Thiwthawat.

Currently, it is kept at the Office of the Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (Forest Herbarium-BKF), Bangkok. The study of the preserved prototypes of the flower is available, including the dried samples of the staff specimens.

The Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, joined with ALT in organizing academic cooperation to develop model areas or smart technologies aimed at creating a model area for environments and smart buildings in addition to granting smart city innovation research funds for building up to real application at the community level and leading to smart city development in the future.

Assoc. Prof. Asan Suwannarit, Dean, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, stated, “In cooperating with ALT Telecom Public Company Limited to organize academic cooperation projects to develop model areas and smart technologies, ALT supplied the Modular Data Center developed by ALT along with installing equipment and information in the area of innovations, telecommunications and smart communication networks. The project is now complete and ready for use.”

“The goal of the research is to have a model of an innovation that can create impact in the future for buildings, communities, neighbourhoods or cities. All three topics of the research may be inventions or innovations in terms of systems and services needed for use in real situations. These innovations are scalable and can be developed for use in business to meet the smart city goals of ALT and the government sector in the future”, said Assoc. Prof. Asan.

Mr Prin Chakrit, Director of Business Development, ALT Telecom Public Company Limited or ALT revealed that the company is working with the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, in an academic cooperative project to develop model areas and smart technologies with the aim of researching and developing the area of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning as a model area for the environment and smart buildings.

This cooperation will create a proper research and learning environment for students and academics along with combining real practice and the ability to design and develop technologies in the fields of industry, technology and commerce to develop smart city models in the future.

“The company is cooperating with the Faculty to select research on innovations related to smart city research. The company will then use the research to develop and work in the area of the Company’s innovations and technology to meet the needs of agencies in the public and private sectors,” added Mr Prin.