Thai food goes halal as Bangkok looks to attract more Muslim tourists
Efforts to boost arrivals from the Middle East on rise since re-establishment of ties with Saudi Arabia
Thailand’s government seeks to promote the country as ‘halal kitchen of the world’
Updated 09 March 2024
Randy Mulyanto
BANGKOK: Thailand’s aromatic, spicy cuisine has long been a huge draw for visitors. Now, the country is focusing on creating halal versions of popular dishes to attract more tourists from the Muslim world.
Since predominantly Buddhist Thailand re-established diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia in 2022, there has been an increasing focus on attracting visitors from Muslim-majority countries to the popular tourism destination. Last month, the government announced a 2024-28 plan to promote Thailand as the “halal kitchen of the world” and Southeast Asia’s “halal hub.”
The main institution responsible for ensuring adherence to the rules governing halal food in Thailand is the Halal Science Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, which has developed a standardization system known as Halal Assurance, Liability-Quality System, or HAL-Q, which is used by more than 770 food factories and 7,000 restaurants in the country, allowing them to use the word “halal” in their marketing.
According to the center’s founding director, Dr. Winai Dahlan, there are 900 such restaurants in Bangkok alone — already “enough to welcome Muslim tourists,” he told Arab News.
“We work with the Central Islamic Council of Thailand,” Dahlan said. “We are trying to introduce halal Thai food as a soft power of Thailand.”
From the iconic lemongrass-flavored tom yum soup to pad thai, the savory noodles that are the national dish, the guiding principle of Thai cuisine is harmony. For Dahlan, having the food prepared in the halal way and certified as such, helps “boost the trust” of tourists, as more and more Muslim visitors have been arriving to the country.
At Sook Siam, an indoor floating-market-themed food hall at ICONSIAM Mall in Bangkok, the Kan Tang stand serves halal versions of the most famous Thai dishes.
“Tom yum is the best ... many people come (to have it) here,” said the stall’s attendant, Onk Natphuwanat.
But not all Muslim travelers know the relatively new food market, nor other places with halal vendors.
The Jodd Fairs Night Market in the Rama IX neighborhood is another location where halal food can be found — including seafood tom yum noodles, red beef curry, and pad thai. And in Bangkok’s Pratunam Market, a few stalls run by Thai Muslims offer halal food, though it requires some effort to find them.
A halal food stall displays its menu at Jodd Fairs Night Market in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 21, 2024. (AN Photo)
Some visitors, like Nani Rohayu, visiting with her husband and daughter from Thailand’s Muslim neighbor Malaysia, have been navigating the streets and alleys of Bangkok using culinary recommendations from social media.
For her family, following references they found online was a fun way of exploring the city and finding new halal bites.
“If you go from one street or alley to another, you will find halal (food). There is no problem,” Rohayu told Arab News, after a successful outing in search of tom yum, noodles, and mango sticky rice.
“There’s so much info on the internet,” she continued. “It is very easy.”
Russia drone barrage sparks fire in western Ukraine
Updated 6 min 41 sec ago
AFP
KYIV: A barrage of more than 100 Russian drones sparked a fire at an industrial facility in western Ukraine and damaged residential buildings in other regions, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
The Ukrainian airforce said Moscow had dispatched 104 drones, including attack drones, and that 57 of the unmanned aerial vehicles had been shot down.
Emergency services in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region said the strikes had resulted in two fires at an industrial facility, and that firefighters were working to extinguish one.
They did not specify the type of facility hit but said there were no casualties.
The airforce said there was damage in four Ukrainian regions including Kyiv, where AFP journalists heard drones flying overhead and air defense systems countering the attack.
’Deaths’ during mass prison break in DR Congo’s Goma: security source
Updated 51 min 51 sec ago
AFP
GOMA: A mass jailbreak was taking place on Monday morning at a prison in the besieged Congolese city of Goma, hours after fighters from the armed group M23 and Rwandan troops entered the city, a security source told AFP. The prison, which holds around 3,000 inmates, was “totally torched” following a huge jailbreak that resulted in “deaths,” the security source said, without giving further details. Fleeing prisoners could be seen in the surrounding streets, according to an AFP journalist.
Bird feathers and bloodstains found in Jeju jet engines: South Korea report
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan in South Korea on Dec. 29 when it crash landed
It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew
Updated 27 January 2025
AFP
SEOUL: Bird feathers and bloodstains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air plane that crashed in December, according to a preliminary investigation released Monday.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan in South Korea on December 29 when it crash landed and exploded into a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.
It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew.
South Korean and American investigators are still probing the cause of the disaster, with a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier among the possible issues.
Both engines recovered from the crash site were inspected, and bird bloodstains and feathers were “found on each,” the report said.
“The pilots identified a group of birds while approaching runway 01, and a security camera filmed HL8088 coming close to a group of birds during a go-around,” the report added, referring to the Jeju jet’s registration number.
It did not specify whether the engines had stopped working in the moments leading up to the crash.
DNA analysis identified the feathers and blood as coming from Baikal teals, migratory ducks which fly to Korea in winter from their breeding grounds in Siberia.
After the air traffic control tower cleared the jet to land, it advised the pilots to exercise caution against potential bird strikes at 8:58 am, the report said. Just a minute later, both the voice and data recording systems stopped functioning.
Seconds after the recording systems failed, the pilots declared mayday due to a bird strike and attempted a belly landing.
The Jeju plane exploded in flames when it collided with a concrete embankment during its landing, prompting questions about why that type barricade was in place at the end of the runway.
Last week, authorities said they would replace such concrete barriers at airports nationwide with “breakable structures.”
The captain had over 6,800 flight hours, while the first officer had 1,650 hours, according to the report. Both were killed in the crash, which was survived only by two flight attendants.
Lukashenko pockets massive win in Belarus election scorned by the West
Alexander Lukashenko took 86.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election
European politicians have said the vote was neither free nor fair
Updated 27 January 2025
Reuters
MELBOURNE: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule with a massive win in a presidential election that Western governments have rejected as a sham, according to preliminary results on Monday.
“You can congratulate the Republic of Belarus, we have elected a president,” the head of the country’s Central Election Commission of the Republic Igor Karpenko told a press conference in the early hours of Monday, according to Russian state media.
According to results published on the Central Election Commission’s Telegram account, Lukashenko took 86.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election.
European politicians said the vote was neither free nor fair because independent media are banned in the former Soviet state and all leading opposition figures have been sent to penal colonies or forced to flee abroad.
“The people of Belarus had no choice. It is a bitter day for all those who long for freedom & democracy,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock posted on X.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed mock surprise that “only” 87.6 percent of the electorate appeared to have backed Lukashenko.
“Will the rest fit inside the prisons?” he wrote on X.
Asked about the jailing of his opponents, Lukashenko said they had “chosen” their fate.
“Some chose prison, some chose ‘exile’, as you say. We didn’t kick anyone out of the country,” he told a rambling press conference on Sunday that lasted more than four hours and 20 minutes.
The close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier defended his jailing of dissidents and declared: “I don’t give a damn about the West.”
UN Security Council demands pullout of Rwanda-backed armed group from DR Congo
UN Security Council condemns ‘flagrant disregard’ for sovereignty in DR Congo
Congo late Saturday broke off relations with Rwanda, which has denied backing the M23 despite evidence collected by UN experts and others
US, France tells Rwanda to back off, warning that the US would hold accountable those responsible for sustaining the armed conflict
Updated 27 January 2025
Agencies
UNITED NATIONS/GOMA, Congo: The UN Security Council on Sunday denounced the “flagrant disregard” for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), demanding the withdrawal of “external forces” without explicitly naming them.
The Council “condemned the ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC, including the unauthorized presence in the Eastern DRC of external forces as reported by the Group of Experts and demanded that these forces withdraw immediately,” it said in a statement Sunday evening, referencing a UN expert report that criticized the presence of Rwandan forces and their support for the M23 armed group fighting the Congolese army.
During an emergency meeting of the Security Council, UN‘s special representative for Congo said the attacking forces has caused “mass panic” in eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, a humanitarian and security hub and home to 2 million people.
“M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed,” UN special representative, Bintou Keita said. “In other words, we are trapped.”
Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati, carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and DR Congo forces in Goma on January 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Keita said M23 fighters were using residents “as human shields” as they advanced, while others fled for their lives.
The M23 rebels’ offensive at the heart of the mineral-rich region threatens to dramatically worsen one of Africa’s longest wars and create further misery for what is already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced.
‘Declaration of war’
Congo late Saturday broke off relations with Rwanda, which has denied backing the M23 despite evidence collected by UN experts and others. Congo’s government called it a “declaration of war.”
The surge of violence has killed at least 13 peacekeepers over the past week. And Congolese were again on the run.
The M23 has made significant territorial gains along Congo’s border with Rwanda in recent weeks, after months of regional attempts to make peace failed. On Sunday night, the rebels called on Congo’s army to surrender their arms and present themselves at a local stadium by 3 a.m. or they would take the city.
The Uruguayan army, who are in Goma serving with the UN peacekeeping mission, said in a statement on X late Sunday that some Congolese soldiers have laid down their weapons.
“More than a hundred FARDC soldiers are sheltered in the facilities of the “Siempre Presente” base awaiting the (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) process,” the statement said.
In photos shared with the statement, armed men are seen registering with the peacekeepers in a mix of military uniforms and civilian clothing.
Congo’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, told the Security Council that Rwanda was committing “a frontal aggression, a declaration of war which no longer hides itself behind diplomatic maneuvers.”
Rwanda’s ambassador to the UN, Ernest Rwamucyo, did not confirm or deny Congo’s claims. He blamed Congo’s government, saying the crisis could have been been averted if it had “demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace.”
US and France weigh in
The United States and France called for a ceasefire and appealed to Rwanda to withdraw its support to M23, with acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea warning that the US would “consider all the tools at its disposal” to hold accountable those responsible for sustaining the armed conflict.
In the past 48 hours, two UN peacekeepers from South Africa and one from Uruguay were killed and 11 others were injured and hospitalized, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said ahead of the Security Council meeting.
The UN chief reiterated his “strongest condemnation” of the M23 offensive “with the support of the Rwanda Defense Forces,” and called on the rebel group to immediately halt all hostile action and withdraw, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Congo, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than a decade ago. It’s one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich region, where a long-running conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
Rwanda’s government denies backing the rebels, but last year acknowledged that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate up to 4,000 Rwandan forces are in Congo.
Congo’s foreign ministry said late Saturday it was severing diplomatic ties with Rwanda and pulling all diplomatic staff from the country “with immediate effect.”
Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told The Associated Press on Sunday that the decision to cut ties was a unilateral move by Congo.
“For us, we took appropriate measures to evacuate our remaining diplomat in Kinshasa, who was under permanent threat by Congolese officials,” Nduhungirehe said.
The M23 took Goma once before in 2012, withdrawing after considerable international pressure was put on Rwanda.
Civilians flee the rebel advance
On Sunday morning, heavy gunfire resonated across Goma, a few kilometers (miles) from the front line. Scores of children and adults fled the Kanyaruchinya camp, one of the largest in eastern Congo for displaced people, near the Rwandan border.
“We are fleeing because we saw soldiers on the border with Rwanda throwing bombs and shooting,” said Safi Shangwe, who was heading into the city.
Some of the displaced worried they would not be safe in Goma, either. “I heard that there are bombs in Goma, too, so now we don’t know where to go,” said Adèle Shimiye.
Hundreds of people attempted to flee to Rwanda. Migration officers at a border crossing east of Goma carefully checked travel documents.
“I am crossing to the other side to see if we will have a place of refuge because for the moment, security in the city is not guaranteed,” Goma resident Muahadi Amani told the AP.
UN deputy humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said the situation was rapidly deteriorating. “If hostilities spill into Goma – a densely populated urban center – the impact on civilians could be devastating,” she said.
Congo’s army has said it was fending off the M23 offensive with the help of allied forces, including UN peacekeepers and soldiers from the Southern African Development Community Mission, also known as SAMIDRC.
In addition to the two South African peacekeepers, seven South African troops with SAMIDIRC have been killed in recent days, South Africa’s defense ministry said.
Since 2021, Congo’s government and allied forces — including the 14,000-strong UN mission — have been keeping M23 away from Goma.
Goma resident Bahati Jackson’s family has been hearing gunfire and remembers fleeing M23’s seizure of the city in 2012. But this time, they’re staying.
“If we’re going to die, it’s better to die here,” Jackson said.
