15/07/2026

WEDNESDAY | JULY 15, 2026 7 Activists file judicial review request over immunity clause JAKARTA: A coalition of Indonesian social activist groups and think tanks yesterday filed a request for a judicial review of the government’s plan to offer legal immunity to buyers of bonds issued by Danantara, saying it could weaken efforts to fight corruption, money laundering and tax crimes. The coalition, which includes the Centre of Economic and Law Studies, Transparency International Indonesia and Paramadina Public Policy Institute, said in a statement that they submitted the request at the Constitutional Court yesterday. “No group of citizens should be allowed to receive treatment that places them above the law. When laws are created to close the doors on investigations, inquiries, courtroom evidence, or even tax oversight, it is not only law enforcement that is being weakened, but the constitution itself,” said Muhamad Saleh, legal counsel for the petitioners. The coalition is challenging provisions in a revised financial sector law, which was passed last month, related to the Patriot bonds and “merah putih” bonds of the sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia. The “immunity” clause guarantees that purchases of Danantara’s special bonds will be protected from potential criminal and tax related prosecution, as well as civil lawsuits. Danantara did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the review filing. The provisions have drawn criticism from legal and economic experts, who warned they could create a channel for holders of illicit or undeclared funds to enter the formal financial system without sufficient scrutiny. Jakarta has defended the rules, saying they would allow more money to flow into the financial system and be used for development. Another coalition of civil society groups urged a global financial crime watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, to review the bonds’ legal protections. – Reuters Asean envoy meets Myanmar groups BANGKOK: Asean’s special envoy on Myanmar held talks with ethnic minority rebel groups and a government-backed negotiation committee, the Philippines said yesterday. The talks took place in Thailand on Monday and followed a separate meeting a day earlier between Asean foreign ministers and their Myanmar counterpart. Myanmar’s leadership has been barred from top-level Asean meetings over their failure to comply with Asean’s five-year-old “Five-Point Consensus” peace initiative, but some members of the bloc hope Sunday’s meeting can lead to progress. Asean special envoy Maria Theresa Lazaro, the foreign minister of the Philippines, met “to discuss the way forward on an inclusive national political dialogue” with representatives of some groups and the National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee, according to a Philippine Foreign Ministry statement. “All sides expressed openness to the dialogue process and emphasised the importance of constructive dialogue,” it said. Several ethnic armed groups contacted by Reuters declined to comment. The National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration in exile formed by remnants of the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose elected government was toppled in the coup, said it was not invited and expressed concern over the talks. “We have major questions about whether this meeting is intended to implement the Asean Five-Point Consensus, or if it is based on the government’s 100-day project and their own peace plan,” the NUG’s Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung told Reuters.

Bangkok governor vows tighter regulations

o Pub Facebook apology stirs angry comments

BANGKOK: The death toll from a devastating fire at a live music pub here climbed to 30 yesterday, officials said, as Bangkok’s governor vowed stricter inspections. The blaze, one of the deadliest in recent years in Thailand, tore through the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub in the city’s northern Chatuchak area close to midnight on Sunday, with witnesses describing an explosion, a horizontal burst of fire and smoke engulfing the single-storey venue. There were 24 people in critical condition yesterday and dozens more who were treated had been discharged. Three people hospitalised after the fire had since died, according to officials. The pub, located at a busy intersection next to train stations and two shopping malls, is one of a cluster of similar bars often crowded on weekend nights, serving food, alcohol and offering live music and televised football. Authorities say an electrical short circuit in a ceiling air-conditioner could have triggered the fire in the pub, which underwent a safety inspection in April. “We’ve set up a committee to investigate the truth, what should be improved and what rules should be changed,” Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told a press conference. “We will do more random checks.”

A Buddhist monk accompanying relatives of a victim, Sitthiphong Chaiyo, 23, from Ubon Ratchathani, at the scene of the tragedy yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

“I felt terrible,” he said, full of regret that he did not tell patrons to evacuate at the first sign of fire. The venue had power outages before due to electrical problems, so he had assumed it was just another power glitch. “I still feel I reacted too slowly. I should have shouted to warn everyone, but everything happened so fast and there was so much chaos that I didn’t have time.” Bassist Anan “Tor” Prasert, 37, said he received minor burns but escaped the blaze relatively quickly with his bass guitar still slung over his shoulder. “At first I thought it was just the stage smoke, you know?” Anan told reporters. “Then smoke started coming out from the ceiling. He told a guitarist next to him to run. “At that point, I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I just ripped out my jack cable and ran.” – AFP Outside Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao, some of relatives were mourning those killed as forensics personnel gathered evidence from the scene. The pub on its Facebook page apologised over the fire and said it was cooperating fully with the investigation. “We apologise deeply over the very sad events that took place and express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and send our support to those injured,” it said in a post that had hundreds of comments, many expressing anger and questioning its safety measures. The pub did not answer calls or respond to a request for comment on preliminary findings in the investigation. In Bangkok’s famous Khaosan Road backpacker district packed with pubs and nightclubs and about 10km from the site of the fire, visitors expressed sadness over the incident but said they had no concerns about safety. “It doesn’t worry us. All the places that we’ve been have been very safe,” said Connor McLernon, 30, a tourist from Boston. His travel companion, Patricia Bello McLernon, 31, said the fire was likely a one off. “It’s just an unfortunate accident that happened and I don’t think that should stop anybody from visiting,” she said. – Reuters

Police said 34 people had been interviewed so far and charges would be considered after facts and evidence had been gathered. The owner is among those being treated in an intensive care unit. At a Bangkok morgue yesterday, rescue workers were seen moving a coffin of one of the victims, surrounded by television cameras and a throng of reporters as emotional family members and friends arrived to collect the body.

Distraught relatives of Sitthiphong at the site. – REUTERSPIC

Thai bandmates recount chaos BANGKOK: First the band saw smoke. Then the lights went out and an explosive fire ripped through the Bangkok bar and restaurant, spraying flames from the entrance into the street. happened are still etched in my mind,” said singer and band leader Athipat “Ice”Wijarn. Some members of his 11-person group, which plays Thai and international cover songs, were on stage when the fire broke out, Athipat said in a talk show interview. He sustained a head injury and his drummer was in critical condition.

The inferno left at least 28 people dead, including two members of the cover band on Sunday night’s bill. At least two other bandmates were injured, among around 70 people who suffered from burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries, authorities said. Two members of the group Tosakan recounted on Monday the chaos of the blaze that raged through the Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar and restaurant, claiming the lives of their keyboardist, Kwang, and a singer, Breeze. “The sight of my girlfriend’s body being carried out, the sight of my friend who was burned in the fire and everything that

“Our keyboard player spotted the smoke first and shouted at me to run,” Athipat later recalled. “When I realised there was a fire, I could smell smoke ... I shouted for my girlfriend (Breeze), but then the power went out,”he said. The pitch-black venue was also clouded in thick smoke, and the singer could not find Breeze, despite shouting her name, he said. “Just as I got outside, the explosion suddenly erupted,” Athipat said, showing his injuries.