Samai Charoenchang, a Thai politician and Islamic scholar who served three terms representing Bangkok in Thailand’s House of Representatives, died at Nong Chok Hospital on Aug. 14, 2026. He was 71, Naewna reported.
Charoenchang won his first House seat for the Democrat Party in 1995 and was re-elected in 1996. A decade later, he was elected senator for Bangkok.
His Senate membership ended after the 2006 coup, and he returned to the House in 2007 for a third term. He ran again in 2011 but was not elected.
Outside elected office, Charoenchang also worked in Islamic scholarship. In 2012, he published Yon roi … muslim siam (Tracing Back … the Muslims of Siam), a history of Muslims in Siam.
