News from Thailand – August 13, 2012
The grapes are sour Thailand. Boxer Kaew Pongprayoon missed out on the gold medal that was expected and which experts say he earned in the final match. But the referees thought otherwise. They let China's Zou Shiming win 13-10.
'I was robbed. The gold should have been mine', Kaew said after the match, barely holding back his tears. The Thai team's protest against the decision was rejected because it was not submitted within 5 minutes of the game.
'I am very sorry that I could not win a gold medal. I wanted to win it for the King and the Queen and for all the Thai people and I am very disappointed that I failed to do it.' Nevertheless, he said he was proud of his silver medal because he had bet on bronze before leaving for London.
Kaew now receives not 50 million baht, but about 20 million baht from the government and private companies. [According to an earlier report, gold would be good for 100 million, of which 50 million from the boxing federation.] Boxing federation president Boonlert Kaewprasit confirmed his promise that he would resign if the Thai team failed to win gold. Thaong Taweekhun also retires as coach of the national amateur boxing team. Thailand brought three boxers into the ring in London; the other two soon fell out.
Kaew's silver is the third medal Thailand has scored. Weightlifter Pimsiri Sirikaew won silver and Chanatip Sonkham won bronze in taekwondo.
– The government is scolded by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC). She does too little against people, 'including politicians of all parties', who illegally take possession of land in forests. If the government wants to stay in power, it will have to perform better.
PACC Secretary General Dusadee Arayuwuthi said this yesterday following her investigation into illegal construction on Phuket Island. It has emerged that a former deputy governor and a former permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Interior are involved in providing false title deeds. Some politicians have forged papers to acquire an island off Phuket and have invited foreigners to jointly develop real estate there.
The PACC has enlisted the help of the National Anti-Corruption Commission and will also seek cooperation from the Department of Special Investigation. This help is necessary because 'influential persons' are involved in many cases.
– A similar affair is also taking place in the province of Phattalung. Three politicians have 'cracked' land in the Talay Noi Non-hunting area, said the head of Talay Noi. One is a member of parliament, the other two are the president of the Provincial Administration Organization (say Provincial States) and a president of a municipality (mayor). Each has taken possession of some 300 to 400 rai. The relevant politicians would now try to have the governor of the province and the Talay Noi man transferred. In recent years, more than 2.000 rai have been illegally occupied.
– Parts of the southern provinces are once again troubled by haze from forest fires in Sumatra. In some places the temperature has risen to 40 degrees. However, the concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 microns (PM10) remains below the critical limit
– Thai Airways International (THAI) will not form a joint venture with Nok Air. THAI has its hands full supervising THAI Smile, which according to THAI chairman Ampon Kittiampon is doing well. Average occupancy is above 90 percent on the Bangkok-Macau route, which has been flown since July 7. From Thursday, Smile will fly to Krabi, Chiang Mai and Surat Thani. THAI has a 49 percent share in Nok Air and it will therefore remain there.
– Who will be the new president of the Senate? It will be, writes Mongkol Bangprapa, a race between three people: the current vice chairman and two senators, one elected and one appointed senator. [The Senate consists of 76 elected and 74 appointed senators.] Tomorrow the Senate will nominate the candidates and then the vote will take place.
The chairman's chair has become vacant because the man who sat on it has been sentenced to 2 years in prison. While still an ombudsman, he had wrongly awarded himself and two subordinates an extra allowance.
– 146.410 arrest warrants against as many persons are waiting in a closet somewhere. All those people are on the run. You would think that the names can be retrieved with a simple push of a button, but forget it. Those names are scattered across many departments, but thanks to Pongsapat Pongcharoen, deputy chief of police, they will be centrally stored at the Criminal Records Division. All 1.650 police stations in the country can log in to it. According to Pongsapat, the system should lead to a 40 percent reduction in the number of unsolved cases.
– On the occasion of the Queen's birthday on Sunday and the birthday of the Crown Prince on July 28, 30.000 detainees have received a reduced sentence or are allowed to leave prison as a free man. The Department of Corrections needs another 2 days to check the list published in the Royal Gazette.
– The water is starting to recede in the flooded districts of Mae Sot (Tak) and Mae Hong Son (Pai), but the districts of Krathum and Wang Thong were flooded because the Wang Thon River overflowed its banks. Houses and corn plantations were flooded.
In the Rom Moei river market, soldiers and merchants are working hard to make the market presentable again after the water has receded.
Mae Hong Son has been unreachable for several days. Hundreds of soldiers rushed to the aid of the residents. A bridge over the river Pai has been damaged, as well as 50 rai of agricultural land.
– Despite the intervention of the government, which buys up rubber, the domestic price of rubber continues to fall. The culprit is the eurozone crisis, say agricultural experts. Importers have started importing cheaper rubber from Malaysia and Indonesia. The government would therefore do well to keep the rubber in stock until the price rises again.
The government has allocated 15 billion baht to support the rubber price. So far it has bought 50.000 tons from cooperatives, but that purchase is not making any difference because it is a small amount compared to the total rubber production. The 15 billion baht is good for 150.000 tons, while the total domestic production is about 3,6 million tons.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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