News from Thailand – July 31, 2014

The evacuation of Thais from Libya has been delayed due to difficulties in obtaining the required exit visas. The Eid al-Fitr holiday is in the way.

The Thai embassy is trying to get permission from the Libyan government to omit the visas. Once that has been arranged, the Thais will be repatriated to Thailand via Tunisia. The Tunisian government is opening a temporary office at the border today to guide the Thais into the country. Normally applying for an exit visa in Libya takes 1 to 2 days, but because of the holiday it now takes 7 to 10 days.

There are 1.500 Thais working across the country in Libya. Of these, 789 are entitled to reimbursement of travel expenses. The Thai embassy and the Ministry of Employment have already discussed the assembly points. In addition to evacuation by land to Tunisia and from there by plane to Thailand, departure by boat to the Greek island of Crete, which is an 8-hour boat ride, is also being considered. The employment agencies plan to send workers who have not yet completed their contracts to other countries, such as Qatar.

Two V-130 military aircraft are on standby at Don Mueang. Each plane can carry 100 to 200 passengers. [Weird margin.]

– An insurgent group recently held talks in Malaysia about a series of simultaneous attacks in southern Thailand, a security source said. The meeting led by Masae Useng, leader of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the organization with which Thailand conducts peace talks, took place at a mosque in Pasemas (Kelantan state).

The attacks should be carried out by the Runda Kumpulan Kecil. One hundred and fifty militants, fifty per province (Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat), are said to be in charge of shelling and bomb attacks. The targets were set during the meeting.

Masae is one of three leaders of insurgent groups with a bounty on their head. There is a bounty of 3 million baht on Masae's head.

A source familiar with terrorism expects an increase in violence. He mentions two factors: the situation in the Muslim world, especially in Gaza, and the political situation in Malaysia. New Muslim groups, he says, have less difficulty using violence to achieve their goals. They also receive more support and funds. He also points out that the bombings in the region are becoming more sophisticated and dangerous.

– Do you remember? A rice inspection at a warehouse in Pathum Thani found 98.000 bags of rice (worth 98,4 million baht) missing. Yesterday, two businessmen suspected of stealing the rice were arrested. The police are still looking for their accomplices. The rice inspections are now 72 percent advanced. Twenty percent of the rice is spoiled or missing. Earlier this month, two top Commerce Department officials were transferred to an inactive post for negligence.

– A judge of the Central Administrative Court has recommended that the former manager of the parking garage at Suvarnabhumi airport, Parking Management, be fined 82,6 million baht for breach of contract. The conflict between the airport and Parking Management dates back to 2010, when a hundred armed men removed the equipment from the parking garage. If you want to know the details, read on Judge fines ex-airport car par firm on the website of Bangkok Post, but I warn you: it is a rather complicated matter. The court is expected to adopt the judge's advice.

– Seven foreigners who are wanted in their own country for drug trafficking, fraud and murder have been arrested on Koh Samui and in Hua Hin and Bangkok. It concerns a Frenchman, Hungarian, Italian and four Taiwanese (photo home page).

– The Town in Town hotel in Wang Thonglang (Bangkok) denies that it refuses to rent room space to HIV/AIDS groups. Three organizations have complained to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). According to them, the hotel is afraid that their presence will scare away other guests. They would have been told that by the hotel director.

But a staff member now says that all rooms were occupied and that the hotel had rented rooms to similar groups in the past. The latter is correct, because HIV/AIDS groups have used the hotel for the past four to five years, confirms the director of the Aids Access Foundation. He says that the hotel earned 10 million baht from that. They were refused only this month. The NHRC will investigate the matter.

– Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have developed a vaccine that represents a breakthrough in the fight against dengue fever. The vaccine can prevent infection by 56,5 percent and mitigate the severity by 85 percent. This was announced by the president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of Thailand yesterday at the sixth national vaccine conference in Bangkok.

The vaccine has been tested on 10.000 children between the ages of two and fourteen. The development has been in progress since 2009. The vaccine will be available in two years, after it has been registered with the Food and Drug Administration. Five South American countries are developing their own vaccine. The results of their research are expected in a few months.

– External quality assessments of universities should be maintained in order to raise the academic level. The director of Onesqa made this plea yesterday during a seminar with educators. He was responding to the criticism his office has received about their visitations. The criticism focuses on a few indicators, such as the contribution that alumni (graduates) make to a university. According to the director, this criterion applies not only to monetary contributions, but also to other educational contributions.

Between 2011 and 2013, 132 universities were evaluated; 35 received a passing grade from the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment Public Organisation, a mouthful abbreviated to Onesqa. According to a former secretary of state for education, academic degrees are widely available, especially in the three southern provinces. A doctoral degree costs 100.000 baht.

– The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [not to be confused with the National Anti-Corruption Commission] thinks it can function better when it comes under the office of the Prime Minister than, as it currently does, the Ministry of Justice. The PACC has been told by the junta that it needs to improve its efficiency. Another proposal from the PACC is to remove the statute of limitations for corruption cases. The PACC also wants to be able to discipline corrupt officials. On Tuesday, the NCPO (junta) will discuss all proposals.

– This week, couple leader Prayuth Chan-ocha wants to finish his list with the names of 200 members of the legislative assembly (NLA) to be formed and submit it to the king for signature. The NLA is going to grow 220 members; 20 will be named later. The army will have 40 seats, the navy and air force 20 each and two defense offices 10 each. The total number of members of the armed forces is expected to reach 110, both current and retired officers. The royal signature is expected next week.

– Former members of parliament of ruling party Pheu Thai do not like the fact that the payment of redundancy pay to former members of parliament has been suspended by the junta. Kusumalwati Sirikomut, formerly a PT MP for Maha Sarakham, accuses the junta of being biased towards politicians.

The junta has suspended the (very large) redundancy pay pending advice from legal experts. The benefit comes from the Fund for Former Members of Parliament, largely paid for by taxpayers. Members of Parliament contribute 5 percent of their monthly salary. Retirement pay ranges from 15.000 to 42.000 baht, depending on how long they have been in parliament.

– After the doubling of the six railway routes (see Junta approves two high-speed lines), for which the junta has granted permission, the railways are switching from the 1 meter gauge to 1,435 meters, so that the rail network can be linked to that of other countries. It is not clear from the message which year we are talking about. However, two routes are mentioned that will get the new size: Nong Khai-Map Tha Put and Chiang Khong-Ban Phachi.

The doubling should be completed in 2020. Trains can then run faster: the speed of freight trains will increase from 29 to 60 kilometers per hour; passenger trains from 50 to 100 km.

– The municipality of Bangkok is flexible. The street vendors on Tha Tian and Tha Chang, who have to leave, will be postponed until August 31. Initially, they should have cleared the footpaths on Monday. The 500 vendors must leave so that pedestrians can walk orderly again. Damaged footpaths, telephone boxes and electricity poles will be repaired and trees will be replanted. The municipality has offered the sellers four alternative locations.

– Red shirt sympathizers today commemorate the death of red shirt poet Kamol Duangphasuk at Wat Phra Si Mahatat. The military had asked the temple not to admit the red shirts, but the temple has no objection provided loudspeakers are not used or the meeting is of a political nature. Kamol was shot dead in April as anti-government protests were in full swing. Arrest warrants are pending against the two suspects.

– The Western Forest Complex, habitat of two hundred tigers, is increasingly threatened by the construction of fields on which maize is grown. So says the Seub Nakhasithien Foundation, an environmental group named after a murdered park chief who championed the preservation of the forest.

According to Secretary-General Sasin Chalermlap, farms are on the rise with the result that the water is chemically polluted, because large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides are used in cultivation. If this continues, he fears for the lives of the wild animals.

The Western Forest Complex consists of national parks, forest and game reserves. The maize farms are located in Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary (Tak), Srinakarin National Park and Lam Klong-Ngu National Park (Kanchanaburi) and Thuangyai-Huai Kha Kaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

– A 5-year-old girl who was forced to eat her own vomit by her aunt, was beaten and locked in a doghouse has been placed in a children's home by the Social Development and Welfare Department. The service was alerted by a neighbour. The child's parents are no longer alive.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

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