News from Thailand – March 23, 2013

With five different cartoon mascots, each with its own character, Bangkok Airways (THA) wants to shake off its conservative image of 45 years. Sky, Sunshine, Rocky, Windy and Daisy must seduce young people to become society customers.

At present, the age of THA's customers ranges from 30 to 50 years. According to President Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, the mascots could expand the airline's customer base to kids en teens [Yes, dear people, I do not fantasize; it really does.]

It starts with mascots that are for sale and later they are shown as animation on the in-flight entertainment system and in the lounges of the airline. The mascots are based on aircraft in the airline's fleet. Sky and her friends (because they seem to have the female gender) are active, cheerful, strong, chatty and mischievous, among other things.

The Bangkok Airways fleet consists of 21 aircraft: 8 ATR-72 turboprops, 5 A320 jets and 8 A319 aircraft. THA carried 3,6 million passengers last year.

– Thirty Karen refugees died yesterday afternoon in a fire in a refugee camp in Khun Yuam (Mae Hong Son), mainly women, the elderly and children. [Update: 35 dead] The fire quickly spread through the bamboo huts with roofs of dried grass. 200 of the 281 cabins were reduced to ashes.

The fire is believed to have started because a wooden wall caught fire when a refugee was cooking. About 1.800 refugees from Myanmar live in the camp. They are temporarily housed elsewhere.

– Former Prime Minister Thaksin visited Dawei in Myanmar on Thursday, the location of an ambitious project with a deep-sea port and industrial estate, which is being developed jointly by Thailand and Myanmar. Thaksin visited the islands off the coast of Maungmagan and was said to have spoken with authorities at the deep-sea port yesterday. He arrived by private jet from Yangon.

– Hassan Taib, who signed an agreement in principle with Thailand on behalf of rebel group BRN last month to start peace talks, would not have entered into the agreement voluntarily. Adef Soko of Youth for Peace and Development said yesterday at a forum organized by the Muslim Students Federation of Thailand and the Foundation of Islamic Center of Thailand that Taib has been threatened with prosecution for riot if he does not agree to talks. Taib has both Thai and Malaysian nationality.

According to Adef, this means that the talks failed before they even started. The government has political motives which means that the talks will not lead to peace. Violence will flare up further, he predicts. Adef was invited by the government to join the Thai delegation, but he declined the invitation. He will be present as an observer.

Other speakers at the forum said they do not believe Taib has any authority with the rebels in the field, they question whether the Thai delegation is fully aware of the problems in the South, they emphasized civilian input and thought that the government would not act any concession is ready.

– Even more about the peace talks, which will start in Malaysia on March 28. The National Security Council (NSC), leading the 15-strong Thai delegation, has called on rebel groups in the South to curb their violence during peace talks. Thailand will ask for a reduction in violence and an end to attacks on civilians and bombings in urban areas during the first meeting.

Nine rebel groups are said to be interested in taking part in the talks. NSC Secretary General Paradorn Patanatabut acknowledges that it will not be easy to win over the youth divisions of rebel groups.

– Tires were set on fire on five roads in the district of Panare (Pattani) yesterday. In Yaring district, an assistant village chief was shot dead, the third in a short time. A man walked up to him when he saw one bird singing attended the match and fired at him four times from point-blank range.

– The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has enlisted the help of two other services in legal action against eleven luxury holiday parks in Sirinart National Park on Phuket, which are illegally located there.

According to the park chief, the police are delaying matters. She refuses to hand it over to the Public Prosecution Service because the owners would have land deeds. But the deeds were obtained illegally, according to the park head. He thinks the police are being pressured by local influential people.

The Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Department of Special Investigation must now move forward.

– The Foundation for Consumers, in a study of labels on ready-to-eat and frozen meals, found that half of 80 samples had some defects in the listed ingredients. They were incomplete, incorrect or not detailed enough. The Food and Drug Administration has asked manufacturers to comply. Companies that go wrong are given three months to improve the labels.

– Next month, the first 50 of 363 eligible persons will receive compensation for their wrongful arrest and pre-trial detention in the period between 2005 and 2010. These are persons who have been imprisoned and acquitted or have not been prosecuted and persons who received a sentence shorter than the length of their pre-trial detention. The amounts range from 500.000 baht to 1,5 million baht for a pre-trial detention of between 90 and 180 days.

– Thailand and the Philippines are going to exchange teachers. As soon as both countries have signed the agreement, fifty Filipino English teachers will leave for Thailand for a period of 1 year. Thai teachers go to the archipelago to learn new teaching methods.

Political news

– Protest demonstrations can be expected at the end of this month and next month, predicts Paradorn Patanatabut, secretary general of the National Security Council. At the end of March, parliament will debate the government's plans to borrow 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works and from 15 to 18 April, Thailand and Cambodia will give oral explanations before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the Preah Vihear case.

– 56 percent of respondents in a poll by the Research Center of Bangkok University do not think Yaowapa, Thaksin's youngest sister, will become prime minister. That is only a small majority because 44 percent think she will take over from her sister Yingluck. When asked about desired changes in the composition of the cabinet, 41 percent believe that the ministers in the economic field should be replaced.

- Bangkok Post suffers from amnesia or her reporters don't read their own paper. On Wednesday, Yingluck commented on the message that she may have to leave the field and today the newspaper publishes a message with almost identical quotes from Yingluck. They were recorded from her mouth during her visit to New Zealand.

Yingluck's position is wavering as the National Anti-Corruption Commission investigates a 30 million baht loan she granted to the company, in which her husband is a shareholder. She would never have stated that amount in her statement of assets, which every politician must do. Rumors have it that Yaowapa would succeed her when Yingluck is found guilty.

Well, come on then, a few quotes from Yingluck, albeit old hat. Yingluck admits to not being a great speaker, but insists on judging her by her actions. She says she has taken note of all the speculation with some resentment and comments on it as follows:

'Many people with better oratorical skills don't work as hard. I am still the Prime Minister, elected in a democratic system and therefore I must fulfill my duty to the Thai people for as long as possible. I am not discouraged, but use them [the speculations] as an incentive to work harder because a large number of people have chosen me. Many people still love me.'

– Members of parliament of ruling party Pheu Thai skip too much. If they continue to do so, they run the risk of having their special allowance cut and not being nominated next time. The truants should improve their lives, because some important votes are coming up and then the motto applies: All hands on deck.

According to PT Somkid Chuekong, big boss Thaksin has said from Dubai that the government could fall if it fails to get some laws passed. The two most important are the proposal to borrow 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works and a proposal to amend some articles of the constitution.

In one month, two parliamentary meetings had to be suspended because the quorum of 249 members was not present. Pheu Thai alone has 265 seats.

Financial economic news

– Market analysts expect the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) to recover next week after the SET index plunged 3,3 percent yesterday, its biggest loss in 18 months.

Retail investors began selling stocks as they panicked about the possibility of the SET raising the collateral requirement for cash accounts from 15 to 20 percent. Uncertainty about the financial crisis in Cyprus also played a role.

Yesterday's fall brought full-week losses to 7,46 percent, the highest weekly figure since October 2008. About 1 trillion baht has evaporated since last Friday.

Parin Kitchatornpitak, vice president of KTB Securities, says that if a bailout is not agreed, the consequences will be minimal because the Cypriot economy is small.

Next Tuesday, the stock exchange board will decide whether the collateral requirement will be increased. Charamporn Jotikastira, president of the SET, sees no connection with this fall in the price. According to Kongkiat Opaswongkwan, director of Asia Plus Securities, investors are now cashing in their profits after the market has been rising for a long time.

– 31 factories in Prachin Buri have another month to ensure that they do not discharge wastewater containing mercury. They received a respite from the Industrial Works Department after sampling two rivers and six canals in Si Maha Phot district. In January, the agency took 23 fish samples and found concentrations above safety levels. No dangerous concentrations were measured in water, soil and sediment samples.

The 31 factories that will be inspected in a month's time are located along the Shalongwaeng canal, an important source of food in the district. Most of the factories are located on industrial estate 304.

Preecha Rungrat, director of the Public Participatory Promotion Bureau, believes it is possible that the mercury came from agriculture or natural causes and not from the factories, as residents say.

Thailand, he says, has no specific safety level for mercury in fish, but it does for food in general. The Food and Drug Administration plans to include fish, vegetables and fruits under the same regime.

The vice president of the industrial estate says the mercury cannot come from the factories because all factory waste goes to a central processing system. Work is currently underway on a new water purification plant with a capacity of 30.000 cubic meters per day. The capacity is currently 23.000 cu m/day.

– The Supreme Administrative Court on Wednesday upheld the 2007 judgment of the Central Administrative Court in the case against Better World Green Plc (BWG), a company that processes industrial waste. Saraburi residents, who brought the case before the court in 2003, again received no response. They had sued government officials for negligence after a license was issued for the company. They also demanded compensation for health problems caused by the factory. The higher court also held that the company had complied with the law.

BWG director Suwat Luengviriya reckons that the same group will complain again, but he is confident that this ruling has set a precedent for future cases.

– Over the next 2 years, the amount of mortgage loans will rise to 21 to 22 percent of gross domestic product, predicts the Kasikorn Research Center (KResearch). The counter now stands at 19,9 percent and in 1997, the year of the financial crisis, it was still at 16,8 percent.

The strong loan growth is attributed to rising purchasing power; easier access to financial resources, public transportation and real estate developments; and low interest rates, said director Charl Kengchon. Charl is not worried about a possible real estate bubble, but about rising household debt in relation to GDP.

Recently, the Bank of Thailand also warned about this. The higher debts are said to be the result of the Yingluck government's populist measures, in particular the first car scheme. The chairman of the central bank's board of directors warned earlier this week of a real estate bubble due to large inflows of foreign capital, but that money is mainly flowing into the equity and stock markets.

KResearch points out that the current low interest rates make it attractive to take out a mortgage, but when interest rates rise, problems arise. And that will undoubtedly happen. When the inflow of foreign capital starts to decrease, the expectation is that the policy rate goes up and interest rates will follow.

– People with a low income or without a fixed salary are given the opportunity to take out a mortgage thanks to two state financial institutions, the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation and the Secondary Mortgage Corporation. The Ministry of Finance is currently working on a scheme. Those two institutions insure the loan amount.

Since the Bank of Thailand warned last year about rising Thai household debt, it has become increasingly difficult for people earning less than 15.000 baht a month to get a mortgage. The Yingluck government encourages home ownership with tax refunds and interest-free loans for the first three years for first-time homebuyers.

– Oil company PTT Plc will test B7, a biodiesel containing 7 percent methyl ester, on ten buses of the Bangkok public transport company (BMTA) from April to June. The aim of the test is to determine whether the mix causes damage to the engine and how efficient the fuel is.

The trial is being conducted on bus 525, which serves the Min Buri-Nong Chok route. The results are used in drawing up guidelines for the use of biodiesel in vehicles. The Energy Business Department will formulate B7 quality requirements that producers must meet.

Biodiesel was first introduced in 2004 with 2 percent methyl ester, a percentage that has since been increased in steps to 7 percent and should eventually lead to B20. As raw material raw palm oil used. Biodiesel is one of the green fuels that the government wants to use to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

Dossier

Dossier is a new section with information on topics that are or have been regularly in the news. Dossier provides background information, based on articles Bangkok Post. The column won't appear every day, but for now I can get ahead with the topics I've collected data on over the years. I hope that the blog readers will appreciate the new section and correct errors and/or add information where necessary.

MICE
The Mice industry is one of Thailand's most important industries with a turnover of 60 billiard baht per year. mice stands for:
– Meetings: company meetings, annual meetings, shareholder meetings.
– Incentives: Special offers and activities companies offer their staff, especially salespeople with outstanding performances who achieve the company's set targets who may have a chance to take a trip abroad as reward.
– Conventions: academic meetings, meetings of heart disease specialists and on global warming.
– Exhibitions: Motor Expo, Thailand Book Fair, Thailand Gifts & Premium Fair and many more.

(Source: Mouse Journal, issue 1, Jan-Feb 2013, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau)