Short news from Thailand
From December 1 to 5, Bangkok will be doing a big cleaning. The accumulating waste is collected, rotting water is disinfected and mosquitoes are sprayed.
– Prime Minister Yingluck has called on residents not to cut open sandbags because the sand then spreads in all directions and causes a huge mess. The authorities are responsible for removing all big bags, sandbags of 2,5 tons. The prime minister has apologized to the people who have not been reached by the aid, but said in apology: Bangkok is a densely populated city.
– After more than 2 hours of negotiations with residents of Ratanakosin 200 and Kaew Kan, the municipality of Rangsit on Monday agreed on measures to drain water from those neighborhoods and from the markets of Rangsit, Suchart and Phornphat. The municipality is installing 10 large water pumps along Khlong Rangsit and will also build a bank to ensure that the water does not flow back. Last week, the municipality built a rampart around Rangsit market, but residents of Ratanakosin destroyed it because they felt they were being left out in the cold. The worst of the suffering must be over in 5 days.
– The Crime Suppression Division has summoned former Prime Minister Abhisit and former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban for questioning about the government's actions against the red shirts last year. The Department of Special Investigation previously concluded that authorities are responsible for the deaths of 16 of the 91 people who died. The DSI has asked the CSD to re-examine these matters. That research is now 90 percent complete.
– Against the Democratic party, a complaint for defamation and making false statements will be filed with the Crime Suppression Division, says Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan. The Democrats will also be sued in civil law, demanding compensation. The complaint relates to Sunday's censure debate over the management of the floods and relief efforts by the government's crisis center Flood Relief Operations Command.
– Sunai Julapongsathorn, Chairman of Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, goes to The Hague to lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) about the slow investigation into the deaths of 91 people who died between April 10 and May 19 last year at the red shirt riots. You will be asked to treat the complaint as a 'special case'. Hardly any progress has been made in the investigation so far, which is why the help of the ICC is being called in. [The message does not state which research is referred to. It is also clear whether the cabinet has decided to send Sunai to The Hague. I don't understand why a note isn't enough.]
– Cambodia has granted a Thai doctor permission to treat Veera Somkhamkid, who is imprisoned in Phnom Penh, for a chronic illness. Veera and his secretary have been sentenced to eight and six years in prison respectively for espionage. They have been imprisoned since December. The Cambodian Prime Minister promised Prime Minister Yingluck a reduced sentence in September. They are not eligible for amnesty by the Cambodian monarch; for this they would have to have served two-thirds of their sentence. Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul (Foreign Affairs) promises to raise the matter as soon as he meets his Cambodian counterpart.
– The floods in the South of Thailand seem to stabilize. In Pattani, one more district was flooded. Highway 418 (Pattani-Yala) has been impassable to small vehicles since Saturday. Residents in areas at risk of high water levels have been evacuated. Ten schools and ten Islamic boarding schools have been closed. The Pattani River has overflowed its banks. Lower-lying areas have been under 1 to 2 meters of water for a week. In Narathiwat province, the stir stopped. Residential areas and farmland are under 1,5 meters of water. The three main rivers, Bangnara, Saiburi and Sungai Kolok continue to flood.