Short Thai news December 29
Three times was also a charm for Arisman Pongruangrong, the red shirt leader who had been a fugitive for 18 months and turned himself in at the beginning of December.
On Tuesday, the third request for bail was granted by the Supreme Court, but Arisman is not yet a free man. He went back behind bars in connection with a libel complaint filed by a member of parliament from the Democratic party. So bail has to be asked again, now in Songkhla province, where the report was made.
– The owner of a holiday park in Pran Buri district (Prachuap Khiri Khan) was killed yesterday afternoon when her pick-up truck collided with a train. The train derailed and two rail cars overturned, which then caught fire. 129 passengers were injured; 29 of them have been admitted to Pran Buri hospital.
– The chairman of the red shirt group Khon Rak Udon has been sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison for his part in an attack on demonstrators of the People's Alliance for Democracy (yellow shirts) in July 2008. Several people were injured, some of them seriously. After the verdict, he applied for bail and said he would appeal.
– The rumor mill is running again in Tak province. The Bhumibol dam would collapse on New Year's Day. To quell that rumor, the province and the electricity company are organizing a countdown party on top of the dam on December 31. The prediction that the dam would collapse was made 38 years ago by the seer Pla Bu on his deathbed. The telephone at the province is ringing with calls from people who live downstream.
– Payment has to be made again in the parking garage of Suvarnabhumi airport since this afternoon. This has been ordered by the Civil Court, which is dealing with the conflict between the airport and the manager of the garage. The court ordered the two parties to seek a solution to their dispute. Airport or Thailand earlier terminated the contract with the manager, because he would not comply with contractual agreements, and made parking free.
– The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department warns the residents of 10 provinces in the South for serious stir and high waves, lasting until Monday. Areas between mountains on one side and the coast on the other are particularly at risk. The coastal road between Yaring and Panare in Pattani province has already been partly washed away. Several coastal villages have also been ravaged by waves.
– The Special Investigation Committee has decided to accept eight criminal investigations as special cases. [That is, the report does not say.] In some provinces, illegal logging of rosewood, illegal issuance of land title deeds, illegal construction on government land, illegal mining, forgery of documents, forced prostitution, drug trafficking, online gambling, and arms smuggling. [So there are nine.]
– Will Veera Somkhwamkid and his secretary, who are imprisoned in Phnom Penh for espionage and illegal entry into Cambodian territory, be released tomorrow? Some believe that Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul (Foreign Affairs) will succeed in getting them released. Surapong talks today with his Cambodian counterpart and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Since Pheu Thai came to power, relations with Cambodia have improved considerably. Hun Sen has previously pledged to push for a reduced sentence for the pair. Veera is sentenced to 8 years in prison; his secretary to 6 years. They have not appealed their conviction. When they have served two-thirds of their sentence, they can apply for a pardon. If Surapong succeeds in arranging a reduced sentence, they can use that option.
– No party on January 2 when the State Railway or Thailand (SRT) takes over the operation of the Chatuchak weekend market from the city of Bangkok. The SRT is afraid of a confrontation with merchants who oppose the takeover. But the takeover will go through anyway, despite the protests and despite the resistance of the municipality, which has operated the market for the past 25 years and made a nice living from it. [This post mentions 7 to 11 million baht per year. A previous post mentioned 'huge profits'.] Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra does not yet know whether the municipality will take further steps.
– Red shirt supporter Kamla Chomchuen disappears behind bars for 10 years because he stole three M14 rifles and 16 cartridges from soldiers on May 150 last year. Kamla says police coerced his confession, but three members of the Royal Guard identified him as the person who attacked them.