News from Thailand – February 6
The success of Buriram PEA football club, led by the politician Newin Chidchob (Bhumjaithai), inspires other politicians to profile themselves through a football club as well. Newin's club won the League Cup on Sunday, after previously triumphing in the Thai Premier League and the FA cup.
The successes do Newin no harm politically. Although he himself was banned from political office for 5 years, his wife scored 400.000 votes in the elections for head of the provincial administration organisation.
Other politicians have already followed Newin. Chonburi FC and Pattaya United are supported by members of the Khun Ploem family, founders of coalition party Phalang Chon. A member of parliament from the Democratic party supports Songkhla FC, which is still playing in the first division.
– The reintroduction of the 30 baht personal contribution for a hospital visit is a step backwards and does not solve the problem of financial shortfalls of government hospitals. Poor and vulnerable people – or a majority of the population – will only be disadvantaged.
According to some doctors at a seminar of the Thai Journalists Association and the Isara Amantakul Foundation. The 30 baht personal contribution was introduced by the Thaksin government at the time, but was scrapped by the Abhisit government and replaced by the universal health care scheme. 48,3 million Thais use it.
In the meantime, the Rural Doctors Society has called on government hospitals to refrain from collecting their own contributions. The Minister of Health says that the government is determined to introduce the personal contribution.
– The board of Thammasat University will decide next week whether to maintain its ban on activities related to the lèse-majeste legislation. Rector Somkit Lertpaithoon has asked for the ban to be reconsidered, because the ban - intended to prevent disturbances - has led to deep divisions in the university's student and teacher corps. After proponents of the ban demonstrated last week, 200 people demonstrated against the ban on Sunday.
The lèse-majeste issue has become topical since Nitirat, a group of progressive law teachers at Thammasat University, has proposed scrapping the minimum sentence in Article 112 (currently 3 years) and setting the maximum at 1 to 2 years (currently 15 years). But even more controversial is the proposal that the monarch should swear an oath to the constitution at his coronation.
– The Ministry of Agriculture oversees production, the Ministry of Commerce oversees distribution and the Ministry of Finance oversees finances. Deputy Minister Nattawut Saikuar (Agriculture) wants to merge the three state departments dealing with rubber and involve the Ministry of Industry for rubber processing.
The aim of the operation is to improve cooperation between the relevant services and to raise the current market price from 80 to 90 baht per kilo to 120 baht per kilo.
– When the cabinet can demonstrate the need for two emergency decisions, the Democratic party withdraws its petition to the Constitutional Court asking for a ruling on the legality of the decisions. This has been announced by opposition leader Abhisit. The decisions concern expenditures of 350 and 50 billion baht respectively for water management and an insurance fund.
– The happiness index of Thailand has dropped from 7,55 in July last year to 6,66 last month on a scale of 1 to 10, according to an Abac poll, which is conducted every six months. Simmering political conflicts and the rising cost of living have made Thais less happy. 60,8 percent of respondents want Yingluck Shinawatra to stay on as prime minister.
– With the revelations of MP Chuvit Kamolvisit about illegal gambling in Bangkok, 78 percent of respondents in a poll by Suan Dusit are satisfied. The poll was conducted among 1.271 people nationwide. 51 percent think the information of Chuvit contributes to the fight against gambling. 49 percent think that the revelations will make gambling bosses better hide their trade.
– The Minister of Health has warned of an outbreak of dengue fever because there is almost no rain in parts of the country. The ministry is preparing a campaign to encourage people to remove places with stagnant water where the mosquito breeds.
In the first half of January, 332 persons were diagnosed with dengue fever; 1 person has died. In the same period last year there were 291. In the entire year 2011, 65.961 people were infected and 59 died.
– The Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) wants to equip two roads in the northern provinces of Phrae and Lampang, on which drugs are transported, with scanners that can detect drugs in vehicles. Suspicious vehicles must be stopped for this. The NSB hopes that the scanners (costing 600 million baht) will be operational by the end of the year. In anticipation of the installation, Customs is lending two trucks with scanners.
– Despite the price increase of 75 satang, sales of CNG (compressed natural gas) have remained high, says PTT Plc, the country's only seller of CNG. CNG now costs 9,05 baht per kilo and will also increase by 75 satang in the coming months. Since the floods last year, sales have increased by 12 percent to 7.000 tons per day. The number of vehicles switching to CNG now averages 200 per day, compared to 100 in November. Before the floods, there were 300.
– The Internal Trade Department will publish its recommended price list next week, which aims to keep food prices in check. Rice with omelette can cost 20 baht, which gives a profit of 6,93 baht. Stir-fried minced pork with basil and noodles yields a profit of less than 5 baht, the ITD has calculated. Street food prices range from 20 to 25 baht and in department stores from 30 to 40 baht.
– While Malaysia is serious about green tourism, true travelers between the ages of 40 and 50, the growth of eco-tourism in Thailand is limited to a small number of operators in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai; domestic tourists are hardly interested in it.
The Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA) wants to change that. It will map six new routes to expand eco-tourism by 5 percent this year. Last year, the number of eco-tourists reached 1 million out of a total number of tourists of 19,09 million.
– Thai rice exports amounted to 387.768 tons in January, 58 percent less than in the same month last year. World market prices have fallen as India is aggressively targeting the market. Thai exporters are therefore now turning their attention to the domestic market. Competition in packaged rice is expected to be a lot fiercer.
CP Intertrade, a major rice exporter, expects the number of packaging companies to increase by 10 to 20 percent this year. Domestic consumption is expected to increase by 3 to 4 percent to 5 to 6 million tonnes and prices may rise by 10 percent.
The company will introduce new rice products such as noodles and vermicelli under the brand name Royal Umbrella. Worldwide, more people are consuming rice noodles because they are gluten-free.
Why do it easy when you can do it hard. This is what the Bangkok Post writes in its editorial in response to Vice Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung's plan to tap the phones of prisoners who continue their drug trade from prison. There is a much simpler method: the Wolfhound. This hand-held device, which costs 50.000 baht, can detect mobile phones even through concrete walls.
According to the newspaper, the cause of the problem is simple: corrupt jailers and guards cooperate in the smuggling of mobile phones and other contraband in exchange for money and other benefits.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post