News from Thailand – September 10, 2012

Continuous rains have caused flooding and landslides in the North. The Central Plains is expected to experience flooding today. Three districts on the western side of Ayutthaya province are expected to be flooded around noon.

In Uttaradit, 300 houses in Laplae district are under 1 meter of water. One kilometer of highway number 11 is also flooded.

In Pichit, 30 houses and fields were affected by water from the Petchabun and Wang Thong mountain ranges. Here, too, the water reached a height of 1 meter.

In Phitsanulok, a landslide blocked a road 100 meters long. Residents have been warned to expect flooding and landslides in the coming days.

In the districts of Mae Wong and Lat Yao (Nakhon Sawan), the water destroyed rice fields covering an area of ​​1.000 rai. The water should have receded in 3 days, says the provincial irrigation service.

The damaged railway line between Lampang and Lamphun is being repaired. In the stir and that is no fun, or little sabai.

– Consumer, health and environmental organizations are not at all pleased with a proposal from industry to change 37 laws that relate to, among other things, liability for defective products and environmental effects. According to them, they only serve the interests of business.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Bankers' Association will present their proposals to Prime Minister Yingluck on Wednesday. They call the current legislation 'outdated and hindering the competitive position of Thailand on the world market'.

The opponents held a press conference on Sunday at which they explained their objections. Pointwise:

• Foundation for Consumers: In case of complaints about defective products, the companies want to include a requirement in the law that the complainants prove their complaints. This is an impossible requirement for high-quality technical products. The companies are also proposing restrictions on claiming compensation. They also want to repeal the Prices of Goods and Services Act of 1999. This law enables the government to take price measures.
• Foundation for Aids Rights: The government should not give tax and investment benefits to commercial health companies. The companies want to scrap that rule.
• Environmental group Earth: The companies want the right to appeal if the legally required environmental impact assessment is not approved. The environmental group believes that an appeal procedure entails a risk to the environment.

– One hundred and sixty children between the ages of 13 and 16 from the South will participate in an English camp next month, organized by the Bangkok Post foundation (BF) and the Siam Cement Group (SCG). The children come from families of which the parent(s) is (are) employed by the police, the army or in education. Blind children are taught at schools for the blind in Khon Kaen and Hat Yai, the other children are updated in Bangkok.

It is the fourth time that SCG and BF organize a project for needy students. The choice for English was made because of the project 'English Speaking Development in the Year 2012' of the Ministry of Education.

– Prime Minister Yingluck is one of the nominees for the Confucius Peace Prize of the China International Peace Research Center. Other nominees include former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Bil Gates. The prize was established in 2010 when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

– Four men, posing as police officers, tried to blackmail the owner of an internet cafe last night. They demanded 2.000 baht a month in exchange for allowing the café to remain open at night. Later, two of them came back and attacked the staff. The brawl was captured by a surveillance camera. The images are now circulating on the internet and have also been shown on TV. One of them worked as a tipster for Bangkok Post and Post Today. The newspapers immediately cut ties with him.

– Unabated violence in the South. A 27-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were shot dead in Chanae (Narathiwat) yesterday morning. When the police found the bodies, their hands were tied behind their backs with their own shirts. In Rangae district, an 8-year-old boy stepped on a homemade landmine in a can. He lost his left leg in the process. The mine would have been intended for government employees.

Police in Songkhla are looking for three suspects in the murder of three women in Thepha and the theft of one of the women's pickup truck. Police have CCTV footage of the suspects.

– Rumbling in the offices of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (RRAF). The government wants to merge the fund with the Rubber Estate Organization and the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand, and now the director-general of the RRAF has proposed making the new organization a public body. The staff resists this. It has asked the Deputy Minister of Agriculture to remove the DG from his position.

According to a source at the RRAF, the government's merger proposal also sees rubber manufacturers receiving 10 billion baht annually in export tariffs instead of rubber farmers, who now receive that money. He also says the Attorney General's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Commission are investigating XNUMX corruption cases at the RRAF.

– Let former Prime Minister Thaksin return to Thailand so that he can defend himself in court, says 80 percent of respondents in a poll by Abac. 83,6 percent believe that the government should be given the opportunity to do its job.

When asked about the cause of the government's lack of stability, Yingluck cited 90 percent corruption, 81 percent internal struggles, 74 percent deprivation and poverty, 62 percent powerful people outside the government, 57 percent problems related to the transfer of civil servants, and 49 percent political opposition . 2.251 people aged 18 and older were surveyed in 17 provinces, including Bangkok.

– The number of people who contracted dengue fever this year is now 38.500. Of these, 42 people died, 5 of whom last week. The southern border provinces are battling both dengue fever and malaria. Last month, 300 people contracted malaria in one district.

The Department of Health's Disease Control Department launched a campaign in May urging people to clean up mosquito breeding grounds. Mosquitoes love stagnant water. Dengue is not limited to rural areas. The disease also occurs in Bangkok and in holiday parks in the South.

Epidemiologists say there may be a link between the disease and climate change, as countries where the disease never occurred are now also reporting cases. Once children were the greatest risk group, now adults are just as vulnerable.