News from Thailand – March 12, 2014

It's a well-known tactic in Thailand: ask for a postponement and stretch a procedure. And that is exactly what the lawyers who represent Yingluck are doing now that she is being hunted down by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

The NACC charges her with negligence and dereliction of duty for failing to address corruption in the rice mortgage system as chair of the National Rice Policy Committee.

Yingluck's lawyers retrieved the NACC file yesterday. They say they need time to study the 49-page file. Yingluck had been summoned by the committee to give an explanation on February 27, but that appointment was postponed to Friday. One of the lawyers doesn't know if she's coming. Perhaps the team of lawyers needs more information and then another postponement is requested.

The lawyer believes that Yingluck can easily defend himself against the allegations of the NACC. According to him, the questions that the NACC has should be answered by the ministries of Commerce and Agriculture.

– A group of farmers led by Rawee Rungruang, leader of the Thai Farmers Network, went to the office of the NACC yesterday to support the committee.

They also went to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives office on Phahon Yothinweg. There they dumped 10 tons of paddy in protest against the lack of payment for the rice they handed in (photo above).

– For the fourth consecutive day a lot of attention for the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing, but Bangkok Post says nothing about the search. The grand opening article is solely about the stolen passports used by two passengers from Iran. Interpol does not consider a terrorist attack as an explanation for the disappearance plausible. "The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude that it was not a terrorist incident," said the head of the Interpol bureau in Lyon.

The Thai police are focusing on the fake passports. She thinks that an international crime syndicate has passports stolen and then sells them to human traffickers. The passports used were stolen in Phuket from an Italian and Austrian man. They have not been used in Thailand.

Malaysian police suspect that one of the Iranian passengers, a 19-year-old young man, was planning to seek asylum in Germany. "We do not believe he was a member of any terrorist group," police commissioner Khalid Abu Bakar said.

– The state of emergency in the three southern provinces of Thailand is extended by three months. The cabinet decided that yesterday.

Late Monday evening, a grenade was thrown at a school in Bacho (Narathiwat). No one was injured. The grenade hit a tree and landed in a ditch, where it exploded. Police suspect the attack was intended to disrupt a ceremony in which kindergarten children receive a certificate. But it could continue in the morning, albeit under extra police guard.

A panel from the Southern Border Province Administration Center is calling for stricter scrutiny in the selection of defense volunteers and rangers deployed in the South. The panel is currently investigating the murder of three small children in Narathiwat in early February. Two volunteer rangers were arrested for this and have confessed. According to one panelist, more volunteers are implicated in recent assassinations in the South. They are hired by relatives of people killed by insurgents to avenge the murder.

– Today the Constitutional Court will rule whether the government can borrow 2 trillion baht outside the budget for intrastructural works (including the construction of four high-speed lines). Prime Minister Yingluck says Thailand will miss an important opportunity to develop if the court does not grant permission.

Opposition party Democrats has asked the Court for the ruling. The method of financing gives the government a license to spend the money as it sees fit without parliament being able to control it, and the loan inflates the country's debt burden, Democrats say.

The trillion-dollar proposal was approved by parliament before the House of Representatives was dissolved. Deputy Prime Minister Phonthep Thepkanchana says the government will respect the court's ruling.

– The Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI) ​​wants an end to the occupation of Chaeng Watthanaweg by means of a writ of execution from the civil court. The DSI also wants protest leader Luang Pu Buddha Issara to be prosecuted because the protesters he leads are preventing DSI officials from going to work. The DSI has asked the Public Prosecution Service to bring the case before the court.

– The construction of the Red Line from Bang Sue to Rangsit has started and that means that parts of Kamphaeng Phet road 2 and 6 at Mor Chit bus station are blocked. Bang Sue is the current terminus of the Hua Lamphong-Bang Sue MRT (underground subway) line.

The Red Line will be built along the railway line to the north and will have a length of 26,3 kilometres. The Bang Sue-Don Muang section will be elevated; the remaining 7,1 kilometers to Rangsit at ground level.

– A 25-year-old man guarding a water drill in Song (Phrae) was seriously injured Monday night in what may have been the aftermath of an argument over water. He was shot in the chest by a passing motorcyclist. I'm not going to mention the details.

– The guards of the protest movement will assist the police and soldiers stationed at the Lumpini park in guarding. In the past week, the park, in which the demonstrators have retreated, has been the target of several attacks. In the latest attack Monday night, a guard at gate 4 was seriously injured by a grenade. Two other guards were slightly injured.

Getting the DPRC guards to work with the police and military will hopefully put an end to allegations that the attacks are the work of guards, protest leader Thaworn Senneam said. Nets are hung at the back of the stage to protect against grenades.

– Kui Buri National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan will reopen to the public in June. The park closed at the end of last year, when wild gaurs died on the assembly line, a total of 24 specimens. This came to an end at the end of December. The gaurs are the main attraction of the park.

Tour operators organize special trips to the area where the animals graze. They can come back, but the park will take preventive measures to prevent a recurrence. For example, vehicles and people will be sprayed with anti-bacterial chemicals. There will be other vantage points, less close to the habitat of the animals.

The cause of death has now been determined. The animals are believed to have succumbed to a virus related to the foot and mouth disease virus. But the director of the Institute of National Animal Health is still wary. The institute needs more evidence to make a definitive conclusion.

The kanman of a nearby tambon doesn't believe the virus story. He probably still believes, as residents previously claimed, that the animals were poisoned as a result of an argument between two officials. Or maybe he believes it was the work of evil spirits.

– It is not yet an order, but the opinion of a judge; nevertheless, the inhabitants can be satisfied. The national electricity company Egat must compensate the residents of the coal-fired power plant in Mae Moh (Lampang) for air pollution, a judge of the Supreme Administrative Court has said. Egat should also make plans to restore the environment.

According to the judge, Egat failed to filter sulfur dioxide. Only two of the eight filters were working in 2008, releasing excessive amounts of the toxic gas into the air.

There is also another case related to this. The Department of Primary Industries and Mines has been charged with negligence, among others.

Elections

– The governor elections of a year ago in Bangkok must be over. The Electoral Council has given a yellow card to elected governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra after supporters of his had defamed the rival Pheu Thai candidate during the election campaign.

The case will now go to Region 1 of the Appeal Court, which will make the final decision. As soon as the court hears the case, Sukhumbhand has to stop working. He can be re-elected.

Sukhumbhand (photo homepage) calls it a shame that it took the Electoral Council a year to make this decision. The Electoral Council was not unanimous: three commissioners supported the yellow card, two voted against.

Economic news
– Investors are watching the cat out of the tree now that the political deadlock continues to drag on. In January and February, the number of investment applications to the Board of Investment (BoI) decreased by 46 and 58 percent respectively compared to the same period last year. The BoI received 188 project applications with a combined value of 63,1 billion baht.

FDIs (foreign direct investment) also fell: 40 percent on an annual basis. The 121 project applications represent a value of 47,3 billion baht. Investment requests from Japan, Thailand's largest foreign investor, fell 63 percent from the same period last year to 17,4 billion baht.

Nevertheless, the BoI maintains its target of 900 billion baht for this year. "When the political situation ends the first quarter, I think we will have no problem meeting our target," said Secretary-General Udom Wongviwatchai. 'A number of investors are waiting for the situation to improve. Therefore, they have not yet submitted their investment application. There are no signs that foreign investors are withdrawing or moving to other countries.'

– Thailand's credit rating is not at risk for the time being. Despite the political turmoil that emerged at the end of October, rating agencies are maintaining their ratings. Experience shows that the Thai economy recovers quickly after a period of political and economic chaos, such as the Tom Yum Kung crisis in 1997, the military coup in 2006 and the floods in 2011.

A source at the Public Debt Management Office says that prolonged political tensions could affect the country's competitiveness, economic growth and the government's ability to pay debt, which is the most important factor for credit ratings.

– Reservations for Songkran are not yet available. The Khao San Road Business Association says reservations in Khao San Road, a popular backpacker tourist destination, are up 30 percent, up from 60 percent in the same period last year. The Thai Hotels Association also reports low bookings for the East of Thailand. But the industry expects a revival for Bangkok and the tourist destinations in the East if the emergency ordinance, which expires on March 22, is not extended.

Chiang Mai is unaffected: reservations for Songkran are now at 90 percent; it is expected that 100 percent will be reached soon. Chinese tourists account for 40 percent of bookings; Thais, Koreans and Malaysians make up the rest.

The Hat Yai-Songkhla Hotel Association also expects to reach 100 percent. Malaysian tourists, who account for 90 percent of total foreign tourists, are returning after the bombings in Danok and Sadao late last year.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

Editorial notice

Bangkok Shutdown and the elections in images and sound:
www.thailandblog.nl/nieuws/videos-bangkok-shutdown-en-de-keuzeen/