News from Thailand – August 13, 2013

I wrote about it before in News from Thailand of August 10: the demolition rage of the abbot of Wat Kanlanyanamit Maha Wihan in Thon Buri. Today's newspaper lists what has already been demolished to make way for a parking lot and what else the abbot is planning (NB The land is worth gold) .

Demolished housing units of monks, a crematorium, an old bell tower, a chedi with the ashes of a member of the royal house and a hermit stucco [hermit plaster?], commissioned by King Rama VI. Residents of temple land have also been told to leave.

The Chumchon Rak Kanlaya organization, which opposes the demolition and evictions, says 27 of the 89 antique assets registered by the Fine Arts Department owned by the 188-year-old temple have been demolished.

So far, an order from the administrative court and complaints to the Sangha Council, the district office and the local police have had no effect. The residents have now pinned their hopes on the Crime Suppression Division.

– Four army officers were slightly injured yesterday afternoon in a bomb attack in Bannang Sata (Yala) (photo home page). The homemade 5 to 7 kilo bomb exploded while they were on patrol.

In the province of Pattani it was also hit: a resident was shot dead when she drove home on the motorcycle; a village chief was injured when he was shot in front of his house and another man was also injured by a gunshot in front of his house.

In a hut in Raman (Yala), the police arrested a man who was in possession of speed pills, self-made guns, ammunition, fertilizer and two gas cylinders.

– Small fishermen in Prachuap Khiri Khan are going to ask the governor of the province today to end illegal fishing in the zone 5,4 kilometers off the coast, where fishing is not allowed. Trawlers and shell fishermen fish there with tackle that leaves little of the vulnerable fauna. The fishermen have protested against it countless times.

On Saturday, one of the active fishermen was mistreated by a group of shell fishermen. He says he has been threatened with death before. The police will hunt down Saturday's culprits and fine them, promises Akaneh Daengdomyuth, head of the Muang bureau. He does not know the death threat. The police will protect him so that there is no repeat of the murder of an environmental activist in 2004. He campaigned against a coal-fired power plant.

-Thailandblog already reported: The man suspected of murdering his girlfriend and her mother has been arrested in Sa Kaeo. According to Bangkok Post he was in a car on his way to Cambodia.

The gruesome murder was captured on a surveillance camera and the footage was circulated on the internet. The suspect has stated that he committed the murder in a fit of anger over a personal conflict. The victims' families have demanded that he come to the cremation rites and apologize. The women are not cremated earlier.

The police did not dare to take him there yesterday because many relatives were waiting for him and they feared for his safety. Instead, a reconstruction took place at the crime scene.

– The foreign ministers of the Asean countries will meet tomorrow in Hua Hin to discuss how they can strengthen ties in the run-up to the Asean Economic Community, which will take effect at the end of 2015. Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul (BuZa) will chair the meeting. Topics that will be discussed are national health insurance, environmental challenges and the regional smog problem (forest fires and the burning of harvest residues). In August, the ministers will meet with China in Beijing and in October there will be an ASEAN-China summit in Brunei.

– A 50-year-old man in Ayutthaya had to make amends (a so-called kae bon) and therefore climbed a high-voltage pylon. Rescue workers plucked him from a height of 70 meters where he was suspended from a cable. Unfortunately, the message does not state exactly how that happened.

– A 53-year-old Japanese man took his own life on Sunday evening by jumping from the fifth floor of the Ploenchit Center where the food court is located. His lifeless body was found an hour later by the building's electrician.

– Airports of Thailand (AoT) is considering moving the taxi stand at Suvarnabhumi to a vacant lot south of the airport. Minister Chadchat Sittipunt (Transport) does not think it is a good idea. The new location makes control by AoT more difficult. The AoT board of directors will make a decision on August 28.

– Malaria is on the rise along the Thai-Myanmar border in Kanchanaburi. In the past year, 1.800 people, 40 percent of whom were Thai, contracted the disease. Health authorities are concerned that some patients from Myanmar are resistant to drugs and are seeking treatment in Thailand.

Rice news

– The farmers in the North and Northeast are fine with it, but the farmers in the Central Region will undoubtedly protest. The government's latest proposal to maintain the guaranteed price of 15.000 baht per ton of paddy, but to apply the mortgage system for rice only at the main harvest, has caused divided reactions.

Farmers in the North and Northeast are willing to accept the proposal - most of them harvest once a year - provided that farmers' representatives are involved in monitoring rice quality and moisture levels and they are allowed to monitor the millers. Furthermore, the government should help them grow high quality rice varieties and reduce their production costs and use of chemicals.

Protests can be expected from farmers in central Thailand, whose fields are being irrigated, allowing them to harvest twice a year. They will fight tooth and nail against halving the mortgage system, expects Prasit Booncheuy, president of the Thai Rice Farmers Association. "Farmers from the Northeast will undoubtedly accept the government's latest proposal because their production costs are only 4.500 to 5.500 baht per ton," he says.

According to figures from the Thailand Development Research Institute, 3 out of 4 million rice farmers grow rice once a year and 800.000 to 900.000 farmers grow rice twice.

– More rice. How big is the government's rice stock? That is a mystery, says a source at the Ministry of Finance. On June 27, two thousand warehouses were inspected by the police. The tonnage that rolled out does not match the figures of the Ministry of Finance. There is 1 million tons less. The inspection report is now in the possession of the government.

– In the fourth episode of the series special report about the rice mortgage system, Chaiporn Phrompan, a farmer with 100 rai of rice fields, advocates growing 'safe rice', or fertilizing the land with organic fertilizer. His parents still used fertilizer and never made any profit. When Chaiporn started on his parents' 30 rai, he switched to organic fertilizer. The yield was the same, the costs were lower.

According to a study by the Thanyaburi Ratchamongkol Institute of Technology in 2011, the gross profit margin on organically grown rice is 61 percent compared to 54 percent on chemically fertilized rice.

Chaiporn believes the government should differentiate the guaranteed price for paddy. Farmers who grow 'safe rice' should receive 1000 baht per ton more.

Other interesting tidbits mentioned in the article:

• 50 percent of the rice harvest is consumed in Thailand, the rest has to be exported.
• Of the 4 million rice farmers, 1 million farmers have 30 to 100 rai of land in irrigated areas. They earn enough, so they don't need to be subsidized, says Nipon Puapongsakorn, a fellow at the Thailand Development Research Institute.
• 40 percent are middle-income farmers and 30 percent are poor farmers. The middle group should be helped by the government to increase their productivity and deliver a higher quality product through R&D. They should grow organic rice or specialty grains like Sang Yod rice.
• According to Nipon, the yield per rai does not have to increase, as in Vietnam, where fertile land is scarce. Thailand has plenty of land; the problem is lack of labor.
• Only 20 to 30 percent of the poor farmers' income comes from farming. Nipon believes that the government should retrain them and get their children out of the agricultural sector. For those who are too old, he suggests an allowance or food and transportation coupons.

Political news

– Former Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh says that the amnesty proposal passed by parliament last week should be scrapped if it raises political tensions. If withdrawal helps to bring peace to the country, it is worth doing. The survival of the nation is more important than laws and even the Constitution.

Chavalit will be visited today by Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thapkanchana and Minister Varathep Ratanakorn (PM's Office). They are going to invite him to participate in the reconciliation forum proposed by Prime Minister Yingluck. Chavalit has already been contacted by her by telephone.

“There is no point in having many laws,” says Chavalit, “when the nation cannot survive. All Thais should cooperate [with the reform initiative] and not come up with excuses [to avoid it].'

After visiting Chavalit, both ministers flock to private sector leaders and academics. Most senior politicians have now agreed to participate in the forum. Varathep expects to announce the names of ten academics taking part next week. Representatives from the private sector include the Federation of Thai Industries, Board of Trade of Thailand and Thai Bankers' Association.

Gothom Arya, director of the Research Center for Peace Building at Mahidol University, believes the forum should operate for at least two to three years so that it can work comprehensively to bring about national reconciliation.

The first meeting of the reconciliation forum will be held on Friday or next week.

Tino Kuis listed all amnesty proposals. Click here.

Economic news

– Prime Minister Yingluck's foreign trips and the international roadshows held over the past two years have not been in vain. According to Minister Prasert Boonchaisuk (Industry), they have created confidence among foreign investors.

Of the 633 billion baht in investments registered for investment benefits in the first half of the year, 140 to 150 billion baht comes from the countries Yingluck has visited and where she has launched a roadshow.

The number of projects that applied to the Board of Investment (BoI) increased by 5,8 percent to 1.055 in the first six months of this year, according to the BoI. The 633 billion baht represented an increase of 47 percent on an annual basis. In contrast, foreign direct investment was lackluster with 19 projects worth 279 billion baht. In terms of investment value, the service and infrastructure sectors led the list.

Yingluck has visited at least seventeen countries in the past two years. To give an example of a successful visit. After Yingluck's visit to India, Apollo Tires invested 14,7 billion baht in car tires in Thailand and her trip to France resulted in investment from Michelin and a VCD/DVD producer.

– From December 5, Thai television viewers can (hopefully) enjoy digital TV. In October, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will begin auctioning the channels. Each channel is auctioned on a separate day. Some interested parties have complained that the draft auction rules have changed numerous times, leaving them confused.

That arrangement was approved by the NBTC board last month and will soon be published in the Royal Gazette. After that it will be Information Memorandum announced for each channel.

Natee Sukonrat, head of the NBTC's Broadcasting Committee, says that from December 5, 60 percent of Thais will have access to 30 digital channels. Digitization is not expected to become the same agony as the introduction of 3G, which was delayed for years due to procedural wrangling.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post