News from Thailand – April 15 + 16

The 'seven dangerous days' have already, after 4 days, proved to be more dangerous than last year. From 11 to 14 April, 210 people died in traffic and 2.288 were injured. Last year, 271 people died and 3.476 people were injured in the seven perilous days.

– The showers that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has handed out to the red shirts have not been well received by the Cambodian population. Hun Sen sent 10 VIP buses to the border and canceled Angkor Wat's 600 baht entrance fee, saving the country 30 million baht in revenue. The 164 buses, minibuses, pickup trucks and cars with a total of 7.432 red shirts on their way to Thaksin caused traffic chaos in Poi Pet and they were not happy about that in the Cambodian border town.

– Despite the car bomb, which last month in a hotels exploded in Hat Yai, all 25.000 hotel rooms were occupied with Songkran. Most tourists came from Malaysia. Earlier, the hotel industry feared that half of the rooms would remain empty, because many tourists from Singapore and Malaysia had canceled their reservations.

– The police have confirmed that three suspects have been arrested, who were involved in the two bomb explosions on March 31 in Yala. 11 people were killed and 100 injured. The danger of new bomb attacks has not yet passed because three stolen cars can be used for an attack.

– Seven revelers who went fishing with Songkran on the Si Yad reservoir in Chachoengsao died when the boat sank after hitting a submerged tree trunk. Two bodies were found an hour after the accident and two more later. Three bodies are still missing.

– Seventy houses in the district of Muang (Si Sa Ket) were hit by a summer storm. The roofs were blown off countless houses.

– Opposition party Democrats goes to court because a minister, a ministerial adviser and the Thai ambassador to Laos have failed to arrest Thaksin when he was visiting Laos. They should have done that because Thaksin has five criminal cases for corruption and he has also been sentenced to a prison term of 2 years.

The MPs who poured water on Thaksin's hands can also expect action. A spokesman for the Democrats accuses the politicians of a lack of conscience for doing a fugitive honor. That has caused confusion among the population, she says.

– Although former Prime Minister Thaksin said in a speech to red shirts that 2012 is an 'auspicious' year to go to Thailand to return, he denies that he is out for a quick return. This year would be favorable because the Queen will be 80 years old and the Crown Prince will be 60 years old. In such a year, quarrels have to be settled, said Thaksin, who visited Laos and Cambodia and was greeted there by thousands of red shirts.

For yellow shirt Veera Somkomenkid and his secretary, who are imprisoned in Cambodia for espionage, Thaksin said there was little he could do because they had not pleaded guilty. According to Cambodian law, pardons can only be granted when convicts have pleaded guilty. Both were apprehended at the border in December 2010.

– Opposition leader Abhisit believes that Prime Minister Yingluck has not been active enough in the past nine months. He says she seems unable to get people to take action. She also avoids parliamentary meetings, which makes her an "irresponsible leader."

– A 19-year-old transvestite has been fined 500 baht because he danced naked in public during the Songkran celebrations in Ayutthaya. Residents had complained about it.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Sources: The Nation, Bangkok Post