News from Thailand – October 17, 2013

Not next February, but on November 11, the International Court of Justice in The Hague will rule in the Preah Vihear case.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, responsible for the erroneous message, says the Court has postponed another case to make room for the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over the disputed 4,6 square kilometers at the Hindu temple.

Prime Minister Yingluck has called an emergency meeting for Monday to discuss a 'mechanism' that will be put in place after the verdict. This 'mechanism' includes diplomatic, military and political measures and a way to comply with the verdict without affecting the relationship between Thailand and Cambodia. Minister Surapong, currently in South Korea, has already had telephone contact with his Cambodian counterpart about such a 'mechanism'.

The Preah Vihear case was started 2 years ago by Cambodia. It has asked the Court to clarify the 1962 judgment awarding the temple to Cambodia. At that time, the Court did not rule on the surrounding area. Only the temple and 'it's vicinity' went to Cambodia, but Cambodia wants to know how big is that 'vicinity'. In 2010 there was a few fights at the border, but since the Yingluck government took office, things have calmed down.

The Thai ministry takes into account four scenarios: The Court does not consider itself competent to rule, the area goes to Cambodia or Thailand or the Court establishes a new border line. The ambassador of Thailand in the Netherlands, head of the delegation that is taking the case before the Court, says that it is not a border issue, but an interpretation of the 1962 verdict. Seems like legal sharp-edging to me.

– Five Thais were killed in the crash of a Lao Airlines plane yesterday in the Mekong River. Two of them are employees of a subsidiary of oil giant PTT Plc; they were on their way to work in Pakse. A Laotian employee of the company was also among the victims. All 44 passengers and the crew of five were killed.

The aircraft, a twin-engined turboprop, veered off course on its descent to Pakse airfield due to the severe stormy weather and crashed into the river near the village of Don Khor. A Chinese temple has been set up as a crisis center. There were no Dutch people among the passengers.

– The Department of Special Investigation (the Thai FBI) ​​has enlisted the help of the Japanese police to solve the murder of a Japanese tourist in 2007 in the Sukothai Historical Park. The investigation was reopened in July after the Ministry of Tourism and Sports discovered that a male Japanese tourist was seen by witnesses near the crime scene at the time. The police left that trail behind. The DSI is trying to identify the man with Japanese help and wants to compare his DNA with DNA found on the victim's pants.

– The anti-government demonstrators in Uruphong are not going away. For the second time, the police failed to persuade them to move. According to the police, local residents complain that access to their homes is blocked by the protesters' tents. Furthermore, traffic is hindered, shopkeepers lose customers, the mobile toilets stink and the loudspeakers cause noise nuisance. The protest leaders, on the other hand, say that the local residents have no objection and are happy to listen to the speeches.

The protesters in Uruphong are an offshoot of the People's Democratic Force to Overthrow Thaksinism (Pefot), the group that demonstrated outside the government center last week and ended its action at the request of the authorities in connection with the visit of the Chinese prime minister. Dissident Pefot demonstrators then moved to Uruphong and have since received reinforcements from supporters.

The Criminal Court yesterday refused to revoke the bail of three Pefot leaders charged with the occupation of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang in late 2008. The prosecutor said they had violated their bail conditions by taking part in the Pefot rally on August 4 and 5 in the Lumpini park. But the court disagreed. The rally was peaceful and had not caused any disturbances.

– The Ministry of Justice wants to build 42 new prisons, including a number of EBIs (high security facility). Cost 30 billion baht. The proposal will soon be submitted to the cabinet. Prisons will be located in the Northeast, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

– Because the political situation is 'unfriendly' and the group does not want to be regarded as an anti-government group, Green Move Thailand decided not to go to the government center on Saturday to present Prime Minister Yingluck with a petition against the construction of the Mae Wong dam.

More than XNUMX people have signed in protest against the dam planned in Mae Wong National Park. The petition will be delivered at a later date, when the political situation returns to normal. Last month, the controversial construction drew attention to a XNUMX-day protest walking tour that ended in Bangkok.

– The municipal police of Bangkok takes into account that car thieves will abuse the towing scheme. They might get the idea of ​​towing wrongly parked cars themselves. But that may only be done by special tow trucks accompanied by a police officer, according to the police.

Improperly parked cars will be towed away on ten busy roads in Bangkok from Monday. Warnings will be issued in the coming days. 500 private companies are participating in the towing operation and the police are deploying 100 of their own vehicles. Data from the tow trucks and drivers have been entered into its database by the police. They receive a special sticker to indicate that they are registered.

– Moe Set Wine, who will represent Myanmar in Moscow at the Miss Universe pageant, is in Thailand for two days to prepare for the international stage together with the Thai candidate. This year marks the first time since 1961 that Myanmar has a Miss. See the photo on the homepage.

– Passengers on interprovincial buses and minibuses are obliged to wear a seat belt from the end of this year. The Council of State has already approved the new regulation and now the government has to give the green light. Violations are punishable by a fine of up to 5.000 baht.

Transport Co's 854 buses are already fitted with seat belts. In fact, NakornChai Air Bus has had them for 20 years. Transport companies that fail to install seatbelts can expect hefty fines.

The next measure planned by the Ministry of Transport to increase road safety is the installation of cameras, including one aimed at the driver.

– A water pipe with a diameter of 80 centimeters burst yesterday at the Mor Long intersection in Bangkok. The intersection was flooded and traffic was halted. The pipe was broken by an excavator, which was busy laying underground electricity wires. As a result of the repair, which will take a day, some areas may be left without water.

– The district chief of Mae Chaem has been transferred to Chiang Mai City Hall pending an investigation into his behavior during a farmers' protest. He fired his gun into the air, according to his own words because a farmer had pounded on the window of the district office and the protest threatened to escalate. The protesting farmers demand his departure. The farmers continue their protest. They demand a higher price for their corn.

– Things are not going very quickly, but the Department of Special Investigation has now asked the Attorney General's office to prosecute the management of the PCC Development and Construction contracting company for fraud. The public prosecutors were previously unwilling to do so, but the DSI says it has hard evidence.

The case concerns the (suspended) construction of 396 police stations and official residences. Opposition leader Abhisit and Suthep Thaugsuban, former deputy prime minister, are also involved in the case. The DSI has asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate their role. How exactly it works, I will not say. Too complicated.

– Six foreigners and two Thais have been arrested for fraud and human trafficking. These are four different things. A Liberian fooled a Thai into investing 5 million baht in a bogus furniture importer; two 'in love' Cameroonians scammed a woman through internet chats for 1,2 million baht; a Liberian, South Korean and Cameroonian were involved in black money and two Thai helped illegal Cambodians find work in the construction industry.

Field

– Drowning is the leading cause of unforeseen death for children under the age of 14. The death toll is twice as high as the number of road fatalities and 24 times higher than dengue fever. Last year, 1.049 children drowned, or an average of 3 per day, according to figures from the Ministry of Health. Most were boys. Only 15 percent of Thai children can swim.

Drowning can be prevented, writes Sukhumaporn Laiok in the Think Box column Bangkok Post. Parents can take their children to swimming lessons. You don't need much equipment for swimming and a season membership is relatively cheap. Besides the fact that the child learns to swim, it is also good for health.

The author argues for school swimming as part of the physical exercise course. This requires investments in public swimming pools and the availability of professional personnel. "I consider this a good investment that will pay off in the future," writes Sukhumaporn. (Source: Bangkok Post, October 16, 2013)

Comments

– The Gulf of Thailand is too shallow, the coastline of the Indian Ocean is short and then there is the problem that a real enemy is missing. If you read this like this, you wonder: does Thailand really need a submarine fleet? That question also asks Bangkok Post in her editorial on Wednesday, to answer the headline straight away: We don't need them.

However, the Navy thinks otherwise. Although there are no submarines, a simulator worth 200 million baht has already been purchased and a headquarters worth 540 million baht is under construction at the Sattahip naval base. It will be ready next year.

Admiral Panu Punyavirocha, commander of the submarine squadron (which only exists on paper), calls the absence of submarines a 'technicality'. Its purchase is included in the 10-year plan that the armed forces are drawing up at the request of Prime Minister Yingluck.

Whether the purchase will get the green light from the government remains to be seen. Under the previous government, the navy was allowed to buy six second-hand German submarines, but the Pheu Thai government drew a bold line.

Incidentally, the army often purchases equipment that it does not need. The newspaper calls aircraft carrier HMTS Chakri Naruebet, which plays no role in national security, and I myself would add the purchase of the Aeros 40D Sky Dragon airship, which has never been in service since its acquisition in 2010. And then I'm not even talking about the purchase of the (fake) bomb detectors.

Economic news

– The rice stocks will increase by 2013 percent in the 2014-24 season to 15,5 million tons, the US Department of Agriculture predicts. Attracted by the high price they get in the mortgage system, farmers plant rice en masse. The world production is estimated by the Americans at 476,8 million tons, an amount that has not been seen before.

The Department of Commerce disputes the figures. They cannot be correct, because no country provides information about its rice stocks. According to State Secretary Yanyong Phuangrach, the government's stock currently stands at 10 million tons, of which 5 to 6 million tons have already been used. Yanyong emphasizes that China has promised to buy 5 million tons every year for the next 1 years. According to him, China imports 5 to 6 million tons of rice annually. [According to other reports, China was self-sufficient until last year.]

Traders, on the other hand, are sceptical. Earlier, the government claimed that China would buy 1 million tons over 5 years, but they have not seen any evidence that rice sales to China and other countries have increased.

Until last year, Thailand was the world's largest rice exporter, but in that year exports fell by 35 percent to 6,9 million tons and India and Vietnam overtook Thailand, because their rice is much cheaper. The outlook is not good either. Abundant rainfall ensures good harvests in India, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines and Indonesia recently announced that it is self-sufficient. This means that the price on the world market will fall further. "When the government sticks to the mortgage system, bigger losses are unavoidable," said Sermsak Kuonsongtum, director of Chaiyporn Rice.

– Bhutan Airlines, the first private airline in Bhutan, made its maiden flight from Paro to Suvarnabhumi on Thursday. The airline flies once a day via Kolkata (where refueling takes place) with an A320-200 single aisle jet with 144 seats to Bangkok. At Suvarnabhumi, Thai Airways International takes care of aircraft engineering, ground handling en in flight catering services. Marketing is largely in the hands of OMG Experience Co in Bangkok.

Until now, only the state-owned company Drukair maintained a connection between Bangkok and Paro. Most international travelers fly to the kingdom in the Himalayas via Bangkok. Thai tourists account for 8 percent. Next year, Bhutan Airlines hopes to add Kathmandu and Dhaka as destinations, followed by Hong Kong and Dubai. The cheapest return ticket Bangkok-Paro costs 22.230 baht.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post