News from Thailand – March 2, 2013
There seems to be no blessing at Suvarnabhumi Airport lately. Earlier, the ground staff, who handle the luggage, went on strike and at 6 o'clock yesterday morning, the men who collect and return the luggage carts, stopped work for five hours. The work stoppage was a protest against employer AP Management Co, who had not paid their salary.
Minister Chadchat Sittipunt (Transport) says that the company has had some problems with transferring salaries since Thursday. Somchai Sawasdipol, acting president of Airports of Thailand, the manager of Suvarnabhumi, says he is aware of the problems. AoT temporarily deployed other employees yesterday to return the trolleys that were scattered around the terminal.
AoT instructed the company, which won a seven-year concession three years ago to manage and purchase baggage carts, to increase the number of carts by 3.500 (2.000 small and 1.500 medium) to serve the growing number of passengers on Suvarnabhumi. are.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the airport handled 9.000 passengers per day, now 120.000. [Yes, it really is.] The company itself wants to hire more staff. Now seventy people work in three shifts. Don Mueang is also short of carts. There must be 3.120 more.
– Six people were injured in two bomb attacks in the southern province of Narathiwat yesterday. The government sees no connection with the signing of the peace agreement between Thailand and the BRN resistance group the day before. Some black viewers, on the other hand, do see a connection.
At the entrance of a fresh food market on Phuphaphakdee Road in the town of Muang Narathiwat, a bomb hidden in the storage compartment of a motorcycle exploded. Five civilians and one soldier were injured, six motorcycles and two pickup trucks were damaged. According to witnesses, the motorcycle was parked there by a teenager.
Six hours later, a bomb exploded in front of a shop opposite the police station in Muang. No one was injured or fatally injured. The bomb was hidden in a pickup truck with a Yala province license plate. Explosives experts found an alarm clock and a cell phone.
– Prime Minister Yingluck dismissed criticism yesterday that the government now recognizes the rebel groups. “It shows our direction. It's not yet negotiations and it doesn't legally commit us. Whether the efforts will bear fruit, I cannot say. The National Security Council is responsible for the implementation of the peace process.'
Vice Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung parrots Yingluck's words. "The agreement does not change the status of the insurgents." He emphasizes that an autonomous state or a special administrative zone for the South is not government policy.
Numerous groups have expressed their support for the peace talks. Former chamber chairman Wan Muhammed Nor Matha said he understands the concerns, but efforts to reach a political solution must be given a chance. Academic Abdulrorsah Wanali believes that citizens' groups should sit down at the negotiating table.
See further News from Thailand of Friday.
– Vatchari Vimooktayon returns to her statement that the Ministry of Commerce proposes to lower the mortgage price of rice from 15.000 baht per ton to 13.000 or 14.000 baht. On Wednesday, the ministry's permanent secretary said the ministry will propose this to the decision-making body, the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC). Farmers had already threatened a rally when the price is cut. Vatchari now emphasizes that the price will remain unchanged this season.
According to Vatchari, the mortgage system will cost the government 2012 billion baht this rice season (2013-100), which remains within the budget that the cabinet has allocated for it. She expects farmers to offer 7 to 9 million tons of rice out of the 11 million tons that are cultivated.
The NRPC meets in mid-March. It will investigate how farmers' production costs can be reduced. This could include a target amount or price measure for land rent and harvesting activities. The farmers see more benefit in a price measure for pesticides and fertilizers.
– The recalcitrant red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan will not be deputy governor if the Pheu Thai candidate Pongsapat Pongcharoen manages to win the governorship elections in Bangkok on Sunday. Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit refers reports about this to the realm of fables. Although the red shirt leader helped Pongsapat with his election campaign, he did not ask for anything in return.
Political observers view the rumors as an attempt to sabotage Pheu Thai's chances of victory. The gap between the UDD (red shirts) and the ruling party Pheu Thai could widen if the party excludes Jatuporn from the deputy position. Many red shirts are already pissed off that Jatuporn passed over in the latest cabinet change.
– To have evidence in case of electoral fraud, ten officers will set off tomorrow with a camera mounted on their shoulder. The images are transmitted live to the police station via 3G. Police bought the cameras last year to use when yellow shirts demonstrated outside Government House. But that was not necessary, because the demonstration ended peacefully.
Ten thousand police officers will also receive a counter tomorrow to check whether the number of people coming to vote matches the number of votes cast. The police are deploying a total of 14.000 officers in the 50 constituencies. The polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 15 p.m. In the evening it will be announced who will become governor of Bangkok for the next four years.
– The riots and arson attacks on 19 May 2010 were not terrorist acts and therefore insurer Deves Insurances must compensate the damage to the CentralWorld shopping centre. This was decided by the judge yesterday. So whether Deves wants to dock 3,7 billion baht (damage, loss of income plus interest). The insurer invoked a ruling by the then government that the red shirt riots should be regarded as terrorism.
Deves awaits the full text of the verdict before deciding whether to appeal. Consultations are also held with reinsurers, both domestic and foreign.
– Thailand will definitely be removed from human trafficking watch list, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after Minister Surapong Tovichatchaikul (BuZa) yesterday handed over a report on Thailand's progress to the US ambassador in Bangkok. The ambassador will forward the report to US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Thailand is on the so-called Tier 2 list of the Trafficking in Persons report of the US Department of the Interior. In June, Washington will decide whether this will change. Tier 2 countries are countries that do too little to combat human trafficking. In addition to Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar are also on that list.
Last month, the minister led a delegation of ambassadors to Samut Sakhon province to prove that human trafficking and child labor do not exist in the fish processing industry. The visit was announced, though.
– Thai Airways International gets 247 flight attendants and stewards. The expansion is necessary because the fleet will be expanded by seventeen aircraft this year. In 2011, THAI hired 468 flight attendants. Financially things are better with THAI. Last year a net profit of 6,51 billion baht was recorded against a net loss a year earlier of 10,19 billion baht. The occupancy rate is now 76,6 percent against an average of 70,4 percent over the past 5 years.
– The Department of Investigation will ask the Ministry of Education to declare the exam results of the exam for teaching assistant invalid, because there has been widespread fraud. A day before the exam, the assignments were leaked and candidates also received the answers via their mobile phones. Some were replaced by someone else.
– In the border province of Ranong, a new drug is popular with teens from Thailand and Myanmar: paed khoon roi or 8×100 formula. The new cocktail is a variant of the already existing 4×100 cocktail (si khoon roi). Being the main component in the 4×100 kratomleaves, but they have become scarce and are now being replaced by leaves of the long gong.
Economic news
– Energy giant PTT Plc will import twice as much LNG (liquefied natural gas, liquefied natural gas) in April to prevent possible power outages. This threatens because the supply of natural gas from the Gulf of Martaban is disrupted due to maintenance on a production platform from 5 to 14 April. Normally one tanker with 70.000 tons arrives, two in April: one at the beginning of the month and one at the end.
The reduced supply means that the capacity of Thailand's power plants from 31.600 MW is reduced by 4.100 MW, because not all plants can switch to bunker oil or diesel. The national electricity company Egat said yesterday that it believes that the reserve supply is sufficient during the outage. On April 5, this will be increased from the expected 767 MW to 1.058 MW.
Total, the operator of the gas field, has announced that it does not expect any delays. The monsoon season has not started yet, so the weather conditions are favourable. Previous maintenance services were also not plagued by delays. For next year, PTT has asked Total to plan the closure during the Songkran holiday, when energy demand is lower.
The gas supply will become more secure towards the end of the year as a new field will come on stream with an output of 240 million cfpd (cubic feet per day), to be increased to 300 million.
– The four charter airlines Mjets, Bangkok Aviation Centre, Royal Skyways and Thai Flying Service, flying from Don Mueang, also want to take advantage of the discounts offered by the airport AirAsia as an incentive to move from Suvanabhumi to the old airport.
At the beginning of February, the four reminded the airport management of a decision by the Board of Directors of Airports of Thailand, taken in November, to extend the incentives of the time to the charter companies. Paranee Vatanotai, general manager of Don Mueang, says AoT is still reviewing whether the charter boys are entitled to the discounts. These are modest, by the way, but the companies are more concerned with the principle.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post