News from Thailand – October 2, 2014

They fight for their livelihood, so yesterday thirty street vendors standing at Wat Hua Lamphong padlocked the gate of the Bang Rak district office. After three hours they moved on to the Naret Road, which was blocked.

The vendors, who are no longer allowed to stand on the sidewalk at the temple between 5 and 19 p.m., resist because there are almost no customers during the other hours. They had already partially cleared the sidewalk of their own accord, leaving 2 meters for pedestrians.

But the municipality stands its ground, because it has the same policy elsewhere: to return the footpath to the pedestrian. She has reported the group to the police in Bang Rak.

[I know the situation from my own experience and saw that the motorcycle taxi ranks had been moved. There are now the tables, which previously stood opposite the food stalls, indeed leaving hardly any room for pedestrians.]

– No compensation for the girl (now 16) who lost both legs in a metro station in Singapore in 2011. The Supreme Court of Singapore, like the lower court, ruled that the subway operator was not negligent because the platform partitions were missing.

– The New Year's holiday will last five days next year: from December 31, 2014 to January 4, 2015. Friday, January 2, is therefore an extra day off to drink heavily and get drunk on a motorcycle or behind the wheel of a a pickup. This use leads to hundreds of road deaths and thousands of injuries every year during the so-called 'seven dangerous days'.

– Not only the Ministry of Education is concerned about the misconduct of (some) students, youth networks [unspecified] are also concerned. In an open letter they have called on the minister to tackle problems such as alcohol abuse, gambling and dangerous hazing practices. They say there is an increase.

– Minister Prajin Juntong (Transport) supports the plan to give personnel working at Suvarnabhumi airport the authority to detain people. This benefits passenger safety. After studying the plan, the minister forwards it to the cabinet for approval, after which a Royal Decree is required.

According to the chairman of the board of directors of Airports of Thailand (AoT), illegal taxi drivers and tour guides are the main problem. In the past 1.800 months, police arrested 837 illegal tour guides and XNUMX illegal taxi drivers at the airport. AoT personnel on Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Phuket and Chiang Rai are already authorized to assist the police, the chairman said.

– State Secretary Somsak Chanharas (Public Health) enjoyed the soup yesterday that he was served at Victory Monument. Nothing special, you will say, must be well prepared. But it was special, because the soup was prepared by HIV patients and there are still many misconceptions about the risk of HIV infection. Somsak said it again: unprotected sex and sharing syringes are the most common ways of infection.

Not only citizens discriminate, some companies do that too. They require a blood test from applicants. This is against the government's anti-discrimination policy. Employees and applicants can file a complaint with the court.

But the soup wasn't the main news of the day. The ministry will provide free anti-retroviral drugs regardless of a patient's CD4 cell count. These cells are an indication of the number of HIV antibodies. Until now, only patients with a CD350 cell count of less than 4 received free medication, but that condition has been abolished.

Thailand has 460.000 HIV patients, of which 240.049 are now receiving free medicines. The number of new patients dropped to 8.000 last year. The death toll has also fallen sharply: from 9.154 in 1999 to 673 in 2010.

– Bang Sue subway station, terminus of the Hua Lamphong subway line, which will be the starting point of the Red Line would benefit from a connection to the new Sri Rat Outer Ring Road Expressway. This promotes traffic flow. The connection was discussed yesterday during a meeting of the services involved.

The construction of the new express way [or is it meant the connection?] costs 70 million baht. That money has been well spent, says the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, because it will increase the number of Red Line users.

The new ring road (16,7 km) is now 33 percent advanced and will be completed in 2016. It runs from Kanchanaphisek road along the Red Line and ends at Bang Sue, close to Mor Chit 2 bus station.

- Chakthip Chaichinda, deputy chief of the national police, will be given the clean task of overseeing the police investigation into the double murder on Koh Tao. Two weeks have now passed and a suspect has not yet been found.

The head of the Provincial Police Region 8, which is in charge of the investigation, claims that police are on the verge of arresting some suspects. Police are targeting ten Thai and Myanmar workers who were all in the AC bar on the night of the murders. The two British were there too. (See also the post Four police investigations: shoddy work, manipulation and coercion)

– Five million baht has cost the construction of a futsal field at the Han Huaisrai Witthaya school in Nakhon Ratchasima. The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) took a look at it yesterday, because that's a lot of money. The PACC suspects that there has also been tampering with the construction of fields elsewhere in the country.

The money for the construction was made available by the Office of the Basic Education Commission: 689 million baht for fields at 358 schools in 17 provinces. 101 schools built the fields, mainly in the Northeast. The 257 schools other schools sometimes spent the money on other projects. Fields at 30 schools are already unplayable after 2 years. The synthetic rubber floor turned out to be of poor quality, although three to four times more expensive than usual.

The PACC, the DSI (the Thai FBI) ​​and the Anti-Money Laundering Office are investigating. So some politicians in Nakhon Ratchasima who were involved in the construction can wet their chests. They have to pocket a pretty penny, because each school received 5 million baht for a field that cost 200.000 baht.

– Talks don't fill holes, is a well-known expression. I was reminded when I read the report about the new navy chief who said on his first day that he would transform the navy into one of ASEAN's best fighting forces within 10 years. Well, dear Admiral Kraison Chansuwanit, I wish you success in this noble endeavor. But who is actually the enemy?

– Public toilets at gas stations are often complained about, says the Bangkok municipality, but which ones are the dirtiest Wasuthep Boonchoo, head of the Food Sanitation Division, could not say yesterday during the presentation of the clean toilet of the year award.

The annual award is presented in twelve categories: not only petrol stations, but also bus terminals and separate toilet cubicles, for example. Near the gas stations was the toilet of the Banchak station at 54 Udom Suk Soi number one. I'll leave the other winners unmentioned, if you don't mind me.

There were no winners in three categories: government buildings, public parks and markets. Not a single toilet met the requirements, but I must note that there were 99 candidates for the prize. The winners will participate in the national competition of the Ministry of Health. On the photo on the homepage the winning standalone toilet at Victory Monument.

– Mae Sot (Tak province) is still safe, although on the other side of the border there is fighting between the Myanmar army and Karen rebels. Both Thai and foreign tourists can travel to the border town with confidence and cross the Moei River to Myawaddi in Myanmar, says district chief Preecha Jaipetch.

The thirty Myanmarese (or a hundred according to Irrawaddy online news) who fled the fighting to Mae Sot have since returned. Fighting broke out on Saturday. Myanmar's army sent reinforcements to the area on Tuesday. There was also fighting on that day. There is a ceasefire between the rebels and the government. The government has banned the rebels from wearing uniforms and weapons while in the city; that ban has contributed to tensions.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

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