News from Thailand – October 20, 2014

Former government party Pheu Thai and the red shirt movement refrain from provocative actions against the government. Pheu Thai Secretary General Phumtham Wechayachai says his party is taking a 'wait and see' approach and allowing the government to implement reforms. "Former Prime Minister Thaksin wants to see reconciliation and he wants the country to move forward."

Phumtham said this yesterday as he attended the cremation of Apiwan Wiriyachai, former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and core member of the red shirt movement, at Wat Bang Phai. And he wasn't alone there. Many hundreds of red shirts, mainly from the North and Northeast, had come to the temple in Nonthaburi to pay their last respects to Apiwan.

Apiwan died of a lung infection in the Philippines, where he had fled after the May 22 military coup. He was 65 years old.

– Minister Prajin Juntong (Transport) wants to end King Power's monopoly on the five major Thai airports: Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hat Yai. Prajin will raise the matter at the next meeting of the NCPO's economic division (junta), which he chairs.

A second wish of his is an online information system on the basis of which airport manager Airports of Thailand (AoT) can calculate its profit share. According to Prajin, both are being pushed: competition and information. Various entrepreneurs are interested in a tax-free shop and the AoT wants to have insight into the tax-free transactions from day to day.

According to AoT chairman Prasong Poontaneat, there is criticism of King Power's monopoly position, but customers are satisfied. Prices are competitive compared to airports in other countries. We will not know what King Power thinks of it, because the management was unavailable for comment yesterday. Maybe she was at Apiwan's cremation (see previous post).

– The woman, suspected of the theft of 700.000 baht from her missing Japanese partner, has taken off with her daughter. Not that difficult because on Friday she was released on bail after posting a bail of 100.000 baht. Police are looking for her outside Bangkok.

The Japanese (79) has been missing since September 21. The woman was arrested in his apartment while she was packing her bags [suitcases?]. In the past two weeks, she had withdrawn 700.000 baht from the man's bank account in fourteen transactions.

Yesterday the newspaper reported that she has also had a relationship with a Japanese person. He died after falling down the stairs. The family does not trust it because the man had taken out a life insurance policy.

– The woman who set herself on fire in the government's complaints center is in critical condition. She has developed a blood infection. Earlier she was already struggling with a high fever; it fluctuated around 39 degrees yesterday.

The woman set herself on fire on Wednesday because of a 1,5 million baht debt she had with a lender (euphemism for loan shark) has and threats. At least it would have, because her story is contested by a relative of the creditor.

– The head of the Phangan police station, Prachum Ruangthong, says that the police are willing to cooperate with the observers from the British Scotland Yard, who come to Thailand. But they are only allowed to follow and not participate in the police investigation into the Koh Tao double homicide, Royal Thai Police spokesman Prawuth Thawornsiri said. Because that would be against the law. The English may, however, ask for additional research.

The murder file is now with the Public Prosecution Service. Two Myanmar hosts are suspected of the murders.

– The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is on top of it: the alleged corruption in the construction of futsal fields two years ago at 358 schools in 17 provinces. The committee now wants to know which members of parliament insisted on the budget at the time. If they are involved in the scandal, they will get the wind from the PACC.

The PACC is also targeting the staff of the Office of the Basic Education Commission, which distributed the 689 million baht budget, and educators who were tasked with supervising the construction. The company that built the fields is said to have overcharged and used faulty equipment, at least at 101 schools.

– Two tourists are missing after a collision between a speedboat and a fishing trawler, about five nautical miles from the island of Yao Yai. Eight tourists were injured. The speedboat was carrying 45 passengers from Phi Phi Island to Phuket

– Nice idea from the governor of Tak: a golf course with nine holes in Thailand and nine in Myanmar and a clubhouse in both countries. The governor launched the idea yesterday at a meeting with private sector workers. He thinks investors are up for it.

– It's a familiar sight for those who sometimes drive or walk along a canal: water hyacinth. Often even so much that the water cannot be seen. The Minister of the Interior wants 6,25 million tons removed. He derives this number from a recent study by the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning. This service counted that many aquatic plants in 3.955 bodies of water in 60 provinces. And if you are wondering why they have to go: they hindered shipping traffic, the flow of water and blocked weirs.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

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