News from Thailand – July 22, 2013
Romance and wedding. With that theme, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will attract British tourists to Thailand at the World Travel Mart 2013 in London. Because although British people went abroad less on holiday last year (minus 5 pc), the number of British tourists in Thailand rose by 3 percent to 873.053.
The British are among the top five tourists who spend the most in Thailand. The TAT thinks the wedding and honeymoon segment still has growth potential. Last year, 300.000 British couples celebrated their wedding and 80.000 chose to have a ceremony or honeymoon abroad.
The TAT is trying to get a piece of the pie by promoting Thailand as a romantic destination with beautiful beaches and luxurious villas with swimming pools as lures.
Between April 2012 and March 2013, 755.691 tourists visited Thailand to spend their honeymoon or to celebrate their wedding. They brought in 29,9 billion baht.
Photos: A bride and groom flee from a 'pirate' during their 'Adventure Wedding Challenge' in Prachin Buri last year.
– Thailand rejects the accusation of resistance group BRN that it has violated the ceasefire. This is what the Thai delegation [at the peace talks] writes in a letter to Ahmad Zamzamin bin Hasmin, the Malaysian government representative who attends the talks as a mediator. The Thai letter is a response to the letter from the BRN, in which that accusation is made. According to the BRN letter, the Thai violations forced her to counterattack.
Opposition Democrats have pushed for a formal protest by the State Department, but Paradorn Pattanatabut, secretary general of the National Security Council and delegation leader, does not think that is necessary. "This is not a matter that needs the intervention of the State Department."
A delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok visited the South yesterday. There was no special reason for it, Pracha said. "Government policy on the situation is already clear."
– We would almost forget it with all the fuss about the amnesty proposals, but there is also a proposal to let the Senate choose in its entirety from now on and no longer appoint half. Senate President Nikom Waiyarachpanich understands that the bill will be considered on August 6 or 7, when the House of Representatives and Senate meet jointly.
The proposal will be the first of three proposals to amend the constitution. The others relate to petitions to the Constitutional Court, the fine and automatic banning of political parties for electoral fraud and international contracts.
Some senators are suspicious of the timing. A tactical maneuver, thinks Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn, to get permission quickly. The senators who benefit would be more likely to approve the 2014 budget and support the proposal to borrow 2 trillion baht. The Senate proposal also includes the removal of the ban on a second term.
– Just a personal note: I think they love committees in Thai politics. Now the Ministry of Transport will form a committee that will act as a project advisor in the spending of the 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works. Without such a committee, says Minister Chadchat Sittipunt (Transport), those works would progress too slowly.
The commission's establishment is in response to a recommendation from the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand. They have insisted on an independent organization that monitors the works. Chadchat says he is willing to allow audits of the projects, if not in violation of government regulations.
– Confusion everywhere yesterday at the Rich Hotel in Nonthaburi. The World Peace University (WPU) was supposed to award academic degrees, but the ceremony was changed to the presentation of honorary certificates at the eleventh hour and the organizer was suddenly called Universal Ministries of Thailand (UM).
That must have been done because the Office of the Higher Education Commission has filed a complaint against the WPU. Simply put, the WPU is a fake university and charges for academic degrees.
A Department of Special Investigation official was apparently unbothered by the name change yesterday, pointing out that the XNUMX lucky ones were wearing gowns. Where did those robes come from, he wanted to know. Nobody knew. A few lucky people saw the storm and took it off, some refused the certificate and a few left for fear of breaking the law.
Noppadol Konkam, supposedly UM's Minister of Peace, says that UM is a non-profit organization that awards certificates of honor to people who have done good deeds. We already know that story, because the WPU has told it before.
The question remains: did the recipients have to put money on the table for their certificate? One confirms that, but does not want to name the amount, but another denies.
Manawan Buakhao, head of the Romsai Foundation in Bang Kruai (Nonthaburi), was one of the lucky ones. 'I fully realize that this certificate cannot be used as an academic reference. Nor do I intend to use it for that purpose.' Another says: "I show it to my grandchildren as proof that I have done good deeds for society."
– The World Peace University (WPU) no longer exists (see previous post), but the Ministry of Education continues to hunt for fake universities. The Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec) currently has two universities in its sights that are suspected of being illegal. Ohec is also trying, with the help of the Ministry of ICT, to trace website administrators on which certificates are offered for payment of 15.000 baht.
Illegal universities usually use names of popular foreign universities. They attract students by offering them honorary doctorates. The WPU was such a 'university'. A few weeks ago she was pilloried in the media. One of those awarded an honorary doctorate was 'jet-set' monk (now ex-monk) Wirapol Sukphol, then referred to as Luang Pu, a title for senior monks.
One of the suspected universities is Adamson University. It offers a doctoral degree in Philosophy of Education in the UAE, Macau and Thailand. The university claims to be approved in the Philippines. 'We are not a ghost university,' says a coordinator. 'We have about eighty students, mostly teachers and school principals, who follow the programme. They study online for two semesters with their tutors in the Philippines.' The study costs 420.000 baht.
– Fifty lèse-majeste critics, who call themselves the Street Justice Forum, held a memorial service for Daranee Charncherngsilapakul, who has been imprisoned for 5 years, yesterday at the Criminal Court. Daranee was detained in July 2008 after giving a speech at Sanam Luang. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Daranee now wants to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Thatawut Tweewarodomgul, who was pardoned on July 5, believes she should apply for a pardon. “Five years is too long. There's no point in staying in jail. It has already been proven that the current judicial system does not excel in justice.'
– Farmers can now buy rice in addition to farm supplies with the credit card provided by the government. Until now, only fertilizer, seed, pesticides and fuel could be purchased with the card from a selected number of suppliers. More good news: the annual interest will be reduced from 7 to 1,5 percent and new cardholders will receive an interest-free period of five months.
Since July last year, 2 million credit cards have been distributed with a credit line of 43,66 billion baht. Since July 14, another 2 million cards have been distributed. The government wants to increase the number of suppliers from four to ten thousand this year.
– 61,6 percent of respondents in a poll by Abac do not trust the government's investigation into corruption in the rice mortgage system. The rest of the 2.438 people surveyed in seventeen provinces did. 58 percent said they were discouraged to see officials face punitive action for exposing the rice scandal. 62 percent said they would never disclose corruption involving the government or politicians.
The poll shows that the government's public relations campaign to restore public confidence in the safety of Thai rice has not yet caught on, said Pontharee Issarangkul Na Ayutthaya, deputy director of Abac Poll.
– That must have been a horrifying sight: a mother and a 6-year-old boy with his neck cut. Police found the two in a house in Muang (Nakhon Ratchasima) on Saturday evening. The police acted after a signal from a cousin that the two had disappeared. The woman's pickup truck was missing. There were no signs of a break-in, which indicates that the perpetrator is known.
– Environmental activists have reason to celebrate, because the controversial Kaeng Sua Ten dam will not be built. There will be two smaller dams in the river Yom (Phrae), a solution to which there are no (or fewer?) objections. Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi delivered the good news during a visit to the province. Public hearings are still being held.
Until now, the Yom is the only river in Thailand that is damless. The Kaeng Sua Ten dam was originally intended to generate electricity. That feature was later dropped; the dam would then be needed to put an end to the flooding in Phrae.
– A 43-year-old man in Muang (Bung Kan) has confessed to strangling his daughter's 22-year-old girlfriend after she mocked him (the perpetrator) and said he was impotent. The suspect and the girlfriend had used drugs and wanted to make a number, but the man did not get an erection. When the woman mocked him, he kicked her into a pond where he pushed her under water and strangled her.
– Residents of Prathai (Nakhon Ratchasima) are looking for five large animals, presumably leopards. They were probably released by a smuggling ring. Last month, a gang tried to smuggle wild animals, but they came across a police checkpoint. There they released the animals and took off.
– The Bangkok municipal police warns the anti-government Pitak Siam group that will hold a rally on August 4. Tear gas is used in riots. The group has made six demands to the government. See News from Thailand from yesterday. White masks demonstrated at the CentralWorld shopping center yesterday.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post