News from Thailand – November 22, 2012

A 43-year-old woman in Udon Thani fainted after receiving a water bill of nearly 1 billion baht. The Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) admits that a mistake was made.

The water consumption on the bill should be four digits, but there are five digits on the bill. PWA billing is currently moving to another company. An employee must have made a mistake when entering data, the PWA suspects.

– A man from Ubon Ratchatani found a bag in a taxi in Bangkok on his way to Don Mueang airport with gold and jewelry worth 300.000 baht and documents bearing the name of the owner. After arriving at his hometown, he reported the find to the police. The owner has been alerted via a radio station and has arranged a meeting of the two so that she can receive her valuables.

– Medical specialists may have to take their licensing exam in English in the future. The Consortium of Thai Medical Schools proposes that in view of the fierce competition expected when the Asean Economic Community comes into effect at the end of 2015. It concerns the written part, the clinical part continues to be taken in Thai.

Other proposals being considered are requiring doctors to take exams every 5 years and midterm exams in medical school to be conducted in English. Physicians who have gained significant experience through training or academic work could be exempted from the 5-year exam.

– China is interested in the construction of the planned high-speed lines Thailand. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, on a two-day visit to the country, told Prime Minister Yingluck this yesterday during consultations in Government House. Thailand plans to build two high-speed rail lines: one to Chiang Mai and one to Nong Khai.

The Bangkok-Nong Khai line must connect to a line from Vientiane (Laos) to the Chinese border. Laos has announced that it will start construction in January. The 420 kilometer long railway line goes through 76 tunnels and over 154 bridges. The line should be ready in 2018.

Thailand and China signed four Memorandums of Understanding on Wednesday. They are about rice, education, more cooperation in those areas [?] and the exchange of prisoners. Yingluck said at a press conference that the two countries are going to expand their trade and investment. China has pledged to buy more agricultural products such as rice, cassava, rubber and fruit. Thailand has asked the Chinese government to help Thai investors in China who have problems with the local authorities. Thailand has also expressed interest in exporting ethanol to China.

– Hospitals in the southern province of Narathiwat are facing a shortage of doctors and a lack of medical equipment. Local MP Jae-aming Totayong urges the Ministry of Health to provide more financial support to Rajanagarindra Hospital. Jae-aming visited eight victims of the bomb attack in Rueso on Sunday in hospital.

Because Narathiwat is under-equipped, victims of attacks are often taken to Hat Yai for treatment, he says. Jae-aming will address the issue during the censor debate in parliament on Mondays and Tuesdays.

According to figures from the Narathiwat Provincial Health Office, 96 doctors worked in the province's provincial and district hospitals last year. This amounts to 1 doctor per 7.603 patients. The WHO uses 1:5.000 as a guideline. The province does have enough nursing staff: 1.833 or 1:398; the WHO ratio is 1:400.

Wiroon Pornpatkul, director of Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital, says the hospital is having a hard time attracting doctors because of the southern violence.

Minister Pradit Sintawanarong (Public Health) dismisses all criticism. Health care in the South is a priority for the ministry. "I'm sure the hospitals are fully equipped and able to treat patients."

– Four soldiers and a bystander were injured yesterday in bomb attacks in Narathiwat and Pattani. In Narathiwat, insurgents targeted an escort of teachers. A bomb exploded on a road in Ban Deu Yae, injuring two soldiers and a civilian.

In Pattani, the bomb also targeted an escort of teaching staff. It exploded when a pickup truck drove over the explosive. Two soldiers suffered minor injuries.

Rail traffic between Yala and Sungai Kolok (Narathiwat) resumed yesterday after being halted for 3 days due to a bomb attack on Sunday. Soldiers now ride on the train and helicopters reconnoiter the route. There have been 8 attacks on the railways in the past 100 years, resulting in damage of 100 million baht. The section between Raman (Yala) and Sungai Kolok is the most popular with the insurgents.

– The tasks of the Criminal and Law Enforcement Office (Thai Marshals) and the Witness Protection Office are moving from the Ministry of Justice to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI). The aim of the change is to prevent overlapping of responsibilities and to make the criminal justice process more efficient. The DSI will now have sole responsibility for witness protection; the program is being improved to meet international criteria.

The Criminal and Law Enforcement Office was formed in 2010 under the previous government. It is concerned, among other things, with the stripping of suspects. Many of the 159 Marshals have already been deported at Yingluck's instigation; the remaining 92 now work under the banner of the DSI.

– An elevator in a furniture store in the district of Muang (Nakhon Ratchasima) fell four floors, with the sad consequence that an eight-month pregnant woman and a shop assistant died. The woman's husband was injured. At the hospital, doctors removed the fetus. The woman died of internal bleeding yesterday. The shop assistant died soon after the incident.

– A 41-year-old police officer was shot dead in Ratchathewi (Bangkok) by his wife. Crying, the woman turned herself in to the police. She said her husband was a notorious womanizer. According to her, she had fired in self-defense when her husband tried to hit her. Police say the couple had regular fights because of the man's behavior.

– Anchors and ropes from cargo ships on the Chao Phraya are now sought after by thieves. For example, an anchor of 2 meters is easily worth tens of thousands of baht and a roll of manilla rope 10.000 baht. The thieves usually strike on the Phra Padaeng-Pan Nam route in Samut Prakan. Rice and sugar transported by water have traditionally been the loot of thieves. They operate on the Chayo Phraya and Pa Sak.

Political news

– General Boonlert Kaewprasit, figurehead of the Pitak Siam group, and spokesman Vachara Riddhagni have to appear before the Constitutional Court this afternoon. After hearing them, the court will decide whether to consider a petition asking for Pitak's anti-government rally to be banned on Saturday.

The rally would violate Article 68 of the Constitution. This prohibits attempts to overthrow the monarchy and seize power unconstitutionally. The petition was filed by a former senator, a member of the governing party Pheu Thai and a lawyer.

Boonlert says the rally is called off in the evening when it doesn't attract enough people. Earlier he mentioned a number of 1 million. He denied the report that participants are lured with an amount of 1.500 to 2.000 baht per person.

Thaworn Senneam, deputy party leader of the opposition Democrats, fears the rally could spiral out of control if more than 100.000 people flock to the Royal Plaza, as such a crowd is difficult to contain. When members of the Shinawatra family leave the country ahead of the rally, he said, it is an indication that the protest is turning violent.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung has asked independent organizations to observe the rally, but neither the National Human Rights Commission nor the Electoral Council are sending representatives.

– The hunt for opposition leader Abhisit continues unabated. The ruling party Pheu Thai has asked the National Ombudsman to investigate Abhisit's position as a member of parliament. Because the defense minister has stripped him of his military rank, he would no longer be entitled to a seat in parliament. Removing Abhisit's rank is tantamount to discharge from military service, according to PT. Abhisit would have evaded conscription.

Yesterday, Abhisit and Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat (Defense) made a statement before the Administrative Court. Abhisit has gone to the administrative court to challenge the minister's decision. The judges heard the pair for 4 hours and decided to ask for more documentation. It must be submitted on Monday.

The whole case revolves around Abhisit's teaching position at the military academy. He would have obtained that post in 1987 with forged documents. Because of his appointment as a teacher, he was exempted from military service. After the hearing by the administrative court, both ruffs refused to inform the press about their squabble.

– The Senate will have the opportunity tomorrow and next Wednesday to question the Yingluck government about its policy. The meeting will be held tomorrow from 13:20 p.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. The second round is on Wednesday, after the House of Representatives has a similar debate (censor debate) held on Monday and Tuesday. About 50 to 60 senators will speak.

The four hottest issues are the costly mortgage system for rice and other crops, the unrest in the Deep South, water management issues and administrative concerns about tourism, education and drugs.

Initially, the Senate wanted to discuss tomorrow and Saturday, but that request was rejected by the government.

Economic news

– China and Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sale of rice on Wednesday, but the quantity and price have not been disclosed. Earlier this month, Trade Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the government plans to sell 2013 million tons of rice to China from 2015 to 5. Thai rice exporters consider this very unlikely because China imports an average of between 500.000 and 1 million tons of rice, not only from Thailand, but also from other countries.

In the first ten months of this year, China imported 90.000 tons of Thai rice, mostly Hom Mali (jasmine rice). Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, expects China to import 100.000 tons of Thai rice this year, not more because of the high price. Thai rice is $100 per ton more expensive than Vietnamese and Myanmar rice is another $30 to $40 per ton cheaper than Vietnamese.

If the government were to charge $450 a ton, Thai rice would be salable, but the government would incur a huge loss because it bought the rice from farmers above market prices under the mortgage system.

China is expected to import more rice this year than in other years due to drought in the south of the country. Three Thai rice exporters this week signed a contract with China's largest rice trader to supply 260.000 tons worth 6,24 billion baht next year.

Update: The above message is based on the November 21 newspaper; in today's newspapers the MoU is called a farce. It would be nothing more than a vague call to China to buy more rice from Thailand. Data on volume, price and delivery date are not included in the MoU, Tikhumporn Natvarat, deputy director general of the Foreign Trade Department, confirms. China didn't want to be specific, he says.

According to Pornsil Patcharintanakul, vice president of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the MoU is just a letter of intent, but Tikhumporn says the MoU is more than that: it confirms China's intention to import more rice from Thailand.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, says Minister Boonsong is telling fairy tales when he claims that the government has signed export contracts with four countries for 7,3 million tons of rice and will supply 5 million tons of rice to China from 2013 to 2015. Chookiat calls those statements "extremely irresponsible."

- The decision is made. On Tuesday, the cabinet finally decided to raise the minimum daily wage in the remaining 70 provinces to 1 baht on January 300. This already happened in April in 7 provinces.

Disastrous for small and medium-sized businesses, says Wallop Tiasiri, Vice President of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI). He and others outline the consequences: more loans that cannot be paid off, less demand for labour, factory closures, the departure of some factories abroad, domino effect (those who now earn 500 baht also want an increase).

Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong defended the increase this week at a seminar devoted to the slowing global economy. The government wants to free workers from the cheap labor trap that has dragged down economic development in the past. He pointed out that the increase boosts purchasing power and domestic consumption. "That's the only good way to respond to the economic crisis."

Correction: Not Wallop Tiasiri said that. The Vice President of the FTI is Vallop Vitanakorn. That's the man who said that.

See also Economic News of November 21 about the FTI's objections.

– It would be better for the government to focus on the construction of a deep-sea port in Pak Bara than to concentrate on the Dawei project in Myanmar. Pak Bara not only improves Thailand's logistics, but also offers the opportunity for the country to become a regional hub for freight transport. This is what former finance minister Pridiyathorn Devakula said this week at a forum on the global economic crisis. [I assume that means the seminar from the previous message.]

He doesn't think Dawei is a good idea because the government shouldn't rely on another country over which it has no influence. The construction of a deep-sea port in Pak Bara is important, according to Pridiyathorn, because the port of Laem Chabang has reached its maximum processing capacity. 'Once we have Pak Bara, goods from the region will be able to load in and out from the port, as it is located at the center of the region.'

Pridiyathorn's plea must fall on deaf ears, because the current government has high expectations of the Dawei economic zone, which will be built by a Thai company and will have connections with Thailand.

Correction: Pridiyathorn is not against the Dawei project, but he thinks it is better to start with Pak Bara first, because Dawei is going to take a very long time.

– Another message about the Elite Card, but now [we are used to it for a long time Bangkok Post] with deviating information. The card, introduced by Thaksin at the time, was 'almost' scrapped by the previous government and not lifted, as previously reported.

The main reason for the reintroduction is that the old cardholders would demand compensation of a total of 2,6 billion baht if the card of the Thailand Privilege Card Co (TPC, owned by the Tourist Authority of Thailand, TAT) is cancelled. It has already been threatened.

The card costs 2 million baht. This post makes no mention of an annual membership fee; with a commission fee of 5 percent. The TPC thinks it will convince 1.300 people to buy the card. Medical tourists and expats in particular are important markets, says TAT ​​Governor Suraphon Svetasreni.

Cardholders get a 5 year multiple entry visa with a maximum stay of 1 year instead of 3 months for regular tourists. [Those who get it, can say it] In the previous message, meetings with top officials were promised; now some cardholders, especially foreign investors, are being put in contact with captains of industry. The TAT takes care of that. Other perks mentioned include discounted airline tickets and store purchases. Unlimited use of golf courses and spas, which the old card offered, is changed to twice a month.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post