News from Thailand – October 23, 2012
Three New Zealand beauties, Miss Universe New Zealand and two runners-up, dressed in Thai silk, tour for seven days Thailand to attract more New Zealand tourists to Thailand.
This year marks 50 years since the King of Thailand visited New Zealand. Every year 200.000 to 300.000 New Zealanders go up holiday to Thailand. It is the intention that the ladies use Facebook and YouTube to get their compatriots excited for a visit. Today they go to Hua Hin. Hopefully they don't shoot the beach, because it's littered with washed up garbage.
– A 25-year-old Russian tourist was stabbed five times with a knife by two men in Bang Lamun (Chon Buri) on Sunday night. They took off with her money, cell phone and a camera. The men had followed her on the motorcycle from Jomtien beach.
– Health experts from Mahidol University are calling for a ban on the sale of smoking products by teenagers under the age of 18 and they want the minimum age of persons to whom smoking products can be sold to be raised from 18 to 20 years.
According to a survey, 9,2 percent of Thai youth between the ages of 15 and 18 smoke. Every year, 300.000 smokers are added. In another study, high school students said they bought cigarettes from underage friends at school or from shops near their school. They were never asked for their ID to verify their age.
– The beach of Hua Hin is flooded with rubbish, we reported yesterday, on the other hand, the sea just off the coast of Ratchakarun (Trat) looks like a multi-colored carpet. Thousands of jellyfish in different colors feast on the plankton that is brought in every year during the rainy season.
– If Vorayuth Yoovidhya, grandson of Red Bull creator Chaleo Yoovidhya, continues to refuse to respond to police calls to make a statement, the police will not hesitate to request an arrest warrant against him and have his bail confiscated. Vorayuth was supposed to appear at Thong Lor police station on Friday, but he did not come and asked for a postponement without specifying a date. On September 3, Vorayuth killed a motorcycle cop in his Ferrari in Bangkok and then hurried home.
– The government has granted permission to increase the number of police officers and defense volunteers in the South. The decision was taken during a mobile cabinet meeting on Monday on Koh Samui in response to a weekend of numerous bomb and assassination attacks.
Army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha has called on "all 17 ministries and 66 relevant services" to help the army and police to curb the violence. He notes that the local population still resists cooperation with the security services in fighting the rebels.
During his visit to Egypt, Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul (Foreign Affairs) invited Muslim leader Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb to visit Thailand on behalf of Prime Minister Yingluck. That is tentatively scheduled for next month. The good man condemns the violence in the South.
Yesterday the violence claimed two lives. In Muang (Pattani), a gardener was shot dead while riding his motorcycle. A motorcyclist's pillion passenger shot at him as he passed.
In Si Sakhon (Narathiwat), a grocery store owner was shot dead in his shop. Soldiers and police approached the store cautiously because they now know that militants lurk after an assassination attempt. And indeed a bomb was detonated near the shop. No one was injured.
– Were there heavily armed black-clad men in 2010 and if so, were they affiliated with the red shirts? The recalcitrant red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan thinks that the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), which is investigating the victims of the disturbances, should take a good look at a video recording from a security camera.
It would show that such a black-clad man in a police van drove onto the grounds of the 11th Infantry Regiment. And it is precisely there that the headquarters of the CRES were located, the body responsible for maintaining the state of emergency.
Jatuporn's suggestion is clear: those men in black have been used by the CRES to justify the violence against the red shirt protesters. Jatuporn has more notes to his song, but they all come down to the same thing: the red shirts were sweethearts, the government and especially the CRES are responsible for the 91 deaths, including 9 soldiers. You just have to get up there. [CRES stands for Center for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation]
The DSI has a reward of 1 million baht ready for those who do information about the mysterious black-clad men. The UDD (red shirts) has added another 1 million baht. [From Dubai?]
– Pests that feast on coconuts are having a hard time on Koh Samui. Prime Minister Yingluck gave the starting shot of it yesterday taen bian project, in which the wasp of the same name is used. This parasite lives in other insects and eats them from the inside out.
Farmers have a number so far taen bian bred to use against the non hua dam (black-headed coconut caterpillar) and the malaeng dam nam (rice hispa). The project will start next month and will last until September next year.
Koh Samui is one of the prime coconut harvesting areas, so a paradise for the pests. In recent years, the yield has decreased due to the increasing number of nuisance items.
– The police are looking for a traffic police officer from Bangkok who ignored a checkpoint in Lampang yesterday and shot at officers who were chasing him. During that chase, he lost control and crashed into a house. There he forced a bystander to take him to tambon Ban Pong, where he fled on foot. In the car, the police found a large amount of drugs with a street value of 760 million baht. According to the head of police region 5, the officer is a prominent drug dealer.
– The police in Ayutthaya have been instructed to deal with the 3.152 cases in which an arrest warrant has been issued with priority. The head of the provincial police wants them eliminated within a year.
– Thai and Burmese construction workers clashed on Sunday evening after their work at the Nong Saeng (Ayutthaya) power plant. They attacked each other with hammers, knives and sticks. 2.000 workers of different nationalities work on the construction site. The police propose to impose a curfew.
– Shocked by the reactions to Tuesday's 3G auction, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has decided that the three providers must reduce their rates for voice and data services by 15 to 20 percent before they can start with 3G. The NBTC also wants to have insight into the measures that the providers take to guarantee quality and protect consumers. According to many reactions, AIS, Dtac and True Move have obtained their license for too low prices.
On Tuesday, the NBTC auctioned nine 3G licenses with a term of 15 years for an amount of 41,6 billion baht, a yield that was 2,78 percent above the floor price.
The Central Administrative Court yesterday rejected the petition of Suriyasai Katasila, leader of the Green Politics Group. The newspaper says nothing about the reasoning of the court. Earlier, Suriyasai said it would ask the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the Ombudsman to investigate the auction.
– After trumpeting for days that AIS, Dtac and True Move obtained their 3G license for an apple and an egg last Tuesday, came Bangkok Post finally yesterday with a counter sound. The proceeds of the auction, 41,625 billion baht, are higher than in more prosperous countries such as Singapore, Germany and South Korea, argues Dominic Arena, managing partner of Value Partners Management Consulting for Southeast Asia and India. If 60 billion baht should have been brought in, as some say, Thailand's price would have surpassed even Belgium and India.
A second article by two BP reporters raises the question of whether the auction was fair. Critics say the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has set the floor price too low. The government and taxpayers would have lost 16 billion baht in revenue as a result. But the NBTC argues that maximum yield was not the goal. The primary goal was to strike a balance between the interests of the state, consumers and the providers.
The question why only three parties took part in the auction is easy to answer. Seventeen companies wanted to submit an application, only four did so and one was rejected because it could not provide a bank guarantee.
Analysts agree that Thai law has prevented foreign providers from participating in the auction because a maximum of 49 percent of a company's shares can be owned by a foreign company. Those companies believe the legal risks are too great, also because the question has been asked countless times whether AIS with Singtel from Singapore as a partner and Dtac with partner Telenor from Norway comply with that rule.
Both articles contain a lot of technical information that is beyond my capabilities. Those interested can find them on the website Bangkok Post under the title 'Clearing up the static' and '2.1GHz auction represents fair value and a bonus'.
Economic news
– Aviation circles believe that the Civil Aviation Department the Air Operator's License (AOL) of budget airline PC Air should withdraw and should not stop at a warning. PC Air's only aircraft was not allowed to depart from Incheon in South Korea on Tuesday because some accounts were still outstanding. Four hundred Thai tourists were stranded as a result.
According to a chief executive of a Thai airline with international flights, such an incident would immediately lead to the harshest punishment in any other country. It would also ensure that the affected passengers are properly compensated. There are also calls from aviation circles to impose stricter requirements on AOL holders, for example an increase in the paid-up capital from 200 to 500 million baht, whereby that amount is actually paid.
[Quite a bit of information in the message completely contradicts previous reporting. I'll leave it unmentioned, otherwise my post will be three times as long.]
– Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom (Trade), the man who firmly believes in the money-consuming mortgage system for rice, has a dream: Thailand as a rice warehouse for the world. He hopes to get money from the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) to build a huge silo, where rice can be stored for seven to eight years. Thailand can produce 32 million tons of paddy (brown rice) annually, but the existing silos can only store rice for a maximum of 2–3 years.
The ACD was founded in 2002 with the aim of promoting cooperation on the Asian continent. Currently 31 countries are members, where 60 percent of the world's population lives. A recent summit in Kuwait decided to create a US$2 billion fund.
– The Cane and Sugar Board (CSB) has adjusted the sugarcane quota for the 2012-2013 season from 100 million tons to 94,6 million tons due to the drought. Last year production was 98 million tons.
47 sugar factories are allowed to divide the loot. They cover an area of 9,33 million rai with a yield of 10,1 tons per rai. The CSB also approved production costs of 1.196,31 baht per ton including transportation costs. Costs are slightly higher than last year due to a lack of labor in the industry, which has increased labor costs. Furthermore, the price of pesticide and oil has risen.
The CSB will meet on Monday to discuss the allocation of 2,4 million tonnes for the domestic market.
– Acer, the world's fourth largest manufacturer of PCs, has opened a regional service and maintenance center in Thailand, which will serve the countries of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in addition to Thailand. As a result, service speed should increase by 80 percent and logistics costs should decrease by 20 percent, says Sophon Panchim, manager of Acer Computer (Thailand). The center will also provide after-sales service for the tablet PCs that the government distributes in education. Last year, Acer was the market leader in the notebook segment in Thailand.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post