News from Thailand – August 24, 2013
Five hundred demonstrators yesterday demanded in front of the Ministry of Energy and the headquarters of oil giant PTT Plc that the fixed price of LPG for household use should not be loosened.
Energy Minister Pongsap Raktapongpaisarn gives them no hope: the price increase continues to ease the financial burden of the State Oil Fund (which subsidizes LPG) and to fight smuggling to neighboring countries. “We don't talk to the protesters anymore. We have explained it time and time again to the population and also to the protest leaders.'
Until October next year, the LPG price will increase by 50 satang every month until it reaches 24,82 baht per kilo, 37 percent more than the current 18,13 baht. LPG has been subsidized since 2008, costing 100 billion baht. Low incomes and street vendors are not affected by the price increase; they can use a subsidy system. The protesters have said they will return next week.
– During skirmishes between farmers and police in Nakhon Si Thammarat (photo homepage) forty people were injured yesterday. Angry rubber and oil palm farmers had blocked highway 41 and demanded the government support the plummeting price of latex and palm kernels. The farmers had already demonstrated twice earlier this month, both times without results.
The injured occurred as riot police and defense volunteers tried to break the blockade. Twice they went into action, but the second time they retreated when they were showered with water bottles and other projectiles. The governor of the province was also unable to persuade the demonstrators to give up their blockade.
MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat Witthaya Kaewparadai raised the issue yesterday during the parliamentary debate on the 2014 budget. He said the governor and chief of police should be transferred because they had failed to contain the situation. His colleague Jurin Laksanavisit said that parliament should better discuss the problems of the farmers than amnesty, constitutional amendment and the budget. He suggested discussing the price of both products during Thursday's parliamentary meeting and called on Prime Minister Yingluck to attend that meeting.
– Nine leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD, yellow shirts) have hung up their lyre. In a statement they write that they do not want to make sacrifices when there are no guarantees of long-term success. The nine, who are being prosecuted for the occupation of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang at the end of 2008, among other things, feel restricted in their political activities because of the conditions attached to their bail.
Opposition party Democrats can count on little sympathy from the nine. The PAD had been proposing to Democratic lawmakers to leave parliament to bolster the political reform campaign. By rejecting this offer, they show that they only want to discredit the government and use other groups to support them, the statement said.
– The five demands that resistance group BRN has made regarding the progress of the peace talks must be explained by BRN (Barisan Revolusi Nasional) during the next meeting. The demands were made in a video on YouTube in April.
At a meeting of the relevant services yesterday, it was decided to ask the BRN to formally explain the package of demands, said army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha. Prayuth says the demands are "sensitive and complex" and negotiating them will take time.
'The BRN must explain in writing why these requirements are being set and what the government can expect if they are accepted. The BRN must make its requirements through the usual channels. The media shouldn't publish them if they don't. By publishing the demands, the media speaks on their behalf and puts pressure on the authorities.'
According to Prayuth, BRN wants to continue the talks because it knows it will lose credibility if the violence continues.
– An army ranger was killed in a bomb attack in Yarang (Pattani) yesterday and three others were injured. The four were traveling in a pickup truck to a location with suspicious objects and texts on the road when the bomb, which was hidden in a sewer pipe, exploded. The car was badly damaged.
In Rueso, Narathiwat, a task force of 21 men raided a village and arrested two people. They are suspected of being involved in the attack on a police patrol car in mid-August. Four officers were killed as a result. Authorities had discovered that one of them had had telephone contact with one of the suspects who was shot dead by security forces on August XNUMX.
– State Councilor Prem Tinsulanonda, president of the Privy Council, has not yet decided whether to participate in the reconciliation forum proposed by Prime Minister Yingluck. He also says he has not yet been formally invited to join Yingluck's round table.
Tomorrow, Prime Minister Yingluck will visit the Ministry of Defense and the three army commanders, accompanied by the top officials of the Ministry of Defense. grise eminence to congratulate him on his 94th birthday. Yingluck has been Minister of Defense since the last cabinet change and it is tradition that he pays Prem a birthday visit.
The Democratic party says in a letter to the prime minister that it will not participate in the forum, which will meet for the first time tomorrow. The Democrats think that the amnesty proposals should be taken off the table first. "The government's political reform program looks more like a political drama," said party leader Abhisit.
– The black pieten in the VAT fraud case has begun. The Tax and Customs Administration contradicts the Ministry of Finance's conclusion that 18 civil servants, including some from the Tax and Customs Administration, are involved in the fraud. The customs export control system has loopholes that allow VAT refund fraud, said Sathit Rangkhasiri, Director General of the Tax Office, in a transparent attempt to clear his alley.
Sathit says customs should verify that exporters requesting a VAT refund have exported the goods listed in the invoices. Customs have always confirmed this, but 80 percent of containerized goods destined for export are not checked and of the remaining 20 percent, only 3 percent are sampled.
According to Sathit, tax officials cannot be blamed, because they rely on information from customs. There is no corruption in his service, at most negligence. No disciplinary action will be taken against the officials concerned.
– The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will no longer be accepting claims from villagers claiming to live legally in protected forests from the end of this year. Existing claims are examined on the basis of aerial photographs taken in 2002.
According to a cabinet decision of 1998, villagers may continue to live in a protected forest area if they can prove that they have already lived there before the area in question was granted protected status. Residents who cannot do so must leave. A special zone in the woods has been set up for them.
– The seawater off Ao Phrao beach on Koh Samet contains a normal concentration of arsenic, but the mercury concentration exceeds the safety level. This has been shown in tests by biology students at Silpakorn University. The supervising teacher says that the concentrations may be higher when more advanced equipment is used than the testing kits that the students used. The students have been annoyed with the staff of Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Sameth National Park. They had to give their name and were photographed.
– The municipal police of Bangkok advocates a change in the law that makes it possible to check more night business. In addition, fines for illegal activities should be increased. The police believe that open-air businesses that sell food and alcohol should also fall under the law. They should close at midnight. Music should not be louder than 90 decibels.
Current legislation only applies to indoor restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, discos, karaoke bars, massage parlors and similar establishments that are open after midnight.
A police investigation has revealed that 1 establishments do not have the required permits. Violation currently carries a one-year prison sentence and a 60.000 baht fine. They do not deter the offenders, the police say. Usually the court gives a suspended sentence and only imposes a fine.
– The government's plan to scrap the National Savings Fund, an initiative of the previous government, is at the expense of older people, says Worawan Chandoevwit, researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute. The fund, set up in 2011, has still not been activated by the current government and now it wants to scrap it altogether.
The purpose of the fund was to enable people who cannot make use of other schemes to build up a pension. The government wants to place them under the Social Security Fund, which applies to salaried employees. But domestic workers and farmers are excluded.
– Two of the four police officers accused of kidnapping and extorting two Italians have been arrested. They work at Thong Lor Police Station. The other two, who are on the run, are associated with the Lumpini agency.
The suspects held the Italians hostage in a hotel room for two days after demanding 2 million baht. Then they would not be prosecuted for withdrawing money from an ATM with an alleged counterfeit card. The two Italians had arrived in Thailand a few hours earlier to spend their vacation.
– Near the place where a train derailed last Saturday, another train ran off the rails in Hang Chat (Lampang) yesterday. No one was hurt. The repair and removal of the train took three hours. According to the governor of the SRT, the derailment was due to rain that had softened the ground.
– A kamnan (village chief) and his assistant were shot dead in Singha Nakhon (Songkhla) yesterday. They were fired upon in their pickup truck. The police assume a political motive. The kamnan survived an earlier assassination attempt, after which he had bulletproof glass installed in his truck. But apparently that was to no avail.
– A man and a woman who had forced a 16-year-old girl to prostitute themselves were arrested in a hotel in Pomprap Sattruphai (Bangkok). They had forced the girl to sleep with six clients in two days and given her illegal drugs. According to the suspects, the girl had previously worked as a prostitute and there was no question of coercion.
– Do you remember? An unconscious Japanese man was found at a bus stop in Pathum Thani on Sunday. It has since emerged that he was drugged during a dinner with two Thai women. They stole his camera and money. The police are looking for the two, who have been captured on CCTV. Anyone with a tip will receive 30.000 baht.
Political news
– Tarit Pengdith, head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI), applies double standards in cases against the Democratic party and government opponents. Vachara Phetthong (Democrats) made this accusation yesterday at the DSI head during the parliamentary debate on the 2014 budget. He proposed to reduce the DSI's budget by 5 percent. A colleague even suggested 20 percent.
The most recent sore point is the investigation against Malika Boonmeetrakul, spokesperson for the Democrats. The lawyer for the red shirts has filed a libel suit against her because she posted a manipulated photo of Yingluck on her Facebook and Twitter account. A normal libel case, says Vachara, that should be investigated by the police and not as a 'special case' by the DSI.
Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, former chairman of the special casecommittee, retaliated by pointing out that in 2010 Democrats failed to perform autopsies on the 91 fatalities of the red shirt disturbances. That is why the DSI investigates those as special case. "The DSI must investigate those deaths to prevent the Democrats from 'trampling anyone they wanted,'" Chalerm said, a comment that sparked protests from Democrats. Chlalerm was later ordered by the chairman to leave the Chamber.
Economic news
– FamilyMart takes to the streets with two mobile stores: one in Bangkok and one in Pattaya. Phuket will follow in a few months. The range consists of 300 to 400 products. In addition to being a shop, the vehicles also function as mobile advertisements for the company.
The plan is to open 240 new stores this year: 101 stores are already open, the other 139 will follow in the second half of the year. By the end of the year, the chain will have 1.000 stores. Five to six kiosks have opened in hospitals and parks this year. FamilyMart has been operating in Thailand for 21 years this year. This is celebrated from Thursday to August 28 with the FamilyMart Festival 2013 in CentralPlaza Lardprao.
– To alleviate the glaring labor shortage in the construction sector, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) proposes raising wages and offering higher risk premiums to lure workers back from the province. 300.000 workers are expected to leave the industry in the third quarter and will not return due to the high cost of living in Bangkok. In addition, the TDRI proposes to attract more foreign employees.
Since the minimum daily wage across the country has risen to 300 baht, workers in Bangkok are calling it quits and moving to the province where they have more money left over. Moreover, working in construction is not always fun when it is hot. Yongyuth Chalamwong, director of labor conditions research at TDRI, calls working in construction a 4D job: dangerous, dirty, difficult en degrade. Promotion opportunities are extremely limited. The sector lacks the technology to solve the labor shortage.
Construction employs 2,2 million workers, excluding foreign workers. The unemployment rate in 2010 was 0,66 percent of all workers in all industries. That is the lowest percentage in Southeast Asia.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post