News from Thailand – November 24, 2014
A couple was shot dead yesterday on a motorcycle on their way to Khok Pho (Pattani) to sell vegetables. Two men on a motorcycle had chased them and opened fire in Ban Chopunae. The couple died on the spot.
The Southern Women's Peace Network to Stop Violence has announced that violence in the South, which flared up 18.206 years ago, has left 2.800 victims, both killed and injured, leaving 6.000 widows and XNUMX orphans. Tomorrow is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
– Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (photo homepage in happier days) knew from the first day she took office that her government would be overthrown by a military coup; the same thing that happened to her brother Thaksin in 2006.
For the first time since she was removed from office [by a ruling of the Constitutional Court] Yingluck gives an interview, but who is not clear from the message in Bangkok Post. In addition to a coup, she says, she also considered the possibility that the independent organizations or the judiciary would overthrow her government.
The former prime minister fills her days with reading, meeting friends, shopping, eating out, paying attention to her only son and growing mushrooms in the garden. "Watching them grow has a calming effect." She is also considering writing a book about her life as prime minister.
Yingluck says she is determined to defend herself when she has to answer for her role as chairman of the National Rice Policy Committee. According to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), it has been negligent in curbing corruption in the rice mortgage and rising costs. The NACC has asked the emergency parliament for a impeachment procedure to begin. Yingluck also faces prosecution by the Supreme Court's Holders of Political Positions Division.
– The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will invite Matilda Bogner, Southeast Asia representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to explain to her in detail why students who made the anti-coup three-finger gesture were arrested. Bogner has said that the detentions were a violation of human rights and freedom of expression. The Thai ambassador and envoy to the UN in Geneva has been instructed by the ministry to talk to the UN High Commissioner himself.
Pamphlets with anti-junta texts were found early yesterday morning at the Democracy Monument. They included 'NCPO overthrows the monarchy', 'Revoke martial law' and 'Stop threatening people and the media'.
The three-finger gesture is borrowed from the movie Hunger Games, which is currently in circulation and is drawing full houses. The gesture was made, among other things, during Prime Minister Prayut's visit to Khon Kaen and by students at the cinemas where the film is shown.
– The commission charged with writing a new constitution (Constitution Drafting Committee, CDC) will hold ten public hearings to collect wishes for what should be constitutionally regulated. The National Reform Council (which has to formulate reform proposals) is also going crazy with public hearings at the provincial level.
CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno says he is in favor of a referendum on the new constitution. But whether that will happen depends on the NCPO (junta) and the government. The provisional constitution, which is temporarily in force, does not contain provisions on a referendum.
– The national electricity company Egat believes that Thailand should build more coal-fired power plants to continue to meet the demand for energy. Egat says future supplies of natural gas are uncertain as Myanmar, Thailand's main supplier of natural gas, will need the gas for its own use.
Alternative energy sources such as hydroelectricity and solar panels are not viable on an industrial scale, they require high investment costs and their production capacity is not stable, said Wiwat Chancherngpanich, assistant governor responsible for power plant construction.
Thailand's current electricity consumption comes for 68 percent from natural gas, 9 percent from coal and the rest from other fossil fuels and alternative energy. Every year the demand for electricity increases by 3 percent. In 2030 it will have risen to 70.685 megawatts compared to 32.395 megawatts in 2011.
In the near future, the construction of a coal-fired power station in Krabi (2019) and in Songkhla (2025) is planned. A health and environmental impact assessment has already been carried out for the Krabi plant and hearings are being held on the Songkhla plant.
– A license for the sale of alcohol is 'too fast, too cheap and too easy' to obtain, according to a study by the Center for Alcohol Studies (CAS). The rules should be tightened to prevent unscrupulous sellers from selling alcohol to minors.
Rataporn Nipanun of the Council of State office, who did the research for the CAS, points to the problem that violations are punished on the basis of the Child Protection Act, but have no consequences for the permit. When their licenses threaten to be revoked, shopkeepers will comply with the law, he thinks.
Another problem is the unclear wording of the Alcohol Beverage Control Act's ban on the sale of alcohol at schools and temples. "Some shopkeepers say they are not located near a school because they are across the street," said Kanittha Thaikla of Chiang Mai University's Center for Substance Abuse Research.
– A police officer from the Don Muang agency has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping of a Chinese businessman on November 11 at Baiyoke Building 2 in Pratunam (Bangkok). The businessman was kidnapped by several men, including one man who identified himself as a policeman. A ransom of 100 million baht was allegedly demanded.
The abductee has informed his driver by text that he has been released in Cambodia. He has promised to make a statement to the police, originally scheduled for Wednesday, but that appointment has since been postponed.
– Tomorrow the cabinet will decide whether the period of validity of a work permit for foreigners will be extended from 1 to 2 years. The extension is part of a package of measures aimed at stimulating foreign investment. Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula announced this yesterday at the annual meeting of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Chiang Rai.
Other measures include privileges for foreign investors when they establish their regional headquarters in Thailand and a plan to develop Thailand into a 'digital economy'. Pridiyathorn thinks the Thai economy will show a clear recovery in January because of the government's economic stimulus measures, such as accelerated disbursements. He is betting on economic growth of 4 percent next year.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
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Large-scale corruption: Eight senior police officers arrested
If they start prosecuting mrs yinluck - thailand will be even more ridiculous!
The two elected governments: thaksin and yinluck were the wish of the people - democratically elected and with enormous economic growth!
Abhisit was the biggest flop in the last 100 years and nominated by the middle class and NOT elected.
Prayut deserves a chance - but all appearances against it - eradicating corruption is a utopia.
There are two major institutions in Pattaya. police station soi 9 and immigration office just as corrupt as they already were! Or you can still buy everything! ( read : freedom )
Only Yingluck made a few crucial mistakes:
1. she has guaranteed a minimum yield for rice (of course oil dom)
2. she offered tax-free new cars (many can no longer afford them)
3. she tried to get her brother to come back to Thailand without serving his sentence.
And - elected or not - that is certainly culpable behavior. As far as Abhisit is concerned: his party and therefore he was never elected and only came to prominence because Yingluck's party was banned at the time and the yellows (read: Abhisit) suddenly had a turned out to have a majority and therefore also wanted to govern….
Only elections he didn't want………because then the plush feeling was over.
Of course you don't have to be a real bright light to be able to suspect in advance that with 0,0 experience in politics, a few months before the elections you reluctantly and under pressure from big brother accepted the list leader, a clone by dear brother to be called, you bring the problems upon yourself.
In the interview, she also says that she still remembers well what everyone sees against her throughout the government period. I'd love to read her memoirs, if only to see the cavalcade of warnings she's all ignored (probably at Big Brother's behest, but that's what we're reading).