News from Thailand – August 25, 2013
The doctor who performed the autopsy on Natnaree Melgul's body had graduated six months earlier and had never performed an autopsy. Moreover, he was not an expert in forensics.
During a hearing of the parliamentary committee on police affairs, which is investigating the case, he admitted that he was inexperienced and made some crucial mistakes.
The autopsy was performed at the hospital and not at the crime scene, as prescribed. According to Bo Phut local police, the nurse hanged herself. The doctor accepted that cause of death uncritically. But given her injuries (which the doctor overlooked), there are now strong doubts about this. The injuries were noticed by the mother as she prepared the body for burial.
The investigation has now been reopened. The new police team is going to put Natnaree's former friend and rescuers to the lie detector. The two officers who failed to call a doctor at the time were transferred for dereliction of duty.
[See further: Thwarted by the police, wrongly accused? The Club for Justice helps]
– Fifty prominent people, including former prime ministers, ex-chamber presidents, ex-party leaders, academics and representatives of citizens' groups will be present today at the first meeting of the reconciliation forum, an idea of Prime Minister Yingluck. They will brainstorm about reconciliation and solutions to put an end to political differences.
Major absentees are opposition party Democrats, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD, yellow shirts; now rudderless because on Friday eight leaders hung up their lyre) and forty senators. MP Ong-art Klampaibul (Democrats) says that the government wants to divert attention from the constitutional amendments and the amnesty proposal with the forum. "The government's promise to solve national problems is disingenuous."
The opposition previously called on the government to show its sincerity by withdrawing the amnesty proposal. This proposal has been approved by Parliament at first reading and is currently being examined by a so-called scrutiny committee. It will then return to parliament, possibly with amendments.
Minister Varathep Rattanakorn (PM's Office) says the forum may not meet comprehensive solution for the political conflicts because parties who object do not participate in them. Nevertheless, the forum must continue. "Opponents' opinions can be heard later." He says they can still join, but the amnesty proposal will not be withdrawn, he says. He does think it is possible that the forum members will suggest postponing the proposal.
The meeting starts today without an agenda. The government is listening, says Varathep, and is collecting recommendations for the future of the nation. There is no restriction on the topics of conversation, but the forum is not going to deal with party conflicts.
– The blockade of national highway 41 in Cha-uat (Nakhon Si Thammarat) by rubber and oil palm farmers entered its second day yesterday. The Thai Rubber Farmers Network threatens to set up blockades in other places in the country on September 3 if the government continues to turn a deaf ear to farmers' demands: a higher price for their latex and palm kernels.
According to Nawaranont Anantworanakorn, leader of the rubber farmers in the East and Central Region, XNUMX farmers in the North are ready to close a road in Uttaradit province and XNUMX farmers in the Northeast are ready to block an intersection in Sikhiu (Nakhon Ratchasima). .
After 43 people were injured in clashes between police and demonstrators on the first day, the police withdrew on Friday evening. The demonstrators are no longer put in the way of straw. Police say she did not use force to break the blockade on Friday, but protesters say she did. Eight of them have been arrested.
– Three retired village chiefs were shot dead in Raman (Yala) yesterday. They were sitting in the back of a pickup truck at a teahouse when insurgents opened fire on them with automatic weapons. [On the website of Bangkok Post they sat in the teahouse.] A fourth man was wounded.
According to a spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (XNUMXth region), insurgents were reported to be attacking teachers and soldiers, so the attack on the villagers was unexpected.
Earlier yesterday, eight surveillance cameras were also set on fire in Yala, Than To district. In Kabang (Yala) two rubber tappers were injured when they were shot at.
Twenty soldiers combed rubber plantations in Muang (Yala) district yesterday. Insurgents are said to have stored explosives there. And they were right: they found a gas bottle, electrical wires, nails and fertilizer.
Four soldiers and four villagers were injured in a bomb attack in Sungai Kolok (Narathiwat) yesterday. The bomb was hidden in a garbage can.
– Thais are still leaving Egypt. Eleven Thais arrived yesterday and today another eight Thais are flying with Singapore Airlines to Suvarnabhumi. Since violence erupted in Egypt last week, about a thousand Thais have left the country. Three hundred most workers remain in the country. According to a post on the embassy's Facebook page, 28 places in Cairo are better avoided. Thais live in eight of them.
– The soap opera script Fah Jarod Sai is being revised by Channel 7 with the help of Islamic experts, after the Muslims for Peace Foundation complained about the way Muslims appear in the series. A wrong picture would be painted of religion and culture. Eight episodes remain about the romance of a half-breed Thai and Shariff, an officer in an imaginary desert kingdom.
– The governor of Ubon Ratchatani has been transferred to an inactive post because he is suspected of bribery. An audio recording shows that he solicited 10 percent in bribes from the organizer of an event during Buddhist Lent. According to the governor, the recording was tampered with.
– In the province of Phetchabun, the Pasak River has overflowed its banks. Tha Kok Pho and Wat Thung have been flooded. The water reached a height of 50 to 70 centimeters. Sandbags had no effect.
In Chiang Mai, a hundred houses, fields and orchards were flooded after a river dike of the Mae Tak collapsed.
Hours of heavy rain in Phitsanulok caused a flood of water from the Phetchabun mountain range. He held four tambons in the Nakhon Thai district. More than 2.000 rai of farmland was damaged.
– What should the anti-Thaksin movement do now that eight leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD, yellow shirts) have resigned? Opinions are divided on this. Thaksin's followers believe the current protest movement has weakened, but Thaksin's opponents expect a regrouping. A large number of supporters of the yellow shirt movement can now join other groups, they say.
Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the resigned leaders, said on Friday that their decision is a tactical move to enable another political attack; it's not a retreat. But Pheu Thai party members call that claim rhetoric. Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit even sees a connection with Prime Minister Yingluck's idea for a reconciliation forum. This forum aims to end the long-standing conflicts between anti- and pro-Thaksin groups through dialogue rather than street protests. Chamber President Nikhom Wairatpanich thinks that the former PAD leaders are now open to the forum.
Prompong does not believe PAD supporters will join other groups. He says they remain loyal to their former leaders because they are a magnet for street protests. “They have a lot of experience in mobilizing people,” he says.
But ex-PAD leader Parnthep Pourpongpan disagrees. "The PAD supporters now have more freedom to learn and experience politically without having to wait for the orders of their leaders."
According to Bartjens (and he should know) Thailand currently has twelve anti-government groups. They are all ready to fight against the Yingluck government together with opposition Democrats. For now, they will continue their own activities, but when the time is right, they will join forces, says Democrat Nipit Intarasombat.
– The government should quickly provide decent temporary shelters for the Rohingya refugees. Niran Pitakwatchara, commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, made this plea during the seminar 'The Rohingya: Unwanted and Alone in Thailand'.
For the past seven months, the refugees have been held in various places in often poor conditions. Although Thailand has not signed the UN refugee convention, the authorities should improve the reception from a human rights perspective, Niran argues. He pointed out that the Rohingya are exploited and extorted by smuggling gangs.
– The two dead green sea turtles found off the coast of Rayong are not the victims of the oil spill, but of marine debris that they ate. This has emerged from a study by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.
Tissue from the female found on Thursday is still being tested for cadmium, mercury, arsenic and lead. The male found earlier this month probably drowned because it got caught in a fishing net.
Ten dead turtles are found every month in Rayong, Chantaburi and Trad. Half get entangled in nets, 30 percent have eaten garbage.
– The theft of 300 visa labels from the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur has nothing to do with the unrest in the southern provinces, says Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul (Foreign Affairs). He contradicts rumors that link it to terrorism in the South because twelve people from countries that pose a terrorist threat to Thailand have been arrested. They came from Pakistan and Iran, among others.
An initial investigation has revealed that Malaysian personnel were involved in the theft. The police in Bangkok and Nong Khai yesterday arrested three people who were in possession of a stolen visa. A Nigerian was arrested in Soi Nana and a man from Burundi and Ghana in Nong Khai.
According to the deputy commander of the Tourist Police Division, 259 foreigners entered Thailand on stolen visas; 55 of them are still there. Hotels and resorts have been asked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to write down and send in the visa numbers of foreign tourists.
Varies
– The blinders that students of Kasetsart University wore during an exam to prevent cheating were inspiring Guru, the naughty Friday sister of Bangkok Post, to an article highlighting other creative solutions. One of these was the placement of containers at three gas stations and one motorway service area in the period April 10 to May 9, 2013.
It is no coincidence that Songkran falls during this period, the Thai New Year, which is responsible for a record number of road casualties every year. The containers were equipped with bunk beds, some simple furniture and air-conditioning. Goal: To give drivers the opportunity to take a nap instead of falling asleep at the wheel. The idea gets a big pass Teacher, after all: no ditch of coffee from a can can better give someone new energy than a wonderful air-conditioned sleep.
Economic news
– What will it be: continuation of the current guaranteed price of 15.000 baht but only for the main crop or 13.000 baht per tonne in both seasons? The farmers are divided, the government has not yet made a decision. The continuation of the mortgage system for rice was discussed on Friday by the Ministry of Commerce and representatives of four farmers' unions. The noses are not yet on one side and they probably never will, because the interests differ.
The government is committed to maximizing the loss at 100 billion baht, the farmers in the Central Plains harvest twice a year so they see nothing in scrapping the second harvest and the other farmers opt for the 15.000 baht. This weekend, the farmers will try to reach an agreement, after which the National Rice Policy Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck, will take the decision on Monday.
Wichian Phuanglamjiak, president of the Thai Agriculturist Association has a third option: lowering the guaranteed price should only apply to white rice and not to Hom Mali and glutinous rice. The National Farmers Council is willing to accept the first option, provided farmers are allowed to participate in testing rice quality and humidity. It is said that this is often used for fraud, so that farmers receive less than the guaranteed price for their paddy (brown rice).
– Strengthen ties between Malaysia and Thailand with the aim of doubling bilateral trade to US$2015 billion by 25. The first meeting of the Malaysia-Thailand Business Council (MTBC) set the bar even but high. Trade is now valued at $12,5 billion, making Malaysia Thailand's fifth trading partner in Asean.
Stimulating bilateral trade will also boost Thai investment in Malaysia, expects Megat Mizan Nicholas Denney, Vice President of the MTBC. Last year, foreign direct investment in Malaysia fell 13,3 percent to $343 million.
Malaysia is striving to become the world's largest halal food producer. Thailand exports 30.000 tons of halal products annually via Malaysia and Singapore. According to Denney, the Thai food industry has more know-how and materials with products thanks to companies such as Charoen Pokphand Foods.
Thailand has asked Malaysia to relax the rule that buses and trucks must be parked at the border so that the goods can be transported by Malaysian vehicles. MTBC chairman Surong Bulakul believes that the rules should be in line with the Asean Free Trade Agreement. He says efforts are being made to ease the restrictions.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post