News from Thailand – September 25, 2012

Bangkok is at high risk of flooding between Saturday and October 2 due to prolonged monsoon rains and a storm currently forming over Taiwan. The sewage system of the capital is not designed for this.

This is the pessimistic prediction made by Thanawat Charupongsakul, an expert on disasters and geography at Chulalongkorn University. He points out that the city has so far not drained enough water from the canals, as happened in 2006. In that year the canals had sufficient capacity to collect the water. "And to make matters worse, the city council continues to squabble with the government over water management."

Thanawat is most worried about the month of October because the water level in the Chao Praya rises due to water from the North and high tides, which make it difficult to drain the water. According to Thanawat, the only solution is to drastically lower the water level in the canals until there is almost no water left.

Other flood news

• Wasan Meewong, spokesman for the Bangkok municipality, yesterday criticized the recent cleaning of sewers at nine locations by detainees. This was done at the request of the Traffic Police Division after Prime Minister Yingluck became concerned about clogged drains. 'We welcome the help, but those sewers have already been cleaned at the beginning of this year. The police can better deal with crime and traffic.'
• Chadchart Sitthipan, Deputy Minister of Transportation, has asked Defense to use the compound of the Second Cavalry Division in Din Daeng (Bangkok) and the Air Force's Dhupateme Stadium in Don Muang as a water storage area.
• Flooding in Prachin Buri has increased due to water from Khao Yai National Park and Sa Kaeo province. The water caused considerable damage in the Kabin Buri and Si Maha Phot districts. More than 34.000 rai worth of rice fields and fields have been destroyed. Farmers in Kabin Buri would harvest their cassava in 2 meters of water. Three thousand villagers have been duped.
• The Bhumibol and Sirikit reservoirs are 61 percent full, said the director of National Water and Flood Management Policy.
• The Yom River has overflowed its banks in Phitsanulok, causing major damage in the low-lying district of Bang Rakam. The villagers complain that the authorities are too slow to respond. Last year, the area was under water for four months. A resident expects the nuisance to last two months this year.
• Authorities continue to lower the water level of the Yom by diverting some of the water to the Nan River in Uttaradit.

Other news

– Supat Laohawattana, alias Dr Death, who is suspected of murdering four people, was not released on bail yesterday. The court considered the chance that he could intimidate witnesses as a high-ranking police officer to be too great. He could also take off.

Supat's wife has now announced that she wants to turn herself in. She is suspected of having collaborated with her husband in making the four victims disappear. Three have been excavated from Supat's orchard; two are male and two have been found with bullet holes. The identity of the victims will be determined on the basis of the DNA.

Supat's lawyer claims that Supat, who worked as a police doctor at the Police General Hospital, is being tricked. That would be related to an argument with his brother about the care of their 89-year-old mother who has a fortune of 5 billion baht. A relative claims that Supat drugged his mother so that he could take control of her wealth.

Supat is suspected of the murder of a couple who disappeared without a trace in 2009. An employee, who worked for the doctor for 18 years, says he witnessed the murder of two other employees, one by poisoning, the other by a bullet shot.

– Former Prime Minister Thaksin defended the mortgage system for rice in an interview in Singapore. This will not surprise anyone, because at his instigation the much criticized system has been reintroduced. Point by point Thaksin's main arguments:

• The program leads to an economic profit of three times the cost of the program.
• If we keep the program for two or three years, things will work themselves out. The price of rice on the world market is already starting to rise.
• The program ultimately leads to higher state revenues through the sale of the stored rice and helps mitigate the effects of the European debt crisis for Thailand to mute.
• The domestic economy is growing because people have more purchasing power. [The government pays farmers for their paddy prices which are 40 percent above market prices.]
• I don't think we have too much rice because we keep selling. [Government stocks have now risen to 15,7 million tons of rice.]
• The previous government [with its price guarantee system] spoiled the exporters by selling them cheap rice and calling on them to improve their marketing.
• About 40 percent of Thailand's population of 67 million, who depend on rice cultivation, are satisfied with the policy.
• Pity the peasants. They are poor. Give them a chance to survive in this world, to have a better life.

[For background information, see the rice mortgage system in Q&A on my website: http://tinyurl.com/9bqag63]

– In an explosion yesterday morning at a school in Bacho (Narathiwat), two school principals and two soldiers were injured. The school was just preparing for a meeting of principals when the 5-pound bomb, hidden in a metal box under a granite table, exploded.

Army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha is not enthusiastic about the proposal of the new secretary general of the National Security Council to lift the state of emergency in the South. He says that this makes it more difficult to track down suspects, for example because permission from the judge must always be requested for an arrest or house search.

The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center plans to leave Chang Lee after the 2007 bombing hotels in Yala for 167 million baht and to house government services.

– Gulf JP UT Co backed down from the administrative court yesterday. The company developing a natural gas-fired power plant in Chachoengsao must disclose the contract with the customer Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the national electricity company. Plaintiff in this case was the People's Network against Power Plant Projects, arguing that the local residents are entitled to those information.

Today the court will rule on a similar case, in which the network is against Power Generation Supply Co, which is going to build a power station in Saraburi.

– A ceremony was held for unborn babies in Wat Salathong in Nakhon Ratchasima yesterday. About a thousand people prayed, meditated and gifts were given. The participants also wrote messages that were placed in a coffin to be burned. The ceremony was specially designed for people who are mentally in need because of an abortion or miscarriage.

– Farmers in Nan province yesterday in protest against the low price they get for their product, blocked a road and dumped dried longan there.

– And again rosewood has been intercepted in Khantalarak (Si Sa Ket) district. Not far from the Hindu temple Preah Vihear, 17 blocks were found and in a forest elsewhere 22 blocks, worth a total of 6 million baht.

– An increasing number of women think that using crystal methamphetamine makes them more beautiful. This has emerged from a study by the Department of Medical Services. It would lighten the skin and make them slender pines.

– Correction: In an article about Banpu yesterday there are wrong years, reports Bangkok Post. The concession to Thai-Lao Lignite Co was granted in 1994 and not in 2000. Banpu won the project not in 2008 but in 2006, two months after the government of Laos broke the contract with Thai-Lao. [Yes, journalism is a profession.]

Economic news

– The government would do well to reduce its shareholdings in listed companies. That says the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organization (Fetco). When the government has a smaller share, these companies can adjust their management and function as private companies. As a result, they can operate more flexibly and their competitiveness and profit opportunities increase.

The government currently owns shares in 31 listed companies. She has a majority share in five companies: Krung Thai Bank (91,77 pc), Airports of Thailand (70 pc), Thai Airways International (68,73 pc), oil company PTT (66,26 pc) and media company Mcot (65,68. XNUMX per cent). And she has a large shareholding in six companies.

Fetco's position is that a smaller government share reduces the possibility of management interference and leads to an improvement in business operations. She also proposes to take other public companies to the stock exchange.

– The Pak Khlong Talat market in Bangkok, a law market known for flowers and wholesale goods, is getting a facelift of 400 million baht. The market, which is managed by the Marketing Organisation, is to become a modern flower market and a tourist attraction.

The operation should be completed by Valentine's Day next year. The market will have a 300-meter footpath along the Chao Praya River, such as Asiatique Riverfront on Charoenkrung Road. After the facelift, the MO has similar plans for the other four markets under its management, which have not been very popular for years because customers prefer to go to a department store.

"We hope that our markets and especially the market in Chachoengsao will give a major boost to border trade when the Asian Economic Community is formed in 2015," said director general Titus Sukasard. "This market is to become the central market for seafood in the Eastern Seaboard."

The Marketing Organisation, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, is not very well known among the population. Most of MO's annual revenue of 2 billion baht comes from supplying rice and other food products to 80 prisons. But MO's monopoly has recently come to an end as some prisons have moved to another supplier based on bids.

The MO is now trying to win government hospitals, public schools, army bases and local authorities as clients. It is also developing a new distribution channel for Otop products under the name Otop Smile shop. There will be a trial with 10 new stores and if successful, 500 will be added over the next three years. The first has already opened in Ayutthaya.

Otop stands for One Tambon One Product. The originally Japanese concept was developed during the Thaksin government and aims to stimulate specialization on one product per tambon and to improve marketing.

– The 5.000 farmers, who keep laying hens, say that the price of eggs has fallen below their production costs of 2,60 baht per egg. Thais are buying fewer eggs because they have doubts about the freshness and storage period under the current changing weather conditions. The farmers threaten to take action if something is not done about the pricing soon.

– Trade between Thailand and Malaysia at the border post Sadao (Songkhla) is disappointing and therefore the Songkhla Chamber of Commerce asks the government to upgrade the roads and facilities between Hat Yai and Sadao, so that tourism can increase. Five years ago, the local business community proposed to build a 5-kilometre long highway between the two cities. Cost 50 billion. The border post could also use a makeover.

Due to the heavy traffic, a trip on the current 60-kilometer long two-lane road often takes 90 minutes compared to the normal 45 minutes. Add another 2 to 3 hours for the paperwork at Immigration and Customs. Border trade, which consists largely of rubber and cars, is suffering heavily from the sluggish global economy and increasing unrest in the three southernmost provinces. Tourism is the most important source of income for companies in the South.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post