News from Thailand – June 26, 2014

It is apparently a thorn in the side of the military authority (NCPO): media reports that cause unrest or provoke criticism of the monarchy. The NCPO has therefore formed five panels that will keep an eye on the media.

Media organizations that abide by the law have nothing to fear, but those who spread incorrect information will face legal action. The five panels will focus on radio, television, print media, online media, social media and foreign media.

Television watchdog NBTC is responsible for monitoring radio and television messages. The online media are monitored by the Ministry of ICT and the foreign media by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Thai Journalists Association thinks the NCPO's guidelines are too broad. They could lead to restrictions on the rights of the media. According to Natthavarut Muangsuk, a media representative, it is clear that the NCPO wants to interfere in the work of the media. 'This makes it impossible for the media to critically assess the work of the NCPO.'

– Drivers of minivans who repeatedly commit traffic violations risk losing their license. Tougher penalties are one of the measures designed to reduce traffic accidents, said Wattana Pattanachon, deputy director general of the Land Transport Department. The main causes are speeding, fatigue and alcohol consumption.

Minor violations, such as overloading the van or violation of the speed limit, will result in a fine the first two times, but if the same violation occurs within a year after that, the driver loses his license for 15 days; with a fourth violation 30 days and with the fifth time it is over and out. For more serious offenses, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, even stricter penalties apply. The measures will take effect within two months.

– The junta wants all minibuses on and near the Victory Monument to move to a site at Makkasan ARL station and now bus operator Transport Co (owned by the government) has announced that it will move its vans to a site under the Expressway at Victory Monument .

The company has leased a site of 32.000 square meters. That area will not only be a parking lot, as at Makkasan, but a terminal with ticket machines and lounges. The terminal comes with a walkway connected to Victory Monument BTS station and the square bus stops. The terminal is expected to be operational within a year.

– The Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI) ​​will talk next week with the owners of trawlers that fish outside Thailand's territorial waters. The topic of conversation is easy to guess: human trafficking, because fisheries and fish processing companies in particular are suspected of this. The conversation takes place in response to the American Trafficking in Persons report, which demoted Thailand from the Tier 2 Watch list (do something about it) to the Tier 3 list (efforts insufficient).

Chatchawal Suksomjit, deputy chief of the Royal Thai Police, will propose to the shipowners to rotate their crew more often: no longer working at sea for one year in a row, but six months. This may also help alleviate labor shortages.

An investigation [no details] has shown that forced labor does not exist in the fishing industry in Samut Sakhon because the vessels return the same day to deliver their catch.

Other developments in the field of human trafficking. In Chanthaburi province, many Cambodian workers are in two new ones one stop service centers registered. Today such a center will open at the Rong Klua border market in Sa Kaew. The centers are staffed by officials from different services. The center in Sa Kaew can issue three to four thousand temporary work cards [?] for migrants.

– The role of women in combating violence in the South should be increased. To this end, the Southern Women Overcoming Violence Network made four proposals yesterday and submitted them to the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC).

One of the proposals is to create a database of children, young people and women who are victims of violence in any form. Another proposal calls for a reduction in the number of armed officers at educational institutions and in public places.

The SBPAC has announced that it will create a new position as assistant to village chiefs. This assistant will deal with the problems faced by women and young people.

– The establishment of the Organization of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (see: Former minister sets up anti-coup organization) by ex-Pheu Thai party leader Charupong Ruangsuwan, does not leave the junta unmoved. Today a meeting of researchers will take place about the research that will be done on the group.

Charupong and Jakrajob Penkair, former minister and fugitive as well, announced the establishment in a video clip on YouTube on Tuesday. The group is said to have its base in a neighboring country, but Scandinavia is also mentioned. An NCPO legal team is going to look at the clip with a magnifying glass to see if the law is being broken.

NCPO deputy chief Prajin Juntong says the army is closely monitoring the organization. He expects to have more information about it one of these days. There are no indications that former Prime Minister Thaksin is involved. Thaksin has kept a low profile since May 22 and does not express any opinions (anymore). Prajin does not know if the movement plans to form a government-in-exile.

NCPO spokesman Winthai Suvaree [Wow, that man is so busy.] puts the founding of the group into perspective. It is unlikely that it will see a chance to undermine military reform efforts. […] The population understands the political situation, but the NCPO may have to make more efforts to convince the international community.'

– A Thai and Cambodian woman were each sentenced to 19 years in prison for human trafficking and brokering prostitution. This involved two Cambodian girls aged 11, whom they brought to a Swedish man (2012) in 2013 and 47.

One of the girls was the daughter of the Cambodian suspect, the other girl was the daughter of her boyfriend, who had left Thailand for medical treatment and had placed his daughter with his girlfriend.

– The mayor of tambon Karon on Phuket is one of 109 suspects who have been arrested in connection with mafia practices in the taxi world on the island. After his arrest, four other local politicians turned themselves in to the police.

– Students of religious schools (cottage) in the South, who go to regular secondary education, experience major problems because the education they followed does not match it. Only when they continue to follow Islamic studies will they not have that problem.

At a seminar in Hat Yai, the 350 participants were told this by Suthasri Wongsamarn, permanent secretary [in Dutch terms: secretary-general] of the Ministry of Education. The gap comes to light at the Ordinary National Test. The students score low. Suthasri called on education services to provide refresher courses.

The meeting in the South was intended to explain the education policy of the NCPO and to hear first hand what the problems are. One of the problems is the large number dropouts, especially in secondary education, and school absenteeism, said Peerasak Rattana, director of the Regional Education Office 12 (Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and four districts in Songkhla). Many Southern children are weak in math and language, causing them to drop out of school or play truant, Peerasak said. Another well-known problem is that teachers are targeted by insurgents; many have already died.

– Students who think they can plagiarize with impunity when writing their thesis will from now on come home from a cold fair, because seventeen universities are going to use the computer program Akarawisut use, which makes it easy to detect plagiarism.

Chulalongkorn University already has experience with Akarawisut en Turnitin. In 2013, a thousand theses were already scanned. The university has now given permission to seventeen other universities to use the program and does not have to pay for it.

– Citizenship and revision of history education: remember? They must ensure that Thai children learn what their rights and obligations are. The office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), which came up with the beautiful plan, advises the teachers who teach these subjects to enliven the new curriculum with 'activities'. Suggestions for those 'activities' will be included in the new teaching material.

– The planned construction of the Don Sahong dam in Laos must go through a consultation process by the Mekong countries. Thailand will defend this position at a meeting of the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental consultative body of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, today in Bangkok.

Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia are afraid of the negative ecological consequences. The Don Sahong dam would be the second dam constructed by Laos in the Mekong. The other, the Xayaburi dam, although equally controversial, is already under construction. Laos resists consultation. The country argues that the dam will not be built in the main river, but in a branch.

Economic news

– Come to Thailand and make sure with your own eyes that there are no children or forced laborers working in the production chain. That is the message Thailand's shrimp and tuna processing companies and exporters have for non-governmental organizations and importers who claim otherwise.

The Thai Fishery Producers Coalition seems to have stepped on its tail a bit, as it says: 'We have improved working conditions in the industry over the past eight years. Most shrimp are farmed and all raw materials for canning tuna come from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.'

The employers react somewhat annoyed in response to the Friday published Trafficking in Persons 2014 report from the US State Department. Thailand dropped from the Tier 2 Watch list to the Tier 3 list (see: Human trafficking: Thailand gets a big fail from Washington).

The Thai Tuna Industry Association says tuna processing companies use only legal workers, most of whom are from Myanmar.

Although the US has not yet taken any trade sanctions, Thai shrimp are already experiencing the consequences of a publication in the English The Guardian. The newspaper accuses the Thai fishing industry of treating foreign workers as slaves. As a result, the hypermarket chain Carrefour is considering stopping the sale of Thai shrimp.

The Thai sugar industry is not duped by the TIP report, because sugar is only on the Tier 2 list, which means that the government does not fully comply with the minimum requirements of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

The three associations of sugar producers will, with the relevant services, inspect companies of sugar millers in the country to ensure that no use is made of child labour. Subsequently, the countries that are concerned about this are informed.

Following the TIP report, a delegation from the Department of Commerce will travel to the US next month to explain working conditions in the fishing industry to authorities and consumer groups.

The private sector will provide evidence to the US National Fisheries Institute to prove Thailand's compliance with ILO rules. The US is an important export market for tuna (22 percent, good for 22 billion baht) and shrimp (38 percent).

[Bangkok Post keeps writing that the TIP report was compiled by the US Labor Department, but a simple Google search contradicts that.]

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post

More news in:

US considers keeping Cobra Gold in another country
Major weapon find in Nakhon Ratchasima