News from Thailand – October 26, 2012
The moaning about last week's 3G auction continues. When that continues Thailand 3G while the rest of the world is already on 5G.
Now the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has decided to launch an investigation to see if there was collusion (to keep prices down) and whether the laws regarding procurement procedures have been violated. A subcommittee may remain idle with this. The NACC is acting on a petition from the Senate Judiciary Committee good governance.
The NBTC, under whose responsibility the auction was held, has also set up a committee. The committee has two weeks to investigate the same. Further, there are two more individuals who have petitioned the NACC, also – it gets tedious – with the same request.
According to the auction regulations, the NBTC has 90 days to grant the auctioned licenses (to AIS, Dtac and TrueMove).
– Today the rubber floor of the new Futsal stadium will be laid. Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra will announce on Monday whether the stadium will still be used during the 2012 Futsal World Cup. Construction of the stadium only started in January this year after many delays. Futsal will be played from 1 to 18 November, elsewhere. [New Dutch verb, copyright thailandblog.]
– Thai education has been ranked 142th by the World Economic Forum in a ranking of 77 countries, 11 places lower than last year. The low score is partly based on the fact that Thai children read little: only 18,5 percent read every day and 14,9 percent rarely read, according to a survey by the National Statistical Office. Thais read an average of 5 books a year, Japanese 50 books.
The Quality Learning Foundation has compiled a list of 100 book titles that are good for children's development. The books are divided into three age categories: 0-6, 6-12 and 12-18 years. [Never knew that children from 0 can read.]
Wittaya Chiangkul, dean of Rangsit University's College of Social Innovation, says the low reading rate is partly due to government policies that prioritize technology, such as computers and tablets. [As if there is no reading on it either.]
The list of 100 books is distributed among teaching staff and the general public and can also be consulted at www.qlf.or.th. [So children of Thailand: play fewer computer games, skip a TV soap opera and pick up an exciting book. And go to bed on time so you don't sleep in class.]
– On Wednesday, officials from two services may explain to a parliamentary committee why they have bought expensive vehicles and photocopiers with money from a budget of 1,2 billion baht for anti-flood measures, including dredging. These are the Water Resources Department and the Marine Department.
Some vehicles, the Court found, were not returned to the Marine Department after use. The photocopiers were overpaid and money earmarked for the purchase of land was spent on office supplies. Committee chairman Thanitphon Chaiyanan: 'It was extravagant spending.'
– Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat (Defense) wants the army to reduce the number of generals. Today there are 1.600 with that rank. Western countries do not get beyond 10 to 20 generals. Only Cambodia beats Thailand with 2.000 generals. Sukumpol suggests being a little less generous with promotions and/or delaying them.
– Many happy faces yesterday at the Impact Arena as Prime Minister Yingluck arrived to open a conference on the third phase of a microcredit programme, which will see 1 million baht loaned to each village. The Thaksin government introduced the program in 2001 and since then 160 billion has been distributed.
– After 1 year, the president of Airports of Thailand (AoT) got the sack. He receives six months' salary. The board of directors has not given a reason for his resignation, but the rumor mill says he has aroused the displeasure of some government officials by giving a lucrative contract to two companies that are not comfortable with these people. He also allegedly made little impression on the AoT staff and ignored instructions from the Executive Board.
– A checkpoint in the Tak Bai district (Narathiwat) was bombarded with two M79 grenades on Wednesday evening. They were fired by two men on a motorcycle. The first grenade punched a hole 10 centimeters deep, the second exploded under a mango tree. No one was injured.
On October 25, it was 8 years ago that 85 Muslims died during a protest demonstration in Tak Bai. Seven people were shot dead by the army, 78 people suffocated in army vehicles on their way to detention centers.
Three members of the separatist movement Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) turned themselves in yesterday. They promised to refrain from violence from now on and said they wanted to work with the authorities to fight the unrest in the South. They would also no longer have contact with the RKK.
– The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death penalty for a former senator from Bangkok. He was the evil genius behind the 1996 murder of a doctor at Chulalongkorn Hospital. Three men who carried out the murder previously received life sentences and not the death penalty for confessing. A fourth suspect died before the Criminal Court ruled in 2004.
– A woman in Khok Sung (Sa Kaew) lost a leg because she stepped on a landmine at the border with Cambodia. She also suffered injuries to hands and face. The woman was digging for edible roots when the mine exploded. There are still numerous landmines in the area, a remnant of the Cambodian civil war.
– A taxi driver tried yesterday with his car to block the motorcade with Prime Minister Yingluck, when she left parliament. The man drew attention to his rejected request for compensation for injuries he allegedly sustained in 2010 during the red shirt riots. The taxi was stopped in time by security guards, but two cars in the column did crash into each other. According to the police, the man is a known troublemaker who is regularly spotted at Government House.
– Her brother and former Prime Minister Thaksin (obviously) had no hand in it, says Prime Minister Yingluck, without batting an eyelid, about the drastic change in the cabinet. She confirmed yesterday that the list with the new composition is with the king for signature. According to her, the renewed cabinet consists of 'more capable and knowledgeable people with a great deal of knowledge'.
Bangkok Post spends much of the front page on the reshuffle, noting that the information based on an anonymous government source. A total of 23 posts are involved in the face-lift of the cabinet and 14 new faces make their appearance. Among them are politicians who were banned five years ago when Thaksin's success party Thai Rak Thai was dissolved for fraud.
One minister is leaving voluntarily, Theera Wongsamut of Agriculture. To the disappointment of the red shirts, red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan falls by the wayside. According to the anonymous source, one red shirt in the cabinet is enough and that is Nattawut Saikuar, currently deputy minister of agriculture and in the new line-up deputy minister of trade. Because of his rhetorical skills, he has been put in that post so that he can defend the costly and controversial mortgage system.
Economic news
– It is not now an increase to raise the flag, but the downward trend of the past three months has been reversed. In September, exports grew 0,2 percent year-on-year to US$20,8 billion. In monetary terms, exports increased by 5,55 percent to 649 billion baht.
The increase is mainly due to the export of cars, construction materials, jewellery, printing, packaging materials and animal feed. Exports of agricultural products, however, showed a significant contraction: 22,8 percent less. Products that did less were rice, rubber, frozen shrimps, fruit, vegetables, frozen and fresh chickens and sugar.
Deputy Minister Poom Sarapol (Trade) expects export growth to reach 5 percent by the end of this year, the lowest growth rate since 2009 and well below the target of 15 percent set by the government. According to him, the culprit is the weak global economy as a result of the eurozone debt crisis.
– Nissan will build a second factory near its current factory in Samut Prakan province to meet the growing demand for eco-cars. The new plant will come on stream in 2014, doubling Nissan's production in Thailand.
In the past financial year (which ended at the end of March), 190.000 cars rolled off the assembly line at Nissan. Nissan wants to have a market share of 2016 percent in the Thai car market by 15.
The information about the expansion comes from the Nikkei Business Daily. Nissan Motor (Thailand) will announce its investment plan on November 2.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post