News from Thailand – September 26, 2013

Little news about the floods in the country. Prachin Buri province is the hardest hit by the rains. Eight thousand homes are under water. The Prachin Buri River has overflowed its banks, flooding parts of industrial estate 304 Industrial Park.

The water flowed into a factory where airbags are made and reached a height of 40 cm. Workers rushed to get equipment to safety and pumps were brought in to pump out the water. Staff from the Si Maha Phot district and the industrial estate started yesterday to build an emergency embankment with large sandbags. If the rain continues, there is a chance that the entire site will be flooded.

Five districts in Prachin Buri province have been declared disaster areas: Muang, Kabin Buri, Na Di, Prachatakham and Si Maha Phot. Governor Jitra Promchutima has ordered the authorities to distribute food and drinking water. The water level in the Prachin Buri River in Si Maha Phot district has risen to 9,80 meters, 80 cm above the critical level. Pumps are being installed to pump the water out of the district and the northern part of Kabin Buri.

Flooding has also been reported from residential areas along the Chao Praya River in Ang Thong, Sing Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Bangkok provinces.

Photos: The Khun Dan Prakan Chon dam in Nakhon Nayok discharges extra water because the reservoir is 94 percent full.

– Technicians and environmentalists are not very enthusiastic about the water management program, for which the government has allocated 350 billion baht. The program lacks a detailed master plan and public participation. They expressed those concerns yesterday at a seminar organized by the WFMC, the committee responsible for the program.

Hearings on the program will start in 36 provinces next month, but already President Suwat Chaopricha of the Engineering Institute of Thailand concludes that the program violates the principles of 'engineering, laws, public participation and transparency'.

Pramote Maiklad, former head of the Irrigation Department, calls the hearings of little value because details are lacking. According to him, the plans are no more than a 'things-to-do' list and an extensive master plan is missing. The Stop Global Warming Association will try to enforce a ban on the hearings through the administrative court.

There was also criticism of the reverse order. The government has already asked the companies that will carry out the works to elaborate their plans. Only then will the public have the opportunity to say something about it. Village representatives from Lamphun, where the first hearing will be held on October 7, say they have not yet received any information, although it is customary for it to be circulated 15 days in advance.

– Rubber farmers in the South demand that the government meet their demands within seven days: a guaranteed price for unsmoked rubber sheets of 100 baht per kilo, no prosecution of demonstrators and lifting of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation law, which has been declared in force by the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

When the farmers don't get their way, they expand their protest to Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan. They are now occupying Khuan Nong Hong intersection in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.

Rubber farmers in Lan Saka district (same province) demand that the subsidy of 2.520 baht per rai also goes to rubber farmers who do not own the land, but rent or because they have inherited the land and do not have a land deed.

– The well-known TV presenter Sorayuth Suthassanachinda (always enthusiastically waving his hands during interviews) has won the legal battle with Mcot Plc. The Central Administrative Court has ordered the TV company to pay Sorayuth's company 55 million baht in advertising revenue. It concerns income from the years 2005 and 2006. The company may appeal, because it believes it can claim even more money. Sorayuth has been charged with fraud and corruption by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The newspaper does not report how this is done.

– The Supreme Court seems willing to compromise on the new construction at the Grand Palace and the demolition of the current complex. There have been protests against the demolition because of the architectural and historical value of the buildings and against the new construction because of the height of 30 meters.

A Senate committee met on the matter yesterday. She suggested leaving the two buildings that had not yet been demolished and making a new design. The representative of the Supreme Court who was present promised to make a miniature model of the design, but the Association for Siamese Architects doubts whether this is the case, because the architect is not prepared to change his design. The Senate committee has offered to find a new architect.

– Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng (Education) has repeated his call to the universities to reduce the number of their own entrance exams. He suggests that they jointly organize one exam.

Chaturon objects to its own entrance exams because they favor students from wealthy families. They can take extra lessons and the parents also have the finances to cough up the travel and accommodation costs when their child shows up for university entrance exams. In addition, a child often participates in several exams.

The Council of University Presidents of Thailand proposes a 50-50 ratio between the [government's] central exam and the university exams, but Chaturon says that doesn't solve the problem.

– Haven't heard about it in a long time: the P4P reward system for rural doctors (pay for performance). Simply put, pay for performance rather than pay based on location, at least in part. The system was proposed by the Ministry of Health earlier this year, but was met with objections from doctors.

Yesterday in Bangkok, the Rural Doctors Society presented an alternative, 'pay for quality and outcome' (PQO), which has the approval of the profession. I'll leave out the details so as not to complicate things too much.

The P4P system goes into effect on Tuesday. It is not known whether the ministry is prepared to consider the alternative.

– Two thousand farmers who grow maize demonstrated yesterday at the Province House of Nan. They demand that the government extend its price guarantee program for corn for four months. The program runs from last month to December and guarantees a price of 8 or 10 baht per kilo, depending on the humidity level. The limit is 30 tons per farmer. The market price of corn is currently 5 baht per kilo.

– For sober people it is hard to imagine, but a former psychology student in 2006 and 2007 managed to cheat the owner of a tutoring school with 10 million baht. How did she do that? She said that they had an affair in their past lives and that he owed her money.

The savvy student has been sentenced by the court to 4,5 years in prison, a sentence that the Supreme Court upheld yesterday. Three accomplices received a suspended prison sentence plus a fine. The student appeals.

– The operation at Siriraj hospital took 13 hours, but a student's hand is back on his wrist. He was 'chopped off' with a large knife on Monday, writes the newspaper by students from a rival school while riding his motorcycle. The surgeon says that with physiotherapy, the student can regain 80 percent of his hand function, provided there are no complications.

– The municipality of Bangkok has ordered its schools to no longer use drinking water from underground tanks, because the water may be contaminated. Some students get diarrhea as a result. Many schools store water in underground tanks and do not purify it. The tanks are presumably damaged. The schools now have to purchase stainless steel tanks, place them above ground and clean them once a quarter.

– In the third quarter, the most complaints were made to or about the Royal Thai Police (RTP), the Ministry of Transport and Agriculture, the Bangkok public transport company (BMTA), the Provincial Electricity Authority and the Government Savings Bank. The complaints came in through four 1111 points. The RTP was complained about noise, smell, misbehaving teenagers and traffic jams. The complaints about the BMTA concerned poor service from bus drivers, conductors and minibus drivers.

Political news

– The Constitutional Court has considered two petitions submitted by opposition party Democrats. In one petition, Democrats argue that the Senate election amendment proposal violates the Constitution. Parliament will debate this in third reading on Saturday. The Democrats had also asked for the trial to be halted, but the Court refused.

The other petition concerns the budget for the financial year 2014, which starts on 1 October. The budget is against the constitution, say a group of senators and parliamentarians from the opposition party. This concerns cutbacks at a number of independent institutions. The budget has already been approved by both Houses and only needs the signature of the king.

To back up their demands, the Democrats also handed over a video to the Court showing a Pheu Thai MP putting ID cards of fellow party members into a voting machine on September 10 and 11. If proven, the vote is void.

- Angry faces among the Democrats because TV channel 11 interrupted the live broadcast of the parliamentary debate on the government's annual report to report on the opening of a trade fair by Prime Minister Yingluck. And of course Yingluck also got a kick out of it because she missed yesterday's [two-day] parliament meeting. Deputy chamber chairman Wisutr Chai-arun apologized and said a mistake had been made. And that was the end of it.

Economic news

– Seven gold options dealers are proposing to create a gold cash exchange to position Thailand as a regional hub for gold trading. But to give such a market an advantage over other markets in Southeast Asia, it is necessary to relax the market rules, says Kritcharat Hirunyasiri, president of MTS Gold.

The dealers want the Bank of Thailand and capital market regulators to allow trading in US dollars and extend the trading period to be on par with other exchanges that trade around the clock. The gold cash exchange would make trading in gold more transparent and should have its own regulator. The proposal is one of the solutions the dealers have come up with to prevent gold dealers from engaging in foreign currency speculation.

The Bank of Thailand is currently discussing the domestic cash market with the Ministry of Finance. It has been found that the amount of gold transactions in foreign currency exceeds the actual import and export value, indicating speculation. The bank has also asked the gold stores to provide information on transactions outside the options exchange, including gold bar trading. The high level of gold imports is said to be partly responsible for the balance of payments deficit of 0,2 percent of gross domestic product.

The director of the Thailand Futures Exchange supports the idea of ​​a gold cash exchange. Such an exchange can help maintain gold trade value in Thailand and prevent dealers from placing trade orders abroad. Thailand is one of the world's largest gold trading markets.

– The cabinet yesterday gave the green light for the establishment of Thai Smile Airways Co, a 100 percent subsidiary of Thai Airways International (THAI). The budget subsidiary will take to the skies next year with rates that are 15 to 20 percent below those of the mother. When fully operational, fourteen THAI routes will be transferred to Smile.

Smile will not become a duplicate of Nok Air, because the company nestles itself between the budget carriers and regular airlines. Smile's service will be better than that of the budget carriers. The travel date can be changed, reservations become more flexible and business seats are available.

- Pay the bill? This will soon also be possible at Family Mart thanks to the collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank. SCB hopes to gain a 3 percent market share in grocery bill payment within the next 10 years. Family Mart has 900 branches. This year there will be 100 and in 2017 there should be 3.000.

Monthly bills are paid for 5 million baht, of which 3 million through the cash register of grocers. That share is expected to increase. The advantage of this method of payment is that the shops are open 24 hours a day and that they cover the entire country.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post