News from Thailand – December 27, 2013

Three schools near the Thai-Japan stadium had to close their doors yesterday after police began firing tear gas at protesters.

The protesters of the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand tried to prevent the registration of election candidates at the stadium (See: Electoral Council calls for postponement of elections after riots).

Around 8 am, students of Pibul Prachasan school started complaining about irritated eyes and nose. The school principal then decided to send the students home. The school has 1.172 pupils and 281 pupils in a special education department. The school is also closed today.

The tear gas also reached an apartment building. Elderly residents and young children were evacuated to a senior center in Din Daeng.

– More than three thousand demonstrators of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (not to be confused with the rioters at the stadium, because that is a different group) demonstrated yesterday in front of Prime Minister Yingluck's home. They did not find her at home, because the prime minister has been on tour in the North and Northeast for two weeks and will probably not return to Bangkok until after the turn of the year. It was the second time that demonstrations were held at the house. On December 22, an equally large group demonstrated.

Once again, the protesters demanded Yingluck's resignation. Hundreds of police and barbed wire kept them at a safe distance from the house. There was no confrontation. The demonstrators returned to the main stage at the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue in the late afternoon.

The demonstration did claim one victim: the commander of the police unit at the house was transferred to an inactive post. The chief commissioner of the Bangkok municipal police is not impressed by his performance.

– Thirteen of the 37 anti-government protest leaders, who were summoned on January 3 to report to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI), have instructed their lawyers to request an extension. Only when their 'mission' is completed are they willing to come.

– The DSI has asked the court to revoke the bail of nine former leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). They are being prosecuted for the occupation of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports at the end of 2008. According to the DSI, they have violated their bail conditions by participating in the anti-government protests. The court will decide on the DSI's request on 24 February. [Why that has to take so long, is anyone's guess.]

– DSI head Tarit Pengdith appears before the Senate committee today good governance. He will explain to the committee his decision to prosecute the 37 protest leaders and freeze their bank accounts. Some banks have already done so; four banks want to know on what basis the DSI makes this request.

– On Wednesday night, the home of protest leader Sathit Wongnongtoey in Trat province, which also serves as the branch office of the opposition party Democrats, was shot at. The house was riddled with bullet holes afterwards.

– Prime Minister Yingluck has declined an invitation from action leader Suthep Thaugsuban to debate with him. Suthep should air his ideas in the proposed National Reform Council (NRC, see News from Thailand yesterday), she thinks. Yingluck said the government is only listening to stakeholders' views on national reforms.

Suthep challenged Yingluck to a television debate on Wednesday to cross swords over the NRC and the Volksraad he proposed. The NRC will consist of 499 representatives chosen from a group of 2000 people from all walks of life. The Volksraad should have 400 members, 100 of whom are appointed by the protest movement.

Thai Chamber of Commerce Chairman Isara Vongkusolkit says many groups see little benefit in the government's NRC proposal.

Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, former president of the National Institute of Development Administration, called the proposal questionable because the person who proposed it is unreliable "because she has not come up with such an idea before." Only after the protest movement proposed to form a Volksraad did the government respond with its own idea. According to Sombat, solutions devised by the NRC will not be realized unless they serve the political aspirations of ruling party Pheu Thai.

– The National Anti-Corruption Commission will take action against the presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives. They cut short parliamentary debates on the Senate amendment proposal, preventing MPs from the opposition Democrats from speaking, in violation of Article 270 of the Constitution. Both chairmen have been summoned to appear before the committee on January 10.

There is also a procedure before the Constitutional Court, but I will not mention it for the sake of clarity.

– The auction of seven digital HD and seven SD channels yesterday yielded the not bad sum of 39,65 billion baht and that is cash for the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. TV channel 3 felt the deepest in the pocket. It offered 3,53 billion baht for an HD channel.

– Everything about yesterday morning's riots in: Electoral Council calls for postponement of elections after riots

Economic news

– The overground (BTS) and underground (MRT) subway spiders are sparing at the demonstrations, while traffic on the expressways has decreased slightly. On Sunday, as thousands of protesters swept through the city, 760.000 traveled on the BTS, up from 400.000 on other Sundays. The number of travelers has also increased on weekdays: it averages 650.000 per day, which amounts to an increase of 10 percent on an annual basis.

By the way, the BTS is doing good business thanks to the extension of the Silom line from Wong Wian Yai to Bang Wa. The total length of the BTS metro network has therefore increased to 35 kilometers and the daily turnover to 16 million baht. The 5,25 kilometers between Saphan Taksin and Bang Wa increases the number of travelers by 30.000 per day.

The MRT scored a 24 percent increase on Sunday, but the newspaper previously reported an increase of 75 percent: from 170.000 trips to 300.000. The numbers on weekdays do not exceed that either. According to the current report, it amounts to 250.000 travellers, the previous report stated 280.000 journeys.

Traffic on expressways (toll roads) fell by 1,8 percent in November. December won't be much better. In the first eleven months of this year, traffic volume increased by 1,7 percent on an annual basis and turnover, thanks to the rate increase, by 7,9 percent on an annual basis.

– It continues to struggle with the payment of the guaranteed price to farmers who have surrendered their paddy. The government now wants to issue bonds worth 13 billion baht to pay the farmers. The Electoral Council would have no objection to this. He has to give permission because the government is caretaker.

However, Secretary General Pongpanu Savetdarun of the Public Debt Management Office throws a spanner in the works. He refuses to sign loans. Moreover, he has not yet received permission from the Electoral Council.

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, which pre-finances the rice mortgage system, is providing some relief to farmers, who have been waiting for their money since early October, by granting them loans with the mortgage guarantee as short-term collateral. So far, the bank has paid out 40 billion baht to farmers.

State Secretary Thanusak Lek-uthai (Finance) guarantees the farmers that they will be paid by 15 January at the latest. In the first two weeks of December, 20 billion baht has already been paid out, the rest to a total of 85 billion will follow at the end of the month and next year.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post