News from Thailand – October 27, 2012
Thailand may not have won Olympic gold in London, but at the beginning of this month a team of Thai chefs won four golds and one silver at the IKA Culinary Olympics 2012 in Erfurt.
Not a bad performance among eighteen hundred professional and amateur chefs from 54 countries; moreover, it was Thailand's first time participating.
The Thai participants were delegated by the (private) Thailand Culinary Academy, founded in 2009 by a top chef from Singapore who works in Thailand. Contrary to what the name suggests, there are no classes, but both professional and amateur chefs are coached and prepared for competitions.
In Germany, Thai professionals won gold three times in the wedding cake, patisserie and confectionery categories. A group of student chefs won gold in the hot kitchen category and silver in the cold kitchen category. For the warm kitchen they had to prepare a two-course menu for 90 people with a trio of vegetarian appetizers and a fish main course. They were given five and a half hours to do it. In the cold kitchen they made four starters, four main courses and four desserts.
– A Canadian (27) and an Australian (31) are dead in one on Thursday evening hotel room found in Khlong Toey (Bangkok). In the room, the police found several bottles of alcohol and white powder. The powder is sent to a lab for testing.
In Krabi, police have arrested two teenagers who stabbed a British tourist with a knife on Monday in the company of five others. They tried to assault his girlfriend. The man has been admitted to Bangkok-Phuket Hospital in Phuket. The message does not mention anything about the girlfriend.
– Amnesty International demands in a statement that those responsible for the deaths of 85 Muslims in Tak Bai on 25 October 2004 be brought to justice. AI finds it "shameful" that no one has been brought to justice and that serious human rights violations can still go on with impunity in the South. AI does have an appreciative word for the compensation received by the relatives of the victims of violence in the South.
In June, in a case brought by the relatives of the Tak Bai victims, the court ruled that they could not appeal against the decisions of a 2009 investigation, which said that the soldiers had only done their duty. Of the 85 victims, 7 were shot; the others suffocated on army vehicles during transport to detention centres.
- Bangkok Post writes on the front page today about the violence in Sittwe (Myanmar), in which 64 people died, but most attention is focused on the upcoming ministerial changes in the Yingluck cabinet.
In an analysis, BP finds that the 'Big Four' of the Shinawatra clan have consolidated their power. The four are former Prime Minister Thaksin, his ex-wife Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra and his two sisters Prime Minister Yingluck and Yaowapa.
De reshuffle shows that Prime Minister Yingluck is firmly in the saddle, because despite criticism from her own party, she has retained Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong for Finance. BP sees Yaowapa's influence in retaining Trade Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, who has not made a strong impression in defending the controversial rice mortgage system.
The rumor mill is running at full speed again. The recalcitrant red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan is said to have received money from Thaksin to refrain from a cabinet post. "I never sell my soul," he says. "I swear on the spirit of the red shirts."
According to sources within the governing party Pheu Thai, the reshuffle an attempt to get rid of weak ministers, but political coffee grounds viewers in the red shirt camp then wonder why Boonsong (Handel) and Woravat (PM's Office) have not been flipped.
– The Senate Corruption Committee wants the National Ombudsman to ask the Administrative Court to rule on the 3G auction. The legal question is whether auction organizer NBTC is authorized to approve the outcome of the auction. The NBTC would have violated the constitution and the law regarding the allocation of frequencies.
The committee hopes that the court will order a new auction with more bidders or a higher yield. Critics say the three bidders (AIS, Dtac and TrueMove) may have colluded; moreover, there was no competition. As a result, they would have obtained the 3G licenses for too low a price. The proceeds of the auction amounted to 41,6 billion baht.
– Following the stranding of 400 passengers at Incheon airport in South Korea, because the PC Air aircraft was not allowed to leave, the Civil Aviation Department has decided to impose stricter requirements on budget airlines. The PC Air plane had to stay on the ground because some bills were still outstanding.
From now on, the companies must deposit a deposit and they must submit an emergency plan indicating what measures they will take in the event of such incidents. The deposit can then be used to compensate passengers when flights are unexpectedly cancelled. Companies may also be required to have at least two or three aircraft. PC Air flies with only one aircraft.
The Ministry of Transport will set up a commission of inquiry. That committee could recommend that PC Air's license be revoked. PC Air will resume charter flights in November and South Korea and Hong Kong flights 60 days after its license renewal.
– The US has made an offer to Thailand to buy second-hand and new military equipment at a bargain price. These are five new F-16 engines, 1.150 Humvee military vehicles that have served in Iraq, three new Black Hawk helicopters and two Perry Class frigates.
– The ultra-conservative religious group Kong Thap Tham (Dhamma Army) will be present tomorrow at the anti-government rally of the Pitak Siam group (Protecting Siam). The Dhamma Army, which has close ties to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), will provide food, medical supplies, sanitary facilities and shelter during the rally at the stadium of the Royal Turf Club. If the rally is a success, more will follow, says figurehead (retired) General Boonlert Kaewprasit.
The red shirts will also hold a demonstration tomorrow and not coincidentally close to the stadium. But Boonlert doesn't expect it to turn violent.
– A 29-year-old man was shot in the leg and another in the shoulder and leg yesterday during the Eid Al-Adha Islamic festival in Narathiwat. In both cases it would be a personal conflict.
There was not much trade in the deep South on Friday. Shopkeepers and merchants are still afraid of attacks on the day of prayer of the Muslims, which have been threatened. Very few shops and stalls were open in Pattani, also because of the festival.
– In the past 5 years, 345 billion baht is through phoy kuan (underground money transfers) have been smuggled out of the country, says the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo). In the reverse direction, 193 million baht went.
The money flowing into Thailand came from Turkey, the Netherlands, UAE, India, China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Most of those who moved abroad went to Hong Kong. Transfers are made by telephone and online. Agents take care of the payment. According to Amlo, it is virtually impossible to identify those responsible.
– A woman demonstrated yesterday with the coffin containing the body of her murdered son in front of the police headquarters in Bangkok. The son was beaten to death on October 20 after visiting a nightclub. According to the woman, the police have not done anything yet; the club is still open and no one has been apprehended.
Economic news
– Hua Hin has overtaken Pattaya as the most popular tourist destination. Last year, the number of tourists increased from 1,08 million to 1,61 million, which is an increase of 49,1 percent. Pattaya was stuck on an increase of 13,4 percent: from 6,94 million to 7,87 million tourists. Cha-Am, not far from Hua Hin, saw an increase of 6,79 percent: from 1,62 million to 1,73 million.
The government wants to promote Hua Hin and Cha-Am as new ones beach destination for foreigners. On the wish list is a high-speed line between Bangkok and Hua Hin. To relieve the heavy traffic on the Phetkasem Highway to the south, a connecting road is being constructed starting at Bang Yai in Nakhon Pathom and ending in Tha Yang (Phetchaburi) via Ratchaburi and Samut Songkhram.
The business community also has great plans for Hua Hin and Cha-Am. The Mall Group and the Liptapanlop family are developing Blúport Hua Hin Resort Mall. Other projects include Botaneo, The Lifestyle Promenade; Venezia Hua Hin, a lifestyle mall; Pullman Hotel and Miracle Hua Hin (condominiums) in Cha-Am.
– The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) expects the number of foreign tourists arriving through its members to increase by 10 percent this year to 3 million. Earlier, the ATTA predicted 7 to 8 percent. The recovery will continue next year; the association expects a growth of 7 to 10 percent. The top five countries from which tourists come are China, Russia, India, Japan and Vietnam.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects 20,5 million tourists to visit Thailand this year. They bring in 830 billion baht.
– If Thailand succeeds in the next 5 years to increase labor productivity by 8,4 percent, the economy will not be damaged by raising the minimum daily wage to 300 baht on January 1. This has been calculated by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). But if that is not the case, economic growth will contract by two percentage points in the next three to five years.
The TDRI estimates that the increase (which goes into effect January 1 in 70 provinces; in 7 provinces it went into effect this year) affects spending 2,47 percent and investment 2,79 percent, assuming other factors remain unchanged. Public expenditure will decrease by 4,05 percent and exports by 2,35 percent over the next few years. Normally, economic growth should be 5 percent.
The increase mainly affects labour-intensive industries with unskilled workers, where productivity is low. Producers in these sectors do not have the capital to invest in technology to replace labour. The increase causes production costs to increase, resulting in higher prices and a worse competitive position for exports.
Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of the TDRI, believes that Thailand should adjust its economic model. “If we continue like this, we will not be able to increase our GDP per capita,” he says. The government should develop a systematic policy of long-term wage increases. Somkiat points out that wages have lagged inflation over the past 10 years.
Because the government has chosen to introduce the same minimum wage nationwide (up until now it has varied by region), he thinks some companies will move to areas near Bangkok to cut their transport costs.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post