News from Thailand – December 29, 2013

Congested roads to the North and Northeast, overcrowded buses and trains: the exodus of holidaymakers to their native village has resumed with the usual scenes.

On Friday night, the exodus started with heavy traffic in both directions on Phahon Yothinweg and Mittraphapweg respectively. Traffic problems continued until yesterday morning and intensified again in the afternoon when Mittraphap Road in Nakhon Ratchasima was jammed for 15 kilometers.

There was also congestion on National Highway 304 between Prachin Buri and Nakhon Ratchasima. You have to be careful on that road, which runs through the mountains and has many steep spots and sharp bends.

Friday was the first day of the so-called 'seven dangerous days', so called because of the extremely high number of road casualties every year during the New Year's holiday. The first day the counter stood at 392 traffic accidents with 39 deaths and 399 injuries. A Safe Driving campaign will be held again this year and the police will check for alcohol consumption, but the start does not bode well because last year there were 32 deaths in 313 accidents on the first day.

It's the same story again: most accidents involve motorcycles (80 percent) and pickup trucks (7 percent) and are mainly due to alcohol consumption and speeding. The provinces of Phitsanulok and Samut Sakhon took the cake with XNUMX accidents each. Most deaths occurred in Pathum Thani, Prachin Buri and Surat Thani.

Interlocal bus transport did good business. Operator Transport Co increased its capacity to 250.000 passengers per day and the railways are deploying 27 extra trains these days. 120.000 travelers are expected this weekend.

The disastrous accident with the bus in Phetchabun (29 deaths) has prompted the Land Transport Department to place warning signs in dangerous places. One of those places is the bridge the bus tumbled off of. Minister Chadchart Sittipunt (Transport) took a look on Friday and instructed the LTD (to be clear: to place the signs).

- Bangkok Post contains little news this Sunday. The reaction of two red shirt leaders to army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha's statement about the 'possibility' of a military coup was reported in yesterday's News from Thailand.

Spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard of ruling party Pheu Thai took it a step further yesterday. He suggested that attempts are being made by 'independent bodies' to unleash a coup. Those mysterious 'bodies' are said to be connected to the 'network' that brought down Thaksin in 2006.

The red shirt movement has already announced that it will mobilize its supporters if a coup is committed. 'Thai people have shut the door on coups and will not allow another one to happen', said red shirt leader and outgoing state secretary Nattawut Saikuar (right on the photo homepage). He borrowed the metaphor of the door from Prayuth's statement, who literally said: 'The military does not shut or open the door to a coup, but a decision depends on the situation.'

Nattawut warned the army commander that a coup would spark protests on both sides. He urged him to abide by the rule of law. Excited red-shirt poser Jatuporn Prompan (pictured left) declared, "When a coup happens, we have to fight and that's all we have to do."

– The LGBT movement (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) wants to set up a political party with the aim of fighting for equal sexual rights. That then becomes a one-issue party in proper Dutch, just like the party for the Animals in the Netherlands. Too bad for the founders, but they are too late for the February 2 elections.

The party already has a beautiful and long name in Thai tradition: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Rights Party and, also in Thai tradition, an acronym (letter word) belongs to it: SOGIE Rights Party (SRP). Politically, the party is neither yellow nor red, it can draw members from both camps. The party could even lead Thailand out of that color clash, says Pongthorn Chanlearn, director of the anti-HIV and AIDS group M Plus.

One of the party's demands will be same-sex marriage and equal rights for both partners. According to a recent survey (no details), 60 percent of the Thai population oppose same-sex marriage, so there is still plenty of work to be done for these budding politicians.

– Since the outbreak of violence ten years ago in the South, 1.965 firearms have been stolen by resistance fighters, both from the authorities and civilians. Of these, 700 are obsolete.

The first strike was struck in January 2004 in Cho Airong (Narathiwat). In an attack on the Fourth Development Battalion, 413 firearms were captured and four soldiers killed. That attack is regarded as the start of the outbreak of violence in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces.

The latest (well, last?) robbery took place at a shrimp farm in Nong Chik (Pattani) on Friday. Nine armed men threatened the workers and made off with six firearms and a pickup truck.

On Saturday, a defense volunteer was shot dead in Sungai Padi (Narathiwat). He was fired upon after he left his home and got on his motorcycle. As always by the pillion passenger of a passing motorcyclist.

Comments

– The optimism of the editors-in-chief of Bangkok Post that Thaksin lost has turned into pessimism that Thaksin doesn't even need to listen. On December 21, the newspaper cheered that Thaksin's influence had been curbed. The newspaper wrote: “The street protests led by Suthep over the past two months are a signal to Thaksin saying: No, you didn't win. No, you won't win.'

Yesterday, however, the newspaper wrote: "The demands of the demonstrators on the street do not interest Thaksin." The newspaper draws that conclusion based on Pheu Thai's electoral list. Of the first ten candidates, three are related to Thaksin, the others are the 'usual suspects of old-school politicians whose notorious careers are well known in society.'

The newspaper notes that it is a cat in the bakkie for Pheu Thai, who can certainly count on 200 seats. Thaksin does not have to worry about the protesters' demands, because he has the votes. It is clear, BP concludes, that reconciliation has never been the goal. Victory was always the goal.

So we are now at the same point as we were before, the newspaper writes. The political currents [Pheu Thai and the Democrats and others] are at each other's throats. All that remains for Suthep and the Democrats is to campaign to block the election.

Economic news

– Bad luck for the publisher of Bangkok Post, PostToday (Thai language) and M2F (free magazine), but she failed to get a license for a news channel. The prices offered exceeded the newspaper's budget.

But the Post does not grieve, because it stays content supplying channel 5 and NBT channel 11. Post Publishing produces Thai-language news programs for both channels. The company has invested 100 million baht in production facilities and studios with a staff of fifty.

Missing out on a license will provide another short-term benefit to the company as it will make it more profitable for the next three years, says President Supakorn Vejjajiva of Post Publishing Plc.

This year, the publisher launched three new magazines: Fast Bikes Thailand, Cycling Plus Thailand en Forbes Thailand. M2F has a circulation of 400.000 copies per day, making it the largest newspaper in Bangkok. On Thursday and Friday, 24 digital TV channels were auctioned, including seven news channels.

– The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) ended 2013 with a loss of 6,7 percent, the first time in four years. That makes the SET the eighth worst performer worldwide this year after being the fifth best in 2012 with a gain of 35,7 percent.

On the last trading day Friday, the SET Index fell through the 1300 mark to 1.298,71 points, 0,75 percent less than the day before. On May 21, the index reached its highest level with 1.643,43 points. That was the highest level in 16 years after the financial crisis of 1997. On August 28, the index reached its lowest point this year with 1.275,76 points.

Also in the red were Shanghai, Shenzhen Composite, Singapore and Indonesia. Most other Asian markets ended the year in positive territory. The Karachi Stock Exchange in Pakistan posted a gain of 56,5 percent and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo a gain of 55,6 percent.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post