News from Thailand – July 29, 2013

The Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) fears that the planned 2 trillion baht investment in infrastructure will not be verified by independent observers.

Minister Chadchat Sittipunt (Transport) has formulated a proposal in which the ACT has had no input. Last week, the ACT sent letters of protest to three ministers, including Chadchat.

The proposal that Chadchat has been working on with a committee calls for the appointment of outside observers to monitor the procurement of government projects, such as the 350 billion baht infrastructure projects and waterworks. The ACT points out that the government can be selective in choosing the observers. The draft proposal is now before the Council of State. Then it goes to the cabinet.

The regulation opens the door for so-called 'integrity pacts'. Contractors carrying out works will be obliged to sign such a pact, in which they undertake that all phases of the work may be monitored.

Chadchat says the first to be covered by the scheme is the purchase of 3.183 (natural gas) buses for Bangkok's public transport company. The cabinet approved the purchase in April.

– More news about the 2 trillion baht infrastructure loan (which parliament will decide in August). At a seminar yesterday organized by the Thai Journalists Association, Sumeth Ongkittikul of the Thailand Development Research Institute said that environmental impact assessments and feasibility studies have yet to be done for several projects, such as the high-speed rail lines. He considers it unlikely that the high-speed lines and the doubling of five railway lines will be completed within seven years, the period the government has set aside for this.

Rangsit University vice-chancellor Anusorn Tamajai thinks the high-speed lines are not viable. Most Thais will not be able to afford the high rates.

Pariya Khampeerayot, head of sales at Siemens AG Thailand, is in favor of the construction, as it will reduce transport costs. "I have no doubts about the financial viability of the project, but I am concerned about whether it will get the support of all parties."

The director of DHL Express also supports the proposed transport projects. 'They are necessary for the connections within the region. But the opportunities and growth generated by these projects must be clearly defined and quantified. If they don't, they won't be easily approved given their enormous costs.'

– It's only a second one, but it makes you think. A 64-year-old monk from Wat Bang Bua in Bang Khen (Bangkok) was expelled from the order of monks and arrested in Phayao on Saturday on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl. An arrest warrant was issued against him on 21 June.

The monk fled to the North after he had assaulted the girl. She was raped twice in April and May, which the monk admitted. He stated that he was drunk at the time. The girl had come to the temple to receive food. Fearing she was pregnant, she confessed the rape to her mother, who enlisted the help of the Pavena foundation.

The first known rape by a monk is that of 'jet-set' monk Wirapol. He impregnated a 14-year-old girl. The child is now 11 years old. He is reportedly hiding in the US.

The National Office of Buddhism is going to file an embezzlement complaint against him. It relates to the monk's calls for donations to build a replica of the Emerald Buddha at his forest monastery in Kanthararom (Si Sa Ket). The donations went straight to three Wirapol bank accounts. The emerald used for the replica was fake, although he claimed it was bona fide and came from India.

In addition to rape and embezzlement, Wirapol is accused of tax evasion, drug use, manslaughter and all sorts of false allegations.

– As if Thailand is not already deeply in debt with the mortgage system for rice, the investment of 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works to name just two money-consuming things, but now the air force has been ordered by Prime Minister Yingluck and the Minister of Defense purchase four aircraft for the transport of royal highnesses and VIPs. One aircraft, according to an Air Force source, may be reserved for the prime minister herself, following the example of the US president's Air Force One.

– A 30 meter long section of Thailand's longest wooden bridge in Sangkhla Buri (Kanchanaburi) has collapsed. The bridge, which is known to tourists as Saphan Mon, proved unable to withstand the river's strong current after days of heavy rain. The bridge measures 850 meters and connects the town of Sangkhla Buri with a Mon village. It is the world's second longest wooden bridge. The longest is in Myanmar.

– The Mae Ramphung beach is not polluted with oil and it no longer smells of oil, as it did on Saturday. So that gives the citizen courage that the oil spill that occurred on Saturday morning will not have disastrous consequences. According to PTT Global Chemical Plc and the Navy, the oil slick is contained and poses no threat to the marine environment.

The spill occurred when oil was being pumped from a tanker to the mainland of Rayong. About 50.000 liters escaped before the leak was discovered and the connection closed. According to the navy, the stain had shrunk to 500 meters by 1 kilometer yesterday (500 square meters according to the director of industrial estate Map Ta Phut) and the remaining oil layer was thin. Solvents are being sprayed over it, an operation that would have ended yesterday.

Fishermen in the area and tour operators have demanded compensation from PTT for lost income and damage to the environment. The president of an association of small fishermen speaks of a threat to fishing and tourism, because the company has only used chemicals to to sink oil. 'In the long term it has harmful consequences for the environment.'

– Eighty inmates in the Women's Correctional Institution for Drugs Addicts participate in a rehabilitation program, in which they learn how to handle money and receive vocational training. In the article, Noi says that she saves the 60 baht she earns a month working in prison, plus the money she receives from her mother, to start a restaurant with the money saved when she is released. Another dreams about a bakery. The detainees are taught marketing and accounting by experts from the Kenan Institute Asia and Citibank.

– Former Prime Minister Thaksin shrugs his shoulders about a YouTube video with a death threat. In the video, titled "Al-Qaeda video against former Thailand Prime Minister," three Arab-dressed men say they will take revenge for the Muslims Thaksin killed in 2004 in the South, others in Tak Bai. The video hosting removed the video on Saturday, but it resurfaced hours later.

Paradorn Pattanatabutr, secretary general of the National Security Council, said it was striking that the video was released a day after Thaksins' birthday and that the men in the video are wearing new clothes, which is not common among Al-Queada members. Moreover, AQ has never interfered in the problems in the South. He thinks the purpose of the video was to frustrate the peace dialogue between Thailand and resistance group BRN.

Update: On the website of Bangkok Post Paradorn calls the video 'counterfeit'. He suspects the white masks of having made him. The newspaper report does not mention this.

– There was indeed an explosion at a steel factory on July 20, which killed one worker and injured another. The head of Map Ta Phut (Rayong) industrial estate has confirmed this after villagers told him they heard an explosion. The factory had failed to inform him.

The victim was the owner of a maintenance company. Something went wrong during the maintenance work. The factory had to stop work for 30 days for further investigation.

– Thailand already has the One Tambon One Product program (OTOP, specialization on one product per village) and now the Department of Water Resources is proposing the 'One Tambon One Million Cubic Meter Water' program in villages in the Northeast that suffer from water shortages. Minister Vichet Kasemthongsri even wants to roll out the project all over the country.

According to department head Nitat Poovatanakul, it is virtually impossible to construct (large) water reservoirs in the country due to opposition from residents. The Isan, in the northeast of Thailand, is not suitable for building dams and the extraction of water from the Mekong is met with objections from neighboring countries.

'The best solution is to build a small reservoir in each village to store water during the dry season. We aim to store at least 1 million cubic meters of water in each village.' It won't be easy, he admits, because the local authorities will have to find a suitable location. The construction of a reservoir is expected to cost 10 million baht.

Varies

– Read at Voranai Vanijaka, who has a weekly column on Sunday in Bangkok Post.

• The Laem Chabang Port Project was launched in 1961 and completed in 1991.
• Suvarnabhumi: 1960-2006.
• On March 16, 1993, the cabinet approved a double track project; 13 percent of it has been constructed.
• On August 30, 1994, the cabinet had the bright idea for a high-speed line Bangkok-Nong Ngu Hao-Rayong; 19 years later nothing has happened.
• On April 22, 1997, the cabinet approved a project with five highways; 14 years later, 20 percent of this has been achieved.
• On September 7, 2004, the cabinet approved a project consisting of seven MRT (metro) lines. Of this, 27 percent has been realized.
• Finally, there is one more project that has done well: a four-lane highway of which 17 percent is completed after 78 years.

– Yesterday Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn celebrated his 61st birthday (Sunday the newspaper wrote 59 years). Bangkok Post pulled out a full page on Sunday to tell what the prince is doing. HRH (His Royal Highness) is referred to as 'The people's prince', a term that strongly reminds me of Princess Diana who called herself 'The people's princess' when she was under heavy fire.

After primary and secondary school, the crown prince studied in England (which the newspaper does not mention) and Australia. He then attended the Royal Military College, graduating in 1975. The Crown Prince is a qualified fighter jet pilot and commercial pilot. That means he can fly a Boeing 737-400.

The newspaper writes that he loves classic cars, of which he has a considerable number in his garage. Like his father, he plays an instrument (which the newspaper does not mention), but he prefers to listen to music. He says about the role of the monarchy: 'It holds the country together. The monarchy provides something from which people can draw inspiration and encouragement.'

In 1977, the Foundation for the Crown Prince Hospitals was established as a gift to the Crown Prince. The foundation, which is financially supported by companies and donations from the population, has now built 21 hospitals, mainly in remote areas.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post