News from Thailand – April 3, 2013

A marine from the unit that killed XNUMX insurgents in Bacho, Narathiwat, in February was kidnapped and killed by insurgents on Monday evening. His body - head and body riddled with bullets - was found last night outside a mosque. Witnesses saw his body thrown from a pickup truck.

The soldier was suspected by the insurgents of having tipped off the authorities about the attack on the naval base, which was tragic for them. Ma-ila Tohlu (24) is said to have previously been a member of an insurgent group and to have been aware of the insurgents' movements.

He was kidnapped from his home while on leave for six days. On Monday evening eight men arrived, dressed as soldiers. Ma-ila's wife was at the market at the time; only her brother was in the house. While two men stood guard outside, the others tied up Ma-ila and took him away.

According to his wife, her husband took into account that insurgents would retaliate against soldiers of his unit. He was hesitant to leave the matrimonial home.

– The National Institute of Educational Testings Service (NIS), which annually compiles 16 national tests, wants to hire twenty academics on a permanent basis to help with the compilation. Academics are now hired on an ad hoc basis, which means that there is no continuity in the development of exam material. Het Niets has asked the cabinet for a budget. It wants to create a database of 100.000 questions.

– The question is still: who leaked the assignments and answers of the exam for teaching assistants in January? The Department of Special Investigation is digging. The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) washes its hands in innocence. Only the printer had the password that gave access to the electronically stored statements. After they were printed, they were mailed by the printer.

The DSI's research found that scores in five to eight items considered the most difficult of all 30 subjects were unusually high. It is suspected that it was leaked in the areas where the exam was held two days before the exam day. The DSI will invite two experts to analyze about four hundred answer sheets for fraud. The printer has to come to the DSI next week.

– In the past two months, 146 rural doctors at government hospitals and clinics have resigned. According to the former president of the Rural Doctors Society, Arak Wongworachart, they left out of dissatisfaction with the announced halving of the inconvenience allowance and the introduction of performance-related pay. The departers are former scholarship students, who still had to complete their compulsory years of service at rural hospitals. Arak calls it a "serious problem."

Before the inconvenience allowance was introduced in 2008, XNUMX rural doctors were laid off every year; half after implementation. The inconvenience allowance was based on the degree of isolation and working conditions. Since Monday, it has been halved and replaced by a reward based on performance. The change does not apply to the areas in the deep South.

According to the rural doctors, performance pay is not a good reward system because it leads to internal conflicts and tempts doctors to rush through examinations and pick cases that earn them a high score.

Minister Pradit Sintawanarong (Public Health) is not worried about anything. According to him, 300 to 400 doctors resign every year.

– The Department of Agriculture (DOA) was not negligent in the field trials with genetically modified papaya in Khon Kaen in 2003, a judge of the Supreme Administrative Court stated yesterday. The DOA had been sued by Greenpeace after finding neighboring papaya farms were contaminated two years earlier. In 2008, the case was already before the Central Administrative Court, which also acquitted the DOA.

According to the highest court, the DOA has taken all necessary legal steps to prevent contamination. She has stopped distributing GM papaya seeds and has destroyed all the trees in the affected plantations. According to the judge, the field tests were illegal because the required permission was missing. Greenpeace says GM organisms have contaminated not only papaya but other crops as well.

– So far, no cases have been reported of H7N9 bird flu, a lesser-known variant of bird flu. In China, two people have succumbed to it and one person is seriously ill. Prime Minister Yingluck has instructed the Ministry of Health to be on high alert and take measures to prevent an outbreak. A few years ago, the H5N1 virus appeared in Thailand.

– Revelers guilty of sexual harassment during Songkran will be immediately handcuffed, the police warns. Those who violate the alcohol ban in zones where it is allowed to throw water will also have to deal with the strong arm. The Songkran holiday lasts from April 13 to 17.

Political news

– Tomorrow the National Anti-Corruption Commission will receive the results of an investigation into a financial transaction of Prime Minister Yingluck, which she would not have reported in violation of the rules. When the NACC sees reason to do so, a committee is formed that will put Yingluck through its paces. If her explanation is unsatisfactory, the case will go to court and could eventually lead to the end of her political career.

The case concerns a 30 million baht loan that Yingluck provided to Ad Index, a company in which her husband is a shareholder. The details of the transaction do not match Yingluck's statement of assets. Politicians are required to declare their assets and debts. As long as the case is under investigation, Yingluck can continue her work.

– In the by-elections in constituency 3 in Chiang Mai, the opposition party Democrats will apply the Bangkok model. That means that she will broadly measure the failures of the current government. That tactic has worked in Bangkok, where Democrat Sukhumbhand Paribatra was re-elected as governor.

In the election, prompted by the departure of the MP for Chiang Mai, the two leading candidates are Thaksin's sister Yaowapa Wongsawat (Pheu Thai) and Kingkan Na Chiang Mai (Democrats). It is widely believed that Yaowapa wins because two of the three districts that make up constituency 3 are pro-Pheu Thai. One is Yaowapa's hometown.

– The bill to borrow 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works, which received the green light from parliament last week, will be studied by a committee in the coming month. This is followed by a parliamentary debate in the second and third term, each with a vote. The committee is chaired by Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong (Finance) and has six vice-chairs. The committee meets for the first time on Tuesday.

Economic news

– Within 2 years, the kWh price of electricity will increase from the current 3,7 baht per unit to 5 baht as a result of the rising price of natural gas. Governor Sutat Patmasiriwat of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) points to the culprit as the import of costly LNG (liquefied natural gas), which costs 5,5 baht per unit of electricity produced against 3 baht for gas from domestic sources. Domestic gas production has peaked and is set to decline, meaning that imported LNG will play a greater role in electricity generation.

Thailand relies on gas for 70 percent of its energy generation, up from 60 percent 10 years ago. Malaysia and Vietnam use gas for only 40 percent of their energy generation, supplementing the rest with clean coal and nuclear power, both of which are cheaper than gas.

Egat expects to need an additional 1.000 megawatts when the ten planned metro lines are ready. The need for energy continues to increase because labor is being replaced by machines and robots.

Chen Namchaosiri, vice president of the Federation of Thai Industries, thinks a 5 baht tariff will force small and medium-sized businesses to shut down or relocate to other countries, such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. They survived the floods and the increase in the minimum daily wage, but a higher electricity rate is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

– For the third consecutive month, the increase in inflation has slowed. On an annual basis, it rose by 2,69 percent in March, compared to 3,23 percent in February and 3,39 percent in January. The delay is due to price measures and lower spending due to the school holidays. The increase was mainly due to higher prices of food and beverages, livestock, fruit and vegetables. Calculated over the first three months of this year, the increase was 3,09 percent on an annual basis, which the Department of Commerce considers an acceptable level for stable economic conditions.

– The first branch of the Japanese grocery chain Lawson opened last week on Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok. Thailand is Lawson's fourth foreign country after China, Indonesia and Hawaii. The company also wants to spread its wings to Myanmar, Vietnam and India.

Lawson presents itself in Thailand under the name Lawson 108 because of its familiarity with the 108 shop, owned by the Saha Group, which has 50 percent of the shares in the Thai Lawson's. Thailand has 600 108 Shops, of which 260 will be converted into Lawson 108.

Meanwhile, the first Lawson 108 has already been joined by two stores at Rom Klao Road and Lat Phrao Soi 101 and a fourth branch will open this week. The shops sell sushi and confectionery.

– Hybrid and electric cars are too expensive in Thailand: they are more than twice as expensive as comparable cars in the US, UK and Japan. If the government wants to promote the car and reduce fuel imports, the government and car manufacturers will have to lower the price. This says Yossapong Laoonual, professor at the mechanical engineering department of King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT).

Most hybrid cars are imported. Due to the limited competition, the car manufacturers can set the price arbitrarily. KMUTT research shows that most Thais prefer standard cars despite the cost of fuel. The government has removed the tariff on imported hybrid car parts, such as batteries, but Yossapong said it should more aggressively promote hybrid and electric cars.

Last year, 1,43 million vehicles were sold, of which only 20.000 were hybrid cars. Without government support, sales at the end of 2012 amounted to 58.000 vehicles out of a total sales of 2,5 million. If hybrid cars accounted for 15 percent of accumulated car sales in Thailand, it would save 1,26 billion liters of imported fuel worth 31,6 billion baht and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7,98 million tons.

– The quality of the Thai durian is at risk because traders sell immature specimens as ripe durians. They entice farmers to harvest the fruit quickly and sell it to them so that they can capture a higher price at the start of the season. With this practice, they endanger exports to major buyers such as China and Hong Kong.

The authorities in the provinces where most durians are grown, Chanthaburi, Trat and Rayong are aware of the practice and are trying to suppress it. Agriculture officials are sent to exporters' warehouses to test the pulp. A simple test can be used to determine whether the fruit contains enough starch.

Thailand produced 510.000 tons of durians last year, of which 350.000 tons were exported as fresh fruit. Consumers in China and Hong Kong prefer the fresh fruit; buyers in the US, Australia, Russia and the Netherlands to frozen durian.

– The Chinese airline Juneyo Airlines will fly from Shanghai to Chiang Mai from today. The airline will start with two flights a week and will increase the number to four flights from April 26. Chiang Mai is only served from China by China Eastern from Kunming.

Chiang Mai is the third city in Thailand served by Juneyo. It was Phuket (November) and Bangkok (January) earlier. The popularity of Chiang Mai is partly due to the film Lost in Thailand which draws full houses in China. The film was shot in Chiang Mai.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post