News from Thailand – November 5, 2012

Bangkok Post is never afraid to publish rumors, usually without source, but this time we know who is spreading them.

A group of Thais want to kill his father, writes Panthongtae Shinawatra, son of former Prime Minister Thaksin, on his Facebook page. The ammunition found in Myanmar on Friday is said to have been destined for an attack on Saturday, when Thaksin visits a pagoda in Tachilek.

This week Thaksin will be visiting Myanmar for 3 days. He will meet President Thein Sein in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday and is scheduled to meet with Thai MPs and Myanmar businessmen on Friday, presumably in Tachilek, a border town opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district. But a border security source says a visit to Tachilek is uncertain due to recent hostilities between ethnic minorities and drug gangs. "Someone could be planning to kill Thaksin and blame them."

On Friday, grenades, gunpowder and ammunition were found in a house in Tachilek. That house is near the Regina Hotel and Golf Club, where Thaksin is staying when the visit continues. According to the Myanmar authorities, there is no connection between the ammunition find and Thaksin's visit.

But Panthongtae says the ammunition was for the pagoda attack. He had heard this from the Thai border guard. Panthongtae says this is already the fifth attempt to kill Thaksin. He thinks that his father will now keep a good distance from the border.

Surasit Jiamwichak, Pheu Thai MP for Chiang Rai, expects at least 10.000 fans of Thaksin to cross the border to greet their Great Leader. The leader of the Rak Chiang Mai 51 group puts it at 5.000. They leave from Mae Sai on Friday evening with 100 buses.

– The optimism that the Thai futsal team would go to the second round of the Futsal World Cup 2012 has taken a serious blow, because Thailand lost the second game against Ukraine 5-3 and Costa Rica defeated Paraguay. Costa Rica and Thailand are now tied for second place.

The remaining games in Group A, Thailand-Paraguay and Costa Rica-Ukraine, will decide the fate of Thailand: die in the first round, through to the second round (the two high-ranking teams) or through to knockout round (number 3 ).

– Security in Yala has been increased after attacks on Saturday in the district of Rueso in the neighboring province of Narathiwat. Two bomb attacks killed 2 people and 10 people were injured. The Yala police commander expects the violence to spread to Yala. He has ordered his officers to set up checkpoints on the main provincial roads and to increase the number of patrols.

Yesterday, a 33-year-old teacher was shot at in the district of Mayo, Pattani, as he was waiting at a bus stop. He was hospitalized with serious injuries.

A 40-year-old man was shot dead in Khok Pho district, Pattani. An unknown number of men opened fire on him as he passed on his motorcycle. He was hit four times and died on the spot.

During a firefight in Saba Yoi (Songkhla), police killed a militant who was hiding in a home. Two other militants managed to escape.

A 50 kilo bomb was successfully defused in Si Sakhon district (Narathiwat) and 2 bombs were found in Chanae district. But they were counterfeit.

– President Manuel Barroso of the European Commission visited Thailand yesterday, Saturday he was in Myanmar and today and tomorrow he will attend the ninth Asia-Europe Meeting in Vientiane (Laos). Prime Minister Yingluck and Barroso have agreed that the EU and Thailand will cooperate more closely in combating human trafficking, cross-border crime and money laundering.

– On Wednesday, President Thein Sein of Myanmar will come to Thailand for consultations on the so-called Dawei deep-sea port project. The project, which is being jointly developed by both countries, includes the construction of a deep-sea port, the construction of a road to the border with Thailand and the construction of a power plant. The cost is 1,54 trillion baht.

– The Pitak Siam group, which reportedly mobilized 20.000 people a week ago for an anti-government demonstration, will stop rallies if the second rally does not attract at least 1 million people. But that doesn't mean the group is giving up its efforts to topple the Yingluck government. This has been announced by General Boonlert Kaewprasit, the figurehead of the group. There is a difference of opinion about the number of people who came to the first rally. The organizers say 20.000, the police say 7.000.

On November 18, a pro-government group will hold a counter rally in Samut Prakan. It calls on the government to continue with its plan to amend the constitution. The parliamentary consideration of an amendment proposal was halted by the Constitutional Court in July. The proposal must still receive the green light from parliament in the third term.

– An overwhelming majority of respondents in a poll by Abac think that Prime Minister Yingluck cannot stay away from parliament on November 26, when it starts a two-day censure debate. That debate has been requested by the opposition in order to put the heat on the government. Such a debate always ends in a vote of no confidence.

Yingluck, who often shuns parliamentary debates, has other obligations on November 26, but 87,4 percent of the 2.189 people surveyed think she should be present in person to answer questions. According to opposition leader Abhisit, these concern, among other things, corruption in the mortgage system for rice and the implementation of anti-flood measures.

The colorful MP ​​Chuvit Kamolvisit, always good for spicy revelations (including about illegal casinos), has already promised to come up with fireworks, supported by photos, video clips and important quotes.

– In two months, suspects have been arrested in 1.300 of the 4.448 open drug cases, 63 of which by officers who are in training at the Royal Thai Police Office Investigation School. Lecturer Utane, who has already stood out for his unorthodox methods, thought: there are many open cases and my students have to learn to track down suspects. Because 1 and 1 equals 2, he put them on the real thing instead of teaching them the finer points of detective work with textbooks.

The large number of arrests in September and October is mainly due to the bonus of 30.000 baht per arrest paid by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). The reward is an initiative of the current head of the national police, when he was secretary general of the ONCB. A deputy chief of police thinks that the bonus should be even higher when arrests are made in major drug cases.

– The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will form its own armed unit that will be tasked with protecting witnesses in a witness protection program from disaster. Currently, the NACC uses agents from the Crime Suppression Division and the local police, but they are not always trusted by witnesses.

This applies, for example, to Jintana Kaewkhao, an activist against power plants in Prachuap Khiri Khan. She is protected by agents from different units. According to her, local agents could be in cahoots with the operators of the power stations.

The NACC has now placed 10 witnesses in a protection program. Even NACC members are not always safe. Following an NACC ruling ending a Yellow Shirt protest in 2008, in which high-ranking police officers and politicians were pilloried, NACC member Vicha Mahakhun's home was shelled, forcing him to move into a condominium.

Nine thousand cases are still pending consideration by the NACC. Many complaints have been received about the rice mortgage system. Because of its size, it is one of the most challenging cases for the committee. Big business is also the purchase of computers by the Ministry of Health and most recently the 3G auction.

– One hundred homes in three villages in Phan district (Chiang Rai) have suffered significant storm damage. The storm, which was accompanied by a strong wind and stir, lasted only 10 minutes but left a trail of destruction. The roofs were blown off three houses. A car was also damaged. The residents say they have never experienced such a storm at this time of year. Severe storms usually occur in April.

– Minister Surapong Tovichatchailkul (Foreign Affairs) is mercilessly criticized by the Bangkok Post in her editorial. The newspaper calls his attitude "insane" because he puts Abhisit in the same dock as Bashir (who massacred Sudanese in Darfur) and Karadzic (who had 8.000 Muslim men and boys killed).

What is it about? In January 2011, the lawyer of the UDD (red shirts) asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to rule on the skirmishes between the army and the red shirts in April and May 2010. According to him, Abhisit was then involved by the army. charged with 'crimes against humanity'.

Minister Surapong supported that request last week. According to the newspaper under the influence of the radical branch of the red shirts. The newspaper writes:

'In doing so, he undermines Thai law, including the constitution. The ICC has no right or even the intention to operate in a country where the law works and citizens have legal options. It is insulting to most Thais even to suggest that the ICC is somehow superior to Thai justice, let alone transferring jurisdiction to a foreign court.”

Surapong would do well to drop his ridiculous proposal quickly before the country loses respect for him, BP concluded.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post