News from Thailand – October 5, 2013
The overnight train Bangkok-Nong Khai arrived 20 minutes late in Nong Khai yesterday morning because the train had to wait for Minister Chadchart Sittipunt (Transport) on the way.
It was on Thursday night rapid train no. 133 got off - with a third class train ticket -, got off in Udon Thani for an appointment in Si That and he would get back on the train 3 kilometers further in Na Tha.
He did, but the train had to wait 20 minutes. Some passengers, believing the locomotive to be faulty, abandoned the train and continued their journey by road. “Should we wait for that guy,” a woman complained to reporters after the train started moving again.
The minister (pictured right) accompanied the Governor of Railways to Nong Khai for a government roadshow on the planned 2 trillion baht infrastructure works (including the construction of high-speed rail lines). Chadchart promised that train travel would be halved in the future when double track is built, and even faster when those high-speed lines are in place. He gave the train journey (615 kilometres, 15 hours) a mark of 6.
After Nong Khai, the roadshow moves to Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Sawan, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai. A model of a high-speed train is shown and information is given about the economic growth and trade benefits that the investments yield. As Chadchart says, “The high-speed train is not just a train, but it opens up new possibilities for all provinces. All provinces will benefit from better, faster trains or from ports and roads that are expanded.'
– Political and social changes are going fast in Myanmar. After 50 years, the country has a Miss Universe candidate again. On Thursday, 25-year-old Moe Set Wine was crowned and next month she can make an attempt in Moscow to win the world title.
“I feel like I'm part of history now. I feel like a soldier doing something for his country and the people," said the overjoyed [let's throw in a cliché] Miss, who studied in the US.
The ladies who entered the battle were wise enough to leave the bikini at home. A few years ago, photos of a model in a bikini that had appeared online not only sparked protests, but the model was also threatened.
– US President Obama has canceled his planned trip to Malaysia and the Philippines. He would attend two summits: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali and the East Asia Summit in Brunei. Obama is understandably too busy with his budget woes. John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, replaces Obama. The meeting in Brunei is also attended by Prime Minister Yingluck.
– I have reported it countless times: resistance group BRN makes five demands on the progress of the peace talks with Thailand. The Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) believes that Thailand should now come up with a response, i.e. delegation leader Paradorn Pattanatabut, secretary general of the National Security Council, should. But that is holding back the boat: the requirements are still being studied. Isoc is afraid that the talks will not be resumed if the BRN does not receive a response.
Two of the five demands are controversial: Thailand must recognize the rights of the 'Melayu Patani' to the so-called 'Patani land' and all suspects in security cases must be released.
Talks will resume this month in Kuala Lumpur under the watchful eye of Malaysia. BRN's negotiating delegation is being changed. BRN delegation leader Hassan Taib says the BRN is aiming for self-government for the South under the Thai constitution, not a special administrative zone like Bangkok and Pattaya. Incidentally, Taib is presumably replaced by his aide.
– Too bad for the tiger, too bad for the forest and too bad for the man of the protest hike, but the controversial Mae Wong dam in the national park of the same name is coming.
Supot Tovichakchaikul, secretary general of the National Water and Flood Management Policy Office, says the environmental impact assessment (EHIA) produced contains "solid data" on the impact of the dam on flood and drought prevention. 'Only' 2,2 percent of the national park dies.
Supot thinks the EHIA will get the go-ahead from the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (NREPP). And then it still has to pass the Independent Commission on Environment and Health, which advises the National Environment Board and the cabinet. [Are we there yet?]
The man of the walking tour, Sasin Chalermlap, secretary general of the Seub Nakasathien foundation, has called on the NREPP to reject the EHIA. According to him, it is incomplete and lacks crucial information about the consequences of the dam. Supot fights that. The EHIA gives a clear answer to the question of why the dam, which will cost 13 billion baht, is necessary. But Supot is not the angriest; he is willing to listen to the concerns of the opponents. Sasin will talk to government representatives next week.
– I already wrote about it yesterday: the rebel group God's Army, whose former leader Luther Htoo recently arrived in Thailand and, at the request of Karen refugees in refugee camps, enlisted the help of the National Human Rights Commission and the Thai Lawyers Council of Thailand to find out what happened to the 55 Karen, who disappeared without a trace in 2000.
I'll omit the details, but Htoo says those 55 men were forced into a Thai army truck at the time. Since then nothing has been heard from them. The God's Army, which protected 500 Karen refugees in a camp in Myanmar on the Kanchanaburi border, was defeated by Myanmar troops in 2000.
– Director Sunchai Jullamon of the Zoological Park Organization has resigned and that is a success for the staff who had demanded his departure. According to them, Sunchai had no understanding of game management. They also claimed that the selection procedure had been fishy. Sunchai was appointed 14 months ago; he came from the banking world. See News from Thailand from yesterday.
– Five agents from the Bang Yai and Bang Bua Thong bureaus have been transferred. They are suspected of being involved in a gambling hall. A committee will put the gentlemen through their paces. Oh coincidence, a day earlier the head of the national police had said at a seminar that he would take tougher action against officers who go wrong.
– The popularity of the government has sunk to an all-time low, but most people remain loyal to Pheu Thai, according to a poll by the E-Saan Center for Business and Economic Research at Khon Kaen University. 1.310 people in all 20 northeastern provinces were questioned. The government has never been so unpopular in its 2 years in power: 64,4 percent gave the government a pass and 35,6 percent an unsatisfactory. Just over half believe that the government has failed to suppress corruption.
- What the hell? Is the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security also guilty of counterfeiting branded products? A picture of ministry table linen with a monogram very similar to Louis Vuitton's is circulating on social media. In the monogram of the ministry, the LV has been replaced by the Thai letter Pho Mor, the initials of the Ministry's full name. The flower and star surrounding it also seem to be copied from an LV bag.
Naturally, the ministry denies that there is any question of plagiarism. The linen was made by a private organizing agency, which organized Thursday's festivities to mark the ministry's 11th anniversary. It is also claimed on social media that officials have appropriated the table linen. Not true, says the ministry. The organizer took it with him afterwards.
– Of your friends talking to you. A 39-year-old man in Nakhon Ratchasima killed and dismembered his best friend after an argument. He then hid the body parts in various places in his home, locked the house and fled. On Thursday evening he was arrested 35 kilometers from the crime scene.
Political news
– Government happy, opposition party defeated. The Constitutional Court has rejected a petition from a group of opposition MPs and senators. The budget does not violate the constitution. The Court's decision was unanimous, which is not always the case.
The petitioners had objected to budget cuts for the Office of the Judiciary, the Office of the Administrative Court and the National Anti-Corruption Commission. However, the parliamentary committee involved had not invited them for an explanation and had also ignored their request for more money. That, according to the Democrats, was not right. But the Court did not see this as a violation of the Constitution.
Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong Nopparit denounces the opponents' action. "They should be more rational and put the interests of the country before scoring political points."
– The Parliamentary Committee on the Prevention and Combating of Corruption believes that the President of the House has unnecessarily created committees and hired specialists, who in some cases overlap the work of existing committees and advisers.
The committee recently learned that the President of the House had appointed former parliament officials for 50.000 baht a month to advise on economic, social, political, legal and foreign affairs.
According to Wilas Chanpitak (Democrats), adviser to the parliamentary committee, some people do not even understand the subject on which they have to advise. The members of the new committees, which in turn have formed sub-committees, receive an attendance fee of 40.000 baht per meeting, he says. Some sit on multiple committees. The secretary-general of parliament thus earns a monthly income of 100.000 baht, on top of his own salary.
After the parliamentary committee had asked the president of the parliament for an explanation, he hurriedly disbanded the committees. The message does not mention the experts. The parliamentary committee believes that the attendance fees should be refunded.
Economic news
Consumers remain, and increasingly, pessimistic about the economy. In September, the consumer index fell for the sixth consecutive month. It is now at 77,9 points against 84,8 in March. The index is determined monthly by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
Thanavath Phonvichai, vice president of research, thinks the lower forecast of gross domestic product growth recently announced by the Treasury Department has influenced the index's fall. Other factors include inflation, slower exports and the political impasse.
Research from the HSBC shows that demand from the US, EU, Japan and China remains weak, while the Thai government's subsidies on rice and rubber weigh on exports of those products. Rice exports are hampered by lower US demand and higher import tariffs in Nigeria. A bright spot is the export of electronics. HSBC expects it to pick up in the coming months.
– Rayong will get the scoop of an industrial estate for rubber. Tha Hua Rubbber Plc is willing to pay 3 billion baht for it through its recently formed subsidiary Thai Beka Co. The project is being carried out in three phases and should be fully operational in 2016. It will employ 10.000 workers, who will process 500.000 tons of rubber annually, supplied from the provinces of Trat, Chanthaburi, Chon Buri, Chachoengsao, Sa Kaeo and Prachin Buri.
Rubber will be the main material used to build a road on the site. That road functions as a prototype. A rubber-based road costs 5 percent more than an asphalt road, but has a longer lifespan of eight years.
Luckchai Kittipon, director of Thai Hua Rubber, calls on the government to use more rubber in road construction. The ever-continuing protests of rubber farmers in the South may then come to an end, because the supply is absorbed by the market and the price rises.
The government wants to develop rubber industrial estates along the border with Malaysia, but Luckchai thinks it could take decades before they are viable. The Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry has also proposed developing a rubber industrial estate along the border.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post