News from Thailand – July 6, 2013
The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, which opened in May last year, has been expanded a week ago Activity Studio.
There are sketches and drawings of clothing on the walls and DIY stations have been set up, such as a corner where visitors can dress up dolls (Dress the Dolls in Thai Style) On a quiz about textiles where the visitors feel a fabric (which they cannot see) and have to guess what kind of material it is. Furthermore, visitors can dress themselves in traditional Thai clothing, which corresponds to the color of the day.
The permanent collection in the central area of the museum includes textiles from Southeast, East and South Asia and the Queen's couture wardrobe. The museum is housed in the Ratsadakorn-bhibhathana building on the grounds of the Grand Palace. It is an initiative of Princess Sirindhorn.
– Supa Piyajitti, permanent deputy secretary of the Ministry of Finance, says he was misquoted about corruption in the rice mortgage system (see News from Thailand on Wednesday). She has not said that the system is plagued by corruption at every stage, but she has said that the system is "at risk of corruption at every stage" because it involves ten services, mainly from the Ministries of Agriculture and Trade. She stated this during a hearing by a senate committee.
The Treasury Department has formed a committee to consider Supa's statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said yesterday that the services referred to by Supa are concerned. If Supa has been misquoted, as she says now, this investigation will clear her name, the minister said. Prime Minister Yingluck this week challenged Supa to substantiate her claims. The prime minister seemed shot in the wings.
Supa heads a committee investigating the mortgage system. She says her statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee is based on reports from subcommittees that have studied the system's accounting. Those reports were already sent to the prime minister in October.
Supa feels that she is being sucked into political contradictions surrounding the mortgage system. "I want to continue my work and not get involved in such a conflict." She is not worried about the announced investigation into her statements. "I'm doing my job just like the Treasury Secretary and the Permanent Secretary."
Opposition Democrats reminded ruling Pheu Thai party yesterday that it promised to pay farmers 15.000 baht per ton during its election campaign. That promise was called 'a social contract'. The party urged to help poor farmers, because only rich farmers benefit from the mortgage system. More than 2 million small farmers have no chance to participate [because they grow too little].
The party also called for reduction of production costs, improvement of rice quality, construction of irrigation systems and information on the cost of the program. According to her, the system has so far cost 660 billion baht, much more than the original budget of 500 billion baht.
– The former lover and fortune teller of the whimsical billionaire Nina Wang was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Hong Kong yesterday. The court found him guilty of forging her will, which allowed him to claim her multi-billion dollar estate.
Wang, one of the wealthiest women in Asia, died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 69. She was nicknamed 'Little Sweetie' because she usually wore young girl clothes and had her hair in a ponytail. Her lover Peter Chan was 20 years younger.
Chan (53), married with three children, is a former feng shui master. After converting to Christianity, he changed his name to Tony. He had received HK$3 billion from Wang while she was still alive, but he decided to claim her business empire and estate as well.
High Court judge Andrew Macrae called that "shameless, wicked and born of unparalleded greed" on Thursday. "I have no doubt that you are nothing more than a clever and undoubtedly charming charlatan."
Wang bequeathed her estate to a charitable foundation, which she and her late husband had established.
– The three captains of industry who denounced the government's economic policy this week are guests this weekend at a charity talk show of the opposition party Democrats. The top executives, who were severely damaged by the financial crisis of 1997, even consider a repeat possible. They accuse the government of enticing consumers to go into debt and it itself borrows too much money to stimulate the economy. The proceeds of the meeting will go to the Seni Pramoj foundation, which is active in the field of education.
– The readers of the magazine Travel+Leisure have voted Bangkok the world's best city for the fourth consecutive year. Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra will travel to New York in two weeks to receive the corresponding award. Bangkok was chosen based on six criteria, including tourist attractions, Thai cuisine, shopping opportunities and friendliness of the people.
– In the past twelve months, 318 suspected insurgents have voluntarily reported to the authorities in the South. Those guilty of a crime will be tried, with the support of the military; the others are in a rehabilitation program.
Since violence resurfaced in the South in 2004, 120.472 crimes have been committed, of which 9.054 concern national security. But there is also good news: The army, in collaboration with relevant services, has restored 3.000 rai rice fields that were destroyed during the violence in the South.
Meanwhile, the violence continues. Two volunteer rangers were killed yesterday in Yaring (Pattani). They were on the motorcycle and were fired upon from an ambush.
In Si Sakhon (Narathiwat), five defense volunteers were injured in a bomb attack. A second bomb exploded when they came to check on a first bomb which had exploded without causing casualties.
A former member of the Patani United Liberation Organization was shot dead yesterday afternoon in Thepha (Songkhla) as he left the mosque.
– Three years after his arrest, Thanthawut Taweewarodomkul left prison as a free man, after the king had pardoned him. Thanthawut (38), designer of the (red shirt) website Nor Por Chor USA, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for lèse majesté and violation of the Computer Crimes Act. Last year he filed a pardon. Activists campaigning for the release of political prisoners held a party at Bangkok Remand Prison yesterday.
According to the OM at the time, Thanthawut was the administrator from the website. His defense that he was only a designer was not allowed to soften the judge. Five people are now imprisoned for lèse-majesté.
– The daughter of the suspected kidnapped and killed businessman Chaichana Mai-ngan has offered a reward of 1 million baht for information about her father's whereabouts. She has made an emotional appeal for her father to be released because he has diabetes, high blood pressure and needs medication every day. The daughter also filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division [No further information].
Chaichana, a clothing merchant, has been missing since Monday after leaving the Rong Kluea market in Aranyaprathet in his Nissan Navara. CCTV footage showed that he was followed by two cars. Chaichana is an ardent supporter of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD, Yellow Shirts).
– The minutes of the Siam Society from 1904 are registered in the Unesco Memory of the World Register. They are regarded as an example of international cooperation in research and the dissemination of knowledge in the fields of art and science. The register already contains three Thai inscriptions: the King Ramkhamhaeng Inscription, documents about the transformation of Siam by King Chulalongkorn and the 1.431 inscriptions of Wat Pho.
For more than 100 years, the Siam Society has been collecting and disseminating information in many fields, such as language, literature, history, archaeology, ethnic groups, textiles, music, faith, indigenous knowledge, medicine and so on.
The registry began in 1995 and now contains 400 items, including the Gutenberg Bible and the Bayeux Tapestry. The aim is to preserve human treasures and mobilize resources that will enable future generations to benefit from the ideas held in important libraries, archives and museums.
Political news
– Thai politics has been enriched with a new understanding: ice cream corridor. This refers to politicians who are inexperienced, behave childishly and like to lick the Prime Minister's feet, figuratively speaking. Minister Chalerm Yubamrung warned the prime minister about these people this week. It could get her into political trouble.
According to Pheu Thai MP Worachai Hema, four or five people are trying to manipulate Yingluck. They block other MPs' access to Yingluck and feed the Prime Minister with distorted information.
Government spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi posted a photo on Instagram yesterday (clearly intended to poke fun at Chalerm's statement) showing him and three officials holding an ice cream cone during their visit to Poland. The caption reads 'Ice Cream Gang'.
According to a source at Pheu Thai, former Prime Minister Thaksin is unhappy with Chalerm's failure. Chalerm's demotion (from deputy prime minister to employment minister), he said, was intended to appease the army, which had complained about Chalerm because his methods of solving problems in the South did not match those of the army.
Thaksin is said to have invited the parliamentary committee that is examining the proposal to borrow 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works to have a chat with him in Hong Kong. He would like to give the committee members 'moral support'. Thirty PT MPs will leave for Beijing in the coming days to meet with Thaksin.
Economic news
-Who will be the first Thai to make a one-hour excursion at an altitude of 103 kilometers above the earth with the spaceship Xcor Lynx Mark I or Mark II? The trip can be booked for 4,2 million baht with Khiri Voyages, which has been appointed agent in Thailand by Space Expedition Corporation. Passengers first receive training in the Netherlands in a simulator that generates G-forces of up to 3,3 Gs.
The spaceship departs from the Mojave desert in California or Curaçao. At the highest point, the passenger experiences a weightless state. Singular, because only one passenger can travel on each flight. The space traveler must be in good health. 'It's not a picnic', says Willem Niemeijer, director of Khiri Voyages.
The agency already provides exclusive trips to Antarctica, luxury trips to Africa and trips to the Galapagos Islands.
– The number of internet users is expected to double this year: from 26 million at the end of last year (37 percent of the population) to 52 million. And that is thanks to the smartphone, tablet and the increasing availability of broadband.
In an April and May poll by the Ministry of ICT's Electronic Transaction Development Agency, 93,8 percent of the 23.907 respondents said they use social media and half of them use it for shopping.
Convenience, attractive offers and online payment security are the three main reasons why people decide to make their purchases via social media. The best-selling products are fashion clothes, shoes, mobile phones and other IT gadgets and cosmetics. The average price of a product is 2.500 baht.
Thais spend an average of 32 hours a week on the internet, compared to 18 hours in 2011. Facebook, Google+, LINE, Instagram and Twitter are the five most popular social media. The main obstacles are low speed, high rates and poor coverage.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl –Source: Bangkok Post