News from Thailand – October 6, 2012

The wife of police doctor Supat Laohawattana, nicknamed Dr Death, was arrested in Bangkok yesterday. She confessed that she saw her husband talking to the couple who disappeared without a trace in 2009.

Then she heard gunshots, but said she didn't see who fired them. The article does not specify what offense she will be prosecuted for.

Supat is suspected of murdering two of his Myanmar employees and the couple who also worked for him. Three skeletons have been excavated from his orchard, but their identity has not yet been established. Yesterday, researchers pumped out a pond after a sniffer dog had started working. But nothing suspicious was found.

Supat was detained earlier. A request for bail was rejected by the court. He has not yet been charged with the murders; waiting for the results of the autopsy.

– That should go well. Prime Minister Yingluck herself is taking the lead in the relief efforts and she is in contact around the clock with the governors of the provinces that will be ravaged by the oncoming tropical storm Gaemi. She has instructed the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to set up a command center that is on standby 24 hours a day.

Last night, Gaemi reached Vietnam south of Da Nang. From there the bad boy goes east tomorrow Thailand within, the lower North and the northern part of the South. The Meteorological Department expects Thailand's tropical storm to weaken to a depression by then. Thailand will only have to deal with it on Sunday, Myanmar's turn on Monday.

The municipality of Bangkok has opened dams to receive water from surrounding provinces, but this is done on a limited basis to protect the capital. The director of Disaster Relief expects heavy rains to cause severe flooding for four to five hours. In khlongs, eighty boats are ready to accelerate the flow of water and military sites are available as water storage areas.

Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi expects that there will be less stir falls than predicted and he should know as Minister of Science and Technology.

– Contrary to yesterday's reports, twice as many shops in Narathiwat remained closed on Friday as last week. The shopkeepers played it safe, afraid as they are of attacks, which militants have threatened. They ignored assurances from the authorities that trading would be safe.

Not only market stalls, restaurants, motorcycle workshops and jewelers kept their doors closed; also 300 minivans at narathiwat bus station were not running.

In the city of Sungai Kolok, more than XNUMX fresh market stalls were closed. The fresh market Thet Wiwat in the district of Muang (Pattani) also presented a desolate sight with ten stalls open. Most customers had already seen the storm coming and bought groceries on Thursday, according to sellers.

In the city of Yala, 70 percent of shops were closed. The governor paid a visit to the market vendors who had dared to open. In Yaha (Yala) district, police arrested two men who had intimidated a gas station staff and a shopkeeper.

In Sungai Padi district (Narathiwat), a bomb in a 20 kg gas cylinder was defused yesterday afternoon. The bomb was intended for police patrols that regularly pass through it.

– Police forensic experts issued a statement yesterday on the fourth and final day of a preliminary witness investigation behind closed doors in Chiang Mai Provincial Court. Based on the statements of more than 20 witnesses, the court will decide whether the nine soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force will be charged with the murder of 13 Chinese passengers on the Mekong last October.

Drug lord Naw Kham and five co-defendants are being prosecuted in China for those murders. Kham has accused Thai soldiers of the killings in one of his statements.

– Red shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn has asked the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to question the Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC) about the so-called 'men in black'. According to the TRC, which conducted a 2-year investigation into the disturbances in 2010, the heavily armed men were affiliated with the red shirts. They are said to be responsible for the deaths of six soldiers, two police officers and a member of the Love Silom Group. Weng believes that the TRC should provide evidence for its claim. The DSI is currently investigating the deaths that occurred during the disturbances in April and May 2010.

– No, I am not a candidate for party leadership, says Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat (Defense). His name and those of two others are circulating now that party leader Yongyuth Wichaidit has relinquished his post. Yongyuth has also resigned as interior minister and relinquished his seat in parliament due to a hiccup in his previous job.

– The 261 yellow shirts who were injured in 2008 during the evacuation of the compound of the Government House, must receive compensation, the Central Administrative Court has decided. The court drew a comparison with the compensation that the government grants to victims of the red shirt riots in 2010.

The court also considered that the then government had failed to warn the peaceful demonstrators. The National Anti-Corruption Commission said the eviction was an overreaction. One person was killed in the evacuation.

– The popular TV presenter Sorayuth Suthassanachinda continues to present his morning program on channel 3 despite the insistence of colleagues during a seminar of the Thai Journalists Association to temporarily step down. Sorayuth has been accused by the National Anti-Corruption Commission of failing to pay his production company 138 million baht in advertising fees. Because of the criticism of him, he has canceled his membership of the TJA. Because, he says: I am innocent.

– A speedboat with 27 passengers overturned and sank off the Bali Hai pier in South Pattaya yesterday morning. All passengers, including 22 Koreans, were rescued.

– For the second day, fishermen with about 200 boats blocked the mouth of the Pak Phanang River. They are protesting the removal of their phong phan (nets) off the coast of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The fishermen know that they are fishing illegally, but they think that the Fisheries Service should find a solution so that they can provide for their livelihood. According to the Fisheries Department, the nets used are 'highly devastating equipment' because they catch fish regardless of size and are harmful to migrating fish.

– His Thai wife was arrested for the murder of a 50-year-old South African. She is suspected of conspiring with her mother and half-brother to murder the man. The woman came into focus because she and the victim are fighting a legal battle for custody of their 3-year-old child. The naked body of Oswald Heinrich Duvel was found on September 30 on the side of a road in Saraburi. He had been shot in the mouth.

– Thai embassy staff in Washington say they have problems collecting bank checks due to the fact that Thailand is on the so-called Watchlist of the Financial Action Task Force. According to the FATF, Thailand is making insufficient progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The Anti-Money Laundering Office is urging that legislation under consideration be rushed to prevent Thailand from moving to the blacklist.

Economic news

– As of January next year, a year later than planned, the production of regular petrol in Thailand will be slowly phased out. Gasoline 91 disappears to promote the use of ethanol blends. Premium petrol will remain available and the phasing out of petrol 95 is not mandatory; each petrol dealer can decide on this independently.

According to Minister Arak Chonlatanon (Energy), the delayed introduction has to do with the fact that the oil refineries have not yet adapted their production method and the fire at Bangchak. The state oil refinery will not resume normal production for another 2 weeks.

The consumption of all types of fuel amounts to 20 to 21 million liters per day. Of this, 8 million liters of pure gasoline and the rest E10, E20 and E85 gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol (the number indicates the percentage).

– Thailand has been promoting solar energy far too quickly, says Kovit Kantapasara, president of General Electric and head for Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. According to Kovit, Thailand should focus more on wind energy, which is cheaper and requires less space.

Kovit says that as an agricultural nation, Thailand must be careful with its land. It can be better used for agricultural purposes than for solar farms. Promoting solar panels on roofs, on the other hand, is a good option.

The bonus for solar energy is currently 8,5 baht per generated unit above the normal rate and for wind energy only 3,5 baht. Over an area of ​​13 rai, wind energy can produce 2,5 MW for 6 to 8 hours a day; solar farms produce 1 MW on the same area, good for 4 to 5 hours.

Kovit dismisses the objection that the wind speed in Thailand is not high enough to generate a reliable amount of electricity. He says that there are now wind turbines that already function well at low speeds. Areas in provinces in the Northeast, such as Chaiyaphum and Nakhon Ratchasima, are ideal for wind farms, he says.

– Lower interest rates could protect the economy from the effects of the global economic slump next year, while domestic inflationary pressures are likely to ease. Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, believes it is quite possible that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will decide to policy rate down to stimulate the economy. This year the MPC did not think that was necessary; moreover, it did not want to drive up inflation.

In addition to the eurozone crisis, the slowing economy of Asian countries, especially China, is now also taking its toll. When deciding on the policy rate should take into account the stability of financial institutions, warns Prasarn. To protect the fragile economy, the bank has a number of precautionary measures in store in emergency situations, such as the introduction of a loan-to-value ratio for mortgages. This is to prevent a real estate bubble as in the past. [The policy rate is the rate that banks charge when they borrow money from each other.]

– Of the 98 billion baht that the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) has outstanding in loans, an estimated 30 billion baht, or 30 percent, consists of non performing loans, loans from defaulters. At the beginning of the year this was 15 billion baht and after applying the criteria of the central bank 22 billion baht.

The bank has made a plan to eliminate these loans, which could take 3 years. become problem customers reclassified [?] and in hopeless cases, legal action is taken so that the bank can acquire the collateral to recoup losses.

In addition to payment arrears, the capital adequacy ratio of the bank is also a problem. The bank's capital amounts to 5,6 percent of the risk-bearing capital. The central bank's minimum requirement is 8,5 percent.

In the first eight months of this year, the bank lent 20 billion baht, 3 to 4 billion less than the target. This amounts to 26 billion baht for the entire year, an amount that will also be used as a target for next year. The bank suffered a loss of 2,2 billion baht with an interest spread of only 1,6 percent, insufficient to cover expenses after accounting for interest costs and reserves. 'The SME Bank does not aim to maximize profits,' says chairman Pichai Chunhavajira, 'but the bank must be able to stand on its own feet to survive.'

According to the newspaper, the zero percent growth target for next year is partly due to the management problems the bank has been facing this year. Last month, the board of directors fired Soros Sakornvisava as president for actions that resulted in 311 million baht in losses. He is also accused of making questionable decisions on loans and acquisitions that have further increased the loss. The SME Bank is wholly owned by the state.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post