News from Thailand – July 7, 2013

Jet-setter monk Luang Pu Nen Kham Chattiko faces up to 20 years in prison after being accused of having sex with a minor.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI, the Thai FBI), which is investigating the monk, says it has hard evidence for this after questioning one of the eight women with whom he slept.

The woman, who lives in Si Sa Ket, has stated that she has a child from the monk. She says she was approached by the monk when she was in Mathayom 2 (second grade secondary school). She was then 14 years old and lived with her grandmother. The monk would have offered her valuables if she wanted to become his girlfriend. Later they had a sexual relationship.

When she was pregnant, the monk took her to Warin Chamrap (Ubon Ratchatani) where he rented a house for her. The monk asked her grandmother to stay with her and take care of the baby. The child, a boy, is now 11 years old.

The police will urgently hear seven witnesses who know about the monk's intimate relationships with women. Among them are a kamnan and local officials. The results of the interrogations will go to the provincial chief monk of Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchatani so that the monk can be 'defrocked'. The woman in question is placed in a witness protection program. If the monk does not return from France as planned by July 31, the DSI will request his extradition.

Luang Pu Nen Kham Chattiko and his fellow monks have been discredited after videos and photos surfaced on social media. It shows how he travels by private jet and helicopter, wears expensive fashion accessories and electronic Gadgets plays.

See also News from Thailand from yesterday.

– Prime Minister Yingluck had been shot and now the ruling party Pheu Thai has launched an attack on Supa Piyajitti, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who has opened a booklet about corruption in the mortgage system for rice. The party accuses her of collaborating with the opposition to undermine the government.

Kanit na Nakorn, chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Thailand, also gets a beating. He said on Wednesday that the bill to borrow 2 trillion baht for infrastructure works violates the constitution and leaves the country with a huge debt burden in the future.

Those words, as well as what Supa has stated, "raise questions about their political agenda," said Pheu Thai spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard. 'The population is skeptical about Mrs Supa's role. Is she fit for her job as a government employee?'

Anusorn thinks Supa should have gone to the government with her information about corruption. But she made the information public, even though it wasn't verified. About Kanit, Anusorn said it was a coincidence that he opened his mouth at a time when the opposition is trying to shake the government.

Democratic MP Ong-art Klampaibul yesterday called on the government to learn from Kanit's warning. "We are not against the investment, but we are concerned that the government's rush to spend money is unconstitutional and leads to corruption."

– The country's top Muslim leader Aziz Phitakkumpon has asked the army and police to take a more sensitive approach during Ramadan, which starts next week. This message was announced to the world by Vice Prime Minister Pracha Promnok after a meeting with the Chularatchamontri Muslim leader in Nong Chok yesterday (pictured).

According to Pracha, the government is still on track in peace talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), although the latter has previously put forward seven demands, including the withdrawal of the army from the South. Thailand has called it unacceptable.

Arhama Mina, the imam of the district mosque in Khok Po (Pattani), thinks Ramadan will be more peaceful this year than last year. In anticipation of Ramadan, stricter measures have been taken and extra forces have been deployed.

The Internal Security Operations Command of Region 4 is currently encouraging youth networks to defend themselves against the drug problem and violence during Ramadan. Yesterday, five hundred youths of an anti-narcotics network marched from Muang (Yala) to Sirinthorn military base in Pattani. They held activities to welcome Ramadan.

– Former Prime Minister Thaksin was in Hong Kong and Chalerm Yubamrung (formerly Deputy Prime Minister, now Minister of Employment) was in Hong Kong last week. But I haven't met him, Chalerm says in response to rumours. According to Chalerm, there was also no reason to speak to Thaksin, because the die (of the cabinet change) has been cast. The trip was for pleasure. The photo of him and Thaksin currently circulating on social media is from a long time ago, Chalerm said.

– The white masks in Si Sa Ket and the Dhamma Yatra group join forces in a weekly protest against the government's handling of the Preah Vihear case. They will demonstrate every weekend at the city ​​pillar shrine of Kanthalarak.

Cambodia and Thailand are currently fighting over ownership of 4,6 square kilometers at Preah Vihear Hindu Temple. The International Court of Justice in The Hague will rule on this this year.

– The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) hopes to complete its investigation this month into human rights violations involving Rohingya refugees. She is also going to report human trafficking against a police officer.

The NHRC has found evidence of buying and selling of refugees to middlemen, torture, family splitting, poor health conditions and mistreatment by authorities.

The Phang Nga Police Commissioner says a disciplinary committee has recommended that the officer be fired. He lured five refugees from a camp. One of them was raped several times by his accomplice.

According to it US Trafficking in Persons Report 2012 published at the end of last month, fewer human trafficking cases were brought to court last year and fewer people were convicted than the year before. Thailand is on the list for the fourth consecutive year Tier 2 Watch List of the United States Department of State. The countries on that list do too little against human trafficking. According to the report, the military has suspended two officers suspected of human trafficking.

– The newly appointed Minister of Education, Chaturon Chaisaeng, is not yet excited about the proposed purchase of a thousand minibuses. They would be used for student transport, but the minister has learned that provincial education zones will also receive them. Chaturon has asked the Office of the Basic Education Commission to reconsider the purchase.

– The Royal Irrigation Department has offered to make its environmental impact assessment on the construction of a 280 km long waterway available to K-Water, the South Korean company that will dig the canal. The RID held some public hearings in affected areas last year.

The company, which itself is required to carry out a health and environmental impact assessment, could take over the report from the RID, but if it changes the existing plan, a new report will be required.

The canal starts in Khanu Woralaksaburi (Kamphaeng Phet) and ends in the Mae Klong River in Tha Muang (Kanchanaburi). It should increase the flow rate of water in the Mae Klong River to the Gulf of Thailand from 800 cubic meters per second to 1000.

Economic news

– The World Bank proposes that the government turn to the capital market to finance its 2 trillion baht investment in infrastructure works. As a result, the budget runs fewer risks.

Although the Treasury Department emphasizes that the national debt will remain below 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that kite will only fly if GDP increases by 4,5 to 5 percent annually, says Kirida Paopichit, an economist at the World Bank in Thailand. If growth falls short and the current deficit remains, the government will not be able to keep the national debt under control.

The Public Debt Management Office has calculated that the national debt will reach 47,5 percent of GDP this year and that the expenditure on principal and interest will amount to 7,4 percent. For next year, these figures are 47,2 and 11,5 percent respectively. The Ministry of Finance applies a guideline that the national debt may not exceed 60 percent of GDP and that repayments and interest may not exceed 15 percent of expenditure.

Kirida says the debt burden can also be reduced by allowing the private sector to participate in investments, especially in the most commercially attractive projects. This method has been used, for example, by the British government in railway projects.

Another way to reduce the debt burden in the construction of double track is to rent out land, especially land for storage of containers at depots or along the railway line.

Kirida calls the transparency of Thai projects a major concern. The private sector should play a greater role in monitoring the projects, she said, and the government should disclose as much information as possible.

– The business community agrees with the government that public-private partnerships for the planned infrastructure projects are necessary to allay concerns about the national debt. But the government has not yet been clear on the role of private business, says Pramon Sutivong, president of the Anti-Corruption Organization and former chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

The government wants to build four high-speed lines, starting with Bangkok-Phitsanulok, Bangkok-Hua Hin, Bangkok-Rayong and Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima. They should be there in 2019. According to Minister Chadchat Sittipunt (Transport), the high-speed trains will stimulate economic growth, especially outside the capital.

'Revenues from passenger transport are not the most important source of income. The main contribution is made by increasing activity such as real estate development. That was the case in many other countries, including Japan.'

The Fiscal Policy Research Institute has calculated that the 2 trillion baht investment plan for infrastructure works will increase average annual income per capita from US$10 (5.600 baht) to $166.000 within 10.000 years. The plan injects 300 billion baht into the economy every year. Parliament will decide on the investment plan in November.

– Rising household debt could harm economic growth over the next two years, especially when interest rates go up, warns the Kasikorn Research Center (K-Research).

Director Charl Kengchon expects Thailands policy rate the expected rise in US Federal Reserve interest rates will follow. The policy rate, from which banks derive their interest rates, is now 2,5 percent, but could rise to 3,25 percent, a level that will significantly increase the debt burden of people who have borrowed money. The risk of defaults then looms.

In the first quarter of this year, household debt rose to 8,97 trillion baht or 77,4 percent of the gross domestic project. During the 1997 financial crisis, they amounted to 1,36 trillion baht (28,8 percent of GDP).

Nevertheless, Kengchon does not think the rising debt-to-GDP ratio is dramatic as incomes are rising and debtors are currently benefiting from low interest rates and low inflation. But Siwat Luangsomboon, also of K-Research, says concerns about rising household debt are mounting as household income and savings are growing slower than debt growth.

From 1991 to 1996, household savings averaged 14,4 percent of household income; from 2007 to 2011 9,4 percent. After the 1997 crisis, people were able to borrow money more easily, which led to an increase in consumer loans and household debt. Thanks to strict risk management, the percentage of NPLs (non-performing loans) at commercial banks is now at 2 percent.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post