News from Thailand – August 8, 2014
The Legislative Assembly (NLA), the emergency parliament formed by the junta, can get to work. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn advised them during the inauguration yesterday "for the sake of the country scrupulous' to be in the performance of their duties.
The advice did not fall on deaf ears as after the ceremony, NLA member Klanarong Chantik, a former member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, said he believes the members have taken his comments to heart and will be committed to well-being of the country.
The NLA currently has 197 members; three candidates did not meet the requirements. Twenty places have yet to be filled. Just like the 'real' parliament, the members are obliged to submit an overview of their assets and financial obligations. Today, the assembly elects a chairman and two vice-chairmen.
– The Court of Appeal upheld the 20-year prison sentence Sondhi Limthongkul received from a lower court. After the verdict was handed down, he and two co-defendants applied for bail and each offered security of 10 million baht.
The trio (actually four, but the fourth had not appealed), forming the board of the Manager Media Group, founded by Sondhi, were guilty of fraud in 2000. They forged documents to extract a loan of 1,08 billion baht from the Krung Thai Bank. The M Group later defaulted on the repayment, causing damages of 259 million baht.
Sondhi was taken to Bangkok Remand Prison yesterday and the two co-directors to the Central Women's Correctional Institute. The message does not say when the court will decide on the bail application.
– Of the 172 government departments, which should have reported by July 30 on wrongdoing by officials, only 67 submitted the results of their internal investigation to the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on time. The deadline was related to a request from the junta to the PACC to quickly clean up XNUMX corruption cases so that the commission can focus on new cases.
PACC Secretary General Prayong Preeyajit has now moved the deadline to the end of August. He says that the cases under investigation mainly concern embezzlement, and furthermore abuse of power, forgery of documents, wasting money, bribes and the legalization of forged documents. Most of the culprits work in the Ministry of the Interior, Education and the Royal Thai Police.
Prayong notes that the number of complaints to the PACC is increasing 'significantly'. The committee usually receives ten complaints a month, up from 341 in July. The PACC, he says, has committed to ending corruption within three months.
In July, the commission focused on illegal land use in forest reserves. An attempt is being made to revoke the [illegal] property of 3.000 rai. Next month, the committee will focus on wasting money in emergency aid budgets. That is 100 billion baht annually. Prayong suspects that 80 percent of the complaints make sense.
- civic duty is called the subject, in Dutch civic science, but in the Thai context it means learning to behave properly as a citizen. The Electoral Council and the Ministry of Education are putting their heads together to ensure that the subject content is more in line with current political developments.
'In this course, we want the children to understand democratic principles and to respect the basic rights of others,' says Electoral Council chairman Supachai Somcharoen. As an example, he mentions the lesson 'Listen, I am speaking', in which students assume the role of speaker and listener. The listener must summarize what the speaker has said. In this way they learn to listen to others and to respect their rights.
Another lesson is called Por Pla Ta Klom (fish with circular eyes). How come different types of fish can live in one aquarium? [get it?]
The subject civic duty has existed since 2007. It is on the schedule for both primary and secondary school. The teaching material is written by the Electoral Council and the ministry. The junta has urged greater attention to democracy and civic duties.
– Bangkok has an estimated 3 million drug users. Assistant army chief Paiboon Khumchaya is concerned about the seriousness of the drug problem in the capital. He says less than 30 percent of drug problems have been solved to date. Drug trafficking and use are rampant in schools, educational institutions, nightclubs and dormitories. Many transactions are carried out by prisoners behind bars. Paiboon has instructed the relevant services to do their best.
-Two major unnamed banks fail checks on customers who open an account and later use the account for fraud. Secretary General Seehanart Prayoonrat of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) says Amlo has to rebuke banks almost daily for neglecting checks; the two banks are the worst. The management is called to account by Amlo. The lack of cooperation with Amlo has resulted in 175 fraud cases since the beginning of last year, costing victims 100 million baht.
– Not a governor but the head of the regional police can now overturn the decision of the public prosecutor not to prosecute a suspect. This is what the junta decided last month; the decision has been in effect since 21 July.
According to Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit, acting chief of the Royal Thai Police, a provincial police chief has a better overview of the process, from the investigation to the conclusion, than a governor. The measure is not welcomed by everyone, because it would give the police too much power. It only applies to the provinces, in Bangkok the authority remains with the Attorney General.
Former Attorney General Kanit na Nakhon, a member of the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand, called the measure a disservice to the principle of checks and balances. According to him, she is meant to "grab more power."
– An American tourist was robbed of 3.000 baht by a taxi driver on Tuesday night under threat of a toy gun. The driver was arrested yesterday. He could be identified from CCTV footage.
– A second suspect was arrested for the theft of 4,6 million baht from a money transport truck in Bang Pakong (Chachoengsao), November last year. Another suspect has already been arrested. The third man has yet to be located.
– Four men from Myanmar were arrested in Mae Sot (Tak) in an undercover operation. They are suspected of using women as prostitutes, including a minor. A team from the immigration office and soldiers trapped them in a hotel. The men arrived with two Myanmar women and the 16-year-old girl.
– Counterfeit banknotes of 100, 500 and 1000 baht are in circulation in Trang province and other provinces. The police are looking for the counterfeiters, who mainly use the money to buy things at night or when sellers are busy.
– A pediatrician is concerned about parents hiring a foreign babysitter. They endanger the healthy development of the child at an age that she calls crucial. Parents should be aware of the influence of babysitters and domestic workers who come from different cultures and social environments, she says.
Duangporn Asvarachan, associated with Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital in Ayutthaya, is responsible for the medical check-ups of migrants. She sounds the alarm because of the large number of migrants who register as a babysitter or maid.
“If we hire migrants to take care of our children day in, day out, those children will take over their behavior. They begin to resemble them in terms of behavior, mentality and social skills. That is a delicate matter, for which precautions must be taken.'
Duangporn believes that the NCPO should take action. If possible, only Thais should babysit. The parents hire migrants because they are cheaper. Thais have little appetite for work, in contrast to when most of them used to be nannies came from the North and Northeast.
– It is a whole laundry list of planned works – so I will not mention those – but in summary it boils down to improving the infrastructure (land, rail, water, air) in five so-called economic zones in Tak, Aranyaprathet, Trat, Mukdahan and Songkhla. The Ministry of Transport has announced the plans for this.
To highlight a few: rehabilitation and widening of a road at the Mae Sot border post, a new highway at the Aranyaprathet border post and a road widening at the customs post in Mukdahan. Do you have a bit of an idea?
– Real estate development at Chumthang Jira station in Nakhon Ratchasima has received a major injection since it was announced that the railway to the station will be double tracked. The junta has given the green light to double the track between this station and Khon Kaen and investors are pleased.
Fifty buildings are under construction along the road to the station and more commercial construction projects are underway nearby. Major retailers such as Central and Terminal 21 are already eyeing Nakhon Ratchasima with eager eyes.
– The junta will form a working group to investigate the alleged torture of red shirt activist Kritsuda Khunasen. International human rights organizations have expressed great concern about this. See further the post The clock runs forward and not backward.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
Those 3 million drug users (assistant army chief Paiboon) in Bangkok must be correct, see the table:
Drug use among young people in Thailand, all drugs together
ever current
15-19 years 10 percent 3.5 percent
20-24 years 23 percent 5.9 percent
Source: Chai Podhista et all, Drinking, Smoking and Drug Use among Thai Youth, East-West Center, 2001
But the emphasis is on ever, and that includes incidental use: 1 tablet or stick and you are a drug user
From 2011:
Drug use by young people (12-24 years) in the past 3 months in Thailand
cannabis 7 percent
hard drugs (amphetamine, cocaine and opiates) 12 percent
ABAC Poll among 12 million young people, 2011
All these figures are not much higher than those from the Netherlands, only the (incidental) yaa baa (amphetamine) use is a number of factors higher.
In all likelihood, the 3 million drug users in Bangkok alone include alcohol users! Alcohol is also counted among the heavy drugs. Of the 11 million inhabitants of Bangkok, of which 40% are elderly and small children, almost 1 in 2 will not use drugs such as hashish, jaba, etc! So this message with numbers will not give the right picture as usual with statistics in Thailand. The same when it is said that in the first half of 2014 there were only 10% fewer tourists in Thailand. One (the TAT) also includes all transit flights that have been in BKK but have not left the airport. So says nothing at all.
You have to wonder why things turned out the way they did. I am talking about the authorities that have not done their job properly, allowing corruption and other irregularities to take place. Thailand has many laws that are not enforced. I think it would be better to let these institutions function as they should before new laws are made.
The NCPO has already taken up and exposed many cases decisively. For the sake of convenience I refer here to what Chris (de Boer?) in the article of the “clock is moving forward etc.” notes, corruption and other matters.
However, you can also see that the junta wants to draw up rules for the future, included in the provisional constitution, that should prevent Thailand from ending up in a political stalemate again.
It is clear that the military is positioned as the last determining decision-maker. They determine whether a government of any color takes actions that do not serve the people. The latter is the criterion for the junta. In order to be able to do its work in peace, all possible influential people who are critical of the junta are summoned to remain silent or to refrain from criticism, otherwise there will be a court martial to arrest these people after all. to shut up and apparently intimidation is not shunned in this. Because the junta knows that it broke its own laws to stage the coup. They just want to have like-minded people and even condition the children into lemmings, uncritical docile creatures. I think this is a pity, it really sets the clock back. It is precisely through freedom of expression that you advance the knowledge and spiritual development of a people. What is happening now is creating a statically slowing development of the country. I have said it before and also maintain that the developments that are going on now will only lead to a revolution sooner or later and I estimate that this will take place within 15 -20 years if not sooner. Very miraculously, this will start within the army, because sooner or later there will be a fight for power. Why the army, because it has the ultimate power and weapons and one of those warring factions will try to win over the people through promises of more freedom of expression and demands to be treated as equals and not as stupid geese.