News from Thailand – June 9, 2014

Authorize the use of weapons on cargo ships, because now those ships are easy prey for pirates.

Phumin Harinsut, president of the Thai Vessel Owners Association, makes this plea following the hijacking of the Thai oil tanker Orapin 4 last month, the third attack on a Thai ship since April.

Phumin says he has been singing the same song for two years, but the law still prohibits the possession of weapons on board ships. The Ministry of Defense is resisting.

Phumin warns that because of the high insurance premiums, shipping companies can have their ships sail under a different flag, for example from Singapore, which has less strict rules. Armed guards may increase costs, but the insurers are happy about it.

Currently, the measures are limited to round-the-clock patrols and the installation of high-pressure water jets to prevent pirates from climbing aboard.

The Orapin 4 was hijacked in the Straits of Malacca. Ten pirates, armed with knives and firearms, tied up the crew of fourteen and pumped the 3,7 million liters of diesel into another ship. No one was hurt a hair. During the hijacking, the hijackers changed the ship's name to Rapi. After four days the ship was found in Sri Ratcha (Chon Buri) without communication equipment.

– The three raised fingers by demonstrators yesterday at the Siam Paragon shopping mall, seven people have been arrested. Soldiers and agents did not stop them on the spot, but they took pictures of them. Soldiers later apprehended them nearby.

The three-finger gesture is borrowed from the film The Hunger Games in which it means respect, but the anti-coup demonstrators use it as a symbol for 'liberty, equality and fraternity', the motto of France introduced during the revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. [But if you ask me, it's the boy scout salute, fingers together – at least that's how I know it from my sea scout days.]

– At the request of the Crime Suppression Division, the court martial has authorized the arrest of ten persons who have not reported to the military authority (NCPO). Most are red shirt supporters.

– Football fans eagerly await the verdict in a lawsuit before the Supreme Administrative Court about the television broadcasts of the Football World Cup. TV watchdog NBTC and RS Plc, which has the broadcasting rights, are opposed to each other. The NBTC wants all matches to be broadcast via the free-to-air TV channels. That is what the 'must-have rule' demands [?].

RS Plc, on the other hand, plans to broadcast only 22 of the 64 matches on channels 7 and 8. At the beginning of April, the company was condemned by the Central Administrative Court, which forced the NBTC to appeal. The case will be heard for the first time on Tuesday. It will be exciting, because the World Cup starts on Thursday with the Brazil-Croatia match.

The police are taking extra measures to combat illegal gambling, said Ake Angsananond, deputy chief of the national police. She appeals to the population to call the hotline 1599 when she sees something in that direction. [Unfortunately, the newspaper does not mention what those 'additional measures' entail, other than the reference to the click line.]

– The curfew did not stop a thief from robbing two grocery stores on Saturday night. The first robbery took place shortly after midnight at the 7-Eleven store of a gas station on Chaeng Watthanaweg. Staff were taking inventory when a man came in and pulled out a long knife. He made off with 1.200 baht. A second 7-Eleven store nearby was made 800 baht lighter.

Two other 7-Eleven stores in Don Mueang and Muang Thong Thani also received unwanted visitors the same night, but no details are yet known.

– The political situation has disastrous consequences for the charter airlines. Since October, the number of charter flights from Japan to Bangkok has halved. Charters to and from China and Russia are not affected.

Jet Asia Airways, which provides direct flights to and from China and Japan, is on the blisters. It has asked the Civil Aviation Department for permission to deploy two of its four aircraft on alternate routes.

The number of regular flights has decreased by 5 percent since last month, but that is not unusual for the low season.

– In a raid on a house in Mae Sot (Tak), a combined squad of officials from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, soldiers and agents arrested a woman and seized assets worth 200 million baht earned from drug trafficking . It concerns the house, land, vehicles and deposits in seventy bank accounts.

According to the ONCB, the woman channeled 2,4 billion baht in drug money annually to a network in Yangon, Malaysia. Her network in Thailand included six Myanmarese. To help them obtain a work permit, the woman had set up a company. Arrest warrants have been issued against them.

– Former Democratic MP Chalard Vorachat (71) has been drinking only water mixed with honey for 19 days. He went on hunger strike in front of the parliament building in protest against the coup.

Chalard previously went on hunger strike seven times; the first time in 1980. His longest strike lasted 100 days. It was directed in 2000 against Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. Chalard expects to go without food for three months. The NCPO is ignoring the strike for the time being.

– How long will it take the coup plotters to get the situation under control and when will the curfew be lifted? Those are the top questions the population is grappling with, according to a poll by Suan Dusit – at least 89,3 percent of the 1.434 respondents. Other questions are: When will there be elections, what is the NCPO doing to bring about reforms and resolve conflicts, and what is the NCPO doing about the high prices of gas, fuel and electricity?

– Three hundred residents of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate (Rayong) were evacuated on Saturday evening due to a strong smell of gas. Initially it was suspected that it came from a sulfur factory; later it turned out that the smell came from a tapioca flour factory outside the industrial area. The factory will be shut down. Nevertheless, the complaints about sulfur stench persisted.

The residents bivouacked from 20 pm to 4 am in a sports stadium. Two residents who suffered from breathing difficulties, dizziness and nausea were admitted to hospital.

– South Korea has asked Thailand to do something about the increasing number of Thai workers who work illegally there. When their contract expires, they stay in the country. Many employers allow them to continue working.

The Thailand Overseas Employment Administration has been instructed by the Employment Department to put an end to this practice, which is also prevalent in other countries. Of the Thais who work abroad, 15,6 percent would violate their employment contract.

South Korea is a popular country because of the high wages paid there. Those who want to work there often enter the country as tourists. Thai workers in South Korea send XNUMX billion baht annually to their families in Thailand.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post