News from Thailand – February 27

Forty percent of the 838 businesses that were flooded last year at industrial sites in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani have now resumed production. Half will be up and running again within this quarter and eighty percent in the third quarter, expects Minister Pongsvas Svasti (Industry).

The business community is calling on authorities to focus on permanent solutions rather than the construction of flood walls, which it sees as a short-term solution. In addition, attention is drawn to at least 400 companies outside industrial areas, which are also at risk of flooding.

The government has earmarked 4,8 billion baht for the construction of dikes around six of the seven flooded industrial sites. Most of the money will go to Rojana Industrial Park (Ayutthaya), around which a 77-kilometre dike will be built. Dike construction is progressing fastest in Bang Pa-in (Ayutthaya). The dike is expected to be there in July. The other dikes must be completed in August.

– The police have arrested another three Iranians on suspicion of involvement in the planned bombings. The detained Iranians had frequent telephone contact with one man. He is said to have stood in front of the Israeli embassy in Asok on February 14, the day the explosives exploded prematurely in a house at Pridi 31.

The police tracked him down through the SIM cards of the two previously arrested Iranians: the man who lost his legs and the man who was nabbed at Suvarnabhumi. The other Iranians, who have now been arrested, are a married couple, the husband of which is a cook in a hotels in soi Nana. He delivered the meals to the other man.

Meanwhile, the police also have images of a number of people sticking stickers with the word 'Sejeal' on poles and signs along a road in Klong Toey. Tehran uses this word, borrowed from the Qur'an, to designate projectiles. The stickers were also found in a house in Ramkhamhaeng, where an Iranian woman lived, who rented the house at Pridi 31. She has previously returned to Iran.

– Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung has filed libel charges against four Thai-language newspapers because they wrote that he was drunk during the parliamentary debate on constitutional amendments on Friday. Chalerm has also formed a team of eight lawyers to find out who "falsely" accused him.

The suggestion that Chalerm was drunk when he continued to attack opposition leader Abhisit was made during the debate by MP Rangsima Rodrasamee (Democrats). She thinks he has disgraced parliament.

Member of Parliament Boonyod Sukthinthai (Democrats) confirms that there was drinking in the parliament building on Friday. He discovered twenty bottles of soda water, two bottles of spirits and five bottles in the trash wine cooler drink.

Rangsima said yesterday that she is discussing with her party whether she will file a motion. Governing party Pheu Thai leaves it to parliament whether there will be an investigation into Chalerm's behavior. Prime Minister Yingluck has not yet spoken to Chalerm about the matter, she says.

– Many Thais fear that the implementation of constitutional amendments by ruling party Pheu Thai will lead to conflicts in society, a poll has shown. That is why the Campaign for Popular Democracy's (CPD) is calling for a boycott of the government's plans.

According to the CPD, the governing coalition has so far failed to clearly explain why and how those changes are in the interest of the country. The whole operation seems to be aimed at the principle of checks and balances that limits the power of politicians. Proponents of the constitutional amendments are seeking amnesty for those convicted of electoral violations, said Suriyan Thongnu-eid, secretary general of the CPD.

– The Ombudsman will decide tomorrow whether the appointment of Nalinee Taveesin as Minister (PM's Office) and Nattawut Saikuar as Deputy Minister (Agriculture) is in line with the ethical standards that apply to political appointments. Nalinee is blacklisted by the US Treasury Department for doing business with Zimbabwe, a country against which the US has imposed sanctions. Nattawut has been charged with terrorism for his role in the 2010 Red Shirt protests.

The Ombudsman also issues a ruling on Prime Minister Yingluck's controversial visit to the Four Seasons hotel, for which she allowed a parliamentary session to run. In the hotel she spoke with a number of businessmen. Women's groups have criticized Yingluck for misusing her gender to explain the encounter. Yingluck had previously written on her Facebook page that she would never do anything inappropriate because she is a woman.

- Thailand is going to ask neighboring countries at a meeting this week in Vietnam to control forest fires because they are part of the cause of a long-lasting and heavy haze in the northern provinces. Eight provinces are struggling with concentrations of dust particles that exceed the safety limit. Besides forest fires, it is too slash and burn in agriculture, use the culprit. The situation is expected to improve in the coming days because stir is coming.

– The police of Lumpini (Bangkok) are investigating a clinic in Sukhumvit Soi 12, where the 29-year-old model Pilawan Areerob, better known as Muay Maxim, had an illegal abortion in early January under pressure from her ex-boyfriend. He dragged her there because his mother didn't want them to have a baby. The friend, singer Howard Wang, previously admitted this in the media, after which Pilawan decided to go to the police.

– Twenty passengers were slightly injured when a bus left the road in Si Sa Ket yesterday and overturned. The driver had fallen asleep. Rescue workers rushed to free the passengers for fear that the CNG (compressed natural gas) fuel would explode.

– The provinces of Phrae and Lampang threaten to suffer from drought because little water flows through the Yom river. In some places the river has already run dry. Ten districts in Lampang have been declared drought hit area. Last year the river overflowed.

www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post