Prime Minister Prayut: Help poor debtors
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha calls on debt collectors to understand their debtors, who are usually low-income people.
In his weekly TV pep talk 'Returning Happiness to the People', he emphasized on Friday that the government is doing everything it can to get the bill approved by the NCPO (junta) in July through parliament.
That proposal has now been approved in two readings by the NLA, the emergency parliament. It sets strict requirements for the work of debt collectors [a euphemism for loan sharks or money usurers]. They are required to register with the Ministry of Finance, they are not allowed to threaten or use force against debtors, they are not allowed to visit debtors at work or at night, and it is also forbidden to recover the debt from relatives.
Other topics Prayut touched on included the payment of 1.000 baht per rai to rice farmers, the coverage of the Koh Tao double murder and he appealed to the population to cooperate with the government.
He warned the rice farmers to collect the payment themselves and not to believe people who say they want to do this on their behalf. The comment about the murder coverage was in response to an appeal by EU ambassadors to the media to respect the privacy of victims and suspects. The ambassadors spoke to media representatives about the reporting this week. They think the media should be more restrained.
Prayut underlines that plea. "I ask the media to be extra careful when it comes to human rights issues, because they directly affect our international standing." Although Thailand failed to win a seat on the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission this week, the prime minister said Thailand should be proud of the country's support from 136 nations in the UN General Assembly vote . "That's a satisfying result."
(Source: bangkok mail, October 25, 2014)
Prime Minister Prayut helps the farmers:
After various negative reports about "poverty in the countryside" at the moment, I am happy with this positive information and also hope that this Prime Minister will actually live up to his statements! This gives hope for the future.[Although he will never be able to replace the Taksin family].
Thanks for the info Dick.
@ William. I don't quite understand your post, bit contradictory. It gives hope for the future that Prayuth wants to help the farmers…..Your highly praised Thaksin family has caused this misery under sister Yingluck. Thaksin has been convicted, fled quickly, these people ARE replaceable and must be replaced very quickly! Yes, 500 bht buys a vote quickly…..
“Debt collection agencies”
“They must register with the Ministry of Finance, they are not allowed to threaten debtors or use violence against them, they are not allowed to visit debtors at work or at night and it is also prohibited to recover the debt from family members.”
It's just about desks with names like "enter without knocking". Who really thinks that they will register, refrain from violence and approaching family? This kind of legislation is useless. Only the rigorous criminalization (including picking) of this kind of practice can have any effect.