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Thailand Live Saturday 18 Dec 2010

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webfact Grand Master Member

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Thailand Live Saturday 18 December 2010

News, Bits and Tweets

with webfact

Keep up to date with live updates from the news, hour by hour.

For breaking news,national, regional and international news updates on a daily basis only, this thread is closed to commentary so

that those who wish to follow the news can find it here...

Commentary is still open for Thailand news in the relevant thread posted in News Clippings.

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Related topic: Thailand Live Friday 17 Dec 2010

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Center One Shopping Center will be opened on Christmas

BANGKOK (NNT) -- Center One Shopping Center is due to re-open its door on December 24th, seven months after the bloody May which saw the greater part of the center torched to ashes. Only part of the shopping complex will be open to the public, while the rest of the areas are still undergoing major renovations.

About one-third of the complex destroyed during the political crackdown in May by fires will need further improvement. People Plaza, the company that owns the shopping center, has said that the new Center One will be more tolerable against all types of destruction.

The majority of former tenants have returned to book retail spaces at Center One hoping to re coup their investments; however, People Plazaa will increase its rental fee by 10% starting next year, but is set to lower the rent by 20% from February onwards to help the tenants get back on their feet. The entire shopping center is expected to be opened in February next year.

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-- NNT 2010-12-18 footer_n.gif

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PM Pledges to Eradicate Poverty

Even with less than a year left in office, the prime minister has pledged to work harder to help eradicate poverty in Thailand.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva earlier today joined Social Development Minister Issara Somchai in a trip to promote community welfare in the eastern province of Chanthaburi.

The state initiated project was aimed to help strengthen local communities in 12 central and eastern provinces.

Abhisit was welcomed by officials and more than 5,000 members of the communities.

During his opening address, Abhisit called on all participants to take a more active role in improving the quality of life in the country.

He reiterated the government's commitment to eradicate poverty in a systematic manner and to provide general Thais with better welfare.

He also told the gathering that the long awaited National Savings Fund Bill is expected to be approved by Parliament in early 2011.

The draft bill was endorsed by the Cabinet in 2009 and intended to allow around 24 million Thais currently not eligible for social security system benefits or any state welfare to be able to have enough savings for retirement.

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-- Tan Network 2010-12-18

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PM Undaunted by Local Organizations' Planned Protest

The prime minister dismissed concern about a possible gathering by members of local administrative organizations to pressure the government to approve their salary raise, saying the government will make its decision on the matter appropriately.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that the Interior and Finance ministries submitted a report on a salary hike for members of local administrative organizations to him today after the Cabinet had sent back the proposal for another review.

Staff of local administrative organizations have threatened to stage a mass protest in Bangkok to pressure the government to approve a salary increase the way it did for civil servants.

He said the move will not have any effect on the government's decision and it has carried out the process concerning this issue appropriately and carefully.

The premier further said that the pay rise for the bureaucrats does not come from the central budget.

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-- Tan Network 2010-12-18

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SOUTH CRISIS

Police chief warns South of New Year attacks

The South will probably be hit by insurgent bomb attacks both before and during the New Year holiday period, national police chief Pol General Wichean Potephosree said yesterday, based on a recent intelligence report.

Most of Yala and Narathiwat provinces are at risk, as well as the Hat Yai district in Songkhla province. Though Pattani is not included in the warning, residents are advised to remain cautious, he said.

He said police "were not taking this warning lightly" and were setting up preventive measures. Wichean was speaking after visiting a police bomb-disposal unit in Yala and reassuring Muslim clerics in the South that scientific evidence would bring justice to the region.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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Kitsana bags two Para Games golds

By The Nation

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Thailand enjoyed rich pickings at the Guangzhou Asian Para Games yesterday when they grabbed four gold medals, with runner Kitsana Jorchuy stealing the limelight with a second gold following his triumph in the men's 100m division.

But despite the success, Disabled Athletes Association of Thailand president MajGeneral Osoth Pavilai forecasts that the Kingdom will not retain the overall runnersup spot they achieved at the previous edition in Doha.

"At best we can only finish fifth this time. The field is more competitive, given the emergence of the Middle East nations, Iran in particular. Our traditional rivals like South Korea and Japan have also made huge progress, helped by a greater number of their athletes than ours.

"However, our overall performance is satisfactory with many of our athletes achieving improved results. The immediate concern for us, though, is to find new talents," said Osoth.

The 34yearold Kitsana grabbed the headlines by adding the 100m title to the 200m after clocking 11.98 seconds and consigning Games record holder Wu Xiang of China to the runnersup spot.

In the men's 200m wheelchair, Supachai Koysub crossed the line first, clocking 25.05 seconds to clinch the title.

Weightlifter Arawan Bootpo ended the country's drought in the sport with a gold medal lift of 115kg to win the women's 67.50kg division.

On the tennis court, Ratana Techamaneewat and Sakhorn Khanthasit won the women's doubles title, finishing the roundrobin competition of just four teams with a perfect record.

Their male counterparts, Suthi Khlongrua and Sumrerng Kruamai, overcame China's Wei Zujun and Feng Xiaomin 61 64 to claim a bronze for Thailand.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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At home on the Big Mountain

By Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

THE NATION

Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima

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Touted as Thailand's biggest music festival, the second edition of Big Mountain was held last weekend at Bonanza Khao Yai, less than a year after the first edition. February's debut fest, while successful, was hot and dusty, partly because of the gravel surface of much of the resort.

That was less of a problem this year, thanks to modifications made to the site, and there were other improvements too, among them more-imaginative arrangements of the stages and a better layout of the tents and car parks.

The two-day festival adopted the slogan of "more enjoyable and more convenient". The 30,000 people who turned out certainly got a kick out of the activities.

Daytime fun included kite-flying and games in the Soi Thonglor area. Festival-goers also spent time getting their "passports" stamped with the 12 cow symbols of the festival's 12 destinations.

Even the weather cooperated - the sun was out but it wasn't as hot as it was in February.

The gravel roads from the entrance and around the site had been paved with asphalt so there was less red dust in the air. A fleet of 13 song thaews plied the route, offering a 24-hour shuttle.

The shopping-and-food street known as Ratchaprasong Market was bigger and better able to accomodate the hungry crowd.

And while there were still complaints about not enough toilets, it should be remembered that no festival can possibly provide a sufficient service for an audience on the scale of Big Mountain.

As organiser Yuthana "Ted" Boonorm said a little sarcastically at the press conference, "People will feel more comfortable and find it convenient, but it's not like being at Siam Paragon or CentralWorld."

The four smaller stages, which at the last festival were far away from the Main and Cow stages, were brought closer this year. Yet fans who hadn't experienced festivals overseas still commented that they were too far away, resulting in only a handful of people turning out for the shows. This was especially true on the second day, when the outdoor theatre known as Siam had virtually no audience while the two main stages included such popular and well-known acts such as Pru, Da Endorphine, Bodyslam, Groove Riders, Flure, Clash, Zeal, POP, Hydra and Calories Blah Blah.

In another departure from the last year's fest, there were foreign artists, including Rieco from Japan and Clementine from France. The latter presented bossa-nova songs including "Doraemon No Uta" from her latest outing "Bosso Du Anime". The audience sang along and rewarded her with loud applause.

The Main and Cow stages ran about one hour late finishing at 3am. Many of the crowd moved to Akojorn (out of bound area), a tented pub hosted by outspoken TV host Na Nake or the Dancing Tree, which featured DJs.

Over at Akojorn, ID cards were not checked even though plenty of crude talk could be heard through the canvas walls. Na Nake and his patrons seemed to have the freedom to do and say whatever they wanted.

Personally, I felt bad seeing tens of thousands of teenagers packed like sardines at the Main and Cow stages. If something had gone wrong - and thankfully it didn't - it would have been extremely difficult for the security guards to break through the crowd and take care of them. It was also hard for some of the audience to struggle out of the masses to head to the toilets.

Like last year, the festival employed a wristband policy to control the sales of alcohol.

In all, this year's Big Mountain Music Festival seemed to make the audience, most of whom had come from Bangkok, feel at home - like it was another night out at one of their favourite city venues. That's very different from the sense of adventure you get from attending an overseas outdoor music fest.

Perhaps Big Mountain should bill itself the most easygoing music festival in Thailand or maybe even the world.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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Govt pushes through pay-hike measure

By Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation

The government yesterday showed the green light to raise the salaries of local government officials by up to 70 per cent.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said his ministry would endorse the Interior Ministry's proposal for the mas?sive pay hike covering tens of thousands of Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO) officials.

The pay rise will cost an additional Bt1 billion per year.

Korn said the new salaries of TAO chiefs, which would be around Bt18,000 per month, would still be significantly less than those of mayors who cur?rently get more than Bt30,000 per month.

Besides the pay hike for TAO staff, PM's secretary-general Korbsak Sabhavasu yesterday suggested that the government would consider diverting up to Bt40 billion of royalties col?lected from oil and gas conces?sions to fund new meas?ures to help the poor.

Korbsak said the govern?ment should also divert its earn?ings from the partly state-owned PTT to pay for these measures.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday he would announce details of the populist "Pracha Wiwat" policy on January 7.

The policy is aimed at reduc?ing the cost of living and bring?ing millions of workers in the informal economy into the social-security system and the credit market.

These workers include motorcycle taxies, street ven?dors and taxi cabs.

Overall, the number of infor?mal workers is estimated to be 5.2 million in Bangkok and 24 million nationwide.

To help the grass-roots pop?ulation, the price of ener?gy, especially diesel, LPG (liq?uefied petroleum gas) and household electricity as well as basic food items, especially eggs, pork and chicken, would be lowered.

Dr Sangsit Piriyarangsan, a government adviser, said low-income earners should be pro?vided free electricity when using 90 or less units per month.

Sangsit also proposed to the prime minister that taxi cabs who have more than 10 years' experience should be granted a credit of Bt800,000 per person to help them buy their own vehicle.

Workers in the informal economy should also be encour?aged to form savings groups to qualify for loans from the Government Savings Bank, which has agreed to provide a credit line five times the amount of combined savings.

Regarding street vendors, he said bribes paid to police and city officials are a major burden because vendors have to pay an average of Bt2,000-3,000 per month in busy areas.

Sangsit proposed that Bangkok's authorities provide more space to these vendors so as to help reduce bribery pay?ment.

Another proposal is to amend the social security law to allow workers in the informal economy to join the safety net.

These workers may join the system with a starting payment of Bt100, Bt200 and Bt300 per month plus the government's co-payment so that they can be entitled to some benefits.

In addition, workers in the informal economy should be allowed to pre-register with state-owned banks to obtain a credit line so that they could get a loan of Bt10,000-Bt20,000 when needed in an emergency. Otherwise, these workers have to depend on loan sharks because private banks and other financial institutions do not lend them money due to the lack of creditworthiness.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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Boonjong's victory at stake over fraud allegations

By The Nation

Election officials in Nakhon Ratchasima have referred a case to the Election Commission under which a local bureaucrat is accused of unfairly helping Bhum Jai Thai Party's Boonjong Wongtrairat win Sunday's by-election.

Should the EC find the allegations convincing, Boonjong could see his victory annulled or disqualified.

The chief of Nakhon Ratchasima's EC office, General Wirawut Songsai, said yesterday that he had received the complaint from opposition Pheu Thai Party candidate Apicha Lertpacharakamol.

Apicha alleged that on November 19 and 20, a senior local official called Saipirun Noisiri had arranged for some 300 eligible voters, including civil servants, to join a seminar in Rayong. According to Apicha, the official told the seminar participants that Boonjong had sponsored the trip and that they should vote for him.

The Pheu Thai candidate filed a separate complaint with the Crime Suppression Division, accusing Saipirun of violating the electoral law. He also submitted a video recording of the seminar.

Meanwhile, Wirawut said yesterday that his office had studied the video recording and decided to refer the matter to the EC headquarters, where the matter might be investigated further.

A source said it was likely that the EC would first endorse the by-election result and then apply punishment within a month after the election date in case the accused candidate is found involved in the alleged fraud.

Boonjong, who was pressured to resign as deputy interior minister to contest in the by-election for Nakhon Ratchasim's Constituency 6, defeated Apicha by almost 20,000 votes. Boonjong said yesterday that he saw this allegation as a "political game" and insisted on his innocence, saying that he had focused on campaigning with smaller groups of people rather than holding a few large campaigns like his competitor.

"They claim that they lost because of unfair state power. Those are just a loser's words," he said, adding that his victory had brought much encouragement to Bhum Jai Thai Party.

An EC source said the Rayong seminar case is one of the five complaints filed against both candidates.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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2 troops injured in Yala

Yala - Two troops were killed by southern insurgents Saturday while they were protecting Buddhist monks during the alms collecting in this southern border province.

The fight erupted on the Uttasahakam Road in Yala's muang district at 7:30 am.

None of Buddhist monks were injured by gunfire.

The two troops were identified as Pvt Sunsudee Masae, 28, and Cpl Suriya Chaiyan, 48.

They were escorting monks, who returned from alms collecting to their Hua Sapan Tmeple, when six insurgents arrived on a pick-up truck and opened fire at the troops.

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-- The Nation 2010-12-18

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