"Smart Cards" to be issued to southern villagers next week

PATHUM THANI: -- ''Smart cards'' will be issued to residents of the three southernmost provinces beginning next week, Interior Minister ACM Kongsak Wanthana announced Friday.

All Thai citizens throughout the Far South region are expected to have the ''Smart Card'' within two months.

The Department of Provincial Administration has prepared to move materials and equipment for issuing ''Smart Cards'' in the three southernmost provinces September 24, so they can be issued to villagers beginning next week.

The department was in the process of selecting patterns and sorting out some computerized details for the ''Smart Card'', as 50 teams of department officials in charge of producing the identity cards have already been assigned to the region, ACM Kongsak said.

Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if the ''Smart Card'' will solve dual nationality concerns of residents

National security units, not the Interior Ministry, will cope with the dual nationality issue, according to ACM Kongsak.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra earlier set a deadline for those in charge of the 'electronic IDs' to issue them by October 1 or face probable dismissal.

--TNa 2005-09-23

This would be the substandard smartcards that failed a security audit, right?

And who gets them? The south.

They seem to get the poohy end of the stick for everything, don't they?

SMART CARDS WILL BE ISSUED IN THE SOUTH BY OCTOBER 6TH

The Department of Local Administration has speeded up the issuance of Smart ID Cards in order to deliver the cards to people in the three southern border provinces within October 6th, 2005.

Director-General SIVA SAENGMANEE (ศิวะ แสงมณี) says his department has organized workshops for card-issuing officials to help smoothen the issuance process.

The cards will be distributed in the three southernmost provinces and issued to the people before October 6, insisted Mr. SIWA.

The Director-General adds that about 400 Smart Cards will be issued per day per registration office. The Department of Local Administration will kick off the issuance of Smart Cards at the registration office in Muang District, PATTANI Province.

Source: thaisnews.com ประจำวันอังคารที่ 27 กันยายน 2548

Looks to me like this is all about control. Taksi already has the satellites and soon he'll have GPS tracking on people of the South. Sure, some control is needed down there and if this helps achieve it then it's no bad thing. My doubts are whether it will work and whether it's really a good technology in the first place. One thing for sure is that Taksi really likes technology. Scanners at airports, meetings with Gates, Smart cards........maybe he's a cyborg

Wonder if the dual nationality issue they proclaim it will help with has really got anything to do with religion?

wooops, my mistake. No GPS tracking on a smartcard. Was just checking a site about Hong Kong where they have brought smart ID cards into use. They don't seem so bad actually which is a good thing, considering a day will probably come when most people have one.

http://www.flyingchair.net/story.php?storyID=786

Edited September 28, 200520 yr by juggler