Thailand Live Tuesday 21 Jun 2011

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Thailand Live Tuesday 21 June 2011

News, Bits and Tweets

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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 Monday 20 June 2011

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Today's Thailand weather and forecasts:

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Posting nude planking photos on the Internet an offence in Thailand

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AFP: Democrat canvasser shot dead in Yala

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Avoid Bangkok's Ratchaprasong, reds told

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July 3 Thai election seems to be very much a family affair

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Shun violence after Thai election, say business sector, media

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Industrialists unimpressed with policies

By NALIN VIBOONCHART

THE NATION

Industrialists see nothing new in the policies for industrial development presented by the five major political parties, as they consider they merely repeat what the sector has already told the government it should be doing for the sector.

Moreover, businesses are concerned that the policies will not come to fruition if the next government cannot forge genuine reconciliation in the country, said Payungsak Chartsuthiphol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

The Democrats, Pheu Thai, Chart Thai Pattana, Chart Pattana Puea Pandin and Bhum Jai Thai yesterday presented their policies for industrial development at the "Challenges of the Thai Political Parties and the Future of Thai Economy" seminar held by the FTI.

Payungsak said some of the policies were unclear in terms of how they would be implemented and their practicality.

"We want the policies to be tangible. They can happen, but we fear that if there is no reconciliation after the new government is formed, then the policies will never come into effect," he said.

A crucial problem that the parties should seriously focus on is the eradication of corruption from the business and political system, he added.

Besides, the main problem for further industrial development is the country's infrastructure, chiefly the logistics, transportation and 3G telecommunication systems.

Meanwhile, industry needs restructuring, he said. Labour-intensive industries should be gradually phased out, while agro-based, high-technology, creative and eco industries should be promoted and supported.

"Thai industry is like a cash cow that can feed the country. It needs promotion from the government, so that it can generate revenue and feed the country," the FTI chief added.

Kriengkrai Thiennukul, chairman of the Printing & Paper Packaging Industry Club under the FTI, said there was nothing new in the policies presented by the five parties.

They have merely repeated the improvements that the industrial sector wants to see, such as reducing logistics costs, increasing minimum wages and enhancing productivity.

He said it would, however, be acceptable to hike minimum wages if the government were at the same time to improve labour skills and increase productivity. But it should give sufficient lead time before adjusting wages.

Kiat Sittheeamorn, a member of the Democrats' economic team, said his party had a policy to improve productivity and lower operating costs, alongside increasing the minimum wage by 25 per cent within two years. Wage adjustment would, therefore, not affect profitability, he argued.

The Democrats plan to cut import tax for around 2,000 raw materials and provide low-interest loans to help manufacturers cut costs. It also plans to impose a special tax rate to benefit labour-intensive industries such as garment, textile and leather manufacturing.

The party also plans to spend Bt5 billion to set up a fund to improve workers' skills, which would result in higher productivity. It will also set up special industrial zones at the country's borders and for specific sectors.

"Thailand has to position itself to reap the benefits from the Asean Economic Community [AEC]. We believe Thailand can be the kitchen of the world, the tourism destination [of choice] and an industrial hub, so that we can be the gateway to link the world market to Asean," he added.

Kasemsan Veerakul, economic team leader of Chart Thai Pattana, said the party's focus is on tax restructuring in order to enhance competitiveness once the AEC is implemented.

The first target would be corporate income tax, for which Thailand still has one of the highest levels at 30 per cent. Cutting the rate prior to AEC implementation would make it easier to attract foreign direct investment.

Meanwhile, the rate of value-added tax should be hiked, as it is quite low when compared with other countries. Privileges provided by the Board of Investment should also be revised, with the agency selecting specific sectors for incentives.

Suchart Thada-thamrongvech, head of the Pheu Thai economic team, said the party would cut corporate tax to 23 per cent, enabling manufacturers to bridge the wage gap for employees.

The party aims to raise minimum wages, particularly for civil servants, to Bt15,000 per month.

It also has a policy to cut interest rates and depreciate the baht's value to help exporters. It would also spend Bt5 billion for training employees for SMES.

Sorayut Petchtrakul, head of the Bhum Jai Thai economic team, said the industrial sector faced a number of challenges, such as global warming, food security and AEC implementation.

Hence, the party had agreed with the FTI that the government should put the emphasis on four industrial areas: agro-based, high-value, high-technology and green industries.

It also expects the government to focus on boosting investor confidence, especially among foreigners, in terms of the political situation and investment regulations.

Charnchai Chairungruang, chairman of the Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party and former industry minister, said the industrial sector could lift annual growth in gross domestic product to 8 per cent by attracting more foreign direct investment and increasing export value. Cutting interest rates would help manufacturers reduce operating costs and enable them to export more.

He said he was still pushing the policy he introduced while minister of relocating labour-intensive industries to border areas in order to recruit foreign labour.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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EDITORIAL

Politics only part of the problem in the deep South; Thai opinion

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Yingluck says she cannot stop red shirts bullying Abhisit

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Yingluck denies seeking meeting with Prem

By The Nation

Pheu Thai candidate Yingluck Shinawatra has denied speculation about her request to meet chief royal adviser General Prem Tinsulanonda, blaming reporters for posing a leading question.

"I didn't seek the meeting although I would welcome an opportunity to seek advice from Prem," she clarified yesterday.

Yingluck said if elected to lead the next government, she would solicit the guidance and support of senior figures, including Prem.

In earlier remarks, she also said she wanted to meet the military leaders in a bid to bring about reconciliation.

Reacting to Yingluck's remarks, Chart Thai Pattana adviser Sanan Kachornprasart said he viewed it as a good thing if the Yingluck-Prem meeting happened.

Sanan said Yingluck could act on former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's behalf and that he saw talks as a way to mend fence.

He said he would today unveil his planned steps for fostering reconciliation.

Yingluck celebrates her 44th birthday today. She plans to give alms in the morning to Buddhist monks at her Bangkok residence before resuming her afternoon campaign activities in Nakhon Pathom.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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Bangkok Police inspect car used by military officer to 'run over' woman in parking dispute

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Top court chief named

By The Nation

Montree Yodpanya was appointed as Supreme Court president yesterday, replacing incumbent Sobchoke Sukharom, who retires in September.

Montree, 63, the senior-most deputy president among the three nominees, was selected unanimously by the 14-member Judicial Commission, which spent an hour scrutinising the qualifications of all three candidates.

He is a graduate of Thammasat University's faculty of law and was once dubbed a "mobile library of verdicts" for remembering laws and high-profile cases.

He was also on the panels scrutinising veteran politician Snoh Thiengthong over the Alpine golf course and hearing the Pheu Thai Party's demand that members of the National Anti-Corruption Commission be dismissed for finding police officers guilty of using violence against People's Alliance for Democracy protesters three years ago.

Before joining the Supreme Court, Montree served as chief justice in Khon Kaen and at the Youth and Family Court in Chiang Mai, was the chief of quorums in Phitsanulok and Thon Buri civil courts, and was chief justice at the Southern Bangkok Civil Court.

The Judicial Commission has also chosen five new deputies of the Supreme Court president.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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Do your duty, HM tells judges

By The Nation

Speaking at Siriraj Hospital, His Majesty the King yesterday told new judges to honour their oath to do their duty for justice and peace in the country.

The much-revered monarch said that while conflicts were not uncommon among human beings, the judges must maintain their neutrality both inside and outside courtrooms. Supreme Court president Sobchoke Sukharom and the new judges were granted the royal audience yesterday evening for the newcomers' swearing-in ceremony.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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Thaksin faces long journey home

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UNITED NATIONS

REFUGEE AGENCY SLAMS ARRESTS IN THAILAND

By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE,

NUNTIDA PUANGTHONG

THE NATION

'Deep concern' over 32 locked up, including children

The United Nations refugee agency yesterday slammed Thailand for the arrest of 32 refugees over the past two weeks.

The refugees were arrested in a number of locations, including Bangkok.

"We are deeply concerned about these arrests, which just increase the sense of insecurity that refugees and asylum-seekers already feel," said Jean-Noel Wetterwald, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional representative and coordinator for Southeast Asia, who is based in Bangkok.

Thirty-two asylum seekers and refugees, including many children, have been arrested since June 7 and the charges against them are unclear, the UNHCR said.

Six Pakistani asylum seekers and a Pakistani who had obtained refugee status were nabbed in Pathum Thani on June 7 and sent to Bangkok's Immigration Detention Centre at Suan Phlu. The group included three children, two of whom were under five years old.

Two days later, on June 9, nine Ahmadi asylum-seekers, including two more children under five years old, were arrested in Ayutthaya. The UNHCR was able to secure the release of three other Ahmadi asylum-seekers who were rounded up in Bangkok on the same afternoon without them being charged or brought to court, it said.

The Ahmadi Muslim sect has tens of millions of members in 190 countries, with most followers living in the subcontinent and Africa.

Five other refugees and eight asylum-seekers - Ahmadis and Sri Lankans, including eight children - were detained on June 15 at a Bangkok bus stop and taken to the Bangkok detention centre, the UN said.

"We have long believed that refugees should not be locked up simply for being refugees," Wetterwald said.

Thailand has long experience, starting in the 1970s, of dealing with refugees and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries. As at the end of last year, Thailand was sheltering 96,675 refugees, mostly from Burma, and the UN was discussing with the Thai authorities the verification of about 540,000 stateless persons in the country, the UNHCR said in its annual report on "Global Trends", released yesterday.

However, Thailand, like many Asian countries, does not have a national asylum system. All foreigners who enter or live in Thailand without proper documentation are subject to arrest, prosecution, detention and deportation under immigration laws, even if they are registered with the UNHCR as asylum-seekers or refugees.

"An immigration detention centre is no place for refugees and asylum-seekers who have committed no crime, especially for children and women," Wetterwald said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said the ministry acknowledged the UN's concern, but said Thai immigration authorities had handled the arrests in accordance with normal legal procedures.

"For a long time, Thailand has treated them in accordance with our laws, on a humanitarian basis," Thani said. "Thailand is ready to cooperate with the UNHCR, concerned countries and international organisations to solve the problem."

As far as children are concerned, it is established policy not to separate them from their parents. As long as the parents are under arrest, they are allowed to take care of their children within the detention centre, Thani said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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Flood victims to get relief funds

By The Nation

The Cabinet yesterday approved a Bt315.87-million budget for flood victims in Ayutthaya and Chai Nat.

Deputy Government Spokesman Dr Marut Masayawanich said Bt261.64 million of the allocation would go to 47,079 flood-hit people in Ayutthaya. The balance was for 6,009 families in Chai Nat.

Marut said that although the House of Representatives had already been dissolved ahead of the July 3 election, budget approval was legally possible because it was made for the purpose of easing the impact of the disasters on victims.

The government-appointed committee on monitoring flood-relief operations had requested the budget, some of which is for the repair of flood-damaged houses.

Marut said the Government Savings Bank expected to transfer Bt5,000 in financial assistance from the government to each eligible flood victim by July 22.

"However, no payment will be made between June 23 and July 3 because it is the election period," he added.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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BMA needs more tools to issue IDs

By The Nation

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is calling on the Interior Ministry to quickly provide it with tools needed for issuing national identification cards for children.

The Cabinet recently approved the plan to issue national ID cards to youngsters aged between seven and 14. Before this, national ID cards were only issued to those above the age of 15.

The BMA had assigned its Department of Strategy and Evaluation to update the national ID records and household registrations by October 31.

"We need more tools from the Interior Ministry," the department's director Manit Techa-apichoke said yesterday, adding that BMA needed at least 105 new printers to issue cards.

Manit said each of the 50 district offices in Bangkok would need four new computers, a machine to manufacture cards, a camera as well as updated software.

"There are more than 600,000 children aged between seven and 14 in Bangkok," he said, adding that BMA would set up service points to issue national ID cards at key spots such as BTS stations.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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'Dysfunctional' system denies villagers justice, say lawyers

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Legal experts claim court organisation and the judicial system must be reformed, lead?ing to fair and impartial deci?sions in cases of encroachment on forest land, because many poor villagers are not be able to access justice.

Over 221 people who were arrested this year for alleged forest land encroachment, have been victims of a dysfunctional judicial system, according to the Thailand Land Reform Network.

A legal expert, Somnuek Tonsuphap said their problems resulted from the court's lack of understanding of forest man?agement by local communities and community rights.

" Some judges delivered ver?dicts based on legal aspects instead of taking into account the social dimension," he said.

Somnuek has conducted a study of court verdicts in land forest cases and their impact on communities.

He presented his findings at a seminar entitled "Community rights and the case of land for?est" organised by the Thailand Land Reform Network and its alliances.

His finding showed that local villagers living in disputed for?est land had been sentenced to jail time and paid over Bt100,000 to Bt1million as compensation to state agencies.

An 80-year-old female Karen villager Nhoda Romsai-ngarm, who lived in Tambon Papae in Mae Hong Son province's Umlongnoi district before the area was designated as conserved forest, was among people affected by the court's decision.

Nhoda was arrested by forestry officials in 2004 and sentenced to 20 months in jail in 2005. She had planted crops on 60 rai and rotated her plant location every two years.

She did not intend to encroach on conserved forest but, according to the court's ver?dict, she caused severe damage to natural resources and the environment. So the court decided to sentence her as an example to other villagers.

Nhoda has been released now but still cannot enter into her old plots of land.

Another study conducted by Sumitrchai Hattachai, a legal expert of TLRN, also showed that villagers charged with alleged forest land encroach?ment had to shoulder a heavy financial burden when sent to trial.

Many could not access evi?dence and official documents needed to support their claims of innocence.

At the same time, many oth?ers had confessed to the court to avoid the financial burdens of a trial. They were also not warned of the legal impact of a guilty plea.

Former National Reform Committee member Akin Rapeepat said justice-related-agencies, including courts and attorneys, should come up with better resolutions to these prob?lems.

" We want the court to resolve this unfair condition by using a proactive approach for reaching its verdict, but I don't know if it would dare to follow this idea or not," he said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-21

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Thai Govt agencies to incinerate drugs worth Bt7.4m

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Yingluck celebrates 44th birthday with merit-making this morning and more campaigning in the afternoon; her son wishes she will become PM /TAN_Network

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4 election commissioners return from inspecting overseas voting this morning; to hold press conference to clarify necessity of visit /TAN_Network

Abhisit to campaign in 3 southernmost provinces; calls on Yingluck to ask red-shirts to stop disrupting his campaign /TAN_Network

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Two gunned down in Phuket gangland ‘misunderstanding’

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Stranded Phuket tourists get strategic in face of flight delays

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Thai stock index opens on Tuesday at 1,019.98, up 6.89 points /MCOT

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Thailand Wins Dragon Boat Race in Hong Kong

The Thai rowing team celebrates lifting the championship trophy at the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, one of China's biggest festivals.

Thailand's rowing team was able to win a fiercely-contested race and was hailed victorious in the International Dragon Boat Races held in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on Sunday.

The Hong Kong crowds cheered on as a representative of the Hong Kong government presented the Thai team with medals and award.

The International Dragon Boat Races is a three-day event with a total of 194 rowing teams from 32 countries, such as China, Germany, Canada and Australia, battling it out for the podium finish.

Aside from the dragon boat races, the event also featured a celebrity bathtub race as well as a fancy dress competition with the Hong Kong Disneyland team taking the prize for best dressed cheering team.

The International Dragon Boat Festival has been part of China's tradition for 35 years with its inaugural race dating back to 1976 when local fishermen and Japanese crews raced the waters.

The ceremony has since been passed down through the years.

-- Tan Network 2011-06-21

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Bangkok Subway Fare to be Raised

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Region 2 Police Launch Major Crime Sweep Ahead of Election

Region 2 Provincial Police have launched a major crime sweep in the eastern provinces to ensure law and order as the election approaches.

National Police Chief, Police General Wichien Pojphosri presided over the dispatch of some 500 officers from Region 2 Provincial Police at the Banglamung District Office in Chonburi Province to carry out an extensive crime-fighting campaign in the eastern region to ensure law and order during the last two weeks before the General Election.

The operation will focus specifically on hired gunmen who might be targeting candidates and canvassers as the election race nears its end.

-- Tan Network 2011-06-21

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SET Reports Huge Sell-off by Foreign Investors Over Political Uncertainty

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Detained Red-shirt Leader to Request Bail

A core red-shirt leader is demanding fairness from the Supreme Court and petitioning for temporary bail in order to fight the charges against him and continue his election campaign in the forthcoming poll.

Core red-shirt leader Jattuporn Promphan, who is currently detained for alleged links to terrorism, has instructed red-shirt attorney Winyat Chartmontree to submit a plea to the Supreme Court to request temporary bail to defend himself against the charges as well as to practice his political rights.

He plans to submit his request to the Criminal Court tomorrow morning, after the Criminal Court revoked his bail on May 12.

The documents organized by Jattuporn will first be reviewed by Bangkok Remand Prison officials before it can be forwarded to the Court. Somwang Akarasi, along with his entourage and attorney, will submit the documents.

They believe it is the right of politicians to demand justice and to continue their election campaigns.

-- Tan Network 2011-06-21