Thai Govt Must Talk To Public, Rights Chief Advises

[webfact]

Govt must talk to public, rights chief advises

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

In order to prevent further destruction of floodwalls in the days ahead, the government needs to communicate clearly with disgruntled residents and offer them tangible compensation, Nirand Pitakwatchara, National Human Rights Commissioner, said.

"They need to talk as to how the compensation will be provided," Nirand told The Nation yesterday, adding that failure to do so might lead to more conflicts and clashes. The rights commissioner said many affected communities did not have access to government leaders, unlike the businessmen who met the premier on Thursday to suggest that some roads be blasted through to create waterways.

Nirand said this conflict was just a symptom of a deeper human-rights issue involving the lack of public participation in the direction rural and national development takes.

"Development begins with the violation of rights," he said, explaining that local communities have practically no say as to where dams, industrial estates and roads will be built and this has resulted in homes and factories being submerged and the capital facing inundation.

He added that villagers who have been affected in 26 provinces have little or no access to information, so they are unable to prepare for floods.

"They have no access to information, so their right to data is also being violated," he said, adding that another issue was how blue-collar workers, both Thai and non-Thai, were being cared for.

"How will the government deal with the impact of the floods?" he asked.

-- The Nation 2011-10-29

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Public should also have a say in flood

NALIN VIBOONCHART

THE NATION

Decisions on flood-prevention systems such as large-scale dams or digging waterways to direct water into the sea should not just be made by the government alone, but the public should also have a say, Takeya Kimio, visiting senior advisor from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said.

Kimio is one of the experts Japan has sent across to help the government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) set up flood-prevention systems for the future.

He said the flooding this year was very serious and the government could do little, though the best solution would be to drain the water through the east and west of Bangkok instead of the central business district.

"Even the Japanese government cannot do better than this because the situation this year is very serious. Releasing the floods through the east and west of Bangkok is the correct way to solve the problem," he said.

Kimio said Thailand should consider effective flood-prevention systems such as constructing large dams or waterways leading from Ayutthaya to the sea. He admitted that though these options might be environmentally unfriendly, they would be effective in preventing floods in the future.

"This is a decision that should be made by the Thai people as a whole," he said.

Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said the government was committed to supplying 350 water pumps within a week to help ease the flooding in seven inundated industrial estates. It is believed that factories in the flood-hit estates should resume operations by mid-December.

Nipit Arunvongse na Ayudhya, managing director of Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, said more pumps were needed because the pumps it has at the moment could not release 20 million cubic metres of water as needed. At present, Nava Nakorn only has the means to drain 650,000 cubic metres of water daily. Nipit said the waters should be cleared within 20 days as soon as the flood levels stabilise.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairperson of the Bangkadi Industrial Park, said his estate had asked the ministry for eight pumps with the ability to release 75,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Masato Otaka, economic minister from the Japanese embassy said that Tokyo was sending another package to Thailand next week, and was considering more measures.

-- The Nation 2011-10-29

[Pseudolus]

Just have the feeling that Takeya san is here to speed up the drainage of Japanese affected businesses more than anything else.

[whybother]

Decisions on flood-prevention systems such as large-scale dams or digging waterways to direct water into the sea should not just be made by the government alone, but the public should also have a say, Takeya Kimio, visiting senior advisor from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said.

If the public get involved, there will be the standard NIMBY (not in my back yard) protests, and nothing will get done.

Of course, with politicians involved, nothing will get done anyway.

[animatic]

Decisions on flood-prevention systems such as large-scale dams or digging waterways to direct water into the sea should not just be made by the government alone, but the public should also have a say, Takeya Kimio, visiting senior advisor from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said.

If the public get involved, there will be the standard NIMBY (not in my back yard) protests, and nothing will get done.

Of course, with politicians involved, nothing will get done anyway.

Sadly this rings true.

But what Takeya says is likely the only real solutions.

Certainly he wants the factories fixed, but it is also in Japan Industries best interests to never have this Thai flood happen like this ever again, not just for his sides factories, but because all is an integrated whole. Japanese think in terms of larges integrated systems working symbiotically.

Right now we have factories in Malaysia, Canada and USA sitting idle, because of these Thai floods. It's not just Japan or Thailand at risk from a repetition. But if it is NPOT adressed properly with Eminent domain tactics to make the solution happen, then Industry / Jobs / Thai grow in the future will be greatly diminished because investors will not have confidence.

Confidence is / will be destroyed, not by calling an SOE or Disaster too soon, but by not doing anything to prevent it happening yet again, when it's obvious why it's happened. If anything the 'Disaster' was called way too late.

That's what will make investors think twice about Thailand. And no amount of government sponsored Road Shows will change that.

Edited October 29, 2011 by animatic