Year-round News Brief-up For 2005

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Year-round news brief-up for 2005

BANGKOK: -- Although 2005 is a year in which Thailand has encoutered a series of problems, including impacts of global oil price hikes and last year's tsunami, new bird flu outbreak, severe droughts and floods, as well as the continuing unrest in the country's southern border region, the government has managed to boost the country's economic growth to more than 4 per cent this year-- around 4.25-4.75 per cent as projected by the Bank of Thailand (BOT)--with higher growth rate of more than 5 per cent in 2006 also forecast amid a global economic slowdown trend.

Through its dual track policy in which macro and micro economic policies have been parallelly implemented to stimulate the country's growth from the grassroots level with expanding trade and exports through free trade areas (FTAs) agreements and other measures, as well as increased ties and cooperation in all other areas with global partners, following Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visits to several countries, the goverenment has promised the country's continuing growth and development over years to come, with povery expected to be eradicated by 2008.

We, TNA, take this good opportunity to present you a year-round news brief-up for your reference, to be a good background for you all to strive through the New Year 2006 with hopes together.

February 6: Latest general election, in which the ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party won a landslide victory, securing nearly four-fifth out of the total 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

April 3: A series of three bomb blast rocked Hat Yai, Thailand's business hub in southern Sonkhla Province, killing two people and injuring over 60 others.

April 5: His Majesty the King sent a condolence letter to the Vatican, mourning the death of the late Pope John Paul II, 85, who passed away peacefully on April 2 night for blood circulation system failure.

April 9-16: Thais across the nation joyously celebrated Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year festival.

April 18-25 - Thailand hosted the meeting of the 11th UN Crime Conference, in which over 3,000 national leaders, justice ministry officials, high ranking civil servants and heads of international organizations took part with a focus on the theme of "Synergies and Responses:Strategic Alliances in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice."

April 29: The whole nation delightedly celebrated the birth of a new Prince--later named Prince Tipangkorn Rasmichoti born to His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and then Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya.

May 21-31: Thailand hosted Miss Universe 2005 contest, in which Miss Canada, Natalie Glebova, won the prestige title, while Miss Thailand Universe 2005, Chananporn Rosjan, 22, won the 'Best Costume Award'.

May 26: The Supreme Court ruled that nine commissioners of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) were to face a two-year jail term for their move to massively increase their own salaries arbitrarily in 2004.

May 27: Thaialnd's southern resort island of Phuket and China's Hainan Province signed a twin town agreement for greater bilateral trade and tourism cooperation, as well as direct flights launched.

May 31: Thailand marked the 'World No Tobacco Day' by making it compulsory for cigarette packets to carry shocking and graphic pictures and messages warning the risks of smoking, the fourth country in the world to do so.

May 31: The Civil Court ordered a former governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), Rerngchai Marakanond, to pay the damage of Bt185.95 billion plus the 7.5 per cent interest rate annually to the central bank within 30 days for his negligence which led to the country's financial crisis in mid 1997.

June 1: The government decided to float the price of diesel on the domestic market, but agreed to cut the excise tax on diesel by Bt1.0 per litre for six months and by another Bt0.50 per litre for the following four months.

June 1: The government launched a mass energy conservation campaign aimed at saving the country billions of baht in fuel imports each year.

June 1: Thailand's 18-month-long nationwide celebrations on the auspicious occasion of the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's ancesion to the throne on June 9, 2006 began.

June 6: US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld paid an official visit to Thailand to strenghen bilateral ties and cooperation, especially in the security affairs.

June 16: His Majesty the King granted the status of Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasmi, the Royal Consort of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, to Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya and elevated the status of Her Serene Highness Princess Siriwanwaree, the younger daughter of HRH the Crown Prince, to Her Royal Highness Princess Siriwanwaree Nareerat, the Royal Granddaughter,

June 17: A Royal ceremony to celebrate the Month and Getting into the Cradle for the newborn Prince Tipangkorn Rasmichoti of the Royal Thai Family was organized at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall here, presided over by Their Majesties the King and Queen.

June 22: The cabinet approved the draft budget bill for the 2006 fiscal year, setting the government's total expenditure at Bt1.36 trillion.

June 24: The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was registered as a new public company limited.

June 28: The then Transport Minister, Suriya Jungrungreangkit, survived a no-confidence motion lodged by the opposition in the House of Representatives for his alleged failure to perform his duty in supervising the procurement of CTX9000 bomb-scanners for the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

June 30: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates visited Thailand and signed three cooperative agreements on information technology (IT) development.

July 1: The bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement between Thailand and New Zealand officially came into effect.

July 2: Modernine TV, part of MCOT, Thailand's media giant, was announced to win the 2004 Asiavision Annual Award for providing the most news flashes-- especially during the December 2004's tsunami--together with Japan’s NHK and China’s CCTV.

July 4: Thailand’s Appeal Court upheld a lower court’s decision to sentence Dr. Wisuth Boonkasemsanti, a former gynaecologist at Chulalongkorn Hospital, to death for the murder of his estranged wife, Phassaporn Boonkasemsanti, a doctor at the State Railway of Thailand (SRT)'s hospital, in 2001.

July 6: Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and Japan's

Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) signed a bilateral agreement on cooperation in disaster prevention and management.

July 7: The then embattled Deputy Commerce Minister Suriya Lapwisuthisin decided to resign under the heavy public criticism over his siblings' involvement in the forgery charge against Picnic Corporation’s executives filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

July 9: The Thai Festival' was organized in Shanghai to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the Thailand and the People's Republic of China.

July 11: A world leading credit rating agency, Standard & Poor’s, upgraded counter-party ratings of major Thai commercial banks, including Bangkok Bank, Bank of Ayudhaya, KASIKORNBANK (KBANK) , Krung Thai Bank and Siam Commercial Bank, notching up the local commercial banks to an investment grade for the first time since the economic crisis eight years ago.

July 11: US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visited tsunami victims in the southern resort province of Phuket en route to her visits to China, Japan and South Korea.

July 20: The government imposed the new executive decree in the deep South which gives the prime minister sweeping powers in dealing with the violence in the three troubled southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani--replacing the martial law.

July 25: Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn inaugurated the Asia-Pacific Development Centre on Disability (APCD), located in the Ban Rajvithi Home for Girls' compound here to coordinate on regional database, vocational training and development for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the region to empower and boost their potential.

July 25: Other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to help lobby for Thailand's bid for the United Nations' top post.

August 1: A Bangkok senator, Jon Ungpakorn, was announced to win this year's Magsaysay Award for Public Service.

August 2: A sweeping cabinet reshuffle was announced involving 17 posts, in which the then Transport Minister, Suriya Jungrungreangkit, was shifted from the transport portfolio to the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister due to the CTX9000 scandal.

August 2: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej assigned Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon to attend the Royal Funeral of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who passed away peacefully on August 1 at the age of 83. The minister also represented the Thai government and the people.

August 9: Her Majesty the Queen was conferred the world's first honorary medal on food safety from the World Health Organization (WHO) for her devotion and contribution to the promotion of food safety among the Thai people.

August 9: The cabinet approved a plan to defer the rise of value-added tax (VAT), from 7 per cent currently, for another two years.

August 11: Asian countries, most of them are ASEAN members, agreed to set up a centralised reserve 'bank' of anti-bird flu virus vaccine, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO).

August 21: About 100 Thai employees in Taiwan were allegedly involved in torching and vandalizing the property of their employer, the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation, in protest of alleged poor accommodation and infringement of their rights.

August 31: A group of 131 Muslim villagers from the southernmost Narathiwat Province fled across the border into Malaysia, citing fears of their safety.

September 2: The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) aimed to make Thailand the ICT centre of Asia in the next three years, planning to increase the number of Internet and mobile phone users.

September 3: The government announced a plan to install three natural disaster warning systems in Chiang Mai--less than a month after a severe flood ravaged the northern city.

September 3: A two-day retreat between Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong ended successfully with agreed cooperation in several areas, including joint development of a central vaccination system to deal with avian flu, exchange of advanced educational technology, joint development of securities markets tourism, support of regional power grid project and cooperation in regional security issues.

September 6: The government announced a plan to develop three tsunami-hit provinces--Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi--as the 'Andaman Paradise', a world class marine tourism hub.

September 9: A mentally-disturbed women armed with a knife attacked and wounded as many as six teenaged female students at Saint Joseph Convent School on Convent Road here.

September 11-20: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra participated in the Second ASEAN-United Nations Summit and the 2005 World Summit-High-Level Plenary Meeting (HLPM) of the 60th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

September 12: The World Bank and the Japanese government gave Bt 120 million (US$ 3 million) to Thailand's tsunami relief funds and promised another Bt 80 million (US$2 million) in further assistance.

September 13: The owner of Thailand's largest entertainment conglomerate, Paiboon Damrongchaitham, announced that one of his business branch, GMM Media Public Company Limited--a subsidiary of GMM Grammy Group--planned to take over the publishers of well-recognized Thai-language Matichon and English-language Bangkok Post Newspapers through acquired stakes on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). He later backed down the plan after strong resistance and public criticisms.

September 15: Permanent Secretary for Public Health Vichai Tienthavon was transferred to an inactive post in the Office of the Prime Minister and sought justice from the prime minister.

September 21: Two marines in Thailand's southern border province of Narathiwat were taken hostages by local villagers and brutally murdered in Tanyong Limo village, the incident of which was believed to be a misunderstanding of the angry villagers that the two victims were behind an earlier shooting at a teashop.

September 23: The new nominee of Thailand's Auditor General, Mr. Visut Montriwat, decided to withdraw himself from the post to end a widespread criticism on the issue over the past months. Mr. Visut, a veteran civil servant from the Ministry of Finance, was nominated to the post in June, following a Senate announcement that the

Constitution Court had ruled that an earlier selection process of the incumbent Auditor General, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, was improper and against the constitution.

September 24: The government began banning display of cigarettes in stores to reduce the number of smokers.

September 27: Thailand has contributed US$ 10 million to a UN trust fund set up to manage tsunami warning systems for the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian regions.

September 29: Thai Airways International (THAI)'s historic flight--TG8960 named Watana Nakhon, an Air Bus 340-600 aircraft, the world's longest with the length of 75.3 metres carrying Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, cabinet members and distinguished guests--successfully landed on Bangkok's new international airport--the Suvarnabhumi Airport on the airport's inaugural flight.

October 1: Thailand and Singapore agreed on bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, tourism and capital market promotion, as well as other areas of mutual benefits in the form of 'business alliance'.

October 3: His Majesty the King sent a message of condolence and sympathy to Indonesian President Susilo Barnbang Yudhoyono, expressing profound regret over three Bali bombings on October 1, killing 22 people and injuring more than 130 others. Bali was also the scene of a series of bomb attacks in October 2002, which left 202 people dead.

October 7: The first batch of 'Smart Card' electronic IDs was issued in the southernmost province of Pattani.

October 8: American scientists discovered that the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus shares some genetic similarities with the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which killed about 50 million

people across the world.

October 9-16: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited five European nations, including France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Finland and Russia, to strengthen ties and cooperation.

October 13: All commercial banks and the Government Savings Bank (GSB) agreed to help restructure individual debts, with the commercial banks offering a 50 per cent write-off and a waiver of accumulated interest. Under the scheme, borrowers must repay debts in a single payment within the period of January 1-June 30, 2006.

October 14: Thailand sent relief supplies to victims of a strongest earthquake in Pakistan and India on October 8, worth about Bt30 million. The death toll of the earthquake stood at 73,000 people, with 80,000 injured and 3.5 million people displaced.

October 15: Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang was elected as an executive member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the fifth Thai to have won the prestigious post.

October 17: People in northern Thailand could observe a partial lunar eclipse with their bare eyes. Thailand could, again, observe a total lunar eclipse in August 2007.

October 20: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) commended a late revered Thai Buddhist monk, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a world 'Great Personality' and schedule May 27, 2006 for celebrating the centenary of his birth.

October 26: The Thai government declared a nationwide ban on the movement of poultry and on sales and distribution of sick or dead chickens to prevent bird flu. Violators are to face a maximum punishment of one year in jail or a 20,000 baht fine.

October 28-29: Thai people could view the planet Mars coming closest to the Earth at 69.4 million kilometres. Thais were also invited to view a full solar eclipse on April 11, 2070--65 years from now--in Wa Ko area of the upper southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan and on the Chang Island off the eastern Trat Province.

October 31: Two newly-appointed cabinet members in a minor cabinet reshuffle of the Thaksin administration, including Deputy Prime Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul and Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat, were approved by His Majesty the King in a Royal Command.

November 2: The Ministry of Finance projected that the Thai economy could grow at an average rate of 5.65 per cent annually over the next four years boosted by the government-sponsored mega projects, worth more than Bt1.7 trillion.

November 3: Thailand hosted the second summit of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), in which Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are members. All member countries agreed on the importance of a joint forward-looking approach in inter-country cooperation in order to lay a strong foundation for meeting regional needs and achieving regional goals in various areas in the future.

November 3: Thailand hosted the Fourth World Buddhist Summit with a call for a tolerant stand against global terrorism.

November 9: Thailand's famous southern resort province of Phuket was voted by international visitors as the 'Top Island in Asia and Indian Ocean' and received the Readers’ Choice Award 2005, presented by Conde Nast Traveller Magazine--a leading magazine in the United States.

November 15:The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the planned partial privatisation of EGAT Public Company Limited (EGAT) be suspended pending a judicial review.

November 17-20: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attended the 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Busan, South Korea, with the leaders agreeing to support a smooth conclusion of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.

November 17-24: Thailand became the world's 7th largest automobile exporter when the country's annual automobile production reached one million units for the first time.

November 19; Thailand on Saturday signed an agreement on investment promotion and protection with Hong Kong and a free trade area (FTA) agreement with Peru.

November 19: Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was honoured with the 2004 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development.

November 21-22: Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad visited Thailand and held talks with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on issues of mutual interests, including those concerning Thailand's southern violent unrest.

November 22-23: Thailand hosted the second forum on Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relationship (STEER), aimed to strengthen bilateral ties and partnership of the two neighboring countries.

November 30: An American specialist in anaemia--Professor Emeritus Dr. Eugene Goldwasser from University of Chicago--and a German cancer researcher--Professor Emeritus Dr. Harald zur Hausen from the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg--won the 2005 Prince Mahidol Awards in the fields of medicine and public health respectively.

December 1: The European Union (EU) returned its trade privileges under the generalised system of preference (GSP) to exports of 20 categories of Thai vegetables.

December 1: Thai members of parliament and senators agreed to join forces with their counterparts from other countries in the region to have their one-day salaries cut--Bt3,000 each--to assist victims of natural disasters.

December 8: Teachers opposing the government's policy to transfer schools to local administrative bodies joined a mass rally in Bangkok.

December 11-14: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attended the 11th ASEAN Summit, as well as related summits and the First East Asia Summit (EAS) held in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, in which parties concerned agreed to join forces for regional growth and development.

December 13: Pinthongtha Shinawatra, the second heir but eldest daughter of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, retained the title of Thailand's richest stockholder for two consecutive years, with an estimated Bt19 billion (US$475 million) worth of corporate stock in her portfolio, followed by Bannapot Damapong, brother of Mr. Thaksin's wife, Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra who owns 13.4 per cent of Shin Corp. stocks, worth Bt16 billion and Land & House Co president Anant Asavapokhin with Bt15 billion in stock in his portfolio.

December 13-18: Thailand joined the 6th the World Trade Organization (WTO) Meeting in Hong Kong, in which 149 member countries reached a breakthrough on the most contentious issue of the six-day talks, agreeing that wealthy countries would eliminate farm export subsidies by 2013, paving the way for a broader agreement to cut trade barriers across various sectors.

December 14: The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s President Kittirat Na Ranong was named the Financier of the Year 2005 by the Money and Banking Magazine.

December 14: The southern resort province of Phuket and Bangkok were voted among Asia's top five holiday destinations, according to the TIME Readers’ Travel Choice Awards 2005 survey.

December 15: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, were named persons of the year with the highest profile in Thai politics, according to a poll by Assumption University.

December 15: The Thai Tsunami Victim Indentification Centre (TTVI) was relocated from Phuket to Bangkok.

December 15: Jordan's King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein paid an official visit to Thailand and held talks with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, agreeing to expand bilateral trade, promote economic and educational cooperation and develop

mutual security-related cooperation.

December 21: Kenya postponed a plan to send a batch of 175 wild animal to Chiang Mai Night Safari in Thailand's northern region pending a court verdict on the legitimacy of the Thai-Kenyan memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the animal exchange.

December 26: Thousands of tsunami survivors and relatives of victims from 45 countries, including Thais, gathered in Thailand's southern Andaman provinces hit by the tsunami on December 26, 2004 to attend the country's mass commemmoration marking the first anniversary of the disaster. On the day the foundation stone laying ceremony of Thailand's Tsunami Memorial was also held at Khao Lak-Lamroo National Park in the southern resort province of Phang-nga.

--TNA 2006-01-01