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September 2005 : More Violence in the South
Violence in the four southern provinces was enhanced after two marine held hostages were slaughted in Narathiwat province.
Four MPs were disqualified and the by-election is expecting soon. The Senate selected the first NBC and Wisut Montriwat withdraw nomination from the auditor-general.
Mae Ai residents win back citizenship right. MoE begun teacher’s refinancing scheme and amended school entry regulations. PM Thaksin Shinawatra approved a 100 billion baht basic health infrastructure project.
Community Forest bill bared settlement in special forest zone. MoA proposed a draft national rice bill and announced a seafood bank loan project while the government ordered Irrigation Department to set up a joint public-private panel for water management of Prasae basin.
The House voted to approved a 1.36 trillion baht budget.
More violence in the deep south
In September 20 at 8.30 pm men in a pickup truck shoot into a teashop at Ban Tanyong Limo in Narathiwat’s Ra Ngae district, killing two villagers and wounding four. At 9 pm two marines from Chulabhorn Camp 5, Sub Lt. Winai Nakhabut and Petty Officer Khamthon Thong-iat, among an investigation officials group, were held hostages by the villagers and found dead 19 hours later. Forensic autopsy reported that both were brutally beaten and tortured. The incidence created more violence in the deep south after simultaneous attacks in eight districts of Narathiwat and two districts of Pattani provinces injured scores of people. Death toll now is 1,037 people killed and 1,551 injured since January 2004 and in early September a group of 131 Muslims seek refuge in Malaysia after crossing the border. They were detained in a center in Kalantan and the government said there were separatist hardliners among them.
MPs disqualified
The Election Commission disqualified four MPs on September 20 for infractions during the February general election. Thanin Jaisamut, Democrat MP for Satun’s constituency 2, was red-carded and Nawin Boonseth, Payap Panket and Prasaeng Mongkolsiri, all from Thai Rak Thai- were given yellow cards.
Thanin would lost his right to contest elections for five years and also faces criminal charges in the case for slandering rival candidates. The other three can re-run in the re-election which is expected to be called for late October in Phichit’s constituency 3, in Uthai Thani’s constituency 1 and in Singburi’s only constituency.
NBC selected
The Senate on September 27 selected 7 members of the 14 finalists to be the first National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) namely:
- Gen Thongchai Kua-sakul, a retired army chief-of-staff.
- Supong Limthanakul vice rector, special affairs, Bangkok University.
- Pana Thongmee-akhom associate professor of communication arts, Chulalongkorn University.
- Supatra Suparp former associate professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University.
- Pichian Amnartworaprasert a TV program host.
- Sopha Chupikulchai Chapilman former deputy dean of the social science and humanities at Mahidol University.
- Boonlert Supadilok former deputy director-general of the Public Relations Department.
The seven commissioners would receive royal endorsement before starting their first work on disruptions posed to radio, television and aeronautical radio frequencies by community radio frequencies. They would later prepare a broadcasting master plan which would require public hearings.
The NBC selection process was long delayed due to unsuccessful candidate Pramut Sutabut has asked the Administration Court to nullify and the court verdict was not handed down yet.
Wisut withdrew his nomination
Wisut Montriwat withdrew his name from auditor-general nominee on September 19 to end controversy. He was named as the new auditor-general, replacing Khunying Jaruwan Maintaka who was accused of having been illegitimately selected to be auditor-general.
In May 2001 Khunying Jaruwan was elected by the State Audit Commission and endorsed by the Senate. A group of senators asked the Constitution Court to rule on her status on ground that the nomination process is illegitimate or not. As the court verdict did not say she had to give up her position there were controversy on whether she is still on position or not.
The new selection process started and Wisut was chosen and submitted for royal endorsement. After months of waiting Wisut decided to withdraw as nominee.
The State Audit Commission ( SAC) will instruct the Office of the Auditor-General ( OAG) to consider either reinstating Khunying Jaruwan or starting a fresh search for a replacement but twenty senators submitted an urgent motion to Senate Speaker Suchon Charliekrew to seek a resolution reconfirming the selection of Jaruwan as auditor-general.
Mae Ai residents win citizenship right
The Supreme Administrative Court on September 8 ruled in favour of all 1,243 Mae Ai residents who have fought for their right of Thai citizenship. The petition was filed into court in 2002 when Mae Ai district office order, dated Feb 5, 2002, excluding their names from the household registration list, which led to the revocation of their ID numbers and Thai citizenship. The residents claimed they were Thai but their documents were lost in a fire in the old district office in 1976. The district office rejected their application for a new ID cards, and issued them with temporary cards for displaced persons.
Apart from sending a petition to His Majesty the King, a group of 866 residents took their case to the Provincial Administrative Court which ordered the district office to return their citizenship. The district office, the Provincial Administration Department, and the province appealed but the Administrative revoked the order and overruled that all residents, not just 866 people, be freed of any consequences of the order.
Teachers register debts
The Education Ministry has begun allowing teachers to register their debts under a refinancing scheme aimed at alleviating their financial burden. On the first day of the registration there were 1,000 teachers showed up at the ministry headquarters in Bangkok but only 250 tendered their applications.
Information on teachers’ debts will be submitted to the ministry to help to find measures to help debt-ridden teachers. The ministry appointed the teacher debt clearance panel, chaired by Deputy Education Minister Rung Kaewdaeng, endorsed the debt restructuring plan last month after finding that about 150,000 of the 600,000 teachers across the country had debts totaling 270 billion baht. Under the plan, the teachers’ cooperative and the Government Saving Bank will be the major sources of money for the debt refinancing, giving teachers lower loan interest rates and extending debt repayment periods. Teachers wanting to join must sign contracts to produce family balance sheets, along with saving and extra income earning plans.
New regulations for schools entry next year
Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng disclosed a new policy on the Mathayom 1 student recruitment criteria that primary students in remote areas will have greater access to prestigious public secondary schools while the rest could be recruited from anywhere under the admission system- 30 % through entrance exams, 10% through ballots among students outside service areas and 10% from quotas for school sponsors’ children and talented students. The policy will be effected from the 2006 academic year.
Under current policy, aimed to ease traffic problems in the city, ordered state-run secondary schools to reserve 70% of seats in Mathayom 1 (Grade 7) for students from their service areas, and draw the rest from outside places. However the policy failed due to parents move to areas near famous schools.
Another educational policy undergoing change by Education Minister Chaturon is English language course in primary schools. The present regulation orders public schools under the ministry to begin English courses from Prathom 1(Grade 1). A group of appointed experts, chaired by Education permanent secretary Khunying Kasama Varavarn, recommending that schools should be given the freedom to decide when to begin English language courses based on each school’s capabilities.
Mega project downsized
The Transport Ministry decided to scale down a mass transit projects to save state budget and ease local people strong opposition. The Taksin terminal in which would be downsized into an electric train interchange station to serve the Red Line and the BTS skytrain.
The Taksin terminal originally designed on 175 rai of land in Chom Thong district to accommodate the convergence of three planned electric railways: the BTS skytrain line to be extended from Taksin station to Phetkasem road, the Red Line from Rangsit to Mahachai, and the extended underground train service to Bang Khae, as well as a southern bus terminal. The change would need only 75 rai for construction which means less populated land would be expropriated and reduce an estimate cost to about six billion baht.
100 billion baht health project approved
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra approved in principle 100 billion baht worth of health mega-projects to improve the country’s basic health infrastructure.
73 billion baht would be used to upgrade 1000 primary care centers in rural areas with in-house doctors and set up 30 new centers of excellence nationwide. The centers of excellence comprise of nine cancer centers, three cardiac centers, three trauma centers, six drug rehabilitation centers and nine other specialized centers. Another 581 million baht would be used to develop a mental health institute and five more excellence centers specializing in mental health issues.
The budget was under the Public Health Ministry four-year plan in regards to the government master planned to invest around 1.7 trillion baht in mega-projects to boost the country’s competitiveness and economic growth.
Community forest bill restriction
The joint House-Senate committee panel voted 11-4 on September 15 to accept a proposal of setting up “special forest zones” where human activities including establishment of community forest are prohibited. The special forest zone is applicable to an area with a slope of more than 30 degrees, with high levels of biological diversity, and located in a headwater area. The panel’s ruling means all human settlements in those zones are prohibited.
The Community Forest Bill is an attempt to compromise human settlements and forest management. Forest dwellers and ethnic minority groups were accused of destroying lush highland forest areas for farmland expansion which led to severe flooding and drought while grassroots advocates and forest dwellers demanded community forests be allowed in protected forest because they lived there before national parks were created, and had protected the forest. The parliament appointed a joint House-Senate committee to scrutinize the long-delayed controversy bill which aims to establish community forests in protected forest areas including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and no-hunting areas.
A draft National Rice bill
The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is drafting a National Rice Bill to manage the country’s rice production aiming to restructure the system of management of the country’s rice stocks and enhance the rice production and management techniques. Under the bill, a committee would be set up to determine a special rice growing zone, under which selected rice varieties as well as other farm management techniques would be introduced to control and raise production. If more than half of farmers in a designated zone vote in favor of zone management, the rest would be automatically forced to follow suit.
Representative of the Alternative Agriculture Network criticized that the bill was drafted without taking farmers’ views and their real problems and needs into account while the bill drafter said the government wished to better manage rice production. The use of mixed rice varieties is not doing good to the country.
Seafood Bank loan
The Agriculture and Cooperative Ministry announced a project to alleviate poverty in the 22 coastal provinces by granting loan to people having registered on the government’s poverty list that they wanted to become aquaculture farmers. Five commercial banks have agreed to provide loans to farmers who hold the aquaculture licenses. The project aims to increase aquaculture farm areas from 130,000 to 284,000 rai within four years. Farmers taking part in the project are required to take part in a contract farming system to ensure that their seafood productions meet export standard.
Prof. Saneh Chamarik chairman of the National Human Rights Commission submitted a petition on September 2 to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, urging the government to suspend the project for fear of triggering widespread discord between local fishermen and aquaculture operators, who would be allowed to occupy coastal areas that should be spared for public use. The project would also cause serious damage to marine ecosystems due to the intensive aquaculture activities. The Marine and Coastal Resources Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Ministry feared possible adverse impacts of the project included deterioration of seawater quality, and obstruction of coastal fisheries and marine tourism activities. It could also lead to encroachment of mangrove forest.
Participation in water management
The government told the Royal Irrigation Department to set up a new joint committee to decide in the east water region’s main reservoir of Prasae to end conflict between authority and local people. The committee would comprise of representatives of farmers, industrial operators, industrial authorities, irrigation officials and local administrative bodies. Objective is to ensure fair distribution of water among all user sectors.
Budget Bill passed
The budget Bill of 1.36 trillion baht passed the House on September 2 with 337 approval by Thai Rak Thai MPs , 5 non-approval from opposition and 70 other abstained.
A three days debate concerned on funding for “poorly-defined” projects run by provincial governors and planned expenditure from a 256 billion baht central Fund at the disposal of the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as the so-called mega-projects, especially those involving costly mass transit schemes.
From : http://www.fpps.or.th
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