Anything & Everything About Thailand

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By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated: January 15, 2006, 06:36:32 AM PST

THAM THA MAUK, Thailand (AP) - Severe floods that washed away homes, bridges and lives apparently have compensated hapless villagers in southern Thailand with a treasure - gold.
Hundreds of fortune-seekers armed with shovels and pans are flocking to the stream of Tham Tha Mauk village in search of the precious metal, which surfaced from stream banks after the deluge.

"The spirit of Tha Mauk (Grandfather Mauk) has given us worshippers a treasure to compensate for what we lost in the flooding," said 60-year-old Sangad Chankhaew as he flashed a broad smile after a buyer gave him $30 in cash for a gold nugget the size of a rice grain. Sangad found the nugget 30 minutes after starting his day of panning for gold.

He was among about 50 gold diggers on the banks of the Tha Mauk stream, scooping sand and mud into wooden pans and hopefully swishing them around in the water one recent morning.

November's flooding - the worst the area has seen in 40 years - caused landslides and the collapse of the stream's banks, exposing an area for gold digging.

"The gold is more plentiful than in the past years," said Sanguan, Sangad's older brother who goes by only one name. He said his family has made about $2,000 since they began panning after the water receded.

Sanguan's house was lightly damaged by the floods, and a part of his pineapple plantation was washed away.

The flooding swept away houses, roads and bridges in Prachuab Khiri Khan province's Bangsaphan district, 180 miles south of Bangkok, where the stream is located. Six people were killed in flash floods in Bangsaphan in November.

Gold diggers have offered flowers, incense and sweets to Tha Mauk's small spirit house, which was erected near the stream. Local folklore says that the spirit of Tha Mauk owns the gold-rich forest of the area and that he occasionally gives to worshippers from his stores.

Some gold buyers see their purchases here as his sacred gifts.

"This gold is a present from the holy spirit, so I bought it to keep for prosperity in my life," said Pradit Sawangjit, 42, a pineapple plantation owner who bought the nugget from Sangad.

Many gold diggers had left jobs at pineapple and coconut plantations to look for gold.

Ruangsri Polkrut, 52, traveled more than 60 miles from Chumpon province to sit on a rock by the stream for more than six hours a day to search.

"I've earned about 5,000 baht ($120) from three days panning for gold. It's not big money but enough for the school fee of my daughter for next term," Ruangsri said.

Tham Tha Mauk used to be a gold mining village, but gold digging ended some 30 years ago when vast swathes of forest were converted into private pineapple plantations.

"This area used to be a national forest, but the rich people turned this land into their private pineapple plantations," Sanguan said. "But after the water washed way part of the plantation and the banks of stream, we had every right to look for gold again."

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 16 January 2006 :-

THAI faces challenge as AirAsia targets Krabi

By Boonsong Kositchotethana

The no-frills carrier Thai AirAsia will launch a daily service to Krabi in March to cash in on the expected revival of tourist traffic to this Andaman coastal province.

Thai AirAsia, 51% owned by Thailand's Shin Corp and 49% by Malaysia's budget carrier AirAsia, will start offering one flight a week between Bangkok and Krabi on March 1 before adding an additional daily flight two weeks later.

The airline will use Boeing 737-400 aircraft on its flight to Krabi, its eighth domestic destination, according to company sources.

It will be the second local airline to serve the province and will break the monopoly of Thai Airways International (THAI). Also operating scheduled services to Krabi from overseas are Singapore's Tiger Airways and Sweden's Nova Airlines.

With its low-cost regime, Thai AirAsia will become a threat to the national carrier's business but will give Krabi's struggling tourism industry a helping hand and offer passengers more choices.

A promotional one-way fare, excluding taxes and fuel surcharge, on the Bangkok-Krabi route will be as low as 499 baht and will go as high as 2,200 baht, compared to THAI's all inclusive fare of 3,200 baht.

THAI operates four flights a day to and from Krabi on 149-seat Boeing 737s. It may have to cut back its frequencies to Krabi as demand may not grow as quickly as the capacity being provided by two local airlines, industry analysts said.

Arrivals at Krabi airport last year fell by 31.34% to 159,527, compared to 232,360 the year before, as many tourists, about 90% of whom were processed through the airport, shunned the province following the tsunami. Air movements (take-offs and landings) through Krabi fell to 2,942 last year, down from 5,874 in 2004.

Aside from Thai AirAsia, no other airline has sought permission to fly to Krabi where Phi Phi Island is also located.

Local carriers such as Phuket Airlines, PB Air and Bangkok Airways used to serve Krabi out of Bangkok in the pre-tsunami period but subsequently suspended operations due to difficulties filling seats.

However, the two foreign carriers are continuing with their services: four flights a week from Singapore by Tiger Airways' A320s (180-seat) and one direct flight a week from Stockholm by Nova Airlines' 350-seat A330, Krabi airport officials said.

Thai AirAsia executives said the airline was not expected to fly to any other domestic cities this year as options were limited.It would rather increase frequencies on routes it is already serving or introduce inter-provincial routes. The airline flies from Bangkok to eight other overseas destinations in the region.

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Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 15 January 2006 1407 hrs

BANGKOK : Forty people who were arrested in the Thai capital after illegally holding a demonstration on government premises have been released, police said Sunday.

A few thousand supporters of media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul rallied in downtown Lumpini park Friday after which hundreds then broke into the grounds of Government House, calling on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to resign.

The 40 protestors, who were arrested on Saturday morning after ignoring police requests to leave, were freed unconditionally later that day, police spokesman Lieutenant General Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj said.

Thaksin in his weekly radio address on Saturday vowed to prosecute the protestors, saying they broke the law.

About 30 supporters of Sondhi, an arch critic of Thaksin, gathered in Lumpini park on Sunday, organisers said.

Sondhi regularly holds his "Thailand weekly" programme there, from where he airs corruption allegations against the Thaksin administration. - AFP/ch

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BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Saturday vowed to prosecute protesters who broke into Government House in Bangkok overnight and called for him to resign.
A few thousand supporters of media mogul and Thaksin arch critic Sondhi Limthongkul rallied in a downtown park then walked to Government House late Friday when several hundred briefly entered its grounds.

"Regarding last night's events, it was regrettable that a former national police chief led protesters to break the gate at Government House, which I consider an illegal action," Thaksin said in his weekly national radio address.

"I will prosecute all who breach the law."

Government House is Thaksin's office, where his cabinet holds its meetings and he receives dignitaries.

Former police chief and Bangkok senator Pratin Santiprapob, who resigned in 2005 claiming senators worked for the government and were not neutral, joined the gathering of Sondhi's supporters in Bangkok's Lumpini park.

"These rallies are becoming unbearable and must stop," Thaksin said of several meetings during which Sondhi presents his "Thailand weekly" programme and airs alleged corruption by the Thaksin administration.

At their height, the rallies attracted tens of thousands of people, but began waning in early December after Thaksin withdrew all six defamation suits against Sondhi when revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej called on public figures to accept fair criticism.

Friday's event drew fewer than 5,000 chanting people wearing yellow t-shirts and head bands and waving Thai flags. Several hundred anti-Sondhi demonstrators tried to stop the rally but were unsuccessful, Thai media reported.

Some 40 of several hundred protestors who remained at Government House at dawn Saturday were arrested. Police said calm was restored to the area where Thaksin later met children as part of national children's day events.

"Approximately 40 people were arrested this morning on charges of obstructing public order but they are not the core protest members," police spokesman Lieutenant General Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj told AFP.

Those arrested are detained at a police school on the capital's northern outskirts, Ajiravid added.

"There are some protesters who are hired and misled by wrong doers, people broken-hearted by the government's refusal to grant their wishes, people who every week invent stories and demand I step down," Thaksin said.

Thaksin heavily criticised the protesters and vowed he would not resign because of "mob" pressure, adding he was re-elected in a landslide in February 2005 and had brought many benefits to Thailand.

"I consider that they did not respect the rule of law and were aggressive by storming the Government House gates at midnight and calling for my resignation, accusing me that I cannot solve the nation's problems," he said.

"More than 19 million people elected me and since I assumed office I managed to repay the IMF's debt two years earlier than scheduled," Thaksin said of debt to the International Monetary Fund.

"Thailand is now a donor country, and has an historic record of international reserves at $52.8 billion," he added.

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194 words
16 January 2006
Thai News Service
English

Section: Corporate News - Temasek Holdings is buying up to 40 per cent in Shin Corp, a source from Shin Corp was quoted in Krungthep Turakij as saying.

A source from Shin Corp said that on 1-4 January Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had traveled to Singapore to discuss a merger with Temasek Holdings, a giant Singaporean firm that holds 59 per cent in Singapore Telecom and 29 per cent in DBS Group. The source said that after the Shin Corp board discussed the plan, the Shinawatra and Damapong groups signed an agreement to sell their Shin Corp shares to Temasek for two billion dollars, or about 69 baht a share.

The source said that Temasek is primarily interested in investing in the mobile phone service provider Advanced Info Service (AIS), in which Shin Corp holds 43 per cent. After taking over Shin Corp they may sell off the shares in Shin Corp's other investments like ITV, Capital OK and Thai Air Asia.

At present Singapore Telecom already holds 19 per cent in AIS and one per cent in Shin Corp.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 16 January 2006 :-

Ready for take-off at Suvarnabhumi Airport : Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport says tests are going well and readiness in June is a certainty, unless the government itself decides on a further delay

Story by Boonsong Kositchotethana

For those who are sceptical about the opening of Suvarnabhumi airport, given the numerous false starts so far, June 2006 is the date they should look forward to.

The words of assurance come not from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra or other politicians, but from the person who is supposed to know what is going there best - Somchai Sawasdeepon, the airport's General Manager.

"By the end of May, all systems will definitely be ready for commercial flights," he said in an interview last week.

"Yes, the airport will be 100% ready and can be safely operated by June."

However, the official opening date of the 125-billion-baht facility, first planned some 40 years ago, will be decided by the government, said Mr Somchai.

The government reportedly plans to open the airport for flights carrying world leaders and dignitaries who will be attending celebrations later this year to mark the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.

Mr Somchai said work on the airport was 99.8% complete and most of the activities now under way involved testing, commissioning and correcting minor defects.

About 25,000 workers are still engaged in various phases of work to ensure that the new deadline is met.

At the height of construction in the middle of last year, the labour force swelled to 50,000 as they worked around the clock to prepare for the first test flight on Sept 29, 2005 - the date previously set for completion.

According to Mr Somchai, by March all construction activity will be completed. "What we will see then will be experts, engineers and technical personnel testing various systems," he said.

The senior executive of Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) did acknowledge concerns over the baggage-handling system, which has undergone months of rigorous tests so far.

"There is 3-5% malfunction rate resulting from problems such as misreading of barcodes on baggage tags and the mechanical system of the carousels," he said.

The baggage-handling system must work faultlessly if the airport is to be declared fully ready for operation, Mr Somchai said.

The system, with its 22-kilometre conveyor belt, is designed to handle 10,500 bags per hour.

While the aviation industry said the integration of computer-based units around the site of the main airport into the 'Aims' (airport information management system) was the most critical factor that would hold up the opening of Suvarnabhumi, Mr Somchai thinks differently.

"I'm not concerned about Aims so much. I can guarantee that the whole system will be operational by May 15," he said.

Appointed as the airport's General Manager last October, Mr Somchai confirmed that AoT on Dec 30 sent out letters to all airlines, 99 in total, announcing that the airport "will be ready for operational service in 180 days and AoT will inform you of the exact opening in due course".

However, aviation executives still question the June opening date, in spite of the written notification, saying that facilities need more time for test runs.

Critics have said the more likely date for the commercial start-up of the airport, about five times the size of the existing Don Muang airport, is the last quarter of the year.

Mr Somchai acknowledged that doubts that still lingered in the minds of aviation executives because they did not have access to full information and updates about progress.

"There is a shortcoming in the communication and information flow that we will seek to improve," he conceded.

"In fact, we have only 140 people (AoT officials) who are handling this mammoth project."

As well, he said, misinformation had been fed to the media and the public on some airport-related issues by parties with hidden agendas.

For instance, some companies have complained that they still did not know how much they would have to pay AoT for the use of space at the airport.

Mr Somchai produced a letter dated Nov 18, 2005 with details of the charges.

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501 words
16 January 2006
Thai News Service
English

Section: Business News - Thailand's major economic reform will be carried out in all areas this year. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra outlined the direction of the Thai economy in 2006 at a gathering of 480 top business leaders on 11 January 2006 at Santi Maitri Hall, Government House.

The Prime Minister said that the Government had invited the members of the private sector to the meeting in order to provide them with a clear picture of the Thai economy, so that they would become more confident in making decisions on their businesses. He admitted that 2005 was a difficult year, as the country faced many problems, such as the tsunami disaster, unrest in the South, avian flu, higher oil prices, drought, and flood. Even so, the Government believed that the Thai economy would grow by 4.7 percent in 2005, with inflation at 4.5 percent.

Prime Minister Thaksin said that economic reform that was planned last year would be implemented this year. The Government will promote the industries that contribute to the domestic economy and Thai exports. Industrial diversification will be given a major boost to create wealth in the regions of the country. Concerning agriculture, new farming techniques will be introduced to reduce costs and increase output. Greater emphasis will be placed on processing agricultural products. Tourism and financial sectors will also be reformed to strengthen the country's service sector.

The next area to be reformed is the government service, which involves the entire legal system to cope with globalization. Operation research teams will be sent to analyze ways to reduce working procedures and ensure good governance in the government service. Efforts will be made to create e-government and e-service. The energy structure will be adjusted to reduce loss in foreign currency. The Government will act in response to His Majesty the King's speech delivered on 4 December 2005 on the promotion of biodiesel. It will also encourage more use of natural gas for vehicles and gasohol.

The restructuring of state enterprises will be introduced to enhance efficiency and flexibility and facilitate their investment. More state enterprises will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The Government will further develop infrastructure and more investment will be seen in the electric train system networks linking Bangkok with nearby provinces. Numerous property development projects will be carried out along new traffic routes. The Prime Minister said that Suvarnabhumi Airport would be opened for commercial use in late June this year, when Thailand would begin aviation liberalization. Concerning water supply, all villages in Thailand will have tap water by 2006. International bidding will be opened for water management to help ease drought and flood problems.

Prime Minister Thaksin is confident that the Thai economy in 2006 will grow by at least five percent, saying that the Government will fight all problems and obstacles and will not give up.

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351 words
16 January 2006
Thai News Service
English

Section: Business News - The Bank of Thailand (BoT) warned today that the baht was too strong, saying it was monitoring the situation closely to prevent any speculative capital flow.

BoT Governor M.R.Pridiyathorn Devakula said this morning's exchange rate of 39.45 baht to the US dollar was deemed by the central bank to be too strong and required very close attention to prevent the value of the currency having a damaging impact on the country's international trade.

The reason why the baht continues to be strong is because of the capital flow from the West to the Eastern part of the world, including Thailand. As far as we're concerned, the bulk of this money is heading towards investment in the Stock Exchange of Thailand(SET), and in a considerably higher proportion than in 2005, he said.

The governor said that within the first 10 days of 2006, 50 billion baht had already poured into the SET, compared with 110-120 billion baht in foreign investment funds for the whole of 2005.

M.R. Pridiyathorn attributed the influx of foreign capital to concerns over the stability of the US dollar instead of greater confidence in the baht and other Asian currencies. For the time being, the BOT had no plans to restrict capital flows either in or out of the country because it still considered the situation "normal".

He said while one still had to be cautious about short-term capital flows, indications so far were that capital inflows had gone into stock investment, rather than towards currency speculation.

However, the governor pledged that the Bank of Thailand would ensure that the baht was not too strong to help Thai exports, while also guarding against short-term currency speculation by foreign speculators.

M.R.Pridiyathorn said he believed that Thailand would continue to see a positive inflow of foreign capital this year, not only in the stock market, but also towards Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

FDI into Thailand last year totalled about two billion dollars, higher than in 2004.

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UDN News

Student robbed goldsmith shop to repay loan

【本報訊】學生哥因嗜賭而毀了自己前途。由於欠了賭債無能力償還，他就鋌而走險，到金行搶金，結果被附近百 貨公司的保安員擒住，交給警方發落。萬佛歲府直轄縣警署前天上午11時接報，在直轄縣挽巴洗區菩通路詩樂金 行發生搶劫案。歹徒已被附近的百貨公司保安員擒住。警前往調查查知，疑犯是就讀於某理工學院電機科的乃比益 (19歲)。警自其身上搜出所搶來的2條3銖重金項鍊。

該金行女東娘阿拉耶(51歲)供說，當時，她照常在照顧店務之際，疑犯進店來，佯稱要選購3銖重金項鍊。她 取出2條給他挑選。詎料疑犯乘她不備時，抓起金項鍊奪門奔逃。她隨後追趕，並大聲呼叫。附近差隆泰百貨公司 的保安員見情即上前將乃比益擒住。

疑犯乃比益承認說，他因欠了足球賭債2萬銖。他已與債主約定於當天還債。

可是至約定時間，他還找不到錢。當經過該金行時，他就鋌而走險，進去搶金，但卻失手被捕。

警於審訊後，已將他拘押依法究辦。

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167 words
16 January 2006
Thai News Service
English

Section: Business News - Economic ministers met to discuss the 2006 economic development policies, and vowed to push chicken and processed shrimp as the star exports this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak yesterday (January 12, 2006) called a meeting of economic ministers comprising Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungruangkit, Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, Finance Minister Thanong Phitthaya, and Prime Minister's Office Minister Suranand Vejajeeva. Mr. Somkid said all economy-related ministries will look at the whole picture and stick to their product development strategies.

The Ministry of Industry will push Thailand to become the 2nd hub of electronics in Asia, in place of Singapore and Malaysia. The Ministry of Finance will handle tax measures and provision of incentives to entrepreneurs. The Agriculture Ministry will work to improve the quality of products, and this year exportation of chicken and processed shrimp will be emphasised.

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577 words
16 January 2006
Bangkok Post
English

The Education Ministry has signed an agreement with China to promote the study of the Chinese language, which is expected to be fully integrated into the education system by 2011.

Potjana Wongtrakul, inspector-general of the Education Ministry, said the ministry had developed a five-year plan beginning this year to promote the study of Chinese. It is hoped about 500,000 high school students, 170,000 students from vocational institutes and 400,000 university undergraduates will achieve an acceptable standard of proficiency. This represents about 20% of students, respectively, from each group.

The plan also aims to encourage members of the workforce to learn the language as it could prove a useful communication medium and boost career prospects.

Local businessmen, however, say Thailand is years behind other Asian countries in promoting Chinese language learning.

Mrs Potjana was speaking at a seminar on Friday on the promotion of Chinese studies. She said a national panel would implement the plan, which would include people from the public and private sectors and Chinese language experts.

Centres promoting the study of Chinese would open in Bangkok and other parts of the country. Study and assessments would be strictly controlled.

Research would be carried out in collaboration with educational institutions in China, which would include a curriculum developed with the latest learning formats, educational media and technology.

The abilities of lecturers would be evaluated in line with China's standard appraisal of language proficiency. An online curriculum database and language centre would also be made available to the teachers.

An agreement was signed at the seminar between the Education Ministry and Hanban, China's national language institute, to develop the teaching of Chinese. Zhang Xinsheng, China's deputy education minister, witnessed the signing ceremony.

Under the agreement, Hanban will help set the criteria in selecting schools to experiment with its newly-developed textbooks. The copyright on its Thai-language textbook, Happy Chinese, would be transferred to the Education Ministry for use in schools.

Hanban and the Education Ministry would hold an intensive three-month training course, which would reach 1,000 local teachers of Chinese. Participants would spend two months in China, with the remainder of the course being carried out locally.

The institute would also provide 100 scholarships a year to help young teachers further their studies up to bachelor degree level in China. A group of 500 volunteer teachers from China would be dispatched to help teach the language, beginning this year.

Mr Zhang said the country had introduced formal Chinese language learning rather late compared with Japan, South Korea and other countries.

There are about 20,000 Chinese language schools in Japan, 40,000 in South Korea and 10,000 in the United States.

"Although Thailand is relatively late in joining the scene, I'm confident the country has the vision required for developing Chinese language learning, which will help it catch up with other countries or even leapfrog them before long ," he said.

Kosak Chairasmisak, president of 7-Eleven Co, said language proficiency itself was not enough. Emphasis should also be placed on other aspects such as culture, beliefs and the value system of the Chinese people, he said.

"There are very few people with a deep understanding of the Chinese language. A lack of in-depth and all-round knowledge could hinder investment and competitiveness.

"Chinese language study here is lagging behind neighbouring countries in the region." he said.

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1328 words
16 January 2006
Bangkok Post

English

What he does with sensitive information at his fingertips is a test for Thaksin, and for Thai democracy

By PHILIP J CUNNINGHAM

The unblinking eye of a security camera is the first thing that greets the foreigner arriving in Thailand these days. Posing for the mandatory mugshot at airport immigration is awkward, like being booked at a police station. It doesn't make for a warm welcome, nor is it necessary.

Not even authoritarian China has surveillance this upfront and invasive; not even high-tech Japan, which was long ridiculed until its mandatory fingerprinting of foreign residents was rescinded; not even in post-9-11 America does the security-obsessed US immigration bureau see it necessary to do this, though they have admittedly made visitors feel unwelcome in other ways.

And then came the news last week that closed-circuit surveillance cameras modelled after Britain's Orwellian CCTV system are being planned for numerous undisclosed locations across Thailand.

Life in Thailand under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra these days gives a new twist to the concept of police state: the atmosphere is not palpably oppressive in the Iron Curtain sense, one does not encounter unsmiling snoops and goons on every corner. But for all its subtlety, the long arm of Mr Thaksin may very well be more effective in creating a subliminal climate of fear. Given the Big Brother aspects to the rule of a great leader whose face is ubiquitous and whose words make the airwaves daily, Orwellian references come to mind; its 1984 meets Burmese Days.

First there's the informal information ministry of an ambitious prime minister who has a finger in everything from tourism to education to combatting terror. The great man is not just always in the news, he is the news, and his ubiquitous presence is increasingly framed as central to the national narrative. The great man not only has the ability to create news through staged events and off-the-cuff comments, but follows up with critiques of the coverage and pointed criticism of his critics.

Given the enormous amount of PR and information content produced by the television stations and ad agencies owned and controlled by people close to the prime minister, its hard to escape his mug or his mind. The great man's voice (often strained and raspy from excessive public speaking) is hard-wired to thousands of rural villages compelled to carry his weekly radio talks by public loudspeaker.

Not only have television and radio become his loyal retainers, reporting the world much as he sees it, keeping him close to centre stage, but he has eyes and ears everywhere. He's on the record asking taxi drivers to tattle on their passengers and his family's vast telecoms holdings combined with more traditional levers of state power s+++e the not-so-paranoid conviction that his people can monitor private conversations on mobile phones.

As if the great man's good-cop/bad-cop persona is not confusing enough, the policeman-turned-prime minister frequently plays the role of detective, judge and jury, proclaiming knowledge of the who, what, when, where and whys of an incident even before the smoke has cleared. This includes his infamous claim that he knew who did it, made moments after an explosion took place aboard a plane being readied for boarding. Boeing specialists later determined it to be an accident caused by a dangerously over-heated air-conditioner.

Less amusingly, in the case of the troubled South, in what for all the world looks like a militant Islamist struggle, drug dealers are the favourite scapegoat. The recurrent theme of blaming things on drug dealers is worse than over-zealous policing, for it essentially posits the existence of a class of people with no rights, criminals who deserve to die, a concept that dangerously infected the police bureaucracy during a vicious anti-drug campaign with provincial quotas that netted some 2,500 dead alleged drug dealers.

This human rights travesty of unsolved extra-judicial killings has never been adequately examined or redressed, and along with the perhaps not unrelated upswing of violence in the South, is the biggest blot on Mr Thaksin's tenure in office. Cavalier and unaccountable policing sets a tone contemptuous of due process that makes it hard for people, especially in troubled segments of society, to trust the law.

In a national press that is increasingly controlled by cronies of the prime minister, Mr Thaksin has the indiscretion to make public pronouncements about the guilt or innocence of suspected criminals even before trial, in a recent case going as far to say two suspects will get the death penalty. Given Mr Thaksin's decidedly un-Buddhist enthusiasm for the death penalty, he has uncannily positioned himself not as a humble servant of the law but a latter day lord of life.

The policeman's job is not an easy one and it becomes even harder if the trust and co-operation of the people is lost. Few citizens would begrudge a certain amount of discreet and disciplined snooping to locate and apprehend dangerous criminals and terrorists, as the police have been doing for years. Thailand has many competent police; the problem is the handful who betray their pact with the people by seeking personal gain or partisan political purpose.

During Mr Thaksin's early tenure in office, nationally prominent journalists discovered their bank accounts and mobile phone activity were under unwarranted scrutiny. Political opponents are slapped with police investigations. Whether it be random urine checks at certain nightclubs or the latest gun-slinging crackdown on drugs, the uneven quality of law and order in Thailand carries the tell-tale fingerprints of a policeman turned premier.

At a time when the liberal arts students of Mr Thaksin's generation were on the streets of Bangkok battling dictatorship, he was a police cadet. A man who spent his youth studying criminology, while eschewing sex, drugs, revolution and rock and roll, may, for all his apparent goodness, see the world with less empathy and wisdom than his once wayward liberal peers.

Mr Thaksin's first big business break involved a deal selling computers to police stations nationally. This not only feathered the war chest he would need to get into the rough-and-ready world of telecoms and then politics, but perhaps taught him that information is power.

Knowing the right people is a widely acknowledged source of power, knowing things about people, privileged information that police must deal with in their often difficult jobs, is a source of power as well.

There is no evidence that Mr Thaksin started out his career with an eye to use police information as power, and he may well even now see himself as basically honest, earnest and disciplined in regard to how he uses the immense stores of sensitive data available to him at his fingertips.

Paradoxically though, as Mr Thaksin's power reaches new heights, his self-control weakens and his vision narrows. His battle with his own ego is amplified by the media he controls, thus causing his problems to become the nation's problems, his personal demons to be cast as public demons. Suddenly the dysfunctional dynamics of one man's family are writ large as moral crusades, crackdowns and campaigns, thus becoming everyone's business.

As political power and moral legitimacy become more tightly centralised in the hands of this ambitious and unconventional criminologist, Thailand becomes the model for a new kind of oppression: the police information state.

This is a serious setback to Thailand's hard-earned democracy. If the media is reduced to a mouthpiece and privileged information is used in pursuit of narrow vested interests, personal agendas or the settling of political scores, the gains of the October and May democracy movements shall have been in vain.

Philip J Cunningham is a freelance writer and political commentator.

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694 words
16 January 2006
Bangkok Post
English

Veera Prateepchaikul

Get ready to log your television sets on to UBC Channel 16 this afternoon for the year's most talked about reality show. Back Stage Show: The Prime Minister is the first programme of its kind on earth. It features an incumbent government leader working or doing whatever, and at sleep, around the clock for five days running.

The star of the show is -- who else? _ Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand for the past five years.

Other ministers will also be featured during the show's run. But they are merely extras.

To make sure the audience does not miss a single movement by the star of the show -- of course there are strictly private moments that must be censored _ UBC, the only live broadcaster, has deployed an army of about 100 employees equipped with some 40 cameras to do the shooting throughout the dramatic event.

Reacting to criticism that the reality show is just another publicity stunt to prop up the prime minister's sagging popularity, Mr Thaksin steadfastly maintains the show is meant to give government officials lessons on how he himself approaches and tackles the problem of poverty.

It will be instructive, so rural folks will be able to follow in his footsteps to address the same problem themselves. He also insists that no scripts have been written in advance for him.

So the audience -- if they can afford the time to watch the show in its entirety or just a part of it without getting too bored _ can judge for themselves if this is just a publicity stunt in line with the Thai Rak Thai slogan "Think New, Act New".

Or they might decide this is an honest, meaningful exercise that allows government officials to learn valuable tips from our dear leader of how to tackle the poverty problem.

For the show to achieve its objective as outlined by the prime minister -- that is, to reach government officials, particularly those responsible for solving poverty _ it is imperative that they have access to the show, at least a big part of it if not its entirety. Which means the UBC service must be installed in government offices.

More importantly, the officials themselves must be made to watch the show so that they will not miss valuable tips from the prime minister. And that means they will have to set aside their regular work to concentrate on watching the show for five consecutive days.

I wonder how many government offices have access to UBC service, or how many officials will be glued to the show even if they have access to the service. Have orders already been issued to those responsible for solving Thailand's poverty problem, such as interior officials, to watch the programme?

A similar reality show launched last year by UBC, Academy Fantasia, was a big crowd-pulling success. That was partially attributable to the fact that the audience was allowed to take part in the programme by sending in votes for their favourite contestants.

For some unspeakable reason, the producers of Mr Thaksin's reality show have decided not to hold a rating survey by inviting the audience to phone in to express their views about the show. That is understandable. After all, who would watch such a boring programme, which is neither entertaining nor educational, on and on for days.

Mr Thaksin has 19 million fans who voted his Thai Rak Thai party into government in the general election last February. Even if half of those party supporters watch a portion of the show, it could only partially be deemed a success even if the real objective of this whole drama was to prop up the declining popularity of the prime minister rather than give officials some lessons on how to deal with the poverty problem as Mr Thaksin insists.

But whatever the objectives or the consequences, the show must go on. Thank God, only UBC will be broadcasting the show live, 24 hours a day, for the next five consecutive days.

Veera Prateepchaikul is Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Post Publishing Co Ltd.

[U-Need]

192 words
16 January 2006
Thai News Service
English

Section: Corporate News - Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Co. to expand its broadband Internet operations in Thailand this year, a Chunghwa Telecom official said Thursday, The Nation reports.

Chunghwa Telecom spokesman Hank Wang made the comment as a trial one-year cooperation agreement with TOT Corp. Plc nears its end.

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest telecom firm by revenue, signed an agreement with TOT in March 2005 to provide the Thai company with a 150-channel broadband Internet network in Chiangmai.

Wang said Chunghwa Telecom plans to either lease its technology to local companies or establish a joint venture after the agreement with TOT expires in March.

However, he said the matter is still at an evaluation stage.

Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Ho Chen Tan said Thursday Chunghwa Telecom is interested in expanding its broadband Internet operations in Thailand, where penetration of the service is low.

In Taiwan, high-speed Internet penetration reaches 50 per cent, according the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, whereas in Thailand it is only 1 per cent, according to a Merrill Lynch report from March 2005.

[U-Need]

588 words
16 January 2006
Bangkok Post
English

Story by SIRIKUL BUNNAG

Traditional Chinese-language schools well known for grooming Thailand's top businessmen are bracing for tough times ahead.

These days, many parents prefer to send their children to more "modern" language schools in shopping malls, or to take language courses during the summer holidays in China.

Nongluck Dejdamkerngchai, head teacher of Peiing School, a 91-year-old Chinese-language school in Chinatown, said the school's popularity has paled in comparison with trendy Chinese-language centres in department stores, or multi-language international schools.

Chinese classes are also more widespread, taught at many primary and secondary schools.

Mrs Nongluck said in the past 30 years, the school has enrolled as many as 1,000 students a year, from kindergarten to Pathom 6. Often, the numbers of students at kindergarten and Pathom 1 levels exceeded the school's quota, and lots had to be drawn.

These days, the school teaches 500 students a year while kindergarten and primary students no longer compete for limited seats.

Mrs Nongluck said most students come from average Chinese business families living in Chinatown.

"However, many parents don't choose our school. Sometimes, they just call to ask for some tips on Chinese studies or come over just to buy Chinese textbooks. They seem to favour the conventional school system while language centres offering crash courses in Chinese are also popular.

"Traditional Chinese schools are now considered old-fashioned and outdated," she said.

Mrs Nongluck looks on the bright side.

"We are more concerned here about the quality of education.

"We look for news to improve on quality. We import Chinese textbooks direct from China, and have introduced computer courses. We have put on a Chinese cultural exhibition. Each year, teachers get the chance to improve Chinese language skills with native speakers," she said.

Nam Aromsook, head teacher of Kwang Chao Chinese School, said students now have more options for study, so numbers at traditional Chinese schools are dropping.

"We have to adjust to survive. Apart from the conventional curriculum with an emphasis on Chinese language, we have also set up a language centre to provide the public with a 30-hour course on basic Chinese language skills," he said.

Natthanant Chutimajirattikorn, 12, a Pathom 6 student at Peiing School, said she studies there because it is close to home. She has learned Chinese at the school since she was young.

"Now I think I am more knowledgeable than students from other schools," she said.

Viriya Ngam-rangsima, 12, a Pathom 3 student from the same school, said Chinese speakers are in growing demand in the job market as several major Thai companies have invested in China. Some are joint ventures with Chinese investors in Thailand.

Thaniya Liangchaichoke, 9, a student at Peiing School, said Chinese families prefer to send their offspring to study in Chinese schools so their children will master the tongue and use that knowledge to do business. But children in Chinatown are more inclined towards conventional schools which offer a wider range of courses.

Vanida Cheewaphantusi, 45, said the children of well-off families go to China to study during the summer holidays.

She said the multi-language schools are organised better, and have more modern equipment.

"Students at multi-language schools have proven to be more fluent in many fields of study. They can also express themselves in both Chinese and English with greater confidence," Mrs Vanida said.