10 THAILAND NEWS
IN BRIEF B54m ya ba haul seized Pathum Thani Police on Tuesday (June 5) seized 180,000 methamphetamine pills, or ya ba, with a street value of B54 million. They also arrested the man in whose car they found the pills, which were concealed in the car’s large stereo speakers. The man told police the pills had been smuggled in “from a neighbouring country” and he planned to sell them in Pathum Thani and Bangkok.
Village headman shot dead A village headman was shot dead in his pick-up truck in Pattani on Tuesday (June 5). The headman, Ya Waeni, 58, died when his truck was riddled with bullets from AK47 and M16 semiautomatic rifles. His killers then calmly stole a pistol he was carrying. Police are blaming southern militants for the attack.
Quake rattles Ranong People in the Tambon Ngao area of Ranong, about 20 kilometres from Ranong Town, fled their homes on Monday (June 4) when the area was shaken by an earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of serious damage. Ranong sits atop the same range of minor faults as Phuket, which was jolted by a quake of similar intensity on April 16.
Train hits gas truck A train carrying more than 100 passengers hit a truck carrying gas cylinders Monday morning (June 4). Miraculously, none of the cylinders exploded and only the driver of the truck was injured. The truck was crossing the tracks at a point where there are no barriers or warning signs. The train was able to continue on its way.
Fuel smugglers caught Four Malaysians were arrested on Monday (June 4) when Customs officers found their cars were equipped with much enlarged fuel tanks. The arrests took place at a Thailand-Malaysia border checkpoint in the Sadao District of Songkhla Province. Gasoline and diesel in Malaysia are priced at about half the amount charged in Thailand, tempting smugglers to bring in fuel for resale.
thephuketnews.com
THE PHUKET NEWS
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012
Reconciliation?
Rift-healing proposals only add fuel to political fires
Agence France-Presse
T
hai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday (June 2) warned the deeply divided Kingdom faces a “cycle of violence” unless steps are taken towards reconciliation after years of civil unrest. Proposals aimed at healing rifts that have seen Thailand rocked by bloody unrest since a 2006 coup have sparked fury among opposition MPs who fear they will open the door for Yingluck’s brother – ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra – to return. Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), or “Yellow Shirts” blocked lawmakers from entering parliament last Friday to debate a disputed reconciliation bill, as barely-concealed political tensions resurface in Thailand. A rescheduled debate due to start on Wednesday (June 6) has also been “postponed indefinitely”, Udondej Rattanasatien, of the ruling Puea Thai Party, said. Speaking on a weekly Thai television programme, Yingluck said a “reconciliation process” is the only way out
PM Yingluck Shinawatra: ‘Thailand faces a cycle of violence.’ Photo: World Economic Forum of years of sporadic unrest which has roughly cleaved the kingdom into “Yellow Shirt” and “Red Shirt” factions. “The country has suffered a lot. If reconciliation can move the country forward, it is suitable,” she said. “If we don’t start (a process), the country will be in a cycle of violence. The country will have no way out.” Yellow Shirt protesters
camped out for three days outside parliament to prevent a debate on the reconciliation bill, and had warned they would try to enter the building if lawmakers opened discussions. PAD protest organisers sent supporters home late last Friday after three days of rallying. Backed by the Bangkokbased élite, the PAD are arch-rivals of Thaksin’s “Red Shirts”, whose massive rallies against a
previous government in 2010 ended in a bloody crackdown. A PAD statement on Saturday said there would be no protests this week, but urged supporters “to be on alert to rally.” Four reconciliation proposals are up for debate, threatening to further polarise politics in the country that has become increasingly divided in the years since Thaksin was
toppled by royalist generals. Three of the proposed bills include amnesties that some fear could be used by the government to open the doors for the return of the divisive former premier, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption and terrorism charges relating to violence in 2010. Speaking by telephone to a long-planned Red Shirt gathering in a stadium on the outskirts of Bangkok on Saturday, Thaksin said he hoped to return to Thailand but “I don’t know whether or not I can return home and when.” Activity on the streets has been mirrored within parliament in recent days, with police stepping in to protect the house speaker on Thursday from bundles of paper thrown by opposition Democrat MPs angry at his attempt to schedule the debate. The Democrats have been close to the Yellow Shirts in the past and came to power after 2008 rallies by the movement that culminated with the seizure of two Bangkok airports, stranding more than 300,000 travellers and causing crippling economic damage.
EU slams verdict in Brit held over lèse majesté case fake ATM card
THE EUROPEAN UNION has expressed “deep concern” over a Thai web editor’s suspended prison sentence for comments deemed insulting to the monarchy that were posted on her website by others. The EU said it was “encouraged” that Chiranuch Premchaipor n would not serve prison time for failing to speedily delete a post on her Prachatai news site, but said the guilty verdict would have “damaging effects”. Chiranuch, 44, who had faced a possible 20-year jail sentence under controversial computer and royal insult legislation, was given an eightmonth suspended sentence by a Bangkok court Wednesday. “The EU expresses its deep concern about the damaging effects of a guilty verdict and the ensuing conviction on the freedom of expression in Thailand, for criminalising intermediaries for content posted by other internet users on websites,” the EU delegation in Bangkok said in a statement. The high prof ile case
comes amid heated debate about a surge of prosecutions under Thai laws that criminalise criticism of the monarchy. In a rare intervention, web giant Google warned the sentence set a legal precedent that would compromise companies hosting Internet platforms and pose a danger to web users. The “guilty verdict for something somebody else wrote on her website is a serious threat to the future of the Internet in Thailand,” a Google spokesman said late Wednesday. The monarchy is a highly sensitive topic in politically turbulent Thailand, where 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is revered as a demi-god by many Thais, has been hospitalised since September 2009. Critics say charges brought under tough royal defamation laws have become increasingly politically motivated in Thailand, which has been rocked by periods of civil unrest by rival factions since a 2006 coup by royalist generals ousted former
premier Thaksin Shinawatra. “Chiranuch’s conviction shows that Internet bystanders can still be caught up in expensive and uncertain criminal prosecutions for postings on their site they neither wrote, edited, nor support,” said Danny O’Brien, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who served as an expert witness during the trial. Earlier, Internet giant Google was more forthright, branding the conviction a “serious threat” to the Internet in Thailand. “The guilty verdict for something somebody else wrote on her website is a serious threat to the future of the Internet in Thailand,” a Google spokesman said. “Telephone conversations are not penalised for things people say on the phone and responsible website owners should not be punished for comments users post on their sites. “Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act is being used to do just that.”
Pattaya One
A BR ITISH M AN, thought to be working with a gang of Pakistan men, was arrested by Pattaya Police on Saturday afternoon (June 2), accused of using fake credit cards to take money from an ATM on Pattaya Second Rd. The Ayudhya Bank had already received notification that the gang were operating in the area, and as soon as the card was used in the ATM, located at the Pattaya City Walk complex, the police were called and quickly made their way to the area. The British man did attempt to escape but was arrested. Three Pakistan men in a car parked nearby were able to flee. The British man’s identity is yet to be confirmed as he was carrying a British passport under the name of Paul John Keegan, aged 51, the bank had a copy of a different passport under the name of Philip John Keegan, aged 45, and when he was asked by
Anyone know his real name? Photo: PattayaOne police to give his real name and age, he wrote the name Robert Patrick Anderson, aged 51, on a piece of paper. The man was carrying three cards all in the name of “P John Keegan” supposedly issued by the UOB Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC Bank, which were all confirmed as counterfeit. Police are now searching for the three Pakistani nationals thought to be running the illegal operation, while the Briton was charged with fraud and awaits a court appearance.