Thailand’s biggest business daily
THE NATION nationmultimedia.com MONDAY, April 27, 2009 / VOLUME 34, NO 52215 / Bt25
P U B L I C H E A LT H
HIGH ALERT FOR SWINE FLU ‘Nation News’ via iPhone
THE NATION, AGENCIES
T
are also available offline, while favourite stories can be shared via e-mail, texting or Twitter.
Inside today Budget cut: The Internal Trade Department’s operations are expected to suffer next year as the government has abruptly cut its budget by more than half.
Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) should continue its upward trend this week following the government’s lifting of the state of emergency in and around Bangkok.
Best growth: Best Western International, the world’s largest hotel-chain operator, is expanding in Thailand despite political problems and the global economic crisis.
Strategic talk: The IMF says it is time to talk exit strategies since all members now endorse the stimulus measures taken to combat the global financial crisis and the need to clean up banks’ bad assets.
Bright outlook: The
Plastic exports to slump Thailand’s export of plastic products is expected to shrink by 15-20 per cent this year following a slump in global demand and the falling price of plastic resin. Somsak Borrisutthanakul, managing director of Thai Plastic Bags Industries, one of the leading plastic-makers in the country, said that overall demand has been shrinking due to global economic crisis. The country’s exports of plastic items, excluding plastic resin, was worth Bt90 billion last year. Decline in plastic imports was also due to output cuts in automotive and electronic sectors. Somsak said the upstream plastic industry is expected to be hit less as production of plastic resins will still be around 6 million tonnes this year. He said that local plastic manufacturers must improve their production process to make bioplastic to create value-added products and avoid non-trade barriers from trading partners overseas. – CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL, THE NATION
hai public-health authorities yesterday took steps to impose an emergency watch on the swine-flu outbreak, which has been spreading in Mexico and threatening to become a global pandemic. However, there is no order yet to quarantine arriving passengers suspected of having the flu at Thai airports. People should stay calm, said Pubic Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai, adding the H1N1 virus strain found in the swine flu in Mexico, had never been found in Thailand. While the swine flu originated in pigs, Dr Praj Bunyawongwiroj, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said he would not recommend people to stop eating pork. He added that human-tohuman transmission of the virus is possible through direct contact of body fluids or mucus through sneezing and coughing. In New Zealand, the
AP
Want to stay up to date with what’s happening in Thailand? With the latest “Nation News” application on your iPhone, it's now so easy and fast to catch breaking news from The Nation, Krungthep Turakij, Kom Chad Luek and OK Nation. The key features for iPhone users include access to the latest articles and photos of the day – more than three Thai news and one weblog source. Navigation is simple with the date and time included in each story and you can read them anywhere. After synching, articles and photos
Ministry says no reason to panic; no orders yet to quarantine passengers
A QUARANTINE OFFICER monitors travellers with a thermographic device at an arrival gate at Narita International Airport, east of Tokyo, yesterday. Associated Press reported that 10 students “likely” have swine flu after a school trip to Mexico, as governments across Asia began quarantining those with symptoms of the deadly virus and some issued travel warnings for Mexico. At least 81 people have died
from severe pneumonia caused by the flu-like illness in Mexico, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which declared the virus a publichealth emergency of “pandemic potential”. The virus is usually contracted through direct contact with
pigs, though some limited cases of human-to-human transmission have been reported. Auckland Regional Public Health Services director Dr Julia Peters said: “Ten [New Zealand] students have tested positive for Influenza A, and these results will now be sent to
the WHO laboratory in Melbourne to ascertain whether it is the H1N1 swine influenza.” H1N1 influenza is a subset of influenza A that is a combination of bird, pig and human viruses, according to the WHO. Symptoms include a fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhoea. Governments across the Asia-Pacific region and in the Middle East were stepping up surveillance for the deadly virus after Mexico closed schools, museums, libraries and theatres in a bid to contain the outbreak. About 1,000 people may have been sickened there. US authorities said 11 people were infected with swine flu, and all recovered or are recovering. At Tokyo’s Narita airport – among the world’s busiest with more than 96,000 passengers each day – officials installed a device at the arrival gate for flights from Mexico to check the temperatures of passengers. Hong Kong and Taiwan say visitors to infected areas who have fever will be quarantined – a precaution the Philippines is also considering. In Bangkok, Dr Praj said medical personnel are now on standby, ready to help any sick foreign visitor.
BIG FIRMS RANK TRUST AS TOP ATTRIBUTE IN STAFF JIWAMOL KANOKSILP THE NATION
Trustworthiness and teamwork have emerged as the top qualities sought in prospective employees by large corporations during this challenging economic downturn. So you’re expected to be honest, nice and cooperative when joining a team, say top recruitment executives of major employers, including PTT, Kasikornbank, Standard Chartered Bank, AIS, DTAC and Loxley. A deep store of knowledge and highly-tuned skills are no less important, but many competent applicants have lost their chance to work for a big firm largely because they’re seen as likely candidates for a “one-man show” or possess the traits to be bossy or even deceitful. “We can compromise in other areas, but if they can’t be trusted we don’t want them,” Pitipan Tepartimargorn, executive vice president for corporate human resources at PTT, said recently. Dawarit Tansuphasiri, vice
president of human resources at Loxley, couldn’t agree more. “What is totally unacceptable is dishonesty,” he said. At DTAC, attitude is more important than talent. “We need those who have the same attitude as our corporate culture. Attitude is hard to change but skills can be developed,” said Patraporn Sirodom, chief people officer at Total Access Communication. This is also the case at Advanced Info Service. “We focus on teamwork, those who love to bluff others or suppress others to make themselves look good are not wanted as they would break the team,” said Tippawan Sirikoon, assistant vice president for human resources management at AIS. Other preferable characteristics are passion and a positive attitude. “What we’re looking at is whether they have passion. Do they say the word ‘pride’,” said Cara Ang, senior executive vice president and head of human resources at Standard Chartered Bank (Thai).
DOS AND DON’TS Sought-after qualities: Passionate Eager to learn new things Dynamic personality Team-work oriented Solution oriented Self-confident But avoid being aggressive, impatient, bossy or "too complicated" to handle etc.
Source: interviews with large companies' HR units
NATION GRAPHICS
Despite the “buyer’s market” for labour in the current economic crisis, job opportunities still abound in banking, retail, agriculture, trading and energy. As GDP is expected to contract by 2-5 per cent this year, the first time since 1988, at least 1.5 million people could be thrown out of work. Unemployment will likely worsen this and next quarter as
new graduates enter the shrinking labour market. “Usually, we [Kasikornbank] receive around 20,000 job applications per year, but this year we expect to get up to 50,000 job applications. There are many more people looking for a job,” said Duenpen Pawakranond, senior vice president and head of human resources at the bank. “More temporary jobs will replace permanent staff in all industries. Those who never wanted to work with us came to apply for a job this year,” he said. Kasikornbank plans to fill 4,000 positions this year, bucking the trend of a dwindling labour market, which is expected to be stagnant for at least two more years. Recruitment at Loxley depends heavily on the government of the month, as evidenced by the on-and-off policy towards the online lottery business for which the firm has won a concession. “We’ve waited and shouldered the burden for two years
already [in terms of recruitment preparation],” Dawarit said. Loxley’s staffing needs also reflect progress in other government projects such as mass transit rail lines and the Suvarnabhumi Airport express rail link. The government’s policy on 3G mobile phone networks is also unclear. “We’ve already prepared our existing staff for the new business, but we might need more people, but the additional staff will not be more than 5 per cent of the current total [if the 3G project goes ahead],” said Tippawan from AIS. While PTT has scaled back its target for new hires, openings remain at CPF (100-200 jobs), Siam Cement (300), Central Hotel unit (1,000), Central Retail Corp (10,000), Tesco Lotus (4,000) and JMT Network Service (200). The Nation is running a series on job opportunities with indepth reports on individual firms every Monday, starting today, on the MONEY page.