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Summary
In politics, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra returned from Japan, touting the successes of her trip. Meanwhile, the specter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s conceivable return is still rattling nerves in Thailand’s parliament. On the economic scene, the industrial sector is considering salary rises to compensate for conflict with the government’s proposed minimum wage hike. Also, the price of petrol will increase as the Energy Policy Management Committee agreed to increase the State Oil Fund levy on petrol 91 and 95 by 1 baht per liter. As for security matters, Thailand’s government has extended the emergency decree in the South and is meanwhile trying to make buildings in Bangkok safer.
Politics
Back in Thailand after a four-day trip to Japan, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced assuredly that her visit helped restore investor confidence and secure Japanese grants for more flood-reduction projects. In an act of support, the Japanese government is considering a plan of providing a 2.9 billion baht grant to Thailand through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), envisioned to be spent on both short and long term flood-prevention measures. Seiji Kojima, Japan’s ambassador to Thailand, stated that although another flood crisis is a risk factor to be considered in future investments, he believes the advantages of investment in Thailand still outweigh the concerns. The Japanese ambassador confirmed that Japanese firms are continuing to expand their investments and production in Thailand. However, Mr. Kojima urged Thailand to speed up its flood prevention measures, especially the construction of floodwalls and a floodway, so as to be finished before the next monsoon season. Apart from financial assistance, Japan has already sent water management experts to assist the Thai government in its effort to protect flood-prone areas.
A government committee is still on the lookout for 2 million rai for use as flood catchment and diversion areas. Kijja Pholphasee, an adviser to the National Water and Flood Policies Commission (NWFPC), declared that negotiations with interested farmers could start immediately. He explained that owners would be paid 600 to 800 baht per rai for empty plots and 4,000 to 5,000 baht per rai where crops have not been harvested. Additionally, a 600-baht-per-rai-payment is being considered for residents whose land is to be used for floodways for up to three months during the flood period. Furthermore, the NWFPC approved 246 flood prevention projects, in turn leading to the cabinet appropriating a 24.8 billion baht budget for those actions. (Bangkok Post) (The Nation) (AlertNet)
In related news, government ministers gave differing forecasts on the future of climate change effects on Thailand. Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi predicted that “We don’t need to worry about another big flood for at least 70-80 years”, while Thailand’s Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pithaya Pookaman warned, in his speech at the Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Bangkok, that Bangkok may be submerged in 20 years if key infrastructure and land use issues aren’t addressed. To mitigate climate change influences, Thailand has set up a climate change policy board, chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck, and is preparing a 10-year master plan. (Bangkok Post) (Eco-Business)
The possible return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra continued to garner substantial media attention as Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung announced his intention to submit a reconciliation bill. The move, supported by at least 20 MPs, would ultimately bring home the exiled former prime minister. However, details of the bill will not be available any time soon, Mr. Chalerm stated, as he wants to explain the purpose of the bill over the next four to five months to the people of Thailand before submitting it to the House of Representatives. Anticipating that media outlets would use this issue to pressure Prime Minister Yingluck to take a side, Mr. Chalerm stressed that his reconciliation bill would be a private initiative and that neither the prime minister nor the Pheu Thai Party would be involved in any way. He added that he had never talked with Mr. Thaksin about the matter. Prime Minister Yingluck maintained her previously stated position on the issue: “No, he [Thaksin] won’t come back.” Opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva , on the other hand, stressed the prime minister’s obvious conflict of interest due to her family relations. (The Nation) (Bangkok Post)
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), or yellow shirts, announced this week after a gathering of around 2,000 supporters, that no mass rallies would be held opposing the charter rewrite, as long as the monarchy would be left untouched and Mr. Thaksin would not be eligible for amnesty afterwards. Yellow shirt leader, Sondhi Limthongkul, still a free man despite being convicted for fraud recently, announced that he would continue his fight against Mr. Thaksin and doesn’t trust the government’s pledge to keep the section on the monarchy unchanged.
This week, the mudslinging between the Pheu Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party played out over various legal issues. The Pheu Thai party is supporting a motion to get the Democratic Party disbanded over billboards they had erected in the South that were intended to rally opposition to a charter change. They argued that such tactics could be construed as an expression of hostility towards democratic rule, which is an offence punishable by party dissolution. Prompong Nopparit, Pheu Thai spokesperson, accused the Democrats of attempting to fabricate charges against the government by suggesting it was trying to topple the monarchy and grant amnesty to Thaksin Shinawatra. For their part, the Democratic Party deputy spokesman, Mallika Boonmeetrakul, said the Democrats are seeking the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck, via a dereliction-of-duty case, for her failure to bring back Mr. Thaksin to face his legal verdict, and they also want to purge Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap for alleged fraud. (The Nation) (Bangkok Post)
Economics
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met with representatives of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), which represents over 100 major US corporations, and delegates from China’s sovereign wealth fund on Monday March 12. Both leading American and Chinese investors reaffirmed their intentions to continue investing in Thailand and the ASEAN region as a whole. The council urged the Thai government to eliminate trade barriers as well as accelerate spending, including on the flood prevention. American companies also called for the relaxation on the law that limits their maximum share ownership and the excise tax. Meanwhile, China’s sovereign wealth fund would like to participate in Thailand’s infrastructure investment as well as investing in the agricultural sector. The Thai prime minister also pointed out that Thailand is ideally positioned to act as the gateway to other ASEAN countries. (The Nation) (MCOT)(The Thai Financial Post)
After discussing with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials on March 14, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Transport Jamroon Tangpaisalkit revealed that the ADB has offered to give technical and administrative assistance in terms of financial and income management to the Thai government to improve its rail system. The minister said the ADB has offered to assist the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) on infrastructure and technical improvement, provided that the Thai government has committed 170 billion baht into the development of the SRT’s infrastructure. (The Thai Financial Post)
During an international conference on “Balancing the Economic Growth and Social Strengthening” held in Bangkok during March 12-14, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Supachai Panitchpakdi urged Thailand to restructure its tax system in order to eliminate the big income gap between the rich and the poor. He stated that under current conditions, the higher the economic expansion, the higher income inequality will be in a country. He added that the government’s populist policies do not help much to solve such a gap; instead, it should turn to focus on social and educational investment. (The Thai Financial Post)
Former Commerce Minister Mr. Narongchai Akrasanee advised the government to stop its populist policies, such as first-home and first-car policies, as they are unnecessary while producing more debt for the administration. Furthermore, he said the rice-mortgaging scheme is ineffective. He also stated that the number one problem Thai people are facing is having high living costs but low earnings. Moreover, the government’s flood relief coupons have been found to be unpopular. Nearly 900,000 coupons, worth two billion baht, have been distributed to flood victims for the purchase of electrical appliances under the flood relief project. However, less than 10 percent of them have been used so far, while the coupons will expire at the end of this month. (The Thai Financial Post)
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has revealed that the industrial sector is currently considering a 15-20% salary raise for foremen, skilled workers and long-time workers to prevent possible conflicts stemming from the implementation of the government’s minimum wage-hike policy. According to the policy, companies will have to pay an additional 60 billion baht each year to their employees, which might cause production cost and goods price to increase by 3-6 percent. (The Thai Financial Post)
The Bank of Thailand has raised its crude oil price benchmark for this year to 140 US dollars per barrel from 103.3 US dollars per barrel. On Thursday March 15, the Energy Policy Management Committee agreed to increase the State Oil Fund levy on petrol 91 and 95 by 1 baht per liter. The increase in the petrol levy took effect from midnight Thursday, making the price of petrol 91 and 95 go up by 1.07 baht per liter on Friday. However, the Oil Fund levies on diesel and gasohol were unchanged. Also, the Committee on Energy Policy Administration recently raised the prices of LPG and NGV to 20.33 baht and 10 baht per kilogram, respectively. The Ministry of Transport has authorized an increase in the taxi starting fare, in line with the rising fuel costs. However, fare-hike proposals from other public transport systems that run on diesel are still pending and will have to rely more on the process to stabilize the cost of diesel first. According to the president of the Thai Bus Operators Association, Ms. Sujinda Cherdchai, in spite of the not getting authorization from the Central Land Transport Committee, operators of interprovincial buses will increase fares by 0.06 baht per kilometer starting April 1. Ms. Cherdchai claimed that the operators would rather pay the related fines because it is still cheaper considering the costs of their competition with the illegal mini-vans that operate on the same routes. (Bangkok Post) (The Thai Financial Post)
The Commerce Ministry has confirmed that Thailand’s exports will grow by 15 percent, or an equivalent of 263 billion dollars this year. However, the first quarter’s figure is predicted to be negative given that the sector is still recovering from the flood impact. From the second quarter onward, the situation in the export sector should return to normal, while a full recovery should appear in the second half of the year. The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) has also reiterated that the export growth will reach its target of 15 percent, as the department clearly aims to promote the country’s export to other potential markets, such as China, India, Russia, Africa and ASEAN to compensate for the crisis in traditional markets. Additionally, the ASEAN market is currently a new main target since the integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is approaching in 2015. Furthermore, given its status as the trading center in Southeast Asia, Thailand is considered to have an advantage over its competitors in the AEC establishment. (The Thai Financial Post)
Security
Thailand’s cabinet has decided to extend the emergency decree in the three southernmost provinces, Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani, for another three months from March 20 to June 19. The government’s decision came after a recent series of bomb attacks in the three border provinces that killed and wounded both soldiers and civilians. Under the decree, which had been extended 26 times previously, the state security forces have special powers of arrest detention. Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha stated that authorities want to keep the decree in place while a new national security policy is launched. He added that government agencies supported the decree’s extension despite the cessation of violence in other areas. (Washington Post) (SF Gate)
An Iranian man, Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, appeared in a Malaysian court this week over accusations of involvement in a failed bomb plot in Bangkok on February 14. Mr. Sedaghatzadeh, speaking through an interpreter, claimed he had nothing to do with the bomb incident that, among other things, destroyed a taxi and blew the legs off another suspect in Sukhumvhit 71. Moreover, he insisted that he did not know the two other Iranian men he was seen leaving with from a rental house where the first blast occurred. Thai authorities are eager for their Malaysian counterparts to handover Mr. Sedaghatzadeh. But because no extradition treaty exists between Thailand and Malaysia, they must wait for the formal judicial process in Malaysia to be carried out. A hearing is scheduled for Mr. Sedaghatzadeh for April 16. (Washington Post)
In the wake of the fatal fire in Bangkok at the Grand Park Avenue Hotel that killed two Russian tourists and injured 21 foreign nationals and two Thais, the head of Thailand’s Hotel Association, Prakit Chinamourphong, maintained that Thai hotels are safe and the fire incident will not deter tourism. Mr. Chinamourphong added that four and five-star hotels are especially secure, noting that they are usually managed by international brands that follow stringent security measures. His comments followed the revelation that the room in which the fire had started did not have sprinklers, prompting many to question Thailand’s safety standards. The 1992 Building Safety Control Act requires hotels to install sprinkler systems, but enforcement of the measure was not severe enough to compel owners of older buildings, such as the Grand Park Avenue Hotel, to comply. As a result, City Hall is drafting a new ordinance to close this security gap. (TTR Weekly) (Bangkok Post)
Thai authorities intercepted a timber smuggling operation in Phanom Dong Ra National Park in Sisaket province, resulting in the arrest of 38 Cambodian nationals. The suspects were found with 109 pieces of rosewood timber and logging tools. Authorities were tipped off from local Thai villagers who reported seeing around 70 Cambodians crossing into Thailand to smuggle timber back into Cambodia. Touch Ra, Cambodia’s Chief of Border Relations at the Chhom Sror Ngam border checkpoint in Oddar Meanchey province, said the group crossed into Thailand via the Dangrek mountain range in Preah Vihear’s Cham Ksan district. (Phnom Penh Post)
Malaysian maritime authorities caught three Thais, aged 19 to 49, attempting to cross into Thailand at an undesignated border crossing point. Aided by a 29-year-old Malaysian local, the Thais were headed for Takbai district by boat. The local involved had a history of smuggling diesel and other goods into the Thai side. The arrests came as authorities were undertaking a seven-day operation aimed at curbing smuggling between Malaysia and Thailand, which Deputy Superintendent Tan Cheng Saen in Pengalan Kubor, a Malaysian border town, said is still rampant. (New Straits Times)
Thailand’s government is steeling itself for a possible downgrade on the US State Department’s watch list of countries with the worst human rights records in combating human trafficking. In 2010, Thailand was ranked Tier Two for not complying with minimum standards to address the trafficking of people. If after two years there is no improvement, its level will drop to Tier Three, joining ranks among countries with more notorious reputations, such as North Korea, Myanmar, and Cuba. News of the possible downgrade, which could trigger non-humanitarian sanctions, came after sharp criticism from international advocacy groups, such as Human Rights Watch, and a scathing report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons. Among their allegations are that trafficking of girls between age 11 and 15 has actually increased, and that Thai authorities are often clients of trafficked prostitutes or involved in trafficking themselves. (Voice of America)
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