Archive for December 2008
Protest takes a holiday
By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 31/12/2008 at 05:58 PM
Opponents of new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday they would take a break for the five-day New Year holiday, then resume protests that already have forced the premier to move the venue of his first policy speech.
“We’ll have a small party tonight and disperse after midnight so that we can take time to celebrate the New Year festival,” said Veera Musikhaapong, a leader of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), known as the “red shirts”. “We will come back after the New Year break,” Shinawat Haboonpak, another UDD core leader said. “The fight is not over yet, we will not give up.”
The pledge raises the threat of 2009 starting with the kind of problems that marred 2008 – months of street protest, government gridlock and damage to the economy and national morale.
“Today is the last day of a year which brought great concern to everyone,” said Mr Abhisit in a New Year’s Eve address broadcast on radio and TV nationwide. “I’d like all those worries to pass with the year and let us start a new one with hope. “Let’s make our wish come true.”
Thousands of red-shirted supporters of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra prepared to disperse from parliament, which they blockaded for two days to press their demands for Mr Abhisit to resign and call fresh elections.
They prevented Mr Abhisit from giving the government’s policy address in the Lower House on Tuesday, although he fooled the demonstrators by ducking into the Foreign Ministry to deliver the speech, as required by the Constitution.
Mr Abhisit, the 27th Thai prime minister since 1932 but the fourth in troubled 2008, came to power in mid-December after the Constitution Court banned previous premier Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law.
The court verdict reversed the political scene. Yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin protesters had occupied streets and even the two Bangkok airports as Mr Abhisit backed their demand for the government to resign and call elections.
Today, red-shirted pro-Thaksin protesters have occupied streets to back demands by the new Puea Thai iteration of the pro-Thaksin paqrty for Mr Abhisit to resign and call elections.
Mr Abhisit promised on Wednesday that the self-exiled Thaksin, ousted in the 2006 military coup to avoid a jail term for a corruption conviction, would get fair treatment if he decided to return home.
“The government will give Thaksin fairness,” Mr Abhisit told reporters. But he said Thaksin must recognise and submit to the justice system.
He said he accepted that protests by Thaksin loyalists may continue but added that if the government was successful then the “protests could not pressure us.”
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government had plans to talk to opponents to seek a peaceful solution. But there is no sign the red shirts are any more likely to talk than their yellow-shirted predecessors were.
The red shirts say the Abhisit government is illegitimate and that the court verdict that dissolved the previous government was a silent coup. (With reports by AFP)
Thaksin must respect justice: PM means royal injustice
Published: 31/12/2008 at 12:30 PM Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in response to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s interview with foreign media, said Mr Thaksin has the right to return to Thailand but he has to accept the justice system before deciding to be back in the country.
According to the ousted prime minister’s interview with CEO Middle East magazine, he would like to return and lead the government once again.
Mr Abhisit called on Mr Thaksin to respect the justice system and he should not start any political movement, as it may cause damage to the country.
On the government’s policy statement delivery at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Mr Abhiisit insisted the session could be done outside the parliament because the situation was not normal, adding that the government did not want to see more losses.
On New Year’s holiday, the prime minister wished public members to return home safely, and as a New Year’s present for the people, he vowed that his administration will restore peace and unity in the nation.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said the government had coordinated with the opposition, urging them to stop inciting conflicts.
The government had tried to contact Mr Thaksin to discuss various issues, in a bid to push the nation forward.
Coup still exists, claims Thaksin
By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 31/12/2008 at 10:58 AM
Thailand is still under a coup but it is staged by the legal system and not the army, according to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s interview with CEO Middle East magazine.
Mr Thaksin said he hopes to return to Thailand to help out the poor and his supporters, but he must receive a royal pardon from His Majesty the King first. Otherwise, he would continue to stay abroad and conduct businesses in the Middle East.
He also believed he could bring back confidence to Thailand quickly, if he could return to the country.
According to the interview, Mr Thaksin after being ousted from power by a 2006 military coup was trying to solve global poverty, working on the public health system in the Middle East, and setting up a fund to aid people in Asia who were hit by the global financial crisis.
Policy Speech Venue change against the rules : Pheu Thai
The Nation
31/12/2008
The opposition Pheu Thai Party said yesterday it will lodge a petition with international organisations – and a court challenge – over the new government delivering its policy speech at a venue outside parliament yesterday.
Pheu Thai claims the move, which enabled MPs from the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to avoid a mob of red-shirt protesters, contravened the constitution.
The government yesterday delivered the policy speech to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate at the Foreign Ministry as the anti-government Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) continued to block entry to parliament.
Pheu Thai MP Prakiart Nasima said delivering the policy speech outside parliament was against Article 88 of the constitution |and parliamentary meeting regulations.”Speech delivery outside the parliament is against the rules, and the norm and tradition of Thai democracy,” he said. “We want to inform the international community since internal mechanisms cannot handle the situation.”The opposition party also plans to ask the Constitution Court to nullify the policy speech session. However, many pro-government academics doubted there was a legal basis to challenge the switch in venue.
Former constitution drafter Komsan Phokong, from Sukhothai-Thammathirat University, doubted that the Constitution Court would be able to rule against the move.”The constitution does not bar the government from delivering the speech outside the parliament building,” he said.
Thammasat University’s Dean of Law Faculty Somkid Lertpaitoon said the President of Parliament had authority to move the meeting venue in case of emergencies. The President could also call the meeting with short notice in advance during a state of emergency, said Somkid, who helped draft the last charter.
Deputy House Speaker Apiwan Wiriyachai insisted his party would submit the case to the Constitution Court as they felt it was misconduct to move the meeting venue without consent of all parliamentarians.
The President of Parliament should make the appointment for meetings in writing, he said, claiming that notice of meeting appointments via short message phone-notes was against the rules. “The Constitution makes clear that norm and tradition apply for the matters not written in the charter,” Apiwan said. “This was the first time we have conducted a meeting against the norm and law,” he said.
Yasothon MP Piraphan Parusuk said President Chai Chidchob broke regulations by only giving an hour’s notice of the change in venue for the meeting when he should make appointments for meetings three days in advance.
Prime Minister Abhisit said he saw nothing wrong with the move as the President of the Parliament had authority to convene the meeting when and where he deemed appropriate.
Nikom Viratpanich, Vice President of the Senate, also said the meeting for the policy speech was legal as long as they met requirements for a quorum (the number of MPs needed before such a meeting is deemed official.
Dengue fever casualties down nationwide: ministry
By May Titthara and Sam Rith PhnomPenh Post
30 December 2008
The head of the Health Ministry’s anti-dengue fever program credits better education and treatment for the decline
A HEALTH Ministry official announced Monday a steep decline in the number of infections and deaths from dengue fever countrywide this year.
Ngan Chantha, director of the ministry’s anti-dengue fever program, said 65 people have died from the disease so far this year, compared with 407 deaths in 2007.
He said 9,300 people contracted the disease in 2008, down from 39,851 cases last year.
Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that causes severe fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, and skin rash.
Ngan Chantha credited greater funding and educational programs for the drop in infection rates and deaths.
“We have a preventative program in place to check the spread of dengue fever,” he told the Post Monday, adding that the government has also received support from the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and USAID.
Ngan Chantha said provinces hardest hit by dengue include Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kandal and Siem Reap, but that the disease finds a strong foothold in areas suffering from poor sanitation.
However, Ngan Chantha identified a troubling trend in the spread of the disease.
“Now, it is not only the children who get infected. It is also older men between 20 and 50,” he said, adding that the ministry did not have data on infection rates among adults but that it would conduct studies in the future.
Srey Acha, director of the Me Sang district referral hospital in Prey Veng province, said the hospital treated no cases of dengue fever so far this year.
“People in my district now have a greater understanding about how to prevent infection,” he told the Post Monday
Sar Kheng upbraids police for corruption
Secondary bomb injures 7 in deep South…Genocide begins
Yala The Nation- Suspected insurgents on Tuesday lured security officials with an empty gas tank placed on a railroad track and then set off a real bomb, injuring seven soldiers, two of them seriously.
Authorities said a bomb squad was called in to inspect the gas tank and discovered it was an empty container. But as they were departing the area, a secondary bomb hidden near the empty gas tank was set off, injuring the seven soldiers who had been conducting a routine patrol in the area. The incident took place in Tambon Balor in Yala’s Raman district.
Two of the seven were seriously wounded and were rushed to a nearby hospital with the rest of the victims.
The use of secondary bomb against security officials have become a common tactics among insurgents operating in the deep South where more than 3,400 people have been killed since January 2004.
Vajira hospital denies claim it refused to treat red shirt protesters
The Nation-Vachira Hospital on Tuesday dismissed as misunderstanding a report that its doctors refused to treat sick red shirt protesters.
Hospital director Dr Chaiwan Charoenchoktawee said the report was untrue.
Red shirt protesters who are loyal to fugitive ex-PM ThaksinShinawatra have blocked all access to parliament on Monday to prevent government of Prime MinisterAbhisit Vejjajiva from delivering policy statements.
The government has to shift meeting venue from parliament to Foreign Ministry because of the protest. Upon learning the change of venue, protesters moved to surround the ministry. Some protesters were injured during the push with police.
The director was speaking after a speaker of the protest spoke on stage that doctors at Vachira Hospital refused to treat the protesters. Hosts of community radio stations which allied with the protesters repeated the claims during their programmes.
Chaiwan said nine red shirt protesters, mostly women, came to the hospital, asking treatment for having fatigue. Doctors then checked their heartbeats and x-rayed for some.
Doctors said their fatigues were caused by lacking of sleeps for long time. They were given medication and one of them had to stay at the hospital. “Our information showed our doctors treated them. Their claims that they were refused was groundless,” he said.
“During the treatment, a sick female protester said that she has gold health care card which allowed her to receive free service from the hospital. She failed to show required documents to claim the free service. But our doctors compromised by not asking for the documents,” he said.
The director doubted that the claim that his doctors refused to treat the protesters may stem from the incident.
UDD surrounds Foreign Ministry
BangkokPost-A group of red-clad United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters on Tuesday moved from the parliament to enclose the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after knowing that the government delivered its policy statement.
Additional security officials were deployed to look after the safety of MPs and senators who attended the session, while employees and officials working at the Foreign Ministry were told to return home immediately.
Police chief Patcharawat Wongsuwan had coordinated army chief Anupong Paojinda, asking for more military support to help the police maintaining the situation, as more red-shirt protesters continued to assemble around the ministry.
The army reinforcement included six companies of soldiers, including troops from the air force and navy.
