Find Other Sides of Thai Politic. Update you on the political turmoil in Thailand.

อ่าน ทวิตเตอร์

Upcoming

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Malaysia may be asked to arrest Surin of Kularb Kaew

Criminal Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Surin Upatkoon who has been accused of acting as nominee for foreign companies through his stockholdings in Kularb Kaew Co, Ltd.



Police told the court that Surin failed three times to appear before police to hear the charges.

Kularb Kaew is one of the companies used by Temasek Holdings of Singapore to acquire Shin Corp from the Shinawatra family.

Surin's lawyer on Monday presented a medical report from a Malaysian hospital to the police, asking for delaying the hearing.

The report shows that Surin suffered from an irregular heartbeat, making it impossible for him to appear before the police to hear the criminal charges against him.

However police said the report is not credible because it is not accompanied by a notarisation from any Thai agency such as a Thai embassy or Thai Consul.

Police believed that Surin only wanted to buy time and escape from having to face the charges.

Chief Investigator Pol Maj Gen Wisut Wanitbutr, anti-economic crime department, said if Surin failed to surrender, he will ask Malaysia to arrest and extradite him.

"Thailand and Malaysia have signed extradition treaty, so we are eligible to ask Malaysia to arrest and extradite him.

The Nation

Monday, September 24, 2007

One reason Thailand is not and was not a democratic country

Wikipedia describes democracy as "a small number of related forms of government. The fundamental features of democracies include government based on majority rule and the consent of the governed, the existence of free and fair elections, the protection of political minorities, respect for basic human rights, equality before the law, due process, and political pluralism"

If I follow this description, Thailand might not even have a real "democracy" or have been a democratic country at all!! On a ground of free and fair election alone, could you consider votes come from voters that accept money from politician(s) to vote a free and fair election? For me, HELL NO!!

If you're still confused, let me tell you, Thai politicians buy vote. This has happened for so many elections in the past despite how good the constitution is. This has happened in EVERY part of Thailand but pin point to the rural area. So when politician claims "he protects democracy", it's never happened. Because how they've become senators, ministers or even prime minister was not democratic and there was no democracy for him to protect in the first place.

Buying vote will not disappear from Thailand any time soon as long as Thai people prioritized money before their rights. Accepting money to vote has become a custom to many Thais. There's a say "no money no vote" to describe this behavior of rural voters.

Elected government didn't come from true people. Therefore, they didn't do everything for the people. When the governments didn't do the good for the people but for their own sake, elected or dictated feel much the same.

So next time you hear we are democratic country, think hard and long.

By the way, many articles on the web don't recommend Wikipedia site as a good source for research.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007

Bloodless Coup: 1 Year ago

A year ago, a successful bloodless coup had been carrying out-- among the confusion whose side did they do it for. When the dust settled, people set out to celebrate the unusual event. Flowers for the soldiers could be seen where ever they were. Flowers were most from the people who couldn't bear over-the-limit corruption of Thaksin's government.

Most Thais get used to pay bribe for a little convenience, buy driver license, tip the cop when they get traffic ticket, pay school to get their children in, bribe authorities to get construction permit faster and pay a little more to have it build more then the laws allow, cop set up a system to get bribe money (under-table money - in Thai) from business to have their trucks carry over-the-limit weight of goods on the hi-way and so on with almost everything in their life that deal with authorities.

So when Thai people couldn't take full-of-corruption government any more, that really means something.

Until today, the junta and the government have fought tirelessly (I guess) with the old power that try everything they could to get back to power. To get back to power means they could erase everything the junta appointed government has been doing and has done, including all the investigations and probes and blame it on "undemocratic way".

Interestingly, the junta is also afraid of the old power will get back at them (check bill - in Thai) once they regain the power. What could tons of money and power will buy them unfortunated events when they make a revenge? One could imagine. It would be so bad not only to individual in junta team but also to generations in their family.

In one year, you can see how Thaksin were so good in using the media to his advantage telling his one-side story (always a good side). You can see how good is his staff in doing their jobs in any media available. You can go to wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) reading on Thaksin article and see how it's been done. Not only in Thaksin topic but also related topic such as "efficiency economy", all are so biased.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Beloved Phuket

Dead pilot "loved Phuket view from above"

Captain Arif Mulyadi once told his son that of all the places he had flown, Phuket had the worst weather. But it also had the most beautiful scenery from above.



The retired lieutenant colonel was among the 88 people who died on Sunday in a plane crash on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

"Father promised to come home to see his grandsons on Sept 28," Arif's oldest son, Agung, told news portal detik.com on Monday.

He is returning home 10 days early, but not for the joyous family reunion that had been anticipated.

Arif's body arrived from Thailand yesterday morning (TUES) at SoekarnoHatta International Airport. He was buried at Pondok Ranggon public cemetery, southeast of Jakarta, yesterday.

He is survived by wife Lief Farikha; three children, Agung Bayu Hanggono, 29, Windi Hapsari Catu Pratiwi, 27, and Dimas Bayu Prakoso, 25; and two grandsons.

Arif was piloting the McDonell Douglas MD82 that crashed Sunday. The plane, operated by Thai budget airline OneTwoGo, broke into two and burst into flames on landing, killing 88 people and injuring 42 others.

Chairman of OneTwoGo, Udom Tantiprasongchai, told reporters in Bangkok that the pilot was "an experienced foreigner".

Arif, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1974, retired from the Air Force two years ago after serving for more than 30 years.

He piloted jet fighters for several years before flying transportation planes, according to soninlaw Lt Col (ret) Munir Umar. He finished his service as an instructor at the Air Force Academy.

"He started his pilot career outside the Air Force long before he retired. To my knowledge, he once worked for Star Air and Sempati, among others," Umar told reporters at Arif's home at the Halim Perdana Kusumah Air Force housing complex in East Jakarta.

Arif's wife was in Thailand on Monday to identify her husband's remains and accompany the body back to Indonesia.

Arif worked for OneTwoGo for several years. His wife joined him in Thailand, where the couple lived, while their children remained in Jakarta.

"Ibu (Arief's wife) just returned home two weeks ago. It was a routine visit, visiting her children and grandsons," Umar said. "Now she is returning here for a different reason."

The Nation by the Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

Monday, September 17, 2007

MD 82 Crashes History

There are total of MD 82 (McDonald Douglas) 18 crahses from 1981 up to Phuket crash today.

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/aircraft_detail.cgi?aircraft=McDonnell+Douglas+MD-8

89 Killed - updated September 19, 2007

88 killed in Thai plane crash

A passenger jet crashed Sunday at Phuket International Airport in southern Thailand shortly after landing, killing 88 of the 130 people on board, according to Health Ministry officials.

Passengers and crew -- including dozens of European tourists --scrambled for the One-Two-GO plane's emergency exits, trying to escape as flames spread through the aircraft, witnesses said.

The Thai News Agency reported the aircraft that crashed was a U.S.-made McDonnell-Douglas 82.

The National Transportation Safety Board will assist the Thai government in the investigation, according to a statement on the NTSB's Web site.

Both the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration usually deploy investigators to crash sites involving U.S.-made aircraft.

Erik Nihlen, a Swedish tourist who helped open an emergency exit door, told his mother that he and other passengers had feared the aircraft might crash as strong winds buffeted the plane during its second landing attempt.

"When they were up in the air, they thought something was not right," Maria Nihlen said. "Before the second [landing attempt], they knew that they were going to crash and they formed into position for an emergency landing and, well, then it happened."

She said her son -- who suffered only bruises -- was stuck in his seat belt as passengers climbed over him to get to the exit door, which was still closed.

"People were falling over him ... and then the shelf fell over him from above," she said. "But he and his friend managed to actually push hard away the people to be able to open the emergency exit door."

Many of the 43 survivors climbed out of an exit door onto the wing. John Gerard O'Donnell, an Irishman who spoke to the news media from his hospital bed, said that's how he escaped.

"I just can't get my head around what happened," said O'Donnell, whose face and arms were bandaged. "As the plane was landing, you could tell it was in trouble 'cause it kind of landed and came up again. Then the second time, it just smashed."

He said the exit door was "kind of crushed, but we got to squeeze through and onto the wing."

"My friend was outside, I seen him, he got out before me, and next thing it really caught fire then," O'Donnell said. "I just got badly burnt -- my face, my legs, my arms."

He said he had arrived Saturday in Bangkok and intended to spend the week in Phuket with his friend, who underwent surgery for his injuries.

William Harding, who witnessed the crash from another One-Two-GO aircraft that had landed just five minutes before, said he saw flames engulf the plane.

"After about five minutes of burning, there was a small explosion that blew off the top of the plane," he said. "My friend [who also witnessed the crash] ... was saying that in that flight, some of the crew jumped at the last minute and the plane kind of burst into flames."

The aircraft, operated by Thai low-cost carrier One-Two-GO, crashed shortly after landing. The passenger jet skidded off the runway during a landing attempt amid heavy rain and strong crosswinds, according to Thai News Agency, Thailand's national news agency. The aircraft burst into flames shortly after impact, an eyewitness said.

A spokesman for the airline said Flight OG269 left Bangkok at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Phuket at approximately 3:50 p.m.

He said the plane was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members.

The island of Phuket is a popular resort destination for international and local tourists.

Video showed dozens of ambulances and fire trucks on the scene, which was enveloped in black smoke.

Two hospitals treating survivors detailed their nationalities as: Australian: 1, Austrian: 1, British: 8, Dutch:1, German: 4, Iranian: 3, Irish: 3, Italian: 1, Swedish: 2, Thai: 14.

Flights from Phuket International Airport were canceled after the crash, affecting four flights to Bangkok and Hong Kong and about 1,000 passengers, according to TNA (Thai News Agency).

The airport is the second-busiest in Thailand, according to the airport's Web site. It's about 32 kilometers from downtown Phuket.



Tragedy in Phuket

50 Foreigners among 88 killed in Phuket plane crash

Eighty-eight people, 50 of them foreigners, were killed when a budget commercial airliner crashlanded at Phuket Airport in bad weather conditions Sunday afternoon, officials said.

Forty-two people survived in the first local disaster for lowcost airline industry since its introduction a few years ago.

One Two Go Flight OG 269 lost balance while touching down and skidded off the runway. The MD82 plane slammed into trees and an earth embankment, exploding and breaking in two, witnesses and officials said.

Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said 87 people died and 43 people survived. There were a total of 130 passenger and crew on the plane.

Of the 43 survivors, 15 are Thais and 28 foreigners.

The verification of identities of both the dead and injured were far from complete at press time.

Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongchaum earlier said that there were 78 foreigners on board. Tourists from Australia, Austria, Britain, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands were being treated at main provincial hospitals.

A surviving Thai passenger said the plane "landed hard" and "bounced" and then skidded off the runway. Air Transport Department chief Chiasak Angkauwan said, "the airplane requested to land but due to the weather in Phuket strong wind and heavy rain maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly."

One survivor told of a fast drop in altitude by the airplane and sudden brief jerk upward. He said they plane then crashlanded and exploded. He saw several fellow passengers on fire.

It was not immediately clear if the pilot, who was reportedly killed, was attempting to pull the aircraft up in the last minute when it crashlanded. He had reportedly been allowed to circle the airport to wait for improvement in weather conditions.

An official at the Phuket Airport control tower, who asked not to be named, said the pilot had been told of bad weather conditions, especially very strong winds. Shortly before the illfated flight crashlanded, another lowcost airliner originating from Hong Kong had successfully touched down, he said.

Officials said victims could have died on impact, or from suffocation or fire resulting from explosions. According to an initial account, the plane's fuselage was torn open in the accident, some of the survivors were those thrown out through the opening.

Flight OG 269, approached the Phuket airport at about 3.40pm from Bangkok. Phuket had earlier been hit by heavy rains.

Eyewitnesses said the impact of the crash caused the plane to break in two and they heard loud explosions.

Rescue teams and navy personnel were involved in the rescue operation. Bodies were piled up in the smouldering wreckage. All flights in and out of the Phuket airport have been cancelled.

An Irish tourist, identifying himself only as "John", said he was on board the flight. He and his friend survived with bruises all over their bodies.

"We sat on the 18th row. The weather was real bad and there were lots of unusual noises during the landing. Something was obviously wrong [during the landing]," he said. He and his friend escaped through the emergency door.

Meanwhile Transportation Minister Thira Haochareon said Phuket International Airport was temporary closed after the crash. He said the body of the aircraft hit the runway and was on fire. The air traffic control source said the aircraft's right wing made contact with the runway at the initial stage of the accident.

MacDonnel Douglas MD82 has a passenger capacity of 175 seats, with flight ceiling of 37,000 feet and flight distance of 3,500 kilometres.

AFP reported that the accident was witnessed from the sky. It said Marine Keisel, from Paris, was aboard a plane behind the one that crashed and saw the accident happen.

"When the plane landed it caught fire," she told AFP at Phuket airport. "We could see the fire coming out of it. It was chaos inside my plane."

Authorities say they will not make any assumption regarding the cause of the tragedy until investigation is completed, although bad weather was obviously a problem at the airport over the weekend. An American pilot who landed just prior to the One Two Go plane reportedly told CNN that the landing was one of the toughest he had ever undertaken - indicating that the weather conditions were severe.

Like several other airlines, One Two Go has reportedly undergone manpower changes. The boss of One Two Go and Orient Thai budget airlines, Udom Tantisprongchai, is said to have replaced several of his Western and Thai pilots - allegedly to cut costs and reduce the chance of work disputes _ with crews with Indonesian and Philippine pilots.

However, authorities insisted it was too soon to presume anything, including whether human errors played a part in the tragedy.

Certain reports said the pilot was given permission to abort the landing in the final minutes.

Communications between the pilot and the air traffic controller and their judgements _ information contained in the black box could shed some light on the tragedy. Some aviation sources said an instruction or decision to land in Krabi could have been taken in extreme weather conditions.

Last night a swarm of media had descended on the office of One Two Go, near the intersection of Asoke and Sukhumvit. With the high death toll and the fact that it took place in the heart of Thailand's tourism industry, the issue of whether or not there were human errors involved could become hot up very soon, the aviation sources said.

The Nation, September 17, 2007

Friday, September 14, 2007

Quote of the day


Human knowledge belongs to the world

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

NBIA Flaws


NBIA or Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok

This picture shows King Power (who dominates all duty free commercial area in the airport and exceeds the square meter indicates in the contract) booth obstructs emergency exit. In an emergency, this could post serious problems if airport user couldn't see
the sign and the exit.










This is covered-way from parking structure to passenger building. This gap made the floor gets wet and slippery when it rains. Later, additional roof was built to close the gap.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Illegally Move?

Thaksin 'moved billions abroad'

AEC spokesman says funds were shifted shortly before, after coup


Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra transferred "a large amount of money" to his overseas bank accounts shortly before and after the military coup on September 19 last year, Assets Examination Committee secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi said yesterday after the panel's meeting on "a very big issue".

The total amount could be "at least Bt50 billion", according to an AEC source.

Kaewsan did not comment whether the money could be part of Thaksin's undeclared assets or whether it might be subject to AEC seizure.

The anti-graft panel has ordered a freeze on more than Bt60 billion in Thaksin family money earned from the sale of their shares in the telecom giant Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

Thaksin has never said publicly whether he has monetary assets in overseas bank accounts.

Speaking after attending a five-hour meeting of AEC members yesterday, Kaewsan said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had been informed of the newly discovered transfers of money and had authorised the making public of the matter after another AEC meeting to further discuss the issue on Monday.

The transfers became known after Thaksin threatened to sue banks for allegedly freezing some of his money deposited with them, according to a Swiss newspaper.

A legal adviser for Thaksin Shinawatra, Noppadon Pattama, on Thursday backtracked on Thaksin's reported statement, saying that the article was inaccurate. He denied that Thaksin had told Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung he would sue a Swiss bank for freezing his accounts and revealing a customer's confidential records.

Prime Minister Surayud, who was in Sydney, yesterday told Thai expatriates there that Thai people should not worry about a possible return of "the old power clique", referring to political groups loyal to his deposed predecessor.

"We have to be firm that good will eventually defeat evil. Not too long from now our justice procedures will show a clear picture that there was a massive policy of corruption," the PM was quoted as saying by the Thai News Agency.

He noted that concern was rising after the national referendum on the draft constitution, in which as many as 10 million people voted against it, many of them Thaksin's supporters in the North and Northeast.

The premier was talking to about 300 members of the Thai expatriate community during his visit to Wat Buddharangsee Buddhist temple in Sydney.

The premier told the Thai expats that his government was leading the country out of the political crisis and back to democracy. He said that despite obstacles he and his Cabinet were not disheartened in their attempts to solve the country's problems.

Earlier in the day, Surayud had a luncheon meeting with Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders attending their 15th summit in Australia.

During brief, casual discussion US President George W Bush expressed hope to Surayud that the Thai government would hold a clean and fair election as the country returned to democratic rule.

The prime minister gave assurances to the US president that the general election, tentatively scheduled for December 23, would be held in a fair and clean fashion, according to the TNA.

Surayud quoted Bush as saying that the US president had been kept informed about Thailand's political affairs and that he was aware the prime minister was committed to holding a general election this year.

The Nation - Sat, September 8, 2007


Thaksin Definitely Concealed Assets Aboard

Thaksin may have to face new charges

AEC said to have evidence ex-PM, wife illegally held shares in Shin Corp through nominee Winmark

The Assets Examination Committee will today decide whether to press charges against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of attaining unusual wealth and concealing assets.

The AEC subcommittee investigating allegations of irregularities and vested interest against the ex-PM, led by Klanarong Chantik, planned to suggest to the full meeting today that charges be filed against Thaksin for hiding his wealth, according to a source.

The accusation against Thaksin is that he violated the anti-graft law by failing to report to the National Counter Corruption Commission his shareholding in Shin Corp after becoming prime minister, the source said.

"The subcommittee has found that Thaksin and his wife Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra were still holding shares in Shin Corp after he assumed office," the source said.

The AEC would produce evidence to prove the claim and to show that it was not biased against Thaksin.

The source said its evidence would point out that Thaksin and Pojaman held the shares in question through nominees. "This has something to do with Winmark, a company registered in the British Virgins Islands," said the source, referring to Thaksin's offshore firm.

AEC secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi gave a hint last Friday that there would be big news about Thaksin this week.

According to another source, it was likely that the AEC would decide whether to order more of Thaksin's assets to be frozen, possibly as much as Bt50 billion, as its subcommittee found grounds to believe that the deposed premier was "unusually rich".

Meanwhile, Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama yesterday urged the government not to waste taxpayers' money by trying to extradite him or freeze his assets abroad.

Noppadon insisted Thaksin did not have any assets hidden abroad, and in fact his only overseas asset was the Manchester City Football Club.

He had earlier denied that Thaksin had told Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung he would sue a Swiss bank for freezing his accounts and revealing a customer's confidential records.

Noppadon was speaking at a press conference yesterday at which he also defended the Thaksin cabinet over its implementation of the two-and three-digit lottery scheme. He said the lottery was legitimate and revenues from the lottery were used with transparency.

The former premier's legal counsel also expressed confidence that the United Kingdom would not allow Thaksin to be extradited because the legal proceedings against him were against the rule of law.

"Thaksin is being politically harassed. What the public prosecutors are doing is just trying to discredit him on the international scene,'' he said.

In a related development, AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said yesterday the panel would try to find a solution to the translation problem of the CTX scanner contract as the Foreign Ministry had yet to translate more than 1,400 pages of documents, citing a shortage of time and translators.

The AEC needed the contract as part of the evidence to incriminate Thaksin and his Cabinet over the alleged corruption in the scanner purchase.

Sak said AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem had already endorsed a request to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to order the Foreign Ministry to translate the documents. The AEC could not hire a private company to translate the highly confidential contract as it might be leaked to the public.

He said the AEC had the right to check the overseas assets of Thaksin.

The Nation - Mon, September 10, 2007

Thursday, September 6, 2007

ประชาธิปไตย กับ ไทยแลนด์

ไทยพร้อมสำหรับประชาธิปไตยแค่ไหน
อิรักล่ะ
จีน เป็นประชาธิปไตยหรือยัง

เมื่อปี 2475 เราพร้อมแล้วหรือ ประชาชนทุกคนเข้าใจในสิทธิ เสรีภาพ และประชาธิปไตยดีแล้วหรือ หรือสภาพเราตอนนั้น ถูกคนกลุ่มน้อยบังคับให้เป็นไป ให้ยอมรับโดยปริยายกับประชาธิปไตยแบบตะวันตก ที่อาจไม่เหมาะสมกับวิถีแบบไทยๆทั้งหมด

เหมือนกับที่แถบตะวันออกกลางถูกนักล่าอาณานิคมขีดเส้น แบ่งประเทศให้ โดยไม่สนใจว่าชนเผ่าต่างๆเคยอยู่กันมาอย่างไร จนผันเป็นความขัดแย้งตราบทุกวันนี้

อิรักสมัยซัดดัม ชนกลุ่มน้อยเป็นใหญ่ จึงอยู่มาได้ทั้งสองกลุ่ม อย่างสมดุล เมื่อถูกยัดเยียดประชาธิปไตยให้ในปัจจุบัน คนกลุ่มน้อยไม่อาจทัดคานคนกลุ่มใหญ่ได้ แล้วจะอยู่กันอย่างไร

ประเด็นจึงไม่ใชที่"่ประชาธิปไตย" แต่เป็นผู้เป็นใหญ่ หรือผู้นำ

หากมีคุณธรรม และความสามารถ ย่อมนำพาทุกคนในประเทศให้มีความสุข และก้าวไปพร้อมๆกันได้อย่างเท่าเทียม

ตราบใดที่ยังมีการซื้อสิทธิขายเสียง ประชาธิปไตยก็ไม่เคยเป็นประชาธิปไตยที่แท้จริง

Label Cloud