Low Ratings call for wake up

Recent downgrades by international ratings agencies reflect economic and political risks in Thailand. As a result businesses, especially those with weak financial status, need to do more to prepare funding plans for their long-term investments, according to Kasikorn Research Center.

The market has partially absorbed economic risk over almost the past four years, but Thailand has been facing protracted political tension as well.

In December last year, five international rating agencies: S&P, Fitch, Rating & Investment Information (R&I), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) and Moody's Investors Service downgraded the country's rating outlook from stable to negative though they maintained the overall sovereign ratings.

However, in the medium or long term, increasing financial costs might affect businesses operations and funding plans for new investments by the private sector. As a result, businesses should prepare early based on the assumption that credit ratings would not be upgraded.

Nice to finally see something in the news that we did a lot of studying on. Hopefully Thailand can bounce back and pull themselves up on the ratings.

Mary Baumer (Thailand)

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva escapes with minor injuries.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday sustained minor injuries from attacks by a group of red-shirted protesters at the Interior Ministry, before narrowly escaping through a backdoor. In the attack four other men in his motorcade were also attacked. An unconfirmed report said Abhisit escaped from the compound through a backdoor and his motorcade was used as a decoy to keep the protesters inside the ministry. It is not immediately known how he sustained injuries to his arm. I think the current situation going on in Thailand is interesting, and will continue to keep an eye on it and see how it develops.

Zach Dobbin
Thailand Group

Thai Univeristies Hold Lèse Majesté Seminars

Activists met at Thammasat and Mahidol universities last week to discuss their increasing fears about the abuse of the lèse majesté laws. Several activists spoke at the seminars, explaining how the abuse of the laws led to them to be unfairly ostracized or imprisoned.

Labor activist Chitra Kochadet was accused by her employer of being a disloyal citizen and was thus fired from her job. Kochadet had recently begun protesting unfair layoffs at her company and says that her dismissal was a result of her protests, not because of anti-Thai behavior. She argues that her employer unfairly used lèse majesté laws as a way to stop her protests.

Suthachai Yimprasert spoke about how the laws were being used as a way to unfairly detain certain people. He witnessed firsthand the imprisonment of an aquaintence named Da Torpido. Torpido was repeatedly denied bail and remained in prison while others accused of the same crimes were set free.

Prachatai webmaster Chiranut Premchaiyaporn spoke about the lack of legally stated guidelines on what are considered anti-Thai remarks. She believes that the absence of these guidelines led to the unjustified shutdown of her website. The fact there are no guidelines allows the lèse majesté laws to be broadly interpreted, and Thai citizens are being punished for it.

The seminars also pushed for the maximum prison sentence for those accused of breaking lèse majesté laws be decreased from fifteen years to seven years.

-Jillian Knowles (Thailand)

Thai authorities arrest blacklisted Hmong refugee for deportation

A Hmong refugee who once guided a BBC TV team to Laos to document atrocities committed against the minority group, was allegedly arrested by Thai authorities. The article was reported on The Nation's website. The man's name is Joua Va Yang, a former guide for the BBC, Chicago-based Hmong Advocate Joe Davy said in a statement. In the article witnesses claimed Yang was beaten badly during the arrest.

Zach Dobbin
Thailand Group

BURMA: Thailand Supports Democratization, Talks With KNU Rebels

Thailand's Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjaji, encourages ethnic rebels, Karen National Union, reconcile with Burma and contest with the upcoming 2010 elections in support of Burma's seven step road map to democracy.

“The issue depends on the Burmese regime and the UN to make the discussion operational. Thailand would help as a neighbouring country. However, the negotiation should be held to solve the problem because some ethnic group members migrated to live in Thailand,” Abhisit said.

However, Thai's PM has not confirmed that Thai's Foreign Minister is ready to hold talks with the ethnic group.

Personally, it seems like Thailand's government is doing a lot of talking and not a lot of acting.

"In addition, he added the position of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was clear. It wanted to see all parties take part in Burmese general elections in the coming year." (Mizzima News)

Seems like Thailand is just being influenced and used as a proxy tool from organizations with power such as the ASEAN and UN.

Although their outward perception to foreigners is as a service of good will, their lack of activity shows otherwise.

Simply put, Thailand's government seems like pushovers. One might argue it's okay, as long as they are supporting the general cause of democratizing Burma. However, what happens when a pushover country finds assets in other deals and means? What happens when it's no longer in Thailand's best interest to support democratization in Burma?

http://www.mizzima.com/news/election-2010/1891-thailand-supports-democratization-of-burma-abhisit.html

Kay Makishi

Thailand’s PM is Trying to Help Unemployed Citizens in Tough Economy

In 1997, Thailand’s rate of unemployment rose to 1.4 million and with the looks of another bad economic downturn, prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva is taking action ahead of time, reports Aljazera. With an expected one million Thais to be unemployed by the end of the year the prime minister is implementing new training programs that will help the unemployed to learn to use computer and service industry skills.
Vejjajiva also announced further economic stimulus packages as well as borrowing money for infrastructure projects. Vejjajiva has made plans to obtain 2 billion in foreign loans, to fund transportation, education and healthcare projects.

By Lisa Schaffer

Arrested Swiss reporter allowed to leave Thailand

According to an Associated Press article found on MSNBC website Christopher Muller, a producer for TV station SF, part of Swiss National Television, was arrested when he entered Thailand on Feb. 27. He was released on bail after being detained for 24 hours, but his passport was confiscated and he was prohibited from leaving the country. The full story can be found here Arrested Swiss reporter allowed to leave Thailand. My thoughts on this story is that the arrest was due to a possible misinterpretation that lead to the defamation claim. He must attend a hearing in April but is allowed to return to Switzerland until then. I agree with this decision that he should be able to continue his work and not be held in Thailand.

Zach Dobbin
Thailand Group

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Thailand Appoints New Secretary General of NCCC

On Friday, the Senate appointed a new secretary-general of the National Counter Corruption Commission: Preecha Lertkamolmas.

Lertkamolas was previously the deputy secretary-general of the NCCC. The decision to appoint Lertkamolas was virtually unanimous, 99 to 3. The 3 represents abstentions to the vote.

The appointment vote held on Friday was held on camera and lasted 10 minutes.

Marti Alhante
Thailand Group

Hunt Continues for Fugitive Thai Prime Minister

The search continues for former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thai authorities are hoping to locate and extradite Shinawatra back to Thailand where he will face corruption charges.

According to an ESPN article, current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the extradition was necessary because all Thais must be punished for crimes they commit.

Thaksin was convicted of violating a conflict of interest law in October 2008. He was sentenced to two years in prison. These charges date back to his six year reign as Prime Minister where he was accused of massive corruption during his time in office.

The former Prime Minister has been spotted in China, Hong Kong, and London.

Thaksin was prime minister for six years before his government was overthrown by the military junta Council for National Security in 2006.

-Jillian Knowles (Thailand)

'Wonderful Town' wins five awards

'Wonderful Town' wins five Thai Film awards. Indie film "Wonderful Town" snatched five Subhanahongsa awards last night - for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best art direction. The movie is set in a small town in the south of Thailand, "Wonderful Town" tells a halting love story about Ton, an architect who arrives from Bangkok to supervise the post-tsunami reconstruction of a beach resort, and Na, a beautiful woman who works at her father's hotel. "Wonderful Town" is also the first Thai film to win a film-making award from Pusan.

By Zach Dobbin (Thailand)

Thailand Grants Royal Pardon to Australian Journalist

The BBC reported after being sentenced to three years in jail, Australian journalist, Harry Nicolaides had no idea he would be returning home to Australia in less that two months.

Mr. Nicolaides, a 41-year-old journalist was jailed in Thailand for insulting its monarch in a book he wrote. The charges came from an unknown book written by Mr. Nicolaides in 2005. Reportedly only 50 copies of the book were ever printed and of those 50 only seven were ever sold. However, the Bangkok court felt Mr. Nicolaides book caused dishonor to the Thai royal family.

After the Thai government sentenced Mr. Nicolaides to three years in prison the Australian government worked with the Thai government to sway Thailand’s royal family for his release. Thankfully he returned home yesterday, after being pardoned by the king and set free.

By Lisa Schaffer (Thailand)

Pheu Thai Party Sets Date for Censure Debate

On Tuesday, The Pheu Thai Party reached a decision to file a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and seven cabinet members. The tentative date for the censure debate set to be March 11. Although the date has been set, the main opposition party has not disclosed any of the details of the censure debate.

Opposition leader Plodprasop Suraswadi is anxious for the censure debate to occur and claimed that his party will go ahead with the debate even if his party neglects to name a new opposition leader. A new leader is not necessary for the debate to take place.

Suraswadi claims that his party plans to name Abhisit’s successor in the event that the government collapses. A likely candidate to replace Abhist is Pheu Thai MP Chalerm Yoobamrung.

By Marti Alhante (Thailand)

No Sanctuary: Trafficking of Burmese people at the ThaiMalay Border

Last week Thailand made headlines when photographs were discovered of its navy boats filled with hundreds of Rohingya people from Burma out to sea leaving them to wash ashore or perish. This type of treatment is not new in the late 1970s, the Malaysian navy towed boatloads of Vietnamese refugees out to sea, telling them to head to Indonesia. Today Malaysia is putting Burmese refuges in danger by dumping them at the Thai border in the hands of human traffickers.

The Burmese refugees with enough money can pay the smugglers to return them to Malaysia, but not many Burmese can afford this. A man from Burma described how he was deported to the border with 50 others and only 10 could pay their way out. Others were sent to work or shot if they tried to escape.

These types of reports have been circulating for years, but the Malaysian government denies any claims of human trafficking. However, now the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is examining this issue more closely because so many people have provided detailed testimonies about what is happening at the Thailand border.

Last week, Thai Prime Minster Abhisit Vejjajiva vowed that Thailand would uphold the law and increase efforts to reduce human trafficking. Both Thailand and Malaysia recently adopted new laws to counter human trafficking, but it remains to be seen if these laws will actually be enforced.

It is clear that Burmese refugees need protection and assistance and instead of offering that countries like Thailand and Malaysia are only adding to the abuse. Many Burmese are looking for a better life, and instead are running into more trouble. Issues such as this shed a negative light on Thailand and Malaysia’s governments especially because they have ignored the problem for so long. It has also believed that government officials could be involved with gangs that carry out human trafficking. If this is true it makes the laws less powerful, and lowers the probability that they will be enforced.

By Sara Lucid (Burma Group)

Thailand Continues Censorship Crackdown

Thailand is in the news again after a famed professor reportedly violated Thailand’s increasingly harsh censorship laws.

Ji Ungpakorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, is facing 15 years in prison after supposedly insulting the Thai monarchy.

Ungpakorn wrote the book "A Coup for the Rich" in 2006 criticizing the country’s military coup. According to Thailand’s lèse-majesté law, any insult or defamation to the Thai monarchy is punished by a mandatory 3 to 15 year prison sentence.

The Thai government has recently come under increased scrutiny for their censorship and punishment of media that criticizes the Thai government.

Ungapakorn feels that he will not receive a fair trial and has fled to England to avoid persecution.


-Jillian Knowles (Thailand)

Angelina Jolie asks Thai government to aid refugees

Angelina Jolie makes headlines again but this time in Thailand. Yet again she is asking for help to those less fortunate and innocent. Jolie has spent several years as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Wednesday brought international attention to the refugee problem.

Her request was to permit greater freedom for thousands of refugees stuck in camps after fleeing neighboring Myanmar. There are approximately 110,000 refugees in nine camps. The U.N. estimated that about 5,000 have fled for northern Thailand already.

While visiting the camps Jolie and husband, Brad Pitt, sat down and talked with refugees. One woman told of how she had been born in the camp and was currently raising her children in one and neither of them have been outside the camps.

Jolie is hoping to work with the government to speed up the process of admissions so therefore they do not need to go back to Burma.


--by Mary Baumer (Thailand)

King of Thailand becomes “Tech Savy”

In an effort to keep Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on good terms with Thai citizens, the King launched a website, protecttheking.net on February 5, 2009, which urges people to inform him through the site about anyone who is criticizing the monarchy

According to the BBC article on the front page of protectheking.net it describes the purpose of the site as a means for Thai people to show their loyalty to the king by protecting him from what it calls misunderstandings about him.

With Thai internet users being urged to show their loyalty to the king, Reporters Without Borders said in the article New government plans to step up online censorship., “By trying to protect the king’s image, the government is actually doing it harm.”

In addition to creating a website an internet security centre to co-ordinate with protecttheking.net was established, and launched the same day, to block any websites deemed offensive to the monarchy.

Although the blocking of many websites is nothing new for the citizens of Thailand the work of banning sites has accelerated with the new centre. In a recent article by the BBC, the first day of launching the website and security centre, the site managed to block 4,818 websites in its first 24 hours of operation. These bans that are being put on the internet have created a great concern among many, which include Thai citizens, government officials and reporters.

By Lisa Schaffer (Thailand)

Thaksin to announce return

Former Prime Minister Thaksin has announced his return to Thai politics on December 14. He has said he will no longer sit back and wait to be attacked and would rather fight for his name than sit around taking heat and not fighting for himself. Unfortunately for Thaksin, this will cause some change to his personal life, as he and his wife made an agreement that they would separate had he returned to politics. It appears that they plan to hold true to this agreement.

-Jared Besecker

Protesters gather as tense Thailand prepares for 'last battle'

This is interesting as the Thai government has been going through a rough patch very recently and since Thaksin has been overthrown. Thousands of protesters gathered today as a final push for their 6 month long campaign to bring down their current government. Many have already died in the attempts, and protesters have pointed the finger at the government, but the government denies any sort of ties to the violence that has partaken towards the protesters during this long period.

-Jared Besecker

A "Strategical" Divorce in Thailand

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra reportedly divorced his wife Pojaman in order for each to achieve separate goals. The divorce was supposedly only "on paper"... not because the couple was having relationship problems. The separation was simply "practical and legal".
The couple is calling the divorce a "strategy". Thaksin plans to continue to campaign against his political enemies, mainly the People's Alliance for Democracy. He is currently accused of corruption. If found guilty, it would affect Pojaman's freedoms (as his wife). The trial will be held at the end of the month.
Pojaman wants to apply for a visa to move to Britain with their three children. If Thaksin is found guilty, attaining a visa would be nearly impossible. Pojaman was already revoked of her visa once when Thaksin was first accused.
It is beleived that this "forced" divorce will rouse much sympathy among Thaksin supporters. It is reported that the couple remains very close.

Marley Lynch

The People of Thailand say their farewells to Princess Galyani Vadhana

Thousands of Thais clad in black gathered around Sanam Luang to welcome and pay respect as Their Majesties the King and the Queen presided at the Friday evening merit-making ceremony at Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana on the first day of the six-day funeral ceremony.

HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of His Majesty the King, passed away on January 2.

It is the first full royal funeral in Thailand since 1996, a potentially unifying moment at a time of deep political strife and anti-government protests in the Buddhist kingdom.

"I want to express my loyalty to her and the monarchy and I do it with my heart. I am appreciate that most Thais are wearing black today to mourn her," said Watchara Somsean, 39, a black-clad food vendor in Bangkok.

Bangkok's normally vibrant streets were muted Friday, with most people on the futuristic Skytrain system wearing black shirts or jackets, while flags flew at half mast for the princess.

The government has asked television and radio stations to keep programming "appropriate" while all Thais have been asked to wear black for the first three days of the ceremony.

"If someone passes away you should wear black or white but we prefer black ... because white to many means wedding," an official from the Government Public Relations Department told AFP.

At least 1.5 million people have paid their respects to the late Princess's embalmed remains, which have lain in state at the Grand Palace's Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall since her death from cancer, the Royal Household Bureau said.

The 10-month period between her death and the funeral was to make preparations for the building of the huge gilded crematorium and for the procession that will take her remains there.

An official 15-day mourning period followed her death in January, although royal palace employees stayed in mourning 100 days after her death.

"I am Thai and must show respect to her. It's also our tradition," said government official Kachorchan Kakhao, 51. "I feel grateful to see Thais are wearing black everywhere -- in the bus, traders."

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Being that this is the first royal funeral since '96, the country seems to unite in honor of the Princess. I think this is really nice because many different kinds of people loved their Princess, and it shows that their tradition of honoring an important person in their society still holds strong. They can put aside the problems for a few days to show respect and say their farewells to the Princess.

Posted By:
Amanda B