Anything & Everything About Thailand

[U-Need]

375 words
12 January 2006
English
(c) 2006 Thai News Service

Section: Corporate News - MCOT Plc, operator of the ModerNine TV channel, on January 10 announced that it has set up a partnership with Prommitr Production Co Ltd to produce the largest-ever soap opera series Phoo Chana Sib Tis, The Nation reports.

The company also said that it would pay staff an 11-month bonus - equivalent to a 16.5-month bonus, as it includes a mid-year 50-per-cent salary rise, president Mingkwan Sangsuwan said.

Mingkwan said the higher bonus came after better-than-expected results for 2005. Channel 9 expected to earn Bt3 billion last year, but he declined to reveal actual earnings.

MCOT paid staff a six-month bonus mid-year and will pay the remaining five-month bonus for the shortly. The company also raised salaries for its 1,200 staff by 50 per cent last August. It also changed its fiscal year from October to September to January to December after privatisation.

With a huge investment of more than Bt100 million, the new 34-episode soap is based on the novel written by Ja Kob about the life and loves of King Bayinnaung, who ruled the Toungoo dynasty in Burma from 1551-81. He unified the country and conquered the Shan States and Siam to make Burma the most powerful kingdom in mainland Southeast Asia.

The series will take about a year to produce and will screen early next year on Channel 9.

Under the profit-sharing partnership, Prommitr Production Co Ltd will finance production, while MCOT Plc will take care of marketing and advertising.

We have everything ready to make this historic soap opera happen, said MC Chatrichalerm Yukol, preisident of Prommitr and executive producer of the soap.

Chatrichalerm is currently directing the movie The Great King Naresuan, which will hit theatres by the end of this year.

He said It [Phoo Chana Sib Tis] will be the first soap opera in Thailand to be shot in a movie-like high-definition format, he said.

Kamla Yukol, Prommitrvice-president said: We are now seeking someone to play Chadej [King Bayinnaung]. The 'Seeking Chadej' campaign will be shown on ModerNine channel from on January 12 onwards.

[singrakthai]

Originally Posted by U-Need

I watched the VCD as well, it is definitely her........Man Thailand is getting more interesting! Heard it is on the web as well, not sure what web site...... I guess she is trying to do a Masha and Mai.......both did it years ago.....Now they are so famous

Kinky right? Played with hand cruffs too! This lady hi-so.. speak in english when making love... hehehe... good figure but fake boobs... hehehe
Where can I find Masha and Mai video?????
Heard Masha likes young men.... hehehehe

[U-Need]

425 words
12 January 2006
English
(c) 2006 Thai News Service

Section: General News - The press council on December 19 expressed concern that a new policy by the police to stop parading suspects in front of media conferences would violate the suspects' rights, The Nation reports.

On November 16 the Royal Thai Police (RTP) put a ban on press conferences at which suspects and evidence are presented to the media except with approval from a police commander.

By not being allowed to talk to the press, a suspect would have no avenue in which to present a defence to any charges. Suspects should have the same rights as everyone else in accordance with the Constitution, Phongsak Phayakhawichian, president of the Press Council of Thailand (PCT), said at a council seminar.

RTP spokesman Achirawit Suphanphesat countered that the policy did not ban press conferences completely. There were still opportunities for press conferences if approved by a police commander - who would have to take full responsibility for any consequences that arise - or there is a continuing crime situation.

Suspects can also speak through their lawyers, he said.

Achirawit said the policy was issued to prevent a backlash against the RTP arising from the actions of some police officers who might be inclined to call a press conference out of self-interest without concern for the consequences, such as in the Sherry Ann Duncan case.

We have to accept that there have been such incidences by the police in the past, Achirawit said.

He accepted the policy would have a significant effect on the relationship between police and press. He said as far as the press was concerned, the announcement of the policy was like sudden thunder (completely unexpected).

Phongsak said in practice, the policy was not very clear. He insisted the Constitution states that a suspect is considered innocent, consequently they should have the right to speak to the public through the press.

Being made to speak through their lawyer only should be considered a rights violation in some way, and we should pass this question on to the Lawyers Society of Thailand for an interpretation, Phongsak said.

Achirawit said it was not the intention of the RTP to prevent the press from doing their jobs in respect of a suspect. The ban was particularly aimed at stopping the press from getting under the feet of the police.

He said he would pass on all concerns of the press council to national police chief General Kowit Wattana, especially the issue of a suspect speaking through a lawyer.

[U-Need]

Originally Posted by singrakthai

Kinky right? Played with hand cruffs too! This lady hi-so.. speak in english when making love... hehehe... good figure but fake boobs... hehehe
Where can I find Masha and Mai video?????
Heard Masha likes young men.... hehehehe

I have the photos containing Mai which is some years ago. While Masha's photo and video was taken when she was working in Bangkok Palace years ago. Masha is going out with a young VJ for some years now.

[U-Need]

519 words
12 January 2006
English
(c) 2006 Thai News Service

Section: General News - Ministry hears surcharge complaints, finds bogus orders, The Nation reports.

The Commerce Ministry on January 10 heard numerous sugar traders complain that some of their number were bribing millers to ensure a steady supply of the commodity.

The need to pay bribes was pushing prices up, traders said. They are paying millers Bt17-Bt20 per kilogram even though the ministry has set the price at Bt14.25 per kilogram, they said.

A senior ministry official said that millers said higher prices were being charged because of the supply shortage. Licensed millers are supposed to supply 400,000 100kg sacks of sugar per week.

However, they say that due to the supply shortage they only have enough stock to supply future contracts.

The ministry official said, however, that most of the advance contracts sugar millers claim to have are bogus.

Seventy per cent of the country's millers said they have signed contracts to supply sugar in the future, but a report found that only 20 per cent had actually signed advance contracts, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Many sugar millers have told the ministry that were unable to supply the 400,000 sacks of sugar per week they are obligated to supply because they have to reserve sugar for advance contracts.

However, an inspection by the ministry found that in many cases the millers had contracted to sell the sugar to parties that did not exist.

As a result, the Internal Trade Department on January 11 will send inspection teams to verify the amount of sugar held in millers' warehouses across the country.

The inspectors will look for excess stockpiles that can be sold to ease the current sugar shortage.

Siripol Yodmungcharoen, director-general of the department, said the inspection teams would inform the minister of any firms that have hoarded sugar to take advantage of higher prices.

Sugar traders from 50 provinces have already reported the size of their stockpile to the ministry.

The department needs to inspect all sugar warehouses to check whether the amounts provided are accurate or not, he said.

The ministry reported that there are about 520,000 tonnes of sugar in public warehouses.

The total amount of sugar stockpiles in both government and private warehouses is nine million tonnes.

Siripol added that the ministry would distribute 115,00 tonnes of sugar to consumers to relieve the sugar shortage problem.

The sugar is from three associations of millers and will be sold to consumers directly through provincial Commercial Offices.

Meanwhile, the Customs Department on January 10 seized illegal sugar exports bound for Cambodia and Laos. The shipments totalled 28,250kg and were worth about Bt400,000.

Sathit Limpongpan, director-general of the department, said the domestic price is lower than the world market price and this has encouraged small traders not only to hoard stocks but also to smuggle sugar out of the country.

Illegal exports were putting pressure on the domestic price as well as supply, he said.

Sugar exports have been closely monitored since last September.

[U-Need]

676 words
12 January 2006
English
(c) 2006 Thai News Service

Section: General News - Concerns raised over credentials of obscure Singapore company picked for ground-handling

Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) on December 19 awarded a controversial 10-year contract to an obscure Singapore firm, which, through Thai Airport Ground Services Co Ltd, will be managing ground services handling at Suvarnabhumi Airport, The Nation reports.

Forbisher Pte Co Ltd of Singapore has taken over Thai Airport Ground Services (TAGS) in which it now holds 48 per cent. The track record of Forbisher has not been made clear and no information on the company turns up on an Internet search.

The contract was awarded by the AOT board, chaired by Srisook Chandrangsu, despite the ambiguous credentials of Forbisher.

Deputy Transport Minister Chaiyanan Charoensiri, who is in charge of Suvarnabhumi Airport's development, said on December 19 AOT was trying to clarify whether TAGS was a Thai-owned or a foreign-owned entity.

The other foreign shareholder in TAGS is British Airways Plc, which owns 8.5 per cent. Together, the combined holding of the two foreign companies is above 51 per cent, the statutory limit of foreign ownership in Thailand.

AOT's senior executive vice president ML Yom Ngonrot, who is also chairman of TAGS, said despite Forbisher's holding, TAGS was still a Thai company. Its shareholding is less than 50 per cent and Thais control the management, he said.

Bancha Pattanaporn, acting president of AOT, said the board had assigned Yom to supply details of TAGS' current shareholders.

TAGS proposed acceptable operating expenses and is expected to generate Bt418 million in income for AOT in the first year of the concession, he told reporters. If we handled it ourselves, the cost would be higher.

Thai Airfreight Forwarders Association (TAFA) president Keeree Chaichanawong was concerned about AOT's decision to award the contract to TAGS. We have made proposals to AOT many times for the rent of warehouses at Suvarnabhumi but there has been no answer. As TAGS will handle this, we will need to re-rent the warehouse from the company. This is against the government's policy to boost Thailand's competitiveness through lower logistics costs.

Under the contract approved on December 19, AOT will need to pay TAGS Bt1 billion in the first year with the cost increasing exponentially in coming years. AOT's board on December 19 also approved TAGS' Bt937-million budget for the construction of a logistics centre building. Bancha said by doing so, the construction work would be closely monitored by AOT engineers.

Krungthep Turakij reported on December 19 that the deal was not transparent in that AOT did not call for bids when it was selecting the company for the 40,000-square metre free zone logistics centre (FLC) operation. An AOT source defended the decision as an outsourcing deal, so a bid was not necessary.

A senior official at AOT said earlier that TAGS had been tipped for the job from the start, as it was owned by AOT. However, in the shareholding structure, AOT's stake in the company is only 28.5 per cent while Forbisher, which emerged as a shareholder only this year, holds 48 per cent.

TAGS handles ground services at Bangkok International Airport. Its original shareholders consisted of mainly airlines and tourism-related agencies including Thai Airways International and Lufthansa. The shareholders' structure was revamped in July after it was clear that TAGS' services would not be extended once the international airline business was moved to Suvarnabhumi. Krungthep Turakij also mentioned that Forbisher could be a nominee of a politically linked Thai interest group.

A source from AOT said Forbisher stepped in as an experienced airport ground services provider in Singapore specialising in airport IT systems.

This is a normal survival strategy. We needed to bring in the Singapore investor to survive in the industry, said a source at TAGS who asked not to be named. He denied the rumour the company had Thai political connections.

[U-Need]

460 words
12 January 2006
English
(c) 2006 Thai News Service

Section: General News - A serious campaign against corruption is the emphasis of the Government this year. In his weekly radio address on 7 January 2006, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stressed his administration's strong efforts to fight corruption.

The Prime Minister said that the corruption problem had intensified and that he had instructed all government agencies to step up the crackdown on corruption. In order to deal with the problem effectively, a new system and new measures must be introduced. For instance, anti-corruption teams would be formed and sent to monitor work and check graft charges. Investigations and inspections would be carried out more seriously to prevent the problem in both government agencies and state enterprises.

The Prime Minister said that the Government had been empowered, to a certain extent, to take action against corruption. The law gives more power to the National Counter Corruption Commission in dealing with graft charges. Since new members of the National Counter Corruption Commission had yet to be established, taking action against corruption by the Government had become difficult. He believed that, after the royal approval of the new National Counter Corruption Commission and the start of its work, anti-corruption operations would go more smoothly.

The Prime Minister said that, in his meeting with provincial governors on January 6, he also emphasized anti-graft efforts, saying that drastic action would be taken against corrupt officials. Graft in government projects and services must be eliminated. He warned officials not to get involved in corruption. Disciplinary action would be taken against them, if there was no concrete evidence. But in cases in which concrete evidence was found, legal action would be taken against corrupt officials.

He said that, beginning on 1 February 2006, the Government would introduce a new system for electronic auctions for government contracts to prevent price collusion. The Prime Minister said that e-auction was not just bidding through the Internet, but there must be an e-auction station where bidders would compete face-to-face. The winner would be the one who offered the most attractive price, without being informed of the median price for the project.

The Government is revising regulations for the e-auction procedures to ensure transparency. The Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam to oversee the amendment to the e-auction regulations. According to the Prime Minister, the e-auction process should be called reverse e-auction, as the Government intended to buy items and services from bidders, not to sell them.

While waiting for amendments to e-auction regulations, all government agencies were told to put on hold bids for projects worth more than one billion baht.

[U-Need]

1389 words
12 January 2006
Bangkok Post
English

Roy Hamric

Foreigners first began visiting Chiang Mai in the late 19th century when the British opened a "mountain station" to extract teak trees and other timber. During the Vietnam War, Americans found it to be the most beautiful and sleepy of Thailand's mountain cities.

Today, it's ranked among the top of Asia's most livable cities list and an increasing number of Chiang Mai's Buddhist wat, or monasteries, are drawing in more and more Westerners seeking introductory classes on Buddhism and meditation retreats.

A growing number of farang (Westerners) are forsaking the more traditional spas and venues that offer massage, Thai cooking and yoga classes for Buddhist studies classes in English and Thai meditation retreats that run from one to 21 days or longer.

Wat Umong, one of Chiang Mai's 300 Buddhist monasteries, rests in the foothills of Mount Doi Suthep, rising 5,478 feet above the 1,000-year-old city. Wat is a Thai word from the Pali-Sanskrit word meaning "dwelling for pupils and ascetics." Wat Umong's history goes back to the 14th century.

On the densely wooded monastery grounds, limestone sculptures of the Buddha are scattered over the ground, some nearly completely covered by climbing vines. Small kuti - self-sufficient huts that house monks - are bathed in yellow sunbeams filtering through the leafy canopy. The deep murmuring sound of monks' chanting sutras filled the evening air one day this fall.

On a pathway, blue signs with white lettering offered helpful aphorisms: "Today is Better than Two Tomorrows." "I have not failed - I found ways that don't work." Sixteen foreigners sat quietly in a red-roofed Chinese pavilion beside a two-acre pond. Green algae circled the pond's edge almost to its centre, leaving a circle of water where large turtles poked their snouts into the air.

Nirodho Bikkhu, an Australian monk who lives in a nearby kuti, walked into the pavilion and sat down. He adjusted his brown robe and smiled.

"I would rather answer your questions and just talk. Does anyone have a question?" he asked. Moments of long silence. Finally, a young girl with bronze skin from days on the road asked: "Is reality real?"

The monk smiled. Speaking slowly, he explained what the Buddha said about objective and subjective views. He talked about meditation as a way to experience the mind, the senses and the body. He talked about a concept in Vipassana Buddhism of small, discreet divisions of mental activity that can take years of meditation to fully distinguish. "They pass by unnoticed by most people," he said.

More silence. Then an American lady asked: "What about bardos," the different stages of the death-journey found in Tibetan Buddhism.

"I speak only about what the Buddha said," Norodho Bikkhu answered. "Bardos are concepts found only in the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead'."

A young woman listening to the monk, Laura Robbins, stayed the full two hours. After everyone left, she had a private conversation with Nirodho Bikkhu.Later, walking beside the pond, she said she was starting a 21-day meditation retreat at a nearby monastery in two days.

"A little serendipity got me to this point," said Robbins, an English teacher from Portland, Oregon. While on vacation in Prescott, Arizona, she had a conversation with the owner of a Thai restaurant who gave her the name of an American woman who teaches meditation.

"I choose that temple," she said, "because of what the woman teacher said, and I liked it that there were a lot of nuns there."

In the past, it took a lot of effort for Westerners to find a wat where they could receive introductory lectures on Buddhism or go on short or long meditation retreats. Like many temples, Wat Umong is rapidly expanding its offerings to Westerners. .

"We will be friends to anyone who wants to know more about Buddhism," said Songserm Bikkhu, the teaching monk who directs Wat Umong's newly-opened International Buddhist Education and Meditation Practice Centre, which has 17 rooms for foreigners who can choose from one to four-day retreats. There is no cost, just individual donation. Many Westerners give US$4-6 a day.

"If people would like to take a retreat or to ordain as a monk and practice here, they can," Songserm Bikkhu said. "If they would just like to come, learn and go and practice on their own, they can."

Most Chiang Mai wat teach Vipassana meditation, a system based on meditation and attention to the four foundations of mindfulness. Exercises are based on mindfulness of body and movement, mindfulness of feelings, mindfulness of mind and mindfulness of objects. In Pali, Vipassana means "to see things as they really are."

The retreat schedule is the same at most wat: rise at 4am followed by morning chanting and mediation, breakfast, dharma study, followed by lunch, afternoon walking and sitting meditation, a one-on-one talk with the supervising monk, rest time and evening chanting, concluded by more sitting and walking meditation. Students are encouraged to do sitting and walking meditation up to 12 hours a day.

A short distance down the road from Wat Umong is Wat Ram Poeng, built in 1451, with touches of Burmese Buddhist architecture. A popular meditation centre with Asians and foreigners alike, the wat is home to the Northern Insight Vipasanna Mediation Centre.

Eric Stirnweis of Fort Collins, Colorado, was in his second week of retreat, along with other Americans and people from Sweden, Canada and France. While waiting for his daily interview with the abbot, he said he had already increased his walking and sitting meditation to about 12 hours a day.

"Here you eat, sleep and meditate - that's it," Stirnweis said. "They push you."

At the end of the retreat period, he said, each student goes through "termination" - a three-day period of very little sleep and constant sitting and walking meditation.

The daily interviews are helpful, he said, but the practice is tough with lots of ups and downs.

"It's different - no telephone, no email, six hours of sleep a day at most, but it's a healthy focus," he said. "The abbot is definitely perceptive. I didn't even say anything one morning, and he said, 'Ah, there's much negativity here.' He seems to know you without talking to you."

Wat Ram Poeng is in the process of expanding facilities to house up to 30 foreigners.

Frequently, foreigners who want even longer retreats are sent to Wat Dthat Sri, a sister temple. It also is in the process of creating a foreigner-housing area complete with small cottages outside the wat grounds.

An American, Kathryn Chindaporn, who co-directs the meditation centre for foreigners with her Thai husband, Thanat, recalled her phone conversation with Laura Robbins.

"This is a good place for basic or long-term practice, tailored to individuals," said Chindaporn, who is from Everett, Washington. "We use the mental libelling technique. It is easy. You think, 'I'm taking a step with my right foot, or I'm feeling content or sad.' It's easy to use, but the practice makes it very deep."

Chindaporn said she was on her way to India in 1986, but found herself staying on in Chiang Mai to practice full-time at Wat Ram Poeng, where she took classes in Buddhist studies, learned Thai and has since translated early Thai meditation texts into English.

Meanwhile, Laura Robbins had started her retreat at the wat and had begun daily interviews with Thanat Chindaporn.

"It's going fine," she said on her second day of the retreat. Ten days later, she took a two-day break, but planned to return the next day for another 10-day stay.

"It was very difficult," she said. "I wanted to leave at least three times. I was surprised how hard it was - the simplicity of it was frustrating.

"My mind was running everywhere," she said. "At the end we tried to practice for 72 hours straight. I had some very set ideas about who I am. I found that by pushing past that I've come out being much more gentle with myself."

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Mandarin teachers on the way to Thailand

Thailand and China will join forces to tackle the shortage of Mandarin teachers and textbooks in the Kingdom, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang said yesterday.

Chaturon and Chinese Deputy Education Minister Zhang Xin-sheng yesterday witnessed the signing of an initial memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the Thai permanent secretary for education and Zhao Guochen, deputy director of the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language – better known as Hanban.

The official MoU would be signed again in the presence of Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao, who will visit Thailand soon, Chaturon said.

Hanban and Thailand’s Educa-tion Ministry will train 1,000 Mandarin teachers a year, with each teacher receiving a month’s intensive training in Thailand and two months’ training in China, Chaturon said.

Hanban would also award 100 scholarships a year for Thais to study towards bachelor’s degrees in China, and annually provide 500 Chinese volunteers with an opportunity to teach Mandarin in Thailand, starting this year.

The Education Ministry will be licensed by Hanban to use textbooks entitled “Happy Chinese” in schools and a joint committee would be set up to improve the Mandarin curriculum in primary and secondary schools this year, Chaturon said.

Hanban will also help Thailand develop e-learning systems and send its teachers to develop intensive Mandarin teaching software, he said. China has also offered to establish Mandarin schools in rural areas, and Thailand may build one school as a symbol of the bilateral cooperation.

Zhang said the Chinese government would give support in the form of materials, textbooks and teacher training because previous discussions showed that Thailand was serious about supporting Mandarin learning and teaching.

Meanwhile, Education Inspector Pojana Wongtrakool told a seminar on Mandarin teaching at the Ambassador Hotel yesterday that the ministry hoped about 100,000 Mathayom 6 students – or 20 per cent of all students at that level – would study and be able to communicate in Mandarin by 2010. The ministry wants at least 4,000 students a year to develop their Chinese-language skills to the bachelor’s degree level.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Thai kids reaching puberty at younger ages, study shows

Young people are reaching the age of reproduction earlier than in the past, a study released by Chulalongkorn University has found.

Researcher Siriyupa Nansuna-nont from the university’s Centre for Research and Development of Sexuality Education collected data from almost 6,000 students between the ages of 10 and 24 from across the country.

On average, girls reported having their first menstrual period at 12 years of age. The youngest reported age was 9 and the eldest was 20, she said.

Boys on average were found to begin having nocturnal emissions at the age of 13, with 8 being the earliest reported age and 22 the eldest.

Siriyupa said the results were in line with a survey in the UK of 14,000 young people. The survey found that one-sixth of girls had reached the age of reproduction by 8 years of age, compared with the previous generation in which only one 1 in 100 girls had their first period by that age.

Likewise, one in 14 boys reported reaching puberty by the age of 8, up from one in 150 boys in the previous generation.

“It might cause problems if they reach the reproductive age quicker but lack the knowledge of sexuality they need to deal with the change. This puts them at risk of becoming troubled adults,” Siriyupa said.

Further research would be required to determine if there was a link between reaching the age of reproduction earlier and premature sexual activity, she said.

Prof Nikorn Dusitsin, from the centre, said sex education was needed in schools to prevent problems arising from young people reaching the age of reproduction without being knowledgeable about sex.

Research in Scandinavian countries showed that the average age at which girls reach the age of reproduction decreases by 5 every 10 years, he said.

According to Siriyupa’s research, the average age at which Thais have sex for the first time is 16, which she said was too young because they are still in school.

One of her respondents reported having sex for the first time at the age of 7 with a 55-year-old man. “That shows that some youths are having premature sex as a result of sexual abuse,” she said.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Thai kids reaching puberty at younger ages, study shows

CORRECTION : : Research in Scandinavian countries showed that the average age at which girls reach the age of reproduction decreases by 5 every 10 years, he said


Should read as :
Research in Scandinavian countries showed that the average age at which girls reach the age of reproduction decreases by 5 months every 10 years, he said

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Mia Nois better watch it

A government committee yesterday approved a series of landmark legal amendments that would empower wives to demand compensation from other women involved in routine extramarital affairs with their husbands.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who chairs the panel, said other key amendments would also result in rape not being limited as a crime against only women.

“The definition of rape would also include sexual violations by men against men, women against men, and women against each other,” he added.

As for the extramarital affairs, men visiting brothels or seeing prostitutes would not be held accountable under this condition.

The current criminal code defines rape as a crime in which the penis of a man penetrates into a vagina of an unwilling woman he is not officially married to.

Such penetration by a man against his lawfully wedded wife against her will is not rape under existing law – only a sexual violation, as are acts by men against men and women against men.

The Civil Code currently allows a man to sue another man who has sex with his lawfully wedded wife for compensatory payments, in addition to filing for divorce.

Thai women can only file for divorce against their husbands, but have no rights to demand civil punitive damage payment from the other women involved in the affair.

Piyanart Srivalo
The Nation

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Who’s who of Thai business community

In ancient times, distance was a key factor in determining a person’s importance in society. The further from the capital city a person was stationed, the less important he was in the ruler’s eyes.

If this principle were applied to the seating of businessmen at their lunch with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday, many of the guests would have been wondering what they’d done wrong.

There were about 50 tables at the lunch, with the prime minister’s located in the centre of the first row.

Sitting near him were some big names, with Charoen Pokphand Group chief Dhanin Chearavanont on his right and Board of Trade chairman Pramon Sutheewong on his left. Next to Dhanin was Prasert Bunsumpun, president of PTT Plc, whose firm was commended as a successful example of privatisation. Sitting across from Dhanin was his son Supachai Chearavanont, president of True Corp Plc.

To the surprise of many, Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, president of Asia Plus Securities Plc, who was rumoured to be the investment banker to whom Thaksin talks most frequently, was also at the table.

Given that the forum was organised in cooperation with the Thai Bankers Association, many would expect that TBA chairman Chartsiri Sophonpanich would have been seated at the PM’s table. He was indeed seated at a nearby table, hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.

Prasarn Trairatvorakul, president of Kasikornbank, was seated even further away at the table next to Chartsiri’s.

Looking back, several prominent businessmen were seated at tables in the back rows, including Pliu Mangkornkanok, chief executive officer of Tisco Bank; and industrial estate and steel mill operator Sawasdi Horrungruang; who were seated among Thai and foreign businessmen who represented nearly all industries.

Regardless of the distant seating, those businessmen should not feel agitated. No matter where they sat, on the table was the same menu, which of course contained a bowl of shark fin soup, and on the agenda was the same Thaksin and those same buzzwords.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Nation dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Stray dogs led police to alleged killers of Welsh tourist

Police investigating the rape and murder of a British tourist at a Thai beach resort said Thursday that stray dogs played a key role in leading them to two Thai fisherman who allegedlycommitted the crime.

The mother of the victim, 21-year-old Katherine Horton, told policeher daughter had called from a cell phone while walking on a Koh Samui beach. The mother, Elizabeth Horton, said she heard her daughter scream as dogs barked in the background, and then the line went dead, said police Maj. Santan Chayanont, who heads the police task force investigating the murder.

That information led police to suspect that the attackers were Thai, said Santan. He said that Thais tend to chase away stray dogs away, while Westerners pet and feed them.

"The dogs are friendly with Westerners, but they turn fierce on Thais,''Santan said, adding that four stray dogs were known to live on the particular beach where Horton was last seen. "The barking dogs were the additional clue that helped police narrow down the suspects and focus on Thai men.''

Two Thai fishermen confessed Monday to killing Horton, whose battered body was found the morning of January 2 by a jet skier in the Gulfof Thailand. Police have said DNA tests showed that semen found onHorton's body belonged to the two suspects.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from Bangkok Post dated Thursday 12 January 2006 :-

Unshackling the drug habit : Sight of addicts, mental patients chained to walls of rehab centre accepted by locals

Story by Wassana Nanuam

The sight of men chained to trees and walls at a ponoh school in Mayo district may shock strangers, but not local people.

These men have been diagnosed as mentally deranged from prolonged drug abuse, or are HIV-Aids positive.

A charity rehabilitation centre set up at the school provides herbal treatments which are accepted by local people even though they have not been approved by the Public Health Ministry.

The centre was founded by Sakariya Jehtae, the babor, or headmaster, who was formerly a religious teacher at Thammathan Foundation School in Yala. He converted his house into a ponoh school-cum-mental asylum and Aids treatment centre, operating under religious principles, 18 years ago.

Nearly 2,000 patients have so far been treated at the centre with herbal medicines twice a day, in the morning and at bedtime.

Most patients are young Muslim men, all are shackled to prevent them escaping. Some had gone berserk and smashed everything around them.

The herbal treatments are said to cure drug addicts, the mentally ill and those in the early stage of HIV-Aids.

When Mr Sakariya died in October last year, the task of running of the facility passed to his wife Mrs Nuriyoh, 42, nephew Muhammad Soreh Kiya, 32, and two followers.

"We use herbs from this area and from Arab countries," Mrs Nuriyoh said. "Despite the lack of approval from the Public Health Ministry we will continue the treatments because they are effective and acceptable to local people and we will continue helping them, she said.

Mr Muhammad said not everyone agreed with their methods, but patients must follow the rules.

"Drug addicts, the mentally ill and hallucinating patients here must follow our rules. Their relatives must allow us to chain patients to prevent them from escaping, damaging things and attacking other people," he said.

"Suffering caused by being chained will make them stay away from drugs. People criticise us for chaining them, but it's our rule to confine them for 3-6 months depending on the severity of their condition."

Malang Masae, 36, from Yaring district said he was admitted suffering from hallucinations as a result of drug abuse. He had now recovered. He wanted to go home and would not take drugs again because being chained up was painful.

Abdulloh Jehso, 25, from Mayo district could speak sensibly again after two months of treatment for marijuana addiction and alcoholism, but admitted loneliness might cause him to use marijuana again after going home.

Neither of the two men had any ideas about the violence in the far South and said they could not care less about it.

Heroin addict Amrun Arwae, 37, said he had come to the centre 20 days for help.

He had chains around his ankles and said he did nothing but read all day.

But not all patients recover quickly.

Even after four months, Kamanording Useng still thinks of little else than the cartoon characters Super Seya and Pokemon.