Entrance sign of “COVID-19 Restaurant” in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
KORAT — A man who lost his restaurant in the coronavirus pandemic is now an owner of a humble eatery in Korat by the name of “COVID-19.”
Suthin Akhart’s new business has been predictably catching the attention of bemused bypassers in Muang Kaset subdistrict. Suthin said the name is a sarcastic “thank you” to the pandemic that took away customers from his restaurant in the tourist resort town of Pattaya.
He eventually had to close down the venue, which had cost him 2 million baht in investments. The misfortune forced him to move back to his hometown in Korat and open the eatery, only to see the second wave of coronavirus outbreak strike again.
“It followed me here,” Suthin said. “So I just used the name.”
COVID-19 is located on Khong – Kham Sakaesaeng Road, selling northeastern cuisine and food cooked to order.
“I don’t know if I’ll make it,” the owner of COVID-19 said. “I’ll keep fighting.”
Entrance sign of “COVID-19 Restaurant” in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
Police in Samut Songkhram province demonstrate arrest procedures for suspects who are believed to carry the coronavirus on Jan. 6, 2021.
Update: The government on Wednesday afternoon extended the Emergency Decree to Feb. 28, citing the growing threats of the coronavirus.
BANGKOK — A 63-year-old man died from the coronavirus in Thailand while 365 more infections were reported across the country as of Wednesday.
The victim was a driver for migrant workers in Samut Sakhon who was hospitalized on Dec. 27 and died on Tuesday, according to the government pandemic center Wednesday. His death brings the total virus fatalities in Thailand to 66 people, and the total number of infected to 9,331.
A spokesman for the coronavirus response center also expressed concern over the surge of new cases in triple digits. He said Thailand’s public health system will be seriously tested if daily infections exceed 1,000.
“We don’t want to see an increase in numbers, let’s keep it at two or three digits. We still have resources to handle that,” spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin told reporters.
“In LA in the U.S. now, they are at the level of asking people to not bring in patients to the hospital,” Taweesin said. “There people are left to die at home.”
He added, “We see the U.S. as a developed country, but they have a huge number of cases in the hundreds of thousands. So we must be sympathetic. Let’s pray for Thais in the U.S. and the Americans. Let’s hope we don’t see the same steep graphs here.”
The latest patient to die of coronavirus reportedly had a preexisting condition of high blood pressure, but no other known chronic disease.
Of the 365 new cases reported today, 250 were local transmissions, 99 from active case-finding among migrant workers, and 16 in state quarantine. Chonburi alone found 48 infections, 27 in Chanthaburi, 34 in Samut Prakan, 20 in Samut Sakhon, and 25 in Bangkok.
The capital has been declared a “Red Zone” along with 27 other provinces. Restaurants can only offer dine-in services from 6am to 9pm, while schools, theme parks, bars, boxing stadiums, massage venues, among others are ordered to close down.
In Nonthaburi, Bang Yai Market and the neighboring condominium are under lockdown after 22 people were found infected. The 652 residents of the seven-storey building have been barred from leaving their rooms since Dec. 28.
The government earlier this week also said the first shipment of vaccines produced by a Chinese manufacturer will arrive in February at the earliest, though priority will be given to frontline health workers.
Much of the public will have to wait until May, when doses of British-developed vaccines are scheduled to be available for distribution. The Thai Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve either vaccine type for domestic use.
Although PM Prayut Chan-o-cha maintained that up to half of Thai population will be eligible for free vaccination, a doctor who sits on the government’s COVID-19 advisory board was less than committed.
“I understand that the government will probably give away [vaccines] for free, because there’s policy to assist and protect the Thai population without charging any fee,” Narin Hiransuthikul said in an interview with Nation 22 TV channel.
When the host pressed whether the doses would indeed be free of charge, Narin replied, “I think they will have to discuss it first. But I believe it should be free. But we will have to discuss with the Ministry of Public Health first.”
Photo released by Yaha Police Station reportedly shows security officers patrolling at night to look for unmarried couples who behave inappropriately in public. Image: Sayutee Kateh / Facebook
YALA — Representatives from the police force and the national Islamic authority on Tuesday said they endorsed a crackdown and forced marriage arrangement on unmarried couples displaying affection in public in the southernmost province of Yala.
The crackdown is being enforced in Yala’s Yaha district under strict interpretation of the sharia law, which also threatens to punish any unchaperoned teens who interact with each other in public, raising concerns of potential civil rights violations and sectarianism.
But Police Maj. Gen. Tinakorn Rungmat, commander of Yala provincial police, said Tuesday that the rules do not amount to breaching the constitutional clause on rights and liberties, since they are local laws made by and for the local Muslim community.
“This is a social measure put in place to put teens in a certain boundary,” Tinakorn said. “For example, if you go to the borders of the country where there are some tribes, then you have to follow their manners of what to do and what not to do.”
Maj. Gen. Tinakorn said that the rule is mutually agreed-upon by four parties in Yaha district: the military, the police, local administrators, and religious leaders. Under the agreement, police would patrol the streets and bring in young couples who were seen alone together to the local mosque for religious sermons that berate their actions.
In “serious case” that involve sexual acts, the couples would be made to marry by the clerics. Police said no marriage has been arranged so far since the rule was first implemented in December 2019 – a claim questioned by a prominent human rights activist.
“It’s not like we are forcing them into marriages. It’s not what the media is imagining,” Tinakorn of Yala police force said. “The teens in the area are uncontrollable and dissipated in many ways, such as gathering for illegal purposes, taking drugs, and doing other undesirable things.”
Photo released by Yaha Police Station reportedly shows security officers patrolling at night to look for unmarried couples who behave inappropriately in public.
The Sheikhul Islam Office, the national governing body of Thai Muslims, insisted that the law helps to combat “prostitution” in the community.
“In Indonesia they also have prostitution,” Sheikhul Islam Office’s deputy secretary Saki Pitakkumpol said. “It’s everyone’s job to take care of this, the family, the community, and so on. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand. We can’t blame the authorities for not doing their job. It’s the imam’s job, among others, to deal with this problem.”
“Living a life away from faith and religion is a phenomenon happening worldwide,” Saki continued. “Not only the Sheikul Islam Office, but other sectors also have to teach people about morals and pre-marital teachings.”
Which Law is Higher?
But Angkhana Neelapaijit, an activist who monitors human rights situation in the southern region, disputed the assertion by the police and local imams that there have been no forced marriages under the rule so far.
The campaigner said she has actually received multiple complaints about marital arrangements against their wills.
“Many kids have called in. A girl tried to kill herself in order to get out of a marriage to an older man,” she said by phone Tuesday. “Some people come knocking and kidnap teens to coerce them into marriage. Others escape to Bangkok.”
Angkhana first raised public attention to the harsh enforcement of sharia law in Yaha on Saturday. The former National Human Rights Commissioner said she’s especially disturbed by reports of children as young as 14 escorted by the police to the clerics for their disciplinary actions.
Photo released by Yaha Police Station reportedly shows security officers patrolling at night to look for unmarried couples who behave inappropriately in public.
“Police cannot take the children anywhere. Imams are not their employees,” she said by phone on Tuesday. “Cases involving children need a social security worker or a trusted guardian present. How is it possible to bring a 13 or 14 year old to a religious leader in an all-male committee, without citing any criminal charge?”
The Child Protection Act bans police from apprehending children and transporting them to another place unrelated to the law enforcement.
“This rule assumes that children have evil intentions,” Angkhana went on. “If they are having sex in public, then police can stop them. But if two people are just together in a coffee shop, that’s not allowed?”
Under a 1946 legislation, Thailand officially recognizes the use of sharia for Muslim residents in the four border provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla, but implementation of sharia law is limited to settling family and inheritance disputes in court. The law does not allow forcing marriages and punishing individuals for alleged immoral acts, Angkhana said.
End of Interfaith Dating?
Yaha is located in northern Yala, part of a region that has a deep cultural root in Islamic heritage. Yala and its neighboring provinces once belonged to Patani, an independent sultanate that was annexed by Bangkok in the early 20th century.
In the present days, the region is home to about 3.7 million Muslims, or about 30 percent of the southern population.
A violent secessionist campaign born out of religious and ethnic enmity has gripped the Deep South since 2004. And a local Buddhist monk fears the harsh sharia law being enforced in Yaha may further drive the wedge between the two peoples.
“We are concerned since we don’t know how these rules will play out, especially if they catch a Buddhist and a Muslim together,” Phra Sirijariyalangkan said by phone.
“From their perspective, this is preventing young people from doing bad things, which is good,” the monk said. “But if this rule is used with people of other religions, it will create conflict and hatred between different faiths.”
A woman poses for photos at a New Year fair in Yala province on Dec. 31, 2020.
Phra Sirijariyalangkan, who also chairs a religious group called Phuttamonton Pattani Foundation, recalled the case of a Buddhist man who was “caught” dating a Muslim woman. The discovery led to people from her village mobbing his house to demand that he converts and marries the woman.
“It’s quite scary,” the monk said. “After converting to Islam, they cannot do many Buddhist rituals or events at home for their family anymore.”
The central government and provincial administrative officials have yet to make any comments on the application of sharia law in Yaha district.
Angkhana, the rights activist, said she’s been harassed on social media since she raised public attention to the situation in Yaha on Saturday. Some residents even sent her threatening messages and told her not to set foot in the district, she said, adding that many other civil rights organizations are reluctant to speak out.
“All the NGOs are quiet,” she said. “No one wants to touch this religious issue.”
Kumamon mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture holds New Year's greeting cards at the southwestern Japan prefectural government office building on Jan. 5, 2021. (Kyodo)
KUMAMOTO (Kyodo) — Kumamon, the black bear-like mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan, has received around 5,300 “nengajo” postcards for the new year, including from overseas, the prefectural government said Tuesday.
“I miss you,” and “I want to see you this year” were among the messages sent as of Monday to the beloved character, who has largely refrained from making public appearances since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Seven country flags, including Japan, Britain and China, are depicted as samurai in a poster. (Photo courtesy of Digital Entertainment Asset Pte. Ltd.)(Kyodo)
TOKYKO (Kyodo) — As the postponed Olympics approach next summer, a Tokyo-based content producer is hoping that his project to represent countries and their flags with anime characters donning traditional Japanese garb and posing with swords or other weaponry will help foster greater understanding between nations.
Working with a partner company, Kama Yamamoto launched World Flags in 2018 alongside a handful of artists he has previously worked with on different ventures, hoping to help people around the world familiarize themselves with other countries and their cultures in a fun way.
President Donald Trump walks out of the Oval Office to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Dalton, Ga. for a rally. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday tightened the screws on his most loyal soldier, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to use powers he does not have to overturn the will of voters in a desperate, futile bid to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November election.
Pence finds himself in the most precarious position of his tenure as he prepares to preside over Wednesday’s congressional tally of Electoral College votes, bearing witness to the formalization of Trump’s — and his own — election defeat.
“Tellers” from the House and Senate will record each states’ electoral votes. At the end of the count, seated on the House of Representatives’ rostrum, Pence has the task of announcing who has won the majority of votes for both president and vice president.
Despite the pro forma nature of Pence’s role, he is under intense pressure from the president and legions of supporters who want the vice president to use the moment to overturn the will of the voters in a handful of critical battleground states.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you,” Trump said at a rally Monday night in Georgia for candidates in two Senate runoff elections.
Vice President Mike Pence walks through the Oval Office before President Donald Trump departs the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Dalton, Ga. for a rally. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much,” Trump added, drawing laughs. He said Pence was “going to have a lot to say about it. And you know one thing with him, you’re going to get straight shots. He’s going to call it straight.”
Trump continued to pile on, insisting in a statement late Tuesday, hours after a lunch with the vice president, that Pence had not informed him that he possessed no power to overturn the will of voters. “He can decertify the results or send them back to the states for change and certification,” Trump said. “He can also decertify the illegal and corrupt results and send them to the House of Representatives for the one vote for one state tabulation.“
Neither the Constitution nor congressional statute grants the vice president any such powers. It is up to the House and Senate to voice objections, and states’ electors were chosen in accordance with state law, not fraudulently.
Trump and Pence discussed the proceedings during their weekly lunch in the West Wing on Tuesday, according to a person briefed on the one-on-one conversation and granted anonymity to discuss it. And the vice president has spent hours huddling with staff and the Senate parliamentarian to prepare, including studying up on the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which governs the proceedings, and relevant legal opinions ahead of Wednesday’s joint session.
But Pence, whose office declined to discuss his plans, was not expected to deliver on Trump’s request to overturn the electors, acknowledging he has no such unilateral power.
People close to the vice president stressed his respect for institutions and said they expect him to act in accordance with the law and hew to the Constitution. Pence, one official said, could echo some of Trump’s complaints about the vote, even if he doesn’t interfere in the count.
“I think he will approach this as a constitutionalist, basically, and say, ’What’s my role in the Constitution as president of the Senate?’” said David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth and a Pence friend. “What he’ll do is allow anybody who is going to move to object to be heard, but then abide by what the majority of the Senate makes the outcome.”
In fulfilling one of the few formal responsibilities of the vice presidency, Pence also risks compromising his own political future. Pence is eyeing his own run for the White House in 2024, and is banking on his years of loyalty to Trump — likely to be the GOP’s top kingmaker for years to come — to help him stand out in what is expected to be a crowded field.
That means he must avoid angering Trump along with large portions of the Republican base, who have bought into the president’s unsupported claims of widespread election fraud and have been falsely led to believe that Pence has the power to reverse the outcome by rejecting the votes from states like Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that swung from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.
“Stop the steal!” voters in Georgia chanted to Pence at a rally for the Senate candidates at the Rock Springs Church in Milner, Georgia, on Monday.
“I know we all — we all got our doubts about the last election. And I want to assure you, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about voting irregularities,” Pence told the crowd. “And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence.”
On Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m. EST, Pence is to preside over a joint session of Congress. His role is to open the certificates of the electoral votes from each state and present them to the appointed “tellers” from the House and Senate in alphabetical order. At the end of the count, it falls to Pence to announce who won.
In 2017, it fell to Biden to intone, “It is over” after votes were tallied for Trump and Pence.
Allies stress his role is largely ministerial, and that the electoral count could only be overturned by the lawmakers — a virtual impossibility given that Democrats control the House. But Pence on Sunday held a two-hour meeting that included the Senate parliamentarian to review his role and responsibilities
And on Monday, Pence was in the Oval Office with Trump and senior aides as the president continued to seek pathways to overturn the election results. The scene appeared animated as the president, Pence and their chiefs of staff met with lawyer John Eastman and others.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been leading the president’s legal effort, said in a podcast interview that the team had been consulting with constitutional law professors and analyzing Pence’s options. He said Trump and Pence on Monday were “going through all of the research” and would probably wait until Tuesday to make a decision on how to proceed.
“The president will make this decision based on his judgment and the advice that he gets on what the Constitution demands,” Giuliani told conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump is scheduled to rally thousands of supporters on the Ellipse, just south of the White House, on Wednesday morning just hours before the count. Pence was not expected to attend, according to a person familiar with the event.
Despite claims by Trump and his allies, there was not widespread fraud in the election. This has been confirmed by a range of election officials and by William Barr, who stepped down as attorney general last month. Neither Trump nor any of the lawmakers promising to object to the count have presented credible evidence that would change the outcome.
Nevertheless, more than 100 House Republicans and a dozen Senate Republicans have said they will challenge the electoral votes of at least one of the battleground states on Wednesday.
Former law professor Benny Tai, center, a key figure in Hong Kong's 2014 Occupy Central protests and also was one of the main organizers of the primaries, sits in a car after being arrested by police in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Apple Daily)
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police arrested about 50 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists Wednesday for allegedly violating the new national security law by participating in unofficial election primaries for the territory’s legislature last year.
The mass arrests, including of former lawmakers, were the largest move against Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the law was imposed by Beijing to quell dissent in the semi-autonomous territory last June.
In a video released by former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting on his Facebook page, police turned up at his house and told him he was “suspected of violating the national security law, subverting state power.” Police told those recording the video to stop or risk arrest.
Police did not immediately comment on the arrests, reported by the South China Morning Post, online platform Now News and various political groups and figures.
In this image taken from a video, former legislator and District Council member Gary Fan, right, is arrested by police officers at a police station in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (TVB via AP)
At least seven members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party — the city’s largest opposition party — were arrested, including former party chairman Wu Chi-wai. And former lawmakers Lam, Helena Wong and James To were also arrested, according to a post on the party’s Facebook page.
Benny Tai, a key figure in Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy Central protests and a former law professor, was also arrested by the police, according to local media reports. Tai was one of the main organizers of the primaries, which were held last July with the intent of fielding enough pro-democracy candidates in the legislative elections to gain control of the chamber.
All of the pro-democracy candidates in those unofficial primaries were arrested, according to tallies of Wednesday’s reported arrests.
The home of Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist who is serving a 13 1/2-month prison sentence for organizing and participating in an unauthorized protest last year, was also raided, according to a tweet posted from Wong’s account.
In this July 15, 2020, file photo, pro-democracy activists who were elected from unofficial pro-democracy primaries, including Joshua Wong, left, attend a press conference in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Police also went to the headquarters of Stand News, a prominent pro-democracy online news site in Hong Kong, with a court order to hand over documents to assist in an investigation related to the national security law, according to a livestreamed video by Stand News. No arrests were made.
In recent months, Hong Kong has already jailed several pro-democracy activists including Wong and Agnes Chow for their involvement in antigovernment protests, and others have been charged under the national security law including media tycoon and outspoken pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
The security law criminalizes acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers to intervene in the city’s affairs. Serious offenders could face up a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The unofficial primaries held in July last year attracted more than 600,000 voters even though pro-Beijing lawmakers and politicians had warned the event could breach the security law. Pro-democracy figures had hoped to use the vote to build support and win a majority of seats in the legislature, which they could use to vote against bills they deemed to be pro-Beijing, block budgets and paralyze the government.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had said at the time that if the primary election was aimed at resisting every policy initiative by the Hong Kong government, it may fall under subverting state power, an offence under the national security law.
Beijing also blasted the primaries as illegal, calling it a “serious provocation” of Hong Kong’s electoral system.
In this July 11, 2020, file photo, banners of a pro-democracy candidate Joshua Wong, wearing glasses, are displayed outside a subway station in Hong Kong, in an unofficial primary for pro-democracy candidates ahead of legislative elections. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu,File)
Following the handover of Hong Kong to China by the British in 1997, the semi-autonomous Chinese city has operated on a “one country, two systems” framework that affords it freedoms not found on the mainland. In recent years, Beijing has asserted more control over the city, drawing criticism that Hong Kong’s freedoms were under attack.
The legislative elections, originally slated to be held in September, were later postponed for a year. Lam cited the health risk of the coronavirus pandemic, though the pro-democracy camp denounced the postponement as unconstitutional.
In November, all of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse after four of them were disqualified, leaving a largely pro-Beijing legislature.
The sweeping arrests drew condemnation from Anthony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State nominee for the upcoming Biden administration, who said on Twitter that it was an “assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights.”
“The Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy,” Blinken wrote in his tweet.
The arrests suggest that Beijing has failed to learn from its mistakes in Hong Kong that repression generates resistance, according to a statement from Human Rights Watch’s senior China researcher Maya Wang.
In this July 12, 2020, file photo, people queue up to vote in Hong Kong in an unofficial primary for pro-democracy candidates ahead of legislative elections in September. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
She said that “millions of Hong Kong people will persist in their struggle for their right to vote and run for office in a democratically elected government.”
In further remarks to The Associated Press, Wang said it wasn’t clear what provisions of the law were being cited to justify the arrests, but that local authorities seem less concerned with legal substance.
“The very nature of the national security law is as a draconian blanket law allowing the government to arrest and potentially imprison people for long terms for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” Wang said.
“The veneer of rule of law is also applied in mainland China stripped of any meaning. Hong Kong is looking more like mainland China but where one ends and the other begins is hard to discern,” she said.
FILE - Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, whose grandfather co-founded energy drink company Red Bull, walks to get in a car as he leaves a house in London, on April 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
BANGKOK — Police on Tuesday said they are still working to bring back Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya to face justice in Thailand for the fatal car crash in 2012, though the extradition attempt is going nowhere.
Assistant national police commissioner Jaruwat Waisaya, who oversees the investigation into Vorayuth, said there have been no words from any of the 194 members of the Interpol since Thai police issued a request asking for information on Vorayuth’s whereabouts in October.
“No one responded to our request,” Lt. Gen. Jaruwat said by phone. “I will ask investigators to send out another request next week. We can’t really push them since it’s the discretion of each country to act upon our request.”
Thai police maintained that it does not know the whereabouts of Vorayuth, whose family co-owns the Red Bull energy drink empire. In October, reports emerged that Vorayuth was sighted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, though police still could not verify the claim.
“We already asked UAE authorities for confirmation, but there’s also no response,” Jaruwat said.
It has been three months since the Interpol issued the Red Notice for Vorayuth in September, which would supposedly notify police forces around the world to locate and detain him for extradition back to Thailand.
The notice could not be found on Interpol’s public database as of publication time. An error message displayed on the website says “the Notices are currently unavailable due to technical maintenance of the system.”
Vorayuth is wanted for hitting and killing a policeman, Sgt. Maj. Wichian Klanprasert, with his Ferrari in 2012. The case never made it to the court. He is believed to reside overseas ever since he fled the country in 2017, just days before the first arrest warrant was issued against him.
Investigation went silent for years until July, when the news broke that the prosecutor decided not to indict Vorayuth of the charges due to the lack of evidence – a revelation that drew public outrage over what appeared to a culture of impunity for the rich and the powerful.
He currently stands accused of two charges – fatal reckless driving and cocaine abuse – two other offenses that were brought against him already expired in 2013 and 2017.
The statute of limitation of the latest charges will expire on Sept. 3, 2027.
Parliament workers arrange lawmakers' seats apart from each other in preparation for the Lower House's reopening during the coronavirus pandemic on May 20, 2020.
BANGKOK — Thailand’s legislative branch will not be able to pass laws, amend legislations, or scrutinize the merits of government actions for 14 days, following an unprecedented decision to suspend the Parliament amid coronavirus anxiety.
The suspension was agreed by representatives from both opposition and coalition parties in a Monday meeting chaired by House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, lawmakers who attended the session said. The move followed a coronavirus scare at the Parliament when it emerged that a gambler infected with COVID-19 was present at a House committee meeting on online gambling in December.
Move Forward Party deputy leader Picharn Chaowapatanawong said Tuesday that the MPs in his party regretted the decision but had no choice but to follow the will of fellow parliamentarians.
“We definitely have to accept the decision,” Picharn said.
Due to the shutdown, deliberations on legislations and holding a censure debate will not be possible – including the ongoing bid to amend the 2016 Constitution, a key demand put forth by the waves of pro-democracy protests. Another MP lamented that in just one subcommittee, there is already a backlog of hundreds of cases he has to review, even on normal working days.
A worker disinfects the parliament’s main chamber on Feb. 28, 2020.
Picharn said his party already suggested reducing the number of MPs in meetings, more stringent health measures, and even regulation amendment that would allow legally binding online parliamentary sessions, but a majority of political parties at yesterday’s meeting disagreed.
In fact, Picharn said, more than half of political parties present at the meeting want not just 14 days of shutdown, but 28, citing fears of possible coronavirus infection.
“It was Chuan who decided on the 14-day period. He said, let’s see after 14 days first,” the Move Forward lawmaker said. “This is having an impact on the deliberation on a charter amendment, which was slated for the middle of this month.”
But Paiboon Nititawan, deputy leader of ruling Phalang Pracharath Party, insisted that the suspension of parliamentary activities is based on science of pandemic control, not politics.
“Most thought it should be deferred,” Paiboon said by phone. This is not a matter of legislators, and who would know about this better than doctors?”
The pro-government lawmaker also said it was the Disease Control Department who first came up with a suggestion of a 28-day shutdown, for the sake of safety.
“We were told by the department that the outbreak is widespread,” Paiboon added. “We shall reassess the situation after two weeks but we must follow the doctor’s recommendations.”
When asked about how the country will be run without a Parliament, Paiboon said his party will propose that special House sessions be introduced to make up for lost time of legislative debates, perhaps in March. Paiboon also said although the party currently halts all its physical meetings, its members are in touch with each other through Line chat application.
A file photo of a Senate meeting at the Parliament on Aug. 5, 2019.
Democrat Party MP Sukit Attopakorn, who is also advisor to the House Speaker, defended the suspension.
“I admit that the suspended meetings will affect many works,” he said. “But the Parliament will compensate through future meetings.”
Even Pheu Thai, one of the two main opposition parties, did not oppose the decision reached yesterday. Party deputy leader Pichai Naripthaphan said Tuesday that the lawmakers should not risk going ahead with physical meetings when the outbreak remains out of control.
“Our party doesn’t know how much the pandemic will spread. There are many staff in Parliament and the chance of infection is there. There are also MPs from provinces such as Samut Sakhon,” Pichai said, referring to the province hit the hardest by the coronavirus.
“We may be able to contain it in a month or two but we should not take the risk now,” Pichai added.
Apart from Move Forward, Seri Ruam Thai Party is the only other opposition group that voted against the shutdown in Monday’s meeting. Party MP Tanaporn Somthongdaeng said on the phone that she understands the concerns, however.
“Charter amendment will be delayed, but on the other hand there is a certain necessity to contain the outbreak,” Tanaporn said Tuesday.
But Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome remains unconvinced. Speaking on the phone Tuesday, Rome said a lack of parliamentary review will exempt the executive branch from any debates and scrutiny in the next two weeks, at least.
“I don’t want PM Prayut Chan-o-cha to be afraid of the Parliament,” he said. “If he doesn’t know how to solve problems, we have some solutions for him.”
Health workers disinfect a fresh market in Nakhon Pathom province on Dec. 30, 2020.
BANGKOK — Health authorities in Bangkok on Tuesday confirmed they omitted references to a convenience store chain owned by one of Thailand’s largest corporations when publishing coronavirus patients’ travel history “due to legal concerns.”
Suspicions of a possible blackout were raised when many noticed that 7-Elevens were somehow missing from travel history of those who caught the coronavirus in the capital, despite the ubiquitous presence of the stores. The City Hall told Khaosod English that its officials acted upon advice from the legal officers against publishing names of some venues visited by the patients.
“We have representatives from the legal department to review the travel history of patients before announcing them,” Siriporn Thongphu, an officer at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s infectious control division, said by phone.
She added, “There’s also a case in the past of a condominium threatening to sue us for defamation.”
The omission became glaring on Sunday when the travel history of one of the patients – dubbed Patient 88 – released by the City Hall did not match the version published by the management of the condominium where he lives.
The only difference: his trip to a 7-Eleven.
“Dec. 21: The patient parked his car on the 6th floor and took an elevator down to L floor. He then went to the toilet and played badminton at the court,” the statement released by M Jatujak condominium on Friday said. “After he finished playing badminton, he visited a 7-Eleven store.”
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s official report only says that the man went to work at Kasikorn Bank before “playing badminton with a friend at M Jatujak condominium.”
CP All, the conglomerate that operates 7-Elevens in Thailand, said in an email to Khaosod English that the company maintains high standards of sanitation at all of its stores.
The company said there is no report of anyone contracting the virus from its 7-Eleven stores to date. Bangkok has about 4,500 branches of 7-Eleven, according to available information.
“Customers only spent a few minutes in our stores, so there’s very low risk of infection,” the statement said. “However, we have instructed our staff to disinfect all the surfaces every three hours to ensure safety of our customers.”
Patient 88, who was identified as a 28-year-old man, had a history of having a meal with another infected individual in Samut Sakhon province, according to the records released by the City Hall.
He tested positive for infection on Dec. 28 after experiencing fever and loss of taste.
Siriporn, the health official from Bangkok City Hall, said her agency is doing its best to give out as much detail as possible in the patients’ travel records.
However, she did say that some of the details were not published since the patients were unable to confirm their visit, in order to prevent “panic.”
“We have to be extra careful that the patients really visit a particular place at a particular point of time, otherwise it may cause unnecessary panic,” Siriporn said. “Some of them could only recall the place, but not the time or how long they were there. Such information is not accurate enough.”
The practice of scrubbing any mention of 7-Eleven stores seems to be exclusively adopted by Bangkok authorities, since travel timelines of coronavirus patients published by provincial agencies outside the capital explicitly mention names of each establishment visited by the individuals, including 7-Eleven.
For instance, the travel history of a 66-year-old patient published by Prachuap Khiri Khan provincial health office says she stopped at a 7-Eleven in Nonthaburi multiple times between Dec. 20 to 24 before returning to Hua Hin, where she tested positive on Jan. 3.
As of Monday, a total of new 229 infections were discovered in Bangkok. The capital as well as 27 other provinces are now designated as “Red Zones” by the government, which empowers governors to enact stringent measures to stop the spread of the virus.
