PHUKET — Work on a tram line connecting Phuket’s airport to the city is expected to begin next year and could be complete by 2023.
Theeraphan Tachasirinugune, Mass Rapid Transit Authority deputy governor, said Friday that fares for the 42-kilometer tram line linking the Phuket International Airport to Chalong Intersection in Phuket Town could be capped at 137 baht.
He said for over 34 billion baht has been budgeted for the project which would involve light rail and overhead wires.
The plan hopes to win cabinet approval by mid-2019, he said, adding that bidding would then go out in the third quarter for construction to be able to begin before year’s end. A concession would be granted to a private company to operate the tram.
Theeraphan said the service could launch in 2023 with an expected ridership of up to 16,300 passengers per day during its first year.
The approximate route anticipated for the future tram linking Phuket’s airport and town.
Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne, at left, gestures as she answers questions Thursday in Bangkok. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe / Associated Press
BANGKOK — Australia’s foreign minister praised Thailand for its handling of a young Saudi woman who fled her family to seek asylum in Australia, but also reminded it of continuing concern about a Bahraini soccer player granted asylum in Australia who remains in Thai detention.
Marise Payne met with senior Thai officials in Bangkok on Thursday after Australia announced it would assess the request for asylum by 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, who was stopped Saturday at a Bangkok airport on her way to Australia and her passport seized. She said she was fleeing abuse by her family.
Payne told reporters that Australia’s review of Alqunun’s case is already underway.
She quashed speculation that Alqunun might accompany her back to Australia “because there are steps which are required in the process which Australia, and any other country considering such a matter, would have to go through.”
Confined to an airport transit hotel, Alqunun conducted an online appeal for help, garnering tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and enough public and diplomatic support to convince Thai officials to admit her temporarily under the protection of U.N. officials. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees quickly deemed her a legitimate refugee.
Alqunun’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases have gone unreported.
She has attracted interest worldwide, particularly in Australia. In downtown Sydney on Thursday, four women dressed in jeans and calling themselves the Secret Sisterhood held a topless protest outside the building housing the Saudi Consulate, calling on Australia to grant Alqunun residency.
Alqunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but his daughter refused to meet with him. Thailand Immigration Police chief Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said the father denied physically abusing Alqunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her flight.
Surachate said the father wanted his daughter back but respected her decision. Surachate described him as a governor in Saudi Arabia.
“He has 10 children. He said the daughter might feel neglected sometimes,” Surachate said.
Payne was also asked by reporters about the case of Hakeem al-Araibi, a 25-year-old former member of Bahrain’s national soccer team, who was granted refugee status in Australia in 2017 after fleeing his homeland, where he said he was persecuted and tortured. He was arrested while on holiday in Thailand last November due to an Interpol notice in which Bahrain sought his custody after he was sentenced in absentia in 2014 to 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalizing a police station — a charge he denies. Bahrain is seeking his extradition.
She said she raised Australia’s concerns about the case with Thailand’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
“The Thai government is most certainly aware of the importance of this matter to Australia,” she said. “I do note that there are legal proceedings underway in relation to Mr. al-Araibi, and Australia will continue to be in very close contact with Thai authorities in relation to this.”
Al-Araibi, who now plays for Melbourne’s Pascoe Vale Football Club, has been publicly critical of the Bahrain royal family’s alleged involvement in sports scandals, which puts him at risk of punishment by the Bahraini government.
Al-Araibi has said he was blindfolded and had his legs beaten while he was held in Bahrain in 2012. He said he believed he was targeted for arrest because of his Shiite faith and because his brother was politically active. Bahrain has a Shiite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, and has a reputation for harsh repression since its failed “Arab Spring” uprising in 2011.
Craig Foster, a former Australian soccer player, held a news conference Thursday in Sydney to issue a joint call for al-Araibi’s release with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Sydney-based Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.
After commending FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and Australia’s Football Federation for supporting al-Araibi’s release, Foster criticized the Asian Football Confederation and its head, Salman al-Khalifa.
“Sheikh Salman is obligated to support Hakeem. He is obligated to do everything in his power to advocate, both privately and publicly, and to use the immense leverage that football has, with the Bahrain government, his own government, he’s a Bahrainian national, and also with the Thai government to release Hakeem. The silence of the Asian Football Confederation is not just confounding, it’s absolutely disgraceful,” he said.
A concept art of the new parliament, Sappaya-Sapasathan.
BANGKOK — A massive facility meant to host Thailand’s next parliament in five months appeared far from completion Thursday.
The future home of the legislature remains a jumble of scaffolding, unfinished walls and staircases, underscoring the fact the Sappaya-Sapasathan, as it is called, is far from complete despite government pledges the decade-long project would be done by June.
House Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai suggested as much this morning, saying they are still searching for a venue where lawmakers elected in the next election can meet and formally inaugurate the parliament.
“Right now we are still looking for a place ahead [of the meeting],” Pornpetch, who heads the current interim parliament, told reporters.
LIVE: See the site where Thailand's new parliament is being built in Bangkok's Dusit district.
Rehousing the legislature became necessary since the former parliament building was reclaimed by the palace, which owns the land. Although the building was set to close forever by New Year’s Eve, lawmakers were granted an extension to hold special sessions there until the end of February.
Day-to-day meetings and other work is to take place at another building in Bangkok’s Bang Sue district.
The overall work was deemed 56 percent complete as of Dec. 14, the last time the parliament website was updated.
A Place of Harmony
The new site is about 4 kilometers due north of the former building at a riverside location near Dusit district’s Kiak Kai Intersection. During a visit today, the work was in full swing on many sections, with materials and tools scattered around. Scaffolding covers many of the walls. One staircase stank of urine. The river pier meant for government delegations is still just a cluster of barges.
The future seat of democracy is flanked by several military bases; the Kiak Kai neighborhood also houses tanks, anti-aircraft guns and infantry. Gunfire can be heard from a shooting range just opposite the new parliament. The defense industry department is located around the corner.
Construction of Sappaya Sapasathan – which means “A Place of Harmonious Assembly” – was first approved in 2008 during the administration of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Officials argued that the 30-year-old parliament next to the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall was getting too crowded.
Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who now reigns as king, placed the foundation stone at the site in 2010, but construction could only begin in 2012. The government at the time estimated that the project would take about 900 days to complete. The deadline was repeatedly pushed back, and a budget that started at 14 billion baht has ballooned to nearly 22 billion baht.
It’s a gigantic facility of about 400,000sqm – about one-fourth of which will be given over to green space.
It was designed by a firm called Arsom Silp, which based its plans on ancient Hindu cosmology. A 134-meter tower representing Mount Meru, which marks the center of the universe, is flanked by the Sun Chamber and Moon Chamber where MPs and Senators will meet, respectively.
Replacing the modernist edifice that opened in 1974 with a structure based on Buddhist cosmology was criticized for inviting religion into the secular space of governance. Architect Chatri Ladalalitasakul defended his work, saying he hopes it will remind politicians to act morally.
“Thai people have a lot of faith in Western democracy,” Chatri said at a panel in 2016. “However, no matter what political system you believe in – whether democracy, dictatorship or socialism – how far can it go if no one has morality?”
Asked whether he believes the symbolism will deter corruption, the architect said there’s no guarantee.
“But in the same way, many structures that represent democracy don’t make their countries into a better democracy,” Chatri said.
Allegations of fraud and mismanagement also beset the new parliament before it opened. In May 2018, transparency activists were outraged by revelations that costs for electronics alone stood at 3 billion baht, which included digital clocks running as much as 70,000 baht apiece.
A plan to cut down thousands of teak trees for its construction was only suspended in 2016 on the order of junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha after an outcry. A forestry official said in September said that farmed teak would be used instead.
Some critics also said favoritism was a factor in awarding the work to Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction PCL, which saw its contract renewed for a fourth time in March 2018 despite chronic delays.
Because there is no public transport to the new parliament, except buses and boats on the Chao Phraya River, the government plans to extend roads in Kiak Kai and build yet another bridge across the river. The plan is expected to cost another 6 billion baht.
In the event a general election is held, future lawmakers will need to make due until the building is ready for the public’s business.
Interim parliament chief Pornpetch said the legislators could convene in a TOT auditorium on Chaeng Wattana Road, a plan the next government would not be beholden to.
His deputy, Surachai Liangboonlertchai, also said that, post-election, lawmakers may have to meet in the auditorium if the new parliament is not ready. He said officials may have to borrow or rent necessary equipment for their first session.
Police and soldier at the scene of an attack Thursday in a Pattani school.
PATTANI — A suspect was apprehended Thursday afternoon in an attack which left four paramilitary officers dead inside a Pattani province school.
The military said assailants disguised themselves as rangers this morning before going into the Ban Bukoh School in Pattani’s Yarang district, not far from where a bomb injured a 12-year-old schoolgirl two days ago. Once inside, the attackers opened fire on four members of the Volunteer Defense Corps and stole their guns.
Officials said the four victims were pronounced dead on the scene. No teachers or students were injured. The attackers also scattered nails at the school’s exits in an attempt to stall the pursuit.
One teacher said only gunshots were heard as the attack happened while classes were in session. All students were evacuated from the premises and a security unit deployed to the scene, according to the military.
Maj. Gen. Piyawat Chalermsri, chief of Pattani police, said a suspect was detained this afternoon following a firefight. He said police were tipped off about two suspicious men hiding behind the city’s Krue Se Mosque. Another suspect, believed injured in the gunfight, was able to escape while police said they found discarded ranger uniforms hidden nearby.
It was the third such attack in the restive south in recent days. On Tuesday, a soldier and a 12-year-old girl were injured when a bomb exploded near another school in the same district. That same day, a teacher in Songkhla province was murdered and his truck used for a car bomb which injured six police officers.
A currency trader watches monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters Thursday in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press
BANGKOK — The Stock Exchange of Thailand was down slightly in Thursday afternoon trading as Asian markets delivered mixed results Thursday following the end of three days of trade talks between the U.S. and Chinese without significant breakthroughs.
KEEPING SCORE: The SET was down 9.2 points to 1,581.30 just after 3pm. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which closed up 1.1 percent on Wednesday, retreated 1.3 percent to 20,157.72. The Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.1 percent to 2,063.15. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recovered to edge 0.1 percent higher, to 26,492.61, while the Shanghai Composite index was flat at 2,545.37. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 rebounded to gain 0.3 percent to 5,795.30. Shares fell in Taiwan but rose in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
WALL STREET: Stocks rose for the fourth consecutive session after American and Chinese negotiators extended their talks to a third day. Traders took this as a positive sign, but a standoff over a partial U.S. government shutdown that appears far from being resolved limited gains. The S&P 500 index added 0.4 percent to 2,584.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4 percent to 23,879.12 and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9 percent higher at 6,957.08. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 0.9 percent to 1,438.81.
U.S.-CHINA TALKS: Official statements released after the talks, which lasted a day longer than planned, did not indicate if progress was made on a tariffs battle that has shaken financial markets. China’s Ministry of Commerce said there were “detailed exchanges” and both sides would “maintain close contact,” without offering specifics. A statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said negotiators will “report back to receive guidance on the next steps.” The talks come after President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met and agreed to hold off on more tariffs for 90 days, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina last month. Investors are hopeful that more and higher-level negotiations will follow.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “While there was agreement on less thorny issues such as agriculture and energy, U.S. demands for verification and enforceable targets on intellectual property rights, transfer of technologies and non-tariff barriers may not be that easily addressed,” DBS Group Research strategists Eugene Leow and Neel Gopalakrishnan said in a commentary.
ENERGY: Oil prices fell back after hitting their highest levels in almost a month. U.S. crude, which has jumped 15 percent in 2019, dropped 63 cents to USD$51.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It surged 5.2 percent to $52.36 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gave up 62 cents to $60.82 per barrel. It climbed 4.6 percent to $61.44 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 107.92 yen from 108.15 yen late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1559 from $1.1543.
Monkey bodies are lined up Wednesday near a khlong in Baan Yaang Ngam community of Rayong province.
RAYONG — Dying monkeys fell from trees foaming at the mouth in Rayong province and police are looking Thursday for who might have poisoned them.
At least 17 macaques were found dead yesterday by residents in the Baan Yaang Ngam community in Rayong’s Klaeng district, prompting police investigators to suspect foul play.
“The monkeys were just eating fruit, like they do naturally. There are watermelon peels nearby with monkey teeth marks, so I suspect poison,” Capt. Sommhai Wanthong of Klaeng police said. “I counted 17 dead macaques.”
Sommhai said autopsies were being conducted on the monkeys and he was still looking for the suspected poisoner. Animal cruelty is punishable by two years in prison and a 40,000 baht fine.
On Thursday wildlife officials continued searching the area and found more dead monkeys fallen from trees.
Community chief Sathit Kleawkla said that he estimated the area had up to 300 macaques which come into conflict with humans as they migrate from areas where they lack food. Since the alleged poisoning occurred, hundreds of monkeys were said to have fled the area.
“They have to forage along the canals by farms,” Sathit said. “I suppose they ate some farmers’ crops, so some annoyed farmers poisoned some watermelons.”
Among the dead animals was one baby monkey survivor who is being cared for by a local rubber farmer.
Development and expansion of populated areas has brought humans into regular conflict with macaques, which can be both intelligent and aggressive.
Police Capt. Sommhai Wanthong at the scene of the dead monkeys.
Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha face is photoshopped onto a lounge singer.
BANGKOK — The junta leader called on Thais to hold on to hard-earned peace in what’s become a familiar format during his nearly five years in power – a song.
With mounting frustration over the sudden uncertainty of Election Day, “In Memory” debuted today at a government exhibition, with PM and part-time lyricist Prayuth Chan-ocha credited for writing it. The song makes a familiar appeal for patience, saying the nation is “nearly away from turbulence,” and asking Thais to reflect on past polarization to see how difficult peace has been won.
The song, the seventh in his collection, comes at a time of growing dissatisfaction, both online and off, with the latest attempt to push back long-promised elections, which had been slated for Feb. 24. Pro-democracy protests have resumed in the capital and elsewhere to pressure the government not to break its promise again.
“In Memory” is sung by Sub-Lt. Pongsathorn Pojit, who’s performed all songs credited to Prayuth except for “Fight for the Nation.” It continues the theme of military rule as the best antidote to social unrest first put forth in 2014’s “Returning Happiness to the People” and subsequent releases:
“In memory of the days we were in pain. When our harmony was destroyed. We were angry; our hearts were divided. Until we became one again, it wasn’t easy, wasn’t easy at all.
“We’ve walked far, until nearly away from the turbulence. We started over, built up great security. We were hurt, please don’t forget it so easily.”
A World War II-era Soviet T-34 tank makes its way through the Red Square with the St. Basil's Cathedral in background, in May 2018 during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / Associated Press
MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has received 30 Soviet WW II-era T-34 battle tanks from Laos — a move reflecting the national veneration of the weapon.
The ministry said Wednesday the tanks are fully combat-ready and will be used in military parades and for making World War II movies.
The T-34 played a key role in defeating the Nazis and became a widely revered symbol of the nation’s heroism and suffering. A film describing feats of a T-34 crew has topped the national box office this month.
The ministry said more than 58,000 T-34s were built between 1940 and 1946, making it the world’s most widely produced tank, but only several of them have remained in working condition in Russia. The T-34 was widely exported and used in numerous conflicts.
BANGKOK — A foreigner was killed by a bus Thursday morning on Phra Sumen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter.
Police were alerted just after 9am that an air-conditioned bus No. 516 had run over a Caucasian man near the Bang Lamphu intersection. The man’s identity and nationality were not yet available.
A witness said the man had been walking back and forth across the road many times this morning before he laid down on the road just as the bus was coming, according to Capt. Rattakarn Thongthai of Chana Songkram police.
Police found both Thai baht and euros in his possession.
Investigating officers were questioning the driver and witnesses.
Konh Korm of Cambodia's Sam Rainsy Party in photo posted last month. Photo: Kong Korm / Facebook
PHNOM PENH — A veteran member of Cambodia’s dissolved opposition party broke ranks with his colleagues on Wednesday and became the first to apply for a government-offered lifting of a ban on engaging in political activity.
Kong Korm was one of 118 members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party who were banned from politics for five years when the group was dissolved by court order in November 2017 on a contrived charge of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the government. Cambodia’s courts are widely considered to be under the influence of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.
All the opposition party’s lawmakers lost their elective positions, and the action eliminated any real challenge to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in last year’s general election, in which it captured all 125 National Assembly seats.
Kong Korm’s son, Kong Bora, later Wednesday also applied for a lifting of his ban. The applications need to be approved by the Interior Ministry and then be forwarded to King Norodom Sihamoni for his pro forma approval.
The applications come during a feud between two factions of the former opposition party loyal to its two former leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. Sam Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile for more than three years over a defamation conviction seen as politically motivated, while Kem Sokha has been in prison awaiting trial since late 2017 on the same treason accusation that led to their party’s dissolution.
The two men in 2012 merged earlier parties they had headed but remain rivals, as well as targets of divide-and-conquer tactics that Hun Sen has successfully applied against other opponents.
Sam Rainsy and his supporters oppose applying for a lifting of the bans.
Kong Korm, 77, and his son are aligned with the Kem Sokha faction. Kong Korm served for a short period as foreign minister under a Hun Sen-led communist regime in the 1980s before joining Sam Rainsy’s first party, the Khmer Nation Party, when it was founded in 1995. In recent months, however, he has been sharply critical of his former colleague.
Amending Cambodian law to allow the reinstatement of politicians was part of a low-key charm offensive to improve relations with Western nations that accuse Hun Sen’s government of suppressing human and democratic rights. The U.S. and Germany have already instituted some diplomatic sanctions against Cambodia, and Washington and the European Union have threatened to extend economic ones as well. The main point of contention has been last July’s general election, which critics charge was neither free nor fair because of the lack of credible opposition.
The government set several conditions for restoring political rights that some opposition politicians have already rejected.
Hun Sen, at a meeting last month with garment workers, said the ban would be rescinded only for those politicians who had honored it, while those who violated it could face prison terms.
Many of the banned opposition politicians fled Cambodia in fear of arrest, and restoration of their political rights alone would appear to leave them in the political wilderness. There are no guarantees that new legal actions would not be taken against them in the courts.
