Exiled Chulalongkorn University professor and lese majeste fugitive Giles Ungpakorn, at right, and his wife in a Facebook posting. Image: Giles Ungpakorn / Facebook
BANGKOK — In a sign 2017 will not be without political resistance, some activists and dissidents greeted the new year renewing their vows to oppose the military junta.
After a year that saw the opposition suppressed and disheartened after the junta prevailed in winning support for its proposed constitution, some took to Facebook to make political New Year resolutions.
“I am 60 now. Have visited half the world. Know about good wine. Got my pension,” Chamnan Chanruang, a Chiang Mai-based former chairman of Amnesty International Thailand and democracy activist, wrote Sunday. “As for fame, I am somewhat known. … ‘Down with Dictatorship. Long Live Democracy.”
Arthit Suriyawongkul, a prominent internet freedom activist embroiled in public opposition to the junta-backed revision of the controversial Computer Crime Act, kept repeated the refrain.
“Down with Dictatorship. Long Live Democracy,” the coordinator of Thai Netizen Network wrote.
A leading junta opponent with a number of cases brought against him by the authorities, Sombat Boonngam-anong, said he would remind the junta it had promised to hold general elections in 2017.
The military regime has said it will return power to the people under the constitution written under its supervision but has repeatedly moved that date back since taking power in 2014. As many expected, its most recent date for elections in 2017 was officially vacated on the year’s first day.
Piyabutr Saenganokkul is a Thammasat University law professor and member of the Nitirat group of legal academics who called for legal reform.
Piyabutr, who has been in Paris the past 6 months conducting research, said that he must return home to contribute and said academics need to step up.
“Those in academic circles didn’t do much to confront the coup-makers, particularly compared to students, activists and ordinary citizens… despite the fact that those in the academia enjoy greater privileges and safety…,” he wrote. “I bow in respect to students, activists, citizens, journalists, lawyers and those who sacrificed themselves fighting dictatorship. And I must apologize in shame that this is all I could muster, but I will do more in 2017.”
From England, exiled political scientist and lese majeste fugitive Giles Ji Ungpakorn including among his new year’s tidings the following in English: “Down with the Thai dictatorship!! Tories out!!”
Others abroad, including anti-monarchist Junya Yimprasert in Finland and exiled journalist Jom Petchpradab in the United States said they would continue to do what they could.
“Although the road is long, I now firmly believe that victory, hope and success will definitely occur in the future,” Jom said.
Sutirak Sriorn, one of two alleged shooters at a pub shooting on New Year’s Day, was apprehended by police Monday morning.
BANGKOK— Police on Monday arrested one of two suspects wanted in connection with a Bangkok pub shooting that left one dead and six injured in the first hours of the year.
Sutirak Sriorn, 27, was apprehended this morning in Kanchanaburi province one day after shooting broke out at the Long Chom Restaurant in the capital’s eastern district of Nong Chok, killing one and injuring six. Witnesses told police there were two gunmen.
Sutirak has reportedly denied shooting anyone, insisting it was all the work of a friend of his.
Police are still looking for the second suspect. Investigators believe the pair are part of Lum Nok Kwaek, a narcotics trafficking gang operating in Nong Chok.
Seven people, ages 27 to 37, were sent to Wetchakarunrasm Hospital with various wounds after the incident, which happened at about 3:30am on Sunday morning.
Suchat Sakiri, 33, who was shot seven times and stabbed in the back, was in critical condition and died later Sunday morning.
Witnesses said there was a New Year’s Eve event going on when the victim’s party and the alleged shooter’s party began fighting jealousy erupted on the dancefloor.
“The victim’s party went to dance up on the stage, and came into contact with women from the shooter’s party. The men from the shooter’s party were displeased at this, and they started throwing fists,” said the witness, who asked police to not be named.
The fight ended but then resumed at about 3am over a comment someone made to a waitress.
“Then two guys pulled out guns and started shooting crazily into the victim’s group,” the unidentified witness said.
Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha waves at reporters as he leaves the Army Club in Bangkok on May 21, 2014, one day before he would stage a coup d'etat and seize control of Thailand.
BANGKOK — General elections will not be held this year, according to the junta-appointed interim parliament.
Delaying the return to even a semblance of democratic rule, the military government won’t stage elections until mid-2018, Gen. Somjet Boontanom of the National Legislative Assembly said Sunday.
Gen. Somjet blamed the new delay on the need for another 15 months to write necessary legislation.
The member of the regime’s legislature insisted elections will happen.
The junta has regularly expressed its commitment to its “roadmap” for restoring democracy, which it first vowed would happen a year after staging the May 2014 coup. The date has been pushed back every year since.
The former premier deposed in that coup noted elections have been postponed many times and the junta’s roadmap revised.
“It’s been two years, and we haven’t returned democracy back to the people. We’ve lost so many things and I don’t want to lose more,” Yingluck Shinawatra said Sunday.
Turkish police officers block the road leading to the scene of an attack in Istanbul early Sunday. Photo: Emrah Gurel / Associated Press
ISTANBUL — Turkish police struggled Monday to track down a gunman who attacked New Year’s Eve revelers at a popular Istanbul nightclub, killing at least 39 people, most of them foreigners. Close to 70 more were wounded.
The attacker, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian outside the Reina club around 1:15 a.m. before entering and firing at people partying inside, Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said.
“Unfortunately, (he) rained bullets in a very cruel and merciless way on innocent people who were there to celebrate New Year’s and have fun,” Sahin told reporters.
Nearly two-thirds of the people killed were foreigners, many from the Middle East, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said. It said the bodies of 25 foreign nationals killed in the attack would be delivered to their families Monday.
Countries from India to Belgium reported their citizens among the casualties.
An estimated 600 people were celebrating inside the club, which is frequented by famous locals, including singers, actors and sports stars. Several shocked revelers were seen fleeing the scene after the shooting and the music fell silent.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what authorities immediately called a terrorist attack. Turkish officials did not comment on the possible identity or motives of the gunman.
People leave flowers for the victims outside a nightclub which was attacked by a gunman overnight, in Istanbul, on Sunday. Photo: Emrah Gurel / Associated Press
The mass shooting followed more than 30 violent acts over the past year in Turkey, which is a member of the NATO alliance and a partner in the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. The country endured multiple bombings in 2016, including three in Istanbul alone that authorities blamed on IS, a failed coup attempt in July and renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vehemently condemned “the terror attack in Istanbul’s Ortakoy neighborhood in the first hours of 2017” and offered condolences for those who lost their lives, including the “foreign guests.”
Among the dead were an 18-year-old Israeli woman, three Indians, three Lebanese, a woman with dual French-Tunisian citizenship and her Tunisian husband, two Jordanians, a Belgian national, a Kuwaiti citizen and a Canadian, according to those countries’ governments and a diplomat. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry earlier said three of its citizens had been killed, but revised that, saying there was confusion over the nationality of one victim.
A U.S. State Department official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said one American man was among those wounded. Turkey’s minister for family and social policies, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, said citizens of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon and Libya were among those injured.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the gunman, who had not been identified, remained at large. “Our security forces have started the necessary operations. God willing, he will be caught in a short period of time,” Soylu said.
Private NTV news channel said the assailant was wearing a Santa Claus outfit when he entered the upscale nightclub on the shore of the Bosporus straight, on the European side of the city — a claim Prime Minister Binali Yildirim denied.
Flowers of the victims of the attack are placed outside a nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman overnight Sunday in Istanbul. Photo: Emrah Gurel / Associated Press
Security camera footage obtained by The Associated Press from Haberturk newspaper shows what appears to be a man dressed in black and carrying a backpack as he shoots down a police officer outside the nightclub. Footage taken by a different camera inside Reina shows a figure wearing different clothes and what could be a Santa Claus hat.
Yildirim said the attacker left a gun at the club and escaped by “taking advantage of the chaos” that ensued. Some customers reportedly jumped into the waters of the Bosporus to escape the attack.
Mehmet Dag, 22, said he was passing by the club when he saw a man shoot at a police officer and a bystander. He said the attacker then targeted security guards, gunning them down and entering the club.
“Once he went in, we don’t know what happened. There were gun sounds, and after two minutes the sound of an explosion,” Dag said.
Turkish media said the local victims included a 22-year-old police officer and a 47-year-old travel agent, both of whom were shot outside the club.
One was given a funeral Sunday in Istanbul, where his two sons joined the mourners gathered around the flag-draped casket, the private Dogan news agency reported.
Ayhan Arik, a tourism company employee who had taken foreign guests to the nightclub, was shot in the head, the news agency said.
On Sunday, heavily armed police blocked the snowy street in front of the nightclub. The entrance was covered with blue plastic sheeting below a Turkish flag. Police also patrolled the Asian side of the Bosporus on the other side of the club.
Crime scene investigators were seen inside the nightclub searching through mingled piles of chairs, tables and pieces of clothing left behind during the panic among the guests.
There were emotional scenes in front of a city morgue where the dead were taken for identification. Some relatives cried out and fell to the ground as they apparently learned the fate of their loved ones.
The U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul on Sunday warned American citizens to keep their movements in the city “to an absolute minimum.” A statement reminded U.S. citizens that extremists “are continuing aggressive efforts to conduct attacks in areas where U.S. citizens and expatriates reside or frequent.”
The United States denied reports in Turkish new outlets and on social media that its security agencies knew in advance that the nightclub was at risk of a terror attack. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said in a statement that “contrary to rumors circulating in social media, the U.S. Government had no information about threats to specific entertainment venues, including the Reina Club.”
Turkey faces a wide spectrum of security threats.
The Islamic State group claims to have cells in the country. Analysts think it was behind suicide bombings last January and March that targeted tourists on Istanbul’s iconic Istiklal Street as well as a high-casualty suicide bomb and gun attack at Ataturk Airport in June.
In December, IS released a video purportedly showing the killing of two Turkish soldiers and urged its supporters to “conquer” Istanbul. Turkey’s jets regularly bomb the group in the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab. Turkish authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of the video.
Turkey’s violent 2016 also reflects the intensification of an armed conflict between the government and Kurdish rebels. Turkey-based Kurdish groups have claimed multiple suicide attacks. The government has said Kurdish affiliates in Syria and Iraq share responsibility.
Complicating matters, Turkey endured a coup attempt July 15, which the government blamed on a U.S-based Islamist cleric. A state of emergency has been in force since then, and authorities have purged key institutions, including the army and police.
The violence has left the nation on edge and kept tourists at bay. In Istanbul, a bustling city bridging Europe and Asia, the toll on the economy is evidenced in the closure of iconic restaurants and lowered hotel prices.
The nightclub attack drew quick condemnation from the West and Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Turkey’s leader, saying that “it is hard to imagine a more cynical crime than killing innocent people during New Year celebrations.”
“However, terrorists don’t share moral values. Our common duty is to combat terrorists’ aggression,” Putin said.
The White House condemned what it called a “horrific terrorist attack” and offered U.S. help to Turkey. The U.N. Security Council condemned the “heinous and barbaric” assault in the “strongest terms.”
Yildirim, the prime minister, vowed to keep fighting terrorism, adding that “the terror that happens here today may happen in another country in the world tomorrow.”
King Vajiralongkorn delivers a New Year's address on television.
BANGKOK — His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn wished all Thais happiness and good health for the first time as monarch in a televised address on New Year’s Eve.
Speaking at 8pm, the King said he wished his subjects well and thanked them for supporting him in all his endeavors. He also mentioned the death of his father saying it was a great loss to the people.
His Majesty said he was touched and impressed by the outpouring of loyalty exhibited by the people toward his father after his Oct. 13 death. His Majesty vowed to fulfill the wishes of the late King in working toward bringing progress to the kingdom and called for unity.
A postcard was also issued by the King which contains photos of his late father King Bhumibol, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and all of his three royal siblings.
Choi Soon-sil, center, the jailed confidante of disgraced South Korean President Park Geun-hye, arrives for questioning into her suspected role in political scandal in December at the office of the independent counsel in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean prosecutors said Monday the daughter of the confidante of disgraced President Park Geun-hye has been arrested in Denmark and authorities are working to get her returned home in connection with a huge corruption scandal.
Park was impeached last month by lawmakers amid public fury over prosecutors’ allegations that the president conspired to allow her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, to extort companies and control the government.
Denmark police arrested Choi’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, on the weekend on charges of staying there illegally.
South Korea had asked Interpol to search for Chung because she didn’t return home to answer questions about the scandal.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports that Chung, a former member of the national equestrian team, allegedly took advantage of her mother’s relationship with Park to get unwarranted favors from Seoul’s Ewha Womans University.
The Hollywood sign is seen vandalized Sunday. Photo: Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — No, Los Angeles residents, it wasn’t your hangovers playing tricks on you. The Hollywood sign really did read “HOLLYWeeD” for a few hours on New Year’s Day.
Police were investigating Sunday after a prankster used giant tarps to turn two of the iconic sign’s white Os into Es sometime overnight.
The vandal, dressed in all black, was recorded by security cameras and could face a misdemeanor trespassing charge, said Sgt. Robert Payan.
The person scaled a protective fence surrounding the sign above Griffith Park and then clambered up each giant letter to drape the coverings, Payan said.
The prank may be a nod to California voters’ approval in November of Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana, beginning in 2018.
Hikers and tourists in the hills spent the morning snapping photos of themselves in front of the altered sign before park rangers began removing the tarps.
“It’s kind of cool being here at the moment,” Bruce Quinn told KABC-TV. “I thought we came to see the Hollywood sign, not the’ Hollyweed’ sign. But hey it’s OK with me!”
While attention-grabbing, the prank was not exactly original. Forty-one years ago to the day — Jan. 1, 1976 — a college student similarly altered the sign, using curtains to make it read “HOLLYWEED.”
PRACHINBURI — A French woman was bitten by a crocodile Sunday afternoon while hiking at Khao Yai National Park.
Benetulier Lesuffleur, 46, was traveling with her husband along Haew Suwat Waterfall – Pha Kluay Mai trail when they spotted a crocodile sunbathing in a pond and attempted to take a picture with it.
The couple crouched near the reptile to take a selfie before the wife fell over, which startled the crocodile, resulting in it biting into her right thigh.
Lesuffleur was sent to a hospital in Prachinburi province and is now safe.
According to the national park chief Kanchit Srinoppawan, the tourists went off trail and ignored a sign warning about crocodiles.
Rescuers search for victims from the wreckage of a ferry that caught fire off the coast of Jakarta after it was docked on Sunday at Muara Angke Port in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Rhana Ananda / Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia — At least 23 people were killed and 17 others were missing after a ferry caught fire Sunday off the coast of Indonesia’s capital, officials said.
The vessel was carrying more than 230 people from Jakarta’s port of Muara Angke to Tidung, a resort island in the Kepulauan Seribu chain, when it caught fire, officials said.
Seply Madreto, an official from the local Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the fire gutted through about half of the ship. He said about 22 injured victims were rushed to hospitals.
A search involving around 10 ships was underway to find those still missing, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement.
Witnesses told MetroTV that the fire broke out about 15 minutes after the ship left Muara Angke.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Some passengers told local media that they first saw smoke coming from the ferry’s engine.
TV footage showed people in the water with the ferry in flames in the background. A woman in the water can be heard screaming “Ya Allah! Ya Allah!” or “Oh God! Oh God!”
Another woman told the TV station that she and other passengers were rescued by a small boat.
Ferry accidents are common in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic nation, with more than 17,000 islands. Many accidents are blamed on lax regulation of boat services.
Pattaya - Hua Hin ferry Royal 1 on Saturday at Pattaya’s Bali Hai pier
PATTAYA — More than 100 tourists were left stranded Sunday morning at a Pattaya pier when the maiden voyage of a ferry service to Hua Hin was called off due to big waves.
The tourists had already registered for what was to be a free opportunity to take the 100-minute trip on the Royal 1 ferry, but it was canceled at the last minute on its first day of the operation.
