Submissions Open For Bangkok Underground Film Festival (Postponed)

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12 October 2016, 10:58

Update: This event has been suspended until further notice.

BANGKOK — Be it unique or weird, local and international amateur filmmakers are welcomed to submit their work for the Bangkok Underground Film Festival in November.

Anyone interested in submitting a short film, feature and video art piece have until Oct. 31 to do so by contacting [email protected].

Born as a side attraction at the Noise Market last year, the festival seeks to bring together filmmakers and audiences in the capital to enjoy a broader variety of films, from indie experimentation to animation and art.

The Bangkok Underground Film Festival will run over several days starting Nov. 19. At several venues. The shorts films will be shown Nov. 19 and 20 at Noise Market on the grounds of Museum Siam. Video art pieces will be shown Nov. 24 at Bridge Art Space and Nov. 25 at Jam Cafe. The features will screen Nov. 26 and 27 at a venue yet to be announced.

For more information, visit the festival’s website or Facebook page.

Congo Constitutional Crisis Inflames, Violence Likely

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Associated Press

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12 October 2016, 10:47

An U.N. peacekeeper holds his radio as he patrols after violence erupted due to the delay of the presidential elections last September in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: John Bompengo / Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — The electoral crisis in Congo has become a constitutional crisis resulting in increasing political polarization and with no immediate end in sight, the U.N.’s special representative for Congo said Tuesday.

Maman Sambo Sidikou told the Security Council that parties on all sides appear increasingly willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends.

“If this trajectory continues, I believe large-scale violence is all but inevitable,” Sidikou said, adding that the scope of the threats “dramatically outstrip the (U.N. peacekeeping) mission’s capabilities.”

Tensions in Congo have risen as it has become increasingly apparent that President Joseph Kabila will stay in office after his term expires in December. Congo’s electoral commission said November’s scheduled presidential vote wouldn’t be possible until 2018, and a court has said Kabila can stay in power until the next election.

Dozens died in the capital Kinshasa in late September after security forces clashed with thousands of anti-government demonstrators opposed to delaying the election.

The opposition parties also called for restructuring the electoral commission and the Constitutional Court, saying they are partisan to Kabila, who came to power after his father’s assassination in 2001.

Sidikou said discussions over the election date were ongoing and that he hoped it could be held, “the sooner the better.”

He told the council it should encourage all parties currently boycotting the electoral process to return to dialogue and that the government should be prompted to take confidence building measures with the opposition, including direct engagement between Kabila and opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.

He also said regional organization including the African Union should work with the U.N. to engage more directly and designate a high level emissary to bridge political divisions.

Story: Michael Astor

City’s Costs of Condo Creep Told Through Photos

By

Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

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12 October 2016, 10:46

‘Room’ from Dream Property exhibition. Photo: Miti Ruangkritya / Courtesy

BANGKOK — Turmoil, two military coups and an uneven economy haven’t slowed the pace of condominiums going up on nearly every block in Bangkok during the past decade.

With this rapid transformation of the capital’s skin comes consequences, which Miti Ruangkritya has documented and will show Saturday at “Dream Property.”

Forty photographs, 35 prints and a media installation explore the effects of this expansion, such as the profusion of real estate marketing and clutter of billboards promising changed lives. Meanwhile, livability and vestiges of nature are impinged upon by an ever-rising sprawl.

The photos pose questions about the city’s hopes and dreams for its future.

Miti’s interest in Bangkok’s constant change can be seen in his previous works, such as 2012’s “Imagining Flood,” which recorded the surreal scenes of a flooded city at night. His “Thai Politic” series examined Thai political views from 2006 to 2014.

The exhibition starts at 4pm on Oct. 15 and runs until Nov. 27 at Bangkok CityCity Gallery, which can be reached via MRT Lumphini exit No. 2.

Thai Union Invests 20.4 Billion Baht in ‘Red Lobster’

By

Associated Press

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12 October 2016, 02:39

Red Lobster is a chain of American seafood restaurants based in Orlando, Florida.

ORLANDO, Florida — U.S. restaurant chain Red Lobster is getting a USD$575 million (20.4 billion baht) investment from Thai Union Group, a seafood exporter linked by an Associated Press investigation to slave-peeled shrimp.

A joint statement by the companies Monday said Thai Union wants to build a direct-to-consumers channel by investing in Orlando-based Red Lobster, which has more than 700 locations in the United States and Canada. Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, remains Red Lobster’s majority owner.

Thai Union’s president promised changes after the AP found the seafood company was shipping shrimp peeled by enslaved migrant workers. Among those receiving shrimp from Thai Union were Red Lobster and other buyers.

The AP reported last year that Red Lobster said it had been assured by Thai Union that their shipments were clean, and Thai Union said the shrimp it purchased from the peeling sheds that the AP tracked did not go to major U.S. companies, while declining to say where it went.

In any case, according to U.S. and United Nations standards, if even a single piece of shrimp coming from a company is tied to forced labor, it taints the entire supply chain.

Thiraphong Chansiri said Thai Union would spend millions of dollars to end its reliance on contractors responsible for much of the labor abuse, and process all its shrimp in-house.

Thai Union owns several international brands including tuna giant Chicken of the Sea. Thai Union was trading at 20.70 baht when the Stock Exchange of Thailand closed Tuesday.

Story: Associated Press / Khaosod English

Monk Detained on Suspicion of Raping, Killing 6-Year-Old Boy

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Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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11 October 2016, 17:33

Police at the tree behind Sawangkongkaram Temple, where a six-year-old was buried.

KHON KAEN — Police said Tuesday that a boy’s body found behind a temple in Khon Kaen, showed signs of sexual assault, most likely committed by one of two detained suspects: a monk and a teenage relative.

Police Lt. Col. Perm Nakum received an emergency call at 2pm on Monday, explaining that a boy’s body had been found buried behind Sawangkongkaram Temple at Mancha Khiri District in Khon Kaen province.

The six-year-old’s corpse was found naked, kneeling face-down, and buried underneath a tamarind tree. Branches and leaves were covering the body and blood was seeping from his mouth, nose, and ears.Police said the boy had been dead for three to six hours and showed signs of sexual assault.

An autopsy on the body is currently in progress, and two men have been detained under suspicion of raping and killing the boy.

One of the detained suspects is a 36-year old monk from Sawangkongkaram Temple, whilst the other is a 15-year-old relative of the victim.

The call came from a distressed relative who worried when the boy did not come home and went looking for him, afraid that he had fallen into water, Perm said.

Police Put Calm Face on Raids Throughout Capital (Video)

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Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

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11 October 2016, 17:07

BANGKOK — With the capital on alert for a possible terror threat as an international conference wraps up, security was tight and police raided buildings in three areas on Tuesday, arresting nine people.

Mostly denying the raids were related to an alleged car bomb plot, police, military and SWAT officers broke into an apartment building in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 65, announced raids on eight other area buildings, returned to a suspected bomb den from a 2015 attack and searched a condominium in Samut Prakan province.

Read: Police Memo Warns of Car Bomb Plot at Suvarnabhumi Airport

Police Maj. Gen. Surachet Hakphan said Tuesday that the operation was part of a confidence-boosting effort while Bangkok hosted the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, an international conference.

Surachet said it was unrelated to the memo warning of car bomb attacks on Bangkok landmarks.

In the Ramkhamhaeng area, the morning raid on the Romklao Mansion netted eight men accused of possessing Kratom, a banned stimulant.

Despite frantic police action, officials sought to play down any link to the threat of terrorism – even after making the link themselves.

Surachet said the Romklao Mansion was searched for people who bought guns illegally last week from gun sellers arrested last week in Samut Prakan.

SWAT team members raid an apartment building in Bangkok’s Ramkhamhaeng area Tuesday. They arrested eight men on drug-related charges.

Authorities on Tuesday also raided an apartment in Minburi district where they captured a man now on trial for allegedly planting the Erawan Shrine bomb in August 2015 that killed 20 people.

In southeastern Bangkok’s Samut Prakan province, police retreated from an earlier assertion the terror threat drove them to search a condo there.

Preecha Samalee, a 39-year-old native of Yala, a southern border province, was taken into custody without charge. Few additional details were provided as to why Preecha was arrested.

Preecha Samalee, second from right, is taken into custody Tuesday outside his condominium in Samut Prakan province.

“He is now being taken for questioning by the military,” said police Col. Wasan Booncharoen. He said Preecha was taken into custody under the junta’s extralegal authority because he was suspected in a matter of national security.

Police said Preecha owns a mobile phone shop and was a suspected member of the Southern Insurgency, because he sent phones into the Deep South several times.

Several of the raids were in neighborhoods with concentrations of Muslim residents. While the evidence has pointed to southern insurgents being behind the August Mother’s Day attacks, officials have said they can’t find a link.

The August 2015 shrine bombing, ascribed by many security analysts to Muslim ethnic Uighurs, has been described by Thai officials as criminal retaliation and not a terror attack.

SWAT team members raid an apartment building in Bangkok’s Ramkhamhaeng area Tuesday.

Officers along with police dog inspect inside MRT Purple Line train Tuesday.

Mass Prayers, Online Best Wishes for HM King

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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11 October 2016, 16:47

Holding portraits of His Majesty the King, well-wishers camp out on Tuesday to pray for King Bhumibol at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Prayers are being offered through Buddhist ceremonies and social media for the speedy recovery of His Majesty the King, whose illness appeared to worsen during the weekend.

Read: HM King’s Condition ‘Unstable’ After Blood Cleansed

Starting Monday, the public is invited to a daily mass prayer chant at Wat Pathum Wanaram in central Bangkok. Crowds of well-wishers on Tuesday morning camped out at Siriraj Hospital, where King Bhumibol is receiving treatment for a number of illnesses including, most recently, acute kidney failure.

Meanwhile, both Thai and English translations of “Long Live the King” hashtags have been trending on Twitter throughout Tuesday. Many Facebookers have also been sharing Buddhist incantations dedicated to the king’s good health.

“May His Majesty recover from his illness soon. #LoveOurRoyalFather #LongLiveTheKing” tweeted Ningky_ningky.

The outpouring of best wishes for the 88-year-old monarch followed an update on King Bhumibol’s frail health on Sunday. The palace statement said the king’s blood pressure was low after going through a hemodialysis and brain fluid removal operation a day earlier.

Stating that King Bhumibol’s condition was not yet stable at the time it was published, the Sunday statement was different from the confident assurances of previous updates on the monarch’s health, which has been beset by illness for years.

The Thai stock index fell by 3.6 percent Monday.

King Bhumibol has spent much of the last seven years at Siriraj Hospital. His delicate health is a cause of concern for many Thais, who see him as the spiritual leader of the nation.

Police Release Photos of Two Possible Car Bombs

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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11 October 2016, 14:02

Police on Monday release photos of the two vehicles they suspect militants will use as car bombs to carry out attacks. Images: Royal Thai Police

BANGKOK — Police on Tuesday extended warnings of car possible car bombs to the upper southern provinces one day after it emerged that armed militants were planning to strike at several targets in southwest metro Bangkok, including Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Police also released photos and details of the two vehicles reportedly being weaponized for such attacks. The operation is allegedly being plotted by the same insurgent group based in the far south who carried out a series of bomb and arson attacks across seven southern provinces in August, according to a police commander in the restive region.

Read: Police Memo Warns of Car Bomb Plot at Suvarnabhumi Airport

“It’s the same team,” Maj. Gen. Ronnasilp Phusara, chief of the Southern Border Provinces Police Command, said by telephone.

The two vehicles were described as a Honda Accord and Mitsubishi Triton. The former was used to carry explosives for the August bomb attacks, Ronnasilp said.

“We’ve been trying to find it for a month now,” Ronnasilp said. “But in the end we didn’t find it. So the car won’t be used [as a transport] by the militants again. The next time it’s on the street, it will be a car bomb.”

The pick-up truck was recently stolen in the southern border region, the officer said.

Commando teams raided a suspected bomber’s hideout early Tuesday in eastern Bangkok, though the effort didn’t turn up any clues related to the alleged car bomb plots.

A leaked police memo obtained by the media Monday afternoon warned of possible bomb attacks at several landmarks in Bangkok’s southwestern suburb, including Bhumibol Bridge, Ancient Siam open-air museum and Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The warning on Tuesday morning was elevated to cover all upper southern provinces. Ronnasilp said police did so because of the militants’ history of staging attacks in the region during National Mother’s Day holidays in August, which killed four people.

He declined to disclose which group is believed to be planning the attacks.

“There are many movements [in the Deep South]. We cannot identify which group,” Ronnasilp said.

Separatist group BRN reportedly claimed responsibility for the August bombing campaign, though the authorities have maintained they found no evidence linking the attacks to the militant cell.

Here’s Why Experts Believe BRN Was Behind Attacks

Khao Yai Trek Tour Rescued, Charged With National Park Encroachment

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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11 October 2016, 13:38

A group of trekkers posted on Friday. Photo: Noi Wannathorn / Facebook

NAKHON NAYOK — A group of 24 mountaineers lost in Khao Yai jungle were charged early Tuesday morning with national park encroachment after they got lost in the jungle for two days.

Nineteen trekkers, four porters and one guide were rescued at about 1am on Tuesday near Klonh Maduea Waterfall in Nakhon Nayok city. After they were given food and received first aid, the group was charged with encroaching the national park without permission, officials said.

The tourist party traveled Friday from Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district to Haew Krathin Waterfall in Nakhon Nayok province. They were unable to be contacted by friends and relatives since Sunday, the day they were supposed to return, according to Kanchit Srinoppawan, chief of Khao Yai National Park.

The tour guide told Kanchit that he’s familiar with the route but was unable to center his bearings due to heavy rain.

Earlier this year, two foreign tourists were found after they went missing in Khao Yai National Park overnight. No reports indicate that they were ever charged with encroachment.

Khao Yai National Park issued a statement in February 2015 asking tourists to seek permission from local rangers before venturing on a jungle trek unaccompanied, in order to avoid getting lost or running into wild animals.

Car Bomb Plot Leads Police Back to Suspected 2015 Bomb Lair

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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11 October 2016, 13:19

Police on Tuesday morning searched a room in Maimuna Garden apartment in eastern Bangkok, where they hoped to find evidence in connection with a recent car bomb threat.

BANGKOK — Police commandos stormed an apartment in eastern Bangkok Tuesday morning to look for evidence relating to an alleged car bomb plot they fear could target the capital city.

The building, Maimuna Garden, was the same venue where police last year captured their first suspected bomber in the deadly attack on the Erawan Shrine in August 2015, though police would not say on record how the two incidents are linked, citing national security.

Read: Police Memo Warns of Car Bomb Plot at Suvarnabhumi Airport

“It’s about national security,” Col. Tanad Nuktham, chief of local police station and the officer in charge of the raid.

He referred questions to his supervisor, Col. Somnuek Noikong, who said he was in a meeting and unavailable for comments.

The operation came a day after the media obtained a leaked police memo warning of armed militants’ plot to stage car bomb attacks at several targets in Bangkok’s southwestern suburbs, including Suvarnabhumi Airport. The car bomb may take place in late October, the memo said, citing reports from what were described as informants.

Police sources previously told reporters the raid followed an intelligence report that perpetrators might be hiding in the same apartment building used by the suspected shrine bombers.

However, police said an hour sweep by a combined force of 30 police, military, bomb dispatch units and municipal officers did not turn up any clues related to the suspected car bomb plots.

Col. Tanad, the officer who oversaw the raid, nevertheless described it as a psychological tactic that may dissuade the possible bombers from carrying out an attack.

“We did a complete, thorough search. This will psychologically intimidate the perpetrators when they hear of this,” Tanad said.

Lt. Gen. Sanit Mahathaworn, chief of Bangkok police, urged citizens to keep watch and be vigilant for suspicious people, vehicles and places that sold bomb-making equipment.

“If we work together, we can hear even the drop of a needle,” he said.

Maimuna Garden was the same place where police arrested Adem Karadag, an ethnic Uighur man accused of planting the bomb which killed 20 people earlier that month. Another Uighur man, Yusufu Mierali, was arrested on the same charge three days later.

Their trial has progressed slowly, as the suspects have yet to be assigned an interpreter.

Additional reporting Teeranai Charuvastra

Clarification: This story has been updated with additional context.

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