BANGKOK — The Department of Land Transport has fined a public van driver for speeding and taunting a passenger who raised concerns about his driving.

The driver, Weera Jaruekklang, has been fined for 5,000 baht and suspended from driving for seven days, said the Department of Land Transport director, Teerapong Rordprasert.  

Last week a passenger filmed Weera driving the Bangkok to Chonburi route at 140 kilometres per hour. The legal limit on that road is 120 km / hour. 

When the passenger raised concerns that he might kill or injure others with his reckless driving, Weera shot back, "Has anyone died yet?" and refused to slow down. 

The video (above) was later posted and widely shared on social media, with many Thais commenting that Weera's behaviour is what contributes to Thailand’s high rate of traffic accidents and fatalities.

According to data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Thailand has the 7th highest number of traffic deaths and injuries in the world.

Teerapong said yesterday that Weera also tampered with a device in his vehicle, installed by the Department of Land Transport, that monitors the speed of public vans. 

The official urged members of the public to submit complaints relating to public vans and other mass transportation services to the Department of Land Transport by calling its hotline, 1584.

"The Department of Land Transport has a strict policy of punishing public vans that violate the laws, especially those that exceed the speed limit," Teerapong said, adding that repeated offenders will be stripped of their licenses to drive public vehicles.

According to the data compiled by Thailand's Foundation For Consumers, public vans were involved in at least 73 accidents between October 2011 and March 2013 that killed 105 people and accounted for 31 percent of all traffic accidents in those years. 

Many experts blame lax enforcement of traffic laws in Thailand for the high incidence of road accidents. 

BANGKOK — The Department of Land Transport has fined a public van driver for speeding and taunting a passenger who raised concerns about his driving.

The driver, Weera Jaruekklang, has been fined for 5,000 baht and suspended from driving for seven days, said the Department of Land Transport director, Teerapong Rordprasert.  

Last week a passenger filmed Weera driving the Bangkok to Chonburi route at 140 kilometres per hour. The legal limit on that road is 120 km / hour. 

When the passenger raised concerns that he might kill or injure others with his reckless driving, Weera shot back, "Has anyone died yet?" and refused to slow down. 

The video (above) was later posted and widely shared on social media, with many Thais commenting that Weera's behaviour is what contributes to Thailand’s high rate of traffic accidents and fatalities.

According to data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Thailand has the 7th highest number of traffic deaths and injuries in the world.

Teerapong said yesterday that Weera also tampered with a device in his vehicle, installed by the Department of Land Transport, that monitors the speed of public vans. 

The official urged members of the public to submit complaints relating to public vans and other mass transportation services to the Department of Land Transport by calling its hotline, 1584.

"The Department of Land Transport has a strict policy of punishing public vans that violate the laws, especially those that exceed the speed limit," Teerapong said, adding that repeated offenders will be stripped of their licenses to drive public vehicles.

According to the data compiled by Thailand's Foundation For Consumers, public vans were involved in at least 73 accidents between October 2011 and March 2013 that killed 105 people and accounted for 31 percent of all traffic accidents in those years. 

Many experts blame lax enforcement of traffic laws in Thailand for the high incidence of road accidents. 

By Christy Choi

HONG KONG (DPA) — Pro-democracy demonstrators at Hong Kong's main protest camp began packing up their tents early Thursday, as bailiffs prepared to take down the barriers.

Thousands had gathered overnight to say goodbye, but the camp was emptier in the morning, as protesters who did not wish to clash with police made their way out.

"We won't be here for when the police come," said Jason Ng, a 24-year-old recent graduate.

"My parents said: 'Don't get arrested. You will not have a good future.' But I didn't want to not show up because that also means I will not have a good future."

Ng had been at the camp for all 75 days of its existence, and said while this part of the movement may be coming to a close, he would continue the struggle for more democracy.

Protesters have been blocking the main road around the government offices on Hong Kong Island to try to force Beijing to re-think its proposal to vet candidates for the city's chief executive elections in 2017.

The blockage has bitterly divided the city, with older generations tending to side with the establishment, and younger generations more likely to favour the demonstrators.

Protest leaders and democratic legislators past and present sat on the roads awaiting the coming of police holding signs that read: "Stop Violence, Arrest Me."

Others vowed to take part in a more fluid form of occupation, that they are calling the "shopping revolution," which has been taking place in Mong Kok since the camp there was cleared on November 25.  

Protesters have been wandering the streets pretending to be shopping – a tongue-in-cheek response to the chief executive's call for people to go shopping and normalize life in the city.

The clearance is expected to take around two hours, said lawyers for the transportation company that applied Tuesday for the injunction to clear the roads.

Britain negotiated a "one country, two systems" principle as part of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. It grants freedoms to Hong Kong residents that are not given to Chinese citizens on the mainland, and allows Hong Kong relative autonomy until 2047.

For comments, or corrections to this article please contact: [email protected]

BANGKOK — A Thai director has defended a scene of schoolchildren painting and applauding a picture of Adolf Hitler in his short film, which was commissioned by Thailand’s ruling military junta.

The short, called “30,” is a part of “Thai Niyom (Thai Pride),” a 12-part film that portrays Prime Minister and junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha’s teachings, known as the “Twelve Values.”

The film was produced by the Office of Prime Minister andscreened for free in cinemas across the country on 6 December. 

During the animated intro to “30,” the segment depicting Gen. Prayuth’s seventh value, “Learn about democracy,” a schoolboy is seen painting a portrait of Hitler, which his classmate then applauds. There are no other references to the German dictator in the film, which goes on to illustrate a lesson about cheating. 

A screen shot of “30” from the state-sponsored film “Thai Niyom.”

“I didn’t think it would be an issue,” the director of the short film, Kulp Kaljaruek, told Khaosod after a clip of the scene went viral on the internet and attracted criticism.

“As for Hitler’s portrait, I have seen so many people using it on T-Shirts everywhere. It’s even considered a fashion. It doesn’t mean I agree with it, but I didn’t expect it to be an issue at all.”

Hitler is often treated as a pop cultural icon in Thailand, where many people are not aware of the atrocities he committed during the Second World War. T-shirts, handkerchiefs, and other memorabilia bearing Hitler’s portrait and Swastikas are commonly sold in markets across Thailand, which fought with the Axis powers during the war.

“[Hitler] is the character of this child,” Kulp explained, referring to the protagonist in the short film: a spoiled, wealthy schoolboy who always gets his way. “He’s always been ‘number one,’ and he’s selfish.”

“Hitler is also a ‘number one,’ in a bad way,” Kulp continued. “He was good at persuading a lot of people, but he refused to listen to the majority. He was always arrogant. That’s why the war happened.”

When asked whether “30” was an attempt to poke fun at Gen. Prayuth’s Twelve Values in a subversive way, Kulp insisted that he did not intend the film to be political at all.

“I don’t want to convey anything,” said Kulp, who has worked on another state-sponsored film honouring the Thai monarchy. “I didn’t want to have anything to do with politics. I didn’t want my film to affect anyone.”

Kulp is also a manager at Kantana Group, one of the largest television and film production companies in Thailand, which is owned by his father.

The Office of Prime Minister recruited 12 different directors to work on “Thai Niyom” in October after Gen. Prayuth called for a film to promote Thailand’s “national identity.” The film was also meant to commemorate the 87th birthday of His Majesty the King on 5 December.

Gen. Prayuth’s Twelve Values, which he bestowed to the public in July, have already been rendered into a poem that students at public schools are required to memorise. 

Col. Sansern Kaewkumnerd, spokesperson of the Office of Prime Minister, admitted that he has not had time to see the film, but offered a possible explanation of why the Hitler cameo was included.

“If I were to make an uneducated guess, it may have been intended to say that democracy has good and bad sides,” Col. Sansern said.

The original video of “30” was pulled from YouTube shortly after Khaosod English pointed out the Hitler scene on social media. Both Kulp and Col. Sansern said they do not know anything about the removal of the video, which has since been made available on other sites.

On Wednesday, the Israeli ambassador to Thailand,  Simon Roded, said he was “deeply saddened” to see the “trivialization and misuse” of Nazi symbols in an official Thai government film. 

“Hitler and the Nazi regime were responsible for a systemic, horrific and racist murder of 11 million people during the Holocaust,” the ambassador said in a statement released by the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok.

“I was surprised that throughout the screening process this movie must have gone through to be approved for public broadcast, none of the smart, well educated people checking it had identified it as being problematic and offensive.”

The ambassador went on to note that this is not the first time the Israeli Embassy has encountered “ignorance of the history of the Holocaust” in Thailand. 

A Nazi-themed parade at Sacred Heart School in Chiang Mai, 2011 [Simon Wiesenthal Center]

In 2011, a Nazi-themed sports parade at a Catholic school in Chiang Mai province sparked outrage and prompted the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok to protest the school’s administration. In the wake of the controversy, directors at Sacred Heart School said they would increase lessons on world history. 

In another recent controversy, some graduates at Chulalongkorn University – one of Thailand’s top schools – posed for photos with a “Superhero Hitler” mural near the History Department. The University publicly apologised for the students’ behavior, and promised to prevent any similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Speaking about the ‘Hitler cameo’ in “30” on Wednesday, the Israeli Ambassador concluded, “If we learn anything from this incident it is that Holocaust education, especially its global messages of tolerance, should be introduced into the Thai curriculum.”