Sombat – Somchai : Unforgettable Missing Life in ASEAN

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5 April 2013, 21:08

by Wipawee Julamanee

Expecting integration of ASEAN, people always spot on various issue concerned their daily life such as an investment, goods exchange and wealth when ASEAN becoming AEC (ASEAN Economics Community) in 2015.

Recently, Somchai Neelapaijittr Fund coordinated with Justice for Peace Fund , The Thai People′s Network for Mekong (TERRA) and Amnesty International held the seminar on the topic "Human Rights in ASEAN Community : The Disappearance of Sombat Somphone and Somchai Neelapaijittr" at Faculty of Laws, Thammasart University.

This seminar presented the issue of human rights violation and background of ASEAN values in term of human rights. ASEAN citizen feel that they have no power to reach their rights while they have been intimidated by their state officers.

"Sombat Somphone", a 60 years old Ramon Magsaysay Award winning social activist graduated from faculty of Agriculture, Hawaii University. His family settled in the United State but he decided to returns to Laos with intention to develop the well-being base of Lao people.

He was abducted after police called on Thadueir Road, Vientiane in August 2012.

Ung Chui Mheng, Sombat′s wife sent her statement to join this seminar. It noted that :

"Disappearance of Sombat has made me understand that the mechanic of human rights in region is not available. The Human Rights declaration which noted about rules of laws and respect of civil rights has no efficiency and invalidity at all.

She added at present people think that it is not strange if someone is politically missing. Frequently, the government has threatened their citizen not to have any question.

Sombat′s colleague "Vithune Permpongsajaroen" an environment activist suggested that Sombat′s disappearance might come from parallel civil seminar along with the ASEM that Laos became the host of this conference at that time.

This civil society seminar was created in order to criticize the government. He believes that Laos authority had not expected that the Sombat case would become a big issue internationally.

Lastly, he said that we should not ignore to this violation. There is no way to stop this fear if we do not fight together to prevent anyone to be a victim anymore.

Another case, "Somchai Neelapaijittr", an advocacy who helped people in 3 provinces in southern of Thailand, was kidnapped after he complained about the police had tortured alleged offender in 2004.

"Angkana Neelapaijittra", Somchai′s wife said she did not know what she had to do after disappearance of her husband. Moreover, she never expected that she had to face with the vast international problem like this.

Now Angkana and her cooperators are rise up to call for justice and break the fear to create the system that can be protected base of human rights for everyone.

She reveals that last year there was a report from Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of United Nations (UN WGEID) cited that Thailand, Laos, Burma and Indonesia have reported about missing person while Malaysia, Combodia and Brunei have no report. In addition, UN WGEID states their aim to find out the actual situation in thailand but they were rejected by Thai government.

Now, although there is ASEAN Human Rights declaration, in reality, it doesn?t match up with Internationl Human Rights declaration. For example, in the part indicated that "Every person has the rights to an effective and enforceble remedy, to be determined by a court or other competent authorities, for acts violating the rights granted to that person by the constitution or by laws".

But this part of declaration doesn?t include the harmful actions from goverment. So, this declaration is criticized whether it have real capability to protect the fundamental human rights of people in ASEAN or not.

The culture of ASEAN has various difference in social construct, race also religion. It is obvious that many small-sized countries can live together without the strongly conflict because the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) indicated that they must not interfere to each other.

This condition has pressed the individual problem behind and finally been ignored. It is including the large gap in social class, we can find that many governments in ASEAN claimed the rights in abuse of power in order to maintain the security and stability of state.

If people cannot access their rights, how the 3 pillars of ASEAN community can be completed?

Hundreds of ‘Ladyboys’ Exempted From Draft

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Khaosod English

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3 April 2013, 16:03

Hordes of queers, transsexuals, and ‘katoeys’ showed up nationwide for mandatory military service but were turned away by officials.

It′s the season millions of Thai males dread – the registration for 2-year service in the the country′s armed forces. However, many potential draftees were entertained at the colorful sights of ‘katoeys’ (known in English as ladyboys) who arrived at their registration booths in sexy, revealing dresses, our provincial correspondents reported.

However, the military has strict rules barring ‘katoeys’ from joining the ranks. Col. Attasit Sittitaworn, who oversaw the drafting session in Pitsanuloke Province, said those who “behaved very womanly” or went through relevant surgeries are disqualified on the grounds of “gender conflicting with reported sex” and “mentally impaired” – a term that has raised eyebrows of many LGBT advocates in Thailand before.

According to Thai laws, all males with Thai nationality are required to report for the draft in April every year, but they could also choose to participate in 3-year weekly military training during high school years in order to exempt themselves from the service. Those with health problems and undesirable height or weight are also usually exempted upon inspection at the registration sites.

‘Heartbroken’ Student Leaps To His Death

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Khaosod English

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3 April 2013, 15:29

A college student was found dead in an apparent suicide by jumping off his apartment building while his roommates told police he killed himself to protest his girlfriend’s affection for another student.

The incident took place at Baan Suan Thon Condominium
in Thoong Kru Area of Bangkok. The deceased was later identified by the police as Mr. Chawanon
Yamoon, 21. He was a second year student at King Monkut Technology University Thonburi, the police
added. After inspecting the scene, the police inspected the man′s room, located on the 6th floor of
the building.

Mr. Chawanon′s 3 roommates said they were not aware of
his death until the police informed them, as they were sleeping in their separate bedrooms. Mr.
Chawanon′s laptop was investigated by the police, and officers told the reporter Mr. Chawanon was
chatting with a woman via Line application, presumably his
girlfriend.

Mr. Chawanon was reportedly expressing his anger at her
for not loving him back. He also sent a photo of himself drinking toilet cleaning chemical to his
girlfriend, apparently threatening that he would commit suicide out of his sadness. A cup containing
traces of the chemical was also found near the computer.

Mr.
Chawanon, his roommates said, had been complaining that his girlfriend became too close to another
student lately. His girlfriend, whose name was not identified, later told the police she and Mr.
Chawanon had been dating “casually” for 5 months. On the night of his death, Mr. Chawanon reportedly
accused her of distancing herself from him, and sent her the photo of himself drinking the chemical,
but she dismissed it as “a joke”. She said Mr. Chawanon also sent her a song called “Changing Winds”
by a Thai pop-rock band “Bigass”, saying he intended the song to be last message for her. That was
the last she heard from him until police informed her of his death, she
said.

A senior police officer told the reporter they were not
treating Mr. Chawanon′s death as suspicious.

Survey: Majority of Monks Thinks Lotto is Sinful

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Khaosod English

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2 April 2013, 21:07

A survey claims 92% of monks think lottery is a sin, while a sizable proportion of interviewed monks admit they occasionally assist templegoers in choosing lucky lotto number.

Ms. Thaniccha Limpanich, the director of Family Foundation, unveiled the survey result in a panel discussion under the topic of “Gambling and Degeneration in Buddhism”, which was co-hosted by the Foundation and an anti-gambling network at Suan Moke, Bangkok. The survey was conducted by Assumption College (ABAC Poll), covering 909 20-39 year old monks from the provinces of Chiangmai, Konkaen, Chonburi, and Songkhla.

50.9% of the respondents say there are aware of problems caused by gambling in their communities, citing debt, fights, thefts, and disputes amongst family members as examples. Asked why locals buy lottery, 59.8% of the monks interviewed said the locals “wanted to try their lucks” and 50.6% answered the locals were looking for a “shortcut to being rich”.

According to the survey, 92% of respondents believed that lottery is against Buddhism, did not want to see lottery buying or any gambling take place in temple compounds, and would oppose the plan to install government-sanctioned automatic lottery dispensing machines. 45% of monks surveyed also believed the authorities should seriously crackdown on illegal types of lottery whereas 23% wanted every type of lottery banned.

Upon being asked whether the respondents were involved in lottery business, 60.6% of the respondents said they did not buy lottery or encourage lottery buying in any way. However, 23.5% said they were involved in the trade via actions such as suggesting lucky lotto numbers for templegoers. Furthermore, 24.3% admitted having been encouraged by the templegoers into buying lottery themselves.

Thai Lady aged 102 loves Thai dance

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Khaosod English

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2 April 2013, 02:29

Nakhon Ratchasima – If you want to know how to live a long life, a lady aged 102 years could give an answer.

Her name is Am Shin-jor-hor, residing at 20 Moo 4, Ban Pho, Muang, Nakhon Ratchasima. Her identification does not specify a date of birth, but notes that she was born in the year of 1911. She looks healthy, despite the difficulties misty eyes and ears.

Granny "Am" has 9 children but already died 3. Her husband died in 1997 with the age of 92. She reveals that she loves Thai dancing that maybe make her healthy.

"I dances because dance make physical strength and feel fresh. In addition, I prays every night before bed." Granny Am said.

"How about the food?" a reporter asked.

Granny said she like vegetable with Thai chilly sauce (Namprik) and also KhaoPong, a local snack of dried rice in Northeast of Thailand.

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