THAI RATH noted that a chorus of opinion has criticised the government as being more concerned with solving its own political problems than with stemming the rising cost of living faced by the Thai people
Saturday June 21, 2008
KAMOL HENGKIETISAK
Bangkok Post
As had been expected, the government's performance for the past 4 months has received a thumbs down by eminent economists, especially the Commerce Ministry, which Prof Ammar Siamwalla, TDRI chairman, cited as having no policy on rice as the government flip-flopped constantly. One day it said it would help paddy farmers, the next day it said it would help consumers. One day it said it would sell blue-flag cheap packed rice, another day it said it would stop selling cheap rice, noted a Thai Rath editorial.
Former commerce minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula also criticised the ministry for interfering in the rice market and distorting the pricing mechanism, making the situation worse.
The TDRI chairman said the Samak Sundaravej government had no plan to solve the country's economic problems. However, Dr Ammar praised the Samak administration for not distorting the oil supply mechanism by using the oil fund to subsidise diesel, as was the case during the administration of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawattra.
The Thai Rath writer noted that Prof Ammar's evaluation of the Samak administration was in accord with opinions expressed by the media and the general public that criticised the government as being more concerned with solving its own political problems than with stemming the rising cost of living faced by the Thai people. This attitude was not unlike the Burmese junta, who insisted that Burmese citizens must vote in the referendum to accept the draft constitution even when millions of them were going hungry due to the devastation of Cyclone Nargis early last month.
According to a Ramkhamhaeng poll released on May 25, 2008, about 92.6% of the sampled population wanted the government to urgently tackle economic problems, while a tiny number, just 4.5%, believed that amending the constitution should be the government's priority. Sadly, the government did not pay heed to the poll results, said Thai Rath.
The writer then cited an Abac poll which found 87.8% of sampled people were dissatisfied with politicians' performance, 61.5% expressed concern that amending the constitution would lead to violence, and 38.6% recommended the government reshuffle the cabinet. The problem was, the leading candidate that people wanted ousted was none other than Samak Sundaravej, followed closely by Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung.
Thai Rath concluded by saying that since this reshuffle was obviously not going to happen, the alternative is for the government to prioritise its policies, especially on economics, which should be coordinated toward a definite goal, and not carried out haphazardly by various ministries as is the case now.
BMTA bus leasing controversy
Even though Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared that the government had done everything transparently during its 4 months in office, the opposition still insisted on filing a censure motion against certain cabinet ministers, especially Transport Minister Santi Promphat and Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri, for proposing that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) lease 6,000 NGV buses from a private firm at a cost of 110 billion baht, to replace old diesel buses, noted a Thai Rath writer.
Some believe that the reported leasing cost is about one million baht per bus over the real cost and that politicians are pocketing the difference.
In fact, the prospect of leasing NGV buses from China once surfaced during the Surayud Chulanont government and generated some news, but the project was shelved. The writer noted that he had written an article cautioning the government at the time that the made-in-China buses would be of lower quality than the Euro II buses now in use by the BMTA.
Now that the leasing plan has come up again, he wanted to insist the bus specifications conform to international standards and the contract opened for general bidding in a transparent manner. It would not do if the government let the BMTA conclude the deal secretly with only one supplier.
In principle, the writer agreed that the government should act to solve the accumulated debt problems shouldered by the BMTA - 69 billion baht and ballooning toward 100 billion baht. Just paying the interest to service the debt is beyond the capability of the BMTA.
The writer noted that one of the main reasons the BMTA continues to amass ever bigger losses each year is that most buses run on diesel, which rises in cost practically every week. The fuel cost represents nearly 60% of the collected fares. But even if the government allowed periodic fare increases, said Thai Rath, the BMTA would still face losses as it is bloated with bureaucracy. At present, there are five staff for every bus, much higher than the ratio for private bus operators.
The plan to reduce personnel is to borrow 3.5 billion baht from the Finance Ministry to pay compensation for dismissed personnel. The BMTA would then return the principal to the ministry at the rate of about 500 million baht a year.
The selling of 3,100 diesel buses was expected to earn one billion baht, to be used as capital to lease 6,000 NGV buses, which will reduce fuel cost by 60%. As mentioned, the opposition Democrats are charging that the leasing fee is excessive. The condition that the government is most unlikely to agree with is for the Finance Ministry to take over the 69 billion baht in accumulated losses from the BMTA, concluded Thai Rath.
Preah Vihear revisited
Recently the Samak Sundaravej administration agreed with the Cambodian government in its application to Unesco to declare Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site. The most contentious point is whether or not a part of the Preah Vihear site is located on Thai soil, noted a Matichon writer.
The reason the Cambodian government needed the Thai government's approval before submitting the application is that this is still very much disputed by some, as it has yet to be settled permanently by clear-cut demarcation line. If the Cambodian government submitted the application without consent from Thailand in July next month during the Unesco meeting in Canada, it is unlikely it would be successful.
The Preah Vihear issue became big news when Lt Gen Pitsanu Pujjakarn, former Defence Ministry spokesman, expressed publicly that the Defence Council was worried that Cambodia would encroach on Thai territory if Preah Vihear was declared a World Heritage Site, because both countries still claim parts of a buffer zone around the area.
Looking back, Preah Vihear is the last territory that Thailand ceded to a foreign country. From 1904 to 1908, France, as Cambodia's protector, concluded a few treaties with Siam. The treaty signed on 13 July 1904 stated that disputed territory shall use a mountain range as the demarcation criteria and that a joint border committee would be appointed to survey the disputed areas.
In 1907 Siam requested France to draw up a border demarcation map. France agreed and submitted one to Siam. The map included Preah Vihear on the Cambodian side. This map was later used by an independent Cambodia to claim sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple when Cambodia took Thailand to the World Court at the Hague, Netherlands for an arbitration settlement in the early 1960s.
Thailand argued that the French map was not drawn by a joint border committee, and thus could not bind Thailand, and also said the map did not use the mountain range as demarcation criteria.
However the Thai border committee did not express opposition to the map in a timely manner during the committee meeting in Bangkok in 1909, and Thailand's own map by the Mapping Department also indicated clearly that Preah Vihear was in Cambodia's territory. During the reconciliation talk in Washington DC in 1947, Thailand did not raise any objections to the map.
For this reason, the World Court decided that the French map was legitimate and awarded Preah Vihear to Cambodia on June 15, 1962.
Now some wonder if history may be repeating itself with a renewed boundary dispute. When the Samak administration agreed to the Cambodian-drawn map outlining the Preah Vihear area for the Unesco World Heritage Site, some were questioning whether the site encroached on a 4.6 sq.km. area claimed by both countries. The Matichon writer wanted to remind Mr Samak to be careful before signing the agreement, and not allow Cambodia to claim any Thai territory under the pretext of being the protector of a World Heritage Site.
Saturday June 21, 2008
KAMOL HENGKIETISAK
Bangkok Post
As had been expected, the government's performance for the past 4 months has received a thumbs down by eminent economists, especially the Commerce Ministry, which Prof Ammar Siamwalla, TDRI chairman, cited as having no policy on rice as the government flip-flopped constantly. One day it said it would help paddy farmers, the next day it said it would help consumers. One day it said it would sell blue-flag cheap packed rice, another day it said it would stop selling cheap rice, noted a Thai Rath editorial.
Former commerce minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula also criticised the ministry for interfering in the rice market and distorting the pricing mechanism, making the situation worse.
The TDRI chairman said the Samak Sundaravej government had no plan to solve the country's economic problems. However, Dr Ammar praised the Samak administration for not distorting the oil supply mechanism by using the oil fund to subsidise diesel, as was the case during the administration of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawattra.
The Thai Rath writer noted that Prof Ammar's evaluation of the Samak administration was in accord with opinions expressed by the media and the general public that criticised the government as being more concerned with solving its own political problems than with stemming the rising cost of living faced by the Thai people. This attitude was not unlike the Burmese junta, who insisted that Burmese citizens must vote in the referendum to accept the draft constitution even when millions of them were going hungry due to the devastation of Cyclone Nargis early last month.
According to a Ramkhamhaeng poll released on May 25, 2008, about 92.6% of the sampled population wanted the government to urgently tackle economic problems, while a tiny number, just 4.5%, believed that amending the constitution should be the government's priority. Sadly, the government did not pay heed to the poll results, said Thai Rath.
The writer then cited an Abac poll which found 87.8% of sampled people were dissatisfied with politicians' performance, 61.5% expressed concern that amending the constitution would lead to violence, and 38.6% recommended the government reshuffle the cabinet. The problem was, the leading candidate that people wanted ousted was none other than Samak Sundaravej, followed closely by Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung.
Thai Rath concluded by saying that since this reshuffle was obviously not going to happen, the alternative is for the government to prioritise its policies, especially on economics, which should be coordinated toward a definite goal, and not carried out haphazardly by various ministries as is the case now.
BMTA bus leasing controversy
Even though Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared that the government had done everything transparently during its 4 months in office, the opposition still insisted on filing a censure motion against certain cabinet ministers, especially Transport Minister Santi Promphat and Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri, for proposing that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) lease 6,000 NGV buses from a private firm at a cost of 110 billion baht, to replace old diesel buses, noted a Thai Rath writer.
Some believe that the reported leasing cost is about one million baht per bus over the real cost and that politicians are pocketing the difference.
In fact, the prospect of leasing NGV buses from China once surfaced during the Surayud Chulanont government and generated some news, but the project was shelved. The writer noted that he had written an article cautioning the government at the time that the made-in-China buses would be of lower quality than the Euro II buses now in use by the BMTA.
Now that the leasing plan has come up again, he wanted to insist the bus specifications conform to international standards and the contract opened for general bidding in a transparent manner. It would not do if the government let the BMTA conclude the deal secretly with only one supplier.
In principle, the writer agreed that the government should act to solve the accumulated debt problems shouldered by the BMTA - 69 billion baht and ballooning toward 100 billion baht. Just paying the interest to service the debt is beyond the capability of the BMTA.
The writer noted that one of the main reasons the BMTA continues to amass ever bigger losses each year is that most buses run on diesel, which rises in cost practically every week. The fuel cost represents nearly 60% of the collected fares. But even if the government allowed periodic fare increases, said Thai Rath, the BMTA would still face losses as it is bloated with bureaucracy. At present, there are five staff for every bus, much higher than the ratio for private bus operators.
The plan to reduce personnel is to borrow 3.5 billion baht from the Finance Ministry to pay compensation for dismissed personnel. The BMTA would then return the principal to the ministry at the rate of about 500 million baht a year.
The selling of 3,100 diesel buses was expected to earn one billion baht, to be used as capital to lease 6,000 NGV buses, which will reduce fuel cost by 60%. As mentioned, the opposition Democrats are charging that the leasing fee is excessive. The condition that the government is most unlikely to agree with is for the Finance Ministry to take over the 69 billion baht in accumulated losses from the BMTA, concluded Thai Rath.
Preah Vihear revisited
Recently the Samak Sundaravej administration agreed with the Cambodian government in its application to Unesco to declare Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site. The most contentious point is whether or not a part of the Preah Vihear site is located on Thai soil, noted a Matichon writer.
The reason the Cambodian government needed the Thai government's approval before submitting the application is that this is still very much disputed by some, as it has yet to be settled permanently by clear-cut demarcation line. If the Cambodian government submitted the application without consent from Thailand in July next month during the Unesco meeting in Canada, it is unlikely it would be successful.
The Preah Vihear issue became big news when Lt Gen Pitsanu Pujjakarn, former Defence Ministry spokesman, expressed publicly that the Defence Council was worried that Cambodia would encroach on Thai territory if Preah Vihear was declared a World Heritage Site, because both countries still claim parts of a buffer zone around the area.
Looking back, Preah Vihear is the last territory that Thailand ceded to a foreign country. From 1904 to 1908, France, as Cambodia's protector, concluded a few treaties with Siam. The treaty signed on 13 July 1904 stated that disputed territory shall use a mountain range as the demarcation criteria and that a joint border committee would be appointed to survey the disputed areas.
In 1907 Siam requested France to draw up a border demarcation map. France agreed and submitted one to Siam. The map included Preah Vihear on the Cambodian side. This map was later used by an independent Cambodia to claim sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple when Cambodia took Thailand to the World Court at the Hague, Netherlands for an arbitration settlement in the early 1960s.
Thailand argued that the French map was not drawn by a joint border committee, and thus could not bind Thailand, and also said the map did not use the mountain range as demarcation criteria.
However the Thai border committee did not express opposition to the map in a timely manner during the committee meeting in Bangkok in 1909, and Thailand's own map by the Mapping Department also indicated clearly that Preah Vihear was in Cambodia's territory. During the reconciliation talk in Washington DC in 1947, Thailand did not raise any objections to the map.
For this reason, the World Court decided that the French map was legitimate and awarded Preah Vihear to Cambodia on June 15, 1962.
Now some wonder if history may be repeating itself with a renewed boundary dispute. When the Samak administration agreed to the Cambodian-drawn map outlining the Preah Vihear area for the Unesco World Heritage Site, some were questioning whether the site encroached on a 4.6 sq.km. area claimed by both countries. The Matichon writer wanted to remind Mr Samak to be careful before signing the agreement, and not allow Cambodia to claim any Thai territory under the pretext of being the protector of a World Heritage Site.
