Early retirement deals also offered to keep costs low

Thai Airways International (THAI)'s board of directors Friday agreed to extend the age limit for female flight attendants hired under outsourcing contracts to 60 years from 45 years.

Thai Airways will consider the performance of each outsource employee annually before offering a new contract.

For outsource air and ground employees, Thai Airways will extend the maximum age stipulated in hiring contracts to 60.

Because the company will incur higher expenses from the contract extensions, THAI is reportedly offering a "mutual separation plan" to female flight attendants over 45 years of age in a bid to reduce costs. The female attendants aged over 45 have been offered a voluntary retirement package ahead of the obligatory retirement age of 60.

Meanwhile, the board has also officially appointed Sorajak Kasemsuvan as THAI's new president.

Chokchai Panyayong, executive vice president and acting president of Thai Airways, said the cabin factor of the national carrier increased in August to 78.8 per cent from 74.8 per cent in July. Cabin factor is the percentage of seats sold.

THAI will have more flexibility in setting its flight schedule after Thai AirAsia moves all its Bangkok operations to Don Mueang International Airport by October 1, Chokchai said.

"Passenger traffic at Suvarnabhumi Airport will be relaxed. After buying A380 aircraft, Thai Airways plans to increase the number of flights by 10 per cent next year," he said.

The number of passengers flying THAI in August was 1.78 million, up by 9.8 per cent from 1.62 million passengers in the same month last year.

King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy.
Its king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, assumed the throne in June 1946 and is the world's longest-reigning monarch.
The royal family is revered by many Thais.
Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led the opposition Pheu Thai party to a landslide victory in July 2011 and became Thailand's first woman prime minister.

Malaysian and Thai authorities would investigate into the hoisting of Malaysian national flags in a series of latest disturbances in Southern Thailand, a Malaysian senior minister said Sunday.

Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said his government viewed the incident seriously, and the Home Ministry will launch a probe into the matter with its Thai counterpart.

Insurgents staged a series of symbolic attacks in Thailand’s Muslim dominated South on Friday, burning Thai National Flags while Malaysia’s Jalur Gemilang were raised. The attacks came when the Malaysians celebrating their 55th anniversary of independence from British rule.

Hishammuddin denied to provide any further details relating to the incident, saying what behind the hoisting of Malaysian flags remained unknown.

"This involves cross border criminal activities and we have a special unit to investigate the incident," he was quoted as saying by local Star newspaper.

Insurgents staged 102 violent incidents, including five bomb attacks that wounded six security officials, in the deep South last Friday.

Commander of the Fourth Army Area based in Pattani Lt General Udomchai Thammasarojrat meanwhile said the widely reported recent killing of four soldiers was intended to send a message to the international community that Thai authorities had lost control of the deep South.

The attack also signalled the overall separatist battle was nearly won.

The insurgents intended the incidents to incite hatred between Thai and ethnic Malay people while painting a bad image of Thailand in the eyes of its neighbours and generally promoting their cause, he said.

National Security Council secretary-general Pol General Wichien Photeposri yesterday went to the deep South following more than 100 coordinated attacks, blamed on insurgents, in the four Southern border provinces on Friday.

The incidents, including five bomb attacks in Narathiwat that wounded six security officials, also saw the insurgents planting the Malaysian national flags across the region, in a purported attempt to symbolically link the region with Malaysia's independence day celebrations.

As he left Bangkok, Wichien said the trip was to check on the implementation of the nine-point strategy, especially the seven safety-zone measures, the progress of CCTV camera installations and security manpower management. He will report back to PM Yingluck Shinwatra. Speaking about the coordinated attacks, Wichien said it was not an intelligence failure.

After an urgent meeting with related officials, Wichien disclosed that the insurgents and sympathisers on Friday carried out more than 400 activities, mostly minor acts such as raising Malaysian flags and bomb hoaxes. He said Thai-Malaysian relations remained unaffected by the insurgents' attempts to cause a bilateral conflict. He said Malaysia had clearly stated that it backed peace and would cooperate in developing both sides of the border in order to prevent conditions that led to insurgency. He said the NSC had a policy on negotiating for peace in the region, hence there were ongoing attempts for talks.

Lt-General Udomchai Thammasarojrat, the commander of the Fourth Army Area based in Pattani, said the insurgents' use of Malaysian flags did not affect bilateral relations and affirmed that the authority would continue to crack down on insurgents.

Saying that Friday's attacks in Narathiwat and Yala were carried out systematically, Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva urged Yingluck to carefully assess the Southern situation and not jump to conclusions as a mistake could worsen the problem. He urged Yingluck to assign only one minister to be in charge of the Southern unrest rather than three ministers, so as to prevent confusion. He planned to propose discussions on the Southern unrest to the House once the rubber price issue was discussed.

Narathiwat officials yesterday inspected the department store, which was bombed and was on fire on Friday night despite being in the safety zone. Police suspect that the group which carried out an attack on two shops on October 23, 2011, killing seven people and injuring eight others, was responsible for this attack, too. The store suffered 95-per-cent damage, initially estimated at Bt10 million.

Two rubber tappers lost a leg each in two separate bomb explosions in Narathiwat yesterday. Charoen Daengtae, 64, lost his left leg after stepping on a buried bomb in Tanyong Limor of Rangae district while Maena Lateh, 54, lost her right leg after stepping on a bomb in Tambon Bangpor of Muang district.

 

Blurb: Growing up as a temple boy, former MP Jatuporn Promphan did not own a famous amulet or sacred Buddha image. But after becoming a red-shirt leader, those highly sought-after items - in his own words - just came to him.

 The residence of red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan is a townhouse in Soi Watcharapol, in the Ram-Indra area. It can be distinguished from the others as the house is covered with big trees, which he said he had cranes lift and put them in the house compound. An aerial view of the house will show you only the trees and glimpses of a few closed-circuit cameras.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrajang Monday vowed to step down if he fails to arrest the driver of a luxurious sport car that hit and killed a patrol policeman and fled the scene.

Pol Sen Sgt Maj Wichien Klanprasert of Thonglor police station was hit by a black sport car at the mouth of Soi Sukhumvit 47 early Monday. The car, whose make and license plate were not known, dragged Wichien's body and motorcycle for over 200 metres.

Witnesses told police that the car fled into a house on Soi Sukhumvit 53. The house is owned by Chalerm Yoowitthaya, an executive of Red Bull energized drinks.

Kamronwit visited the house later Monday and exit the house one day later.

He said he would seek a court warrant to search the house because a taxi motorcyclist saw the car entering the hosue.

Chalerm's son, Worayuth Yoowitthaya, was arrested at Chalerm's house on Soi Thonglor 53 after he admitted to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrajang that he drove a Ferrari car that hi the motorcycle of Pol Sen Sgt Maj Wichien Klanprasert of Thonglor police station at 5:30 am.

The Ferrari car was seen fleeing into Chalerm's house, prompting Kamronwit to rush to the house and hold a talk with Chalerm for about an hour.

Japan talked tough on Friday in an emotional row with South Korea, with lawmakers calling on Seoul to end its “illegal occupation” of a disputed island chain, but the prime minister also called for calm and a diplomatic solution to the feud.
Tension between the North Asian countries, both close U.S. security allies, flared this month after President Lee Myung-bak became the first South Korean leader to set foot on the islands claimed by both countries.
Lee’s visit and his call for Emperor Akihito to go beyond expressing “deepest regrets” for Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule triggered a diplomatic tit-for-tat feud, and a rare veiled threat from Japan to flex its economic muscle.
The dispute between Japan and South Korea over the islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan has coincided with a standoff between Japan and China over another island chain that sparked anti-Japanese protests in China last week.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, accused by the opposition of being too soft on territorial disputes, walked a fine line, fending off criticism while trying to keep the disputes from spinning out of control.
“In order to protect our national interests, I will say what we must say and do what should be done,” Noda told a news conference.
“On the other hand, it would do no good to any country if we uselessly fan hardline opinions at home and escalate the situation,” he added. “The important thing is to seek a solution in peaceful and diplomatic ways.”
But Noda also sharpened his rhetoric and, in a break with past practice, referred to South Korea’s control of the islands as “illegal occupation.”
“After the end of the war, South Korea started an illegal occupation,” Noda said, echoing the language of lawmakers who earlier passed a resolution condemning Lee’s visit to the islands and demanding their return to Japan.
That spurred a swift rebuke from South Korea.
“We strongly protest the prime minister’s unjust territorial claim to Dokdo which is historically, geographically and by international law our sovereign land ... and urge he immediately withdraw it,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Japan’s lower house adopted a separate resolution criticizing last week’s landing of Chinese activists on an island chain in the East China Sea claimed by both Japan and China.
That resolution drew a protest from China which said the islands it calls the Diaoyu, known as the Senkaku in Japan, “have been Chinese territory since ancient times.”
“For Japan to seek to use this resolution to strengthen its position is unlawful and futile,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
Noda said he had no specific economic steps in mind to take in the dispute with South Korea, but Finance Minister Jun Azumi earlier suggested that Tokyo might not extend a currency swap arrangement with South Korea after it expires in October.
He also said Japan was weighing a plan to buy South Korean government debt.
“Things have reached the point where the Japanese people may not be able to accept the argument that political relations and economic relations are separate,” Azumi told reporters.
The Yomiuri newspaper reported that Japan was leaning toward aborting its plan to buy South Korean government bonds, saying the government believed it would not be understood by the public, given the diplomatic climate.
The United States called on Japan and South Korea to find a solution.
“Both of these countries are strong, important, valued allies of the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a briefing on Thursday.
“It’s obviously not comfortable for us when they have a dispute between them, so our message to each of them is the same: Work this out, work it out peacefully, work it out through consultation.”
Despite close economic ties, bitter memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China and South Korea. The territorial disputes show how the region has failed to resolve differences nearly seven decades after the end of World War II.
The row with South Korea sparked a curious stand-off over a letter from Noda to Lee, which South Korea first declined to accept and then Japan refused to take back.
Narushige Michishita, security expert from Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said the intensity of the flare-up reflected domestic political pressures but also changing dynamics in the region.
“With rising China and more self-confident South Korea, the region is entering an era of turbulence,” he said. “Amid a changing power balance between countries and a formation of new order, you will be left behind in a power game unless you are assertive.”
Both Japan and South Korea face elections and China is preparing for a once-in-a-decade leadership change later this year. The last thing politicians want is to appear weak in dealing with neighbors over territory.
A South Korean newspaper said Noda was trying a “diplomatic gamble” to shore up his dismal ratings ahead of an election his Democrats look set to lose.

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.

Deputy Governor Theerachon Manomaiphiboon spoke to reporters after lodging a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission against DSI director-general Tarit Pengdith, accusing him of four counts of malfeasance-related offences.

The BMA management also submitted the issue to the Ombudsman's Office, which has forwarded the matter to the Justice Ministry for further scrutiny. Theerachon said the BMA also made a complaint directly to the DSI, asking for clarification and relevant documents.

In the complaint submitted to the NACC, the BMA accuses Tarit of unlawfully taking action against the BMA over the extension of the contract. It says the DSI has unlawfully jumped to the conclusion that BMA had no authority to make any decisions about the BTS concession.

The DSI also failed to submit the issue to the NACC within a 30-day deadline. Further, the DSI unlawfully presented the BTS case to the DSI board and unlawfully convinced it to take the issue under its jurisdiction. Sukhumbhand's term as Bangkok governor ends on January 11.

As the government is planning to mark its first year in office this weekend, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday raised six issues omitted in the performance report.

1. When will the government put the people's interest before the energy industry?

In the face of soaring price, statecontrolled PTT has reported Bt37 billion in profit for this year's first quarter while the people are obliged to shoulder the rising energy cost.

2. Will rice farmers ever to get more benefits from the rice pledging scheme than rice mill operators and middlemen?

The government appears to trumpet its intervention on paddy price. But the fact is rice mills and brokers are the main beneficiaries of the corruptionplagued scheme and very little would trickled down to the farmers.

3. When will the government put the country before the interest of one man - fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra?

The government has apparently push for reconciliation as a guise to rescue Thaksin from his legal predicament.

4. When will Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra start to share the plight of local residents in the strifetorn South?

PM Yingluck has delegated officials to travel to the region on her behalf while she refuses to risk her safety.

5. When will the government show tangible results in floodcontrol projects?

Despite huge spending outlays, the government is being entangled in untransparent bidding process which in turn blocks the work progress.

6. How will the government deal with the staggering public debt incurred to finance populist policies?

The country's fiscal position will remain at risk so long as the government opts squander funds on stopgap measures instead of aiming for sustainable development.

Abhisit said he respected the people's mandate given to the Pheu Thai Party although he was still hoping to see the government to serve the public instead of the vested interests.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tohvichakchaikul said local residents told the ministry's Buakaew mobile team during a recent visit to the province recently that they were in need of more passes on the Thai-Myanmar border, as these would boost cross border trade and communications.

Local authorities in Chiang Rai wanted the passes to be opened at Pangtong in Fang district and Santondu in Mae Ai district.

He added that while local residents had said that border trades would increase if the passes were opened, the army argued that they would facilitate the smuggling of drugs in and out the country.

The ministry was told that Pangtong pass has been closed on and off for more than 10 years but drug problems in the area continued to increase. Putting the blame on the pass was thus not right.

The ministry will discuss the army about the possibility of open more Thai-Lao border passes on Saturday.

Fugitive ex-PM heads for Korea after sparring with yellow shirts and raising awkward questions for US over visa

 

Thaksin Shinawatra has left the United States without fanfare, having spent much of his time in America playing cat and mouse with the yellow shirts and putting his host in a somewhat awkward situation.

A phone-in was made to his supporters from South Korea, signalling an end to the US visit, which was marred by questions over whether US authorities ignored their own law, and by the return of the WikiLeaks ghost to haunt Washington.


The United States' permission for Thaksin to enter the country, now that his party's in power, has put the superpower's diplomacy under scrutiny. Critics pointed to the WikiLeaks-exposed documents that purportedly showed the US Embassy in Thailand once considered him a man unsuited for a US visa. The alleged embassy cable statement claimed Thaksin "may or may not have committed crime of moral turpitude" following the street turmoil in 2009 when the Democrats were in power.

The US Embassy here has never commented on anything emanating from WikiLeaks.

Anti-Thaksin Thais have staged protests both in Thailand and the United States. Complaint letters were written to American authorities including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Criticism of the US visa decision was also fierce online. The campaign prompted the embassy to take the unusual step of giving a public statement on how decisions to give approximately 50,000 Thais visas annually never have anything to do with politics.

Thaksin himself has admitted that US authorities did not want him to visit their country when the Democrats were in power. In an interview with a Siamtown US news group in Los Angeles, he charged that foreign governments "who did not want to quarrel with" the then Thai administration acquiesced when asked to ban his entry.

Those agreeing with the US visa about-face insisted that Thaksin's conviction on criminal charges in Thailand, which should have triggered US immigration action against him, was politically motivated. This argument, however, did not quite address the question why the US government only changed its stand on Thaksin after his political party rose to power in Thailand.

Asked by Siamtown US to comment on allegations that his US visa was part of a "trade-off", Thaksin said: "People who don't know the truth talk a lot. Worse still, those who know are not quite smart. The first thing they should know is, the extradition treaty does not cover political cases. Mine is a political case."

Asked what was the "symbolic impact" of his US visit, Thaksin said: "I just want to show that I can go anywhere but Thailand."

He also taunted his political rivals for "becoming afraid of the ghost that they turned me into".

ASTV reports that the US authorities also became concerned about possible repercussions of his visit, so much so he was advised to keep a low profile and quietly leave the country. The reports could not be verified.

Japan's coast guard is now questioning the activists, who had earlier been denied permission to visit the islands.

Japan's controls the archipelago but it is also claimed by China and Taiwan.

A group of pro-China activists landed on the islands earlier this week, enraging Japanese nationalist groups.

The Japanese launched their flotilla on Saturday, saying they wanted to commemorate the Japanese who died near the islands in World War II.

The AFP news agency, which has a reporter on board one of the boats, reported that the activists were planning to climb to the highest point of the island and plant a Japanese flag.

China warned earlier that the expedition would undermine its territorial sovereignty.

The islands lie on a vital shipping lane, and are surrounded by deposits of oil and gas.
History of tension

The AFP journalist aboard one of the boats confirmed that the flotilla had arrived off the main island, Uotsurijima, at sunrise.

Kenichi Kojima, a local politician from Kanagawa, near Tokyo, told AFP: "I want to show the international community that these islands are ours. It is Japan's future at stake."

Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gan said: "Any unilateral action taken by Japan on the Diaoyu Islands is illegal and invalid."

Earlier this week, pro-Chinese activists sailed to the disputed island chain from Hong Kong in a protest aimed at promoting Chinese sovereignty.

Chinese state media had praised Japan's "wise" decision to free them, saying that the speedy action had averted a deterioration in relations.

Rows over the disputed islands have caused Sino-Japanese ties to freeze in the past.

China claims the islands have been a part of its territory since ancient times, but Japan says it took control of the archipelago in the late 1890s after making sure they were uninhabited.

In September 2010, relations plummeted after the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near the islands.

The captain was accused of ramming two Japanese patrol vessels in the area, but Japan eventually dropped the charges against him.