A professor of Rangsit University has criticised the previous military government for focusing too much on tourism and not enough on the welfare of the Thai people. The professor was speaking at Chulalongkorn University at a seminar discussing street stalls and urban development.

She questioned the National Council for Peace and Order’s policy of clearing street vendors in all but a few areas such as Yaowarat and Khao San Road that mainly cater to tourists.

She claimed that the NCPO – in power since the coup of 2014 until this year’s election – was more interested in economic development through tourism than in the welfare of the public.

Having affordable street food options was not just about tourism, she said, it was vital for poor workers who have migrated from the countryside, adding that it was part of an informal rather than a formal economy.

“For years people had earned their living from selling goods and services, including food, on the streets.”

This in turn provided an affordable option to eat for workers who came to Bangkok on for large investment projects. The issue, she said, was not just about tourism but the wider economy that might benefit.

The professor noted that CNN had once called Bangkok the best place in the world for street food but this had changed with the sanitized food trucks that have appeared since stalls and vendors were banned from most areas.

The Thaiger notes that banning street vendors has divided the capital. Many are happy that the sidewalks are easier to navigate, but others – including tourists – have said that the lifeblood and character of the city has suffered.

SOURCE: Naew Na | ThaiVisa Forum

The Future Forward Party secretary-general says that Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong’s remarks on politicians, academics and national security could deepen the political divide in the country and spark a “clash of generations”.

Piyabutr Saengkanokkul made the remarks at a seminar where he spoke on “homeland from the democratic perspective and the role of the people in building the nation”. The seminar was held in response to Apirat’s special national security speech on Friday.

During his speech, Apirat warned of the continuing threat to Thailand from communism and dissidents. He claimed some former communists had become politicians, and some had become academics but the “communist ideology chips were still implanted in their heads”.

He also cited threats from information warfare and propaganda, and the spread of fake news, which he saw as a collaboration between former communists and “foreign-graduated leftists and unethical scholars”.

Meanwhile, in his speech Piyabutr emphasised respect for difference of opinion, human dignity, rights and liberty.

“National security is equal to the people’s security”.

SOURCE: The Nation

The BBC’s Thai affiliate has published notes of an official document obtained from a visit to an Australian court, stating that Manat Bophlom one of the former names used by the Thai Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Thammanat Prompao, had served four years in jail for on charge of conspiring to import heroin to Australia.

Early in September, Australia daily newspaper, the well-respected Sydney Morning Herald, broke the news about Manat’s jail term, prompting Thammanat to accuse some Thais and foreign journalists of creating a smear campaign against him.

The Nation reports that Thammanat has consistently denied the allegations made in the articles and threatened to sue the Sydney Morning Herald and media outlets carrying the story.

BBC Thai reported on Tuesday this week that Thammanat had said to the UK’s world service that he was asking Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contract Australia for a copy of the court verdict.

The story, covered by BBC Thai this week, has received scant coverage in Thai media, so far. Excepting Khaosod and the original report in the BBC Thai-language affiliate, the story is being largely ignored.

Reporters from BBC Thai went to the Downing Street court in Sydney last month to make notes from the court record and collect facts about the case with permission from court officials. They were allowed to use their laptop, but prohibited from photo-copying the document, according to BBC Thai.

The documents stated that ‘Manat’ was arrested by Australian police on April 15, 1993 at a guest room in Palage Hotel near Bondi beach. together with three persons including a Thai and two Australians, according to a report in The Nation.

The court record indicates that ‘Manat Bophlom’ had admitted to the charge of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of heroin to Australia on November 15, 1993. The presiding judge handed down the verdict on March 31, 1994 and sentencing ‘Manat’ to six years in jail. The court said he would be eligible for release after serving at least four years of his sentence.

‘Manat’ was deported from Australia after being imprisoned for four years in Sydney, according to the BBC Thai report.

BBC Thai cited that Thammanat said to BBC Thai via telephone on October 4, 2019 that he did not plead guilty to the charge, but instead asked for negotiations between his attorney and the court.

He said he had not been involved in drug smuggling. He said at the time of his arrest, he did not have much experience or enough money to fight the charge, BBC Thai quoted him as saying.

SOURCE: The Nation