PHOTO: Government members arrive at the Rajpruek Club on Tuesday night for dinner including shark-fin soup – Pornprom Satrabhaya/Bangkok Post

Shark Fin-Gate has riled plenty of activists and opened up an environmental can of worms.

An environmental foundation is calling on the Government to stop serving shark fin soup at its functions, after it was revealed that the dish had been served at a government dinner earlier this week. See story HERE.

Thai PBS World reports that The Seub Nakhasathien Foundation is now asking the Government to review various projects they claim could have serious implications for the environment.

The organisation has sent a letter to the PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, saying the serving of shark fin soup at a government dinner was clear evidence of the indifference felt by officials about environmental issues, and proof of their insensitivity to protecting the country’s natural resources. The infamous dinner on Tuesday night was held the day before Thai Environment Day.

Using data from a report published in the Marine Policy Scientific Journal, the foundation says about 100 million sharks are killed in a horrific manner each year for their fins. It calls on the government to issue an order to all state agencies to take shark fin soup off the menu at all official get-togethers and to lead by example for the rest of the country.

It’s also asking for a review into some other projects it has serious concerns about. The group say that a project to divert water from one reservoir in western Thailand to another will seriously impact the Salak Phra wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi, decimating its flora and fauna. They are calling on the government to change the route of the water diversion in order to protect the sanctuary.

In addition, they say a deep-sea port project in Pak Bara, southern Thailand, will have negative consequences for the Petra marine park, with the additional traffic and activity caused by the project affecting the park’s marine ecosystem and the local tourism industry.

Also in the letter are calls for a delay to Bangkok’s Chao Phraya riverside promenade project, saying the development will ruin the famous river’s cultural and historical identity. They add that a sea walls project run by the government has been shown to be a futile attempt at stopping coastal erosion.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

WANTED: Pol Lt-Gen Waipote Arpornrat

Renegade fugitive MP Waipote Arpornrat escaped the notice of parliamentary police, and government MPs, when he managed to stroll in the Lower House parliamentary chamber undetected during Wednesday’s sitting. Arpornrat is a member of Palang Pracharat, the most prominent party of the ruling government coalition after jumping ship from the Pheu Thai party,

He was stripped of his MP status on September 12 but has been laying low ever since.

He was apparently there to help the government reach a quorum for a vote recount, in an effort to stall an investigation of the controversial “blank cheque” Section 44 of the 2014 interim constitution. How he was able to get into the Parliament undetected will be a source of questions by the government opposition parties.

The former red-shirt leader faces arrest under a warrant issued by the Supreme Court, for his role in disrupting the 2009 ASEAN Summit in Pattaya. (The red shirts are a political movement that formed after the 2006 coup against the PM Thaksin Shinawatra and live on, philosophically as the Pheu Thai party).

The warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court on Tuesday. Two other red-shirt leaders, Samroeng Prajumrua and Worachai Hema, were sentenced to four years in prison over the protests at the Pattaya Summit.

House Speaker Chuan Leekpai and Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngarm have said separately that police can arrest Waipote on sight, but parliament police, conveniently, missed his presence and no Government MPs reported that they saw him.

Waipote was one of 250 government MPs who appeared in parliament after the Government party whips to make sure they attended.

On September 12 it was reported that, “Palang Pracharat MP for Kamphaeng Phet province Pol Lt-Gen Waipote Arpornrat has lost his MP status after the Supreme Court upheld the 4 year prison sentence handed down by the Appeals Court for his involvement in the disruption of the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya in 2009.”

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

PHOTO: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the leader of the Future Forward Party, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok – Khaosod English

Thailand might again see street protests again, according to Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the leader of the Future Forward Party and former MP. Thanathorn forecast the tipping point could come if the Future Forward party is dissolved next month.

He was speaking yesterday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok. Future Forward and its members face more than two dozen lawsuits from police, the attorney general, the Constitutional Court and the Election Commission, as he read out the list of litigation against him and the progressive part, as reports by the Bangkok Post.

“The establishment are pushing people out. They seem certain they can contain it and control it. But many think otherwise. I think this is a very dangerous gamble.”

Thanathorn, a critic of the establishment, opposes military influence in a country with a long history of coups. He was removed from parliament in November for allegedly violating media shareholding rules. He says the accusations are politically motivated.

“They consistently use fake news and misinformation to discredit opposition. They brand us as traitors, as anti-monarchy, creating hatred that divides the people of this country,” Thanathorn told reporters, in his strongest comments since his removal.

Thanathorn says he has no control over the timing of protests, that “the anger of the people is real” and that the anti-government Run Against Dictatorship, or Wing Lai Loong (“Run to oust the Uncle”), scheduled for January next year, will be a test of sentiment toward the ruling coalition.

After the speech, a member of the Committee to Return Happiness to the People said many politicians were hypocrites and troublemakers.

“Come in and solve problems, don’t make more problems.”

A spokesman for Palang Pracharat, the ruling coalition’s biggest party, said he disagreed with Thanathorn’s comments.

Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said, “He should respect the justice system. Nobody knows how these legal cases will play out. The majority don’t want to see street protests again. They don’t want to see chaos and disruption.”

Thailand held a disputed general election on March 23 after almost five years of military rule, and a pro-military coalition took office in July with a very narrow majority, installing former junta chief Prayut Chan-o-cha as PM, also a very close vote against Thanathorn for the top job .

The opposition FFP emerged as the third largest party, and became part of an alliance that today controls nearly half the lower house of parliament.

A deeply divided parliament and the government’s slim majority have shone a spotlight on political risk, in a Thailand where the economy is struggling. Observers are split on whether the ruling coalition can survive future tests, especially after the government’s shock defeat in a recent ruling over the controversial Section 44 of the 2017 Constitution.

Thanathorn says he doesn’t support violence, but that tension is rising and “a storm might be coming”.

“I see my role as a chain breaker. To break the chain that’s preventing us from advancing further.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.