Thailand
Gen Paween’s allegations cause stir among officials

PHUKET: Supervisors of the former chief investigator probing a high-profile human-trafficking case reacted angrily on Friday to his accusation that he received no protection from them despite facing death threats.
Maj Gen Paween Pongsirin quit the police force last month and is now seeking political asylum in Australia. He told Australian media that he feared for his life because influential figures in the military and police implicated in the illicit trade wanted him dead (story here).
“There are some bad police and bad military who do this kind of thing,” Gen Paween told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Unfortunately, those bad police and military are the ones that have power.”
National Police Chief Gen Chakthip Chaijinda said that he suspected Gen Paween’s comments might be politically motivated and that they were intended to damage Thailand’s reputation.
“I have ordered the legal team to look into Gen Paween’s claim about the influential figures to determine their identities. We are also considering taking legal action against him for defamation,” Gen Chakthip said.
Gen Chakthip maintained that Gen Paween’s transfer to the southern border area was not done out of spite, but rather because they believed he had good knowledge about human smuggling so he should have fit the new position well.
Gen Chakthip also said that the transfer was supported by Gen Paween’s supervisor.
“There was no attempt to persecute him,” Gen Chakthip added.
Maj Gen Tesa Siriwato, Provincial Police Region 8 commander, Gen Paween’s former supervisor, said that his former subordinate ‘lacked discipline and failed to follow orders by his supervisors’.
Gen Tesa accused his former subordinate of telling only half-truths, which he said would damage Thailand’s reputation in the eyes of foreign countries. He said that what Gen Paween had told the Australian media could discourage several thousand junior police officers all over the country.
Col Winthai Suvari, spokesman for the Royal Thai Army and the National Council for Peace and Order, said that he believed Gen Paween’s supervisors and the Royal Thai Police had put in place measures to guard him against the death threats he had received. He also said that he believed Gen Paween’s complaints were based on personal dissatisfaction.
The spokesman maintained that the government was working efficiently in tackling the problem of human trafficking and trade. He added that a number of state officials were being prosecuted as part of the effort.
The crackdown on lucrative smuggling gangs followed the discovery of 36 bodies in shallow graves hidden deep in a mountain near the Thailand-Malaysia border in May. The discovery sparked an international outcry.
A case has been brought against 88 suspected human traffickers but interviewing all the witnesses, about 500 in number, could take as long as two years.
Gen Paween was listed as a key witness set to testify against officials and other individuals facing criminal charges over their alleged involvement in human trafficking.
Gen Chakthip said there were no issues with the trafficking case and that Gen Paween was the only police officer to raise allegations of intimidation. He also added that he had ‘no idea’ what prompted Gen Paween’s allegations.
— The Nation
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Thailand
Thailand News Today | Changes to quarantine, ‘adult content’ ban continues | March 5

Thailand’s Public Health Minister is chairing a meeting next Monday, where a vaccine passport scheme and potential travel bubbles is on the agenda. Anutin says those who’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 will be issued with a book to confirm their vaccination. It’s hoped this will make international travel easier, as well as boosting the public’s confidence and helping life return to some kind of normality.
In related news…. From next month, foreign visitors to the Kingdom will be able to experience the delights of “area quarantine”, after the government confirmed the scheme for 5 provinces. Following a meeting with the Public Health Ministry, the Tourism Minister confirmed that Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Surat Thani, which includes Koh Samui, have been chosen to pilot the scheme.
P**nhub and other adult websites are remaining blocked in Thailand as they apparently “conflict with good morals for upstanding citizens”. The Thai Government says the websites encourage “poor moral standpoints and can affect youth in a negative manner”.
The Acting Minister of Digital Economy and Society and current Minister of Culture says that the decision that was made by the previous office holder will be upheld. The decision also includes keeping other popular adult websites blocked as the Thai Government has labelled them to be “obscene”. But the move to ban adult content has brought protests with those disagreeing saying such sites are a part of freedom of expression.
A houseowner in the central province of Ang Thong, central Thailand, has discovered 3 skeletons on his land that are thought to be over 3,000 years old. 54 year old Somkiat Briboon says this most recent discovery isn’t the first, as the first lot of bones was found last year after preparing his 17 rai plot of land to be rented out for sugarcane farming.
The Thai PM says he’s ordered an investigation into allegations that the military has been using fraudulent social media accounts to aggravate the ongoing unrest in southern Thailand. Facebook has announced the removal of 185 accounts and groups that it has accused of “information-influencing”, targeting audiences in the deep south of the country, where Muslim insurgents continue to fight for independence. The PM says he’s tasked the Defence Ministry with looking into the matter and explaining it to the public.
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Thailand
Pro-democracy group to reach outskirts of Bangkok after almost 250 kilometre walk

A group of pro-democracy protestors, on an almost 250 kilometre walk, are expected to reach the outskirts of Bangkok today. The group has been walking for 17 days, starting from the Thao Suranaree statue in Korat province’s Muang district to protest the imprisonment of 9 pro-democracy demonstrators who are being denied bail.
The demonstrators imprisoned include 4 protest leaders from Ratsadon named Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Anon Nampa, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk and Patiwat “Morlum Bank” Saraiyeam. The 247.5-kilometre march, named “Walk Through the Sky: Bring Back the People’s Power,” started on February 16. Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa, from the student-led protest group Ratsadon, is leading the walking protesters and says they have been held in jail without bail since February 9.
The 4 are facing charges under Article 112, which prohibits lese-majeste, or the defaming of the Thai Royal Monarchy. Lese-majeste carries a jail sentence of 3 to 15 years. They are also facing charges of sedition under Article 116 of the Criminal Code, which carries a jail term of 7 years, as they are accused of organising pro-democracy rallies.
“The ignition and the fuel for the walk is simple. They have started to incarcerate our friends while denying their bail requests, which made it impossible for us to do nothing.”
The court has denied the demonstrators bail requests 4 times now, citing that their release would create more unrest.
Pai said he emphathises with the detained protestors as he has been imprisoned for lese-majeste before. He says he spent 2 years and 6 months in prison for sharing a BBC Thai’s biography of the monarch on Facebook.
“When I was in jail, there were people outside who were protesting for my release so now that my friends are in jail by an unfair law while being denied their right to political expression, I must come out and do something.”
“A walk is a type of a fight against injustice and we choose to fight this way in order to peacefully spread the words about police brutality, the uses of various laws to silence dissidents, the plights of the poor and the mismanagement of the government’s covid-relief measures and natural resources.”
The walk-in protest group is expected to reach Zeer Rangsit in Pathumthani around 5:30 pm today and will camp out near the department store before marching at the Bang Khen intersection tomorrow. On Sunday, the march is expected to end at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument.
SOURCE: Thai Enquirer
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
79 new cases today-COVID-19 Update

Today, the Thai government is reporting 79 new cases of Covid-19, with 65 locally-transmitted, and 14 imported, raising the total to 26,241 since the pandemic began. 1 new death has been reported, raising the total amount of deaths to 85. The new infections, which are now in the double-digits, shows Thailand’s Covid situation as improving according to the assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Panprapa Yongtrakul.
“The two-digit level of new cases found at hospitals and communities shows that the local Covid-19 situation is under control.”
The CCSA reports that 43 of the 65 local infections were found in communities with 22 of the 65 found in hospitals across 4 provinces.
Samut Sakhon province, the source of the second wave of Covid in the Kingdom, reported 77% of the new cases. Of the 50 cases found in the province, 38 were found in communities and 12 were found at hospitals.
Pathum Thani reported 8 new cases, with 3 being found at hospitals, and 5 in the community. Bangkok reported 6 new cases at hospitals and Chon Buri reported 1 infection found at a hospital. 12 of the 14 imported infections were quarantined arrivals from Russia, The United Arab Emirates, The United States, Slovenia, South Africa, Germany, Libya and Italy.
The other 2 imported cases were that of Thai women, who ellegedly returned from Myanmar illegally through a natural border crossing in Tak province, despite the government closing off natural border crossings after the February coup by the military in Myanmar.
Covid-19 cases rose worldwide by 446,747 over the past 24 hours to 116.21 million. The worldwide death toll rose by 9,955 to 2.58 million. The US still has the most cases at 29.53 million, rising by 68,321 over the past 24 hours, and the most deaths at 533,636, rising by 1,993 over the last 24 hours.
In light of the recent downturn in reported cases, Samut Sakhon has recently reopened 22 of its wet markets. However, the seafood market where the second wave of the Covid outbreak began, is not one of them, and it is not yet known when that might reopen.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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