Interesting News From Thai Newspape

[nyeinchan@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Interesting News From Thai Newspapers

June 27th, 1997
Bangkok Post
Ultimatum to reroute gas pipeline soon

Villagers to return compensation money

Chakrit Ridmontri


A group of Kanchanaburi villagers will return compensation money to the 
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and deliver an ultimatum to 
reroute the gas pipeline from their land.

More than 200 residents from Dan Makham Tia district will stage a 
protest at PTT headquarters today in a bid to force it to reroute the 
pipeline.

Although the villagers received compensation from the PTT to allow the 
pipeline to pass through their land, they have changed their mind. They 
said the pipeline could explode and pose serious problems to the health 
of people and the environment.

"The villagers are aware of risks after they learnt about a gas 
explosion incident in Bangladesh recently," said Penphan Inthapantee, 
coordinator of a coalition of student conservation clubs from 16 
universities which helped organise the protest.

The villagers are joining hands with the Law Society of Thailand to file 
a lawsuit against the PTT for allegedly distorting facts about the 
safety of the pipeline.

"The PTT always tries to convince the public that its gas pipeline would 
never burst and the gas would not ignite if it leaked. In fact, 
disasters could emerge at any time due to the imperfect nature of the 
technology," she said.

Songkiet Tansamrit, director of the PTT's cooperation department, argued 
that the PTT has never informed the public that natural gas in the pipe 
was non-flammable.

He said the incident in Bangladesh took place at an offshore gas rig, 
not at an inland gas pipeline like the one being built in Kanchanaburi.

"Gas at the offshore drilling station is mixed with crude and condensate 
which are compressed under high pressure. It easily explodes. However, 
natural gas which will pass through the pipeline is pure gas and can be 
controlled," he said.

He said most of the land in Dan Makham Tia district that a section of 
the pipeline passes through belongs to the Highways Department, and only 
a few plots belong to the villagers.

"They should give the compensation money to the provincial committee 
monitoring the gas pipeline project or the police. We are not in a 
position to receive this money," he said.

The PTT began construction of the 260-kilometre project earlier this 
year after the National Environment Board approved its environmental 
impact assessment (EIA) which has been criticised by conservation groups 
for its incompetence.

They said the project would pose serious problems to fertile watershed 
areas and urged the PTT to stop construction work in order to review the 
project's EIA.

However, the PTT insists it has to go ahead with the project claiming it 
has to be built by next June when Burma will deliver gas from its Yadana 
and Yetagun fields to Thailand.

Farmers in serious danger

Aphaluck Bhatiasevi


Almost one fifth of farmers nationwide are in danger of serious illness 
due to the high content of toxic substances in their blood caused by 
pesticide and insecticide spraying.

The findings were released yesterday by the Health Systems Research 
Institute.

Nationwide blood tests were conducted on 465,420 farmers last year by 
the Health Department. They showed that as many as 84,760 people (18.2 
percent) were seriously at risk due to the high chemical content in 
their blood.

Those in the North were most at risk, with almost 50 percent of farmers 
having high levels, said institute researcher Chuchai Suphawong.

The study showed that farmers suffered from illnesses caused by use of 
pesticides and insecticides, mostly during the monsoon (June to October) 
and the dry (January to March) seasons.

In 1995, 3,360 people were treated and 20 died as result, said Dr 
Chuchai, who is also a Health Department senior medical officer.

Dr Chuchai also said that water samples taken from 63 sources across the 
country showed the presence of DDT, at sometimes highly dangerous 
levels.

American gunned down in Phuket

Phuket - A United States citizen has been shot and killed in what 
appeared to be an execution-style slaying outside his home on Phuket.

Denis Wayne Tong, 48, a native of San Francisco, was killed by two 
bullets fired into the back of the head as he parked his car in his 
garage.

Mr Tong's wife heard the shots and said she saw a man run from the 
garage and flee on a motorcycle.

Neighbours said two men had been seen loitering around Mr Tong's house 
in preceding days. Confronted, they said they were police investigating 
Mr Tong for suspected drugs trafficking.

Phuket police officials later said that they were not investigating Mr 
Tong for anything.

Friends denied that Mr Tong, a culinary consultant who ran a small 
cafe-bakery, was involved in drugs but speculated he had fallen foul of 
someone in a business dispute. - AP

Khun Sa's underling to be sent to US

To stand trial on trafficking charge



The Criminal Court decided yesterday to extradite an alleged underling 
of drug warlord Khun Sa to stand trial in America.

Chukiat Nimitpakbhum, or Na Chai Kui, has 15 days to appeal.

He has been charged by a New York State court with trafficking 14 
kilogrammes of heroin into New York and New Jersey on January 13, 1992.

Chukiat was one of 20 suspected drug traffickers belonging to a gang run 
by Khun Sa and wanted in the US. Fifteen have already been arrested by 
Thai police and now face extradition suits.

Chukiat is the fourth to receive the extradition ruling. The others were 
Meechai Pathummanee, Chalee Yangsiriyakul and Pongsak Rojanasaksakul, or 
Li Yun Chung.

Chukiat must be extradited within three months of the court verdict or 
be freed.

The Nation
Affected residents plan to return compensation 



KANCHANABURI ­ More than 200 residents of Dan Makham Tia district plan 
to converge at the Petroleum Authority of Thailand's headquarters in 
Bangkok today to return the compensation paid to them in protest against 
the construction of the Yadana Gas pipeline project. 

The PTT paid cash compensations to the residents in areas the pipeline 
passes, but the residents are now more concerned about their safety than 
money, the group's spokesman said yesterday. 

PTT's public relations director, Songkiat Thansamrit, said the PTT had 
spoken to legal experts and would not simply accept the money. 

''It will involve the legal system because the villagers signed their 
names when they received the compensation. They might have to take the 
case to the police," he said. The pipeline, a joint venture between the 
PTT and US oil company Unocal, received world attention when 14 ethnic 
Karenni and Mon people from Burma sued Unocal in the US People's World 
Court for disrupting their communities. 

The spokesman said residents were prepared to return the compensation to 
the PTT, as they believed the state enterprise had lied to them all 
along in claiming the gas was not flammable and was harmless to humans 
exposed to a leak. 

The spokesman claimed residents had also been harassed to move out of 
the pipeline's route. 

The residents, mostly from Chorakhe Phuak sub-district, are seeking 
legal aid from the Council of Lawyers to sue the PTT for misleading 
information about the project and for lying about the dangers of the gas 
pumped through the pipeline.

UN drug agency to meet in Bangkok next month



posted at 18:35 hrs (Bangkok time) 



BANGKOK, June 27 -- The UN drug agency and six regional countries will 
meet in Bangkok on July 11 to discuss subregional cooperation in drug 
control and sign agreements on joint subregional initiatives. 

The second biannual meeting will follow up and review progress made 
after the first ministerial conference in Beijing in 1995, which 
endorsed a subregional action plan for drug control which includes 11 
projects to reduce supply and demand and enhance law enforcement. 

Relevant ministers from Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and 
Vietnam will participate in the one-day meeting. 

Christian Kornevall, director of operations and external relations, will 
lead a team of the Vienna-based UN International Drug Control Programme 
to the conference. 

The meeting, to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Narcotics 
Control Board Chairman Sukavich Rangsitpol, will be preceded by a 
preparatory meeting of senior officials of the six countries and UNDCP 
on July 9 and 10. 

During the meeting, the ministers will review drug control in the 
subregion, discuss joint policies for the years to come, review progress 
on action plan projects and discuss updating the plan to better reflect 
recent drug control developments and initiatives.

Mass burning marks 'Day Against Drugs' 



THAI, Burmese and Laotian narcotics officers yesterday separately burned 
confiscated opiates, amphetamines and chemicals to mark the 
International Day Against Drugs in one of the biggest drug producing 
areas on earth. 

Thailand's Narcotics Control Board put the torch to more than 66 
kilogrammes of heroin and large quantities of opium gum, amphetamines, 
marijuana and related equipment and chemicals used to refine opium into 
heroin. 

Enforcement efforts have sharply cut the production of opiates in the 
last decade, but there has been a sharp increase in methamphetamine use 
among transport and industrial workers and even school children across 
the country, officials say. 

Burma's military junta was meanwhile holding a burning in the country's 
northeastern Shan State, near the heart of the opium and heroin 
producing area in the Golden Triangle. 

The infamous Golden Triangle, where the borders of Burma, Laos and 
Thailand meet, and the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan 
produce 90 per cent of the world's illicit opium gum, the World Drug 
Report 1997 says. 

The report, released yesterday, says more than 5,000 tonnes of opium was 
produced from poppy plantations around the world in 1996. 

In Laos, narcotics officers have seized 63.2 kgs of heroin and a 
quantity of opium and amphetamine between April and May, the US Embassy 
in Vientiane has said. 

In the seizure which was not made public even in the local press, more 
than 20 people were arrested. The amount of opium and amphetamine seized 
is 5.3 kgs and 74,000 tablets, it said. 

US Ambassador to Vientiane Wendy Chamberlin told The Nation last week 
that the US was impressed with the move which represented Laos' own and 
serious efforts to combat the narcotics problems. 

''It indicates seriousness and professionalism of the Lao officials," 
she said. 

The US estimates the 1994 opium output in Laos at 85 tonnes, down from 
180 tonnes in 1993. 

Washington last week dispatched a Drug Enforcement Agency officer to the 
embassy in Vientiane to work closely with Laotian officials on drug 
suppression. 

''We sent the DEA people to Laos because Laos is increasingly 
cooperating with neighbouring states against drug trafficking and DEA 
presence is to help Laos increase its efficiency in narcotics 
suppression," she said. 

The ambassador yesterday also joined the diplomatic corps and aid 
agencies in Vientiane in witnessing Laos' drug burning ceremony at That 
Luang.

Chavalit left holding a bag of empty promises 



n 

The prime minister's trip to Cambodia was more about public relations 
then substantial issues Piyanart Srivalo and Marisa Chimprabha write. 

Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's visit to Cambodia last week 
proved fruitful for both sides despite the security concerns that 
overshadowed the trip. 

The Thai prime minister decided to go ahead with the 24-hour visit even 
though Phnom Penh had been shaken by a series of violent episodes in the 
days before, including a gun battle between the bodyguards of Cambodian 
First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh and followers of the city's 
police chief. 

As a result, Phnom Penh was more than happy to receive a foreign head of 
state. 

It saw the visit as a boost to the country's image in the eyes of the 
international community. 

The safety of Chavalit and his delegation was never really in question 
as they were accompanied by dozens of fully-armed Cambodian soldiers and 
police throughout their stay. 

Yet it was a boon for Cambodian public relations as Co-Prime Ministers 
Ranariddh and Hun Sen suspended their war of words and appeared together 
for the first time in months to welcome the Thai premier. For his help, 
Cambodia seemed to be looking to ''reward" Chavalit. 

Just a few hours before he touched down in Phnom Penh, Ranariddh and Hun 
Sen announced that Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot had been captured. 

The announcement was important for two reasons; one was that it ended 
rumours about the whereabouts of the Khmer Rouge leader; and the other 
was that the Cambodian premiers, who have been at odds with each other 
and had offered different versions of Pol Pot's fate, appeared together 
for the announcement. 

Chavalit was the first foreign leader informed of the capture, showing 
that Cambodia placed importance in him as an old hand in the country's 
affairs. It also showed the close relationship between the neighbouring 
countries. 

The announcement about Pol Pot's capture was not news to Chavalit. Thai 
Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Chetta Tanajaro told the prime minister that 
morning that his military intelligence sources had confirmed Pol Pot's 
capture. 

An unconfirmed report even said that it was Thai military officers who 
captured Pol Pot as he was on the run from a guerrilla splinter group, 
led by nominal leader Khieu Samphan, a senior security source said. 

However, the source said the Thai military was reluctant to acknowledge 
this because it would undermine its early denials that Pol Pot had 
escaped on to Thai soil. 

The news surrounding the capture of Pol Pot overshadowed discussions on 
bilateral issues held by the three prime ministers. 

The prime ministers finalised a new border crossing agreement which will 
facilitate the opening of permanent checkpoints within 90 days of 
signing. 

Thailand also agreed to help renovate some roads to improve Cambodia's 
basic infrastructure. 

During his visit, Chavalit, who can speak Khmer, held a secret meeting 
with the co-premiers without a translator, again demonstrating his close 
links with the country and his years-long involvement in the Cambodian 
conflict. 

The Thai premier was the first Asean leader to visit Phnom Penh after a 
special meeting of foreign ministers decided in April to accept 
Cambodia, along with Burma and Laos, into its grouping as full members. 

Cambodia's volatile political conflicts have caused some concern in some 
corners of Asean. 

The grouping agreed to accept the three observers at the Asean foreign 
ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur next month. 

However, less than 24 hours after Chavalit left Phnom Penh the political 
feuds and verbal attacks between the co-premiers resumed with Hun Sen 
retracting his earlier endorsement of the capture of Pol Pot, saying he 
believed the former Khmer Rouge leader was already dead The quick 
resumption of squabbling contradicted comments made by Chavalit on his 
arrival at Don Muang Airport that Cambodia's leaders had promised him 
they would cooperate for the benefit of the country. 

Therefore, some observers questioned Cambodia's treatment of Chavalit's 
visit, asking whether it was simply a show to please him. 

The observers noted Cambodia's leaders were old hands at working to 
please foreign visitors although they rarely carry out their promises. 
The flip-flop over Pol Pot's capture was the latest example. 

In another example, Ranariddh was reported saying that he and Hun Sen 
were planning to tell US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright of their 
decision to hold national elections next May. The agreement on the date 
of the election was seen as a ''present" to please Albright, as both 
parties had previously wanted different months. The differences over the 
issue were solved especially for Albright's visit. 

Yesterday, however, the US State Department announced that Albright had 
cancelled her visit because of security concerns.

Superstitious image for prime minister's wife 

This is in reference to your photo (Monday) of Chavalit's wife on her 
official visit to Cambodia, clutching her jewel-studded cuddly toy which 
she takes everywhere to bring her good luck. What kind of image of a 
prime minister's wife is this? 

I mean, what is she going to do if she has to meet Hillary Clinton? What 
would they possibly have to talk about? 

The Nancy Reagan/Raisa Gorbachev mismatch pales in comparison. 

This photo says a lot about the childishness and superstition that so 
characterises the Thai elite as depicted on the society pages of 
Bangkok's newspapers. 
Catherine Gusse 
BANGKOK



"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."



---------------------------------------------------------
Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------