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Phuket lifeguards return to beaches
Phuket Gazette


If caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the coastline and land further down the beach, advises Uten Singsom, head lifeguard at Kata-Karon. Photo: Chutharat Plerin


Despite the dangerous surf, many tourists are still prepared to risk their lives for a dip in the sea. Photo: Chutharat Plerin

PHUKET: Fully equipped lifeguards are now back on duty at Phuket beaches, ready to rescue swimmers who get into difficulty during the currently treacherous weather.

Uten Singsom, head of the Phuket Lifeguard Club unit at Kata-Karon, told the Gazette, “This year we are going to have a new uniform and new flags. Both will be ready next week. Last year the warnings were written in Thai and English. I am not sure if they will add Russian to the warning signs this year.”

Mr Uten noted that despite the bad weather, tourists were not paying any attention to the red warning flags and still entering the sea.

“If tourists would just read the beach signs and flags it would help. If they followed the rip current emergency procedure it would give the lifeguards time to reach them.

“The worst thing to do in a rip current is to attempt to swim directly back to the beach. Instead they should swim parallel to the coastline and land further down the beach,” he said.

The negative attitude of some tourists toward the lifeguards was not helpful, he added.

“Sometimes lifeguards blow whistles to warn tourists that they are getting too far from the shore and risk not being able to make it back if they go any further out to sea, but the tourists react like they are are angry at the lifeguards,” Mr Uten said.

“I understand tourists come here for vacation and fun on the beach, but safety is important as well,” he added.

Although, lifeguard patrols resumed in full today with all stations manned and fully equipped, it was too late to prevent the deaths of two French tourists who drowned in separate incidents at Freedom Beach and Karon Beach last week.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle16060.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2012-05-29

Phuket motorcade to honor expat 'Scotty'
Phuket Gazette


Friends of long-term Phuket expat Brian Alexander McCormick-Kid, better known as “Scotty”, will stage a motorcycle procession from Phuket Town to Rawai on Wednesday to remember him by. Photo: Dan Miles

PHUKET: -- The many friends of Brian Alexander McCormick-Kid, better known as “Scotty”, will hold a motorcycle procession from Phuket Town to Rawai on Wednesday to honor the long-term Phuket expat.

Born in Glasgow 57 years ago, Scotty had lived in Thailand for 15 years.

Well known especially among the biker community, he died this week after a courageous battle with cancer.

Scotty was a skilled engineer who designed pyrotechnics for rock bands in the 1970s, but was known on Phuket for his skills as a motorcycle engineer.

Despite having only one leg, Scotty custom built and designed motorcycle parts and was described by his many friends as “tough as nails”, especially since three years ago he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only three months to live.

He finally succumbed to his condition on Tuesday, May 22, at 8:35am, surrounded by friends.

Scotty leaves behind an ex-wife, a son and a sister.

According to friends, Scotty’s funeral arrangements are as follows:

Wednesday, May 30
Scotty will be moved from Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town to Rawai Temple. A motorcycle procession will leave from the traffic light junction between Vachira Hospital and Phuket Technical College at 10am.

May 30 to June 1
Scotty will be laid to rest at Rawai Temple where all are welcome to pay their respects.

Saturday, June 2
The cremation service will be at midday. From 5pm at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club friends will celebrate Scotty’s life with an old-fashioned Scottish wake with live music provided by Rockin’ Angels and friends.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle16059.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2012-05-29

SKYTRAIN CONTROVERSY
Deal may have broken law: DSI
Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai Thanatpong Kongsai
The Nation

BMA and BTSC in spotlight, Tarit says

BANGKOK: -- There are grounds to believe Bangkok officials may have violated four laws in awarding a Bt190-billion contract to the current operator of the Skytrain system, according to Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tharit Pengdit.

If the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is found guilty, the private company that benefited from the deal may also be prosecuted for supporting officials' wrongdoing.

"I will ask the DSI board to bring this case under the DSI jurisdiction," Tharit said yesterday, adding that he planned to raise the issue at a meeting on June 27.

An official probe would start once the DSI board gives its approval, he said. Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra and those involved in preparing the controversial contract would be asked to provide explanations, he said.

Under the Bt190-billion deal, Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC) will provide operations and maintenance services for three new Skytrain extensions - in which the BMA itself invested - over the next three decades. Their combined length is 12.75 kilometres.

Under parts of the contract, BTSC will also provide operations and maintenance for the original Skytrain network (23.5km) for 13 years after its 30-year concession to this network expires in 2030.

The Pheu Thai Party has attacked the contract, especially the part that would allow the BTSC to operate and maintain the original Skytrain network from 2031 to 2044, which looks like a contract extension rather than a concession for BTSC.

Tharit said the BMA might have violated the Revolutionary Party's Announcement No 58, plus Article 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Public-Private Partnerships Act, and the law on bidding for government projects by awarding the contract to BTSC via its investment arm, Krungthep Thanakhom.

The announcement by the Revolutionary Party stated that the power to extend a contract for the BTSC lies with the interior minister, not the BMA.

Under the Article 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code, abuse of authority or negligence on the part of officials is a legal offence. And according to the Public-Private Partnerships Act, a decision to award the contract to BTSC should have required Cabinet scrutiny and approval. But the BMA awarded the contract via Krungthep Thanakhom as if it tried to bypass the Cabinet.

The BMA, moreover, is accused of violating the law on bidding for government projects because other companies are deprived of a chance to bid against BTSC in what should be counted as a state project.

Tharit yesterday disclosed his opinion on the allegation against the BMA after Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit asked about the case.

Earlier this month, Prompong called on the DSI to look into alleged irregularities in awarding of the Bt190-billion contract to BTSC.

"The money that will go to BTSC comes from the state budget," Prompong said yesterday. He also urged Sukhumbhand to give a clear explanation to the public.

Sukhumbhand has already responded and said the deal was awarded for the benefit of people in Bangkok. He said the 30-year contract would ensure security and continuity of the Skytrain system.

"The amount of money we have to pay to BTSC for maintenance and operating services is definitely lower than the cost incurred by the Mass Rapid Transit System for the Purple Line," Sukhumbhand said.


-- The Nation 2012-05-29

Land tax and land bank needed: TDRI
Attapoom Ongkulna
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) seminar yesterday urged legal amendments to ensure fair distribution of land ownership and raised concern over foreign investors using legal loopholes to buy and sell plots for profit.

Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) president Nipon Poapongsakorn said long-standing land problems - like encroachment on state land and officials taking back land which people had lived on for a long time - remained unresolved.

He said there was a lack of government measures to limit large-scale land speculation, while civil service agencies didn't protect people's rights and only used laws to determine land-ownership rights. Hence, 435 people had been charged and 1,000 people prosecuted due to the lack of laws to back their rights.

The House tried to pass a law allowing people to make use of state-owned or privately owned land that wasn't in use, but the change in government had stalled that attempt, Nipon said.

The community land-title deed project pushed by the previous government had become merely a PM's Office regulation applied on a case-by-case basis.

Nipon urged a continuous push of the "land bank" policy, saying a land tax law should serve as the main mechanism so that landlords who leave land unused would lose it to the land bank. He said the policy should also ensure a fair land market: poor people could get access to land and choose to buy it at an appropriate price.

Law Reform Committee member Pairoj Polpetch said the land-ownership issue could not be considered only by looking at title deeds, as it involved other factors including natural resources, environment and communities, and shouldn't be based on the principle that anyone with high economic status can own land.

It should be based on land-ownership distribution, creation of land use and control of land use, or else land would only be owned by a small group of people. And foreign investors could profit from Thai land, because land-ownership was governed by money, he said.

Pairoj said violations of human rights and environmental protection were a more important context than the criminal code; justice procedures shouldn't consider them in the same way.

He said many other facts must be taken into consideration rather than just asking for a land-title deed - or else various facts and true justice would be overlooked.

Investigators, public prosecutors and justice personnel must be neutral, and adjust their views so they were in line with the current situation and abandon the old belief that the only determinant of proper land ownership was to have a land-title deed.

The seminar also discussed a case of Lamphun residents charged with land encroachment, in which the local court will read its verdict on June 6.


-- The Nation 2012-05-29

Deal sought for accused driver
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The lawyer for a motorist accused of being involved in a hit-and-run accident 10 days ago has met police to ask that they delay a request for him to testify.

Chonlawit Hiranchatchawan was the driver of a Mini Cooper allegedly involved in the crash. His lawyer Kerdphol Kaewkerd, who also represents Hong Zae Li, the owner of the car and Chonlawit's grandmother, met police to discuss legal matters related to the crash.

Assumption University student Chotika Prasarnsophon, 22 and her friends were injured by the Mini Cooper while helping victims of an earlier accident on May 19. News of the incident spread online until police found the suspect's car on Sunday.

Kerdphol said Chonlawit drove back home after watching football with his friends. Driving at high speed, Chonlawit was shocked when he saw two cars parking, so he swerved to the right and hit Chotika and her friends. He fled the scene without helping because he was panicked, and told no one.

Following news reports about the accident, he confessed to his grandmother that he had hit the victims. Hong assigned Kerdphol to meet police and visit the victims, to say they would be responsible for them. Hong and Chonlawit were upcountry but confirmed that they would meet police, the lawyer said.

He said Chonlawit was 17 when the incident occurred, and could not have had a driving licence.

Pol Lt-Colonel Natthapol Kominchart, the deputy superintendent of Express Way Traffic Control Police Centre 1, said he believed the two did not intend to escape. Police would accuse Chonlawit of neglectful driving causing people to be severely injured and fleeing the scene. The suspect may face jail of up to three years and/or a fine up to Bt6,000.


-- The Nation 2012-05-29