“When their permits expire, they can request renewals,” Interior Ministry permanent secretary Grisada Boonrach said yesterday.

His ministry issued two regulations late last month to extend better humanitarian help and protection to victims of human trafficking and witnesses in court cases.

“In essence, victims and witnesses, including their dependants, can stay and work in Thailand for two years after their court cases end. They can also seek renewals after that,” Grisada said.

Authorities would renew permits if they demonstrate good behaviour, Grisada said adding that “each renewal will be valid for one year”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an elderly man lamented how his son was rejected at the last stage of recruitment after a government agency found out that he was once jailed over a brawling offence.

“Didn’t they say former inmates would be allowed to work?” the father said.

He was not the only one to complain about how difficult it is for an ex-convict to find a proper job.

“What could a former inmate do if he didn’t have capital to start a small stall? What if he just had a bachelor’s degree? Does he really need to lose all his future because of a minor offence he once committed and for which he had already been punished?” said a post on the Internet.

Naowarat Thanasrisudarat, a former director of the Chiang Mai Woman Correctional Institution, said she had seen too often how former inmates were subject to workplace discrimination.

“Even if they have already started working, they will be pressured or laid off as soon as employers know they had been in jail before,” she said.

Aware of the difficulties former inmates often face, Naowarat decided to help. After retiring from the government service, she opened a massage parlour and recruited former inmates.

“They had received traditional Thai massage training during their jail term,” she said.

Located in Chiang Mai province, her “Lila Thai Massage” parlour has received a warm response from people, particularly foreign tourists.

“Foreign media have run reports on my massage parlour. It has its selling point,” Naowarat said.

Although “Lila Thai Massage” has managed to win support, it is now barred from hiring recently released inmates.

According to the newly introduced Healthcare Business Place Act, a person must have completed his or her jail term for at least one year before taking a position as a masseur or masseuse.

“Police have pushed for this law, saying that such a stipulation is necessary so as to prevent the risk of service users being assaulted or losing their property while receiving the service,” Naowarat said.

She said she had tried to block the legislation of this law.

Naowarat said the legal stipulation made no sense because it would only increase the risk of former inmates going back to their wrong paths.

“When they don’t have a means of a livelihood, they may just go back to selling drugs. One year is long. How can they feed themselves and their family during the period?” she said.

She said “Lila Thai Massage” had been in operation for nearly a decade and there had never been a single incident of theft.

“All staff here have always turned the stuff customers left behind to the reception counter so that customers can conveniently retrieve them,” Naowarat said.

She said society had better give former inmates an opportunity to work to prevent them from becoming repeat offenders.

Research by Kulapa Vajanasara of Mahidol University’s Institute of Population and Social Research said many existing laws apparently discriminated against former inmates. Ex-convicts are legally barred from serving in the police force and government services. Lawyers and doctors must have clean records too, as any criminal conviction will immediately bar them from the professions.

Persons who have just been released from jail are even barred from serving as public-transport drivers. To get a job, they must have completed their jail term for at least three years.

All such laws hinder the hopes of not just ex-inmates but also the Corrections Department, which organises several courses for prisoners. These courses aim at ensure inmates get a job and live a normal life when released.

National Human Rights Commissioner Chartchai Suthiklom, a former director general at the Corrections Department, said the right to a livelihood was a human right and thus the government should minimise any restriction of such a right.

He encouraged the Corrections Department to better inform society about life behind bars.

“When the public understands the environment at correctional facilities, public doubts about former inmates will be reduced,” he said.

Assoc Prof Dr Napaporn Hawanont, an independent academic, said she was worried that many more restrictive laws targeting former inmates would be introduced.

Laws restrict work

Laws imposing occupational restrictions:

Healthcare Business Place Act (2016)

Lawyers Act (1985)

Civil Servant Regulation Act (2008)

Medicine Profession Act (1982)

National Police Act (2004)

Teachers and Educational Personnel Act (2004)

Land Transport Act (1989)

Source: The Nation

Amid threats to the health of people and the economy from the smog, the Public Health Ministry is now on alert as local residents in many northern provinces have reported seeing air pollution in their hometowns.

To date, levels of small dust particles have not exceeded safe limits but the ministry has started making preparations. Its Disease Control Department has instructed the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 1 in Chiang Mai province to prepare a Surveillance and Rapid Response Team so that immediate medical help could be made available to local residents as soon as the haze threat rises.

Department director-general Dr Jessada Chokdamrongsuk yesterday said people most at risk were small children, the elderly, pregnant women and people suffering from chronic diseases such as heart disease, asthma or allergies.

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 1, there were 628,501 cardiovascular patients, 412,796 respiratory patients, 36,203 patients with eye diseases and 40,183 patients with skin diseases seeking treatment due to haze in Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Phrae and Nan between January 1 and April 30 of last year.

This year, there has been not been abnormal rise in the four disease groups yet, Jessada said, adding that “we have to be on alert”.

Several northern provinces saw some haze, stemming from forest fire and outdoor burning, but the atmospheric particulate matter with a maximum diameter of 10 microns (PM10) levels remains moderate at 52 to 92 micrograms per cubic metre. The threshold for safe levels of PM10 particles is 120 micrograms.

Chiang Mai Governor Pawin Chamniprasart yesterday said he had already sought the cooperation from government agencies, state enterprises, local administrative bodies, community leaders and the public in helping to prevent a smog crisis.

“From February 20 to April 20 the province will strictly enforce a total fire ban. No fire will be allowed during the period,” he said.

THREE KEY agencies will discuss today possible links between an alleged Lao drug lord and Thai celebrities, including the son of a former famous politician.

“If the ongoing investigation delivers sufficient evidence, we will immediately take action. We will consider what we have now in our hands at our upcoming meeting,” Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NBS) deputy chief Pol Maj-General Pornchai Charoenwong said yesterday.

He was referring to the meeting of the NBS, the Office of Narcotics Control Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Office that will start at 10am today.

The meeting will focus on the alleged drugs-trafficking network of Xaysana Keopimpha, a high-profile Lao man who was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport last month.

Police believe Xaysana must have had an extensive network involving many members of Thailand’s so-called “high society” assisting him with money laundering and asset concealment.

Portraying himself as a rich and well-connected man from Laos, Xaysana cultivated relations with many prominent Thai figures at parties he hosted in the Kingdom.

Last Thursday, police searched the home and car-accessory shop of famous motorcycle racer Akarakit Worarojcharoendet, better known “Benz Racing”, on suspicion that he might have been affiliated with the alleged drugs network.

Akarakit, who is married to actress Napapa “Patt” Tantrakul, was not present during the search.

He turned himself in to the NSB last Friday claiming that he did not personally know Xaysana. He told police that he had borrowed Bt6 million from Nattapon Nakkam, who is now in police detention for allegedly facilitating Xaysana’s drug deals.

“We have still had some doubts as to whether the loan really took place,” Pornchai said, adding that Akarakit did not have sufficient evidence to back his claim.

Pornchai said police would probably summon Akarakit for questioning again.

Akarakit’s car-accessory shop was closed yesterday while residents in the area said they had not seen the bike-racing star since the scandal broke.

Pornchai said assets of drug traffickers would be confiscated, and available records showed Xaysana’s alleged network had huge assets.

Police suspect that Akarakit’s Lamborghini Gallardo SuperLeggera, which is worth more than Bt20 million, might actually belong to Xaysana.

Akarakit had said he bought the sports car using his own money and the Bt6 million that he had borrowed from Nattapon.

FINANCIAL difficulties in the healthcare system is leading to pregnant migrant workers only in Phuket province being denied access to Universal Coverage (UC) health insurance scheme when they deliver babies.

Usually migrant workers in Thailand are allowed to buy health insurance in order to get access to affordable services while living in the Kingdom, paying Bt2,100 annually for UC insurance. That insurance is equivalent to coverage under the Bt30 scheme widely used by citizens.

However, many migrant worker families in Phuket face bankruptcy due to medical expenses incurred after having a baby, as they have to pay the full cost of health services. The Provincial Public Health Office has stated that hospitals will be overburdened with expenses if it allows pregnant workers to buy insurance.

Mu Mu Ten, a 38-year-old Myanmar migrant worker and mother of two children, wept when asked about the condition of her youngest child, who was born just a week ago with lung problems and is still in the hospital.

The serious illness affecting her newborn son was not the only cause of her distress; her family is now mired in a financial crisis due to the medical expenses.

“My child was born premature. His weight was only 1,300 grams and his lungs are not fully functional. He is now being treated at Vachira Phuket Hospital and the doctor said he needs to be in intensive medical care for at least one month,” Mu Mu Ten said.

She said expenses from the health problems of her newborn, added to the cost of a Caesarean-section operation, amounted to at least Bt100,000 owed to the hospital even though she has valid UC insurance, which is meant to cover expenses related to giving birth.

“I had to borrow money from my employer and my friends to pay for this expense. I’ve managed to pay Bt60,000 but there is another Bt40,000 to pay,” she said, adding that her husband could work now but he earns just Bt350 per day.

She said her employer would deduct Bt2,000 from her salary twice a month towards repayment of the debt, while the family also has to pay back money borrowed from friends at an interest rate of 20 per cent.

“We don’t know what to do. We have to pay to keep our son alive and we just keep working to pay the debt,” she said.

Sumana Pakburawat, coordinator of Migrant Worker’s Network in Phuket (MNP), said Mu Mu Ten was only one example among many Myanmar migrant workers in Phuket who suffered the same fate.

“Every month, there are around 100 cases of migrant workers giving birth in public hospitals in Phuket who are unable to use their rights specified by their UC insurance. Among these, there are 10 cases of mothers abandoning their child at the hospital every year because they have no money to pay for the medical expenses. This has been a serious and chronic problem in Phuket for almost six years now,” Sumana said.

She said many pregnant migrant workers were also unable to renew or buy UC insurance at Phuket’s public hospitals, which obstruct them from seeking proper medical care during pregnancies and force them to pay the full cost of medical expenses.

According to the MNP, there are around 300,000 migrant workers in Phuket, nearly half of whom have not registered with authorities or have UC insurance.

Meanwhile, Dr Prapornsri Narinrak, Phuket Provincial Public Health Office deputy director, said the Public Health Ministry had a policy to help migrant workers receive affordable medical services. However, it is also the duty of each hospital to properly manage its finances to ensure the survival of the hospital.

“We treat every patient coming to us and in many cases we allow them to get free medical services at the hospital’s expense as humanitarian aid for those in need,” Prapornsri said, adding that last year public hospitals in Phuket spent up to Bt4.6 million on such cases.

She admitted that public hospitals in Phuket had a policy not to sell UC insurance to pregnant migrant workers, as the Public Health Ministry allowed doctors to exercise discretion on whether to sell insurance.

“We consider that pregnant workers cannot work and the medical expenses for this group is very high, so we have decided not to sell UC insurance to this group,” she said.

“It is financially irresponsible for the hospitals to sell Bt2,100 insurance and then have to spend up to Bt20,000 per case.”

The Provincial Public Health Office disclosed that in the 2016 budget year, three public hospitals in Phuket – Vachira Phuket Hospital, Patong Hospital and Talang Hospital – spent a total of Bt94.11 million on medical services for migrant workers, which included neonatal services.

The average expense for a conventional delivery starts at Bt6,000, while Caesarean sections cost Bt12,000 or more.

Meanwhile, Patong Hospital director Dr Sirichai Silapa-acha urged employers to help hospitals because they benefit from cheap labour, so they should provide a subsidy for workers or set up funds to help pay for medical expenses.

“This will be a true education reform measure that can boost students’ O-NET scores visibly in five years,” Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday, adding that the idea would also be developed into a smartphone application in future.

He said the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) had been instructed to create the E-Testing Bank.

Teerakiat was speaking as he and Samphan Phanphruk, director of the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS), along with Obec executives inspected an O-NET exam site at Bangkok’s Rachawinij (Elementary) School.

He praised NIETS for best preparing the exams so that students, each given a different exam paper version from those sitting next to them, could not cheat and said this could be a model for government recruitment exams.

This was also the first year that Prathom 6 pupils must take the 20-per-cent subjective essay test in Thai language, which is designed to assess if pupils can write answers and read for main ideas, Teerakiat said. He added that the ratio would rise to 30 per cent in future. This year, NIETS trained 2,000 teachers to check the essay test answer sheets, he added.

This O-NET test round was also the first time that the E-Testing system, implemented in a similar manner to a Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, was conducted for Mathayom 3 level on a pilot basis.

A total of 648 students volunteered to do the exam at four centres – Burapha University, Naresuan University, Khon Kaen University and NIETS head office in Bangkok.

Samphan said the O-NET test for Prathom 6 level was held yesterday at 186 exam centres covering 4,182 exam sites and 807,087 applicants. The O-NET test for Mathayom 3 level was held yesterday and today at 227 exam centres covering 4,329 exam sites and 688,979 applicants. The O-NET test for Mathayom 6 level will be held on February 18 and 19 at 18 exam centres covering 405 exam sites and 394,343 applicants.

Samphan said that NIETS was willing to produce more subjective essay test papers for all subjects – provided it was given enough funding, time and manpower to produce questions and check answers.

Thai Journalists Association (TJA) president Wanchai Wongmeechai, who attended the seminar on the media regulation bill hosted by Thai Chamber of Commerce University, said he had learned from insiders that the committee would not revise the proposal concerning the media licensing authority.

Under the bill, authority would be passed to a new Media Professional Council as that is what the committee had set their minds on, he said. However, the groups would closely watch the committee’s moves and take action as necessary, Wanchai added.

Controversial legislation

The proposed legislation has become a highly controversial issue since the committee planned to submit it to the NRSA for endorsement last week. Media organisations, including the TJA and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA), strongly opposed the bill when they heard about its contents.

The media groups challenged two main points, the first of which was the composition of the proposed Media Professional Council, which would see at least four permanent secretaries from concerned ministries sit alongside media representatives and academics. The groups see this as a loophole for state intervention in the media.

The other bone of contention is the media licensing system, which the groups believe will lead to control of the media.

On Thursday, the media groups’ representatives submitted a letter to the NRSA vice chairman Alongkorn Ponlaboot, conveying their opposition. This resulted in the NRSA whips telling the committee to withdraw the bill for review and revision before resubmitting it.

TBJA chairman Thepchai Yong said the implications of the bill would be more far-reaching than people thought, as it would give power to the state, political sector and capitalists to control the media under the proposed council.

‘Vague definition’

Thepchai said the proposed licensing system was vague in its definition. He urged media members to watch developments and help push for changes as the current suspension cannot ensure that the bill will be revised to facilitate press freedom.

The NRSA members, he said, should deliberate the bill carefully so that it would not eventually put media control in the hands of the state and politicians.

Former reformer from the now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC), Jumpol Rodkamdee, said |the NRC drafted a similar bill but with the principle of supporting press freedom and allowing media members to shape self-regulation. Their bill also proposed the same council but with different composition, including certified members of the media, to facilitate self-regulation.

The seminar heard various proposals for the revision of the latest bill, including a tri-party memorandum of understanding, including the academic and civil sectors, to help the media reform and regulate.

A civil-based council was proposed to replace the one proposed in the bill, so people would have more say in helping regulate the media.

The denial came as the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) asked relevant agencies to investigate Akarakit’s bank transactions in response to his claim he borrowed Bt6 million from a friend for a down payment on a Bt20 million Lamborghini sports car.

Police linked Akarakit to Xaysana through the Lamborghini Gallardo SuperLeggera.

NSB deputy chief Pol Maj-General Chatri Paisalsilpa said his office was coordinating with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) to check Akarakit’s transactions, especially the Bt6 million that he reportedly borrowed from Natthapol Nakkham, an arrested suspect under Xaysana’s alleged drug network.

Police are also checking a bank account with a Bt300,000 balance, which they said Natthapol wired money into on a monthly basis for Akarakit’s Area 51 big bike accessory shop.

Akarakit, the husband of actress Napapa “Patt” Tantrakul, who is pregnant, told police he became close to Natthapol through a common interest in cars and car racing without knowing about Natthapol’s alleged drug-dealing activities.

Chatri said officers would check if such money lending – which Akarakit claimed he partially repaid – took place as part of the process of probing the origins of the money while also looking into whether Akarakit bought the Lamborghini on behalf of Natthapol.

Chatri said police had not charged Akarakit although investigators still had many points that needed to get a detailed explanation from Akarakit on, such as why Natthapol loaned him such a large sum of money without asking for collateral.

Police also want to know why Natthapol reportedly had much involvement in the supercar’s accessorising, a development that led police to suspect that the car was really Natthapol’s.

NSB deputy chief Maj-General Pornchai Charoenwong said police were still checking close-circuit camera footage in an attempt to identify who left the supercar at a car-care centre in Bangkok’s Ram Inthra area and who left an orange KTM big bike at the NSB.

Pornchai said police investigators would check information with related agencies and compare it with Akarakit’s testimony and would discuss the findings tomorrow at a meeting to be chaired by NSB commander Lt-General Sommai Kongwisaisuk.

Following the meeting, police might summon Akarakit or those close to him for more details, Pornchai said.

Police have been divided into three teams to check information and evidence including what Akarakit presented and documentary evidence found at his Area 51 shop linking him to Natthapol and another arrested suspect in the case, Oo Pang-olarnpavakul.

“After the Monday meeting, police will also know who we need to interview among Thai celebrities with alleged links to Xaysana,” Pornchai said.

Akarakit reported to police at the NSB’s office on Friday to give testimony in response to the accusation that he might be involved in laundering ill-gotten gains after police searched his home and business and went public with transactions that could link him with at least two drug suspects in Xaysana’s network during the past few years.

After a five-hour interview with police, Akarakit told reporters at 10pm on Friday that he stepped forward to show sincerity and present evidence. Urging the public not to jump to any conclusions while police are still investigating, Akarakit insisted he did not know Xaysana, who was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport last month.

The ongoing investigation into Xaysana’s alleged drug network in Thailand led to more suspects being arrested.

Akarakit’s lawyer Saran Krit-atkan said his client had nothing to do with drug trafficking and his name only came up in relation to the case because of his purchase of a certain asset, which could be explained by evidence Akarakit possessed. He said Akarakit would co-operate with the investigation until it ended.

A police source said that Sommai had recently led NSB investigators to the South to arrest more alleged accomplices linked to the case as well as alleged associated drug networks.

The source said although it was alleged that Xaysana was a major drug dealer, police believed there were people higher up than him in the case.

ONCB secretary general Sirinya Sitthichai said that if Akarakit could not properly explain the Bt6 million loan and provide related evidence, he might be charged.

Sirinya said the ONCB might also seize the car and give it to public prosecutors to decide what to do, with the car being auctioned at possibility.

On January 31, the Criminal Court sentenced Kittisak Sumsri and Preecha Yooyen each to 10 years in jail for possessing illegal firearms and carrying weapons in public without permission.

The pair had been charged along with fellow demonstrators Ronnarit Saricha, Chamnan Pakeerat and Panika Chusri. But the other three defendants were acquitted by the court due to a lack of evidence.

The case related to clashes on April 10, 2010, when the government, led by Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, started an operation to “reclaim public areas”, following weeks of street protests by the red shirts affiliated with the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

The clash between both sides led to 27 deaths – 22 of them civilians and five military officers, including Colonel Romklao Thuwatham, deputy chief-of-staff from the Second Infantry Division of Royal Guards.

Japanese photojournalist Hiroyuki Muramoto, who worked for Reuters news agency, was among those killed on that day near the protest site at Democracy Monument.

Witnesses reported seeing armed men in black, some wearing hoods to conceal their identity, who fired at military officers with assault rifles and grenade launchers. However, there were also claims by political groups that military officers involved in the crackdown on red-shirt protesters opened fire at each other as well as at demonstrators.

Politically speaking, the court ruling proved the existence of armed men among red-shirt protesters. Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the verdict, which came after a trial lasting years, could help refute the claim by political groups that soldiers opened fire at one another, which led to the deaths of many people in the dramatic April 2010 clashes.

“That means the claim by some political group that the demonstration on April 10, 2010, was peaceful and unarmed proved to go against the truth. They seemed to distort the facts,” the spokesman said.

“The court found that different kinds of weapons were used including grenade launchers, with the intent to cause harm to others, particularly military officers involved in the operation to reclaim public areas. Society should be well aware of this now,” he said.

However, in the court verdict the convicted men were not clearly identified as assailants in the deadly shootings in April 2010. None of the five defendants in that case were charged with murder. So, nobody has been punished for the deadly shootings.

Certainly, a lot of armed men in black responsible for shooting at protesters and military officers taking part in the crackdown have escaped punishment.

In fact, there is a related case in which public prosecutors accused 24 people of being involved in acts of terrorism. The defendants include UDD leaders, red-shirt guards and politicians from the Pheu Thai Party.

That case, which is being heard by the Criminal Court, covers offences committed during the April 2010 incident and during red-shirt rallies at other locations, such as Ratchaprasong intersection. The lawsuit says defendants used war weapons and explosives, as well as grenade launchers and hand grenades.

Thousands of people took part in street protests at many locations between March and May 2010. The violence that followed left at least 89 people dead and more than 2,000 injured.