No one was injured.

The blaze started at about 8.30pm and also burnt a century-old Buddha statue made of fragrant wood and some Bt100,000 in cash donations.

Abbot Phra Kru Anurak Pattanakhun told police that he and other disciples were performing an evening prayer at the ubosot when they heard someone shout that there was a fire.

He said the whole building was on fire and the monks tried to extinguish the blaze using buckets of water while waiting for firefighters to arrive.

The blaze spread fast as the whole building and statues inside it were made of wood.

The building was engulfed within 30 minutes.

Col Winthai Suwaree, the NCPO spokesman, said the Commerce Ministry is responsible for responding to the Pheu Thai party’s claims that the government had sold rice in its inventory for feedmill production at a low price.

This has resulted in a heavy loss estimated to exceed Bt10 billion, according to Yuttapong Charassathien, a former Pheu Thai MP who doubted that the ongoing sale of 2.4 million tonnes of government-owned rice was implemented properly.

Winthai said Yuttapong should seek further information from the Commerce Ministry, which said it has reasons to justify its decision to sell the large quantity of rice at a relatively low price.

Earlier, Yuttapong, a former deputy agriculture minister, said he had evidence that the Commerce Ministry did not sell the rice to a company, named CPS Co, which offered to buy the government’s stock at about Bt9,000 per tonne.

Instead, he said, the ministry later sold the same rice to other firms at a price of only Bt4,000 per tonne for use as feedmill rather than human consumption.

As a result, Yuttapong asked Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his power under Article 44 of the interim charter to re-open warehouses for the public to help verify the quality of rice.

Duangporn Rodprayad, director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade, said the selling price is not the only factor in managing the huge inventory that resulted from the previous Yingluck government’s unlimited rice-pledging scheme. The government needed to take into account warehouse, interest and rice treatment expenses as well as impacts on human and animal health, Duangporn said.

The huge inventory was acquired under the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme at a cost of Bt22,000-23,000 per tonne for white rice and Bt29,000-30,000 for Hom Mali rice.

According to the Commerce Ministry, the quality of rice had deteriorated due to an extended period of storage and was no longer suitable for human consumption, so it was sold to the feedmill industry at a lower price.

Yuttapong said CPS Co, the company previously contracted by the ministry, had insisted that the rice was still good for people’s consumption so it should not be sold to the feedmill industry.

The former deputy agriculture ministry also urged Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn to attend to the verification process to see if the rice inventory was still good for human consumption.

Yuttapong also said CPS Co had twice sent letters to the Department of Foreign Trade seeking a review of the sale of rice at a low price.

When it took office more than three years ago, the Prayut government inherited a huge rice inventory of 18 million tonnes from the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme. Over the past three years, 3.5-4 million tonnes of rice have been sold annually at a loss to ease the government’s burden.

The last inventory of 2.87 million tonnes has been in the process of being sold, consisting of 167,000 tonnes of rice for people’s consumption, 2.14 million tonnes for feedmill, and 568,000 tonnes for the energy sector.

POLICE have apprehended a group of seven men for the massacre of eight members of one family in Krabi province in the South last week – a crime that shocked the country.

Thais awoke to the shocking news last Tuesday that eight people – three of them children – were killed en masse in the house of Worayuth Sunglung, a village headman in Ao Luek district. The victims were shot in the head execution-style, police said.

National police chief Pol-General Chakthip Chaijinda said yesterday that all seven suspects confessed to police. Six of them claimed that they were misinformed about the objective of the crime by the seventh suspect, identified only as Bang Fath, a former security guard.

Chakthip said Bang Fath had land disputes with Worayuth after the village chief took out mortgages on several parcels of land with Bang Fath. However, Bang Fath refused to return the land, worth millions of baht, after Worayuth repaid the debts. Some cases related to the mortgage dispute are being heard in court.

Worayuth, out of anger, allegedly threatened Bang Fath’s life, triggering Bang Fath to take action.

Chakthip said Bang Fath formed a team of six men, and falsely claimed that Worayuth owed him Bt3 million. The team had tried to confront Worayuth on three previous occasions before managing to do that last week.

“Our investigation showed that it was Bang Fath who shot to death all the victims,” Chakthip said, adding he would seek capital punishment for the suspects.

“We will use all the laws to prosecute them and we will seek death sentences for them. They killed people and children without mercy.”

Prior to the massacre last Tuesday, Bang Fath’s team had secretly visited nearby areas and Worayuth’s house several times to confirm the location.

A source later identified Bang Fath as Surifath Bannopwongsakul, saying he came from Phang Nga province.

The national police chief insisted that the seven suspects were civilians, dismissing previous rumours they had a military background. “Some of them were rubber tappers who worked for Bang Fath at a plantation,” he said.

On the afternoon of July 10, the doors to Worayuth’s house were opened for the gang as the assailants wore camouflage clothes and had claimed they were security officials. Worayuth’s house was in the same compound as four others and was used as his office.

However, Worayuth had not yet returned home so the group held those in the house at the time as hostages while waiting for him. The number of people taken hostage increased as other family members from other houses in the same compound came to the main house.

Worayuth arrived home at about 8pm, bringing the number of those held hostage to 11. The assailants separated the group in different rooms while negotiation started with Worayuth.

Police quoted Surifath as confessing that he intended to kill only Worayuth’s family – namely Worayuth, his wife and their three children. But as the number of those who witnessed his crime increased, he decided to kill them all.

Eight people died while three others, including a sleeping three-month-old baby survived. An earlier report claimed the baby’s mother covered the baby with a blanket, so that the killer was unable to see him.

At first, Surifath allegedly gave weapons to other gang members to help murder people in the house. When they refused, he allegedly did the job himself.

Chakthip told a press conference in Krabi that during the hostage taking, Bang Fath set up documents stating that Worayuth transferred his Toyota Yaris to him.

The same source added that Bang Fath initially tried to stage a scene to make people believe Worayuth killed his family members and himself because of pressure over business woes.

He forced Worayuth to telephone one friend to borrow Bt500,000, saying that he had business problems.

After the massacre, the group fled in two vehicles and also stole Worayuth’s car. They hid their Fortuner in Ao Luek and burnt Worayuth’s car in Phang Nga.

Bang Fath then boarded a public bus to Phuket and hid in a rented house. Police arrested the first suspect in Nakhon Si Thammarat before extending the investigation that led to other suspects.

The suspects were taken to Phang Nga’s Muang district to sites where they are said to have hidden and destroyed evidence.

At one suspect’s house in the Phang Nga police found potential evidence, including phone SIM cards and identity cards belonging to the victims, as well as three guns and ammunition reportedly belonging to Worayuth.

Confessions by the suspects then led police to retrieve gloves and handcuffs that they used.

Pharunyoo Rojanawuttitham, the actor who portrays a gang-rapist in a TV series, was attacked for posting a picture of himself and several other actors with the message reading, “We are arrested for rape. If you are interested, you can choose any of us to rape you.”

In the face of strong criticism, Pharunyoo removed the offending post, apologised, and explained that he just intended to promote the TV series “La” (Hunt).

He said he did not mean to treat sexual crimes lightly.

“In real life, in my personal opinion, I in fact even want to see rapists being sentenced to death,” he said.

He has previously joined calls to increase the legal penalty against rapists.

In one of his latest posts, Pharunyoo said he hoped his bad choices of words in the offending post sparked not just criticism but also serious, continued efforts to fight against sexual crimes.

“I will be pleased to join the campaign against sexual violations. Please join forces,” the actor said.

Before the apology came out, a psychiatrist vented her frustration on social media. |She said she personally liked Pharunyoo, a good-looking actor with bad-boy image, but could not tolerate his light-hearted comment about rape.

“Rape victims in the series apparently feel even worse than they are in hell. That’s why one of them starts hunting down the culprits,” she emphasised.

The series tells the story of a divorcee and her teenage girl who were gang-raped. The young victim has lost her mind following the attack. The mother, meanwhile, has embarked on a bloody mission to take revenge on all attackers.

This psychiatrist disclosed that more than 10 doctors and psychiatrists had provided counselling to the production team in the hope of sending a message across that no sexual crimes should take place.

“You can’t treat rapes lightly. A rape hurts a woman much more than killing her,” she said.

As “owner” of the proposed Bt1.7 billion pedestrian bridge project, BMA has held |public open houses, including one last Friday, to unveil its latest plan for a new bridge over the Chao Phraya from Siriraj Hospital to Tha Prachan.

Experts interviewed by The Nation say the planned bridge is an eyesore that would tarnish the look of the city’s historic quarter.

The BMA, meanwhile, insisted that the latest project design shown to the public was not its final version.

The plan presented by the BMA showed a two-storey pedestrian bridge equipped with lifts, escalators, and golf carts for the elderly. The bridge would be nine metres wide and as tall as a four-storey building.

But experts have strong criticisms based on drawings of the bridge.

Chatri Phakitnonthakan, a lecturer at the faculty of architecture at Silpakorn University said the publicly released location of the bridge, its architectural design, and size of the structure were all improper and unacceptable. “The location of this bridge will be on a very compact area of Rattanakosin Island, the historic centre of Bangkok. From the design and size of the bridge, it will be big visual pollution to the heart of Bangkok,” Chatri asserted.

“And that’s not even counting the transparency of the entire study and design process of the project, which was not open for the public to give their opinions and ensure the BMA selects the best design for all stakeholders.

“This project needs to be entirely revised.”

He said that the BMSA should hold an open contest for the design, with terms of reference (TOR), coming from a proper study to avoid negative impacts on the scenery of the historic district and to river navigation.

‘Proper public participation needed’

Nattapong Punnoi, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn’s department of urban and regional planning, also stressed the importance of proper public participation on the design, which he said will be very important to ensure the bridge is well accepted.

“I understand that the latest design of the bridge is not the final one and can be amended and improved. Nevertheless, despite how beautiful the bridge is, public opinion is the most important thing and the project owner should make sure that everyone can raise their voices in the development of this gigantic project,” Nattapong said.

He also asked BMA to reconsider the very necessity of the project because a large amount of public funds will be spent on it. There were also multiple options for travelling across the river between Siriraj Hospital and Tha Prachan, he noted.

“While we are investing billions of baht in this pedestrian bridge, we are going to have the orange subway line across the river at this spot, and people can already cross the river with a ferry,” he said.

“BMA should conduct research on the necessity of this bridge project in the first place” before drafting the TOR and designing the bridge, said Nattapong.

However, BMA Public Works Department director Nat Srisukhontanan insisted that the design of the bridge could still be adjusted. The department has already gathered all comments from three public forums.

“After the last public hearing on Friday, we will summarise all comments from the people and improve the bridge design to reflect the public input. Moreover, the improved design will be examined by the Fine Arts Department, Marine Department, and Rattanakosin Island Committee for further suggestions on the design before we can start the budget calculation and find the contractor,” Nat explained.

He said the project’s schedule was yet to be determined, but assured the audience that every step of the project will strictly |follow the rules and be transparent.

ANXIETY runs high among small hospitals as uncertainties loom over how the universal healthcare scheme will handle some necessary medical items from October 1 onward.

The National Health Security Office (NHSO), which has long procured key medical supplies for facilities operating the scheme across the country, has just lost its power to procure. A few days ago, the Public Health Ministry insisted that this power was now in its hands.

This means the procurement of orphan medicines to treat rare medical conditions, antidotes, vaccines, anti-retroviral drugs, stents, artificial knees, supplies for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and things that are best bought in bulk for the universal scheme may soon change. This has caused concern among participating hospitals, especially small ones.

“If we are told to make procurements ourselves, we may have financial problems. When the NHSO handles the procurement through a central system, it has huge bargaining power. The prices come down significantly,” a doctor at a small hospital in the South said on condition of anonymity.

For more than a decade, the NHSO has done remarkably well in terms of central procurement. It has been credited for saving the country from Bt5-7 billion a year by getting big discounts when buying medical supplies in large amounts.

The NHSO also helped with procurement of medical supplies requiring centralised storage and distribution for efficiency.

But because a government-spending committee established by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) pointed out that the NHSO was not legally allowed to make drug procurements, the Public Health Ministry has stepped in to take over.

Several experts suggest that the new National Health Security Bill, going through the legislative process, should shift the procurement power to the NHSO. The draft law does not allow that. Given that this bill has not yet been introduced as an effective law, the Health Ministry has said recently that it will handle procurement itself.

But NHSO spokesman Athaporn Limpanyalers says it’s still unclear how medical items that have long been on the central procurement list will be bought in the coming fiscal year.

The 2018 fiscal year will start on October 1.

Sureerat Treemanka, who sits on the committee vetting the National Health Security Bill, expressed concern about the ministry’s imminent move to handle some medical supplies in place of the NHSO.

“We have seen before that the ministry just helped negotiate the price but let hospitals decide whether to buy,” she said. “So what if hospitals decide to buy some other medical supplies – but not anti-retroviral drugs or cancer medicines that patients need?”

According to Sureerat, it is possible that some hospitals may not have sufficient necessary drugs if the number of patients suddenly increases.

“This problem may occur. When new patients show up, hospitals may then order drugs but sometimes patients just can’t wait,” she said.

These kinds of problems did not exist while the NHSO was in charge, because it keeps a stock of necessary drugs and delivers them when needed.

Sureerat emphasised that if the ministry wants to truly exercise its power to buy medical supplies, it should run things the way the NHSO did.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a doctor said he was convinced the Public Health Ministry would allow the NHSO to handle the central drug procurement for one more year.

“The ministry may not have enough time to plan procurement for the new fiscal year that will start pretty soon,” he said.

He declined to reveal who masterminded the killing.

The men are civilians, Pol-General Chakthip Chaijinda insisted, dismissing an earlier rumour that the suspects were former military men. Witnesses to the crime had said they wore camouflage clothes and shot the victims in the head execution style.

Chakthip said that all people allegedly involved in the murders were already in police custody. However he declined to reveal the mastermind.

Meanwhile police spokesman Pol-Colonel Krissana Pattanachoroen told reporters that the murder motive probably involved land and debt disputes between the assailants and village headman, Worayuth Sunglung. Worayuth was one of the victims.

Last week, people awoke to the shocking news that eight victims were killed en masse in Worayuth’s house in Ao Luek district. The victims were shot in the head execution style by assailants who stormed the house, disguised as security officials.

They held the victims hostage in separate rooms for hours before killing them. Five died at the scene while three others, including Worayuth, were pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

Chakthip said some of the suspects were natives of Pang Nga, leading the suspects to escape there and destroy evidence.

The five suspects were taken last night to nearby Pang Nga’s Muang district where they told police they dumped weapons and burnt a Toyota Yaris belonging to Worayuth, according to police.

Police also seized a Toyota Fortuner used by the suspects. Forensic officials are examining it for fingerprints and other evidence.

At a suspect’s house in the district, police unearthed potential evidence, including telephone SIM cards and identity cards belonging to the victims, as well as three guns and ammunition reportedly belonging to Worayuth. The suspects’ confessions led police to retrieve gloves and handcuffs.