Adul said he would personally inspect the verification process to ensure it was being handled smoothly and fast, but he noted that the ministry still needed more equipment, such as retina-scanning devices.

Enforcement of a new law governing the management of migrant workers, which stipulates tough penalties for their illegal employment, is to begin once the verification process is completed.

The law would see employers of illegal migrants fined Bt400,000-Bt800,000 for every labourer hired.

The prominent seismologist from Prince of Songkhla University, Paiboon Nuannin, said this after studying records of big earthquakes – those larger than magnitude 7 – around the world during 2017.

“From the records, we can see that there were only seven big earthquakes during 2017, which is only half of average of 15 big earthquakes per year,” Paiboon said.

“From earthquake statistics, a year with less frequent big earthquakes will normally be followed by a year with more frequent big earthquakes, so it is possible that there will be more earthquakes this year.”

Less frequent big earthquakes indicated that the stress in the Earth’s fault lines was not intense enough to create strong earthquakes. But, as time passes, the stress in a fault line accumulates until it reaches breaking point and triggers a big earthquake.

However, Paiboon urged Thai people not to be too concerned about this possibility, as Thailand is situated in a relatively safe location away from the subduction zones at the meeting of tectonic plates where big quakes most frequently occur.

He added that there was still no precise scientific earthquake prediction method, just speculation derived from statistics.

ENVIRONMENTAL activists have identified two New Year gifts they would like from the government: An end to support for mining companies and a guarantee that no one in Thailand will go hungry.

Key speakers at a forum debating the theme “Presents for Thailand” said the new Mineral Act and the government’s support for the mining industry would permanently destroy the natural fertility of the land, harm the livelihoods of local people and benefit only foreign investors.

Much of the discussion focused on the government’s policies toward gold mining, oil-drilling companies and the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) special economic zone development.

Tiwa Tang-on, an environmentalist from Chanthaburi, claimed the natural resources of the country, especially in the Eastern Region, were being heavily exploited by a few rich investors, not only polluting the environment but also affecting people’s livelihoods.

Tiwa Tang-on // Photo : http://www.ppvoice.thainhf.org

He urged the government to offer a seasonal gift to people by stopping harmful policies and instead direct the country to more sustainable development.

Tiwa said the Eastern Region provinces were involved in the gold mine expansion plan, which, if approved, would lead to the destruction of forests and the region’s major water sources.

He also warned that the EEC industrial expansion would pollute the region and harm the ecosystem of the country’s largest source of fruit. “I have been working on agroforestry for long enough to realise that in a world with decreasing natural resources, countries producing food will survive – we can see that despite the Middle East countries being rich in oil deposits, when the oil runs out, they will starve,” he said.

If the government really needed to pursue the EEC, he said, it had to first decide what to do with 30 million tonnes of leftover garbage and the new industrial waste that would be generated by new industry, as there were more than 100 illegal industrial waste landfills scattered all over the region from existing industrial zones.

Former Bangkok senator Rosana Tositrakul agreed that Thailand was ideally situated geographically for agriculture, as the climate and land fertility were good enough to grow food all year round.

Former Bangkok senator Rosana Tositrakul

“Our region was historically called Suvarnabhumi, or the land of gold, but in this sense our true gold is food, because people need to eat to survive and we cannot consume gold to live,” Rosana said.

She added that despite Thailand also being rich in underground minerals, some resources should stay underground, because digging them up could have toxic results. For instance, she said, potash mining would generate large amounts of salt as a by-product, which kills most plants and turns fertile farmland into barren wasteland.

Meanwhile, prominent anti-gold mine activist Somlak Hutanuwatr said even though Thailand was one of the richest countries in term of natural resources, people benefited very little from that wealth, because most of the profits went to foreign investors.

Moreover, Somlak said many people, such as those around the gold mine in Phichit run by Akara Resources, had suffered from environmental problems and become sick, while a foreign company exploited Thailand’s natural resources.

“Thai people will not tolerate corrupt civil servants and foreign companies exploiting our national treasure and leaving pollution and conflict for the local people any more,” she said.

However, Somlak applauded Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha for suspending all gold mining in the country and urged him to not listen to corrupt officials and instead to act in the interests of people and national resources.

The large number of vehicles on the roads at the same time resulted in heavy congestion on motorways, while traffic police said they were trying their best to speed up the flow by opening special lanes.

Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Prayut had ordered all officers to enforce the traffic law strictly and facilitate travellers’ safe return to the capital.

Sansern said statistics until yesterday had shown were fewer accidents, deaths and injuries than last year, which signified the effectiveness of the government’s road safety campaign.

However, he said officers still had to work hard to prevent accidents on the last day of the New Year holidays, since so many people were travelling.

Sansern said officers were working hard to deter three main contributory factors to road accidents: Driving while drunk, speeding and reckless driving.

“The PM also emphasised that officers provide security for all passengers and their belongings at all bus terminals, train stations and airports, because criminals may take advantage of the crowded period situation to commit crimes,” he said.

According to Road Safety Operation Centre statistics for the fifth day of the seven-day New Year period, there had been 3,056 accidents causing 317 deaths and 3,188 injuries. This was lower than the fifth day for the 2016-2017 New Year period, when the total was 367 deaths and 3,342 injuries.

Drunk driving threat

Public Health Ministry spokesman Dr Opas Kankawinpong said that despite the improvement in the situation, the biggest problem remained drunk driving, with more than 46 per cent of road accidents caused by inebriated drivers.

Opas added that more than 23 per cent of young people under 20 years old who suffered in accidents were inebriated at the time. It is against the law to sell alcohol to people younger than 20.

“As we are approaching the final stage of the seven monitoring days, and many people are travelling back to Bangkok, the Public Health Ministry would like to warn drivers against dangerous behaviours such as drinking and driving while sleepy, because it will increase the risk of causing a road accident,” he said.

“Drivers should be well-rested before they start a journey and, if it is long drive, there should be someone who can replace the main driver, or the driver should take regular breaks to help them remain fresh and ready to drive safely.”

On the last day of New Year holidays, many major highways in the North, Northeast and South were reportedly to be clogged with heavy traffic, as many people were travelling back to Bangkok.

For instance, on Mittraphap Road, the main highway to the northeastern region, traffic congestion was reported at a bottleneck point on the highway in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sikhiu District. Traffic police had to open two special lanes stretching 20 kilometres to relieve the traffic problem.

Traffic congestion was also reported on Phahonyothin Road, the main northern highway, in Phayao, where traffic stood still for at least a kilometre at some points.

“After we push through this bill, we will hold serious discussions on co-payments,” Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said during a recent exclusive interview with The Nation.

He added that there had already been extensive studies on co-payment options.

The draft National Health Security Bill has long been a subject of debate and controversy, with at least two groups clashing fiercely over its contents. Most critics worry that the bill would change the essence of the very popular universal healthcare scheme that now offers most medical services to about 48 million citizens for free.

Their concerns are not unwarranted, given that advocates of co-payments have been persistent in pushing their belief over the years.

Several health economists and experts have argued that without co-payments, the much-praised universal healthcare scheme – and Thailand – will collapse if the public insists on government shouldering the full financial weight of the scheme.

“Even rich countries have limited healthcare budgets,” Piyasakol said in arguing for co-payments. “You have to understand that not all services can be free.”

However, Piyasakol is quick to claim that healthcare reform is not intended to reduce people’s rights to healthcare.

“We will ensure your right to basic healthcare services is not affected. But if you want more than the basic, you will have to pay,” Piyasakol said.

When he had eye surgery, Piyasakol said, he had to pay out of his own pocket for extra services even after exercising his right under the medical scheme for civil servants and their family members.

He added that healthcare reform was inevitable for the sake of sustainability and long-term efficiency.

He said conflicts over the bill had already been reduced as relevant parties worked to reconcile their differences. There was also tangible cooperation from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), which manages the universal healthcare scheme, and the Public Health Ministry, which is mainly in charge of the scheme’s operation, he added.

Although some topics remained divisive, Piyasakol said he was confident that compromises were possible and the bill would sail through, while still emphasising that co-payments were in the current National Health Security Act.

“I trust that there will be no big conflict,” he said.

He added that the provision of health security would need to keep pace with the future contexts.

Piyasakol said healthcare reform would also focus on easing overcrowding at big, well-equipped hospitals.

One reform would see 12 types of surgery performed on a one-day basis at no fewer than 15 per cent of major hospitals by the end of this year, according to the plan.

After several surgeries, such as those for haemorrhoids and biliary tract stones, most patients can leave hospital almost immediately after the operation.

“When patients can go back home within the same day of their surgery, it means there will be no problems finding a bed or a room for other patients who need to stay in the hospital,” Piyasakol said.

Another reform would see specialised clinics operating beyond normal working hours at major hospitals, including large and crowded ones, and not limited to facilities at medical schools. “Patients using the services beyond normal hours will have to pay more but they will get fast services,” he said.

Overcrowding could also be eased with the implementation of a referral system that allowed large hospitals to transfer patients back to smaller hospitals for recuperation and rehabilitation, he said. Another change could see an increase in the number of family-medicine units.

A collections centre had also been established to help hospitals collect money, Piyasakol said.

“This is meant to ensure that hospitals receive money owed to them,” he said.

Sometimes doctors were so busy that they failed to double-check payment amounts and their hospitals ended up receiving less than what they were owed, he said. “The centre has helped with such cases,” he added.

The Public Health Ministry has tried to help hospitals increase income and lower expenses in other ways as well. “For example, specialised clinics working beyond normal hours can generate income,” he reiterated. “Efficient use of electricity and resources can save utility bills.”

Executives at the 120 hospitals that were reported to be operating with serious deficits had already received additional training so that they could better manage resources and improve work efficiency, Piyasakol said. The government, he added, had allocated Bt5 billion in the budget earlier this year to help address the problem.

“At present, only 87 hospitals are still considered to be in a serious financial crisis,” he said.

Seksan, who was brought to Phrom Kiri police station in Nakhon Si Thammarat to face charges of discharging a firearm in public and illegally possessing an unregistered gun, is reported to be calm following his arrest last Friday, while his private lawyer Mongkolwijit Tanasophol has prepared the sum of Bt150,000 for bailing him at Nakhon Si Thammarat Court.

The singer has been charged on four counts: possessing an illegal gun and ammunition, carrying a gun in public without a justifiable reason, shooting in public without justifiable reason, and resisting a police operation.

Pol Colonel Sing Singhadet, police superintendent for Khan Na Yao district in Bangkok, disclosed in an update of the investigation that the forensic team of Police General Hospital would conclude the laboratory examination of Seksan’s urine sample today, which would clearly show whether or not the positive result of his initial test for narcotics was from methamphetamine consumption.

His urine sample turned purple in the preliminary narcotics test, but Seksan insisted that he had only consumed sleeping pills.

However, Sing said that neither sleeping pills nor narcotics had been found during a search of the rock star’s house.

The superintendent also said that a person had made an ownership claim to the police on the gun that Seksan had used during the police raid at his house, but the police did not believe the claim and were still investigating the weapon’s ownership.

Sing also did not confirm a report that a person had been injured in the random shooting by Seksan on Friday in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

In a separate case, Pak Chong district police in Nakhon Ratchasima arrested Anucha Sukkaew, a 24-year-old man who was seen shooting a gun skywards on Facebook live, and charged him with discharging a firearm in public and illegally possessing an unregistered gun.

Anucha confessed that he used his father’s gun to shoot four times into the sky by way of celebration during a countdown party on New Year’s Eve.

His sister recorded the act on Facebook live, with the video later going viral on social media – and now being used as evidence of his alleged crime.

Korrawat reported on the progress that the DSI and public prosecutors had so far made into their probe of 134 cases of such alleged tax avoidance.

The agencies have received information from the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) in England (9,391 cars), Italy (505 cars) and Japan (five cars), he said.

The Customs Department had calculated there was overdue tax of Bt3.49 billion on 1,047 cars from England and Bt5.57 billion on 336 cars from Italy.

“This is just for some 1,000 cars and we will be able to get Bt9 billion in unpaid tax,” he said. “After this investigation is complete, I believe we might be able to retrieve tens of billions of baht.”

There were 3,517 cases in total of traffic law violations for which the courts ordered probation as punishment from December 28 to January 1, with 3,105 cases or 88 per cent of them involving cases of drinking and driving, Probation Department director-general Prasan Mahaleetrakul said on Tuesday.

Forty-four of the remaining cases concerned reckless driving, while the other 268 were for a wide range of other traffic offences. Only one of them was for speeding.

Prasan also said that the top five provinces for drunk-driving offences over the holiday period were Surin, with 319 cases, Bangkok (288), Sakhon Nakhon (201), Nonthaburi (182) and Ubon Ratchathani (163).

“Driving while drunk is a serious offence internationally, and many countries have started to share information about offenders and ban them from entering their countries. Moreover, some countries have also increased penalties for this offence, because drinking and driving is regarded as a threat to society,” he added.

Meanwhile, its “e-filing” lawsuit-submitting system will be installed by March and implemented on a pilot basis from September.

Office of the Administrative Courts deputy secretary-general Atichoke Pholdee said on Tuesday that the projects were also a response to the policy of Supreme Administrative Court president Piya Patangta to make 2018 the year for developing public service efficiency through the use of electronic systems.

Atichoke said the main goal was to push forward the IT system to develop the Administrative Courts into “e-courts” with an emphasis on international-standard administration. In particular, the aim was to speed up trials in cases that were more than two years old so they could completed by the end of 2018.

Besides the current 11 regional administrative courts, three more would be established by October in Phuket, Supan Buri and Yala, he said, adding that the office was recruiting 14 more judges to boost its speed and effectiveness.

This follows the recent implementation of technology to allow people to pay fines and fees by credit card at the Central Administrative Court. The office is also developing a system to scan visitors’ ID card information so they will no longer need to leave their cards at a security booth or present their cards at contact points, he said.

People will also soon be able to contact the Central Administrative Court via phone to make an appointment to file a lawsuit.

An “e-courtroom” would be equipped with IT systems for judges and officials to access and present case information from a “big data” central server. The scheme will be introduced later this year on a pilot basis, after a law amendment allows its implementation. If it proves successful, consideration will be given to expanding it to all courtrooms at the Central Administrative Court, he added.

Meanwhile, case files were being scanned and kept as “e-records”, which would be in use by both the Central Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court from the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. At the same time, the office’s website will be improved to facilitate auctions of seized assets, and QR code technology will be used to allow people to read case information and rulings on a smartphone app, he said.

Atichoke’s office has also joined with the National Science and Technology Development Agency to produce online and animated media for public access, along with articles on court rulings. The office is also providing training to state agencies on how to prevent right violations, in a bid to reduce lawsuits going to the Administrative Courts.

Vanalyn Png, 22, had been in intensive care at a local hospital suffering from broken arms and internal bleeding in her head and abdomen, according to her brother Jervis.

“The doctor tried hard, but they couldn’t save her. Vanalyn fought the battle bravely and she lost… She’s now in a better place,” he said in a Facebook post.

Png was a passenger on the motorbike driven by fellow Singaporean Ng Yong Sing, 27.

Ng died when the pair was thrown into a three-metre deep drain in the southern Phatthalung province, according to reports.

A local rescue group, Rescue Phatthalung, said the accident had occurred at 1.20pm on Sunday. The Singapore-registered motorcycle is believed to have skidded on a wet road.

Png, 24, and his sister Vanessa Png, 25, told The Straits Times at their Woodlands flat that their sister was a vocal and affable person who enjoyed sports, once helming the Singapore Polytechnic marathon team and captaining the basketball team in secondary school.

Both Ng and Png were employees at the Select Group food and beverage chain, they added.

Ng was a business development executive who had recently received a scholarship from the company, while Png started as a marketer less than six months ago.

The two had left for Malaysia on Saturday and were due to return to Singapore on Tuesday.

But Png’s siblings said their sister had not told the family that she was heading to Thailand. They were also not told that she was travelling with Ng or doing so on a motorcycle.

“If she had told us, we would have discouraged her from riding a motorcycle there. We were under the impression that she was taking a bus with friends,” said Png, describing his sister as an independent spirit.

The motorcycle, a Honda CB400 Super Four, is believed to have belonged to Ng.

Ng, whom the Pngs described as outgoing and just as talkative as their sister, had visited their family three times in the past year on a similar motorcycle.

The parents from both families are heading to Thailand to retrieve the bodies, said Png.

The Straits Times understands that the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok is helping both families.

This was the fourth reported case last month (December) of a fatal traffic incident involving Singaporeans in a foreign country.

On Dec 22, a car crash in the United States killed 22-year-old Singapore Armed Forces scholarship holder Justin Yeo Jun Xi and his parents. His 19-year-old sister Justlyn Yeo Jing Hui survived.

A day earlier, interior designer Koh Yuan Ling died while travelling in South Africa with her sister, who has since been discharged from hospital.

On Dec 11, Seow Kai Yuan was killed in an accident in New Zealand on State Highway 6 on the west coast of the South Island.