The policy has sought to ensure CUPT universities double as the bases for innovative product and service development. Some such innovations, reflecting the values of the policy, were on display at a recent two-day Thailand Innovation Hubs 4.0 event.

Held at the Siam Paragon shopping complex, the event focused on the five key innovation sectors – agriculture and food, bio-energy, smart city, creative economy, and ageing society. The event also demonstrated the capabilities of artificial-intelligence (AI) robots built by several Thai universities.

Assoc-Professor Perapong Tekasakul, head of the Innovation Hubs project, said it was necessary that the country undergo human-resource and educational reform, along with integrating research in line with the Thailand 4.0 policy.

“The CUPT Innovation Hubs will build on research to develop innovations for the country,” he said.

These hubs will also pursue public-private partnership (PPP), he said, to make the utmost use of research findings, undertake addition research with commercial potential, create tech start-ups and upgrade existing industries.

Deputy Education Minister Udom Kachintorn said disruption from Internet technologies (IT) had already spread far and wide, requiring that all people and industries keep pace.

“Universities have an important role to play in regards to producing future employees that industries need. Graduates should have many skills,” said Udom, who is also a professor.

If universities fail to change, he said, their students may not be able to get a job after graduation.

“As the world changes, we need to change with the world,” he said.

Forensic-science officials have already gathered evidence at Rajtevee Apartment, the scene of the fire, to determine the cause of the blaze.

“At this point, we have not pressed charges against anyone,” national police office deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Krissana Patanacharoen said yesterday.

Rajtevee Apartment has 15 floors, with 180 units. As the fire-ravaged facility is now off-limits, the apartment owner has offered temporary accommodation to affected residents at other locations.

Krissana said the Defence Energy Department also offered to help, as its compound, like Rajtevee Apartment, was located in Bangkok’s Ratchathewi district.

One of the blaze victims was 17-year-old Peeranat Inwakul, a student at Triam Udom Suksa School.

His funeral is being held in Lop Buri province.

His classmates described him as a good-natured and talented boy.

Peeranat’s parents said they were unable to cope with his sudden departure.

General Prawit said any further steps would follow the results of next Monday’s meeting of relevant state agencies regarding the matter.

There has been a dispute over the construction of summer residences for senior judges and court officials at the foot of the northern city’s Doi Suthep mountain. Local environmentalists are unhappy that the ongoing construction has allegedly appropriated Doi Suthep forestland, as the construction site is close to the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.

The project, built at a cost of Bt1 billion, includes nine homes for court presidents, 36 homes for chief justices, and 13 apartment buildings for court officials.

Prawit said on Thursday that the residential project was likely to be moved elsewhere and the current site turned into an area for public use. “The trees that were felled will be replaced to make it look like before,” he said. “It may be turned into a recreational area for the public.”

However, Prawit, who is in charge of the government’s security affairs, also noted that the construction site is not in a national forest. “The land plot is a state property and it has been obtained lawfully,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the relevant state agencies to find a solution that would be satisfactory to all parties involved, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkumnerd said on Thursday. The PM said all parties – the Justice Ministry, construction contractors and local residents – deserve sympathy.

“The government wants to make everyone get what they expect in a good way. No problems should be created in society. And there must be no disputes,” the spokesman said, quoting the PM.

The mural depicts a crying eye with bloody tears streaming down, while a shadow inside the iris shows forestland being carved out in the controversial estate’s shape.

The mural, accompanied by the Thai wording for “Reclaiming Doi Suthep Forest” was on Wednesday painted onto a the wall of a consenting private property owner near Chiang Mai College of Dramatic Arts and has been shared widely in Thai social media.

Group representative Wichien Tala said the mural took two hours to complete. Since it was on private property, he wasn’t worried that it would be erased.

He said his group had joined the Network to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forest activities, including holding protest signs and wearing green ribbons and posting their pictures with the ribbon on Thai social media.

They thought this art expression would help the cause and, as it has reportedly received good feedback, the group may soon create additional symbolic graffiti murals, he said.

Krit Yiammetha, Direk Chantharadilok and Saruth Srithaworn planned to walk to the capital city to present a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha asking him to use Article 44 of the interim charter to halt construction of Appeals Court buildings and 45 residences at the foot of Doi Suthep mountain in the northern province.

Krit said many people with ill-intentions had tried to infiltrate or get involved in the march so as to use it in instigating or campaigning for disunity, which was not what he and the other two volunteers intended.

“We did a peaceful march out of a sincere intention to ask the premier’s help – not for other purposes,” Krit said, noting there had been no collection of donations associated with the march.

To prevent the activity from becoming a tool for others, they had announced ended the end of the march and would later announce details explaining their decision, he said.

The network’s petition at Change.org had gained the support of 38,268 people by 1pm on Thursday. The target is 50,000.

Meanwhile Court of Justice secretary-general Sarawut Benjakul and spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai will hold a press conference in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon about the mountain construction project.

More than 20 logs and at least 100 processed planks were trucked to the department’s Forest Protection Unit in Chiang Saen district late on the night of February 25.

Khamdee Inthawong allegedly assured a colleague the timber was legal and the shipment authorised and said he would present the necessary documentation the next morning.

The timber was intercepted in transit, though some planks were left by a roadside.

Athapol Charoenshunsa, the department’s deputy chief and director of the Forest Protection Operations Centre, led a Phayak Prai taskforce to investigate into the affair and yesterday discovered Khamdee’s alleged role in it.

He immediately dismissed Khamdee and ordered further investigation, suspecting that other forestry officials might be involved.

He said the loggers could be part of a transnational gang.

Athapol said it was outrageous that any state officials were involved. If others are found to have colluded, they would not be spared, he said, citing a recent Cabinet resolution urging severe punishment for authorities engaged in corruption.

Ratchadaporn has worked at her hometown hospital for more than 27 years, displaying unwavering integrity in providing healthcare to people in need.

She is only the second woman to be so honoured among the 44 doctors recognised over the years by a committee at Mahidol University’s Siriraj Hospital Medical School in Bangkok.

The other was Dr Pattira Thangrattanasuwan of Crown Prince Hospital in Pattani’s Sai Buri district, honoured in 2008.

Professor Dr Prasit Watanapa, dean of the medical school, announced the award on Wednesday.

He called Ratchadaporn a hospital administrator of great competence who has made her facility a model for health promotion and environmental health while at the same time enhancing the quality of life, promoting moral virtues and the forming of networks, and improving medical services.

She encouraged the provision of traditional and alternative medicine alongside international-standard healthcare.

The hospital under Dr Ratchadaporn’s leadership has earned the public’s trust, Prasit said.

The committee chose Ratchadaporn from among nine candidates, said Dr Samut Jongwisal, head of the panel.

Although a paediatrics specialist by training, Ratchadaporn also handles surgeries and childbirths and led efforts to implement national-standard public healthcare while networking with nearby facilities and related agencies for patient referrals and extended care.

Dr Ratchadaporn said she was proud and excited by the honour, which came as a surprise.

She became a doctor – hesitantly, she admits – after joining the civil service in April 1991 to repay a government scholarship following her graduation from Chulalongkorn University.

When she began working at Khunhan Hospital, which is in the “red zone” border area, her family was initially worried, she said, but she found the devotion of its staff inspiring.

“My family told me to focus on my work and be a good civil servant, never cheating on my work hours or state funds.”

Siriraj Hospital Medical School has singled out a “rural doctor of the year” annually since 1973. All nominees have worked for more than five years in rural areas and have outstanding profiles that can serve as examples for medical students and other physicians.

Ratchadaporn will receive a plaque and a Bt200,000 grant from the school, a prize cash of Bt20,000 from Terumo Co, and Bt100,000 from Bangchak Petroleum.

The bill sailed through the NLA with 147 votes of support and just one abstention.

However, concerns are now growing as to whether the new law will be able to fulfil its main goal of closing the educational gap within 10 years because it will get the start-up budget of just Bt1 billion.

Drafters of the bill’s first draft demanded a budget of at least 5 per cent of the state budget allocated to education for the fund. With the 5-per-cent criterion, the Equitable Education Fund would receive about Bt25 billion annually.

Prosecutors will also seek a compensation of Bt462,000 from Premchai and his three companions who were arrested in Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province on February 4, said Somsri Wattanapaisarn, director-general of the regional public prosecutors department. The charges against Premchai are punishable by up to 29 years in jail and fines of not more than Bt350,000.

The billionaire’s arrest in the wildlife sanctuary angered the public partly because his company, which is listed on the stock market and has built several mega-projects for government agencies, has stated policies to protect the environment, natural resources and wildlife.

Wildlife officers found a pot on a fire at his campsite containing a black leopard tail. Hidden in the nearby bush was the butchered fresh meat of the big cat as well as of a kalij pheasant and a wild boar. Many public groups have launched campaigns against Premchai, highlighting the fate of the leopard and vowing it would not die in vain.

Somsri told a press conference that three other suspects arrested along with Premchai will be charged differently.

Yong Dotekrau, who is Premchai’s close aide, will be charged with a total of seven counts, six of them similar to those of Premchai and an additional one of having in his possession guns and ammunition without a permit. Natee Ruengsang, a long-time cook of Premchai, was charged with five counts, including possessing guns and ammunition; while Thanee Thommart, the driver, would be charged on eight counts.

Somsri said that the prosecutors decided to seek compensation of Bt462,000 from the four suspects on behalf of the National Parks, Widlife and Plants Department according to the National Reserve Act.

She confirmed that prosecutors would also file a civil lawsuit against Premchai for allegedly damaging the environment, and would seek compensation of Bt12.7 million from the billionaire.

Meanwhile, chief investigator Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said that anti-corruption officers had sent a corruption charge against Premchai to public prosecutors yesterday, and they were ready to investigate further if the prosecutors wanted more information.

Premchai was alleged to have attempted to bribe the officials who arrested him at his campsite in exchange for his freedom. Police claim that he offered “whatever they needed” to let him go free.

A UN group has urged the Thai government to improve human rights protection for migrant workers, indigenous local communities, and human rights defenders.

The United Nations Working Group on business and human rights had made the recommendations to the government and the business sector after finishing a 10-day official visit to the country, the group told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand yesterday.

The group urged the government to extend the migrant workers’ registration period – which ended on March 31 – tackle human trafficking in all sectors not only in the fisheries industry, and revoke laws – including orders issued by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – that deprive human rights.

Dante Pesce, vice-chairperson of the Working Group, stated that Thailand had done well in its efforts to protect human rights. He formed his conclusions after inspecting human rights protection at business operations in Bangkok, Songkhla, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Samut Sakhon provinces, and meeting more than 250 representatives of civil society organisations, affected individuals, migrant workers, academics, as well as members of business sectors and authorities. Pesce, however, said there was still room for improvement for more comprehensive and proper corporate respect for human rights and strengthening access to effective remedies. He said there were some problematic areas regarding protection of migrant workers’ rights, poor public participation in major development projects, and obstructive laws that deprive people of their rights.

One of the most prominent issues that stemmed from the inspection was rights protection for migrant workers.

Surya Deva, the chairperson of the Working Group, said they had found out that more than 60,000 migrant workers had become illegal workers because they failed to register before the March 31 deadline. He said these workers risked being exploited by traffickers and corrupt officers.

Deva suggested that the Thai government extend the registration period and create mechanisms to ensure that the rights of migrant workers will be respected as per UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

“The government should also empower migrant workers, including through enabling them to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining,” he said. “We would, therefore, encourage the government to ratify ILO [International Labour Organisation] Convention numbers 87 and 98. All migrant workers should be provided information about their rights and the complaint hotlines on their arrival in Thailand in their native languages.”

He also stated that despite the government’s intensive crackdown on human trafficking in recent years, which had helped improve the situation on forced labour in the fisheries sector, human trafficking was yet to be eradicated from the country.

“We note that the risks of forced labour and trafficking are also present in other sectors in Thailand, such as agriculture and construction, which have a high number of migrant workers. We encourage the government to replicate and scale up measures taken in the fisheries sector to improve oversight of labour conditions in other sectors,” he added.

Pesce said after discussions with human rights defenders, CSOs, and affected people, it was found that one of the biggest hurdles in preventing adverse human rights impacts on big projects of both the private and public sector were the oppressive laws and Strategic Litigation against Public Participation (SLAPP) lawsuits.

“We are concerned that the relevant NCPO orders often result in placing unreasonable and unwarranted restrictions on the right of affected people to raise legitimate concerns and protest peacefully,” he said.

“We also heard from community members from across the country how they had been called to meetings by the military for so-called ‘attitude adjustment’ with the aim of convincing them to stop raising concerns about adverse impacts of business operations and development projects.”

He emphasised that the government should amend some of its laws and NCPO orders to align them with the guidelines to protect human rights defenders such as Article 161/1 of the Criminal Code and the Witness Protection Act. He also called for efforts to ensure that defamation cases will not be used by businesses as a tool to undermine legitimate rights and freedoms.