Immigration Bureau deputy spokesman Pol Colonel Choengron Rimpadee said on Sunday that 683,260 passengers arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport from April 12 and 16.

“The number marks a 6.96 per cent increase from Songkran 2017,” he said.

Of these air passengers, 192,489 were Thais.

Choengron said 234,600 passengers arrived at Don Mueang Airport during the five-day Songkran period. Of them, 79,383 were Thais.

“The number of passengers at Don Mueang Airport saw a 12 per cent rise. This reflects that the airport can grow further,” he said.

Choengron said that Don Mueang Airport, which is located in Bangkok’s Don Muang district, mostly handled low-cost airliners and chartered flights. These flight services have gained much popularity in recent years.

According to Choengron, despite the huge number of air passengers immigration officials were able to work well during the Songkran period judging by the fact that there had been no complaints about their work or services.

During the Songkran period, immigration officials rejected entry to about 30 air passengers. Officials also arrested seven passengers. Two of them were detained on charges of carrying fake passports. Five others were nabbed because they were on the wanted list.

“Asean’s culture of saving face and not touching sensitive issues is no surprise,” said Arthit Thongin, an expert in international security from Rangsit University at a seminar yesterday. “Asean works when it comes to mutual (economic) benefits such as free trade agreements. But when it comes problematic issues, the 10 countries scatter.”

This is also because of the weak democratic atmosphere within Asean, meaning power to manage humanitarian issues falls into the hands of leaders and other authorities.

“They tend to frame this as a topic for the nation-state rather than one of humanitarian interest,” Arthit said.

“Leaders in this kind of regime also tend to cling to the traditional approach of maintaining the status quo rather than addressing democratic values such as human rights,” he said.

International pressure, meanwhile, could not be significantly pushed due to fears that this would weaken Myanmar’s long-awaited elected government and trigger a return of military rule.

Lalita Hanwong, an academic from Kasetsart University’s social science faculty, said that there was currently no mechanism within Asean that could truly address the Rohingya issue. “Asean has problem with legitimacy. Even the term ‘Rohingya’ is not used extensively in the Asean arena,” Lalita said.

The Myanmar government, in which the Tatmadaw, or military, remains influential, uses the term “Bengali” in referring to the Muslim minority, implying that they are from Bengal and not native to the country.

The Tatmadaw commander in chief, Min Aung Hlaing, last year succeeded in convincing the Thai junta government to use the same term in reference to the Rohingya.

The current Rohingya crisis began in August last year with a rebel attack on Myanmar security outposts. Harsh reaction under the Tatmadaw’s clearance operation killed thousands of Rohingya and forced some 700,000 people to flee to Bangladesh. Some of them extended their dangerous journey to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Meanwhile on Friday Washington time, the US State Department released its annual report on human rights practices, which detailed ethnic cleansing, arbitrary and extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and legal restrictions against the Rohingya.

Apart from accounts of massive physical abuses against minorities, the report noted that the Rohingya in Rakhine State faced severe discrimination based on ethnicity as well as exclusion from the political process.

In Asean, the predominantly Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia speak up for the Rohingya, but their domestic agendas are not pursued through Asean mechanisms.

The previous Asean summit, in Manila last year, addressed the AHA centre’s function, but did not discuss the Rohingya conflict at all.

IT WAS AN unlucky day for Norwegian tourist Werner Danielsen after he went to swim in the sea off Sai Noi Beach in the popular tourist town of Hua Hin, in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, last Sunday. He was attacked by a creature, later identified as a bull shark, that had never officially been sighted in the area.

At first, nobody would admit that he was a shark-attack victim, because such incidents are seen as rare in Thai waters. His ankle tendon, however, was severely damaged with a sharp and deep wound.

An abbot at Wat Tham Khao Tao later released a video clip showing at least four sharks swimming off the beach, forcing the authorities to admit that there were indeed some sharks in the area, and that one of them had bitten Danielsen.

As soon as the news spread, the authorities, including those from the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, dispatched officers along the beach to ensure tourist safety. A shark net is under consideration, while a research team has been sent out to find out more about the sharks so the authorities can better deal with them.

“See, they are there! Not a few, but several. Four or five swimming past the camera, you see. Actually, I have even seen 40 to 50 of them,” said the abbot in the video.

Watch : Video clips of sharks off Hua Hin beach that bit Norwegian tourist http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343399

Population decline

Despite the apparent abundance of sharks, marine scientists say the shark population, here and in international waters, is actually on the verge of extinction and, as such, we have nothing to fear from the animal.

Petch Manopawitr, a deputy director and Thailand programme coordinator of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Southeast Asia, wants to forge greater understanding about sharks and has posted information about them on the Facebook page he manages, Sunshine Sketcher.

Petch said worldwide and here in Thailand, sharks are facing a crisis – a sharp decline in population and even the disappearance of some species.

IUCN has recently released a report on the situation, and learned that one fourth of the shark species on record worldwide – nearly 300 of 1,041 species – have been threatened with extinction.

These species have been variously classified as vulnerable, endangered, or even critically endangered.

The IUCN report also pointed out that the Mediterranean and Thai waters are where the shark population has declined at the highest rate.

This coincides with the latest research by Sirichai Arunrugstichai of the Prince of Songkla University’s Department of Biology along with JD True from the Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity of Peninsular Thailand at the same department, and WT White from the CSIRO National Research Collections in Australia.

Their work, which examines the composition and biological aspects of sharks caught by Thai commercial fisheries in the Andaman Sea, was published in the Fisheries Society of the British Isles’ Journal of Fish Biology in February this year. It reflects the most up-to-date information about the Thai shark population.

The researchers looked through the by-catches (those species caught inadvertently) by fishermen at several main ports over a year, and discovered a sharp decline in the shark population. They also detected shifts in the population compositions compared to a previous study in 2004.

They managed to count 2,123 sharks, and recorded only 17 species, compared with 64 species previously reported.

The shark landings from the Andaman Sea appear now to be dominated largely by bamboo sharks, which contribute around 65 per cent of the total number recorded, according to the study. These are followed by a family of bull sharks, carcharhinids (requiem sharks), which comprised around 30.5 per cent of the total catch.

The remaining 4.5 per cent of landings comprised other species including squaliform sharks, zebra sharks, and Bengal smoothhounds.

Sirichai and his colleagues noted that the catch composition was remarkably different from the previous survey of shark landings in 2004.

The current study revealed noticeable declines in landings of slow-growing, late-maturing, and low-fecundity species, including the bull shark. The absence of many species and changes in life-stage composition, they pointed out, suggested that the populations of these groups may be “close to collapse”.

The researchers have called for urgent additional studies and monitoring efforts, and highlighted the need for incentives to manage shark fisheries in the Andaman Sea more effectively.

The myth

Petch knows well how little information is available and why the animal is so mythical. He said that due to difficulties in conducting research on the animals while they are in water, information regarding shark species and populations is still scant, and that available data tends to be derived from estimates from catches and landings.

It is known that sharks are slow-growing, late-maturing animals with low fertility, so they cannot reproduce fast enough to compensate for losses in their population.

Shark fishing, on the other hand, tends to be through by-catching, and there are no regulations to control the impact of this.

Realising the situation, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has tried to ensure sustainable trade in some shark species -– but more needs to be done, Petch noted.

For more than 20 years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation has been attempting to encourage countries to come up with national plans guided under the International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks. These plans are, however, not legally binding, and Thailand is still very much at the beginning stage in developing a strategy, largely due to lack of information, Petch said.

Due to myths about the species, sharks receive considerably less protection in Thailand than other animals in the wild. So far, only whale sharks are listed as a protected species here, according to Petch.

Although some protected and safe areas for them are provided under the designation of marine parks, the most serious threat – by-catches – is still largely unmanaged, Petch said. He has called for the regulation of some fishing gear that pose threats to the species, including trawl nets.

“The latest research told us clearly that their population is plunging, as we found a relatively small number of fully grown sharks. Meanwhile, their nursery grounds are disturbed, putting much pressure on the animal to replenish their population.

“It’s a situation that I call seriously critical,” said Petch.

The plan

As a marine ecologist, Thon Thamrongnawasawat, who is a member of the national strategy committee on sustainable growth, also observed the news about the shark attack in Hua Hin.

He just wanted people to realise the real situation of the animal.

Pointing to the latest statistics, Thon said the catches have fallen from over 10,000 tonnes to only a few thousand in recent years, suggesting a sharp decline in the shark population in line with the worldwide trend. This, he said, has something to do with the way they are fished.

Thon said that concerned organisations, including the FAO, have realised how critically endangered the animal has become. Thailand has also been developing its National Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks, he said.

It has identified six prime points of action: the creation of biological and ecological databases about the species; assessment of the status of the animal and threats against it; development of a body of knowledge and management capacity in regard to the animal; implementation of conservation measures and regulations on fishing; development of networks and coordination; and, finally, cooperation with the international community to keep the Thai strategy in line with the international plan.

Thon himself has placed his hopes on the fifth action, wanting to see fisheries take sharks into account.

So far, he and other marine scientists have been pushing for more shark types to be listed as protected species, in addition to the whale shark. This, he said, would prompt better protection for the animal, as it would be more in focus.

“We can start from here, to raise more awareness and a degree of knowledge about the animal. We have whales, dugongs, and others as protected animals, and they started similarly.

“The fact is we tend to look at sharks as threatening animals, rather than almost-extinct ones. This may need a little adjustment in our attitudes, so we can start to see their benefits, in an ecological aspect and even in tourism,” said Thon.

Today the world community, including Thailand, is celebrating the 48th Earth Day, with this year’s campaign focusing on an end to plastic pollution. The widespread reliance on single-use plastics has already resulted in massive environmental threat to our health, oceans, and the entire planet, according to international environmental protection organisations.

Increased recycling can no longer be seen as a way to save the planet, according to environmentalists, noting that more than half of all plastic around the world is manufactured for a single use and cannot be recycled.

Measures are needed to create incentives against manufacturing or using the products, the groups say.

Fees for plastic bags and taxes on plastic production are among the suggestions being made this Earth Day to markedly reduce the oil-derived products making their way into the environment.

“Throwaway plastics continue to pour into our oceans, our waterways and our communities at an alarming rate,” said Graham Forbes, a plastics campaigner at Greenpeace USA.

“This Earth Day, it is time to confront the reality that we cannot simply recycle our way out of this mess. We must address the corporate addiction to single-use plastics and move in a better direction.”

According to statistics provided by Earth Day Network, 32 per cent of the 78 million tonnes of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans. This is the equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute.

That figure accords with the United Nations Environment Programme tally that more than 5 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually, of which half are single-use plastic, and cause more than 13 million tonnes of plastic waste to end up in the sea.

Thailand was among the world’s worst plastic waste polluters, with the country ranked the sixth-largest marine plastic debris producer, with around 1 million tonnes of its plastic waste annually flowing into the sea.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia director Tara Buakamsri acknowledged efforts by Thai authorities to reduce the plastic waste, including the ban on the cap seals of bottled water. But the campaigns so far have only touched the tip of the iceberg, and more progressive measures are required for the country to achieve the goal of sustainably solving the plastic waste problem.

“I suggest that we should have more measures to lower the consumption and production of single-use plastic,” Tara said.

“There are many possible ways during the product life-cycle to lower plastic wastes. For instance, we should impose a tax on plastic production to increase its cost and create an incentive for plastic producers to reduce plastic production in the first place.”

He said that tax should be collected from plastic producers for environmental impacts at each stage of the entire lifecycle of their products, as is advocated under the “Extended Producer Responsibility” principle.

“Unless we add the true costs of plastic, and that includes the cost of environmental impacts from the entire plastic production line and the value of plastic-waste management, plastic will still be considered expendable due to its very cheap cost,” he insisted.

The problem of plastic waste and ocean-polluting plastic garbage is taken seriously by the Environment Quality Promotion Department under the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, said director-general Rutchada Suriyakul Na Ayutya.

“During the past decade, Thailand on average generated 2 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, but only 0.5 tonnes were recycled, leaving behind up to 80 per cent or around 1.5 million tonnes of non-recyclable single-use plastic waste in the environment,” Rutchada said.

“The plastic pollution intensified during these recent years, and the Pollution Control Department found that in 2016, the annual amount of plastic waste had increased to 3.2 million tonnes,” he said. To mark Earth Day today, he said, the ministry had arranged an Earth Day 2018 Thailand exhibition at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

It wanted to encourage people, especially the younger generations, to take an active role on reducing plastic waste and mitigating climate change through changing consumer habits and stopping needless use of plastic bags.

Phetcharat Sin-uay, spokeswoman and deputy permanent secretary for Labour Ministry, said Chatchai Khuridee, 33, from Udon Thani, was recovering at Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan city.

Chatchai fell sick after he ate snails caught in a canal near his factory. His relatives have made Facebook posts, seeking help to bring him back home to Udon Thani.

Phetcharat said the Labour Ministry has cooperated with the Thai Labour Office in Kaohsiung to have the man, who worked for Uni-President Co Ltd in Tainan, admitted to hospital.

Since then, the Labour office has been monitoring the case and providing necessary help.

Phetcharat said the office has been coordinating its efforts with the foundation of the hospital and a foundation attached to a Taiwanese job-placement agency.

Repatriation would cost about 200,000 Taiwanese dollars (about Bt210,000) and the two foundations would pay part of the cost.

The worker would be repatriated after his condition improves to a point where doctors believe it is safe to send him back to Thailand, the spokeswoman added. She said his condition had improved based on a reduction in oxygen used from his respirator.

Pol Colonel Narat Savettanan, director-general of the Corrections Department, said Krit Wongwet, the commander of the Samut Prakan Central Prison, and four officials have been transferred pending a fact-finding and disciplinary probes.

The inmate died on Wednesday after he and 17 other inmates were allegedly beaten by prison guards after some drugs were found in the prison.

The Police Hospital’s Forensic Medicine Institute conducted an autopsy and reported that the man died of suffocation due to choking on food, but noted that his body had a lot of bruise marks. His wrists also had red marks, indicating that they had been tied.

Narat said he had seen photos of injury traces on the body. He had also received a report from the prison chief stating that the dead inmate was allegedly involved in drug smuggling and that the penalty might have got out of control.

“I am sorry for what happened. I hereby affirm that the Corrections Department has no policy to torture inmates,” Narat said.

He said he has demanded a written explanation from the Samut Prakan prison chief.

“I saw that this was a severe disciplinary offence. I hereby affirm that the Corrections Department attaches importance to the human rights of inmates. We don’t support beatings that lead to death, and we don’t overlook such incidents,” Narat added.

Narat also attended the funeral service of the dead innate at Wat Thung Khruru in Bangkok’s Thung Khuru district at 7.30pm on Friday. He gave a wreath and some money to the wife of the inmate.

After the funeral service, Narat told reporters that the prison chief had been moved to an inactive post within the department. Two of the officials were moved to Thon Buri prison and two others to Chachoengsao prison.

Narat said the department would set up a fact-finding panel to investigate the five officials. If there were evidence that they had committed disciplinary offences, a severe disciplinary probe would be conducted. He said the severest penalty available was dismissal from service.

Narat said the department would cooperate with police conducting an investigation into alleged extrajudicial killing.

Narat said he has learned that the four officials were normally hard working and had enforced the law strictly.

He said prison officials should have alerted police to take legal action when drugs were detected in the prison. Prison officials could also use administrative measures to punish inmates, such as reducing their status and prohibiting visits by relatives, instead of using force against them.

It was revealed earlier this week that the “Chao Phraya for All” project will cut by half the originally planned 14-kilometres long above-river promenade with separated riverside open spaces.

The revision in plan follows objections from the powerful Committee for the Rattanakosin and Old Cities Conservation and Development.

The latest meeting of the committee concluded that the original plan for the Chao Phraya Riverside Promenade project would have too many negative impacts on the river and the historic sites along it, said Atchaphon Dusitnanon, a committee member and also chairman of the Association of Siamese Architects.

The historic areas of Rattanakosin Island are under the authority of the committee, which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan.

At the recent meeting, Prawit suggested that the proposed area of the project be downsized to avoid negative impacts on the |historic areas of Rattanakosin Island.

The committee concluded that the proposed project area should be shortened from the original 14 kilometres along the river – from Rama VII Bridge south to Phra Pinklao Bridge – to a revised length of seven kilometres – from Rama VII Bridge down to Bang Sue Canal.

They also called for a change in the design from a long, above-river promenade to separated riverside open spaces that will allow people to access the river.

According to an earlier report, the original Chao Phraya Riverside promenade plan would have affected at least 36 piers, 29 riverside communities, 19 landmarks, eight religious places, eight official agencies’ offices, eight schools and six restaurants.

The original scope of the project also passed areas under the control of the Royal Household Bureau – Sukhothai Palace and Tha Wasukri Royal Shipyard.

“It was the unanimous view at the meeting of the Rattanakosin and Old Cities Conservation and Development Committee that there would be too much impact on the river and historic |heritage along the way, if the |project proceeds as originally planned. So Prawit suggested |that the BMA [Bangkok Metropolitan Administration] revise the plan to ensure that the development of the riverside area suits all stakeholders,” Atchaphon said.

The BMA, however, appeared to ignore the committee’s decision.

BMA Public Works Department director Nat Srisukhontanan said the city government has not officially acknowledged the change of plan suggested by the Rattanakosin and Old Cities Conservation Committee, so the promenade project was proceeding as per the original plan.

“The BMA is now waiting for approval from the Interior Ministry to open the e-bidding process to find the project builder, but we cannot yet answer when the ministry will approve the bidding or when the construction would start,” Nat said.

As per the latest BMA update, the first phase of the Chao Phraya Riverside Promenade project was divided into four contracts with a total budget of Bt8.362 billion, of which the Cabinet had so far approved Bt495 million.

Also, 285 families in 10 riverside communities have been relocated to pave the way for project construction.

The project has faced several delays since its announcement in 2015, at which time it was originally scheduled for completion by July 2017.

Opposition group pleased

Prominent opposition was organised by the Friend of the River group.

Group member Yossapon Boonsom said he was pleased to hear that the project size and scope could be adjusted to mitigate adverse impacts on the river, but he also suspected that the conclusions of the Rattanakosin and Old Cities Conservation and Development Committee had not been made official and could be changed.

“I suggest that there should be an official statement from the committee about this conclusion as soon as possible and I also |would like to urge the BMA to revise all the plans and allow all stakeholders, including the local people, to jointly plan development of the riverside area,” Yossapon said.

Atchaphon seconded Yossapon’s suggestions.

He is sure though, that even though there was still no official statement on the conclusion of the committee, a top government leader of Prawit’s stature would not allow his own words to be twisted.

An official statement on the issue would be issued soon, Atchaphon said.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will receive a proposal before the end of this month that includes requests that he find a budget to fund construction of new residences at a location other than the foot of the “sacred” mountain adjacent to a national park.

“We have already concluded what should be done. Our proposal will be forwarded to the Chiang Mai governor and the chief of the 33rd Military Circle, then to the chief of the |Third Army Area, and finally to the prime minister,” Teerasak Rupsuwan, co-ordinator for the Network to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forest, said yesterday.

He expected the joint panel’s proposal to reach Prayut’s hands by April 29, the time frame set by the Third Army Area’s chief earlier |this month. The panel has representatives from both civil society and government sectors, including Teerasak’s network.

The military has stepped in to help mediate the conflict over court officials’ residences after opponents threatened big protests. In the eyes of locals and environmentalists, court officials’ residences are eating into Doi Suthep forest on a mountain that is considered “sacred” in local history.

The Court of Appeals Region 5 has maintained that the construction of the court officials’ residences, which are almost complete under the nearly Bt1billion budget, are legal in every aspect.

The Office of Judiciary said earlier this month that it would comply with the government’s decision on the dispute.

Prayut has since tried to suggest that opponents to the project consider using the facilities for public purposes once completed. However, opponents of the construction have stood firmly by their original stance – that buildings on the controversial site should be demolished so as to minimise environmental damage.

Joint panel representatives from both civil society and government sectors agree that rehabilitation must be done urgently to restore the environment and ensure proper water flow at the controversial construction site, and that the government should find a new location and new budget for the court officials’ residences.

The panel’s government representatives have not agreed with the demand by local organisations that the new buildings be demolished.

Teerasak insisted that the controversial land plot be returned to the Treasury Department so that it could be declared a part of the nearby Doi Suthep–Pui National Park.

According to Teerasak, an announcement should also be issued as a social promise that no organisation would ever again try to claim a land plot in the forest buffer zone.

“We hope the prime minister will make the right decision,” Teerasak said.

THE five senior monks, including three members of the Sangha Supreme Council (SSC), implicated in the embezzlement of funds allocated by the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) for three Bangkok Dhamma schools, were “accused persons” and innocent until proved otherwise by the court, SSC secretary-general Pol Lt-Colonel Pongporn Parmsneh said yesterday.

This was because the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had not yet deemed their alleged wrongdoings fit for prosecution, Pongporn told the media following the SSC general meeting at Nakhon Pathom’s Buddha Monthon Park.

Pongporn, in his capacity as NOB director, had brought the case to the police force’s Counter Corruption Division (CCD), which then probed and forwarded the case against the five monks on April 11 to the NACC.

Asked when he would file more embezzlement complaints against the seven other temples, following the postponement on Thursday, Pongporn said reporters should pose this question to the CCD or the NACC instead.

The accused SSC members were Phra Phromdilok, the abbot of |Sam Phraya Temple; Phra Phrommedhi, an assistant abbot of Samphanthawongsaram Temple; and Phra Phromsitti, the abbot of Sa Ket Temple. Also implicated were Phra Medhisuttikorn and Phra Wijitdhammaporn, both assistant abbots of Sa Ket Temple.

Meanwhile, national police commissioner Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said police were not fretting about prosecuting monks accused of wrongdoings in the case.

Police acted as per evidence and legal steps, Chakthip said, and there was no need to worry.

“There is no law prohibiting police from arresting a monk involved in wrongdoing. Police probing this case would worry if the actions are against good monks but they don’t worry about probing and prosecuting bad monks. All are as per the usual procedure,” he said.

If the accused had not done anything wrong, there was no need for them to worry, Chakthip said, declining to elaborate on details of the CCD case report to the NACC.

If other monks held a protest over police accusation against senior monks, such a rally would be handled by law enforcers, Chakthip said.

Disciples upset

However, Buddhist Protection Centre of Thailand president Phra Dhammakittimethee, the assistant abbot of Bangkok’s Wat Ratchathiwat Ratchaworawihan, warned that this might escalate to a dispute and an “out of control” incident because many disciples of the three accused SSC members were upset.

The outspoken monk said his centre had not scheduled a press conference about this scandal because he and his group had nothing to do with it or with budgetary matters. They trusted that the case against the senior monks would be as per NOB regulations.

He also expressed his personal opinion that a temple could spend the funds allocated from the NOB on other things in addition to the submitted and approved projects, as long as such things were for the benefit of Buddhism. The money should be returned and not doing so might be a “flaw”, but it was not necessarily an intention to cheat or embezzle because the end result benefited the religion too, he said.

Top ministry officials, including retired permanent secretaries, are now possible targets for a probe by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

“We will forward the case to the NACC to look at the role of senior officials who were in charge of the project,” Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday.

Teerakiat, who himself headed the ministry’s fact-finding committee, suspected that corruption in MOENET might have gone on for decades. The ministry’s current deputy permanent secretary, Prasert Boonruang, has testified that he was offered a 7-per-cent bribe last year as representatives of TOT tried to persuade him to extend the MOENET contract with the firm.

“But I turned down the offer. I will not engage in any kind of corruption,” he said.

Teerakiat has now treated Prasert as a witness, even though the latter renewed the contract with TOT twice during the past two years.

The decision was based on the fact that Prasert spoke up about alleged irregularities as soon as he detected them.

“Initially, I extended the contract for three months so as to give relevant officials some time to prepare for procurement in line with the policy of then-education minister, General Dapong Ratanasuwan. Seven months later, I agreed to renew the contract again because there was no other bidder. But when a C8-level official came to me last October to recommend contract renewal again, I said a firm ‘No’ because things got suspicious,” Prasert explained.

Bribe offered

According to him, the C8-level official at the ministry tried hard to persuade him to endorse renewal of the contract, pleading that non-renewal of the contract would leave |more than 30,000 schools without Internet access.

When Prasert continued to refuse approval for the contract renewal, the seven-per-cent bribe was offered.

“That’s when I decided to alert the current education minister,” Prasert said.

Teerakiat not only cancelled the contract with TOT early this year, but he also transferred the concerned C8-level official.

Each year, the Education Ministry pays more than Bt3 billion for MOENET.

TOT stepped in as Internet service provider for MOENET in 2002. In charge of the MOENET is the ICT centre of the ministry, which reports to the ministry’s Office of the Permanent Secretary.

Khunying Kasama Varavarn had served as the permanent secretary for Education |from 2002 to 2003, and also from 2004 to 2006.

Other former permanent secretaries of the Education Ministry include Pornnipa Limpaphayom, Charuaypon Torranin, Sasitara Pichaicharnnarong, Panita Kambhu, Suthasri Wongsamarn and Kamjorn Tatiyakavee.

At the helm of the ministry’s ICT centre back in 2002 was Kiatisak Sensai. Laddawan Samittamarn served as the centre’s director between 2003 and 2004.

Other former directors of the centre included Mayuree Rattanamung, Charnwit Tapsuphan, Nitibodee Tiangworakan, Jettana Dangintawat, and Orachart Suebsit.

“The NACC will have to investigate which officials engaged in corrupt practices during the past many years. At this point, allegations have not yet been proven,” Teerakiat said.