On the same day, the Bangkok governor will hold a meeting to find a final solution to turn the cultural centre into a “learning” centre. “We will propose three requests to the prime minister. First we want the BACC Foundation to continue running the art centre, as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration [BMA] has no experience in running an art centre. Second, funding the art centre has to be a BMA policy. Finally, we will ask for the dismissal of Governor Asawin,” Vasan Sitthiket, leader of the Artists Network, told The Nation.

Asawin last Thursday announced his plan for the BMA to take over the BACCC operations from the non-profit Bangkok Art and Culture Centre Foundation, drawing a strong reaction on social media over the weekend. Many Thai artists posted their reactions on their Facebook pages.

As running an art centre requires particular expertise, artists and culture experts have questioned the management skills of the BMA bureaucrats.

Meanwhile Kallaya Kassakul, the artist network coordinator, on Saturday posted a call on http://www.Change.org for supporters to join a hashtag action, #freebacc. As of Sunday 7pm, more than 6,700 supporters had agreed to fight to free the art centre from the BMA and allow the Art and Culture Centre Foundation to continue running it.

After annually funding the centre for 10 years since its doors opened, the BMA this year cut back funding. The governor announced he would assign the Culture, Sport and Tourism Department of the BMA to run the city-funded art centre.

“As the BMA annually provides Bt40 million in funding to the foundation, it is better that BMA officials operate the city centre,” the governor said in announcing his plan.

“We will lease the ground floor area in order to earn more money so as to cut the losses. We will convert the exhibition floors into a new learning centre,” the governor said.

The BMA claimed that the foundation running the centre was in the red annually. BACC director Pawit Mahasarinand defended the centre’s loss. “The BACC Foundation has a contract to operate the BACC until 2021. Last year, the BMA supported the centre with Bt45 million, and the foundation raised another Bt37 million from corporate sponsorship, management of venues and other income, to cover such expenses as personnel, PR, etc. The total income was Bt82 million, against the expenditure of Bt75 million,” the director said. “Last year 1.7 million people visited the art centre of whom 35 per cent were students,” Pawit said.

The rainy season officially begins in Thailand this week with grim prospects, as the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) data revealed 50 reservoirs across the country were full to more than 80 per cent of capacity.

Meanwhile, the weather forecast from National Hydro Informatics and the Climate Data Centre expected rainfall during this monsoon to be 10 per cent higher than average and at least one to two storms are expected to hit Thailand by the end of the season.

The data also revealed another shocking fact: five medium-sized reservoirs had already exceeded their maximum capacity and these dams were ready to overflow at anytime.

Somkiat Prajumwong, director-general of the newly established National Water Resources Office, assured that the authorities were prepared for the rainy season, as he had ordered related agencies to carefully inspect reservoirs across the country and draft plans for an emergency water crisis.

“As we have found, there are 50 reservoirs that have already reached 80 per cent of storage capacity even before the start of the rainy season. The office has ordered all related agencies such as the RID, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, and the Interior Ministry to drain out the water as much as possible and strengthen the dams to ensure the safety of the reservoirs,” Somkiat said.

“We have to act fast and try to reduce the water in all reservoirs to lower than 60 per cent before the full stage of the rainy season.”

He pointed out that if the reservoirs cannot achieve this goal in time, the National Water Resources Office had already ordered the owner of the reservoirs to set up an emergency protocol to let officers at the project know what to do in the event of a crisis, how to prepare people downstream when the alarm rings and where they should be evacuated to if the dam levels are breached.

At least four reservoirs were breached last year, which claimed the lives of many people and caused extensive flooding downstream because the pressure on the reservoir’s capacity from heavy rains caused the dam’s structure to collapse.

Lessons of the past

The most famous example last year was of the Huai Zaikamin Reservoir in Sakon Nakhon province where the dam was overwhelmed with heavy rains and destroyed. This caused the entire Sakon Nakhon city to be inundated with deep floodwater within a few hours.

Somkiat said water management this year would be better than in the previous year, because it was the first time that the country’s water management policy was under the control of a single agency that had power over all related agencies.

“I am sure that under the unified water management plan of the National Water Resources Office, our efficiency to deal with irrigation management and flood prevention will be significantly improved,” he said.

As the agricultural planner for Chao Phraya River Basin, Somkiat said the RID had already irrigated water for the farmers in water retention areas in Phitsanulok’s Bang Rakam district and other water retention fields downstream in Ayutthaya, Singburi and Angthong. That would allow farmers start farming as soon as late as last month and let them harvest their crops before the flood season starts.

“We also listened to people’s complaints about the problems from water management in water retention fields from last year,” Somkiat said.

“The office has ordered the RID and the Highway Department to make sure that floodwater in water retention fields will not be too high and cause travel difficulties for the people like in previous years.”

Santhana was taken from his detention cell to Bangkok’s Don Muang Police Station after the Criminal Court approved eight arrest warrants against him over allegations of extortion at Donmuang Modern Market.

Santhana, an adviser to the market’s operator, told reporters: “I slept well because this police station was my ‘former home’ .” Then he added: “The Royal Thai Police took good care of me. I’ll see what other agencies will do.”

Later yesterday, Santhana’s lawyer Apichat Kruachua secured his client’s temporary release on bail by paying a Bt300,000 surety. Santhana was bailed to attend court at 9am on July 2.

The court’s bail conditions forbade Santhana from tampering with evidence or witnesses, and from leaving the country without permission.

Santhana later said he would soon submit a letter to the national police chief about three police generals who had a problem with him, resulting in “overreactions” and discrimination.

He cited the Thai SWAT team’s raid of his condo last week and the fact he was publicly marched away in handcuffs without the benefit of cloth to cover his wrists. He said police should feel ashamed to have treated him so unfairly.

“People have criticised me for my loud personality. I said I would never be defeated because I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve been a fighter throughout my life and I will fight until the end,” he said, insisting there was a hidden agenda behind the charges by people who might even want him dead.

The police application for his detention had claimed that Santhana and 10 others had allegedly extorted monthly “protection money” from vendors from April 2016-April 2018, amounting to Bt1,000-Bt3,000 per shop and that he threatened them if they refused.

Santhana has repeatedly denied the charges so police plan to interview 50 other witnesses to strengthen their case. They are also waiting for the results of forensic and criminal record checks, hence their request to detain him until May 24.

Police opposed bail on the grounds that the crime had many victims and because they feared that Santhana, who allegedly led a gang of at least 20 men, might flee or tamper with evidence and/or witnesses.

Santhana said he learned that the accusations against him and company employees stemmed from eight vendors who claimed their shops would not be allowed to stay open unless they paid the “protection money”.

“Only eight of the market’s 500 shops have this issue? This group might be ‘convinced’ to accuse me,” he said before he and his wheelchaired 91-year-old father Pol Colonel Somchai Prayoonrat left the court in separate vehicles.

Earlier this month, Santhana confronted a senior police officer as he led a team probing an allegation that some shops were selling substandard products.

Meanwhile, national police deputy chief Pol General Weerachai Songmetta insisted that more than 100 people had testified that they had paid “protection money” and they should not be afraid of Santhana’s counter-lawsuits.

Weerachai said no one had falsely accused or bullied Santhana as he claimed. He also said further charges related to the growing number of victims would be filed and police were gathering evidence to support the arrests of more suspects, many of whom had reportedly fled the market.

 “Parents should be educated about the significance of their role and how to play it,” Thailand Development Research Institute president Dr Somkiat Tangkitvanich said. “Parents, after all, can bolster children’s learning by as much as 40 per cent.”

He was speaking at the TEP’s two-day forum last weekend, which addressed how to improve Thailand’s educational sector.

Many prominent figures attended the forum, including former prime minister Anand Panyarachun.

Anand said everyone had a role to play in the country’s education and all parties must stop thinking that the government was solely responsible for education issues.

“Parents should recognise that they are the first persons to take care of their children’s education,” he said.

Anand, the son of a school executive, added that the civil sector and the private sector must also contribute to the improvement of Thailand’s educational quality.

“Only after all parties involved recognise and do their duty, can positive changes happen. Without a change in mindset, no blueprint can alter Thai education for the better,” he said.

He added that while educators should be eager to learn, “parents, meanwhile, should provide support and create learning opportunities for their children”.

Anand said parents should encourage their children to learn based on their potential and interests.

“Schools should ensure they are inspiring places for children,” he said. “Teachers should help children identify their potential and boost it.”

Communities and the society should also help provide safe after-school learning spaces.

Somkiat said children should have at least six qualities: morality, self-knowledge, a sense of belonging, embrace teamwork, citizen participation and be savvy with technology.

“A learning environment should prepare children well for the challenging world and upcoming change,” he said.

Somkiat said children should learn to socialise and constantly improve themselves. They must be keen to learn new things and have the courage to handle reality.

“Train children to think and be practical. Give them the necessary skills such as discipline and the ability to work with others,” Somkiat said.

He said to provide children with such skills, relevant parties should encourage children’s curiosity, train them to ask the right questions and teach them how to find answers.

He said the TEP had recently surveyed 1,142 people in 15 provinces regarding what qualities children of the new generation should have.

Ninety-one per cent of those asked said that children should be IT-adept. About 87 per cent said that children should have good learning abilities and 86 per cent said children must know themselves and should be able to work with others. About 84 per cent said children should be good citizens and 82 per cent expected them to uphold good values.

TEP has proposed that all relevant parties should organise activities for children so they can identify their aptitude and interests.

“Also, we believe school directors and school executives should receive leadership development support,” Somkiat said.

He added that the TEP would work with the Office of Higher Education Commission to improve teachers.

“We will also identify prime movers and engage them in education-development efforts,” he said.

He said that the TEP also hoped to encourage the government to give greater independence to schools.

“We will also try to help upgrade schools and their networks.”