“We ended it well so please respect our decision. We will stay friends and there are no hard feelings on either side. I would like everyone to give him their support as he fights to bring pride and fame to the country [in the boxing ring]. Thank you for your support,” she wrote.

A few hours before the break-up post, Patchareewan uploaded a message hinting at the split, writing: “[I] already wired the money back. This is the start of my being officially single. Good luck.”

The news came as a shock to Thais, who thought the couple would make it after going through a decade of hardships together, Srisaket’s recent glory and his proposal. The break-up declaration drew many comments, most of them expressing encouragement although some speculated about what had caused the split.

Srisaket, whose real name is Wisaksil Wangek, did not have an easy life, migrating from the Northeast to Bangkok where he held several jobs, including as a security guard at a Bang Na department store and a garbage collector, before rising to fame in the boxing ring.

Srisaket defeated the former titleholder Roman “Chocoltito” Gonzalez during their rematch last September, becoming the first Thai boxer to successfully defend the title in the US. Upon his victorious return to Thailand on September 12, he surprised Patchareewan, his girlfriend of 14 years, by going down on one knee and asking her marry him in front of his family and supporters at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Srisaket’s village headman father Jiamsak Wangek said on Thursday that he was puzzled by the break-up although he admitted that Patchareewan’s parents had the previous evening collected five cows that she had left for Jiamsak to rear. Jiamsak said he was told that Patchareewan broke up with the boxer over alleged lies and other woman, while a conversation with his son later indicated that Srisaket was accusing his girlfriend of similar misdemeanors, all of which Jiamsak said might just stem from misunderstandings. Jiamsak said he told his son to talk it over with Patchareewan, as he believed their love was true and that arguments and misunderstandings were a test of love. If they still wanted to break up, Jiamsak said he would respect the couple’s decision.

On the bright side, the number of Thai universities on the prestigious list has risen to 10 this year – up from nine a year earlier. But on a negative note, most of the Thai representatives have dropped down the list.

Released yesterday, the Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018 showed that King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) has joined the list for the first time – but only because the list has expanded the number of available spots from 300 last year.

KMUTNB is ranked in the 301-350 band. The other nine Thai universities are old faces in the rankings, which were previously known as the Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings.

The best performer from Thailand is Mahidol University, at 76th spot, the same as last year.

King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi’s ranking, meanwhile, has slid from 91 to 92. Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s oldest university, suffered a bigger drop, falling from 117th spot to 126th.

The Suranaree University of Technology is an interesting representative from Thailand, because it is the only one with an improved rating. Its current ranking is 177, up from 192 the previous year. King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang has fallen from 145 to 181 this year.

Chiang Mai University has also slipped significantly – from 165 last year to 195 now. Khon Kaen University, meanwhile, has dropped from 200 to the 201-250 band.

Kasetsart University maintains its ranking, staying in the 251–300-band like last year. But Prince of Songkla University has plunged from the 201-250 band to the 251-300 band.

But Thailand is not the only nation seeing a decline.

“We see pockets of progress and a scattering of exceptional performers, but the broad picture across the Asean, Eastern European and Latin American regions is one of decline this year,” Phil Baty said in his capacity as the editorial director of the Times Higher Education Global Rankings.

Malaysia and Indonesia, just like Thailand, have an increased presence in the list but the majority of their institutions have declined since last year.

Only four Asean nations have made it to the prestigious list. The Philippines has had one position in the ranking since last year. This year, the list covered more than 350 universities from 42 countries, across four continents.

Topping the list is Peking University of China, followed by Tsinghua University, also from China.

China has dominated the 2018 ranking’s elite Top 10, claiming seven spots.

The draft guidelines, which are based on information gathered from experts during a workshop early this year, are now ready as the government is treating the anti-human trafficking mission as an urgent national agenda.

Yesterday, a forum was held for police to receive feedback on the draft.

“We have convened the meeting as we wish to listen to the opinions of people familiar with legal proceedings for human-trafficking cases,” Pol General Tamasak Wicharaya said yesterday in his capacity as the head of the police force’s Children, Women, and Family Protection Centre.

At the forum senior police officers were joined by Martin Reeve from the Australia-Asia Programme to Combat Trafficking in Persons (AAPTIP) project, which is supported by the Australian government.

AAPTIP has helped Thailand with preparing the draft guidelines.

“We aim to provide solid guidelines so that police can work smoothly with public prosecutors in bringing culprits to justice,” Reeve said. “The guidelines aim to ensure efficient legal enforcement and transparency in legal proceedings where human-trafficking cases are concerned.”

The draft guidelines have already taken into account common obstacles that police often run into when solving human-trafficking cases.

Drafters have also identified key success factors.

“The guidelines would become an ultimate manual and standard for police to efficiently deal with human-trafficking cases. With the guidelines, proceedings by the National Police Office will be in line with international standards,” Tamasak said.

The fresh conflict between local citizens in the potash exploration area at Wanon Niwat district and China Mingda Potash Corporation erupted again yesterday after local people were angered by the company’s new potash exploration operations. The locals tried to stop the team from entering the exploration site.

The confrontation began yesterday morning when the locals, protesting against the potash exploration, tried to prevent China Mingda’s team from entering the area. The team, which was escorted by many police officers, was unable to enter the site to drill for new exploration as planned.

The Chinese mining company argued that its potash exploration was legal and it had already received approval to drill for potash from both the land owner and the authorities. The local people, however, said that they had been kept in the dark about the potash mine development plan. They said they were worried about the environmental impact of the operation on groundwater and the fertility of their farmland.

China Mingda manager Thanyapat Wangwongsiri said the company decided to file the complaint with the police against those who tried to oppose its potash exploration, as the company had to protect its rights.

“The company has done nothing against the law, because we already have the permission from both the land owner at the exploration site and local authorities,” Thanyapat said.

“The people have no right to block the way and prevent us from doing our duty, so we have no choice but to file a complaint with the police to protect our interests.”

The company did not specify the names of the people who had participated in the protest against the exploration operation, but it provided pictures of the protesters at the scene as evidence to the police.

Thanyapat said there was no plan to take the opponents of the potash exploration to court, but the company was open to considering filing a lawsuit to protect its reputation and interests in the future.

“I would like to assure that the company operation is just exploring and evaluating the potential to develop a potash mine in the area and there is no impact on the environment from our exploration operations,” he said.

“If anyone is affected by our operations, they can sue us in the court.”

China Mingda acquired the mineral exploration licence from the Industry Ministry for potash exploration on 12 plots of land over a total area of 116,875 rai at Wanon Niwat district since January 2015 for five years. The company’s licence will expire in January 2020.

Nongchai Phanda, one of the local people taking part in the protest against the potash exploration, stated that the local people were informed that China Mingda would drill the fourth exploration well in the area, so the people came out in protest in order to protect their community and environment.

Nongchai said the people only blocked the vehicles of the potash exploration team from entering the site and did not fully close the entire road. As of press time, local people still guarded the way to the site.

“The local people are objecting to the exploration on the grounds that this operation may be done on first level watershed forestland, where mineral exploration is prohibited. We want the company and authorities to clear this doubt with the people first,” he said.

“We are only trying to save our hometown from environmental disaster that the potash mine will bring, because we want to preserve our livelihood as an agricultural community and protect our valuable fertile farmland.”

He said the people were concerned about salinity intrusion as a result of extracting potash from underground salt layers, which could devastate the farmland and pollute the rivers. Moreover, he said, the local people were kept away from participating in the decision-making on this project in their hometown.

A COMMITTEE of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) resolved to temporarily seize 45 assets worth more than Bt463 million linked to “Victoria’s: The Secret Forever” massage parlour and its alleged de facto owner Kampol Weerathepsuporn even as a manhunt continues for 19 suspects wanted for alleged human trafficking and prostitution.

AMLO acting secretary-general Pol Maj-General Rommasit Viriyasant said yesterday that the committee on Tuesday resolved to seize for up to 90 days the 28 bank accounts in the names of 11 people, including 61-year-old Kampol and his 68-year-old wife Nipa, nine stock and investment units, and eight properties registered in the names of the couple’s relatives or associates.

Meanwhile, the chief of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, said that officers were hunting for 19 suspects linked to the massage parlour, for whom a criminal court had already approved arrest warrants. The DSI was responsible for three areas of the investigation, Paisit explained.

Kampol and Nipa

They were: cases of human trafficking against 45 suspects, which was passed onto public prosecutors on April 2; the money-laundering case which the DSI had passed onto the AMLO for further action, leading to the Bt463 million asset seizure; and wrongdoing by state officials, which is being probed by the DSI and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission.

According to Rommasit, police found that a 12-year-old girl from Myanmar was forced into prostitution in July 2014 at the parlour before she was sent to provide sex services in Malaysia, resulting in the DSI taking this up as a special case. The DSI had an arrest warrant for Boonsap Amornrattanasiri, 55, and six others on human trafficking charges.

Boonsap, the parlour’s chief promoter, was arrested after an investigation assisted by anti-sex trafficking activists Nvader led to a sting operation and a raid on the parlour on January 12. Also arrested were parlour manager Satthatham Jaengchai, 67, and four others on suspicion of human trafficking and prostitution. That later led to arrest warrants for other alleged accomplices Supatra Sarad, Yanisa Prombutr and Pratuang Tutrasang as well as Kampol and Nipa.

In a separate case, the AMLO committee also approved the confiscation of Bt9.5 million cash seized from three foreign suspects who failed to declare the money to Customs Department officials when they entered the Kingdom, leading to suspicion they might be part of money-smuggling gangs. The smuggling of cash also comes under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

“Information from the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] and the Education Ministry suggests that the top executives might have been just negligent,” he said.

Teerakiat was speaking after attending a meeting with relevant authorities, including the PACC and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO).

At the meeting, the participants also reviewed the report on the Education Ministry’s internal investigation into the alleged misuse of the fund.

Teerakiat said about Bt77 million of the fund had gone to undeserving recipients between 2005 and this year.

After the alleged corruption was exposed, Rojana Sintee – a C8-level official at the Education Ministry – confessed that she had embezzled the money and claimed she acted alone.

Following the confession, she was fired from service.

“The internal probe suggests Rojana and three other education officials had committed grave disciplinary offences over the handling of the fund,” he said.

According to him, one of them is even more senior than Rojana and had long worked closely with her.

“Two others have just got involved at some point,” Teerakiat said.

The education minister refused to identify the officials except Rojana. But he revealed all four of them have held the ranks of C8 or higher.

Teerakiat said the internal probe had already concluded and the next step for the Education Ministry was to take disciplinary action against implicated officials and former officials.

He said the AMLO would also take action against accomplices who did not work at the Education Ministry.

“Those accomplices will face charges of money laundering,” he said.