Monthly Archives: May 2019

Northern summit on how to best run marathons

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Northern summit on how to best run marathons

sports May 23, 2019 01:00

By By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam
The Nation

Chiang Rai will host a Global Running Summit and the Umay+ Chiang Rai 2019 21.1 (km) international half marathon from July 4-7.

In an attempt to develop Thailand’s marathon events to meet international standards the summit, the first of its kind in Asia, will bring in people with a vast experience of running or managing marathons to share their knowledge.

“The summit is in line with our policy to develop marathon events in Thailand to meet international standards and get recognition worldwide, said Kongsak Yodmanee, governor of Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).

“In addition, we attempt to use sports as an economic boost for cities and communities, especially secondary cities. With such an importance, we have supported the meeting with the cooperation from many private and public sectors.”

The summit will discuss logistics, traffic management, course measurement, security, police, volunteers, sponsorship and copyrights. Moreover, all the parties involved in the running industry ranging from organisers, sponsors, agencies, companies to service organisations will be invited to attend in order to learn and then apply information to improve their own events to international recognition.

The governor added that several marathon specialists had confirmed they would take part in the meeting at the Riverie by Katathani hotel in Chiang Rai province.  These include Boston Marathon Start Line Director Andy Duchesne, Chicago Marathon representative Lacy M Howen, New York City Marathon Finish Line Coordinator David Katz,  and Manabu Tanaka, International Relation, Tokyo Marathon.

Pol Maj. Gen Surapong Ariyamongkol, vice president and general-secretary of the Athletic Association of Thailand, said that all the theories and knowledge from the summit will be put into practice at the Umay+ Chiang Rai 2019 21.1 international half-marathon on July 7.

Crisis-hit boxing federation faces Tokyo verdict

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Crisis-hit boxing federation faces Tokyo verdict

sports May 22, 2019 18:45

By AFP

The International Olympic Committee was poised to decide Wednesday on whether to strip amateur boxing’s crisis-hit governing body of the right to organise the event at Tokyo 2020.

The verdict to be delivered by IOC president Thomas Bach comes after an investigation into the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), which has faced allegations of serious mismanagement.

Formed in 1946, AIBA has overseen decades of signature Olympic moments, notably the 1960 gold medal win in Rome by Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali.

But relations between AIBA and the IOC took a sharp downward turn following the 2016 Rio Games, when 36 officials and referees were suspended amid allegations of bout fixing.

An internal investigation by AIBA raised deeper questions about the judging in Rio, with particular suspicion falling on a French official.

Then in 2017, AIBA executives forced out the body’s president C.K. Wu, amid claims of multi-million dollar accounting fraud.

Wu, a Taiwanese national, denied wrongdoing and remains a member of the IOC, an indication that he retains the support of senior Olympic officials.

Wu was ultimately replaced by the controversial Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov, who the US Treasury Department has linked to “transnational criminal organisations”.

Rakhimov vehemently rejects such charges and insists the allegations against him are “politically motivated lies”.

Rakhimov stepped down in March, while the IOC audit into AIBA’s affairs was ongoing.

He was replaced as interim president by Moroccan doctor Mohamed Moustahsane — the fourth head of AIBA in 18 months.

 

– Boxing in Tokyo? –

 

Audit firm Deloitte, which led the AIBA probe on behalf of the IOC, submitted a list of 41 questions to the boxing federation, on subjects ranging from finances, governance and ethics to anti-doping, refereeing and judging.

AIBA’s current leadership insists the organisation has met all the requirements stipulated by the IOC.

The governing body’s chief executive Tom Virgets told AFP this month that the organisation had “done everything that has been asked by the IOC”.

“Every single document asked, we produced, every single requirement we have met, including our president self-suspending,” he said, referring to Rakhimov’s departure.

Media reports have indicated that AIBA would sue if it is denied the right to organise boxing, including the qualifications, for the Tokyo Games.

Asked on May 7 if AIBA planned to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Virgets said the body planned to “explore” its options, but declined further comment.

Bach has indicated that IOC would be capable of organising an alternative qualification process, independent of AIBA, as a means to ensure boxing is featured in Tokyo.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond improves hopes of making the International Team

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Jazz Janewattananond
Jazz Janewattananond

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond improves hopes of making the International Team

sports May 22, 2019 17:55

Brooks Koepka solidifies position in U.S. Team with PGA win

Melbourne –  Thailand’s rising star Jazz Janewattananond has improved his chances of qualifying for the International Team to face the United States Team at the Presidents Cup this December following an impressive showing at the recent PGA Championship where he finished T14 in his debut appearance.

Jazz, who won the SMBC Singapore Open in January, moved up four positions from 16th to 12th place on the latest International Team points list while countryman Kiradech Aphibarnrat is ranked 17th. The duo are Thailand’s two best chances to qualify for the International Team this year. Countryman Thongchai Jaidee featured in the 2015 edition in Incheon, Korea.

The Presidents Cup will return to Melbourne, Australia and The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the third time, from December 9-15, 2019, when the International Team, led by Captain Ernie Els, will take on the U.S. Team led by Captain Tiger Woods.

Jazz captivated New York golf fans with a stellar display last week where he entered the final round in T2 position. He fought gallantly on Sunday before slipping back with a closing 77 to post Thailand’s best finish in the PGA Championship.

“It’s on the back of my mind for sure,” Jazz said of qualifying for the Presidents Cup. “I played with Ernie a couple weeks back, and he just told me to keep playing good. So I’ll see about that.”

Els, who will spearhead the International Team as captain for the first time, has been keeping a close tab on Janewattananond’s progress after playing together in Malaysia recently.

“Another international player who has caught my attention is Jazz. This kid has got talent and at Bethpage Black, he showed us what he can do with a solid T14 finish. Though it may seem as if the world was introduced to Jazz last week, this 23-year-old has had his fair share of professional success after turning pro at age 14. He’s won three times on the Asian Tour and defeated a strong field at the Singapore Open this year. With the PGA being just his fourth PGA TOUR start, it was quite encouraging to see him perform so well under an enormous amount of pressure.”

Korea’s Sung Kang also enhanced his prospects of qualifying for the International Team after a magical two-week spell where he won his first PGA TOUR title at the AT&T Byron Nelson and finished seventh at the PGA Championship. He has vaulted 28 spots in the standings from No. 38 to No. 10 and is currently the highest-ranked Korean in the standings.

“If I get in, I’ll be honored to play in the Presidents Cup,” Kang said following his win.

Other admirable performances at the PGA by International Team hopefuls included a T8 finish by Adam Scott, who remains No. 11 in the standings. The top 5 of the International Team standings remained consistent, with Marc Leishman sitting atop the standings, followed by Louis Oosthuizen, Hideki Matsuyama, Haotong Li and Cameron Smith. Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who finished T16 in his PGA Championship debut, moved one rung up into eighth position, swapping places with Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan, winner of last month’s RBC Heritage.

The top-eight players following the BMW Championship, the second of three events in the FedExCup Playoffs, will earn automatic places in the International Team, with Captain Els making four picks following the PGA TOUR’s Asian swing in early November.

 On the U.S. Team points list, Brooks Koepka successfully defended his PGA Championship title in wire-to-wire fashion for his sixth win on the PGA TOUR and fourth major championship victory while solidifying his bid to join the U.S. Presidents Cup Team for a second time. Koepka jumped from No. 5 to No. 2 in the standings behind Dustin Johnson, who remained atop the standings after finishing runner up at Bethpage Black outside New York City.

Koepka, 29, made his Presidents Cup debut in 2017 at Liberty National where he produced a 2-2-0 record, which included two Four-ball match wins with Johnson as his partner. With the win at the PGA, Koepka joined U.S. Team hopefuls Xander Schauffele(No. 4) and Matt Kuchar (No. 5) as players with multiple victories on the PGA TOUR during the 2018-19 season. Schauffele and Kuchar finished T16 and T8, respectively, to maintain their position inside the top 8 in the standings.

Elsewhere on the U.S. Team standings, Patrick Cantlay moved into position for one of the top-eight automatic qualifier spots after a T3 finish at the PGA Championship elevated him four spots from No. 12 to No. 8. The 27-year-old Long Beach, California native has seven top-10 finishes in 13 starts this season and is in search of his first Presidents Cup appearance.

Three-time Presidents Cup participant Jordan Spieth returned to form with a T3 finish of his own at Bethpage Black. At No. 38 in the standings, the 11-time PGA TOUR winner and former Australian Open champion will need a solid run over the next three months in hopes of locking up an automatic qualifier spot in mid-August.

Playing his first tournament since his Masters triumph, U.S. Captain Woods missed the cut and dropped two spots in the standings to No. 11.

The top 15 players in the International and U.S. Presidents Cup Team Standings as of May 20, 2019 are listed below. Click here for the full Presidents Cup standings.

INTERNATIONAL

Rank    Player                          Country                       Points

1.         Marc Leishman             Australia                       136.30

2.         Louis Oosthuizen          South Africa                  131.93

3.         Hideki Matsuyama        Japan                            122.76

4.         Haotong Li                   China                           115.86

5.         Cameron Smith            Australia                       107.08

6.         Jason Day                     Australia                       102.85

7.         Justin Harding              South Africa                  102.04

8.         Abraham Ancer             Mexico                         97.99

9.         C.T. Pan                       Chinese Taipei             96.04

10.        Sung Kang                    Korea                           94.05

11.        Adam Scott                   Australia                       91.37

12.        Jazz Janewattananond    Thailand                       82.49

13.        Si Woo Kim                 Korea                           78.84

14.        Shugo Imahira              Japan                            76.99

15.        Corey Conners             Canada                         76.72

UNITED STATES

Rank    Player                                      Points

1.         Dustin Johnson                         6,327

2.         Brooks Koepka                         6,116

3.         Justin Thomas                           5,359

4.         Xander Schauffele                     5,169

5.         Matt Kuchar                             5,099

6.         Bryson DeChambeau                4,471

7.         Rickie Fowler                          4,199

8.         Patrick Cantlay                         3,816

9.         Tony Finau                               3,682

10.        Gary Woodland                        3,671

11.        Tiger Woods                            3,638

12.        Phil Mickelson                         3,521

13.        Webb Simpson                         3,458

14.        Charles Howell III                    3,134

15.        Kevin Kisner                            3,106

International Team eligibility criteria

The top eight (8) international players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Presidents Cup International Team Points List which shall be Official World Golf Ranking points accumulated in the time period from August 27, 2018 (Dell Technologies Championship) through August 18, 2019 (BMW Championship).

Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.

U.S. Team eligibility criteria

The top eight (8) U.S. PGA TOUR members who have earned the most FedExCup points from September 11, 2017 (2017 BMW Championship) through 2019 BMW Championship, weighted as follows:

(a) 2017 BMW Championship through 2018 TOUR Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 1 point

(b) First event of the 2018-2019 season through 2019 BMW Championship: 1 FedExCup point = 2 points

Four Captain’s selections will be made at a to-be-determined later date.

Family appeals for help with Korean hospital bills

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Photo : Edd Zafeero Sriyotha's Facebook
Photo : Edd Zafeero Sriyotha’s Facebook

Family appeals for help with Korean hospital bills

national May 23, 2019 01:00

By Seksanti Kallayanawisut
The Nation

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The family of a Thai woman who worked illegally in South Korea is campaigning for donations after she fell into a coma following a dental operation.

The plight of Sanruethai Wansiri, 41, of Udon Thani, was publicised on Facebook by user “Edd Zafeero Sriyotha”, who posted photos of her lying in bed.

She reportedly fell into a coma after a dental operation and has been on a respiratory system in intensive care since May 17 at great expense.

Chak Samutklin, a provincial labour official, visited her 68-year-old mother, Suwanmalai Wansiri, in Kudjab district. She purportedly said her daughter entered South Korea on a tourist visa and had since been working illegally.

She said she heard the news from her daughter’s South Korean boss.

“Wansiri’s husband is a taxi driver in Bangkok and they have two children, aged 11 and nine. She sent some money back home to help me pay the debts from her flight to Korea,” her mother said.

Suwanmalai expressed her sadness that her daughter was sick overseas and she could not visit.

Chak said he would ask his superiors to see if help could be provided.

“Everybody who wants to work in South Korea should go through the Labour Ministry’s project so that if they fall sick, their expenses can be covered,” he added.

Grandma Ca: the 99-year-old standing up to Vietnam’s coal rush

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  • This photograph taken on April 23, 2019 shows Phu Lac wind farm director Bui Van Thinh speaking during an interview with Agence France-Presse at the plant in southern Vietnam’s Binh Thuan province.//AFP
  • This photograph taken on April 21, 2019 shows 99-year-old Pham Thi Ca resting in her makeshift shelter in Van Phong Bay.//AFP
  • This photograph taken on April 20, 2019 shows 99-year-old Pham Thi Ca’s son Ho Huu Hanh standing amidst the ruins of their house after it was demolished by authorities in Van Phong Bay.//AFP

Grandma Ca: the 99-year-old standing up to Vietnam’s coal rush

ASEAN+ May 22, 2019 17:07

By AFP

Van Phong Bay, Vietnam – Toothless and nearly blind, grandmother Pham Thi Ca refuses to leave her plot of land even after bulldozers demolished her house — an extraordinary holdout against communist Vietnam’s deepening addiction to coal.

    The 99-year-old was offered money to move as authorities hoovered up land for a planned $2.6 billion Japanese-funded coal plant in the remote Van Phong Bay she has called home since birth.

But when she said no, around 100 authorities showed up, forcibly removed her from the house and bulldozed it as she and her grandson looked on.

They were helpless to prevent the destruction of the property two years ago, but Ca, frail and wizened, has rebuffed all attempts to evict her from the land since.

    “The authorities carried me away, but I refuse to move,” explains Ca, who now lives in a makeshift shelter of corrugated tin, wooden beams and coconut fronds next to the pile of rubble that was once her home.

“My house is here, my land is here, so I will be buried here,” she tells AFP, sitting on a small cot where she spends much of her time.

It’s a story playing out across Vietnam, where a strong-fisted government is powering ahead with coal projects to meet the soaring energy demands of a turbo-charged economy.

Coal accounts for about a third of Vietnam’s current energy production and is slated to rise to about 50 percent by 2030.

That means building more coal plants in places like Van Phong Bay despite a chorus of opposition from locals who complain of land grabs, loss of livelihood and environmental damage.

– ‘I can’t do anything’ –

Some 300 people have already been relocated from Ca’s community in south-central Khanh Hoa province.

They were offered cash compensation and rooms in state housing — but the residences were far from their farms and fishing grounds.

The $43,000 inducement to leave their 9,000 square-meter plot was not enough to upend Ca’s family.

“We cannot work there, there is no land for cultivation,” says Ca’s son Ho Huu Hanh, referring to the proposed relocation area.

He insists that they were never told about the planned coal plant and accuses authorities of bending the law to strongarm residents to leave.

The family lost their farmland anyway. Now Hanh works as a day-labourer or catches snails and small fish to get by, earning about $170 a month.

“I can’t do anything, I feel so sorry for myself,” he adds, crying.

Others in the area are worried about what the coal plant will do to fish and coral reefs in the bay where water temperatures could rise due to the plant’s runoff.

Like many of the 20 or so coal plants already operating in Vietnam, the bulk of the funding for the yet-to-be-built Van Phong plant is external.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) last month approved a $1.2 billion loan for the project, which is sponsored by the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and is set to come online in 2023.

Sumitomo says assessments were conducted to measure the environmental, social and health impacts of the project which were “managed and mitigated appropriately”.

It says consultation meetings were held with residents and that compensation and resettlement was “carried out under the responsibility of local authorities in accordance with the laws of Vietnam”.

Vietnamese officials did not reply to AFP’s request for comment.

– Covered in ash –

Developing economies like Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are particularly attractive for investors from Japan, South Korea and China as the developed world turns away from coal in search of clean energy.

Foreign investment has skewed Vietnam’s energy strategy, locking it “into expensive and dirty power for decades,” warns Julien Vincent, executive director at Market Forces, a non-governmental energy investment watchdog.

But for power-hungry Vietnam coal is for now cheaper, more reliable and more familiar than renewables, which currently provide less than one per cent of the country’s power generation.

That number will inch upward to 2.3 per cent by next year, according to Vietnam’s power plan, with private investment already rushing to fund wind and solar projects.

But renewables alone cannot meet Vietnam’s insatiable appetite for power.

“Wind and solar are environmentally friendly but very unstable… we cannot just use renewable energy to supplement our big energy needs,” says Bui Van Thinh, the director of Phu Lac wind farm in Binh Thuan province.

Still, many are pushing for renewables to be favoured over the 30 or so coal plants slated to come online by 2030.

“After 2020 we don’t need to build new coal power plants,” argues Nguyen Thi Hang, the head of the clean air and water program at Vietnamese NGO GreenID.

“Energy efficiency and renewable energy should be prioritised, gas can be considered as a midterm bridge.”

Just down the road from the coastal perch of Thinh’s 24-MW wind farm sits one of Vietnam’s largest coal plants, the sprawling 6,200-MW capacity Vinh Tan complex.

The enormous site in a once-sleepy fishing village has for locals come at a price.

“It used to be nice, clean and pure here,” recalls resident Nguyen Tai Tien.

“Now there is smoke… and every morning and afternoon we have to sweep our house and the roads because of all the ash,” he adds.

Malaysian-Thai border security tightened ahead of Aidil Fitri

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Malaysian-Thai border security tightened ahead of Aidil Fitri

Breaking News May 22, 2019 14:40

By The Star
Asia News Network

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TUMPAT – The Kelantan police will step up security along the Kelantan-Thailand border to avoid any illegal activities in view of the upcoming Aidil Fitri celebration, Bernama reported.

Kelantan police chief Datuk Hasanuddin Hassan said the cooperation between the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) and the Thai authorities in controlling the border had so far been good, especially with the Thai marine police and the border patrol team.

“We also want to advise any parties that want to commute across the border to use legitimate routes.

“If they are detained by the authorities, they could land themselves in very deep trouble and might also have to pay a very costly fine,” he told reporters after attending the Pengkalan Kubor Region 3 Marine Police Force iftar programme near Kuala Takbai here Tuesday (May 21) night.

Commenting on illegal border-crossing activities, Hasanuddin said during any festive season, certain parties might make excuses for doing so, citing the long distance as the reason they committed the act.

However, he said no matter what the excuse, residents along the border must abide by the law.

“Ahead of the festive season, many would assume that the security control will be loosened, but for us, that would be the time when control is intensified.

“Other agencies at the border, such as the Malaysian Border Security Agency, the General Operations Force and the Immigration Department of Malaysia, will also work together with us to tighten border control,” he said.

Jakarta Riot: Police still checking reports of deaths

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Cars that were burned by rioters are seen following overnight trouble near by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta on May 22. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
Cars that were burned by rioters are seen following overnight trouble near by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta on May 22. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)

Jakarta Riot: Police still checking reports of deaths

Breaking News May 22, 2019 14:18

By Karina M. Tehusijarana
The Jakarta Post

The National Police have not yet confirmed reports of deaths during the riots following protests in front of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) headquarters in Central Jakarta on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, saying that they were still in the process of “checking.”

​​​​​Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had previously said that six people had been killed during the riots as of Wednesday morning.

“As I said before, we are still checking,” National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. M. Iqbal said at a press conference at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Human Rights office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

He denied, however, several claims that have gone viral on social media regarding the police’s actions during the rioting.

“First, Brimob [the National Police’s Mobile Brigade] never attacked a mosque. Second, there are photographs supposedly showing foreign Brimob personnel with slanted eyes. We guarantee that all Brimob personnel are purely Indonesian citizens,” he said.

“Third, as I said yesterday, the Indonesian Military commander and the National Police chief have ordered that security forces not be armed with or firearms or live rounds in securing the demonstrations. So, if someone used live rounds it was not the security forces.”

Urgent : Jakarta riot was pre-planned, police say

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  • Cars that were burned by rioters are seen following overnight trouble near by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta on May 22. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
  • Rioters set fire to a tire on Jl. Jati Baru, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on May 22. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)

Urgent : Jakarta riot was pre-planned, police say

Breaking News May 22, 2019 14:11

By Karina M. Tehusijarana
The Jakarta Post
Asia News Network

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The riot that followed a protest in front of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) headquarters in Central Jakarta on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning was premeditated, National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. M. Iqbal said on Wednesday.

“We have detained 58 people suspected to be provocateurs of the riot,” Iqbal said at a press conference at the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister headquarters in Central Jakarta. “There are indications that the rioters were mostly from outside Jakarta and that they were paid [to riot].”

He said that the initial protesters in front of the Bawaslu headquarters were peaceful and cooperated with police.

“The protest coordinator asked for permission to break the fast together and perform tarawih (evening Ramadan prayers), which we allowed even though the law states that protests should end by 6:30 p.m.,” he said.

He said that at 9:00 p.m., police asked the crowd to disperse, which it did without incident.

“But then around 11:00 p.m., another crowd of unknown origin arrived and started to damage the security barriers [in front of the Bawaslu headquarters],” he said.

Police then drove the crowd, which had started to throw projectiles such as rocks and Molotov cocktails at the security forces, back toward Tanah Abang.

Iqbal said that most of the rioters were not locals, and that police were assisted in calming the crowd by leaders from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which is based in the area.

After police had mostly subdued the crowd, another, separate group of people appeared and started attacking the National Police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) dormitories in Petamburan, Cental Jakarta, setting it on fire.

“We found an ambulance with a political party logo that was filled with rocks and other tools,” Iqbal said, declining to name the party. “We also confiscated envelopes full of money.”

He added that police would continue to interrogate the detained rioters to determine who was behind the riot.

Court to decide today on accepting petition to disqualify Thanathorn

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Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit

Court to decide today on accepting petition to disqualify Thanathorn

politics May 23, 2019 01:00

By THE NATION

THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court will today make a decision on whether or not it will accept the petition to disqualify Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit following a controversy over the timing of his handing over of media shares – which could result in the court barring the anti-junta politician from entering Parliament tomorrow.

The development came after the Election Commission (EC) submitted the case to court, asking it to rule on whether Thanathorn had breached the Constitution and electoral laws prohibiting MP candidates from holding shares in media companies.

If found guilty, he will not only lose his MP seat and be banned from politics for 20 years, but can also face a jail term of up to 10 years.

If the court decides to accept the case today, it is also possible that Thanathorn will be prohibited from entering Parliament tomorrow as an MP. It is within the court’s jurisdiction to ban the politician from office until the case is settled.

Future Forward secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, who previously taught law at Thammasat University, questioned if the process was just as he compared Thanathorn’s case with that of Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.

Don had been accused of a similar wrongdoing, when his wife held shares in a media company.

In Don’s case, the EC had taken more than 400 days to submit the case with the Constitutional Court, while in Thanathorn’s case, it took less than 60 days, Piyabutr noted, asking whether the two politicians had been treated equally by the agency.

The Election Commission was appointed by the junta-led government.

The former law professor also slammed the poll authority for trying to disqualify Thanathorn as an MP, saying the EC had no authority to do so as the law only allowed for it to check candidates’ qualifications up until the last day before the elections. In this case, he said, it would have been March 23.

The complaint about Thanathorn holding media shares taken to the EC two days after the election, Piyabutr said. He also pointed out that the agency had endorsed Thanathorn as an MP candidate before the elections, and it was impossible for it to now turn around and try to disqualify his candidacy.

“According to law, his status as an MP began on the day of the election,” the law expert explained. “The EC has absolutely no authority to disqualify him now. He is no longer just a candidate.”

However, since the case is already with the court, Piyubutr said the only thing the court can do today is accept or dismiss it.

If the court does decide to take on the case, it cannot suspend Thanathorn from his work as an MP just yet, Piyabutr said, adding that Don had been given a whole month to explain himself in court before any decision was made.

“After that the court decided not to suspend Don from office, reasoning that the case did not affect the administration,” he said, adding that the very same standards should be applied to his party’s leader.

The professor also pointed out that Thanathorn did not lack qualifications when it came to the election race, adding that he had transferred all his shares in January and held no media shares on the day he applied to contest in the election.

Thanathorn’s disqualification threat is among the many cases Future Forward is facing after its successful debut in the March 24 election. The party did much better than the pundits predicted, winning over 6 million votes and more than 80 seats in the lower house, and also attracting votes in Democrat strongholds in Bangkok.

In a latest case, a complaint was filed with the EC earlier this week that the party may have illegally taken a loan of Bt110 million from its leader. Pro-junta figure Seri Suwannapanon said if the complaint is successful, it will result in the dissolution of Future Forward.

Pheu Thai prepares Speaker candidates

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ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30369848

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Pheu Thai prepares Speaker candidates

politics May 22, 2019 21:24

By The Nation

The Thaksin Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai Party is preparing to field candidates for Speaker and said it should be given the chance to form a government.

Pheu Thai had an executive meeting on Wednesday to discuss its parliamentary prospects and agreed to run for house Speaker and the deputy positions.

If the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat Party led a coalition with the support of more than 15 parties, Democrat Banyat Banthathan reportedly would become the house Speaker.

But Banyat rejected the offer on Tuesday, saying he would be more useful as an ordinary MP.

Pheu Thai, after the executive meeting, issued internal letters to MPs and members to comment on the nomination by 6pm on Friday before a vote on Saturday, one day after the Parliament opens.

Pheu Thai secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai said the party remained firm in its intention to form a coalition.

It was ready to enter talks with any party and compromise on its political positions to end the crisis, Phumtham added.

The key parties, Democrat and Bhumjaithai, are yet to make an announcement about which bloc they will support.

But Phumtham said there should be clarity about the establishment of the government before Saturday.

As the party with the most lower house seats, it had the right to form a government, he said.

Any attempt to bypass Pheu Thai to form a coalition was inappropriate and the party would oppose it, he added.

Phumtham called on the Democrats and Bhumjaithai, which had 103 MPs in total, to take a responsible position to break the deadlock.

He said voters would decide whether the parties were acting in the public interest.