The Cabinet last week delayed the 40-per-cent single rate for cigarettes that had been set to come into force on October 1 this year.

But another year on, the new tax structure will see the tax jump 40 per cent on a pack of cigarettes priced at Bt60 or less – matching the rate applied to cigarettes priced above Bt60. The retail price will also increase accordingly.

Songkran Pakdeejit, president of the Burley Tobacco Farmers Association of Phetchabun, said farmers were already struggling because the tax rate has risen every year for the past three or four years.

Tax increases have reduced the amount of tobacco that the state-run Thailand Tobacco Monopoly buys from farmers by almost 50 per cent, Songkran said, and collectively cost them around Bt2 billion in lost income.

“We were very worried about our future [due to the next planned hike],” he said. “We don’t know if we can hang on to our livelihoods or be able to plant another crop.

“But the government has decided to postpone this one and we’re glad we haven’t been abandoned. We believe the labour situation and the economy in tobacco-growing areas will improve,” Songkran said.

The network has also called on the Excise Tax Department to consider more gradual increase in the tax rate or perhaps a rise of 5 per cent every two years.

Cigarettes are liable to taxation in terms of both volume and value, regardless of price, under the current excise-tax structure.

The tax based on value comes in two rates – 20 per cent of the suggested retail price when sold for less than Bt60 per pack and 40 per cent above.

Philip Morris Trading (Thailand), a leading cigarette importer, has also expressed appreciation for the government’s decision and thanked the Ministry of Finance for considering the potential impacts the tax increase would have on farmers and the industry, said Gerald Margolis, its managing director.

The industry has faced both significant market decline and a rise in illicit trade since the current tax rates came into effect in September 2017, he said.

Postponement of the 40-per-cent single rate will alleviate these problems and give Thailand’s 40,000 growers, legitimate manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers more time to adjust, Margolis said.

“We look forward to working with the government and relevant agencies to find an appropriate longer-term solution that will benefit the industry as a whole, particularly tobacco growers,” he said.

But Bumrungrad International Hospital, where the man has received treatments for years, said the infected blood came from Thai Red Cross Society and it was likely the anonymous donor was in a “window period” – before it was possible to detect HIV in the blood.

The case has nevertheless triggered alarm and public questions over the safety of blood provided by hospitals and the Red Cross.

This 24-year-old man decided to make his predicament public only because he’d been barred from medical services at by the hospital. His parents chose not to sue when his infection was detected because Bumrungrad administrators promised to take the best possible care of him.

After a decade of free treatments at the hospital, the family decided to switch to herbal medication, but the results were unsatisfactory so they returned to the hospital, only to be told the patient should seek treatment under the Bt30 universal healthcare scheme.

“My son has had leukaemia since he was nine and so far we’ve spent nearly Bt7 million on his treatments,” the mother told reporters.

Her son initially received chemotherapy at Bumrungrad but his white-blood-cell count was low and 14 blood transfusions followed.

“His condition improved with the transfusions, but after the 12th bag of blood, he suddenly started deteriorating,” the mother recounted, and soon after the hospital found he had HIV.

Bumrungrad Hospital’s corporate communication division acknowledged last week that the patient had been treated at the hospital since 2004 and said it believed the infection came from blood from a donor who was in the HIV window period.

Expressing regret for the patient’s plight, the public relations team said he’d been undergone 266 treatment sessions in the time he’d been cared for at the hospital. It said the hospital was committed to providing him aid in accordance with humanitarian principles.

Dr Ubonwan Charoonrungrit, director of the Thai Red Cross Society’s National Blood Centre, said the risk of getting HIV via a blood transfusion was low, but it did exist.

“We are continuously improving the screening process for donated blood,” she said.

Other medical professionals concur that blood screening is trustworthy, even if there remains a “one in a million” chance of infection. The key to avoiding such mishaps lies in donors being honest about their health conditions.

Medical technologist Pakphum Dechhassadin, who runs the popular Facebook page “Mor Lab Panda”, shed light on the subject in a post on Friday.

Screening devices can only detect the HIV virus about 11 days after exposure, he said, so blood will be accepted from donors in the interim “window period”.

Noting that some people donate blood just to be tested for HIV for free, Pakphum warned they could be putting an innocent fellow human in grave danger.

Instead, he said, get an HIV test at the Thai Red Cross Anonymous Clinic.

IN FURTHER proof that Thailand’s cuisine is a world-beater, Thai researchers have hatched plans to export the recipe for Thai biryani or Khao Mok to China after completing a project to develop local cuisine in the far South.

Titled “Development of Potential of Thai Foods Innovation Using Ingredients from the Southern Border Provinces for the Chinese Market”, the study aimed to tap the distinctive flavours of far South cuisine in a bid to tease Chinese taste buds, research leader Wanasnan Kanokpattanangkul said.

Though there is already a Chinese influence in the three southernmost provinces due to the ethnic-Chinese minority living there, the cuisine in the South is very different from anything available in China, Wanasnan said. Wanasnan normally works as a chef, holding Thai cooking classes in China’s Kunming city.

The study was completed last year and funded jointly by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) and Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) to promote development in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces.

During the two years of research, the team sought local ingredients and developed recipes for Chinese sample groups to taste, before deciding on khao mok as the best fit for Chinese palates.

Khao mok is an aromatic, well-seasoned one-pot dish hailing originally from India. The most popular version is khao mok kai, or curried chicken (or sometimes goat) cooked in spiced rice.

“We chose this recipe because the rice is yellow, an auspicious colour for Chinese people, and it was the most popular among the tasting group,” the researcher said.

The team plans to market the dish under the brand “Papa Tagu”, which will cost each franchise in Kunming about Bt3 million to launch, she added.

The capital of China’s Yunnan province was chosen as the launch pad for the Thai version of biryani because there are many Thai-Muslims living there, Wanasnan said.

The business idea stems from a memorandum of understanding signed by SBPAC and a Thai-Chinese business association to develop Thai recipes for commercial use. They are waiting for approval from both Thai and Chinese import and export regulators.

The “Papa Tagu” brand was named after the shop “De Tagu” in Pattani’s Muang district, whose owner Muhammad Hajeeamsah, a researcher in the team, played a major role in creating the recipe.

Muhammad quit his job as a lecturer to open his khao mok shop three years ago, where he serves a less spicy version of biryani. He has also produced a sauce to go with the dish.

As a researcher, he spent seven months adjusting the recipe to appeal to the Chinese palate. Unlike khao mok, his version looks much like the original version of biryani, in that the rice is white, orange, yellow and saffron in colour.

“My secret is that I cook it slowly using good-quality ingredients,” said the 42-year-old lecturer turned chef. The dish needs three hours on the stove before its ready.

“I call my recipe the ‘rice of peace’, as people from different cultures will feel happy eating it,” he added.

The spice powder he uses in the dish has already been introduced to the Chinese market, and Wanasnan has been using it in her cooking classes in China.

Kitti Satjawattana, director of TRF’s collaborative research unit, said further development of local cuisine for export to China, where the market is huge, would help boost the quality of life and earnings for villagers in the far South.

Somsak Soonthornnawaphat, head of Thai operations for the organisation World Animal Protection, strongly disapproves of the plan, citing the likelihood of the elephants suffering distress and even agony on lengthy trips overseas. He noted, too, that lifting the ban on elephant exports could add further incentive for the illegal capture of wild elephants.

The Thailand Animal Rights Alliance has, meanwhile, launched a petition on change.org urging that the idea be abandoned. As of publication time, 3,000 signatures had been collected.

The ministry regulation announced last month withdraws a 2009 ban on the export of live elephants and elephant-related products such as ivory. Somsak pointed out that it does not violate the terms of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

‘Regulation allows export’

“Domesticated elephants already registered with the authorities are allowed to be exported under the regulation – for diplomatic and research purposes only – and thus it is not violating CITES,” he said.

But he pointed out that elephants are not built for long-distance transportation and are highly likely to suffer stress and become sick en route. Once at their destination, they will struggle to adjust to a new setting, compounding the stress.

“There is also no guarantee our elephants will be well treated,” he said. “There have been cases where Thai elephants have been handled harshly to train them to entertain people at zoos.

“The elephant is our national animal and we need to protect it. We insist that elephants be protected from any harm and be able to live in a good environment.”

Edwin Wiek, another prominent animal-rights activist, shares Somsak’s concern over the risk of the elephants being maltreated at their destinations. He recalled a major controversy about a decade ago when it was reported that nine Thai elephants had been shabbily treated at Australian zoos.

“The zoos started breeding the elephants as soon as they arrived, using artificial insemination – even though the elephants were too young. One female was six years old when she became pregnant,” Wiek said.

“Numerous accidents happened among those nine elephants. Some severely injured their keepers and one animal died of EEHV [a herpes virus] because it hadn’t been quarantined and put through the proper medical checks.”

And even though the nine elephants were billed as domesticated, there was evidence that cast their origins in doubt – they could have been taken directly from the wild.

“We need to keep an eye on what the authorities do next, for sure, particularly whatever changes are made by the Ministry of Commerce,” Wiek said.

“The final decision on exporting domesticated elephants and body parts including ivory lies with the CITES office in Thailand under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. So, for now actually, nothing has really changed.”

Regardless of whether the export ban is lifted or not, Wiek said, safety and welfare standards for domesticated elephants in Thailand remain a major concern, especially among those in elephant camps that suffer maltreatment by their owners.

One labour academic suggested that the two sides hold an informal meeting to decide on a fair compensation for those who may be laid off. Seven digital TV operators last week gave up their operating licences to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commissions (NBTC) in exchange for financial compensation.

“Since our establishment, we have never represented employees in news media companies to negotiate with their employers when labour disputes, such as job lay-offs, arise,” said Sumeth Somkanae, secretary-general of the National Union Journalists Thailand, a trade union for employees in the news media industry.

The Union usually just issues a statement calling on employers to give fair treatment to those affected by the business restructuring and the Union also gives advice on finding lawyers to them, he said.

“The Union faces a legal hassle, therefore it cannot act as employees’ representatives for negotiations with employers,” he lamented. According to law, 20 per cent of the employees of any news media company must be members of the National Union Journalists Thailand, only then can the Union represent them in negotiations with their employers.

“But the fact is that we have very few members, which falls far short of the minimum requirement,” said Sumeth. Therefore, a trade union in any media company has to help itself, or individual employees can go to the Labour Court.

The Union and several media associations will meet on Monday to discuss the impact on employees and find solutions on how to support them. The number of workers affected by the return of licences is estimated to be 1,500 to 2,000.

Lae Dilokvidhyarat, a labour economist, suggested that the National Union Journalists hold informal talks on compensation with TV employers who would lay off employees. Its role as a mediator could lessen confrontation between employees and employers, he said.

Lae believes that compensation according to the labour law is a minimum protection, but employees deserve a higher amount of compensation. For example, should the law stipulate three months’ salary as compensation to some employees, they should receive six months’, he said.

He pointed out overall weakness of trade unions in Thailand, partly because the Thai government has not yet ratified two key conventions that will promote the freedom to organise and increase the bargaining power of workers, said Lae.

The first one is CO87 – Freedom of Association and Protection of Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No 87) – which allows workers to organise without a permission from authorities. The other one is Co98 – Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No 98), which enhances the bargaining power of workers.

The government is partly worried about migrant labourers taking advantage of the two conventions, so it does not ratify the two conventions, he pointed out.

Lae also called on the Labour Ministry to lend a hand to facilitate workers in the news media business and employers to settle their dispute on compensation.

Mana Treelayapewat, a former dean of the School of Communication Arts at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, expressed his disappointment with the NBTC’s role.

The NBTC has promised to compensate digital TV employers but it does not take into account support for employees who would be affected, he said. The NBTC should have made it clear that employers should give their employees compensation exceeding the provisions of the labour law. Since the NBTC did not take such action, it may now play a mediation role by directly talking to those employers, he suggested.

The Association of Digital TV Broadcasting should also play a supporting role, he said. Media associations should gather the names and skills of journalists and other affected workers and make the information available to new potential employers.

Media associations should re-train journalists on digital skills. Employees should also increase theirs skills in the digital platform, as viewers may migrate from the TV platform, Mana added.

Watcharathit Katsri, a freelance news anchor, who is affected by the return of the TV licence by his employer, said that he had to find a new job. Digital TV operators have hired some staff on freelance basis in order to cut labour cost.

“There is no labour protection, I am constantly looking for job opportunities,” he said. “There is also a fierce competition in the freelance market,” he revealed. He, however, is hopeful as he had worked as a freelancer for a year. “I could work for several companies as the same time and I could negotiate my earnings,” he said.

Yongyuth Chalamwong, a labour economist at Thailand Development Research Institute, also worried about fair compensation for workers affected by digital TV channels returning their licences. He, however, estimated that only 10 per cent of an estimated 2,000 workers in the seven TV operators, might be affected. TV operators may maintain the majority of workers by assigning them new jobs, many workers such as car drivers would find new jobs in the logistics industry while some others will need re-training, he added.

Following the DLT regulation, limiting the maximum age of vans serving passengers on regular routes to less than 10 years old from date of first registration for passenger safety, any violation by operators will result in 50,000 to 200,000 baht fines. The regulation is in place in keeping with insurance companies’ policies which will not provide compensation in any accident case involving vans older than 10 years, which will cause trouble to operators and not provide necessary protection to passengers. Passengers are encouraged to report any issues involving public van services to the 1584 24-hour call center.

In the meantime, the DLT is also pushing forward a campaign encouraging the use of mini buses to replace vans, starting with vans older than 10 years.

During the transition period, the DLT is also offering low-interest loans to carriers, through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Transport Company, Krungthai Bank and Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, for operators to replace their vans with mini-buses. A One Stop Service center has also been set up to facilitate and assist transport operators regarding the replacement of vans reaching their end of service life.

Source: Thaivisa.com