Three monks, including an abbot of a temple, suffered minor injuries while an alms-giver was seriously injured in a freak accident in Chumphon province early on Friday.
At 5.50am on Friday, Lang Suan Police Station was informed about a road accident with multiple injured victims in front of the Lang Suan branch of Thanachart Bank in Lang Suan district.
Police found local villagers trying to lift an Isuzu pickup truck in order to free the body of a man who was stuck under it. The victim was later identified as Boonyarat Jongsakul, 68, a Chumphon local. He was later admitted to Lang Suang Hospital with multiple injuries.
Suta Thammarat, 62, an abbot of Wiwekaram Temple and two other monks from the same temple had minor injuries.
Witnesses reportedly told police that the three monks were making their morning alms round along Lang Suan Road when Booyarat stopped his pickup truck near the footpath to offer food to the monks. “A car which was coming from Lang Suan market lost control at a corner and hit the truck, sending it moving around 15 metres from where it was parked and hitting the truck driver and the three monks,” a witness said.
Police arrested Jakkaphong Kapitathai, 30, the driver of the car and were interrogating him to determine the cause of the accident.
One of the injured monks said that they had been walking from the temple, which is around 5km from the market, to receive alms every morning for several years and never been in an accident. “The abbot, the other monk and I were rattled by the incident and had trouble breathing at first but we are now feeling better,” he said.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported five new cases in state quarantine facilities over a 24-hour period on Saturday.
Three of them were Thai nationals — one from Bahrain and two from the UAE. The other two were a Pakistani and an Indian.
Meanwhile, five patients have recovered and been discharged.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 3,780 (832 in state quarantine), 131 of whom are in hospital, 3,590 have been discharged and 59 have died.
As of 9am on Saturday, according to Worldometer, the total number of confirmed cases worldwide had risen to 45.89 million (up by 573,616), 33.24 million have recovered, around 12.65 million are active cases (83,363 in serious condition) and 1.19 million have died.
Thailand ranks 147th for most cases in the world, while US tops the list with 9.31 million, followed by India at 8.13 million, Brazil 5.51 million, Russia 1.59 million and France 1.33 million.
Two businesses were banned from the government’s “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) campaign for allegedly fraudulently registering as merchants, a news source from the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
“The ministry has ordered Krungthai Bank to cancel their accounts in the Thung Ngern application as well as confiscate the subsidy money they had earned and also barred them from joining the campaign,” added the source.
The three-month economic stimulus package was launched on October 16 in a bid to stimulate domestic consumption.
Under the Kon La Khreung scheme, 10 million people can avail of daily discounts on their shopping of up to Bt150, capped at Bt3,000 at participating merchants, while the government will subsidise the discount to merchants via the Thung Ngern application.
The ministry also reported on Friday that so far more than 400,000 merchants had registered for the campaign.
Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Krisda Chinavicharana added that 10 businesses might have violated the rules of the campaign and the ministry was working with Krungthai Bank in investigating them. “If they are found guilty, their accounts will be cancelled and the subsidy money will be confiscated,” he added.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and his wife Naraporn celebrated the Loy Krathong Festival at Phadung Krung Kasem Canal, located next to Government House in Bangkok’s Dusit district, Government Spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri said on Friday.
“The ‘New Way of Loy Krathong to Promote Thai Culture’ activity was organised by the Office of the Prime Minister in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, aiming to promote Thai culture and express our gratitude to the rivers that have fed the people and sustained Thai society since the Sukhothai Era,” said Anucha.
The Ministry of Culture has proposed a new way of celebrating Loy Krathong Festival by reducing the number of krathongs from one krathong per person to one per family or per department.
“Furthermore, we have promoted the use of bio-degradable and locally sourced materials to make krathong, such as banana tree’s bark, Pandanus leaf and bread to reduce waste and avoid polluting the rivers,” added Anucha.
Culture Minister Ittipol Khunpluem, members of the Cabinet, government officials and the general public, some of whom were wearing traditional Thai costumes while floating their krathong in the canal, also joined in the activity.
Four leading figures of the pro-democracy protests were ordered to be freed on Friday evening after the Criminal Court declined to grant a third request by police to detain them for further interrogation, said their lawyer.
The four are Panupong “Mike” Jadnok, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Patiwat Saraiyam,
Panupong, Panusaya and Parit face various charges, including inciting unrest, stemming from their roles in the September 19 rally at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus in Bangkok.
The Thailand Meteorological Department forecast on Saturday (October 31) that the high pressure system from China extends to the upper North and the Northeast of Thailand, brining cooler weather with isolated light rain in the North, Northeast and Central regions.
Meanwhile, the northeast monsoon prevails over the Gulf of Thailand and the South causing continuous rainfall in most of the South.
The department also mentioned category 5 typhoon “Goni” in the eastern part of the Philippines will move into the central South China Sea on November 2. It is expected to move to Tonkin bay and the coast of upper Vietnam during November 4-5.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is as follows:
Northern region: Cool weather with rain in 60 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 21-23 degrees and highs of 28-30 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 9-14 degrees Celsius.
Northeastern region: Cool weather with rain in 30 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 22-23 degrees and highs of 28-31 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 12-15 degrees Celsius.
Central region: Mostly cloudy with rain in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 22-24 degrees, highs of 29-30 degrees Celsius.
Eastern region: Mostly cloudy with rain in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 21-24 degrees, highs of 28-34 degrees Celsius; waves a meter high and 1-2 meters offshore.
Southern region (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-24 degrees, highs of 32-34 degrees Celsius; waves 1-2 meters high and 2 meters during thundershowers.
Southern region (west coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 22-24 degrees, highs of 29-32 degree Celsius; waves 1-2 meters high and over 2 meters during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Mostly cloudy with rain in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-24 degrees, highs of 29-30 degrees Celsius.
An eerie green glow spotted in the night sky over Ranong province mystified netizens on Thursday, after photos of the phenomenon spread quickly across social media.
Pictures of the bizarre lighting effect were snapped by residents living in Muang Ranong district and further afield.
Netizens offered various theories for what caused the mysterious glow. Some put it down to a natural phenomenon – akin to the northern lights (aurora borealis) caused by disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field. However, Dr Matipon Tangmatitham of the National Astronomical Research Institute said the source was likely the powerful green bulbs from squid boats, reflecting off the clouds.
In a Facebook post, activist Nuttaa Mahattana questioned the court’s decision to grant bail to popular “gambler” Apirak “Sia Po” Chat-arnon, who was arrested for shooting and seriously injuring two people in a Bangkok massage parlour on Wednesday.
Yet, she said, no bail is even being considered for peaceful pro-democracy fighters like human-rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, and student activists Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul.
Previously, Thai netizens also questioned Thailand’s judiciary, when the Constitutional Court decided to only suspend opposition Move Forward MP Thanwarin Sukkhapisit over allegations of being involved in media business, yet let all suspects from the ruling parties go scot free.
Apirak, who was arrested on Thursday over charges of attempted murder and possession of a gun without permission, has been granted temporary release on a Bt350,000 guarantee.
The court apparently went against investigators’ recommendations and decided to let him go just because he had surrendered to police.
Meanwhile, one of the victims said a very rich person had offered them money to drop charges, but they refused because they were almost killed.
The victims are also calling on witnesses to release evidence as Apirak’s friendship with this very rich person may affect the investigation.
After 20 years without an upgrade, Thai bureaucracy desperately needs digital disruption: TDRI
NationalOct 30. 2020Dr Boonwara Sumano, TDRI Research Fellow
By The Nation Computer operating systems must be upgraded constantly to improve performance. However, Thailand’s operating system – the bureaucracy – has not changed in 20 years, notes TDRI research fellow Dr Boonwara Sumano.
In her recent talk “State Bureaucracy as Thailand’s Operating System,” Boonwara pointed out how the costly and gigantic officialdom operates without efficiency and responsiveness.
She also outlined the way forward for bureaucratic reform. Her recommendations include cutting red tape, switching to digital government, expanding decentralisation, and using sandbox experiments to overcome organisational silos.
As the country’s operating system, the bureaucracy must maximise its resources – personnel, money, mindset, laws, and information – to best meet public needs.
Findings published by the Economist Intelligence Unit are startling: they show the competency of the state in Thailand in 2018 was nearly the same as 20 years ago.
The inefficiency does not come from a lack of resources nor money, Boonwara pointed out.
The gigantic bureaucracy hires more than 1.3 million civil servants, and the overall government personnel expense costs around Bt1.1 trillion or one-third of the 2021 national budget. This is nearly 5 per cent of the country’s GDP, much higher than South Korea or Singapore.
The bureaucratic incompetence in dealing with emergencies is evident in the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.
The cash handout scheme “Rao Mai Thing Kan (We won’t leave anyone behind)” is a case in point.
“The data systems are not connected. The scheme is insensitive to the target groups’ needs and constraints. As a result, the system is burdensome and inaccessible to a large number of people in need.”
The poorest of the poor and people with visual impairment, for example, cannot receive help because the scheme assumes that every citizen has smartphones and is familiar with electronic registration.
The organisational silos also make it extremely burdensome for the unemployed to get state assistance during the pandemic. They are often sent from one agency to another and have to start the registration process all over again, inputting the same information that had already been given to the previous agency.
The ID card system is another example of state insensitivity to citizens’ rights and privacy.
“A person’s confidential information is open to all on the ID card when it can be stored in the chips,” she said.
Despite the e-government drives, the e-services in state agencies still operate as silos, forcing the citizens to fill forms every time they seek different public services.
It is not that the government does not know what the problems are, said Boonwara. In 2002, the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission was set up and backed by the 2003 Royal Decree on Good Public Governance. Among its objectives: decentralisation, reduction of red tape, efficiency through integrated bureaucracy, and performance-based on citizen satisfaction.
Yet very little has been achieved, she said.
Boonwara outlines how the government can achieve the goals of bureaucratic reform:
· Stop futile work; outsource, or use technology to cut red tape
· Use digital technology to make the system more efficient and user-friendly
· Decentralise and grant sufficient resources to local government administrations to manage local affairs, including education
· Shift to multi-year budgeting for agenda-based, long-term projects
· Overhaul the silo work culture and forego the survival mindset. Create an inclusive work atmosphere to enable cross-agency teamwork to work with other stakeholders to tackle shared concerns in specific geographical areas.
“This is how we should upgrade the country’s operating system,” she said.
“Short of bureaucratic reform, the country definitely cannot cope with modern-day challenges such as the ageing society, gross disparity, the middle-income trap, and environmental degradation.”
By The NationBangkok Mass Transit System (BTS has offered a helpful guide of 10 Loy Krathong festival venues located close to Skytrain stations.
Revellers riding the Skytrain in search of a place to float their krathong on Saturday can head to one of the following venues:
Wachirabenchatat Park (Railwat Park) near Mo Chit BTS station
Lumpini Park near Sala Daeng BTS station
Benjasiri Park near Phrom Phong station
Benjakitti Park near Asok station
Asiatique The Riverfront and Iconsiam near Saphan Taksin station
Wat Pariwat and Wat Dan near Chong Nonsi station
Nakhon Samut Prakan Municipality near Pak Nam station
The Ancient City, near Kheha station
BTS chief executive officer Surapong Laoha-Unya said that Covid-19 controls such as temperature checks, hand sanitiser and regular disinfection of trains would be in place on Saturday.
Apirak Chat-arnon 
Dr Boonwara Sumano, TDRI Research Fellow 
