Boonseub Khanthong said her son – a pupil at Wat Sang Am School in Pathum Thani – was suffering nightmares, could not sleep because of his injuries and was too afraid to return to school.

After presenting her petition to the minister’s representative, deputy permanent secretary Prasert Boonreung, the mother said her family wanted the school and Chalida to accept responsibility and to apologise.

Meanwhile, Pathum Thani Primary Education Service Area Office 1 director Wichai Saengsri said his office had set up a committee to launch a disciplinary investigation of Chalida, who had been hired recently, and report back in seven days.

Chalida was not at the school yesterday as she was reportedly was on leave to attend a graduation ceremony rehearsal.

Boonseub said she had been visited earlier by education officials and school executives who gave her assistance money and offered to transfer the boy to another school if the family wished.

However, she said she wanted her son to stay at the school because his three cousins also studied there and it was located near their home. The other teachers at the school were good, she added.

She said Chalida, who allegedly hit her son for forgetting a bag, had contacted the family to offer to pay Bt50,000 for the boy’s medical bills.

Although Chalida would submit her resignation to the school, legal procedures must run their course, said lawyer Worakorn Pongthanakul, who accompanied the mother yesterday.

He said the family would take the traumatised boy to see a psychiatrist at Thammasat University Hospital today.

“The Cabinet has already approved hemp as an economic plant,” Sirinya Sittichai, secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board, said yesterday.

“The Thailand Tobacco Monopoly will buy the harvest from growers.”

The plantation areas are 15 districts in six provinces – Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Phetchabun, Mae Hong Son and Tak.

The permitted species of the herb must contain less than 1 per cent of THC.

“If the THC percentage is higher, growers will face legal punishment,” he said.

The NCB has been adjusting the legal status formerly contraband hemp, marijuana, kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) and methamphetamine.

These four substances have long seen as illicit drugs in Thailand, but authorities have decided to decriminalise them to a certain extent because they can be used in the health and other industries.

Hemp’s bast fibres can be used to make handicrafts, so locals in hemp-growing areas can earn extra income.

For kratom, authorities have conducted studies on how best to control its use.

“For example, we may treat kratom as a herb but stipulate clearly in laws that kratom can be chewed or boiled for consumption only,” Sirinya said.

“Any other form of processing will not be allowed. We won’t allow mixing kratom with other types of substances either.”

A panel led by Charnchao Chaiyanukij, permanent secretary at the Justice Ministry, was studying a new way of controlling marijuana.

“Some substances in marijuana are dangerous. But marijuana can also be used for medical purposes,” Sirinya said.

“We therefore need to study the matter thoroughly.”

Similar studies were also underway for methamphetamine, he added.

AT LEAST NINE suspects have been arrested in the ongoing crackdown on alleged hackers who launched concerted attacks on government websites over the past week.

“There will be more arrests,” Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday, adding the relevant authorities were not lax in tackling the issue.

Prawit instructed Defence Ministry agencies to be better prepared for cyberthreats, while chairing yesterday’s meeting of the Defence Council, ministry spokesman Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit said.

The police yesterday questioned one of the suspects who was handed over by the military, national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said, adding a number of other suspects were still under detention by the military.

The suspect was yesterday identified as Natdanai Kongdee, 19, who allegedly took part in a cyberattack on a Royal Thai Police website.

Pol General Dejnarong Suthichanbancha, the deputy national police chief in charge of special affairs, said yesterday that the teenager was accused of violating the Computer Crime Act, being involved with a criminal syndicate, possessing unregistered firearms and illicit drugs. If found guilty, the suspect could face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum fine of Bt20,000, he added.

Police said the suspect was involved in illegal sale of firearms on the Internet.

At a police press conference yesterday, the suspect’s alleged belongings were put on display including two pistols, a rifle, ammunition, three compressed bars of marijuana, and computers and peripherals.

Dejnarong would not confirm about the arrest of nine suspects. He only said that “a number of people” have been arrested in connection with the latest series of cyberattacks and that Natdanai was the first suspect to be charged by police.

A police source said that more than 10 people were involved in the online operation targeting government websites. They were instructed by another group of people about possible targets, the source said.

“The operatives have knowledge about hacking and they often get praise after successfully completing their mission,” the source said.

Chakthip said yesterday that two groups of people were involved in the recent cyberattacks – those giving the orders, and the operatives.

“Those giving the orders are both in and outside the country. Most of the operatives are young people aged between 17 and 20,” he said, adding the latter group appeared to have been “duped” into these actions.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said it was illegal to break into computer systems of individuals and state agencies.

“This is an offence and against the law in any country. I don’t think authorities anywhere in the world will allow that,” he told reporters at Government House.

Online activists have been protesting against the amendment to the Computer Crime Act, which critics say will vastly expand government control over the Internet and further silence dissent. The “hacktivists” say they have targeted dozens of government websites and threatened more this week unless the law is withdrawn.

The hacktivists leaked personal data of at least 3,000 police officers and exposed the identity card in-formation of 3,000 government officials. The anti-amendment group “Protesters against Single Gateway Internet Firewall #OpSingleGateway”, on its Facebook page, claimed to have hacked more than 20 government websites including the Army’s financial department, the Customs Department, the Foreign Ministry and the traffic police.

Police and military agencies have said that the hackers managed to get only superficial data while sensitive or confidential information were not compromised in the cyberattacks.

An administrator of OpSingleGateway, which is part of the worldwide Anonymous hacker group, told The Nation yesterday the group had no connection with Natdanai, one of the suspects.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the person said police had falsely accused Natdanai as being part of his group. “We don’t have the 19-year-old’s profile,” he said.

However, he also said that its members did not know one another and they communicate with one another via the group’s Web page.

He also rejected a police claim that the operatives were lured into the group. “No one is forced or deceived to join,” the administrator said.

In a related development, Tourism and Sports Ministry permanent secretary Pongpanu Svetarundra yesterday filed a complaint at Bangkok’s Nang Lerng Police Station against the Anonymous hacker group for attacking the agency’s website on Friday.

He said although no sensitive data was compromised, the ministry’s website could not be updated during the cyberattack.

LOCAL people in Ban Nam Khem in Phang Nga who survived the devastation of the tsunami 12 years ago are still struggling to develop a community that has a safe and sustainable future.

Yesterday marked the 12th anniversary of the Boxing Day Tsunami that ravaged the Andaman coast, claiming more than 8,000 lives in Thailand. Ban Nam Khem in Takua Pa district suffered the worst, with the village wiped out by the gigantic wave. Ban Nam Khem had the highest death toll in the country, with around 1,300 people killed.

Tsunami Victim Network coordinator and active citizen of Ban Nam Khem Montri Kongkrichak said his home town had almost fully recovered from the devastating wave in 2004.

“Everyone here lost someone or something in the tsunami disaster. The wave totally destroyed our community, but due to the wave, we are building our community again and this time we are growing stronger,” Montri said.

“The scars from the tsunami will be with us forever, but now we are looking ahead for more secure and sustainable future of our community. We are going to achieve this goal by the community’s power in order to prepare ourselves for unexpected disasters and ensure that local people will lead the sustainable development for our own community.”

He said the clearest local initiative was the disaster preparation plan, drawn up by local people, to forge common procedures in the event of emergencies or another disaster. The evacuation routes, safe areas and volunteers were set up with agreement of local people and emergency drills practised regularly.

“The tsunami brought the people together and made our community stronger. Our disaster preparation plan has become an example for other communities in the country to follow and if there is a new disaster coming, we are now ready,” he said.

Villager and emergency response volunteer Somrak Juddej said the tsunami changed his life and views about volunteer work.

“For all my life I was fisherman and worked hard every day at sea to feed my family. Before the tsunami, I did not see the importance of volunteer work, but when my home was devastated and my family shattered; many strangers offered me a lot of help. So, I decided to become emergency response volunteer,” Somsak said.

Sakda Phanrangsri, another Ban Nam Khem resident, said community members were also planning for a sustainable future by promoting local tourism and a seafood business as a new economic activity for the town.

“Right now the village receives around 2,000 tourists a day during the high season. But the villagers don’t get much profit from tourism, because the tourists only get to the village to take a boat to the Surin and Similan Islands and these services are also operated by outsiders,” Sakda said.

So, people in the community started to think about tourism that would give benefits to local people and he planned to promote that trade in the community by using local fresh caught seafood. “We have long been a fishing community, but the tsunami helped us realise that we cannot rely on a sole source of income and that our community could be a seafood hub for the tourists – somewhere they can enjoy fresh seafood and enjoy a fishing tour with a local guide,” he said.

“We will develop from the resources that we have and make sure what we do is sustainable and makes our community stronger.”

Survivors remember those lost

On the anniversary of the tragedy yesterday, hundreds of the tsunami victims and relatives of the deceased gathered for a remembrance ceremony at the small village yesterday. Muslim, Christian and Buddhist ceremonies were performed to make merit for the deceased in the morning event.

A disaster drill was also held to to help local emergency volunteers become ready for a major accident in the sea, while in the evening people lit candles to remember those who lost their lives in 2004.

Remembrance ceremonies were held throughout the area, but in Ranong local people rehearsed a disaster drill as governor Jatupot Piyumputra said this year authorities wanted to encourage knowledge and disaster readiness.

Owners at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal set up a temporary checkpoint in front of the kraal yesterday to block officials from entering the site to look for two tuskers reportedly brought here earlier.

The domesticated elephants had been confiscated from an animal show venue in Hua Hin by the task force in the middle of the year, but left at the show for further examination.

Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, chief of the taskforce from the Parks Department, learned that the two elephants had been moved to the kraal last week after he led the team to revisit the Hua Hin site to inspect the elephants.

Chaiwat, who was accompanied by National Parks deputy chief Adisorn Nuchdamrong, said that during talks Phaya Sua had with the owners to confiscate the two elephants at the Hua Hin venue, it had found irregularities in documents to verify the elephants’ origin. They wanted to do further checks via DNA tests, but as the team found the elephants missing from the venue, they had to search for the two animals, as they were still responsible for them.

The elephant owners were not happy that Chaiwat had given interviews about “irregularities” related to the elephants, suggesting that the kraal may have had something to do with it. Chaiwat said he had not meant to infer impropriety, but just said the origin of the elephants was irregular and needed further checking.

The department earlier conducted DNA checks on one beast, TG, and his mother and the result was apparently positive, he said. However, they were still awaiting the result on the other elephant and there should not be a problem, Chaiwat said.

Both sides agreed yesterday to do DNA checks on both elephants again to verify the result. They signed a memorandum of understanding to resolve their conflict.

Adisorn said the department’s DNA checks on all domesticated elephants were the result of Article 44 being issued a few months ago as part of the government’s effort to suppress illegal smuggling of wild elephants for their parts and babies and illegal elephant “swapping”. Owners failing to prove the origin of their elephants would see their animals seized.

Adisorn said the department had done checks on more than 2,000 elephants, and only around 1,000 were left to be checked. The verification effort on the animals’ origins this time would help set a new standard for the country’s elephants, he said.

Laithongrian Meephan, the kraal’s owner, said the venue was a victim of public blame every time there was bad news about domesticated elephants. The kraal was ready to cooperate with the officials after talks and it saw this as an opportunity to prove that, he said.

Tortoises stolen from Bang Phra

Meanwhile, confiscated tortoises have been stolen for a second time from Bang Phra Wildlife Domestic Research Station, leaving police with a headache.

Three radiated tortoises and 62 Indian star tortoises, worth Bt300,000, went missing from the centre on Saturday, and closed-circuit television showed at least two smugglers had sneaked into the station and stolen them.

The more precious Madagascar tortoises – 72 of them worth Bt3 million – went missing in June, and the police have yet to arrest anyone for that offence. They vowed to arrest the thieves as soon as possible.