Wanlop Suwandee, chief adviser to the Bangkok governor, said construction of the project, scheduled to begin in June 2017 and be completed within a year, was part of the policy to provide a good environment and quality of life for people in the city.

The unused railway bridge structure, known locally as Saphan Duan, the “amputated bridge”, will be transformed into the Southeast Asia’s first mid-river garden observatory and walkway, linking the city’s Thon Buri and Phra Nakhon districts, he said.

Elevated bicycle lane

The eight-metre-wide, 200-metre-long structure will be strengthened and decorated with plants and greenery so that residents and tourists can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of Bangkok, he said.

Part of the city’s “Bangkok250” project to transform neighbourhoods, the Skypark construction was nominated by Kadeejeen-Klongsan residents as a high-potential location for a garden, walkway and elevated bicycle lane.

Wanlop said the Rattanakosin Island Committee had already approved the project, while the BMA and other agencies would proceed with construction.

Boy Ocean Star Company had insisted that it subcontracted the job to another firm, Mega Tools.

However, police have charged Boy Ocean Star managing director Mana Kaewmanee and the firm’s engineer Kittipong Yootairomboon with recklessness causing deaths and wounds, mental and emotional, to others.

Both denied any wrongdoing and were released on bail of Bt120,000 each.

According to Boy Ocean Star manager Nattapong Rattanatrakoolsuk, Mega Tools, via its representative Kritachaya Sriwanna, took over the work from his firm on October 11 and started demolishing the former car showroom at Sukhumvit Soi 87 on November 7.

“We have subcontracted the task,” he said, adding that although his firm was not directly involved in the incident, it was ready to help families of the victims.

Nattapong said Mega Tools told him it was installing additional protective panels in response to an order from Phra Khanong district office when the building crumbled. “The incident was unprecedented,” he said.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) yesterday continued its efforts to retrieve the bodies of workers Prai Khanoonram, 38, and Boonjaeng Lesla-ong, 46, who were buried under the rubble.

“We need to be very careful because of the building’s condition,” said Banchong Luangrattanapas, deputy director of the BMA Public Works Department.

Asked whether the BMA would take over demolition of the building in the wake of the tragedy, Banchong said the BMA would look into which party should be in charge. “We will ensure there will be no damage done to nearby buildings or people,” Banchong said.

Yuttapan Meechai, secretary to Bangkok Governor Pol General Aswin Kwanmuang, said the BMA had already consulted experts from organisations such as the Engineering Institute of Thailand over the situation.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Amnuay Nimmano said people could report irresponsible building demolitions to the BMA. “We have to set clear safety standards,” he added.

Meanwhile, Admiral Banawit Kengrian, a former chief adviser to the Defence Ministry who lives in the area, said the demolition of the building had adversely affected local people since the project began.

“Aside from dust and debris, sometimes vehicles of the firm involved have blocked our soi,” Banawit said.

GOVERNMENT websites were down yesterday after cyber-warriors kicked off a campaign of attacks following the passing of controversial changes to the Computer Crime Law.

The sites hit included Govern-ment House, Office of the PM, and the Royal Gazette website.

It was not confirmed if the failure of these sites, which were offline sporadically yesterday, was the result of attacks or a defensive measure by the government.

Earlier, Major-General Ritthi Intarawut, director of the Army’s cyber centre, warned state agencies to prepare for cyber attacks by hackers angry over changes to the Computer Crime Act, advising them to step up security or even shut down systems temporarily.

Government agencies, previously targeted by hackers upset by changes to the law, were also advised to keep a close watch on system gateways, and place tight restrictions on firewalls in preparation for possible attacks.

The warning came after a group of Internet users known as “Opponents of the Single Gateway” threatened to attack government websites and wipe out all data today if the government did not respond to its demand for the amendment to be scrapped.

The law sparked major controversy, with nearly 400,000 Internet users signing an online petition at Change.org calling for the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to withhold approval of the changes over fears they would hit online freedom and privacy.

After the NLA passed amendments last Friday, netizens staged protests online and offline.

Some government websites have been targeted and were brought down by cyber “warriors”, who repeatedly and simultaneously entered those sites.

Defence Ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Kongcheeo Tantravanich said the government had measures to defend against any attack but he demanded the attackers stop, saying such acts were not the solution to the issue. Damaging websites and causing trouble for the public was wrong.

He said the Army’s websites had a strong protection system. But because of the current situation, it had to emphasise the importance of cyber security more.

He said the Defence Ministry website had been targeted but was undamaged.

Kongcheep said all related agencies had to work harder to build “correct” public understanding of the computer law, stressing that it was not related to a single gateway.

‘Impossible to delay’

Meanwhile, NLA president Pornpetch Vichitcholchai said changes to the computer law were an improvement of the law with authorities sharing power in enforcing the act, while there would be increased public participation in the decision-making process to regulate online content.

With regards to calls to delay promulgation of the law, Pornpetch said that was impossible as the changes had already passed the NLA.

He said the amended Act was better than the previous version as it shared power – leaving it to courts to judge matters and representatives of civil society to sit on a newly introduced screening committee.

Ministers would not have the power to shut down or limit content without court consent, he said, which was was better than mechanisms in other countries.

Pornpetch said he wanted opponents of the changes to point out how they wanted to improve the law.

The NLA was ready to set up a public forum to exchange ideas, he said.

The NLA president said he did not want the matter linked with a single gateway, stressing that the new law imposed restrictions on authorities, preventing them from violating people’s privacy.

If found guilty of breaching people’s privacy, officials would be punished “three times” harder than ordinary citizens, Pornpetch said.

Acting on a tip-off from Pakistani Interpol police, police took Tahir Butt into custody after he arrived on Thai Airways International Flight TG350 at 6.15am.

Police were informed that Butt had hidden drugs and boarded the flight to Bangkok en route to Sri Lanka to deliver an illicit cargo to members of an international drug ring. However, police initially did not find any drugs when they searched Butt’s body and his bag, so he was sent to the Police Hospital for a thorough body check, officials said.

Acting Crime Suppression Division chief Pol Maj-General Suthin Suppuang told a press conference that police found the cocaine hidden in socks after Butt changed his clothes in preparation for an X-ray of his stomach.

“Inside the changing room, we found cocaine hidden in three plastic bags and two plastic capsules with a weight of almost 2kg. It was hidden in socks that were hidden in a used-clothes bin,” Suthin said.

Suthin said an X-ray also showed that Butt had swallowed something which could not yet be identified.

He quoted Butt as admitting that he was hired for US$4,000 (Bt143,,500) to deliver the drug to a gang in Sri Lanka but he had to travel through Bangkok first.

Butt said he hidden the 2kg of drugs in his anus.

He was charged with smuggling cocaine into the Kingdom. More charges will be filed if the object inside the suspect’s stomach turns out to be drugs, police said.

Meanwhile, a group of 10 university students representing the Free Internet Society of Thailand (Fist) yesterday joined forces at Bangkok’s Art and Culture Centre to oppose the new law, arguing that it violates the people’s rights.

Om-thip Palanun, a first-year Chulalongkorn University student, said the law would reduce people’s freedom of expression hence the National Legislative Assembly is urged to revoke the law as demanded by about 360,000 people who signed up against the legislation. Other students also held placards that said “Free Internet”, “Invasion of privacy” and “We say No to Internet censorship”.

However, online and digital business leaders have welcomed the law, even though some are cautious about its enforcement.

Vachara Aemavat, president of Thailand Tech Start-up Association, said that the law will better protect the interests of tech start-ups and other businesses, especially those in media and contents whose intellectual property rights have been often violated by pirates.

“Previously, we relied on the civil law but now the common law is also applied in the new legislation [in terms of screening contents on the Internet]. My only concern is about the screening committee whose members have been increased from five to nine. Who will be appointed and how will they work?”

Vachara said the new law would not prompt Thai tech start-ups to register their businesses in Singapore as speculated since operators in Thailand are subject to compliance with Thai law, regardless of where they are registered.

“There are people who understand the essential points of this new law and those who misunderstand. For tech start-ups, they are waiting for details on rules and regulations that will be issued to govern the online and digital businesses. However, Dr Pichet [Durongkaveroj], the new digital economy and society minister, is knowledgeable so we are not worried about enforcement of this law.

“Rules and regulations also have to take into account new tech applications such as Blockchain. However, I share the opinion that the general public will be hit by this law, especially those who use social media to post and share content. They should study the law in some detail or else they would be breaking the law unintentionally.”

Thanachart Lumnonda, director of IMC Institute, a Thai-based technology training and research firm; and president of the Association of Thailand ICT Industry (ATCI), said that the new Computer Crime Act is unlikely to impact foreign investment in Thailand as economic factors such as supply and demand are more decisive factors for investors.

“If there is a big market, Facebook, Google and the likes want to go there [even though there could be some legal restrictions as in China, which is a huge market]. If we’re not a big market, we have less bargaining power. The new computer crime law is not new as other countries such as China also have this law,” he said.

Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, president of Thai E-Commerce Association and founder and chief executive officer of Tarad.com, said that the new law requires a court approval to remove online content so there is a check-and-balance mechanism.

However, he said, people will have to exercise more caution when posting messages and content online as they would be held responsible under the new law. In other words, the law will require netizens to double-check the validity of content before posting and sharing.

Poomjit Sirawongprasert, president of Thai Hosting Service Providers Club, said that Internet service providers and other online service providers would have to shoulder an additional cost in complying with the new law. They are required to keep log files for two years instead of only one year while those providing disaster recovery or back-up sites will face a challenge if they cannot quickly remove content deemed inappropriate or illegal by Thai officials.

Poomjit said innocent users of social media could also be abused and there are not yet clear guidelines on the do’s and don’ts.

The bodies of Prai Kharunram and Boonjang Lertlaong were located under debris on Saturday night but there was insufficient light to extract their remains.

Four workers were killed in Friday’s incident. The other two bodies were found on Friday.

Teerayut Poomipak, director of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, said the retrieval of the bodies would require a great amount of time as it involved the use of heavy machines to pierce, cut and lift concrete slabs, with elaborate evaluations required at each step.

The smell of fuel detected in the area was diesel, he said, but added that there was not enough to cause a fire.

Secretary to the Bangkok governor, Yuttapan Meechai, explained that the operation consisted of the team searching for the bodies and the debris evaluation team. Yuttapan promised the relatives of the workers that the bodies would be retrieved quickly so the religious rituals could be held.

A backhoe was used yesterday to crush large concrete debris around the collapsed building while Department rescuers sprayed water to settle dust.

Ten trucks were used to haul away iron and concrete from the site to an On Nut landfill while rescuers from the Poh Teck Tung Foundation marked where the bodies were with PVC pipes.

The rescue work was made more difficult due to the narrowness of Soi 87 and the electric poles located near the scene.

The demolished buildings had been the office of car dealership Thaiyarnyon Mitsu.

The board of the demolition company and an engineer are scheduled to report to Phra Khanong Police Station today for allegedly committing careless actions that caused deaths.

“Authorities have measures, should there be any actions, from video recording to prosecuting following international rules,” Sansern said. “Any tentative participants should think twice or stop such acts.”

Meanwhile, operators of the Facebook page “Single Gateway: Thailand Internet Firewall #opsinglegateway”, which has attracted more than 120,000 likes, claimed to have attacked several government websites to express anger at the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s backing for the contentious act last Friday.

The amended bill has faced strong criticism for being a tool for the junta to tighten its control of comments expressed over the Internet via appointed officials.

After a series of cyber attacks, the group called on Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to use his sweeping powers under the interim charter’s Article 44 to revoke the bill. It also promoted an event calling for protests at Democracy Monument and the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in opposition to the new law.

Sansern also criticised the alleged hacking of state websites, saying the move went “beyond boundaries”, adding that such actions were among the reasons why computer-related laws needed to be reviewed.

He also said some of the websites had not been hacked contrary to reports. The Immigration Bureau database, for instance, was not linked to the Internet, he said, adding that it could not be hacked as a result.

Sansern said the government was not planing to initiate any policy in relation to a “single gateway”, which would involve centralising government control of all Internet services in Thailand.

The term single gateway first gained attention last year when it was mentioned in Cabinet resolutions as an issue for consideration by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, which has been renamed the Digital Economy and Society Ministry.

Prayut and his government denied having the policy, saying the term was wrongly recorded by the person who took minutes. The issue faded from public view although some Internet users have identified similarities in the recently-passed Computer Crime Act. They said the new law would reinforce authority over Internet |regulation without a balancing power.

Sansern said the government would only request to look at “online traffic” in specific cases, which would not centralise power. A nine-member committee and the courts would also take part in consideration for any decisions, he said.

He added that the concept of a single gateway would hinder the government’s initiative to drive digital technology in line with its Thailand 4.0 scheme.

“Every country has a universal rule of advising people about what websites are deemed critical to national security,” he said. “It also depends on Internet providers’ discretion on management over access to foreign websites.”

ACTIVISTS AND civil-society groups will face serious challenges protecting their rights and natural resources as the amended Computer Crime Act can be broadly enforced against them, legal experts have warned.

After the new amendments of the act were approved on the third reading by the National Legislative Assembly on Friday, many people have expressed concerns about even tighter limits on the Internet and fewer protected rights. In particular, commentators have said that activists will be extremely vulnerable under the law, predicting that it will be widely used in Strategic Litigation against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases.

The category of SLAPP lawsuits designates those that are intended to censor, intimidate and silence critics through punitive litigation.

Maha Sarakham University |lecturer Chainarong Sretthachau said Article 14 of the newly amended law in particular would inflict further harm on activists who |campaign online, instead of closing legitimate loopholes in the |previous version of the act.

“As per the current version of Computer Crime Act, there are five cases that are being litigated using this law against environmental campaigners. All of these cases cite [the previous version of] Article 14,” Chainarong said.

Section 2 of Article 14 states that uploading “distorted” information that may harm national stability, public security, economic stability, public infrastructure or cause panic in society is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a Bt100,000 fine.

Chainarong said the article could be interpreted very widely, which meant it could be used as a legal mechanism allowing private companies or authorities conducting projects that harm the environment or people’s livelihoods to punish opposition campaigners who use the Internet.

He gave an example of the existing SLAPP case against Rak Ban Kerd, a community group that opposes gold-mining operations by Tungkum Co in Loei province. The group has been sued twice by the gold-mining company in relation to the group’s use of social media to campaign against the mine.

“I have observed that more than 80 per cent of the enforcement of this law has been to discourage |people’s campaigns against harmful projects.

“This is a very effective strategy, because people do not have much money or legal knowledge to fight in court, so they suffer even more,” he said.

Climate of fear

Sor Rattanamanee Polkla, a lawyer with the Community Resources Centre, said the situation would become worse under the amended law as activists would work in a more hostile atmosphere with the fear of prosecution severely diminishing the rights of ordinary people and the protection of public resources.

“This law will make campaigning and communication online harder, as people fear to post or share anything on the Internet. We have to admit that the online world provides a vital platform for campaigners to communicate with society and bring public attention to their problems,” Sor Rattanamanee said.

She added that ordinary people would be at risk of prosecution as well, as Section 4 of Article 14 stipulated that anyone who shares “distorted” information on the Internet could also be liable, which would encourage self-censorship.

Pornthip Hongchai, a prominent member of Rak Ban Kerd, said the Computer Crime Act would definitely affect the group’s campaign against the Loei gold mine as the gold-mine operator Tungkum had already sued the group in Phuket and Tak provinces citing the earlier, less stringent version of the law.

“Even though this law still can be used against us at any time and many of us fear prosecution, we still pledge to carry on our campaign because we are fighting to protect our homes, and this means our lives,” Pornthip said.

“I think I can cook for a living,” said a 42-year-old father of three, referred to by the alias “Nont”, as he practised making dumplings at the 310th Military Circle’s Wiwat Phonlamueang School in Tak province. Instead of going to jail, he was sent to the school to undergo drug rehabilitation, as the court resolved to give opportunities to drug abusers who have not committed serious offences.

Designed to help addicts kick their habit, the rehabilitation programme takes four months. To help drug abusers find proper occupations, the programme includes one month of vocational training.

Nont is among those registered for dumpling-making course.

“Dumplings are easy to make and only require a small investment fund and a few tools, so I think I can make a living out of this,” Nont said.

Pae, 22, (not his real name) is also very happy about the vocational training during his drug-rehabilitation programme. “While I am cooking, there’s nothing else in my head. I can only feel happiness,” he said.

He has been training at a big restaurant in Tak’s Muang district for three days to learn how to prepare and cook steaks from scratch.

Lamphun province native Joe, 23, (not his real name) said he loved working at a restaurant and cooking, so this would be his future job.

Both Pae and Joe had one week left on the programme before going home.

The vocational training method is seen as being not only good for the participants and their families but also the country. The Quality Learning Foundation (QLF) now plans to join hands with the Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna Tak in organising vocational training, not just for drug-rehabilitation participants but also decommissioned reserve officers.

The pilot scheme is also being used to study the potential of vocational development guidelines for people at all ages, so as to support the development aspects of the proposed special economic zone.

‘Overjoyed to help trainees’

“We present vocational skills for 12 jobs in the scheme including builders, machinists, welders, electricians, air-condition repairmen, audio system installation and repair mechanics, truck drivers, executive chauffeurs, automobile mechanics, bakers, organic vegetable |farmers, steak cooking, and snacks-making.”

There are more than 100 trainees.

“We think these skills are necessary and useful for the expansion of the Tak special economic zone,” said university lecturers’ representative Supornrat Watcharanarumol. “We are happy to see the trainees focused and enjoying the training. I heard some also want to make a living at home using these skills, so we are overjoyed to help give them career options.”

The school’s director, Colonel Wachirawit Sarikanon, said the institute, established in 2006, had its own vocational training but welcomed the QLF scheme. “We allow the trainees to sell steaks and snacks during the visiting day and they made thousands of baht,” he added.

Prapat Chueathai, Rajamangala University of Technology’s deputy rector, said those serving in the military via the draft accounted for 30 per cent of working-age men in the country, so if they had increased vocational options in line with the development of areas of the country, it could stimulate the economies of their hometowns.

The scheme has a follow-up programme to aid trainees including helping them secure a vocation, he said.