Thaweesak Thanadachopol, RID deputy director-general, said his agency had received a weather warning from the Meteorological Department about the storm approaching the South, bringing with it heavy downpours throughout the region, especially in the provinces of Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun.

According to the Meteorological Department, the storm is forecast to make landfall in the lower part of the region from December 23 to December 25, before travelling westward and across the peninsula to the Andaman Sea.

It is expected that all areas south of Chumphon will be affected by the storm.

Following the department’s extreme-weather warning, Thaweesak has ordered RID offices in the affected areas to prepare for heavy rain and closely monitor the water level in the reservoirs in each of their areas.

The RID offices have also been instructed to drain off water in the reservoirs beforehand, and get water pumps and other flood-prevention equipment ready, he added.

Meanwhile, Thaweesak also disclosed the water-management plan for the upcoming dry season in the Chao Phraya river basin, for which some 25 billion cubic metres of water is being stored.

The bulk – 15.9 billion cubic metres – is being kept for agricultural usage, some 2.1 billion cubic metres will be for consumption, and the remainder for sustaining the ecosystem.

Mechanisms to follow up the reform plan for natural resources management and the environment will be developed and put in place to ensure implementation and public participation, Dr Choochai Supawongse, chair of the natural resources and environment reform committee’s public-hearing panel, said.

He told the Nation at the last public hearing on the reform plan over the past weekend that community leaders would be invited to take part in the future workshops to help figure out the mechanisms, which would possibly include new platforms where concerned parties in all regions could meet and work together.

“Environmental issues concern everyone and have impacts on everyone, so we need to work together to ensure that the damaged environment is rehabilitated and preserved better than ever,” he added.

Dr Choochai at the weekend forum heard intensive calls for public participation in environmental reforms.

The meeting – the last of six forums held in all regions since last month – introduced the committee’s detailed sub-plans, which cover all six reform issues, plus activities to move forward, as well as indicators of success.

It was attended by around 300 invited parties, of which 80 per cent were community leaders there to help represent the voices of people from their localities.

Besides recommendations to change some proposals that had been introduced, attendees extensively suggested participation in the management of natural resources.

For instance, participants from the land resources group suggested participation and increased roles for communities in managing resources, including the forests. The water resources group made a similar suggestion for increasing the roles of communities in managing water resources.

Buntoon Srethasirote, chair of the committee’s environmental management panel – a cross-cutting body of all groups – said public participation had actually been addressed in the reform plan, and additionally, the roles of private entities would be boosted to ensure the nation’s environmental sustainability.

To materialise public participation and decentralisation in this regard, new laws would be promulgated, including a community rights bill, he said.

To ensure that reform in regard to the environment does not lose its way, sustainable-development goals will be applied as a framework for the plan, he added.

Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, the committee’s vice chair, said the committee had been trying to connect all possible natural resources as well as environmental management in the plan, but it could not put everything into a single plan.

The issues need to be selective, and must be reform issues, otherwise the work would be too loaded and not go anywhere, he insisted.

Theerapat said besides the committee, which is one of 13 appointed under the national reform law, there would be the national strategy committee to help look at the big picture, which would allay concerns that the reform would not be accomplished.

Dr Choochai said contributions from the forums would be included in the plan before it was submitted to the government at the end of this month. The plan is expected to be in effect by April next year, he added.

The public hearing panel chair also said that despite time limits for the hearings, participants’ contributions could indeed help shape the direction of reform, as a number of them were experienced figures.

The issues they have helped the panel reflect upon are structural, which points to the need for structural solutions, which is indeed the same when it comes to reform matters, he said.

Chawarat has urged the family not to shun the opportunity to find mutual understanding.

He said the family didn’t show up to hear the findings on Monday after being invited by the probe committee, because they might be occupied. The committee would now wait for the family to contact the Military Civil Affairs Department. Chawarat said he had prepared extensive information to clarify the committee’s findings for the family.

“If the family isn’t confident and remains in doubt about the committee’s probe, I would like them to come and talk about what made them feel that way. We will try to explain all points for which the family had questions. If the family doesn’t come and talk, we will miss the opportunity to reach an understanding,” he said, adding that the military would not pester the family to make contact.

Meanwhile Phakhapong’s mother Sukanya Tanyakan said in a Facebook post that she was attending a religious rite at Wat Wiwekaram in Chon Buri for her son.

Chawarat has briefed the media on the findings of his committee’s investigation made public last Friday. They concluded that Phakhapong’s death at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School stemmed from poor health, which ultimately resulted in heart failure.

The report admitted that the cadet had been severely and inappropriately punished prior to his death, but concluded that it did not cause his death.

The military investigation’s conclusion contradicted not only the family’s belief that Phakhapong was healthy and did not die from heart failure, but also the result of an autopsy conducted by the Central Institute of Forensic Science. That autopsy noted the cadet’s body had bruises and a broken rib possibly caused by a physical attack.

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon told reporters to ask RTAF chief General Thanchaiyant Srisuwan about why the family of Phakhapong chose not to come to the military press conference or show up to discuss the findings as invited.

Prawit himself was under fire over his inappropriate comments about the cadet’s death, which led juvenile rights activist Ticha Na Nakorn’s to petition on Change.org for Prawit’s resignation. As of Monday afternoon, the petition had 5,296 supporting signatures.

To mark International Migrant Day, social work organisations led by the Labour Rights Promotion Network (LPN) and the Fish Marketing Organisation, on Monday announced the new Centre would work to monitor and prevent human trafficking in the fisheries sector.

The Samut Sakhon-based Centre is to be operated by the public sector with the involvement of migrant workers and the business sector. Its mandate includes promoting the understanding of relevant laws and worker’s rights affecting the fishing industry and empowering workers to prevent rights violations and personal abuse.

The first office of the Fishermen Centre is at the Samut Sakhon fish market, with other offices in Rayong’s Mueng District and Trat’s Klong Yai District.

LPN director Sompong Srakaew said that Thailand continued to face major issues related to migrant workers, including the use of slave labour in the fishing industry, child labour, and human trafficking.

Workers’ lack of knowledge and understanding about the law and their rights has exacerbated the problem, said Sompong. Regardless of their nationality, all workers have rights, but migrant workers are prone to being taken advantage of by agents.

As well, many workers in the fishing industry have lacked access to justice and a system of rights protection, because there was no central agency to receive, deal, and support them with their problems.

That led to the LPN joining with other key stakeholders and interested parties to set up the Fishermen Centre. The Environmental Justice Foundation is involved, along with the Multi-stakeholder Initiative for an Accountable Supply Chain of Thai Fisheries (MAST). They hope to “promote workers’ rights protection among the fisheries workers, ensure that their employers treat them well, and encourage creation of a network among the fisheries workers themselves,” Sompong said.

Workers facing any problems could notify the centre to access legal assistance and rights protection. The centre also works proactively by recruiting migrant worker volunteers to monitor problems in their workplace and community, while the centre also works with business operators to support workplace recognition of workers’ rights.

“This is the new approach toward the eradication of human trafficking in fisheries sector, as it is the first time that the public organisations, migrant workers, business operators, and the authorities have jointly worked together to sustainably solve the problems in the fisheries sector,” Sompong said.

About 96 per cent of the 21,868 registered disabled persons had received vocational opportunities so far, he said. The DOE itself hired 90 people, two as civil servants, one as a state employee and 87 others through sub-contractors at its central and regional offices, he added.

Anurak said the DOE had supported disabled people in seven activities;

1. Having companies give concessions such as TV and radio time, or space for farming, or allowing disabled entrepreneurs to install automatic beverage dispensers at offices or sell company-branded shirts.

2. Having companies arrange space for goods and services provided by disabled persons. For example, a hospital may provide a place for people to sell flowers or a company may allow a disable person to operate a car-park.

3. Having companies hire subcontractors that employ disabled persons. For example, a firm may hire blind people to massage employees or hire disabled persons to clean offices.

4. Providing vocational training in areas such as glyptography (jewellery cutting), basic computer repair and air-conditioning repair.

5. Encouraging companies to provide facilities and equipment to accommodate disabled persons, such as elevators and tactile indicators for vision-impaired people.

6. Having companies hire sign-language interpreters.

7. Providing other aid, such as granting funds for disabled persons’ groups to make and sell brooms, promoting people’s purchase of New Year gifts made by disabled persons, and building shops or farming centres in communities for vocational use by disabled people.

The DOE also followed up the guidelines that both parties in contracts drawn up under Section 35 were willing and that there was no duplication of the disabled person’s name on different contracts, Anurak said.

Officials would also regularly check with the disabled person or their guardian if they had received the vocational opportunities they had registered for.

For more information on the programme, call the DOE hotline, 1694.

The “Tew Free Dot Com” project, to be hosted by the Office of Basic Education Commission, will be sponsored by the private and civil-society sector including the Foundation of Virtuous Youth and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, he said.

It will provide online lessons in two formats. The first format will feature famous tutors that will share techniques for learning various topics, while the second will provide extra lessons to boost student understanding in core subject lessons, Teerakiat said.

The project would also provide an archive of past exam papers, especially the O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) to help students prepare for exams.

“This project is not tutoring but an arrangement for students to access good lessons and archives of past exams,” he said. The project was developed in response to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s previous direction for the ministry to produce CDs and handbooks about learning techniques by famous tutors in order to allow students in rural areas to match learning styles of their big-city peers.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich on Monday disclosed conclusions from a meeting of the fifth administration reform steering committee, headed by Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, approving measures to help fishermen who have been affected by efforts to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Kongcheep said Prawit had ordered relief measures to be implemented as possible as a “New Year’s present” for fishermen, with the measures to begin on December 27.

The first measure would be to buy 1,900 unused fishing vessels in line with a suggestion from the Thai Fisheries Association, Kongcheep said, adding that the issue would be passed on to the Cabinet, which would have to allocate a budget.

He said the policy would decrease the number of fishing vessels, which combined with licence restrictions would help to protect marine natural resources.

The development fund for affected fishermen would come from fishing vessel registration fees over these past two years, or Bt130 million, and Bt650 million in low-interest loans would be provided by the Government Savings Bank.

“General Prawit emphasised that every agency must work together to solve IUU fishing problems to enable the European Union to improve our country’s rank … otherwise our fishing industry, which is worth more than Bt100 billion, will suffer severe damage,” Kongcheep said.

He added the government was also addressing international issues related to aviation and copyright protections.

Deputy spokesman Dr Pattarapon Jungsomjatepaisal said anyone failing to register by then would have to comply with the terms of a new regulation.

The regulation says only blind masseurs who graduated from institutes certified by the department can be registered.

Registration is done at the department’s Health Business Centre in Nonthaburi or any provincial public health office.

More information is available during office hours at (02) 193 7095 and (02) 193 7000, extension 18226.

Prior to the attack, the militants, who authorities said were trying to create chaos, also set up roadblocks with trees that they had cut down and set fire to villagers’ houses.

Officials were alerted to the bus incident at about 2.30pm. When they rushed to scene, they found the double-decker bus belonging to the Siam Dernrod company on fire and firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.

However, the fire was so severe that it gutted the bus.

Marohdi Ding, a staff member with the coach company who was on the bus, told police that the bus was from Betong district and heading to Bangkok with 13 people on board including himself and the driver.

While the bus was on Road No 410 in Bannang Sata district, the driver was forced to stop after seeing burning tyres on the road.

“After the bus stopped, a group of about 10 armed men emerged from the roadside and demanded that all the passengers, the driver and me get out of the bus, saying they didn’t want to harm us,” Marohdi said.

The men were dressed in camouflage like soldiers, he added, and spoke in the Yawi dialect.

The men poured petrol on the bus before setting it on fire and then fled on foot to the nearby forest.

The militants seemed to have prepared their escape route by using trees to block the road and deploying spikes to prevent authorities from following them.

Officials said the area of the attack was near that of an attack in April 2013 when a bomb exploded near the car of then-deputy Yala governor Isara Thongthawat and provincial district chief Chaowalit Chailerk. The attack killed both officials, who were heading to a festival in Betong district.

Officials said that before yesterday’s torching of the bus, militants staged minor attacks in other areas in the district in part to distract officials, including creating roadblocks with trees and setting fire to houses.

Officials said they believed about 20 militants had been involved in the attack, who then divided into three groups and were assigned to do different tasks.

The first group was responsible for cutting trees and deploying spikes, the second for burning tyres and the third torching the bus, officials said, claiming the attack was the work of a militant group led by militant suspect Ahama Luebesa, who operates in the area.

The objective was to create disturbances in the area, officials said.

DESPITE unrelenting efforts to revive the economy and spur |higher economic growth in the third quarter of this year, the Prayut |government has scored low marks for its economic management and prevailing income inequalities, according to the latest National Institute of Development Adminis-tration (Nida) opinion survey.

The Nida poll, which was conducted last Wednesday and Thursday with a sampling of 1,250 persons nationwide, showed respondents were “most unimpressed” by the government’s performance regarding their economic well-being, followed by political reforms, election preparation and the government’s handling of the deep South unrest.

On a positive note, the survey showed the government’s “most impressive” work over the past one year was considered to be its subsidy for newborn babies, which was cited by 75.6 per cent of respondents. The reclamation of forest land and farmland management was cited by 64.8 per cent of respondents, while new regulations on street vendors, motorcycle taxis and vans, as well as land use at public beaches, were both cited by 62.5 per cent of respondents.

According to Nida, respondents were 18 years and older with 34.5 per cent saying they were “very impressed” by the government’s performance, 23.6 per cent saying “impressed” and 21.6 per cent “not quite impressed”.

Of the respondents, 8.2 per cent are Bangkok residents, while 25.8 per cent live in Bangkok’s peripheral areas and other Central provinces. Another 18.6 per cent of respondents live in northern provinces while 32.8 per cent and 14.4 per cent are northeastern and southern residents respectively.

In terms of income, 12 per cent said they had no income, while 25 per cent said they earned an income of less than Bt10,000 per month. Another 21.2 per cent said their incomes were between Bt10,000 and Bt20,000 per month, while 11.6 per cent and 5.6 per cent said they earned Bt20,001 to Bt30,000 and Bt30,000 to Bt40,000 respectively. Another 10.08 per cent said their income was more than Bt40,000 per month and 14.4 per cent did not specify any income.

The latest poll shows that the government’s economic management has not delivered results for low and middle-income groups despite the higher GDP growth rate of nearly 4 per cent in the third quarter of this year.

The stronger growth rate was due to the improved performance of export industries and the recovery of global markets.

Most economic benefits, however, have concentrated among exporters and higher-income groups resulting in an uneven distribution of wealth.

On the political front, most respondents were not impressed by the government’s political reform agenda and its preparation for the next general election, while efforts to resolve problems in the southernmost provinces also left respondents unimpressed.

However, the US Trade Representative’s latest upgrade of Thailand’s status from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List, which represented a promotion, was good news for the government over the weekend.

The upgrade is expected to boost the economy and foreign investor confidence in Thailand, while the European Union earlier restored full political contacts with Thailand after downgrading relations in the wake of the 2014 coup.

The EU will also explore possibilities to resume negotiations with Thailand on a major Thai-EU Free Trade Agreement suspended more than three years ago.

Box :

Public evaluates recent policies

Top three “most impressive” policies

1.    State subsidy for newborns (75.6 per cent of respondents)

2.    Forest land reclamations and farmland reform (64.8 per cent of respondents)

3.    New regulations on street vendors, motorcycle taxies, vans, etc (62.5 per cent of respondents)

Top three “most unimpressive” policies

1.    Economic management and well-being (58.1 per cent of respondents)

2.    Political reforms and election preparations (47.7 per cent of respondents)

3.    Deep South unrest (47.2 per cent of respondents)