“I was given just Bt18,000, instead of the Bt82,125 I was owed,” Thanida Anu-an, a Kalasin province resident, lamented yesterday.

Under the law, big enterprises are required to recruit people with disabilities, contribute to a fund or hire them at a flat rate.

Meanwhile, the fund uses its resources to improve the lives of people with disabilities such as providing them with caretakers or giving them a profession among others.

As part of this project, Thanida and several of her neighbours were hired as caretakers of children with physical disabilities.

However, they began complaining when the wages paid were a lot lower than what was promised.

Official complaint

In response, the Network for Protection of the Rights of People with Disabilities has officially filed a complaint with the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of Public-Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Special Investigation and the Office of National Human Rights Commission.

Preeda Limnonthakul

“We have detected a suspicious practice by the Club of Kalasin Parents of the Intellectually Challenged as well as state officials attached to the province’s social development and human security office,” the network’s chairman Preeda Limnonthakul said.

The club had reportedly kept the caretakers’ bank passbooks and ATM cards for several months, until Thanida openly challenged its practice.

“We have evidence in the form of witnesses and Line chat history,” Preeda said.

Thanida said she was being treated unfairly because instead of offering remedial action, the state officials had rebuked her for lodging a complaint.

“My ATM card and passbook were mailed to me, but nobody has told me how I can get the money I’m owed,” she said.

So far, five others have joined Thanida in her effort to demand justice, because they too have not received the full amount they were promised.

The National Parks Department suspended the project on Saturday due to heavy criticism by environmentalists.

Those backing the project were invited to a consultation meeting in Phetchaburi yesterday, while the opponents, led by the Raksa Kaeng Krachan Forest Network and its allies in Bangkok, lodged a petition with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and chairman of the National Environment Board to halt the project. Jamlong Vilailert, a representative of the group, said the group was sticking to its stance of not supporting the park’s plan to pave with concrete the nearly 18km-long route that leads to the top of the Phanoen Thung mountain. However, Jamlong is accused of having conflict of interest as he runs a tourism business,

The route cuts through the heart of the park and environmentalists fear increased convenience offered by the road would impact wildlife and the ecosystem. Measures being suggested by officials such as speed limits cannot guarantee mitigation against the feared impact, as they are still questionable, Jamlong said.

He added that the authority had taken up the project in a slapdash manner, without proper consultation or environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Srisuwan Janya, a lawyer and president of the Stop Global Warming Association, said concerned authorities should prioritise their work concerning national parks as they have been set up for environmental protection, not tourism. By saying the aim was just to improve the old road as it does not require an EIA, the National Parks Department could possibly be in violation of the law, he said.

The project, he added, was likely to devalue the ecological values of the park crucial for its nomination as a UN World Heritage Site. If the park insisted on going ahead with the project, the group will petition the Administrative Court to grant an injunction, he said.

The project’s supporters, meanwhile, were vocal in their backing of the project. They were invited to the meeting chaired by the department’s deputy chief, Chalermchai Papata, at the National Park Office in Phetchaburi. They included the park’s advisory committee members, local authorities using the route, as well as tourism business representatives nearby. They agreed that the road was damaged to a point where it needed a thorough overhaul to ensure the safety of visitors and park rangers, and threw their support behind the resurfacing.

Sumon Sutaviriyawat, a committee member, and former senator for environment for Phetchaburi, said she has been working on environmental issues for the past 30 years, and if the project were bad, she would not have let it go ahead. The road was heavily damaged and required improvement, she said.

The Bt86-million project was initiated by park chief Mana Phermpool, in consultation with the park’s advisory committee, over a year ago in an attempt to repair the 30-year-old road whose surface had eroded badly. Rock falls and collapses were periodically reported along the route.

Though the deadline he set for getting rid of 7,000 visa overstayers and illegal migrants by the end of October has passed, Surachate, who is better known as “Big Joke”, continues with his so-called mission. However, many have raised questions of racism, as several foreigners caught were of African descent. Surachate insists this is all part of his job to weed out overstayers and foreign criminals.

He cited the most recent case of two South African men – Dladla Prince Nkosinathi, 33, and Benjamin Moloi, 35 – who were arrested for a drug offence and visa overstay respectively.

Nkosinathi was nabbed on Sunday at Central Bang Na with 4.1 grams of cocaine that he was about to deliver to a local buyer. Police investigators learned that the cocaine supplier was an African man living in the Sukhumvit area. When police searched Nkosinathi’s rented room, they came upon Moloi, who had overstayed his visa by 359 days and claimed to have been looking for a job as a football player.

Football was also used in another recent case. A 27-year-old Ghanaian was caught with forged documents that showed him to be a player of Ayuthaya City Football Club. Wilson Zack Kofi would got away if his other document had not displayed the name of another club – Sa Kaew FC. It was this mismatch that caught the attention of Immigration officials, who launched a probe and discovered the alleged forgery.

Since both clubs denied knowledge of the man, Kofi’s visa was revoked on grounds of being a “danger to society”. The suspect confessed to falsely using the clubs’ names, Surachate said.

In another case, Surachate said a Chinese man identified as Ma Pho (unofficial spelling) and his five Thai associates were arrested over allegations of the former using the five locals as nominees to open and operate a para-rubber bedding business in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district.

The Thai suspects were identified as Parinee Saetae, Thaweesak Madnoh, Pakhamon Madnoh, Savitree Saengsattra and Siew Chen.

Surachate said initial investigation showed that Ma Pho had provided all the capital for the business, hence this was a “business nominee” case, which violated the 1999 Foreign Business Act. This offence is punishable by a maximum three-year jail term and/or a fine of Bt100,000 to Bt1 million. He added that police were also hunting for two other Thai suspects Thanwit Binsa-lae and Tukta Eiumsai in relation to the case.

Meanwhile, in a move to lure more foreign visitors Surachate is working on securing waiver of visa fees for travellers from 22 nations, including Taiwan, for a 60-day stamp from November 15 onwards. He is set to put his proposal forward to the Cabinet today.

The top cop also checked on officers at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday morning to ensure their preparedness and ordered an improvement in Immigration queues to accommodate the many visitors.

The Life Partnership bill will be before the cabinet by the end of the month, said Kerdchoke Kasamwongjit, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Justice’s Rights and Liberties Protection department.

Kerdchoke said his department would collect public opinion online from today until November 20 – people can simply tick “agree” or “disagree” with the Life Partnership bill, as well as comment on its content. A link to the legislation appears on the department’s home page.

The department will also organise meetings in 5 areas – Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Khon Kaen and Ayutthaya – from November 12 to 16 in order to communicate directly with interested parties.

After the public consultation process is complete, the bill will be forwarded to the cabinet and, if approved, it will then be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly for a final vote before it becomes law.

The mammoth Life Partnership bill –it has no less than 70 sections – allows gender-diverse couples the same rights enjoyed by heterosexual partners, including inheritance and marital property matters, as well as the legal right to make medical decisions when their partner is incapacitated.

However, Kerdchai said it does not include any provisions related to child adoptions. “This is a starting point. We want to guarantee basic human rights so gender-diverse couples can live as a family,” he said.

It is currently envisaged that the agency responsible for dealing with same-sex couples’ registrations will be the Department of Provincial Administration, a wing of the Ministry of Interior.

“This is so that same-sex couples can go to any district office to register, just as heterosexual couples do for marriage registration,” he said.