View Full Version : Chiangmai:Mayor's Vision
And no doubt we can expect plenty more of the following after the election. Good intentions really don't cut much ice here, despite all the mindless bandying around of the word 'love';) :-
http://www.bpf.org/html/whats_now/2005/documents/supoj_facts.pdf
FACT SHEET: PHRA SUPOJ SUVACANO
(Assassination of environmental monk based in Chiang Mai)
Venerable Supoj Suvacano's body was found the morning of June 18, 2005. It was covered in deep cuts and wounds cause by a sharp weapon. He was murdered the previous day (time uncertain). The site of the murder was at least 300 meters from Phra Supoj's residence in a place out of sight and hearing of local people at a time when other monks were in Bangkok for a meeting.
Phra Supoj and his colleagues moved to Mettadhamma Forest Dhamma Center
(Ban Huay Ngunai, Tambol Sansai, Ampoe Fang, Chiang Mai Province in NorthernThailand) on December 20, 1998. They came from the Suan Mokkh, a famous Buddhist monastery in Southern Thailand in order to continue their Dhamma studies and practice, as well disseminate Buddhist teachings, in line with the approach of Ven. Buddhad ā sa Bhikkhu, a renowned Thai Buddhist master.
The monastery occupied 600 acres donated by Ven. Ajarn Sington, a senior monk and former university professor from Chiang Mai. Before long, certain parties began pressuring the monks and local villagers to allow tangerine plantations on the land intended for forest conservation.
Phra Supoj was a quiet, gentle monk whose primary activities involved publishing, with his colleagues, books, and periodicals about Buddhist teachings and practice, especially those of Buddhad ā sa Bhikkhu.
Phra Supoj was not overtly political, but he loved the forest and its wild life. He wanted to help conserve and rejuvenate what little remains of Thailand's original forests (in the last century forests have shrunk from over 90% of the country to less than 10%).
To this date, the police have not carried out a competent investigation. They seem more
intent on intimidating local supporters of Phra Supoj and the Dhamma Center. The woman
who found his body had her house burned down and was forced into hiding.
Other conservationists have been murdered during the current and previous Thaksin
governments. Their murders have not been solved. Local police appear to be afraid to
mount a valid investigation. Even special police units from Bangkok seem unable or
unwilling to mount a serious investigation.
Local people believe that the killers sought economic advantages from the Center's land and that they are protected by national political figures with whom they are connected, including in the governing party of Prime Minister Thaksin. (This is a common problem in Thailand and similar countries. This has been exacerbated since President Bush's "War on Terrorism" provided cover for authoritarian governments in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.)
Ven. Supoj is not the only victim of such economic-political violence. The case of environmentalist Charoen Wataksorn from Tambon Bo Nok in Prachuap Khiri Khan remains unsolved, though he was killed more than a year ago, June 21, 2004. There have many others.
In Thailand, as in many countries around the world, courageous religious and
community leaders help to protect the poor and politically weak who are threatened by political, economic, and criminal violence. When these religious and community leaders can be killed with impunity, the countless unknown villagers, as well as wildlife, forests, and wetlands, they help protect are in even greater danger. Solving these murders and holding those responsible to the law is necessary for the safety and well being of all people.
After two decades of steady improvement, the level of violence and human rights violations in Thailand has deteriorated since the election of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Political violence in the south, especially, and environmental violence throughout the country have increased under a regime that responds to violence with more violence. (The Bush administration's "War on Terrorism" provides political cover for Thaksin's heavy-handed authoritarianism.)
Interest from people of goodwill around the world can help the Thai government find the motivation it needs to solve these and others murders, as well as prevent further violence from escalating.:rolleyes: SOME HOPE!!
It is hard to credit how someone would fall for such a miracle cure, until one actually contracts a life-threatening condition oneself, I suppose:-
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/07/11/headlines/headlines_30008444.php
MEDICAL MONSTER
Dr Ozone arrested over lethal cancer treatment
Quack who served two jail terms in US lured Western cancer patients to Chiang Mai for bogus cures, police say
Chiang Mai police have arrested an Austrian national who allegedly killed at least one desperate Australian patient with a bogus cancer treatment he had advertised on a website.
Hellfried Sartori, 67, was arrested on Sunday in a Chiang Mai hotel and charged with fraud as well as practising medicine without a licence, police said.
Sartori will likely be extradited to Australia soon to face a murder charge, they said.
Sartori may be responsible for the deaths of several Australian cancer patients, who flew to Chiang Mai to receive the treatment in hotel rooms and later died at city hospitals, Lt-General Phanuphong Singhara na Ayutthaya told a press conference yesterday.
Sartori has served two prison terms in the United States - in New York state in May 1992 and in Washington DC in July 1998 - after administering his so-called "ozone treatments", Phanuphong said.
Websites claim the treatment cures everything from Aids and cancer to allergies and hardening of the arteries. It consists of injections of "liquid ozone", usually into a vein.
Australian police contacted their Thai counterparts over an investigation into the death of Kathleen Preston, an Australian cancer patient. Preston died at Maharaj Nakhon Chiang Mai Hospital on July 26 last year. An autopsy report found an excessive amount of potassium in her blood.
Police suspect Sartori injected Preston before she died.
Sartori has been seen with other Western cancer patients in Chiang Mai, police say.
He accompanied Melissa Judith Taylor, a New Zealander with lung cancer, to the intensive-care unit of Chiang Mai-Ram Hospital on June 22. She fell unconscious after he injected a liquid into her chest and neck.
Taylor's relatives later told police that they flew with her from New Zealand to Chiang Mai after reading an online advertisement in which Sartori was portrayed as a qualified practitioner of the "liquid ozone" treatment.
Sartori charged Taylor Bt900,000 for his "alternative medicine".
Taylor's relatives, who witnessed the treatment, said Sartori used a syringe to withdraw liquid from a small metal cylinder, then injected three doses into Taylor, in veins in her chest and neck. She passed out after the injections and had to be rushed to hospital, Taylor's relatives said.
Phanuphong said a gas cylinder and a number of VCDs showing Sartori giving the treatment to a Western man were found in his hotel room.
Phanuphong said his officers were working with foreign police representatives based in Thailand to locate other victims of Sartori.
Dr Phattharawin Attasara, a senior physician with the National Cancer Institute of Thailand, dismissed Sartori's cure as preposterous.
Injecting a large amount of a foreign or inorganic substance into a vein would only cause the patient to faint or possibly die, the doctor said.
Citing information provided by Interpol, police said Sartori graduated from Graz University in Vienna and was a member of Austria's medical council until October 1, 1974.
He is in police custody.
The Special Investigations Department will soon reinvestigate the murder of activist monk Phra Suphoj Suwajo, after a reshuffle of DSI agents.
DSI director-general Sunai Monamaiudom dismissed a previous theory - propounded by former DSI officers - that the monk was shot because of a love affair. He said this was almost impossible as there had never been any witnesses to Suphoj meeting any women.
Sunai said he suspected that pornographic material found on the monk's notebook computer after he was murdered on June 18, 2005 could have been downloaded after the event by someone wanting to dishonour him.
The pornographic material could have been used to try to mislead investigators into believing that Suphoj was obsessed with pornography, which led to him becoming involved with a female lover - in violation of monks' vow of celibacy.
Abbot Phra Suphoj was found beaten to death outside his living quarters at Suan Mettatham monastery in Chiang Mai's Fang district. Fellow monks and lay followers allege that the murder was ordered by someone who was in conflict with the monk, who was an avowed environmentalist.
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30037377
Saek the Sankampeng Samurai, loso loser
http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd3%20class=ll
Samurai motorcycle gang resurfaces
Gang leader still at large
A 21 year old man was viciously stabbed with a Samurai sword wielding group of motorcyclists in Sankhampheang leaving him seriously wounded.
The attack occurred in front of the Esso gas station on Sankhampheang - Chiang Mai Road on September 7th.
The victim’s mother filed a police report which initiated an investigation that led to the arrest of one of the alleged gang members.
The infamous Samurai gang terrorized residents of Chiang Mai years ago as they drove through the streets stabbing drivers and pedestrians with Samurai swords.
Police were finally able to crackdown on the gang and it was disbanded.
This copycat group apparently has many members and the gang leader, only known as
“Saek Sankhampheang” is still at large according to the police.
Police arrested 19 year old Vach or Olin Panyarat who admitted that he had been involved in attacking other gang members with Samurai swords on numerous occasions and couldn’t remember the number of times or places.
According to Pol. Lt. Col. Vitoon Voravil, police are still looking for many members of Vach’s group and after his arrest the authorities now know the identities of all of them. Reported by Thai News
http://www.prachatai.com/05web/upload/HilightNews/library/200706/13_052250_9.jpg
[Photo: Prachatai]
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=266
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=271
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=281
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=289
Saek the Sankampeng Samurai, loso loser
http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd3%20class=ll
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IJ23Ae02.html
Myanmar drugs fuel Thai gangs
By Bertil Lintner
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - She's affectionately known as Yai Elle or Yai Aew - or Grandmother Aew - among this city's rough and tumble, narcotics-peddling youth gangs. For more than a decade, Laddawan Chaininpun, 62, has worked to help rehabilitate Chiang Mai's gangs and in the process has won many of their trust.
She got involved with the gangs initially because her nephew had joined one of Chiang Mai's most vicious gangs: the Samurais. They earned that nickname because they were often seen wielding long swords while riding motorcycles at high speed through the city at night.
Yai Aew estimates that that there are about 50 youth gangs in Chiang Mai, varying in size from a handful to several hundred. The total number of members would be around 3,500, or perhaps even more, she says. Of those, 26 gangs with a total membership of about 1,500 are taking part in her programs, which lately have won the support of the Swedish section of the teetotaler nongovernmental organization, the International Organization of Good Templars.
"I realize that I cannot change their behavior completely," Yai Aew says. "But by bringing the different gangs together, they can become friends and no one would want to fight someone who is a friend, would he? Then, there'll be less violence and even ordinary people will feel safer in the city."
Violence and turf wars between rival gangs have been a social scourge in Chiang Mai for decades, running alongside a city plagued by prostitution, HIV/AIDS and drugs. Gang members are often both distributors and users. Both boys and girls, some barely in their teens, sell sexual services for as little as 300 baht (US$8.50) to buy drugs, alcohol and glue.
The gangs operate in different parts of the city, and it is when their interests clash that fights often break out. The Samurai gang, which now has about 300 members aged between 13 and 20, was formed in 1996, and its actual name is Na Dara, which means "in front of Dara." The founders of the gang used to meet at a food stall in front of Dara Vidhyalai School near Chiang Mai's central bus station.
Another prominent gang is called Ya Kha, named after a thatched-roof motorcycle repair shed, while the Set Den got their name because they were "left over", or social outcasts. Among those formed more recently, the Bin Laden gang gained notoriety a few years ago when it was actually involved in the murder of members of rival gangs. The name Bin Laden was taken to evoke an image of violence and daring attacks.
In addition, Yai Aew says there are four all-girl gangs, of which the Vampires count around 180 members. "They like to sleep with as many boys as they can, and I can't prevent them from doing that, but, at the very least, and I can teach them about safe sex," says Yai Aew, who distributes condoms to the youngsters.
Blood brothers and sisters
It is difficult to say why young people join the gangs. Pu, an 18-year-old boy from Mae Taeng north of the city, hangs out at night around Tha Phae gate in downtown Chiang Mai, and simply says that "it's fun, I get many friends here". Daeng, a 16-year-old mixed French-Thai boy from San Kamphaeng - more famous among foreigners for its local silk and handicraft industry - says he has nothing else to do at night.
Being a member of a gang gives him, and presumably also Pu, a sense of belonging. Various gangs may clash, but there is a strong feeling of brotherhood - or, as in the case of the Vampires, sisterhood - among the members of the same group.
It is also no coincidence that Chiang Mai has a long history of youth gangs and juvenile delinquency. It is a frontier town that always has had a large transient population as many young people have migrated to or through Chiang Mai from the surrounding countryside and neighboring Myanmar, Laos and China. There is also a large hill-tribe population in the area, people who are still basically stateless. And Chiang Mai is close to the Golden Triangle, one of the world's oldest and biggest drug-producing areas.
Lieutenant Colonel Anu Nuernhad, an officer at Mae Rim police station just north of the city and a renowned local historian, recalls gang-fights as early as in the 1950s. In one of his 17 books about Chiang Mai history, Anu describes a melee in March 1958, involving a youth gang called Sri Ping - named after a cinema where they used to meet - and rivals from the outlying district of Sarapee.
They carried guns and came on bicycles. The smoking of opium was common in those days and in around 1963-64, the derivative heroin began to be produced in the Golden Triangle. The Sri Ping and others were soon selling it in the streets of Chiang Mai.
In many ways Chiang Mai's street gangs are on the lowest level in the drug hierarchy that begins with the warlords in the Golden Triangle. And today it is yaa baa, or methamphetamines, rather than heroin that is the drug of choice for the city's juvenile delinquents. Yaa baa now sells in the streets of Chiang Mai for 200-250 baht a pill, of which very little is actual profit for the young dealers.
And as street dealers they are also the most vulnerable in the distribution chain. During the "war on drugs", which was launched in 2003 during the former Thai government of Thaksin Shinawatra, several youth gang leaders in Chiang Mai simply disappeared, never to be heard of again.
For unlike the druglords of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Myanmar, they do not enjoy the protection of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, nor are they connected with seemingly untouchable "influential persons" on both sides of the frontier. Some of the youth gang members survive because they are doubling as police informers, and therefore left alone.
But their only real hope is Yai Aew, and in many ways she has done wonders. Gang members come to see her regularly and she has organized football tournaments and weekend leadership courses to get them off drugs, and to minimize their usually violent behavior. "In the beginning, the police were suspicious of me," she told Asia Times Online in Chiang Mai. "They thought I was some kind of 'Godmother' for the gangs, not a volunteer social worker."
But, gradually, the police came to trust her too, as they could see the benefits of her work. The northern branch of the Office of Narcotics Control Board, a Thai government agency, even helped her finance her activities.
She is proud to point out that the Bin Laden gang now has some of the best footballers in the city. "And some of them have even joined the army," she says. Her greatest achievement is perhaps with the Samurai, or Na Dara, which is often abbreviated "NDR". But in Yai Aew's parlance NDR now stands for "No Drug Rulers" - and she assured Asia Times Online that drug use today is minimal among its members.
So can the gangs be tamed, and drug pushers and notorious killers, become footballers and soldiers? The level of street violence in Chiang Mai has no doubt subsided over the past few years in part due to Yai Aew's matronly influence. There are perhaps also somewhat fewer youngsters using drugs. But their behavior is still risky, and it would need many more dedicated volunteers like Yai Aew to eliminate the problem for good.
Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and is currently a writer with Asia-Pacific Media Services. Jantrapa Ganthawong in Chiang Mai contributed to this story.
Chiang Mai Zoo holds religious ceremony to ward off ill fortunes
On November 18, Mr. Thanaphat Phongphamorn, Director of Chiang Mai Zoo invited a famous Buddhist monk, Phra Khru Palatkrit Titviriyo abbot of Wat Prabat Pang Faen. Bang Faen, Doi Saket, Chiang Mai to preside over a ‘ward off ill fortune’ ceremony for visitors to the zoo.
The ceremony was held in the grounds of Wat Kudin Khaw in Chiang Mai Zoo and give food to the animal of their sign of the zodiac. The zoo put officers on duty to assist those wishing to give food to their animal zodiac birth sign.
Many visitors participated in the ceremony to ward off ill fortune.
Mr Thanaphat said that the zoo had organized the ceremonies to give visitors a chance to make merit and participate in the ill fortune ceremony. This year is the year of the Pig and those born under the year of the Pig are not charged entry into the zoo. Those born under other signs of the Zodiac can also participate in the ceremony as it is held once a month at Wat Kudin Khaw at the zoo. Those who participate in the ‘ward off ill fortune’ ceremony can also give food to their zodiac animal. Officers are on duty to assist and provide explanations on how to perform the ‘ward off ill fortune’ ceremony properly.
There are numerous ways to perform the ceremony to lessen one’s bad fortune, namely:
1. Save the life of or release an animal that is at risk of losing its life or be killed.
2. Make merit by giving property for the upkeep of animals, which is compared to giving life. 3. Make merit and participate in the religious warding off ill fortune ceremony.
4. Keep the vows and don’t offend anyone physically, verbally or mentally.
Visitors can participate in the ceremony once per month. Next month’s ceremony will be held on December15. (CMM Reporters)
http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd5
No progress in Phra Supoj case: memorial to the failure of the system of justice
Ongard Decha
17/01/08
The circumstance will be remembered surrounding the brutal slaying of Phra Supoj Suwajo, the activist monk of the Buddhadasa Study Group and the abbot of the Suan Metta Dhamma Meditation Centre, Ban Huai Ngu, Sansai Subdistrict, Fang District, Chiang Mai Province, who was killed on 17 June 2005. This case has aroused continuing public interest.
..........
This case is another example of conservationists and Buddhist teachers who have sacrificed to protect natural resources in he communities where they live, against the power of local influential groups who, hand-in-hand with state officials, use brute force to destroy the lives of villagers who stand in the way of their profits, so that they can continue to scoop up the resources o the community.
Many people see this case only as an ordinary murder case, Whether a layman or a priest, there is the random chance of becoming a victim in dark times like the present. But if the details of the case looked at carefully, we will see the links behind the problem from a broader perspective. This is not just the murder of a monk in Fang District; it is not just the murder of a monk in Chiang Mai; and it is not just the murder of a monk in Thailand. The problem is many times bigger than that.
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State policy and the system of justice of Thailand are continuously crippled, to the point where Thai society is beginning to wonder who in the end can people put their faith in.
Recently, Prachatai interviewed Phra Kittisak Kittisophano, chair of the Metta Dhamma Foundation, to ask about progress in the case. His answers showed clearly that this case is a memorial to the failure of the Thai system of justice.
Can you please tell us of the progress in the case?
This January 2008 is the 31st month since the loss of Phra Supoj Suwajo. It's like every time we talk, it is about the worry of the relatives of the deceased that state officials have not been able to bring the perpetrators to justice. Right now, whoever killed Phra Supoj is walking about freely. There has been no arrest warrant and no clear identification of anyone who gave the orders, or of anyone at all. At present, the state agencies, the police, the Department of Special Investigation, or the other security organizations who have declared their interest, are not sure who is connected to this case.
Various hypotheses of the parents and relatives believe that the death of Phra Supoj was the action of those who did not agree with Phra Supoj and of influential people. But in the end, the criminal goes free and the state agencies have given up on the problem and don't offer any help.
And now there are moves to cancel the witness protection programme, and to cancel the investigation, both the public one and the one behind closed doors. In sum, the reality is that the family of Phra Supoj have heard of no progress for half a year now. It's another historical case which reflects the clear failure of the investigation and of the Thai system of justice.
Why has witness protection been suddenly cancelled like this?
Since September last year, the end of the budget year, it was cancelled for unknown reasons. There were no reasons. Some say that the Royal Thai Police gave an order to cancel witness protection in this case. Then the Department of Special Investigation said that if the police do not provide protection, it will contact the Third Army. Col. Piyawat Kingket, Commander of the Special Crime Office of the Department of Special Investigation, said this, but has since gone silent. There has been no contact.
The Office of Witness Protection of the Ministry of Justice has been in contact and asked if there is still protection or not. But when they were told that the police officers had withdrawn, they said that the issue of witness protection would later come under the DSI. The various expenses came from the DSI.
Now that there is no witness protection, have there been any threats?
Now that there is no witness protection, there are threats all the time and violence is increasing. The latest incident was gunshots. A stranger came into the Meditation Centre at night. We told the DSI but nothing happened. Now there are police officers from Fang Police Station stationed at Suan Metta Dhamma Meditation Centre from Monday to Wednesday in the mornings until noon. Then they go back. This is like a symbol, or talking about safety. But it does not inspire confidence. But it s loving-kindness, it is the generosity of the Commander of Fang Police Station who still sends police officers here. And it's the same agency that's ends them. But if you ask whether it's effective in protecting people, that's hard to answer.
As regards progress in the case, do you see any chance of movement?
The opportunity for gathering testimony from witnesses and evidence, I we speak knowledgeably, is something that is time-sensitive. If a long time passes, memories fade, materials degrade with time. The chances of finding the perpetrators are reduced. It's even worse if you follow the trail of someone and want to punish him by law, because there are no solid witnesses, no good evidence, nothing in the case. The agencies that by law are responsible are using time to destroy justice, to destroy the truth, to wear people down so that they give up. These agencies have to do their job, to move forward. Time is making this case a sorry affair, especially because it is the murder of a monk in broad daylight in a public place. But the power of the state, with all its resources and personnel, has not been able to ensure justice. So it really is a memorial to failure.
Does it seem as though the case is scarcely given any importance by all the government agencies?
Yes. You can see that no matter who is in charge at the time, whether it is Pol Lt Col Thaksin Shinawatra or Gen Surayud Chulanont under the CNS, or under the 2007 Constitution, this case has limited importance. When we go to see the Minister of Justice, we are told that this case has to wait because there are more important cases they have to deal with first. If you ask them what these are, they say, for example, corruption in the Thaksin government, Suvarnabhumi Airport, the concealment and movement of Thaksin's money. This reflects a picture that when someone at the level of the Minister of Justice, who has supreme authority over the DSI, thinks this way, people on the ground can't do much. They can only do what is under their responsibility. There are more important cases that take precedence.
Was it a mistake to transfer the case the DSI?
You can conclude that it was a mistake for us to have the DSI take over this case. Just like the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit, or the murder of Charoen Wat-Aksorn. None of these cases has made any progress. It is a failure of the agencies and the personnel working on these cases.
These agencies have a structure that is defective. This results in internal conflict, including what is in the news about their many problems. Officials who have been seconded from the police or military, officials in different sections who work in DSI, are in conflict with each other and can't solve the problem. At the same time, the DSI has gone back to being used politically as a way of hampering the opposition. This also shows there is no efficiency in their work. You can say it is a failure, a waste if the people's tax money.
Or is it that this case has been a failure because the original investigation methods were faulty?
Yes. The Thai system of justice under Thai law o a matter of collecting evidence to prove what happened according to the charge. If the original procedures by the police who build the case are defective, the whole process collapses like a line of dominoes. So people with influence, who know the system of justice, will use loopholes. It's the same in the case of Somchai's murder, which can't be proven, since it is only a missing person case. The case of Phra Supoj was the same from the start. Some lawyers raised suspicions that it was case where the suspects could not be identified because no one saw what happened, there were no eye witnesses.
We can see that if there is no solution to this, the system of justice will fail from the outset. It fails because the people who collect evidence, the people who do the initial investigation, intend to go off course. They make false hypotheses. The judge cannot provide justice, because the judge is the person who considers the case as presented by the officials who collected the original evidence. If it is like this, then it's like what the villagers say, the rich don't go to jail. It's only stupid people and poor people who go to jail.
So we cannot expect that there will be any big guy who gave the orders, who manipulated a web of misery through illegal acts and evil depravity. There is no way to be confident that he will be brought to justice, not to mention anything more elevated than that, such as that these people with influence in the patron-client system are connected to politics and economics, are connected to the community culture. In the end, the mechanisms of the state cannot put this right. It's like the state pushes officials to kowtow to influential people to ask for proper justice.
The case of Phra Supoj is not a matter of Phra Supoj alone, or of his family, or of the network of people's organizations. But the case of Phra Supoj is a picture of the entire system of justice. Those who have the power of the state in their hands cannot see the overall picture of the connecting factors. There is no way to solve this problem. There is no way at all of improving the system of justice.
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=487
Border opening a one-sided love affair
News - S.H.A.N.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Hundreds of Thai entrepreneurs who turned up at the inaugural ceremony of the Kiu Phawok border pass between Chiangmai and Burma's Mongton this morning, amid unexpected downpour, were disappointed when the other side of the border remained empty of humanity.
"It (the opening) is good for the people on both sides of the border," one distressed trader told S.H.A.N. "Why should the Burmese leaders want to keep us apart if they are working for the good of their people?"
People in Mongton have also expressed their wish to reopen the Kiu Phawok border, also known as BP-1 (Boundary Post #1), closed since 2002 following confrontations between the two countries' armies over the issue of drug influx from Burma, according to SHAN sources on the border.
Thailand presented its proposal to reopen the border pass at the Township Border Committee (TBC) meeting in November. Burma so far is yet to respond to it.
Thai business sector had reportedly consulted Col Yawdserk, leader of the anti-junta Shan State Army (SSA) South, about the likelihood of increased drug flow due to the reopening. "I told them the drug trade doesn't have to depend on official border passes for its mobility," said the 50-year old SSA chief. "You don't seem to be concerned about the existing border checkpoints. So why should you worry about an additional one. I say open as many as you like. It is good for the people."
Thailand and Burma have four permanent border checkpoints:
Maesai-Tachilek
Maesod-Myawaddy
Three Pagodas
Ranong-Kawsawng (Kawthaung)
Pimsorn Thuamsri, Chairwoman of the Muangna Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO), Chiangdao district, Chaingmai Province, who presided over the opening ceremony, said, "When the border is closed, both the Thai and Burmese governments lose, because people and goods are still crossing the border through unofficial routes, but there is no revenue to help develop the border areas. We hope the Burmese government will act in the best interests of the people on both sides and reciprocate our goodwill soon."
The Kiu Phawok border pass, before 2002, was opened three days a week: Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Main imports from Burma were beans, sesame, cattle and timber while Thailand exported fuel oil and processed foodstuff, according to a TAO official.
Next >
http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3445&Itemid=1
Mayor’s monthly discussion meeting determines future of city
Good thoughts for Chiang Mai at 712th anniversary
The second of the monthly meetings of residents of Chiang Mai with the Mayor and her representatives was held last week at the Chiang Mai Art Museum in the old city. Many people, both foreign and Thai, attended, and, as usual, many points were raised, some of which had been mentioned on previous occasions. Dr Chao Duangduan na Chiengmai, the Chiang Mai Cultural Council’s president, noted that April 12 had been the 712th anniversary of the founding of the city, and that projects at to establish the needs of Chiang Mai residents had been concluded. Many ideas and requests had been submitted, all of them expressing concern for the future development of the city.
Points noted were as follows: that the Womens’ Prison at present located in the Old Palace should be moved, and that the palace should be renovated and its immediate area should be given over to a “city field”, both to give more green space and to be used for special celebrations. Chiang Mai International Airport needs to be moved away from the city, as at present the number of flights is increasing, resulting in serious noise pollution and damage to homes in adjacent residential areas.
Central government should be approached regarding the need for another railway line, to facilitate an increase in services, which would result in more train journeys and less cars on the road, reducing accidents and the amount of fuel used. Public transportation should be improved over the entire area of the city and its environs; private car usage should lessen as a result. The local authority should work closely with the local community, and stop the destruction of dams and waterways which is threatening the livelihoods of local farmers in Chiang Mai and Lamphun. Green areas, the “lungs of the city”, should be increased; more trees should be planted along the Ping River banks, the roads, and at the historical sites. Renovation of the ancient city walls should be prioritized, and Chiang Mai’s many temples should be regarded as places of peace and contemplation, not as car parks! Hotels should not be decorated in traditional temple styles, out of respect. The city footpaths should be kept for walking only, and not used by vendors to sell their wares. The local authorities should develop strategies for dealing with the city’s garbage; recycling should be encouraged, as should using garbage to produce electricity. Residents should be encouraged to visit Wat Chedi Luang at the time of the City Pillar and Flower Offering ceremony, and roads which cut across temple grounds should be closed. The road between Chiang Mai and Lampang should be planted with new trees, and the field in front of Wat Jed Yod renamed as Tilokarach Field in respectful memory of the great King of Lanna of that name on his 600th anniversary. The local authority should be stricter as regards solving the problems of the city and enforcing its laws. Alcohol should be completely banned at Songkran; a correct dress code should be legally enforced during cultural ceremonies, and cars should be banned from the moat road during the festivities. Lastly, business owners in Chiang Mai should not be allowed to erect high rise concrete buildings - the city should not, under any circumstances be allowed to resemble Bangkok!
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