Meanwhile, the Patriotic Thais Club today submitted a letter to the prime minister at Parliament, urging the government to launch serious measures against and stop giving any aid to Cambodia.The prime minister vows to peacefully settle conflicts with Cambodia, particularly concerning the recent controversial statement by the Cambodian prime minister.
The group then lodged a petition with the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok, demanding that the Cambodian government issue an apology and withdraw troops from the Preah Vihear Temple within three days.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stressed that the government will make efforts to settle any conflicts with Cambodia in a peaceful manner, keeping in mind the nation's territorial rights.
Abhisit's explanation came in response to the question by appointed senator Kamnoon Sittisaman during today's Senate meeting.
The prime minister said Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national security Suthep Thaugsuban has clarified various issues, particularly inaccurate information, with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian ambassador to Bangkok.
Abhisit expressed belief that the conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia would not get out of hand.
The prime minister went on to say that in the parliamentary meeting next week, the government will review the minute of the meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on land border demarcation.
He noted that the minute will be considered according to procedure as stipulated by Section 190 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Abhisit said he does not oppose setting up a joint parliamentary committee to handle the review as proposed by Kamnoon.
Regarding the demarcation of the Thai-Cambodian border, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said the Thai government is trying to hold bilateral talks with Cambodia.
He added that he does not object to requests by archaeologists to join inspection trips across the border.
Kasit revealed that, so far, the government has been able to plant 48 out of 73 markers to demarcate the border.
Meanwhile, the Patriotic Thais Club today submitted a letter to the prime minister at Parliament, urging the government to launch serious measures against and stop giving any aid to Cambodia.
The group then lodged a petition with the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok, demanding that the Cambodian government issue an apology and withdraw troops from the Preah Vihear Temple within three days.
Tropical storm Mirinae will produce another day of strong winds, heavy rainfall, and thunderstorms throughout Vietnam and Cambodia on Tuesday as it treks westward through the Gulf of Thailand.
Mirinae is not expected to redevelop after battering the Philippines, where it left 20 people dead as a typhoon.
Elsewhere, a strong disturbance exiting Japan will kick up a few early morning showers in North Korea and the Sea of Japan, as well as light scattered showers in northern Japan on Tuesday.
As the system exits into the Pacific Ocean, a broad ridge of high pressure will build in behind it, bringing pleasant and dry weather to much of eastern China, the Korean peninsula, and southern Japan.
Temperatures across these regions will begin to warm through the afternoon. This warming trend is expected to last until midweek.
CAMBODIAN villager Reun Rim was selling noodles on the street and earning 75 cents a day, until she heard she could get a loan of US$100 (S$139) to start a farm.
The money is a loan from VisionFund, a World Vision initiative which offers the poor in developing countries a leg-up, not a handout.
With the sum of money, the 29-year-old and her husband began rearing pigs in Samrith village, located 30km from the provincial town of Kampong Thom, north-east of Phnom Penh.
Within a month, they were making between US$2.50 and US$5 a day, which covers their loan repayments, food for the family and, most importantly, their two children's school fees.
'Now they can go to school, and I'm determined to encourage them to complete their education,' she said.
VisionFund aims to help many more like Reun Rim become self-sufficient.
It extends loans to those who lack the collateral and credit history needed to borrow from big banks, finding great success among villagers who want to start their own businesses.
It boasts a repayment rate of 98.2 per cent in Cambodia - an almost flawless track record - where monthly interest rates range from 1.6 per cent to 3.5 per cent, about a third of the 5 per cent to 10 per cent that local moneylenders charge.
Since its launch in 1993, it has helped more than 600,000 people in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
The fund's parent organisation, World Vision, is a Christian humanitarian body which tackles problems of poverty in 98 countries. It charges interest on VisionFund microloans - to teach villagers to become financially independent, under the usual competitive market conditions.
World Vision in Singapore joined in last year, taking villages in Cambodia, Mongolia and Sri Lanka under its wing.
In rural Cambodia alone, about 800,000 families have benefited from VisionFund loans. Nearly seven in 10 borrowers in the 47 participating countries are women.
It works like this: VisionFund sets up community banks in rural villages. Each bank needs about $9,000 to support the villagers, money that comes from donors.
Then, its loan officers teach residents about cash flow and credit discipline - by using colourful flip charts - and subsequently disburse money to successful applicants, usually between 20 and 60 villagers with potentially good business plans.
Loans range from US$20 to US$120, with most people borrowing about US$90. They continue to receive regular training and mentoring sessions from loan officers after getting the money.
In time, they can move on to borrowing bigger sums to grow their businesses - up to US$5,000.
To encourage prompt repayment, VisionFund's community banks get neighbours to act as mutual guarantors.
Doing so, explained World Vision Singapore executive director James Quek, makes the loan a community responsibility with a higher chance of repayment: 'Because of the cohesiveness of the community, they don't want to burden their neighbours.'
Thailand's ex-premier is on the run. And he wants the Twitterati to know about it.
BANGKOK, Thailand – To hear the Thailand’s ruling government tell it, Thaksin Shinawatra is the kingdom’s most meddlesome fugitive.
Since fleeing Thailand last year, the self-exiled, billionaire ex-premier has zig-zagged the globe while stirring anti-establishment supporters from afar. He has incessantly needled the ruling party through in-country proxies, sarcastic Tweet messages and Skype video calls, broadcast at political pep rallies that sometimes turn violent.
His sanctuaries have included Hong Kong, London, Liberia and Dubai. Each new hideout spurs new extradition threats from the government. But if Thaksin pulls off a recent promise to visit Cambodia — right in Thailand’s backyard — the government’s repeated promises to catch him may begin to appear hollow.
Many experts already suspect authorities prefer Thaksin as a fugitive rather than a prisoner.
“The best way to diminish Thaksin’s popularity is not to make him a martyr, but rather to allow him to make a fool of himself via Skype as often as he wishes,” said Federico Ferrara, assistant political science professor at the National University of Singapore.
Imprisoning Thaksin, he said, would be “highly destabilizing,” sparking huge rallies and endless requests for release.
Thaksin has repeatedly promised supporters he’ll someday come home to Thailand. This week, the Thai government was rankled by his plans to visit the neighborhood.
At an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen went on the offense for Thaksin and publicly offered to build him a Cambodian home.
Moreover, he pondered hiring him as a political advisor and even compared him to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and political prisoner in Burma. Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup after five years of rule, is also a “victim” of politics, Hun Sen said.
These slights were widely interpreted as payback for an ongoing Thai-Cambodia land ownership dispute that has riled fierce nationalism on both sides and occasionally turned bloody. Bitterness between the countries runs even deeper, dating back to alleged Thai government sympathies to communist Khmer Rogue leaders who led mass killings in Cambodia during the 1980s.
“I don’t want (Hun Sen) to be a victim or a pawn for somebody that undermines the interests of this country,” said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at a press conference. “I’m sure that when he’s better informed, he’ll change his mind.”
But Thaksin now insists he’s Cambodia-bound. He even Tweeted his thanks to Hun Sen, who has assured the ex-premier that Cambodia will disregard extradition requests.
Actually extraditing and jailing Thaksin would surely enrage his supporters, a largely rural, working-class faction known as the “red shirts.” Many of them believe Thaksin was the first Thai politician to challenge old-money elites and fight on their behalf.
The powers behind the coup that toppled Thaksin in 2006, however, insist he is incorrigibly corrupt. Last year, courts sentenced him to two years in prison for using political power to secure a Bangkok land deal for his wife.
By keeping Thaksin on the run, he remains a “fugitive” that “helps the government portray the ‘red shirts’ as illegitimate by association,” said political professor Kevin Hewison, director of the Carolina Asia Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The government appears to crank up its Thaksin hunt each time his supporters become active, Hewison said.
Imprisoning Thaksin, he said, would just stir even more problems for the government. “He'd likely become an imprisoned symbol for opposition,” Hewison said. “Do they want that? No. He is less of a threat, and a declining star for the red shirt supporters, if he is at a distance.”
Authorities likely set the stage for Thaksin’s escape themselves, Ferrara said, by allowing the ex-premier to attend the 2008 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing. Thaksin was then on trial for fraud and a guilty verdict was widely assumed. Judges granted him leave, Ferrara said, expecting him to flee.
He has acquired up to six passports – secured from countries including Montenegro and Nicaragua, his political backers said – to traverse the globe and evade capture. Keeping up the appearance of a vigorous chase has helped the Thai government cement Thaksin’s “fugitive” image, Ferrara said.
“Thaksin can only be discredited as a ‘fugitive’ if someone is actually pursuing him,” he said.
“Otherwise he would be merely an ‘exiled politician,’ something that has a much more favorable connotation because it hints at the possibility that the government might either not have the goods on Thaksin or the stomach to lock him up.”
BANGKOK, Thailand – To hear the Thailand’s ruling government tell it, Thaksin Shinawatra is the kingdom’s most meddlesome fugitive.
Since fleeing Thailand last year, the self-exiled, billionaire ex-premier has zig-zagged the globe while stirring anti-establishment supporters from afar. He has incessantly needled the ruling party through in-country proxies, sarcastic Tweet messages and Skype video calls, broadcast at political pep rallies that sometimes turn violent.
His sanctuaries have included Hong Kong, London, Liberia and Dubai. Each new hideout spurs new extradition threats from the government. But if Thaksin pulls off a recent promise to visit Cambodia — right in Thailand’s backyard — the government’s repeated promises to catch him may begin to appear hollow.
Many experts already suspect authorities prefer Thaksin as a fugitive rather than a prisoner.
“The best way to diminish Thaksin’s popularity is not to make him a martyr, but rather to allow him to make a fool of himself via Skype as often as he wishes,” said Federico Ferrara, assistant political science professor at the National University of Singapore.
Imprisoning Thaksin, he said, would be “highly destabilizing,” sparking huge rallies and endless requests for release.
Thaksin has repeatedly promised supporters he’ll someday come home to Thailand. This week, the Thai government was rankled by his plans to visit the neighborhood.
At an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen went on the offense for Thaksin and publicly offered to build him a Cambodian home.
Moreover, he pondered hiring him as a political advisor and even compared him to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and political prisoner in Burma. Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup after five years of rule, is also a “victim” of politics, Hun Sen said.
These slights were widely interpreted as payback for an ongoing Thai-Cambodia land ownership dispute that has riled fierce nationalism on both sides and occasionally turned bloody. Bitterness between the countries runs even deeper, dating back to alleged Thai government sympathies to communist Khmer Rogue leaders who led mass killings in Cambodia during the 1980s.
“I don’t want (Hun Sen) to be a victim or a pawn for somebody that undermines the interests of this country,” said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at a press conference. “I’m sure that when he’s better informed, he’ll change his mind.”
But Thaksin now insists he’s Cambodia-bound. He even Tweeted his thanks to Hun Sen, who has assured the ex-premier that Cambodia will disregard extradition requests.
Actually extraditing and jailing Thaksin would surely enrage his supporters, a largely rural, working-class faction known as the “red shirts.” Many of them believe Thaksin was the first Thai politician to challenge old-money elites and fight on their behalf.
The powers behind the coup that toppled Thaksin in 2006, however, insist he is incorrigibly corrupt. Last year, courts sentenced him to two years in prison for using political power to secure a Bangkok land deal for his wife.
By keeping Thaksin on the run, he remains a “fugitive” that “helps the government portray the ‘red shirts’ as illegitimate by association,” said political professor Kevin Hewison, director of the Carolina Asia Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The government appears to crank up its Thaksin hunt each time his supporters become active, Hewison said.
Imprisoning Thaksin, he said, would just stir even more problems for the government. “He'd likely become an imprisoned symbol for opposition,” Hewison said. “Do they want that? No. He is less of a threat, and a declining star for the red shirt supporters, if he is at a distance.”
Authorities likely set the stage for Thaksin’s escape themselves, Ferrara said, by allowing the ex-premier to attend the 2008 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing. Thaksin was then on trial for fraud and a guilty verdict was widely assumed. Judges granted him leave, Ferrara said, expecting him to flee.
He has acquired up to six passports – secured from countries including Montenegro and Nicaragua, his political backers said – to traverse the globe and evade capture. Keeping up the appearance of a vigorous chase has helped the Thai government cement Thaksin’s “fugitive” image, Ferrara said.
“Thaksin can only be discredited as a ‘fugitive’ if someone is actually pursuing him,” he said.
“Otherwise he would be merely an ‘exiled politician,’ something that has a much more favorable connotation because it hints at the possibility that the government might either not have the goods on Thaksin or the stomach to lock him up.”
A $20 solar-powered lamp could benefit millions of rural Cambodian residents, but most still can’t afford it. Subsidies, its makers say, are sorely needed. (Kamworks)Generous subsidies for businesses and tax incentives for consumers are needed if developing countries like Cambodia are to promote renewable energy alternatives — particularly in rural areas — a conference in Phnom Penh on green energy was told last week.
At the moment, conference participants complained, such incentives are sorely lacking.
“Cambodian investors have low investment capital,” said Rin Seyha, the managing director of SME Renewable Energy, a Cambodian-based renewable energy investment firm. Unlike neighboring Vietnam, there is very little in the way of tax incentives and subsidies on loans for renewable energy companies, he said.
Jeroen Verschelling, the director of Kamworks, a Cambodian-based solar energy company, said consumers who wish to use more environmentally friendly energy sources are often forced to ask for assistance from microfinance institutions that tend to provide loans with extremely high interest rates.
Mr Verschelling complained that large scale coal plant and hydropower projects are able to easily secure financing. For smaller, renewable projects, “it is much harder to do that,” he said.
According to the environmental group Geres, 80 percent of Cambodia’s energy consumption comes from biomass, mostly from burning timber. The United Nations Development Program estimates that just 20 percent of the population has access to the national power grid.
Small, renewable energy developers say this means most energy-sector financing is directed at projects that benefit only a fifth of Cambodia’s residents.
Kamworks has recently launched a basic solar powered light for people in rural areas. The lamp, which retails for about $20, needs direct sunlight during the day and at night runs for about 12 hours on its lowest setting, or about three hours on its highest.
“To pay $20 at once is a huge amount for local people,” said Patrick Kooijman, the marketing director for Kamworks, who added that the lamps really ought to be given away for free. “I think that the private sector getting involved in things like this is the only way it really can work in the long term.”
Meanwhile, Margaret Ryan, an energy consultant for Khmer Solar, which specializes in solar power installation, said that despite government efforts to slash import tariffs on equipment used for renewable energy sources — tariff rates on imports have been reduced form 35 percent to seven percent on items such as solar panels and battery chargers and have been altogether eliminated for items such as wind and hydraulic turbines — the Cambodian consumer is generally unable to afford the costs of installing solar panels.
“Even if labor is very inexpensive, it is still costly,” she said. “Any expense is too much expense.”
In order to reduce prices, Khmer solar is encouraging Cambodians to install the equipment themselves by disseminating simple installation leaflets and employing operators who can troubleshoot for clients with technical issues.
But these efforts are merely a drop in the pond when trying to make any major inroad into Cambodia’s energy sector.
“The next obstacle to overcome will be a workable plan for a subsidy,” Ms. Ryan said. “It would be wonderful if the government subsidizes the poorest to get solar systems. But I doubt it will happen.”
At the moment, conference participants complained, such incentives are sorely lacking.
“Cambodian investors have low investment capital,” said Rin Seyha, the managing director of SME Renewable Energy, a Cambodian-based renewable energy investment firm. Unlike neighboring Vietnam, there is very little in the way of tax incentives and subsidies on loans for renewable energy companies, he said.
Jeroen Verschelling, the director of Kamworks, a Cambodian-based solar energy company, said consumers who wish to use more environmentally friendly energy sources are often forced to ask for assistance from microfinance institutions that tend to provide loans with extremely high interest rates.
Mr Verschelling complained that large scale coal plant and hydropower projects are able to easily secure financing. For smaller, renewable projects, “it is much harder to do that,” he said.
According to the environmental group Geres, 80 percent of Cambodia’s energy consumption comes from biomass, mostly from burning timber. The United Nations Development Program estimates that just 20 percent of the population has access to the national power grid.
Small, renewable energy developers say this means most energy-sector financing is directed at projects that benefit only a fifth of Cambodia’s residents.
Kamworks has recently launched a basic solar powered light for people in rural areas. The lamp, which retails for about $20, needs direct sunlight during the day and at night runs for about 12 hours on its lowest setting, or about three hours on its highest.
“To pay $20 at once is a huge amount for local people,” said Patrick Kooijman, the marketing director for Kamworks, who added that the lamps really ought to be given away for free. “I think that the private sector getting involved in things like this is the only way it really can work in the long term.”
Meanwhile, Margaret Ryan, an energy consultant for Khmer Solar, which specializes in solar power installation, said that despite government efforts to slash import tariffs on equipment used for renewable energy sources — tariff rates on imports have been reduced form 35 percent to seven percent on items such as solar panels and battery chargers and have been altogether eliminated for items such as wind and hydraulic turbines — the Cambodian consumer is generally unable to afford the costs of installing solar panels.
“Even if labor is very inexpensive, it is still costly,” she said. “Any expense is too much expense.”
In order to reduce prices, Khmer solar is encouraging Cambodians to install the equipment themselves by disseminating simple installation leaflets and employing operators who can troubleshoot for clients with technical issues.
But these efforts are merely a drop in the pond when trying to make any major inroad into Cambodia’s energy sector.
“The next obstacle to overcome will be a workable plan for a subsidy,” Ms. Ryan said. “It would be wonderful if the government subsidizes the poorest to get solar systems. But I doubt it will happen.”
Meanwhile, the Patriotic Thais Club today submitted a letter to the prime minister at Parliament, urging the government to launch serious measures against and stop giving any aid to Cambodia.The prime minister vows to peacefully settle conflicts with Cambodia, particularly concerning the recent controversial statement by the Cambodian prime minister.
The group then lodged a petition with the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok, demanding that the Cambodian government issue an apology and withdraw troops from the Preah Vihear Temple within three days.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stressed that the government will make efforts to settle any conflicts with Cambodia in a peaceful manner, keeping in mind the nation's territorial rights.
Abhisit's explanation came in response to the question by appointed senator Kamnoon Sittisaman during today's Senate meeting.
The prime minister said Deputy Prime Minister in charge of national security Suthep Thaugsuban has clarified various issues, particularly inaccurate information, with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian ambassador to Bangkok.
Abhisit expressed belief that the conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia would not get out of hand.
The prime minister went on to say that in the parliamentary meeting next week, the government will review the minute of the meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on land border demarcation.
He noted that the minute will be considered according to procedure as stipulated by Section 190 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Abhisit said he does not oppose setting up a joint parliamentary committee to handle the review as proposed by Kamnoon.
Regarding the demarcation of the Thai-Cambodian border, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said the Thai government is trying to hold bilateral talks with Cambodia.
He added that he does not object to requests by archaeologists to join inspection trips across the border.
Kasit revealed that, so far, the government has been able to plant 48 out of 73 markers to demarcate the border.
Meanwhile, the Patriotic Thais Club today submitted a letter to the prime minister at Parliament, urging the government to launch serious measures against and stop giving any aid to Cambodia.
The group then lodged a petition with the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok, demanding that the Cambodian government issue an apology and withdraw troops from the Preah Vihear Temple within three days.