PRAY FOR JAKARTA
What’s hot in Thai newspapers and social media
The absolute power wielded by the government cannot always solve problems, says columnist Mae Look Chan in Thai Rath newspaper, referring to the regime’s attempts to shore up the rubber price.
He said if the government bows to growers’ demands to guarantee the price of rubber at 60 baht/kg for rubber sheets, the government will have to shoulder a burden of about 100 billion baht.
In doing so, the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also would be following in the footsteps of Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration, which spent billions of baht helping farmers with its rice-pledging scheme.
The writer said he supported the government’s instruction to the Public Warehouse Organisation to buy 100,000 tonnes of rubber products directly from farmers at above-market prices to prevent the price from falling further.
The rubbber will not be kept in storage as a stockpile but will be processed into products such as rubber tiles for flooring or mixed with asphalt for road surfacing, said Mae Look Chan.
However, he said the government’s measure to buy rubber directly from growers will not drive up rubber prices in the market in the long run because the 100,000 tonnes of rubber to be purchased represent less than 3% of the rubber yield.
The main issue is: Will all the rubber growers be satisfied with the 35 baht/kg guaranteed price offered by the government? If they are not and still demand 60 baht/kg, the government may have to spend even more.
Pray for Jakarta
Social media communities around the world have expressed their sympathy over the terror attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday.
Seven people were killed with five suspected attackers among them. National police spokesman Anton Charliyan said it was unclear who carried out the attack. However, Islamist militant groups had warned about a “concert in Indonesia” since New Year.
Unity goal elusive
Reconciliation does not mean all rival camps have to agree with each another on every issue. Rather, it means they must respect each other’s rights and democratic rules which are acceptable to the majority, columnist Mud Lek writes in Thai Rath newspaper.
He said yesterday the National Legislative Assembly’s proposal to set up a 24-member reconciliation and peace committee to bring about reconciliation has come under heavy fire.
Several reconciliation panels and countless meetings have been set up over the years but all have failed, he said.
Even the reconciliation panel established by the National Council for Peace and Order and headed by Anek Laothammatat failed to advance the issue and its findings were shelved, said Mud Lek.
He cited a remark by Prasarn Marukapitak, a former member of the National Reform Council: “There is nothing to talk about as the reconciliation issue has been discussed countless times. The big question is who will have to reconcile with whom and whether they are individuals or groups. Probably, we have to wait until the next life.”
If it difficult to get two people to agree on everything, it would be much more difficult to get people across the country to think the same way, wrote Mud Lek.
White-skin pills backfire
Thais seem obsessed with having lighter skin and are ready to go to any length to get it. Their efforts can backfire, however, as one young man found when he took a food supplement containing glutathione to turn his brown skin white, only to end up with dark blotches all over his body.
Siam update.com reports the young man told PPTV he took the supplement containing glutathione, an antioxidant extracted from plants, animals, fungi, and some bacteria, and his skin turned spotty after two months.
The “food supplement” capsules, sold by an unidentified company, caused his skin to break out in small bubbles that look like chickenpox. They burst within two weeks, leaving pimplelike marks that turned into dark blotches.
Noppadol Noppakhun, president of the Dermatological Society of Thailand, said glutathione cannot turn skin white permanently as claimed by some pill vendors.
He said trying to change the structure of the skin is futile and can be dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration specifies that any whitening cosmetic on the market must not attempt to change skin structure.
Approved skin-whitening products merely coat the skin to make it appear lighter. This is also the case with sun block lotions. Anything that attempts to change the structure of the skin is classified as medicine and must be used only under the guidance of doctors.
He said glutathione comes as pills or is injected. As an injection, it will alter the skin pigment but only temporarily. It also comes with serious side effects, sometimes fatal.
He advised people to use cosmetics, which are safer. The young man with the skin blotches is now receiving treatment under the care of a dermatologist.
Disabled man’s
plight moves
A story of a 48-year-old disabled man who filed a complaint with Langsuan police station, Chumphon province, against a savings cooperative in his village has gone viral on social media outlets including Khaosod, Sanook, Youtube and Bloggang.
On Wednesday, wheelchair-bound Somporn Boonthawee filed a complaint against the cooperative in Tonod Ha Ton village.
Mr Somporn told police he has been saving his 500-baht-allowance for disabled people every month for the past 13 years and the amount had reached 78,000 baht in total.
In June last year, Mr Somporn tried to withdraw his savings but was turned down.
The cooperative chairman, a former village headman, told him his request could not be met as the cooperative did not have enough money and was in the process of clearing its accounts.
Mr Somporn made subsequent attempts to withdraw his money but was turned away each time.
He and a group of cooperative members then decided to seek help from the police.
Mr Somporn said the money represents his life savings and he wants it to buy tricycles for the disabled.
The cooperative was set up in 2011 with Sanit Daengmanee as a chairman of a 10-member committee. Reports claim 890,000 baht has disappeared from its account.
In social media comments, Latchasee Hang Chaengwattana questioned on Sanook: “Don’t believe everything you hear. The cooperative was founded in 2011 which is only four years ago. And so 12x4 = 48x500 = 24,000 baht. But the news says the man has saved 500 baht every month for the past 13 years. But this is not yet 13 years so the withdrawal is declined? Or if it’s certain that he is cheated, then he should stop saving there.”
Songsarn added: “Cheating is found everywhere, in every occupation and organisation. People’s consciences are diminishing every single day.”
Police are investigating the complaint.