Aung San Suu Kyi is currently the only laureate from ASEAN. If the second ASEAN laureate goes to Burma again, other members of ASEAN may be unhappy about it…
@Laoguy #93
“The mind map fiasco of 2010 also had the reference to the dinosaur wearing a blue diamond. Who produced the evidence in that case? Who was it meant to discredit?”
I don’t really know about the nonsensical mind map 2010. Never really read it, because I know that it is going to be loads of BS. And the army did admit it last year that the mind map was BS.
Anyway, I will only address the issue of the Saudi jewel. There is really no concrete evidence where the Blue Diamond is. But the Saudi diplomats are confident that it is still in Thailand. Rumours and circumstantial evidences which followed the lost of Blue Diamond made many Thais believe that the Blue Diamond is now with Queen Sirikit.
More regarding the journal ScienceAsia: Supachai’s PhD paper, “Establishment of Thailand’s National Organic Agriculture Strategies: A Case Study in Organic Asparagus Production”, was signed off by Supot Hannongbua. Who is he? Well, he was on the ScienceAsia editorial board from 2001 to 2008. Siriwat Wongsiri, Sirirat Rengpipat and Christophe Le Page also signed the paper. Siriwat Wongsiri? Also on the ScienceAsia editorial board from 2001 to 2008. (As I mentioned above, ScienceAsia cleared out all traces of Chula in 2008.) So apart from the chair person, Nantana Gajaseni, only Sirirat Rengpipat and Christophe Le Page could be considered independent – I wonder if Christophe is aware of the scandal?
If you’re talking about w3.mict.go.th then nobody can access that. The most likely error msg is a “server not responding” or “server taking too long to respond”. If you don’t want to waste time waiting for the redirect (and don’t want to lose whatever was in the address bar, which is a minor pain) then use Firefox and the NoRedirect add-on.
BTW there’s been an outbreak of ‘edit wars’ over at th.wikipedia.org – as it stands right now the sms messages are there again.
Orinoco Woof Woof Blanco, I love that name… I get connection was reset, connection was reset by server, and unable to find server, at different times, and mict is in the address bar, so I figure it is an isp divert. I get that a lot recently with a lot of websites, sometimes need to go to a proxy server
KIA is so good at making mines and being experts at laying them, locals in Myitkyinar are now joking that “Koh-mine-ko-nin-KIA” meaning KIA is frequently blowing up themselves accidentally with their own mines.
Private Burmese news journals in Rangoon are frequently reporting the photos of dead KIA men killed and horribly mutilated when the mines they were laying accidentally gone off in their faces.
Despite the recent wave of publicity regarding “Dr.” Supachai Lorlowhakarn’s fraudulent Chula-issued Ph.D., it appears that Supachi is still the Head of Thailand’s National Innovation Agency and still holds his “pretend” plagiarized Chula Ph.D
I think the broader implications are getting more clear by the day. Chula has probably issued not only one “pretend” Ph.D but many, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands. And there are probably people on the Chula faculty and in the Chula administration who themselves hold fraudulent Ph.D.’s, either stolen, plagiarized or purchased/commissioned.
If they were to rescind Supachi Lorlowhakarn’s Ph.D., either Supachi or someone else has likely threatened to open up the whole can of worms which would totally undermine whatever standing Chula and the holders of Chula Ph.D.’s still have throughout the international academic world.
Many thanks for this. The information I get is that I am consistently blocked by some ISPs and not others, which is quite interesting.
It could suggest there is no central directive to block me but that some ISPs are doing it of their accord.
Or it could just suggest that it’s Thailand. Nothing else follows consistent rules, so why should the blocking of my blog?
It’s never really concerned me as it’s simply not really possible for the Thai authorities to properly block me or anyone in 2012. Thais who want to read blocked material can find ways to do so extremely easily – as I mentioned above, one common way is just to run the URL through Google Translate. Also, Facebook has become a key forum for discussion of the Thai monarchy, and it would be fascinating to see the fallout if Thailand blocked Facebook – it would dwarf the 2007 blocking of YouTube as an international news story, not to mention the complaints from all those Thais using Facebook.
My sense is that the immense blocking effort is just being done for the sake of being seen to do something. Everybody knows it’s pointless, but they have to put on a good show of trying. If they didn’t, they might be branded traitors like Akong.
TOT and Loxinfo are probably the worst two re blocking of their own accord. If you can … change ISP. While MICT have relaxed considerably over the last couple of years, those two ISPs are still partying like it’s 2009.
#95 ” I am looking at it on a TOT connection as I write”
Ooops… No I am not. Just been told it is a True connection…. Which means one company is blocking, but not the other by the looks of it..
Ron, are you getting this notice? “Sorry for any inconvenience.
The page you are trying to visit has been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.”
That’s what I am getting for TPP. If so then it seems like the providers are putting that up on their own account or the Ministry blocks are not being competently implemented.
Andrew, TOT is still blocking your zen… site by redirecting to mict. I have been having trouble connecting to anything since I clicked on the link above in this thread, keep getting the connection was reset by server, and unable to find… errors. Big brother is watching us and having a panic attack.
Plan B, you have no idea what’s going in Kachin War. Don’t you know how many hundreds of Burmese soldiers were unnecessarily killed by KIA’s remote control mine. KIA doesn’t need Guns & Ammos. They don’t even know it. Don’t you know WA & KIA have its own ammunition industry??China doesn’t need to supply directly.
Jesse, not wanting to spoil your rant, but: in this case, the judges stated: “… the prosecution could not clearly prove that the defendant was the person who sent the offensive text messages to the mobile phone of the Secretary to the then Prime Minister. But even so, because it is difficult for the prosecution to present compelling evidence, as the defendant who committed this offence would naturally conceal his actions so that others could not observe them, it is necessary to rely on circumstantial evidence which the prosecution presented to indicate the intentions of the defendant.” Usually, it would be the prosecutions job to prove guilt. Not for LM.
Ricky #89
Yes I too was struck by that reference to the Saudi jewels, the infamous blue diamond.
The mind map fiasco of 2010 also had the reference to the dinosaur wearing a blue diamond. Who produced the evidence in that case? Who was it meant to discredit?
Who produced the evidence in Ar Kong’s case? Who was it meant to discredit?
Spooky!
Thank you for your report Stephen. I wonder if you had the opportunity to speak with the officials from the Labour Protection Office about their role in brokering the agreement. Did they see any contradiction in the fact that they presided over an agreement that pays workers substantially less than the state-mandated minimum? It would also be interesting to know something about how these officials understand their various bureaucratic, duties, function and roles. What does ‘protecting labour’ actually mean for these officials? Do they feel a responsibility to ensure that all labour-related laws are enforced, or do they feel that some can be simply ignored?
The only way ever capitalism makes a profit is by exploiting labour. It will squeeze until the pips squeak and try its best to get away with as far as it can. That is why its history has been consistently one of innovations giving them better ways to exploit workers and dispense with human resources as much as it possibly can, organised labour fighting back , liberal reforms and right wing backlashes. Just one small oversight – where it is going to get consumption and growth with a large percentage of the workforce out of employment and no income from all the downsizing, layoffs and benefit cutbacks. I guess the top 10% of every nation can together consume for the world.
Well, don’t they say ‘better to be exploited than not’ and ‘be grateful to have a job’? With choice and flexibility both in favor of one side – the bosses, naturally.
If Lenin were around he’d be writing a book titled “Globalisation – the Latest Stage of Capitalism” instead of “Imperialism – the latest Stage of Capitalism”. The differentials and discrimination are integral to the global system.
I believe this is the same factory Arnold and Hewison mention, with a history of recurring labour-management conflicts. Regarding wages, the 500 or so workers are divided between about 300 on piece-rate (mostly knitting workers ) and about 200 on day-rate (mostly sewing workers). There are also a small number of operators earning a monthly salary.
Overtime (OT) often goes to 11:00 pm. So, under the prior arrangement the lowest waged workers on such a day would get a day rate of 75 baht + 2 hours of OT pay at 7.5 baht/hour, making 90 baht/day total. Under the new arrangement since OT pay now starts at 6:00 pm, a day ending at 11:00 pm will get 5 hours overtime pay. If the workers were to get the 30 baht/hour OT rate they have asked for (to be decided on 1 June) the lowest paid workers would get 155 baht + 5 hours of OT pay (30 x 5 = 150 baht), making 305 baht/day total. However, minimum wage is exclusive of OT pay. So, the pay rate of 155 baht/day would still be considered below minimum wage.
As Jon rightly points out “employers wiggle their way out of the law… through various wage calculation loopholes.” The way that payment below minimum wage is reconciled in the new contract is by stating that workers are paid a daily rate of 226 baht, but deductions will be made to cover water, electricity, living quarters and rice (but not curry) three times a day. The total cost of these deductions according to the contract will be 71 baht/day (226 – 71 = 155). In a month of 30 work days (and 1 day off), this is a total deduction of 2,130 baht.
The piece rate for knitwear is set based on the complexity of the design. As I understand it, piece rate pay is determined on an individual basis and under the previous arrangement most piece-rate workers were not averaging substantially more than the day-rate + OT pay.
Thanks for all these stimulating comments. There is, of course, much more to be learned.
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A Nobel Peace Prize for Thein Sein?
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently the only laureate from ASEAN. If the second ASEAN laureate goes to Burma again, other members of ASEAN may be unhappy about it…
Ar Kong dead
@Laoguy #93
“The mind map fiasco of 2010 also had the reference to the dinosaur wearing a blue diamond. Who produced the evidence in that case? Who was it meant to discredit?”
I don’t really know about the nonsensical mind map 2010. Never really read it, because I know that it is going to be loads of BS. And the army did admit it last year that the mind map was BS.
Anyway, I will only address the issue of the Saudi jewel. There is really no concrete evidence where the Blue Diamond is. But the Saudi diplomats are confident that it is still in Thailand. Rumours and circumstantial evidences which followed the lost of Blue Diamond made many Thais believe that the Blue Diamond is now with Queen Sirikit.
University rankings from Chula’s perspective
More regarding the journal ScienceAsia: Supachai’s PhD paper, “Establishment of Thailand’s National Organic Agriculture Strategies: A Case Study in Organic Asparagus Production”, was signed off by Supot Hannongbua. Who is he? Well, he was on the ScienceAsia editorial board from 2001 to 2008. Siriwat Wongsiri, Sirirat Rengpipat and Christophe Le Page also signed the paper. Siriwat Wongsiri? Also on the ScienceAsia editorial board from 2001 to 2008. (As I mentioned above, ScienceAsia cleared out all traces of Chula in 2008.) So apart from the chair person, Nantana Gajaseni, only Sirirat Rengpipat and Christophe Le Page could be considered independent – I wonder if Christophe is aware of the scandal?
Ar Kong dead
If you’re talking about w3.mict.go.th then nobody can access that. The most likely error msg is a “server not responding” or “server taking too long to respond”. If you don’t want to waste time waiting for the redirect (and don’t want to lose whatever was in the address bar, which is a minor pain) then use Firefox and the NoRedirect add-on.
BTW there’s been an outbreak of ‘edit wars’ over at th.wikipedia.org – as it stands right now the sms messages are there again.
Double, double toil and trouble…
http://thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/2012/05/ban-upheld-on-shakespeare-must-die.html
(main content is a lengthy post-appeal blog piece by the film’s director and producer)
Ar Kong dead
Orinoco Woof Woof Blanco, I love that name… I get connection was reset, connection was reset by server, and unable to find server, at different times, and mict is in the address bar, so I figure it is an isp divert. I get that a lot recently with a lot of websites, sometimes need to go to a proxy server
Kachin media war continues
KIA is so good at making mines and being experts at laying them, locals in Myitkyinar are now joking that “Koh-mine-ko-nin-KIA” meaning KIA is frequently blowing up themselves accidentally with their own mines.
Private Burmese news journals in Rangoon are frequently reporting the photos of dead KIA men killed and horribly mutilated when the mines they were laying accidentally gone off in their faces.
University rankings from Chula’s perspective
Despite the recent wave of publicity regarding “Dr.” Supachai Lorlowhakarn’s fraudulent Chula-issued Ph.D., it appears that Supachi is still the Head of Thailand’s National Innovation Agency and still holds his “pretend” plagiarized Chula Ph.D
I think the broader implications are getting more clear by the day. Chula has probably issued not only one “pretend” Ph.D but many, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands. And there are probably people on the Chula faculty and in the Chula administration who themselves hold fraudulent Ph.D.’s, either stolen, plagiarized or purchased/commissioned.
If they were to rescind Supachi Lorlowhakarn’s Ph.D., either Supachi or someone else has likely threatened to open up the whole can of worms which would totally undermine whatever standing Chula and the holders of Chula Ph.D.’s still have throughout the international academic world.
Ar Kong dead
Ron Torrence #94 and Woof Woof #95/96
Many thanks for this. The information I get is that I am consistently blocked by some ISPs and not others, which is quite interesting.
It could suggest there is no central directive to block me but that some ISPs are doing it of their accord.
Or it could just suggest that it’s Thailand. Nothing else follows consistent rules, so why should the blocking of my blog?
It’s never really concerned me as it’s simply not really possible for the Thai authorities to properly block me or anyone in 2012. Thais who want to read blocked material can find ways to do so extremely easily – as I mentioned above, one common way is just to run the URL through Google Translate. Also, Facebook has become a key forum for discussion of the Thai monarchy, and it would be fascinating to see the fallout if Thailand blocked Facebook – it would dwarf the 2007 blocking of YouTube as an international news story, not to mention the complaints from all those Thais using Facebook.
My sense is that the immense blocking effort is just being done for the sake of being seen to do something. Everybody knows it’s pointless, but they have to put on a good show of trying. If they didn’t, they might be branded traitors like Akong.
Ar Kong dead
TOT and Loxinfo are probably the worst two re blocking of their own accord. If you can … change ISP. While MICT have relaxed considerably over the last couple of years, those two ISPs are still partying like it’s 2009.
Ar Kong dead
#95 ” I am looking at it on a TOT connection as I write”
Ooops… No I am not. Just been told it is a True connection…. Which means one company is blocking, but not the other by the looks of it..
Ron, are you getting this notice? “Sorry for any inconvenience.
The page you are trying to visit has been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.”
That’s what I am getting for TPP. If so then it seems like the providers are putting that up on their own account or the Ministry blocks are not being competently implemented.
Ar Kong dead
#94 “Andrew, TOT is still blocking your zen”
Hi Ron… I am looking at it on a TOT connection as I write… Very odd. Intriguing to know who is doing the blocking and how.
Ar Kong dead
Andrew, TOT is still blocking your zen… site by redirecting to mict. I have been having trouble connecting to anything since I clicked on the link above in this thread, keep getting the connection was reset by server, and unable to find… errors. Big brother is watching us and having a panic attack.
Kachin media war continues
Plan B, you have no idea what’s going in Kachin War. Don’t you know how many hundreds of Burmese soldiers were unnecessarily killed by KIA’s remote control mine. KIA doesn’t need Guns & Ammos. They don’t even know it. Don’t you know WA & KIA have its own ammunition industry??China doesn’t need to supply directly.
Malaysia after regime change – Hal Hill
One cannot get a much more concise summary of the current situation in Malaysia. Congratulations on a beautiful piece of writing.
Ar Kong dead
Jesse, not wanting to spoil your rant, but: in this case, the judges stated: “… the prosecution could not clearly prove that the defendant was the person who sent the offensive text messages to the mobile phone of the Secretary to the then Prime Minister. But even so, because it is difficult for the prosecution to present compelling evidence, as the defendant who committed this offence would naturally conceal his actions so that others could not observe them, it is necessary to rely on circumstantial evidence which the prosecution presented to indicate the intentions of the defendant.” Usually, it would be the prosecutions job to prove guilt. Not for LM.
Ar Kong dead
Ricky #89
Yes I too was struck by that reference to the Saudi jewels, the infamous blue diamond.
The mind map fiasco of 2010 also had the reference to the dinosaur wearing a blue diamond. Who produced the evidence in that case? Who was it meant to discredit?
Who produced the evidence in Ar Kong’s case? Who was it meant to discredit?
Spooky!
Anatomy of a Burmese migrant strike
Thank you for your report Stephen. I wonder if you had the opportunity to speak with the officials from the Labour Protection Office about their role in brokering the agreement. Did they see any contradiction in the fact that they presided over an agreement that pays workers substantially less than the state-mandated minimum? It would also be interesting to know something about how these officials understand their various bureaucratic, duties, function and roles. What does ‘protecting labour’ actually mean for these officials? Do they feel a responsibility to ensure that all labour-related laws are enforced, or do they feel that some can be simply ignored?
Anatomy of a Burmese migrant strike
The only way ever capitalism makes a profit is by exploiting labour. It will squeeze until the pips squeak and try its best to get away with as far as it can. That is why its history has been consistently one of innovations giving them better ways to exploit workers and dispense with human resources as much as it possibly can, organised labour fighting back , liberal reforms and right wing backlashes. Just one small oversight – where it is going to get consumption and growth with a large percentage of the workforce out of employment and no income from all the downsizing, layoffs and benefit cutbacks. I guess the top 10% of every nation can together consume for the world.
Well, don’t they say ‘better to be exploited than not’ and ‘be grateful to have a job’? With choice and flexibility both in favor of one side – the bosses, naturally.
If Lenin were around he’d be writing a book titled “Globalisation – the Latest Stage of Capitalism” instead of “Imperialism – the latest Stage of Capitalism”. The differentials and discrimination are integral to the global system.
Anatomy of a Burmese migrant strike
I believe this is the same factory Arnold and Hewison mention, with a history of recurring labour-management conflicts. Regarding wages, the 500 or so workers are divided between about 300 on piece-rate (mostly knitting workers ) and about 200 on day-rate (mostly sewing workers). There are also a small number of operators earning a monthly salary.
Overtime (OT) often goes to 11:00 pm. So, under the prior arrangement the lowest waged workers on such a day would get a day rate of 75 baht + 2 hours of OT pay at 7.5 baht/hour, making 90 baht/day total. Under the new arrangement since OT pay now starts at 6:00 pm, a day ending at 11:00 pm will get 5 hours overtime pay. If the workers were to get the 30 baht/hour OT rate they have asked for (to be decided on 1 June) the lowest paid workers would get 155 baht + 5 hours of OT pay (30 x 5 = 150 baht), making 305 baht/day total. However, minimum wage is exclusive of OT pay. So, the pay rate of 155 baht/day would still be considered below minimum wage.
As Jon rightly points out “employers wiggle their way out of the law… through various wage calculation loopholes.” The way that payment below minimum wage is reconciled in the new contract is by stating that workers are paid a daily rate of 226 baht, but deductions will be made to cover water, electricity, living quarters and rice (but not curry) three times a day. The total cost of these deductions according to the contract will be 71 baht/day (226 – 71 = 155). In a month of 30 work days (and 1 day off), this is a total deduction of 2,130 baht.
The piece rate for knitwear is set based on the complexity of the design. As I understand it, piece rate pay is determined on an individual basis and under the previous arrangement most piece-rate workers were not averaging substantially more than the day-rate + OT pay.
Thanks for all these stimulating comments. There is, of course, much more to be learned.