Thailand Gets a New Province

Tuesday the Thai cabinet upgraded Bung Kan district of the northeastern province of Nong Khai as Thailand’s 77th province comprising eight Nong Khai districts, as proposed by the Ministry of Interior. The new Province will close to 400,000 residents who are all probably none to happy at the moment as they will all have to change a lot of paper work starting with house registrations and going down the line.

Thailand’s newest province will do little to change the political landscape for the time being as the 6 MP’s from Nong Khai will be split evenly among the two provinces giving them 3 MP’s each.

Marut Massayavanich, deputy government spokesman, said Tuesday:

the cabinet agreed in principle for a draft bill to elevate Bung Kan district to provincial status before submitting it to Office of the Juridical Council for further consideration

Local residents have been requesting the upgrade for years due to administrative issues and border problems. They were so confident that this day would come most of the provincial infrastructure has been in place for years including the electric grid, telephone and sewage systems.They have even had government offices ready for almost a decade.

The 77th province will encompass 4,305 square kilometers and consist of eight districts including;  Bung Kan, Seka, So Phisai, Phon Charoen, Pak Khat, Bung Khong Long, Si Wilai and Bung Khla.

To find out more about the new province and anything related to the administrative subdivisions of Thailand head over to Changwat, Amphoe, Tambon, Andy knows much more than most anyone when it comes to these things and does an excellent job bringing us all up to date information.

Convicted Pedophile Gets A Longer Sentence

Steven Erik Prowler who at one time called Los Angles home found out this week that he probably won’t see the outside of prison for another 20 years or so.

Prowler was arrested in Thailand back in 2005 , where he was an English teacher, for having sex with a 15 year old boy. After a small amount of time in a Thai prison he was remanded to American Authorities who jailed him until his 2007 U.S. trial where he pled guilty to several lewd acts performed on minors. In 2007 the judge in the case gave Prowler 10 years in jail. The Justice Department appealed, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the sentence and remanded the case to the lower court for re-sentencing.

In that time investigators for the Justice Department uncovered numerous handwritten journal where prowler described in graphic detail just what he had been up to in the past 5 years in several different countries including Mexico, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall told Prowler on Friday that his depraved nature demanded a sentence of no less than 25 years. Unfortunately Prowler will be spending that time in a U.S. prison instead of the Thai prison he should be in…they don’t call it the monkey house for nothing.

Elections Only After Peace & Stability?

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal not long after two separate grenade attacks killed one bystander and injured 11 others in Bangkok over the past week. Thailand’s prime minister said he won’t call national elections until next year at the earliest as the government promotes programs intended to bridge the economic gaps that fueled deadly protests earlier this year.

Constitutionally elections are called for either way next year but it would seem the PM is trying what he can to win hearts and minds before elections take place. Oppositions leaders are still calling for the PM’s ouster citing the lack of representation for lower income Thai’s. The opposition would prefer to see ex-Prime Minister Thaksin back in place as he reached out to the rural Thai’s and instituted many programs for their benefit. Unfortunately Thaksin also robbed the country blind while doing good for the rural poor.

Until such a time as a new party or individual steps up that understands the complexities of the Bangkok political game and the needs of the rural poor there will continue to be unrest. If the current government stays in control then the Red shirts will continue with their efforts, and if the Red Shirts happen to get one of their people elected then we will be sure to see another Yellow Shirt uprising. Maybe it would be best if all Thai’s went shirtless for a while. When the elections finally do happen I’m sure a very popular Thai phrase will be on all our minds…”Same same but different”.