Barkar Nash (Page 216)

Agriculture minister insists land reform for farmers will be free of loopholes that nominees could exploit

Over 22 million rai covered by Sor Por Kor 4-01 documents, widely known as land rights for the poor, will be upgraded to land title deeds for agriculture within five years, according to Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow.

He said the policy would provide the maximum benefits for eligible people, and insisted that there would be no loopholes for nominees to take advantage of.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will kick off the programme by presenting land rights documents to 1,000 holders in Bang Sai district of Ayutthaya on Jan 15.

The ministry hopes to convert the status of 22 million rai of land under its responsibility within five years. The process could go faster if it had a bigger budget, Capt Thamanat said.

Documents for 2 million rai are now ready to be upgraded based on specific conditions, including that the land must have been in the holder’s possession for five years or more.

He said the ministry has come up with extra measures to prevent the illegal possession of land, and that wrongdoers will face criminal charges.

“We are focussing on the screening procedure to prevent the transfer of land to non-eligible people,” he said.

The minister has been a strong advocate of proper title for agricultural land, saying current regulations under the land reform law were out of date and not in line with societal changes.

If people no longer want to farm, he said, they should still have the option to benefitting from the land, including the right to sell it.

The ministry has established three regulations to support the policy, which would grant people the right to sell the land to other farmers or others conducting farming-related businesses.

Capt Thamanat said that more than 200,000 people have registered for the land title upgrade and that the Agricultural Land Reform Office branches in each province are ready to support them.

Some 22 million rai of Sor Por Kor land is now occupied by 1.6 million families.

Sor Por Kor 4-01 papers were introduced in 1975 to give poor landless farmers plots, mostly on degraded forest land, for small-scale farming. The land cannot be sold and can only be transferred to the children or heirs of the holders.

But over the years, many plots have changed hands illegally with the land used for commercial purposes including resorts. In 1995, then-agriculture minister Suthep Thaugsuban was accused of overseeing the granting of Sor Por Kor land to wealthy and connected people in Phuket. The resulting scandal brought down the Democrat Party government of Chuan Leekpai.

His Majesty the King has given the kingdom’s children royal guidance in a booklet issued for National Children’s Day, encouraging them to pay full attention to their studies and training for their own future success and happiness.

 “All happiness comes from working and doing good deeds. Every child should concentrate on their education and fully train themselves to acquire the ability to work and perform good deeds for their own happiness and public happiness in the future,” he wrote.

The booklet was issued on Jan 3, but the royal message not made public until Wednesday.

National Children’s Day is celebrated annually on the second Saturday of January, which falls this weekend.

Copies of the booklet, which also contains other advice, will be distributed nationwide. The book is published every year by the Ministry of Education.

Drug users who are mentally ill will be admitted to two-stage care programme

More than 7,000 addicts with mental conditions caused by illicit drug use have been identified and will be brought into a rehabilitation and stabilisation programme, according to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

A survey was conducted to determine the number of people needing help, said Pol Lt Gen Phanurat Lakboon, the acting secretary-general of the ONCB.

Those identified in the survey will be admitted for treatment and into rehabilitation facilities, known in Thai as Rakjai centres, before they are referred to mental health institutions, he said on Wednesday.

The Rakjai facilities, located in Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachin Buri, Ubon Ratchathani and Kanchanaburi provinces, are jointly operated by the ONCB, the Ministry of Public Health and military personnel who have been trained to work there.

Pol Lt Gen Phanurat said a stabilisation programme will also be provided for those who have been treated but require continued medical care and support so they can focus on their recovery without triggering factors.

It is designed for those whose families or communities are not ready or equipped to provide them with the degree of care they need.

He said the military would discuss where the facilities for the stabilisation programme would be set up. Initially they have been planned in Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima and Nakhon Phanom.

The military will provide staff while the Ministry of Public Health will provide training and make sure the facilities meet the required standards, he said after a meeting with representatives of the ministry and the police.

The ONCB will also hold discussions with the Interior, Labour and Social Security and Human Development ministries about occupational training to prepare those being treated for reintegration into society.

Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang said those who are admitted to the Rakjai centres will be there on a voluntary basis, and they will be provided occupational training.

Some state land currently used by the military is being transferred to the poor, starting with 3,918 rai of navy land next month, Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang said on Wednesday.

He was speaking while visiting  a navy unit in Phra Samut Chedi district of Samut Prakan. following up on  progress in policy implementation.

Mr Sutin said the Pheu Thai Party had promised voters during past election campaigns that it would find land for the poor, so they could make a living. 

This policy was being implemented by transferring to the poor degraded forest land and unused state land currently allocated to the military, the minister said. The military land actually belonged to the Treasury Department.

Poor people would be given the land-use rights and become tenants of the Treasury Department, Mr Sutin said. They would be able to transfer these rights to their descendants in perpetuity, the defence minister said. He promised to keep the rent low.

The navy was the quickest of the armed forces to respond to the policy, Mr Sutin said. It would hand back its rights to 3,918 rai of land in Phra Samut Chedi district next month, the minister said.

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: Police have identified the armed man who robbed a gold shop in Tha Sala district of necklaces worth about 500,000 baht on Tuesday, and investigators have applied for a court arrest warrant.

A police source named the suspect as Chaiwut Wethayawong, 54, and said he is being actively sought. 

Pol Maj Gen Somchai Suetortrakun, chief of Nakhon Si Thammarat police, on Wednesday inspected the crime scene in Tha Sala district.

Police have already found the motorcycle believed used in the holdup, at a house in tambon Talingchan in Tha Sala district. Clothes matching those worn by the robber were also found there, the suspect was not.

The Siriporn gold shop in downtown Tha Sala district was heldup on Tuesday afternoon. Security camera recordings showed a lone robber wearing a crash helmet entering the shop around 2pm. He threatened employees with a gun before making off with three gold necklaces totalling 15 baht-weight.

He fled on a motorcycle in the direction of Sichon district.

It was the second gold robbery in the district this month.  In the first, a lone man heldup a gold shop inside a Tesco Lotus superstore and made off with two necklaces weighing 6 baht in total. Police took less than one hour to arrest the robber, named as Supanat Phathong, 24.

Members of the House committee on police affairs will on Friday visit the Police General Hospital but it is still uncertain if they will be able to see its most high-profile patient, convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Committee chairman Chaichana Detdecho said on Wednesday that the hospital had approved the visit, which was timed for 10am on Friday, as requested.

The hospital management agreed to let the committee inspect the sixth floor of the Sriyanont Building and meet a police colonel who oversees the hospital’s operations, he said.

Thaksin was reportedly admitted to the 14th floor of the hospital’s Maha Bhumibol Rachanusorn 88 Phansa Building on Aug 22 last year.

According to Mr Chaichana, the House committee will ask about service standards for prisoners and seek information on all admitted inmates including Thaksin, to see if he was being treated the same as the others. The cost of medical treatment for admitted inmates is met by the National Health Security Office, he said.

“Degrees of illnesses cannot be made public, but we must know about the kinds of illnesses, the number of inmates admitted to the hospital and the services it provides them,” Mr Chaichana said. “We will see how much permission the Police General Hospital allows. Can we meet the inmates in person, or see them by CCTV?” 

Former MP Niphit Intharasombat has meanwhile suggested that the National Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate the government officials responsible for Thaksin’s treatment outside prison. If it does not do so, then people should ask the president of the Supreme Court to appoint independent investigators to do the job, he said.

Thaksin, 74, returned to Thailand on Aug 22 after 15 years of self-exile and entered the justice system. He had been convicted and later sentenced in absentia for corruption and abuse of authority while in office prior to the military coup in 2006. He was taken to court that same day and sentenced to eight years in prison, later reduced to one year by royal clemency.

The former premier was immediately admitted to Bangkok Remand Prison and later that night moved to the Police General Hospital for “medical reasons”, and reportedly has been there ever since.

By law, the minister of justice must acknowledge any stay exceeding 120 days by an inmate receiving medical treatment outside a prison hospital. That deadline passed on Dec 21. 

The acknowledgement must be based on a report from the chief of the Department of Corrections.