Impatient Pheu Thai warns Pita, eyes top job

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PUBLISHED : 17 Jul 2023 at 17:10

Impatient Pheu Thai warns Pita, eyes top job
Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai, centre, arrives for talks with potential coalition parties at a restaurant in Bangkok on May 17. (File photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Economic problems cannot wait for the Move Forward Party to keep nominating its leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister while the Pheu Thai Party has three prime ministerial candidates ready for the job, Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday.

Mr Phumtham said Mr Pita made his ascension to the prime ministership more difficult when he announced his intention to amend the constitution to remove the appointed senators’ right to participate in the vote for prime minister along with the elected members of the House of Representatives. 

Of the 249 current senators, only 13 voted to support for Mr Pita for the premiership on July 13.

Mr Phumtham said that Mr Pita should not indefinitely continue the MFP’s campaign to have him elected prime minister and to revoke senators’ right to vote for a prime minister. If it fails twice to get him elected, that would allow Pheu Thai to take the lead in the formation of the new government.

The recent commitment by Mr Pita to amend Section 272 of the constitution on the rights of senators was intended as a direction to Pheu Thai to wait, Mr Phumtham said.

“The goal of the eight political parties is to speed up the formation of the new government,” Mr Phumtham said, referring to the eight party alliance that includes MFP and Pheu Thai.

Ending senators’ right to vote for the prime minister was not in the memorandum of understanding approved by the eight parties, the deputy Pheu Thai leader said.

He warned that if the eight allies cannot reach an agreement on the issue of the prime minister, other parties may form a minority government. Other parties had 188 votes and could win the support of the 249 senators, giving them a majority vote from both chambers, Mr Phumtham said.

“We still want to maintain the eight coalition alliance but there must be a clear answer rather than continuing the voting (for prime minister), without a way out for the country,” Mr Phumtham said.

“We cannot wait until next year because national problems are now very serious. Do not worry about  Pheu Thai’s candidates. We have three candidates. When things are clear, we can make a nomination right away,” he said.

Pheu Thai’s candidates for the top job are Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Srettha Thavisin and Chaikasem Nitisiri.

Asked to comment on a senator’s promise to vote for a Pheu Thai candidate if MFP is excluded from the coalition, Mr Phumtham said that was another factor for consideration.

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Sales of new private homes fell in June amid lack of major launches, say analysts

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SINGAPORE: Sales of new private homes in Singapore fell in June, the first dip after five straight months of increases in 2023.

Excluding executive condominiums, developers sold 278 units in June, a 73.2 per cent drop from the 1,039 units sold in May, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jul 17).

On a year-on-year basis, private home sales fell by 43 per cent from the 488 units sold in June 2022.

The number of units launched for sale also saw a significant decline, with the 31 units launched in June 98.1 per cent lower than the 1,595 units in May, and 92.2 per cent lower than the 397 units in June 2022.

Analysts said the decrease in private home sales was due to a lack of major project launches in June, with the 17-unit Lavender Residence being the only project launched that month.

“The substantial decline in sales volume can be attributed to a high base effect, where two major project launches (The Reserve Residences and The Continuum) drove May 2023 sales to a 12-month high,” said Lam Chern Woon, Edmund Tie’s head of research and consulting.

ERA Realty Network’s key executive officer Eugene Lim cited the June school holidays, with many Singaporeans away on vacation, for developers to avoid launching any new projects.

CBRE’s Southeast Asia head of research Tricia Song said June’s sales figure, which is the lowest since the 170 units sold in December 2022, reflect “cautious buying sentiment amidst weak economic conditions”.

She noted that the 3,463 new private homes sold in the first half of 2023 is 18 per cent lower compared to the 4,222 units sold in the first half of 2022.

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2023: The year of Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira so far

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FLYING START TO 2023

Pereira rewrote her own 100m national record in her first race of the year at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships in Wellington in March.

She did it without having raced in a competitive meet since the 2022 Commonwealth Games in August. 

Her time of 11.46s in her heat eclipsed her previous national mark by 0.02s.

Speaking to CNA at the time, Pereira described the achievement as a “very pleasant surprise”.

“I wanted to go out strong and just focus on the technical aspects of it.”

BREAKS NATIONAL RECORD THRICE IN THREE DAYS

At the Australia Open Track and Field Championships in Brisbane, Pereira broke her national records thrice in three days.

She first clocked a time of 11.38s to win her 100m heat on Mar 31 to eclipse her own national mark by 0.08s, then won the final a day later, going 0.01s even faster. 

The next day, she set her third national record in as many days when she timed 22.89s in the women’s 200m heat.

In doing so, she smashed her own mark of 23.16s set at the Brisbane Track Classic about a week ago.

But she pulled out of the 200m final later, with her coach Luis Cunha explaining that this was to avoid overstretching her both physically and mentally.

“This has been mentally very tiring (for her) … Every time she ran in the past three weeks, it was equalling the national record or a national record. You have no idea how stressful this can be,” he told CNA at the time.

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Government to deal rigorously with cluster of ‘high-profile issues’, says PM Lee

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SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party (PAP) will “put things right” and deal with the recent scandals surrounding its Members of Parliament rigorously and transparently, said Mr Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Jul 17).

He was responding to a question from the media on public perception that there has been a “slip in PAP standards” due to some incidents involving PAP MPs over the past few months.

Mr Lee also said that he has no plans to call an early election.

At the press conference, which had been called to address the resignations of Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Tampines MP Cheng Li Hui, Mr Lee said that Mr Tan and Ms Cheng had been in an “inappropriate relationship”. Mr Tan had also been embroiled in a controversy after he was caught making disparaging remarks about Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim on a parliament hot mic.

In addition, it emerged last week that Transport Minister S Iswaran was involved in a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) investigation.

Before that, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan had to explain in parliament the reasons for their rental of state properties in the exclusive Ridout Road area, and whether there had been any conflict of interest. In this instance, the CPIB and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean cleared both ministers of any impropriety.

“I think from time to time, these things happen. When they happen, we have to make sure we deal with them and deal with them rigorously as well as transparently, and everybody can see that we are doing that,” said Mr Lee on Monday.

“No system can be completely infallible. You appoint people, sometimes things go wrong, you have to find out and you have to put it right.”

Mr Lee said that in the Ridout Road case, the ministers went through a rigorous and full CPIB investigation, as well as a separate probe by Mr Teo, with the results and the reports presented fully in parliament.

In Mr Iswaran’s case, the matter arose because CPIB came across the issue while doing another investigation, and the anti-graft agency had informed Mr Lee. A few months later, CPIB came back to Mr Lee to report that it wanted to open a formal investigation, and he told them to proceed.

“That is what they have done, and it will go through to its full conclusion,” said Mr Lee. “In the case of Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui, they did not live up to the standards which were expected. We tried to get them to mend their ways, it did not work, and they had to go.”

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Senators fight back against post-vote threats

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Senators fight back against post-vote threats
Senators Somchai Sawaengkan, centre, and Seri Suwannapanon, left, announce legal action against those they say posted threats and defamed senators who did not vote for prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat last week. (Photo supplied)

The Senate speaker sought police protection for senators and their families who said they were threatened after the prime ministerial vote last Thursday, and senators are filing complaints against those they believe responsible.

Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said on Monday that senators told him that they and members of their families were threatened by individuals, their privacy was infringed upon and people were watchig their residences and business premises.

He decided to seek police protection for them, and police were cooperative, he said.

“I hope that those who threaten and interfere with other people will stop it, and there will not be any more criminal offences or disputes,” Mr Pornpetch said.

Reports of threats being made against senators emerged after only 13 senators voted in favour of sole prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the election-winning Move Forward Party, in the joint sitting of the Senate and the House on July 13.  

Mr Pita’s eight coalition allies had 312 votes in the House. With  support from only 13 senators he fell short of the needed majority of the two chambers by 51 votes.

Mr Pornpetch said on Monday that 33 senators were absent from the July 13 joint sitting.

He said two went were at a meeting in Beijing that he aproved, six were senior officials of the armed forces who had other important duties that day, nine took leave for private business overseas and had not been informed of the joint sitting beforehand, and 16 senators took sick leave.

On July 13, 43 senators did not cast a vote, showing that 10 of them were present at the meeting but chose not to vote, Mr Pornpetch said.

A group of senators told reporters thy were gathering evidence to support legal complaints against the people who posted threats against them and their families after Thursday’s vote.

Among them, Senator Seri Suwannapanon said senators would not tolerate the bad behaviour that was  ruining the nation, society and the beautiful lifestyle of Thai people.

The vote for prime minister was a parliamentary process. After the vote, there was undesireable behaviour, including threats to senators and representatives. “This impacts on the personal rights of semators and their families,” Mr Seri said.

On Monday morning he filed defamation lawsuits against two lawyers he said had heavily criticised him. He sued each of them for 500,000 baht.

“There will be criminal and civil lawsuits against everyone who made accusations on social media, to send the message that freedom of expression must neither affect nor damage others,” Mr Seri said.

He said there were threats against senators’ businesses, although most vendors and workers at those places had voted for the Move Forward Party.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkan also said senators were gathering evidence to support complaints. The daughters of some senators even received rape threats, which was malicious, he said.

“Everyone who did this will face the consequences. Do not apologise. The price to be paid is high for posing threats and danger to others,” Mr Somchai said.

“It is time to change society. Freedom of criticism does not mean freedom to threaten people who have different opinions,” he said.

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Woman cheated victims of S.39 million in investment scams, evaded police for 10 years

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SINGAPORE: A woman cheated multiple victims of S$1.39 million (US$1.05 million) in investment scams, including her own “godson” and a property agent she was working for.

She then evaded the police for about 10 years, moving from place to place and continued to reoffend, until she went to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), following a suicide attempt.

Low Mood Chay, 66, was sentenced to seven years’ jail on Monday (Jul 17) for her crimes.

She pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating, with another seven charges taken into consideration.

The court heard that Low, who is also known as Christy or Lowe, first targeted a 55-year-old property agent at Propnex Realty whom she was working for.

Low was the agent’s personal assistant and part-time telemarketer from April 2011, and helped the agent secure a few deals.

The property agent grew to trust Low as a friend. In July or August 2011, Low told the agent about a purported investment scheme which guaranteed yielding dividends of up to 18 per cent per annum.

Low claimed that this scheme was administered by the “AFIG Investment Company”, which was based overseas and gave benefits under its membership programme, including free cars or houses.

Low told the agent that she was a director of AFIG. In order to become members, applicants had to invest large sums of money into the supposed scheme.

The agent was interested in joining the programme for its benefits and began handing large sums of money to Low from late 2015 for this purpose.

She even allowed Low to rent a place together with her for five years, so that Low could “mentor” her closely to pass a test to qualify as AFIG’s property agent in Singapore.

Low got the agent to invest more sums by telling her that she had failed to join the programme, adding that she would lose all capital if she stopped now.

In total, the agent was cheated of S$274,500 and resorted to borrowing money from friends, family and loansharks.

Low also cheated a 34-year-old freelance tutor whom she worked for as an administrator.

The pair grew close enough to be like godmother and godson, the court heard.

Low lied to him that she was affiliated with “many rich and powerful people”, including the owners of Hong Leong Bank, a lawyer named Keith Ong and a UBS relationship manager.

She plied him into “investing” into a special scheme which she claimed to have access to due to the special relationship she had with Hong Leong Bank’s owners.

Low duped her “godson” into giving her S$1.01 million between 2020 and 2021. Of this sum, she returned him about S$291,000 that she claimed were “dividends” – meaning he suffered a net loss of about S$771,000.

Low also cheated another employee at the tuition centre her “godson” worked at, lying to her that she was a rich businesswoman with companies in the United States and New Zealand.

She also lied that she was good friends with a “former minister of Singapore” and with the owners of UBS.

This victim lost S$36,830 after being lured into the fake “investments” cooked up by Low.

EVADED POLICE FOR A DECADE

Low would use some money from one victim to pay off some promised dividends to another victim, and splashed the cash on jewellery and branded goods.

She did not make any restitution.

After the first police report for cheating was lodged against Low in 2010, she was identified for investigations and gave a statement to the police.

However, the police could not find her again when they wanted to produce her in court.

A police gazette was issued against her in March 2012.

Low evaded the police for about a decade by not staying at her registered address. She rented different places to live in, moving in with the property agent for five years, before staying with her “godson”.

However, after the agent lodged a police report of her own in 2018, the police identified and froze Low’s bank account, which she was using to receive funds.

On Dec 12, 2021, Low attempted suicide by inhaling smoke from burnt charcoal. 

She was living with her “godson” and the other tuition centre employee at the time. Both victims did not know of her crimes at the time.

The tuition centre employee convinced Low to admit herself to IMH.

While she was there, the two victims discussed the matter and realised that Low had been cheating them. They lodged police reports against her, and the police finally arrested Low while she was in IMH.

Low was remanded and listened to the hearing from her place of remand.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En sought a sentence between six-and-a-half years and seven years and eight months for Low.

He said the courts have recognised the increasing number of investment scam cases, a persistent and worrying trend that must attract “suitably stiff” sentences.

He also pointed to the large amount of money involved, the multiple victims targeted and the lengthy period of criminal conduct.

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Thailand, China holding 3 joint military exercises

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PUBLISHED : 17 Jul 2023 at 14:13

Thailand, China holding 3 joint military exercises
Thai and Chinese soldiers during their joint military exercise in Guangdong in 2019. (File photo: Navy)

Thailand and China are holding three joint military exercises involving their air forces, armies and navies, from July to September, a military source said.

The first began on July 9 – an annual joint air combat exercise “Falcon Strike 2023”, intended to strengthen cooperation between the Thai and Chinese air forces to uphold regional peace and stability. The opening ceremony was at the air force base in Udon Thani. The exercise will continue until July 21.

The Falcon Strike exercise was first held in 2015 and then in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before a break due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Thai aircraft taking part in the 2023 exercise include the Gripen 39 C/D, Alpha Jets and Saab 340 AEW fighters. China has sent J-10C/S, JH-7 A/AII ,J-11B/S and KJ-500 fighters.

Under an agreement between the Thai and United States air forces, the RTAF’s  F16 and F5 fighters are not allowed to take part in a joint exercise with China.

From Aug 16 – Sept 2, special warfare units of the Thai and Chinese armies will take part in the Joint Strike 2023 exercise in Lop Buri province.

Blue Strike, a joint exercise involving both navies, is planned from Sept 3-10 in Chon Buri, Rayong and Chanthaburi provinces in the East. The exercise is held every two years, with the two countries taking turns as host.

On Aug 31, Chinese warships and amphibious landing ships will arrive at Sattahip in Chon Buri province.

A Thai navy source said this year’s exercise would be carried out quietly due to the tension between China and the US in the South China Sea.

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Tan Chuan-Jin, Cheng Li Hui continued ‘inappropriate relationship’ even after being told to stop: PM Lee

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SINGAPORE: Former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin had been in an “inappropriate relationship” with fellow People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament Cheng Li Hui, which continued even after they were asked to stop, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Jul 17). 

Mr Tan and Ms Cheng resigned from parliament and the PAP earlier on Monday.

In opening remarks a press conference held the same day, Mr Lee said he had spoken to Mr Tan about this relationship most recently in February. The latter admitted his mistake and offered his resignation at the time. 

“I had accepted his resignation,” said Mr Lee. “But I told him, first, I needed to make sure the residents of Kembangan-Chai Chee and Marine Parade continued to be taken care of. 

“Meanwhile his relationship with Ms Cheng had to stop.” 

But “very recently”, Mr Lee came across information that “strongly suggested” that Mr Tan and Ms Cheng’s relationship had continued. 

“I decided then that Mr Tan had to go forthwith, whether or not the arrangements were ready. It could not wait any longer.” 

Around the same time, the video clip of Mr Tan caught on a hot mic using unparliamentary language was circulating.

“I asked to see him,” said Mr Lee. “During our discussion, he agreed to leave immediately – both for his unparliamentary conduct as well as his inappropriate relationship with Ms Cheng, which he had told me he would break off but he did not.” 

Their inappropriate relationship was a “more serious matter” than Mr Tan’s unparliamentary language because he was the Speaker of Parliament and Ms Cheng was a Member of Parliament, said the Prime Minister.

“There should not have been a relationship,” he added.

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Luang Phaeng road reopens to traffic

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PUBLISHED : 17 Jul 2023 at 12:04

Luang Phaeng road reopens to traffic
The collapsed segment of the overhead road and lift crane blocks Luang Phaeng Road on Tuesday last week. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Luang Phaeng road in Lat Krabang district, closed after part of a traffic overpass under construction collapsed on July 10, was reopened to vehicles on Monday morning, Chorakhe Noy police said.

From 5am, one inbound and two outbound lanes of Luang Phaeng road were reopened for buses and vehicles with up to six wheels.

However, vehicles must still detour through the area under the 500-metre-long collapsed segment of the 2.2-kilometre-long Onnut-Lat Krabang elevated road, which is still being cleared of debris. 

Traffic was moving smoothly along Luang Phaeng road after the reopening, police said.

The centre set up in the nearby Lotus department store parking lot for people affected by the collapse to report their issue to authorities has been closed. People can still report their problem to the Lat Krabang district office during office hours.

Two people died and 10 others were confirmed injured when the overpass collapsed between the Lotus Lat Krabang branch and Jorakay Noi police station.

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