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afp Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday he had ordered the Malaysian navy and coastguard to conduct search and rescue operations for boats carrying stricken migrants including ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar.
thebangkokpost The government Thursday firmly denied a report that the Thai Navy threatened to open fire on a migrant boat found off Koh Lipe last week if it didn't leave Thai waters.
Full story here http://goo.gl/bplNOI
[Ed: Sanity returns. In 2013, the government did not deny a Reuters report about Rohingya. Instead, six months later, the Navy charged Phuketwan with criminal defamation for republishing a 41-word news agency paragraph that did not even mention the Navy.]
AP The US government will lead a campaign to resettle the Rohingya boat people and is sending a top official to Myanmar Thursday to discuss better treatment.
theguardian.com 'Nope, nope, nope': Tony Abbott says Australia will take no Rohingya refugees
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top Stories
nationmultimedia.com Previndran Singhe, chief executive officer of Zerin Properties, a hotel investment consultancy based in Malaysia, said at the Asia Pacific Hotel Investment Conference in Bangkok that room rates in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole were expected to grow by 2.7 per cent this year.
dw.de Female genital mutilation (FGM) is recognised internationally as violating the human rights of girls and women. In southern Thailand, the practice has gone on under the radar of national health authorities for decades.
Full story here
http://www.dw.de/fgm-persists-in-thailand/av-18463401
Human Trafficking in Thailand
bernama Myanmar (Burma) is likely to attend the talks on the issue of Rohingya migrants on May 29, while Thailand will decide whether to allow the boat people to come ashore or not after the meeting.
ft.com For the Rohingya, the bulk of the refugees, there are echoes of the treatment of Jews in Europe. Many are fleeing refugee centres that have been compared to concentration camps. If nothing is done to alleviate the suffering of this blighted minority, comparisons with the Jews of 1930s Europe will look even more apt.
Full story here
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0f0db618-fd54-11e4-9e96-00144feabdc0.html
abc.net.au Indonesian fisherman Muchtar Ali broke down in tears when he set eyes on the overcrowded boat: ''I was speechless. Looking at these people, me and my friends cried because they looked so hungry, so skinny.''
bangkokpost.com Most of the hundreds of Thai fishermen who have been sent home from Indonesia were not trafficked, Consular Affairs Department director-general Thongchai Chasawath says.
Phuket World of People
theage.com.au Australians For Dolphins, headed by Sarah Lucas, has forced Japan's aquariums to stop buying dolphins caught in the harrowing Taiji chase. Ms Lucas said live captures were worth up to 10 times as much as the meat to local fishermen, with an individual dolphin selling for up to $100,000.
Full story here
http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-group-forces-japanese-aquariums-to-stop-buying-dolphins-caught-in-harrowing-chase-20150520-gh67qv.html
Phuket Update Chantana Pongkhawlou, 33, asleep with her partner in a back room at Phuket's Baan Tha Ruea Garden restaurant near the Thai Watsadu store on Thepkasattri Rd, awoke to flames. Police found a gasoline container, two used torches and believe the 30,000 baht singeing was caused by an arsonist.
bangkokpost.com The Supreme Court has handed down jail terms totalling three years and four months on a yellow-shirt protester who ran a pickup truck over policemen during a crackdown in 2008.
independent.co.uk The oldest stone tools have been discovered by archaeologists in Kenya who say they are 3.3m years old - about 700,000 years older than the previous most ancient stone implements.
ibtimes.com A Kurdish human trafficker being tried in Australia was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a court in Perth for bringing over 500 people from Indonesia to Christmas Island in 2001. Sayed Omeid, 43, said that he had been motivated by humanitarian purposes.
ejinsight.com Three prominent British journalists who have written for the South China Morning Post for nearly 40 years combined will be deprived of their regular op-ed columns starting next month. Philip Bowring, Kevin Rafferty and Stephen Vines, long-time city residents who together have more than 100 years of journalistic experience, received a formal termination notice last week.
stourbridgenews.co.uk Yvonne Porter and Chris Amor forked out 600 pounds to save street dog Molly who was found at eight weeks old with severe burns to her face and legs trying to survive on the tropical island of Phuket.
Aropund the Region
investingdaily.com There are good reasons other than morality to prefer investing in democracies such as the Philippines rather than non-democracies. By and large democracies have safety valves allowing the popular will to manifest itself, so the chance of really serious unrest that destroys wealth is less.
Try Phuketwan's Asean Today daily:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/asean-today-year-pause-boatpeople-genocide-looms-mh370-thief-guilty-killing-fields-recalled-22509/
Phuket World of Sport
afp Sunderland produced a gutsy rearguard action to preserve their Premier League status with a tense 0-0 draw against Arsenal.
skysports.com Michael Atherton says news that Jason Gillespie has been approached by England over the vacant job as head coach will not affect the players ahead of the first home Test of the summer.
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
June 20-21 Baba wedding at Old Phuket Town
July 14-16 Trial of Phuketwan journalists at Phuket Provincial Court
July 15-19 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek
[Ed: Sanity returns. In 2013, the government did not deny a Reuters report about Rohingya. Instead, six months later, the Navy charged Phuketwan with criminal defamation for republishing a 41-word news agency paragraph that did not even mention the Navy.]
Dear Ed
The 41 word Reuters paragraph was republished by Phuketwan on 17 July 2013 and you are correct, the Royal Thai Navy was not even named.
In early December 2013 Reuters published at least one other article in which it directly named the Royal Thai Navy. (I won't provide a link for obvious reasons) In addition, Reuters' publication and readership is vast compared to that of Phuketwan. The Royal Thai Navy decided, in its wisdom, to take no action against Reuters.
In contrast, The Royal Thai Navy then charged Alan Morison and Khun Chutima Sidasathian with criminal defamation and an offence under the notorious Computer Crimes Act in relation to that vague 41 word paragraph.
In early April 2014 it was announced that Reuters had won the Pulitzer Prize for its series of reports on the trafficking of the Rohingya. Two of its reporters, Jason Szep and Andrew Marshall were commended by the Pulitzer Prize board for their "courageous" reports.
Later in April 2014, while Reuters staff were still celebrating, Alan Morison and Khun Chutima appeared in court on Phuket and spent 5 very unpleasant hours in a lockup awaiting bail to be arranged.
I trust this is an accurate though brief summary of what has transpired. I trust all persons aware of what has transpired will appreciate how very inappropriate and unwise it is for the Royal Thai Navy to pursue the charges against the Phuketwan reporters.
Ian Yarwood
Solicitor - Perth, Western Australia
Posted by Ian Yarwood on May 21, 2015 14:56