Sending in troops to solve a labour dispute

It has often been said that being in opposition is easier than being in power, but who would have thought that our "pretty face" Prime Minister would see headlines this bad, this soon.

"Services to resume today as government ready to deploy forces," read the tagline on the front page of The Nation this morning. Reading down, yes, police and military will be deployed to take back trains and guard trains as the strike over corruption and equipment maintenance continues. Granted, it seems to be the Transport Minister's doing rather than the PM, but still, what kind of government sends in army troops to solve a labour union strike?

Let me repeat that, what kind of government sends in army troops to solve a labour union strike?

I had high hopes for this PM. I was wrong.

http://nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/21/national/national_30114915.php

Green light given to 3G auction

The cabinet has givent he green light for the NTC to go ahead with the 3G licensing bidding with four observations.

1. To take into account the effect the bidding will have on TOT and CAT - state enterprises which already have their own 3G plans.

2. It must be made clear that the infrastructure must be new and not the same infrastructure that has to be handed back to the government.

3. National security must be taken into account.

4. The NTC should not simply focus on getting the highest bid for the licenses but to look at the greater good.

NTC says they will hold another public hearing and expects the auction of four to six licenses to go ahead before the end of this year.

Source: ASTV

What do we gain from amending the constitution?

From Thairath.

This cartoon by Chai Ratchawat on The Thairath newspaper spells out why the Thaksintes want to amend the constitution.

Clockwise from top left:

• What do we get from amending the constitution?
• 111-112 will allow the return of husband and wife house and senate.
• 265 will reward MPs with minsterial advisory and secretary positions.
• 266 will allow politicians to interfere with civil servants for their own ends.
• 93-98 reducing election areas will make for easier vote-buying.
• 237 will allow political party bosses to turn a blind eye on vote-buying.
• 190 will whitewash the politicians for their wrongdoing in regard to Pra Viharn.
  

Consumer Association expresses some concerns over 3G licensing

The Consumer Association today held a press conference announcing its stance to the upcoming 3G auction. Media activist Supinya Klangnarong was there, on the panel, and live Tweeted the declaration, which can be summarised as follows.

• Well, we dont oppose the auction itself but think there's better option for its criteria.
• We demand NTC to act as a regulator to create fair competition&protect consumers'rights not only as the cheerleaders of telcom operators
• 1. We think doing auction for 2 licenses first is better for competition than fully giving 4 ones for 4 (incumbent)operators. #3G
• 2. NTC should set condition to guarantee lowest prices 4 comsumers b'cos 3G license will replace cost of concession for operators
• 3. Benefit fr 3G will be huge for licensees so NTC should set starting price as fair as possible. Not too much but Not too little.
• Last not least,We DON'Tspeak 4 AIS,DTAC,TRUEMOVE,CATorTOT. We stand for fair competiton, comsumers benefit & universal service for all.

The stance seems to be an interesting compromise between many of the more extreme views expressed. Staggering auctions is probably a new idea but the idea of beauty contest vs. a straight auction has been argued over and over again. The benefit for 3G in bullet number 3 refers to the fact that a new license regime would not have to pay TOT/CAT 30 or 35 percent of revenue as per the current arrangement.

Elsewhere TOT and CAT unions have claimed the auction would cost the country huge amounts of money in terms of lost profit from the increased competition via a twisted logic that equates profit by the state enterprises as the good of the country.

The suspense continues.

Foreigners should be excluded from 3G for security

Sometimes, not often, but once in a while, I feel pity towards the politician who clearly needs to be saved from himself. Today's piece on Manager by ICU Ministress Ranongrak would probably fall into that category.

In a nutshell, she said that licensing 3G (on 2.1 GHz) would bring compettion to TOT and this is not good for the country as TOT's revenue is the country's revenue and that 3G should be limited to local firms otherwise foreigners will compromise national security.

If this were a starship, I would expect the chief medical officer would be relieving the capitan of command now on medical grounds such as dementia or brain damage.

Sigh.



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