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Hardcore insurgents from Thailand's Deep South who had refused to participate in recent efforts at peace talks have held back-channel discussions with Thai officials and may come to the negotiating table, Malaysian government sources and a rebel spokesman told BenarNews.
An official with Malaysia's government, which has been brokering peace talks since 2015, said officials last week learned about a meeting in Berlin between Thai government negotiators and representatives of the National Revolutionary Front (BRN), the largest and most powerful of separatist rebel groups in Thailand's southern border region.
"We have received information on this meeting from the Thai side" last week, Mohd Fadli Jamaludin, a member of Malaysia's National Security Council, told BenarNews on Monday.
He said the meeting in the German capital followed a series of conversations between the two groups brokered by a third party, an international organization, but Malaysia was not consulted about the Berlin meeting ahead of time.
"The Malaysian government facilitator was previously not informed of the existence of this back channel," Mohd Fadli, who also serves on a joint working group for the peace dialogue process in southern Thailand, said.
Kuala Lumpur "did not recognize the involvement" of another international party "in the official peace dialogue process," he added.
The Thai government has officially been involved since August 2015 in talks with MARA Patani, a panel that represents various southern rebel groups and factions in the negotiations, including BRN's political wing. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence across the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South since the separatist insurgency reignited in 2004.
As he introduced himself and his team on Friday, Gen. Wanlop Rugsanaoh, Thailand's new chief negotiator in the talks with MARA, told a news conference in Bangkok that he foresaw a change in dialogue partners in the peace process.
Dormant for months, the official talks facilitated by neighboring Malaysia have yielded no breakthroughs and have been dogged by allegations that hardcore BRN leaders, who command guerrillas in the field, were not participating and did not support the peace effort.
On Monday, BenarNews contacted Abdul Rahim Noor, the Malaysian facilitator of the talks, to ask him for confirmation that BRN's military wing would now be participating in the negotiations after staying out of them for more than four years.
"Looks like it," Rahim Noor replied by telephone. "I know and have been informed. It's a good move."
Earlier this month, two Malaysian sources told BenarNews that the rebel group's military wing had agreed to participate in talks with Wanlop and Rahim Noor. Wanlop's appointment as leader of Thai government delegation was announced in September while Rahim Noor was appointed in August 2018.
"[W]hen there was no commitment from the military faction and only the political wing was involved, then the violence and what was discussed on the table were not synchronized," said a Malaysian government official close to the matter, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on it.
"However, this time, it will be led by what we can call the hardcore BRN, which is the military wing that has power on the ground and is responsible for incidents that happen," the source told BenarNews.
The source said BRN leaders might be joining the negotiations because they preferred Wanlop and Rahim Noor to their predecessors.
"Maybe it is the credibility of Rahim Noor as a former inspector general of police and his approach during his time as Malaysia's top cop," the official said.
"And secondly, the appointment of Gen. Wanlop as the chief negotiator – the freedom fighters were relieved when they heard that Udomchai was removed," the official said. He was referring to retired army Gen. Udomchai Thammasarorat, who led the talks beginning in October 2018 but resigned earlier this year after being named to the senate.
MARA Patani, meanwhile, has been without a chief negotiator following the resignation of Sukree Hari in May. Rahim Noor said he did not know who would take over for Sukree in that role.
"Yes, we know about Sukree but I don't know who will replace him. It's part of their internal politics," he told BenarNews. "I am sure they have chosen someone to replace him."
Despite the lack of an announced leader, MARA Patani will be involved in negotiations and would welcome a stronger BRN presence, a spokesman for the panel said.
"MARA Patani has already been at the dialogue table and we expect the mainstream BRN to join us," spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim told BenarNews. "What our merger will look like is under discussion and once finalized we will announce it to all."
Muzliza Mustafa in Kuala Lumpur and Nani Yusof in Washington contributed to this report.


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Thailand received more battle tanks from China this week, an army official said Thursday, three months after Bangkok took delivery of armored infantry vehicles from the United States.
Ten VT-4 main battle tanks – the final lot of the total of about 50 vehicles – and 38 VN-1 armored personnel carriers, among other military equipment, arrived on Tuesday from China at a port in Chonburi province, southeast of Bangkok, a high-ranking military officer said.
"The tanks and armored cars were brought to the Adisorn Cavalry Center in Saraburi province for inspection," the officer told BenarNews on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He declined to elaborate.
Thailand has not officially confirmed the arrival of its military acquisitions from Beijing, amid domestic criticism over its defense budget despite an economic slowdown.
Bangkok has allocated 233 billion baht (U.S. $7.7 billion) for its security spending for fiscal year 2020, even though the growth rate for Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy was forecasted by the International Monetary Fund to slow down to 3 percent next year.
The United States froze $4.7 million of security-related aid and cancelled security agreements with Thailand in 2014, when Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, then the army chief, led a bloodless putsch that deposed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Washington's move was a consequence of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, a law that bars American security forces from cooperating with nations where an elected government has been toppled through a coup.
But military ties improved after civilian rule was officially restored this year through the Thai general election, which critics said was engineered to keep Prayuth in power.
The latest delivery of battle tanks from Beijing was part of the 50 tanks and auxiliary vehicles ordered in 2016 by the Thai junta from NORINCO, China's defense corporation, in a deal aimed at replacing M-41 tanks, which were built in the U.S. in the 1950s, Army officials said. The deal was worth about 7 billion baht (U.S. $231 million).
Thailand's defense equipment from Beijing was delivered as the United States ratcheted up its focus on incentivizing weapons exports to its allies under a new policy aimed at pulling countries under its sphere of influence through long-term arms deals, according to analysts.
As part of its program called Foreign Military Financing, Washington also provides some countries with grants and loans that can be used to purchase defense equipment from U.S. manufacturers. Those grants are separate from arms sales in which the importing country would use its own money to acquire the weapons.
Other than the army hardware, Thailand has also agreed to purchase three submarines worth 36 billion baht ($1.1 billion) from China. Thai officials expect the first delivery in the next five to six years. The Thai junta approved the budget for the first submarine in January 2017 after putting the purchase on hold the previous year as a result of public criticism.
Bangkok has also signed a deal with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. for a landing platform dock warship, according to ChinaMil, the People's Liberation Army's official news website.
As part of Thailand's modernization effort, Thailand will also purchase from the United States eight Boeing AH-6i attack helicopters and related hardware in a deal worth $400 million. The U.S. State Department approved the sale on Sept. 24.
Thai Army chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong told reporters in August that about 70 armored personnel carriers would arrive from the United States by the end of this year, with 50 more expected next year. The first batch of 10 arrived in September, local reports said.
The U.S. State Department approved the sale of 60 Strykers in July, in a deal worth $175 million (5.4 billion baht), according to a Pentagon statement.
Analyst: 'No longer tilting toward China'
Paul Chambers, a lecturer and adviser for international affairs at Naresuan University, said Thailand was expected to even out its arms purchases from the United States and China, despite its early moves gravitating toward Beijing following the 2014 coup.
"I would say that Thailand is no longer tilting toward China but, instead, is pivoting back toward the United States," Paul told BenarNews. "Nevertheless, I expect the Thai government will seek to balance off the United States and China in terms of foreign policy and arms purchases."
"In 2019, Thailand is specifically moving closer to the United States in terms of weapons purchases," he said. "But expect China and the U.S. to both prosper in terms of selling weapons to Thailand."
Back on Sept. 12, when he led a ceremony accepting the 10 infantry carrier vehicles from the U.S. Army Pacific commander, Gen. Apirat, the Thai army chief, did not directly answer questions from reporters on whether he would prefer U.S. or Chinese weapons.
"Regardless of various sources of weapons, we stick to the American combat value we've adopted for 50 years," he said. "We still use American doctrine we've learned."


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Thailand's Election Commission said Wednesday it would ask the Constitutional Court to dissolve the opposition Future Forward Party, after ruling FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit had loaned millions of dollars to the party, a violation of the nation's political laws.
Speaking to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in May, Thanathorn said he had loaned 191.2 million baht (U.S. $6.3 million) to his party, which registered officially in October 2018 in preparation for the March general election.
"Allow me to reveal how our party manages its funds – the FFP owes me, I lent the party money because it could not raise funds in time for the election," Thanathorn said at the time.
The statement led activist Srisuwan Janya to file a petition with the EC seeking an investigation.
"Today, the Election Commission considered the petition, evidence and political party registrar officials' opinions about the Future Forward Party receiving loans from Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit," it said in a news release, adding "the loan deal violated the 2017 Political Party Act.
"With a majority decision, the EC is asking the Constitutional Court to dissolve the party in line with articles 92 and 93 of the Act," it said without giving more details.
A former election commissioner told reporters that political parties are prohibited from receiving any loan of more than 10 million baht ($330,500).
"The EC must interpret the law, which prohibits parties from receiving 'any money,' carefully. In this case, the loan is not allowed and it can't be interpreted as a donation either because it is over the 10 million baht limit," former election commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham said.
She said if the court decides to dissolve FFP, its leader and executives will be banned from politics for 10 years while those elected to parliament could join other parties.
Thanathorn already is banned from serving as a member of the parliament because the court ruled he illegally held media stocks while running for office in the March 24 election.
The FFP proved popular with young voters for its stance against Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who was installed as prime minister after he toppled the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014.
Prayuth was elected by parliament to serve as prime minister following the election, amid criticism that the military-sponsored constitution all but assured he would retain power.
"Who ordered (the outcome)? ... Do you mean me?" Prayuth responded to a reporter's question that he ordered the EC to fix the result. "I never interfere in anyone's matter. I know my role, trust me."
Party response
FFP's secretary general questioned the announcement.
"I totally disagree with the decision of the EC," Piyabutr Saengkanokkul said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
"We have doubt in the EC's decision and are concerned that it has become a political tool to distort the facts," he said. "The question is what is wrong with taking a loan from the party leader? The EC statement lasts five lines and contains no details."
Meanwhile, an analyst said a court decision to get rid of FFP would not be wise as it could popularize anti-junta factions.
"It is not a smart move. Even if the FFP is eventually disbanded, it will be able to maneuver politically in many forms," said Titipol Phakdeewanich, political science dean at Ubon Ratchathani University.
"The disbanding of Thai Rak Thai Party or People's Power Party did not make the popularity of Thaksin Shinawatra subside," Titipol said.
Thaksin, the former prime minister who was toppled in a military coup in 2006, remains popular in Thailand even as he lives in exile. His younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was toppled by the Prayuth-led junta in a similar coup in 2014.


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There are no indications Beijing will scale back its military arsenal on islands it has built in the South China Sea, despite objections from countries that see the disputed waterway as vital to international shipping, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander told reporters in Bangkok on Friday.
Over the past decade China has established bases on those islands and equipped them with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile systems as well as radar jamming equipment, in defiance of international law, Adm. John C. Aquilino said. Recently, Chinese bombers landed on runways constructed on the artificial isles.
"I see no signs of China reducing its military might in the region," he said. "What I would hope is that China would operate in accordance with international law and enable the free and open Indo-Pacific that exists today to continue, and try not to constrain it."
"Despite what is said by the Chinese Communist Party, it is clear to me that those islands are built for one purpose – that is to militarize the region," he said in response to questions from reporters. "So when we talk about what is said and what is done, it is important to look to deeds and not listen to words."
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a vital waterway for international shipping and trade, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have their own overlapping claims to portions of the disputed waters.
Earlier this year, the U.S. joined the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in conducting their first combined naval exercise in the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea. Senior U.S. Navy officers stressed that the exercises were part of efforts to foster closer maritime security ties with the ASEAN countries in keeping waters in the Indo-Pacific region open and free.
"It is important for the United States to operate in the region and for the past 80 years the United States, with its presence, has enabled peace and prosperity for all nations – so that is the importance of why we are here and why we will remain here," he said.
Competition, not conflict
There is a competition between the two superpowers, said Aquilino, who came to Bangkok, at the invitation of Thai Navy commander Adm. Luechai Ruddit, to attend a royal barge procession on Thursday marking the final rite in the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X).
"I said we were in competition in China but that does not mean conflict," he said. "Our ships operate in close proximity with Chinese ships and all nations' ships in the region and we want to keep those interactions safe. Those are the things we do to prevent conflict."
The U.S. Navy has been sailing through the South China Sea in a show of force in the face of Chinese activities and to uphold the international principle of freedom of navigation.
Aquilino said the competition stemmed from the two nations' disagreement over ideologies.
"When the United States talks about values that like-minded nations share with regard to, again, freedom to choose government and equal rights, we will continue to work with our partners to share those same values," the admiral said. "And I believe that the strength of partnerships with those values will be what keeps the nations in the region secured."
He said the United States had support from many nations throughout the region who want prosperity, freedom of navigation and access to global resources. The South China Sea is rich with mineral resources.
"All the nations in the region understand the importance, number one of the region for prosperity and security for all the nations, and number two that access to those area are critical to all the nations. That's why I think you are seeing and will continue to see many nations speak out against some of the policies that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to implement."


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A joint Chinese-Thai venture officially opened a luxury furniture manufacturing plant this week in one of the most troubled districts of Thailand's Deep South, a region plagued by insurgency and low employment.
Located on 99 acres in Nong Chik district in Pattani province, Superb Creation Furniture (Thailand) Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between China-based Superb Creation Limited and local Thai businessmen.
Over the next three years, the Chinese company plans to create 3,500 jobs for locals here as it relocates all of its production activities from Shenzhen, a city in southern China, plant manager and Deep South resident Sumet Sukphanphotharam said.
"The reason we chose Pattani and relocated the production base here was because we want a quality workforce, we welcomed the Thai government's invitation and we want to create jobs for locals," Sumet told BenarNews. "When people have jobs, violence should subside.
The initial investment for the plant is 350 million baht (U.S. $11.6 million), he said.
"We initially worried about the violence but the determination to improve the local economy outweighed the concerns," Sumet said. "I affirm the relocation has nothing to do with the Chinese-U.S. trade war."
One hundred people are employed at the plant, which has been operating for three months leading up to the official opening, and it expects to triple the number of workers by next April, Sumet said.
The Malay-speaking and Muslim-dominant Deep South is one of the most impoverished regions in Buddhist-majority Thailand, fueled by a 15-year separatist insurgency that has killed more than 7,000 people.
The Thai government has tried to strengthen the economy in the region next to the Malaysian border.
The new plant sits in a district that has seen deadly shootings and bombings tied to the rebellion.
Late last month, Thai security forces gunned down two suspected insurgents during a raid carried out in Nong Chik. Authorities had issued arrest warrants for and identified the pair as main suspects in twin ambushes blamed on insurgents that killed 15 people at two checkpoints in neighboring Yala province on Nov. 5.
Deep South investment
Sumet said the company had considered setting up the plant in Laos or the Eastern Economic Corridor in central Thailand, where Chinese tycoon Jack Ma announced plans to invest in e-commerce and products distribution center.
Ma, an Alibaba co-founder, launched a marketing campaign for durians on his company's massive online retailing website – creating 80,000 requests for the fruit within a minute. Buoyed by the success, he announced in May 2018 plans to invest millions of dollars in Thailand to tap Chinese consumer demand for agricultural goods and tourism.
The joint group settled on the Deep South instead.
"We visited Prince of Songkla University in Pattani and found readiness of manpower, so we have the courage to invest here to improve the people's livelihoods," Wing On Lam, the Chinese partner, said.
An official with the Southern Border Province Administration Center, the government agency that administers the Deep South, said the new factory was among a group of Chinese-related projects valued at about 7 billion baht ($231.9 million) in the region, including a factory to freeze dry durian.
Supreme Creation Limited's original Shenzhen factory employs 2,400 people and produces more than 800 containers, each containing 48 chairs, every month. The Thai facility can produce two containers each week, the manager said.
Hasan Yewaejeh, a worker at the factory, said he was proud to be a part of the effort to build world-class furniture.
"When I was told that the highly priced products are for export to America, I worried, but tried my best to craft them," Hasan said. "When customers accepted them, I feel very proud – we can do it."


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Thailand's southern army commander clarified an earlier statement and promised a fair investigation on Tuesday when he announced that three men shot dead by a security task force in insurgency-stricken Narathiwat province the day before were unarmed civilians.
Shortly after the killings on Monday, Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, the commander of the 4th Army Region that oversees Narathiwat and the rest of the Deep South, said the slain men were suspected insurgents who had clashed with security forces while others managed to escape.
But after hearing from relatives and conducting an initial investigation, Pornsak reversed his initial conclusion and spoke to reporters on Tuesday to set the record straight.
"When officers arrived at the scene and encountered four to five unknown men, they identified themselves and asked to search the men," Pornsak told reporters in Narathiwat, referring to the task force made up of soldiers, police and officials from local agencies.
"But those men ran away and three or four gunshots were heard, so the officers returned fire, killing three while one or two managed to escape," he said.
He also said the men were not armed – reversing an earlier statement that the men had two guns.
Pornsak promised justice for the slain loggers, saying he had ordered the unit responsible, the 45th Ranger Task Force, to conduct an investigation into the shootings.
"When there is an initial finding that the dead men are villagers and not insurgents, and despite officers' efforts to be careful, they cannot deny responsibility because of the deadly mistake," Pornsak said. "They will face investigation and punishment, disciplinarily and criminally, without exception ... if they intended to do wrong deeds."
Ibraheng Mali, the father of Budiman Mali, 26, one of the three men killed on Monday, said he heard gunshots and was told about his son by a neighbor who witnessed the shooting. Ibraheng identified the two other dead men as Hafisi Mada-o, 24, and Manasi Sama-ae, 27.
"My son, my nephew Hafisi Mada-o, and their friend Manasi Sama-ae, were shot on the mountain," Ibraheng told BenarNews.
"I affirm that my son and nephew as well as their friend were not insurgents or bad guys as reported. They cut logs to make a living," he said. "What I want is justice."
Manasi's father, Mahamaroyali Sama-ae, said he kept waiting for his son's body for burial.
"I did not sleep since last night, awaiting my son to come and have his rite," Mahamaroyali told BenarNews. "I grieve for my son, he must have felt sheer pain. I want justice. He was not a bad guy."
Pornsak, the army commander, said Monday's incident in the Tawae mountains followed a Dec. 4 bloodless shootout against eight to 12 suspected insurgents in another village in the same district. Security forces in the Deep South have been involved in a manhunt since Nov. 5 when a pair of insurgent attacks killed 15 people at two checkpoints in Yala province.
Pornsak also requested that a Deep South human rights protection team of religious leaders, civilians and officials, conduct an independent investigation to ensure fairness and provide a base for possible compensation.
Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Bangkok-based Cross Cultural Foundation, called for a truly independent investigation.
"The fact-finding team for the extra-judicial execution in Narathiwat must be independent and competent – if not it is another mouthpiece for the perpetrators who are in power," Pornpen said in a Facebook posting.
"Mistaken killing is not self-defense, not subject to reduction in punishment, not exempt and is obligated to the law," she said. "Bring the wrong-doers to justice, compensate the dead and reform the military."
Pornpen was out of the country and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Deep South human rights protection committee member promised the families of the slain loggers that they would get justice.
"The three were found dead next to timber without weapons," Pornpilai Bovornnaringdesh told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. "Please, all villagers, trust officials who are performing the investigation."
In Bangkok on Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced that a 2005 Emergency Decree would remain in effect in most of the Deep South. The decree gives security forces almost blanket immunity for their actions.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in violence across the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South – which consists of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces and four districts of Songkhla province – since the separatist insurgency reignited in 2004.


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Officials in Southeast and South Asian nations say they have few North Koreans living within their boundaries, as a deadline by the U.N. Security Council for member-states to repatriate workers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is set to expire on Sunday.
A Security Council resolution passed on Dec. 22, 2017, gave United Nations member-states two years to send DPRK citizens home and it banned North Korean workers from receiving new work visas from other countries.
In the resolution, the council acknowledged that "revenue generated from DPRK workers overseas, among others, contribute to the DPRK's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs," which are under U.N. sanctions.
In Thailand, an official reported that only 68 North Koreans had work visas, including six who received them this year. Elsewhere, the number was even smaller.
"In principle, Thailand will not extend old [permits] or give new work permits to North Korean workers. We cooperate with the U.N. – no more visas so there should not be a problem," Suchart Pornchaiwisetkul, director-general of the Department of Employment, told BenarNews.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Thailand adhered to the U.N. resolution while police Lt. Gen. Sompong Chingduang, the head of the Immigration Bureau, said he did not know about the deadline.
In Malaysia, officials did not comment on North Koreans in their country, but government figures show that most of them left shortly after the February 2017 assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader, at a Kuala Lumpur airport.
Following Kim's death, about 300 North Koreans working in mines in eastern Sarawak state were sent home and a North Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur closed.
In September, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad confirmed in an interview with BenarNews that Malaysia was planning to reopen its embassy in Pyongyang.
Indonesia appeared to be affected by Kim's killing as well when a North Korean-owned restaurant in Jakarta closed that year. One of two suspects in Kim's killing, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, saw charges against her dismissed earlier this year before she quickly flew to Jakarta.
A foreign ministry spokesman said no migrant workers from North Korea were left in Indonesia.
"I have received information that no North Korean nationals are registered as working in Indonesia, except those working at the North Korean embassy," spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told BenarNews.
In Bangladesh, an official said the migrant workers had departed years ago.
"The government position is we will fully abide by the U.N. resolution on North Korea," Nahida Sobhan told BenarNews. "Since the adoption of the U.N. resolution in 2017, we have not issued any visas to North Korean workers."
Sobhan, the director general of the United Nations wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said a North Korean company had been involved in a mining project in Madhyapara but left when Bangladesh did not renew its contract.
Meanwhile, China and Russia on Monday issued a draft resolution calling for the U.N. Security Council to ease restrictions on North Koreans working overseas, Reuters news agency reported.
No action has been taken on the resolution.
Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka, Tia Asmara in Jakarta, Muzliza Mustafa in Kuala Lumpur and Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: An earlier version wrongly reported that Malaysia's prime minister in 2018 had announced plans to reopen Pyongyang's embassy in Kuala Lumpur.


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Two soldiers turned themselves in on Friday as part of an investigation into the shooting deaths of three unarmed civilians by Thai security forces in the mountains of insurgency-stricken Narathiwat province on Dec. 16, police said.
The killings have sparked new anger against the Thai government in Narathiwat and neighboring provinces in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, a heavily militarized region where a rebellion against Bangkok rule has simmered for decades.
"One is a volunteer [army] ranger and another is a commissioned officer. They turned themselves in and brought with them two pistols to Narathiwat city's police station at 7 a.m. today. Previously, the 45th Ranger Forces Regiment told us that they would come at 10 a.m.," Narathiwat police chief Maj. Gen. Narin Busaman told BenarNews.
The pair turned up at the police station a day after the army chief in southern Thailand ordered security-unit members who were involved in killing the three loggers to turn themselves in so an investigation could begin, Thai media reported.
Military and police officials withheld the names of the two soldiers.
"We have to further investigate before releasing any details," Col. Pramote Prom-in, the 4th Army Region spokesman, told BenarNews.
On Tuesday, a day after the civilians were fatally shot during a confrontation with the security unit, Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, the army commander in the Deep South, promised a fair probe. He said an initial investigation had revealed that the three slain men were villagers foraging in the forest for logs, not armed separatist insurgents.
On Friday, a relative of one of the slain villagers called on the army to bring the suspects before next of kin to apologize for their actions. Budiman Mali, 26, Hafisi Mada-o, 24, and Manasi Sama-ae, 27, have been identified as the victims.
"What we want is justice, guilty persons should be punished," the relative told BenarNews on condition of anonymity. "We want all soldiers to retreat from our village because villagers are afraid that there might be a retaliation from those soldiers."
The man alleged this was not the first time that soldiers had killed villagers.
"This similar situation has been repeated over and over before," he said, adding, "shooters turned themselves in and nothing happened."
"So villagers do not trust soldiers anymore."
Meanwhile, the president of the Narathiwat Islamic Committee questioned the government's sincerity in this case.
"They should stop promising villagers justice. All promises are just bragging," Safie Jehloh told BenarNews.
'The dead men are villagers'
Monday's killings occurred while the security unit – a combined force of military, police personnel, militia and officials from local agencies – was patrolling the Tawae mountains in Narathiwat as part of an operation to hunt for insurgents connected to twin attacks that killed 15 people at security checkpoints in nearby Yala province early last month.
The unit ran into at least four men in the forest, and ordered them to identify themselves and submit to a search, Lt. Gen. Pornsak told reporters on Tuesday.
"But those men ran away and three or four gunshots were heard, so the officers returned fire, killing three while one or two managed to escape," he said.
On the day of the shooting, Pornsak said the slain men were suspected insurgents who were armed. However, he reversed that statement the next day, saying that they were in fact unarmed.
The military commander then promised justice for the slain loggers.
"When there is an initial finding that the dead men are villagers and not insurgents, and despite officers' efforts to be careful, they cannot deny responsibility because of the deadly mistake," Pornsak said on Dec. 17. "They will face investigation and punishment, disciplinarily and criminally, without exception ... if they intended to do wrong deeds."
Pornsak also requested that a Deep South human rights protection team of religious leaders, civilians and officials conduct an independent investigation to ensure fairness and provide a base for possible compensation.
Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced that a 2005 Emergency Decree would remain in effect in most of the Deep South, giving security forces almost blanket immunity for their actions.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in violence across the Deep South – which consists of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces and four districts of Songkhla province – since the insurgency reignited in 2004.


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Thai police filed murder charges against two soldiers on Monday, accusing them of involvement in the killing of three unarmed civilians in the nation's Deep South, officials said, in a rare move to prosecute military men over the deaths of non-combatants in the insurgency-stricken region.
The two suspects – a commissioned officer and a volunteer assigned to the army's 45th Ranger Force Regiment – were charged then released from the police station following an investigation into the fatal shooting of three people in Narathiwat, Maj. Gen. Narin Busaman, the provincial police chief, told BenarNews.
"Two soldiers gave themselves in and surrendered their guns for ballistic tests," Narin said, without naming the suspects. "Investigators treated them as in a typical criminal case, and charged them with murder."
Even though the duo turned themselves in on Friday, they were not taken into custody, he said.
The killings of Budiman Mali, 26, Hafisi Mada-o, 24;, and Manasi Sama-ae, 27, has stirred up anger against the Thai government in Narathiwat and neighboring provinces in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, a heavily militarized region where a rebellion against Bangkok's rule has lasted decades.
The three men were fatally shot on Dec. 16 after encountering a government security unit while they were foraging for logs in a jungle in the Tawae mountain range in Ra-ngae, a district in Narathiwat.
"Investigators have interrogated three soldiers and another five are pending questioning," Narin said. "We will question the relatives of the dead men, local leaders and other parties concerned and all evidences will be included in the case file for fairness."
The shootings occurred while a security unit was patrolling the Tawae mountains as part of an operation to hunt for insurgents connected to twin attacks that killed 15 people at checkpoints in nearby Yala province early last month.
The unit ran into at least four men in the forest, and ordered them to identify themselves and submit to a search, Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, the army commander in the Deep South, told reporters on Dec. 17.
"But those men ran away and three or four gunshots were heard, so the officers returned fire, killing three while one or two managed to escape," Pornsak said, as he promised a fair probe.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in violence across the Deep South – which consists of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces and four districts of Songkhla province – since the separatist insurgency reignited in 2004.
Relatives of slain men receive financial assistance
On Monday, authorities visited Anae village to offer an apology and hand over an initial compensation of 500,000 baht ($16,572) to each family of the three victims.
"We've met the victims' relatives to give them moral support," Rear Adm. Somkiat Polprayoon, director of the Southern Border Province Administration Center (SBPAC), told reporters. "We also want to know their living conditions, so we can give more help."
Somkiat was accompanied by Col. Teepat Empan, commander of the area's military regiment, who, during his meeting with the relatives of the slain men, expressed regret over the shooting.
"We are here ... to apologize," Teepat told reporters, as he acknowledged that "mistakes" had been made by his men during the patrol. He also announced plans to order soldiers to construct a house for the relatives of one of the three men.
Other than the financial assistance, Somkiat said, authorities would also provide medical care and job placement for the victims' relatives, one of whom demanded a public apology from the shooters.
"We received the cash compensation," a father of one of the slain men, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, told BenarNews. "But what we want is for the shooters to apologize to us during a press conference."
During his visit to the regional security operations command in Pattani province on Monday, Army Chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong also expressed regret over the killings.
"Whatever faults were committed, the army and those soldiers on duty will accept them," Apirat told reporters. "Wrongdoers will be treated according to justice, without exemption."
An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to one of the two suspects charged with murder as a non-commissioned officer.


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Thailand's Constitutional Court is expected to issue a ruling next month that could lead to the opposition Future Forward Party being dissolved over a complaint alleging it is plotting to overthrow the monarchy.
The court announced Wednesday that it would decide Jan. 21 on a complaint accusing FFP of involvement in seditious acts. In the same statement, the court gave the party 15 days to respond to another case alleging FFP had violated laws governing political parties by accepting campaign funds from its leader and founder, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
The court said it found the sedition complaint filed in June by Natthaporn Toprayoon, a former adviser of the Ombudsman's Office, "substantial and needed no hearings."
"The Constitutional Court has considered the complaint ... to decide whether the Future Forward Party, its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, secretary general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and party's executives, exercised their rights and freedom to overthrow the constitutional monarchy or not," it said in the statement.
Natthaporn's petition, which seeks FFP's disbandment, accuses the anti-junta party of having links to the Illuminati, a secretive group of European elites that conspiracy theorists believe was plotting to overthrow governments. The complaint alleges that FFP's logo even resembles the triangular symbol used by the European society.
The court said it had accepted a separate petition from the Election Commission, which also recommended early this month that the FFP be dissolved, accusing it of violating laws governing political parties when it took loans from its leader.
Thanathorn, a 41-year-old billionaire who has become one of the most outspoken critics of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, has said in his official declaration of assets that he provided a loan of 191.2 million baht ($6.3 million) to finance the party's electoral campaigns during the March general election.
But the commission ruled that Thanathorn was not anticipating a repayment, dismissing his claims that the amount – in two sums, one of 161.2 million baht ($5.3 million) in January, and a second of 30 million ($994,000) in April – was given out to the party as a loan.
It was not immediately clear if the Constitutional Court would issue its ruling on the two cases on the same day.
Natthaporn said in his allegations that the FFP had taken steps to undermine the monarchy by "belittling the military and the judiciary," which, he said, were considered representatives of the kingdom.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for FFP did not immediately return calls for comment from BenarNews.
Police filed charges against Thanathorn on Dec. 16, two days after thousands of supporters joined him in one of the largest political rallies seen in Bangkok since Prayuth led a military coup that toppled Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014.
Rights activist: Allegations of Illuminati links 'ludicrous'
"While the allegation about Illuminati links is totally ludicrous and baseless, the rest of this complaint accuses that FFP's democratic reform agenda amounts to a conspiracy to overthrow Thailand's monarchy and transform the country into a republic – the most serious charges in Thai politics," Sunai Phasuk, a Thai researcher for Human Rights Watch told BenarNews.
"It's clear that enemies of FFP don't want just to see the party dissolved, they want the party leadership and liberal democracy ideology that the party stands for to be wiped off from the political landscape," he said.
"For the Constitutional Court to say that it will give a ruling without holding a hearing raises concerns about the lack of due process and fair trial standards in this case," he said.
Prayuth appointed himself as prime minister in May 2014, before the March general election that installed him as a civilian leader this year. The Future Forward Party bagged a third of the parliamentary seats in that election, which critics said was engineered to keep Prayuth in power.
Former election commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham told reporters that if the court decided to dissolve FFP, its leader and executives would be banned from politics for up to 10 years, while those elected to parliament could join other parties.
The court stripped Thanathorn of his status as a legislator last month, ruling that he illegally held media stocks while running for office.
Meanwhile, a ruling coalition member said it was highly likely that the FFP would be dissolved.
"The accusation must be valid and I believe the Court has sufficient evidence," Nanthadej Meksawat, an adviser to the minister of labor and social welfare, told BenarNews.
"The dissolution of FFP ... will not change the Thai political landscape," he said, adding that despite a possible political ban on its party leaders, "members can set up a new party, anyway."


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A Chinese woman traveling to Thailand from Wuhan City was confirmed to be infected with a new strain of coronavirus and treated near Bangkok in the first reported case outside China, the Thai public health minister said Monday.
From Jan. 3 to 12, Thai authorities screened more than 9,000 passengers from Wuhan, the center of the mystery outbreak, Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok. Authorities found that a dozen of the travelers had developed flu-like symptoms while the woman was the only one diagnosed with coronavirus, he said.
"One of them had a high temperature, according to a scanner at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and was quarantined at the Bamrasnaradura Institute on Jan. 8," Anutin said. "The lab results showed it is the first case of the new strain of coronavirus found in Thailand and the first found outside of China."
"She was treated and is ready to travel back to her country. We found no more patients suffering from coronavirus," Anutin said, adding the others suffered from seasonal flu and eight had been treated and released.
Anutin urged the public to not panic because the patient, identified as a 61-year-old woman, was being quarantined until she returned to China.
Several dozen people in China's Wuhan City have suffered from coronavirus and one man has died, according to news reports. A meat and seafood market in the city has been closed after it was linked to the outbreak.
Chinese officials said they had not identified the cause of the outbreak and played down speculation that it could be a repeat of the coronavirus blamed for the SARS epidemic, which killed hundreds of people in 2003.
After Thailand reported its first case of a person being diagnosed with the coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday it was working with Thai and Chinese officials.
"The possibility of cases being identified in other countries was not unexpected and reinforces why WHO calls for on-going active monitoring and preparedness in other countries," the U.N. agency said in a statement. "WHO has issued guidance on how to detect and treat persons who are ill with the new virus. The genetic sequencing shared by China enables more countries to rapidly diagnose patients."
Earlier this month, WHO reported that patients who have been infected suffer from fever, shortness of breath and have an accumulation of fluid in their lungs as detected by x-rays.
Accordign to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronaviruses are common in different species of animals, including camels and bats. In rare cases, the viruses can evolve and infect humans and then spread between humans, the agency said.


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The Thai and Indonesian army chiefs signed an intelligence sharing deal in Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday that aims to contain cross-border movements of fugitives and militants, including from Thailand's insurgency-plagued Deep South, officials and observers said.
Thai Royal Army commander Gen. Apirat Kongsompong indicated that he went to Aceh to get a better understanding of how, in 2005, that region at the Western tip of Sumatra Island settled its own longtime rebellion. His one-day trip to Aceh was the first official visit to the autonomous province by a Thai army chief.
Apirat met with his Indonesian counterpart, Gen. Andika Perkasa, to discuss military-to-military issues, including renewing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in training, and to sign a three-point deal aimed at deterring security threats and containing movement across frontiers of "terrorists or perpetrators," officials said.
"[We] have signed the minutes of meeting for exchanges of more intelligence and try to have more cooperation for fugitive groups of persons crossing the borders, for both countries," Apirat said during a joint news conference with Andika, according to video clips released to BenarNews by a Thai military source.
Among other measures, the deal calls for both armies to cooperate in "tracking down persons or groups deemed a threat to both countries and the region" and "denying space for people deemed a threat to the countries and the region," Apirat told reporters in Aceh.
He said Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, the army commander in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, who accompanied him to Indonesia, would be assigned to setting up a committee to coordinate and implement the cross-border deal with the Indonesian army.
The two sides agreed to share intelligence on "movements of extremists, rebels or perpetrator groups who have been undermining national security," according to a copy of the official document from the meeting obtained by Reuters.
Apirat: 'Aceh has peace'
A statement issued later by the Indonesian army did not specify how the cooperation deal would apply to Indonesian Muslim extremist groups, including the Islamic State-linked militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah. Authorities have blamed the group for terrorist attacks across the archipelago in recent years.
The purpose of Apirat's visit to Aceh was to sign a four-year extension of a bilateral army cooperation deal as well as engage in talks about the peace process that led to a 2005 agreement, which ended Aceh's insurgency, Indonesian army spokesman Candra Wijaya said in the statement.
"The cooperation [arrangement] includes education, joint training activities, exchange of visits by senior army officials of both parties in order to strengthen the relationship between the two countries," the statement quoted Andika as saying.
He said his Thai counterpart held talks with traditional Acehnese leaders because Apirat wanted to get a better understanding of how Aceh had achieved peace.
Apirat, for his part, said he appreciated the model that Aceh had used in pursuing peace.
"So what brings the peace, you know, it's not about the religion. It's not about who you are, but it's about understanding."
"I have hope. Aceh has peace," Apirat said as he responded to a reporter's question about whether the general had a message for insurgents in the Deep South.
A peace accord signed in Helsinki by Jakarta and Acehnese rebels in August 2005 ended a 28-year separatist conflict, whereby Indonesia agreed to grant Aceh special autonomy.
Aimed at BRN
The bilateral deal struck by the Indonesian and Thai armies is targeted at Barisan Revolusi Nasional (the National Revolutionary Front), or BRN, the largest and most powerful of the southern Thai rebel groups, according to a former high-ranking member of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), another rebel group in the Deep South.
"I believe the agreement between the Thai army commander and Indonesia is aimed at pressuring insurgents who fled from Malaysia to Indonesia after they received pressure from Malaysia for refusing to join the peace talks," the ex-PULO rebel told BenarNews on condition of anonymity, referring to negotiations between Bangkok and southern rebels groups brokered by Kuala Lumpur.
Before the insurgency re-ignited in 2004, separatists from the Deep South traveled to Aceh to be trained for combat before passing those skills on to a younger generation of fighters after returning home to the border region, said Samret Srirai, a retired senior Thai military officer.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in violence in the Deep South during the past 16 years. Since 2015, neighboring Malaysia has facilitated negotiations between Bangkok and MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing rebel organizations and factions, but those talks have led to no breakthroughs while violence in the region persists.
" believe the agreement is done because some BRN are hiding in Indonesia, so Thailand wants to monitor them," professor Srisompob Jitpiromsi, who directs Deep South Watch, a think-tank based in the region, told BenarNews.


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Thailand will raise concerns about its current drought during a Mekong River Commission meeting expected next month, the Thai water-resources chief said, as local farmers complained that dams in China were choking the waterway on which millions depend for their livelihoods.
Somkiat Prajamwong, director of Thailand's Office of Natural Water Resources (ONWR), told BenarNews he had documented complaints from villagers who had suffered economic hardship as a result of the river's erratic flow.
"We compiled from and studied those concerns of the people along the Mekong River," Somkiat told BenarNews. "During the next meeting of the Mekong River Commission, expectedly in February, we will address the issues and make it a top priority."
The commission, known by its acronym MRC, an inter-government agency that works with regional governments to manage the Mekong's resources, warned Sunday that water outflows could potentially drop by half along the river that stretches through China and five other nations.
The MRC's dire forecast – which says that water levels could fall by up 70 centimeters (28 inches) in Thailand and about 25 centimeters (10 inches) in Cambodia this week – came as Beijing said it was testing equipment at one of its 11 dams on the upper Mekong River.
In October, amid protests from villagers in Thailand, the first hydropower dam on the lower Mekong River in Laos – one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries – began its commercial operations.
Protesters said the 1,285-megawatt, multibillion-dollar Xayaburi Dam, which was aiming to sell 95 percent of its generated power to Thailand, could further disrupt the river flow that was already drying out even at the end of the rainy season.
Thai farmers say fish stocks have collapsed along the Mekong River after Beijing revealed it was testing equipment at one of its dams in the waterway's upper reaches.
The Mekong, the world's 12th-longest river, stretches 4,350 km (2,703 miles) from China in the north to Vietnam in the south, and hosts at least 270 species of fish, experts say.
In a development plan bearing the slogan "Shared River, Shared Future," Beijing hopes to carve a link from its Yunnan province through Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. China says this could bring about a trade boom that could benefit up to 240 million residents in neighboring countries.
Somkiat said China had periodically notified Thailand's office of water resources about its activities at the last minute. In his view, however, this does not provide Thai authorities enough time to warn local residents.
In late December, China's Jing Hong Dam tested its equipment, lowering water release from 1,200 to 1,400 cubic meters per seconds to only 500-800 cubic meters, according to Thailand's water resources office. That move lowered water levels in the Mekong between Thailand and Laos to critical points until the test was ended on Jan. 4, it said.
Somkiat said Thailand would prepare to address the issues with the four MRC members during their meeting in Vientiane.
"We will study with other countries about a lack of sediment, or even drought. It is too early to presume that they are caused by water harnessing in dam reservoirs or the production of electricity," Somkiat said. "China and Laos also want to study the causes to solve the problems."
China and Laos currently share information on water management as a short -term solution, Somkiat said, but he was expecting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be signed to formalize the exchange of information between the affected nations.
"Those countries have shared with Thailand information on water release and on water levels in certain areas as a short-term solution, but in the next phase there will be an MoU on official information exchanges a proper way," he said.
While it remained unclear what kind of tests China was conducting on dam equipment, water levels on the Mekong in Chiang Rai – where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet – have been reduced by about 40 percent, from three meters to less than one, Brian Eyler, director of the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia program, told Al Jazeera.
Such sudden drops and rises, Eyler said, confuse fish in their natural movements in the river, leading to a drop in fish stocks. "For a river to be healthy it needs regular flow and not to be shocked with unnatural ups and downs," he said.
Thai Farmers Complain of Hardships
The Electricity-Generating Authority of Thailand is the main buyer of the Lao government's generated power, paying an estimated 12 billion baht (U.S. $4 billion) a year for combined outputs of 1,545 megawatts from the Xayaburi Dam and Don Sahong Dam, experts told BenarNews,
But activists and locals said the dams had affected the environment and people's livelihood.
"The drought that has been lasting since last year is, besides lower rainfall, caused by water control by dams in China and Laos, creating unnatural tides," Montree Chanthavong, an environmentalist with the Mekong Butterfly group, told BenarNews.
Montree also said the Mekong water turned into aquamarine blue last November due to a lack of sediment, which is a sign of a degrading ecological system.
"The lack of sediment causes fish to migrate in the wrong time and resulting in less breeding," he said.
Another farmer said the drastic change of Mekong appeared after Xayaburi began operating.
"When Xayaburi Dam operated in July 2019, the Mekong turned dry while usually the period from June to August should have had high tide," Saman Kaewpuang, a farmer in northeastern province of Nong Khai, told BenarNews. "Fishes that are supposed to lay eggs in tributaries died."
"Water levels abruptly changed up and down. Fishermen cannot catch enough because the water turned blue," Saman said.
"No more fish," he said.


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In 2019, for the first time, China topped the list of countries seeking to invest in Thailand because of the effects of U.S.-Chinese trade disputes and Thailand's connection with the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, a Thai official said Thursday.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) applications from China, valued at U.S. $8.6 billion, comprised almost half of total foreign investment applications last year, $16.7 billion, according to data from Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI).
"China became the number one foreign investor for the very first time," BOI Secretary-General Duangjai Asawaschinatachit said while presenting the statistics at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok.
Japan was the second most active suitor in 2019, with investment applications valued at $2.4 billion, followed by Hong Kong ($1.2 billion), Switzerland ($800 million) and Taiwan ($700 million).
The United States, which topped the chart in 2018, followed by Japan, then China, did not make top five in 2019, according to the BOI. Their respective application totals were $11.0 billion, $2.4 billion, and $1.8 billion, that year.
Kobsak Pootrakool, the deputy secretary-general for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, said trade disputes between the U.S. and China, as well as Thailand's participation in China's One Belt, One Road initiative, played a part in the dramatic rise in investment pledges. The BOI has not released the actual value of foreign investments in 2019.
"The next two years is probably the best time in 20 years for foreign investment in Thailand, thanks to President Trump," Kobsak said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S.-China trade row.
"Many companies love to be in China, big market. They don't want to leave but because of the trade war, now they are thinking of finding an alternative ... and Thailand has been one of the choices for them," he said, referring to punitive tariffs Washington slapped on Chinese goods that have sent manufacturers fleeing.
Officials meanwhile affirmed that China's transregional infrastructure initiative, OBOR, played a role in the flood of investment proposals. "When we pay attention to this, China's investment application with the BOI increased and became the number one now," Kobsak told BenarNews.
A whopping 59 percent of the 2019 investment proposals were related to the Eastern Economic Corridor where Chinese tycoon Jack Ma announced plans to invest in e-commerce and products distribution center, according to Duangjai, the BOI chief.
EEC, the common name for Thailand's eastern seaboard, is the nation's center for export-oriented industries, where high-value goods such as Japanese automobiles are manufactured and shipped elsewhere. The region includes the provinces of Chonburi, Rayong and Chachoensao.
China in 2017 laid out plans to invest more than $1 trillion in building a network of ports, roads, railways and other logistics-related projects stretching through Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
The infrastructure initiative is part of China's multi-pronged strategy to boost global trading links by developing routes connecting the world's most populous nation to markets in Europe.
China is involved in several rail projects in Thailand. In October 2019, State Railway of Thailand signed an agreement with a consortium including a Chinese state-owned company to build a $7.4 billion high-speed railway connecting three airports.


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Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the opposition Future Forward Party was not plotting to overthrow the monarchy, saying there was no substantial evidence to support allegations of sedition brought against the upstart party.
A petition filed in June by Natthaporn Toprayoon, a former adviser of the Ombudsman's Office, sought to disband the FFP. He accused the anti-junta party of having links to the Illuminati – a secretive group of European elites plotting to overthrow governments, according to conspiracy theorists.
"To determine who exercises the rights and freedom to overthrow the ruling regime, there must be sufficient and clear evidence, continued conduct," the court ruled. "But the evidence filed was mere information from websites or in print media. There is no proof that the accused attempted to do so.
"The defendants' actions were not an exercise of their right and freedom to overthrow the country's constitutional monarchy," it said.
FFP leaders were not in court. They chose to remain at the party's office in downtown Bangkok, where they spoke to reporters after the verdict.
"We believe that all cases are politically motivated. We believe that we are innocent, and we believe that we will go through those successfully," party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit told reporters.
Thanathorn was banned from holding a seat in parliament because of a conviction for illegally holding media stocks. In addition, there are at least two additional court cases against him that have not been decided.
Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, FFP's secretary-general, joined Thanathorn at the news conference.
"This shouldn't have been considered a legal case at the beginning," Piyabutr said. "Thanathorn and I, and members of the Future Forward Party, don't bear any thoughts of overthrowing the country's constitutional monarchy."
He took aim at those he claimed were responsible for destroying democratic governments.
"Military coups overthrow the country's administration. Therefore, this is not about the political party but a group of people, the military, who carry weapons, who rip the constitution," Piyabutr said.
Outstanding cases
Police filed charges against Thanathorn on Dec. 16, two days after thousands of supporters joined him in one of the largest political rallies in Bangkok. They rallied to show resistance to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
Prayuth, a retired army general, appointed himself prime minister after leading a May 2014 military coup that overthrew the government of Yingluck Shinawatra. He was voted in as PM following the March 2019 general election after a rule change allowed 250 senators appointed by the junta to vote for the top office.
The FFP captured one-third of the seats in parliament during last year's election. Since then, the Election Commission has petitioned for the party to be dissolved over a pair of loans from Thanathorn.
The 41-year-old billionaire, one of Prayuth's most outspoken critics, said in his official declaration of assets that he had provided a loan of 191.2 million baht (U.S. $6.3 million) to finance the party's electoral campaigns in 2019.
But the commission ruled that Thanathorn was not anticipating a repayment, dismissing his claims that the amount – in two sums, one of 161.2 million baht ($5.3 million) in January 2018, and a second of 30 million ($987,000) in April that year – was given out to the party as a loan.
An analyst said the decision to acquit the FFP did not alter efforts by the ruling party to dissolve the opposition party.
"FFP being disbanded or not now does not positively affect the Thai political landscape because there is a loan case pending a decision," Titipol Phakdeewanich, the dean of political science faculty at Ubon Ratchathani University, told BenarNews.
"And even if the FFP survives the loan case, the ruling party will continue to use the threat to the monarchy as a pretext to dissolve the party."
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Parliamentarians for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the Thailand to drop all cases against FFP.
"The wave of judicial cases that the authorities have unleashed against the Future Forward Party is clearly part of systematic reprisals for their success in last year's election and their unwavering challenge to the military-backed government, said Charles Santiago, a Malaysian MP and chairman of the parliamentarian group.
"If Thailand's government wants to restore faith into its so-called 'return to democracy' it should immediately drop all politically motivated charges against the FFP and democracy activists," he said in a statement.
"It's time that the Thai authorities understand that the country is hungry for democracy and that people should be allowed to constructively criticize the laws and policies that govern them."


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The futile escape by seven Uyghurs from a detention center in Thailand's northeastern region earlier this month has highlighted the plight of the dozens from China's minority ethnic group who fled the restive Xinjiang region to the Southeast Asian nation more than five years ago.
The seven were recaptured soon after they broke free from a detention cell in Mukdahan province on Jan. 10 – their second attempted escape – and their action could land them in jail for two years.
They are among 50 Uyghurs being held in immigration centers and prison in four locations in Thailand – remnants of a group of about 350 who fled to Thailand in 2014 following repression in Xinjiang.
"They are now in Mukdahan prison after being charged with escaping from immigration custody," police Lt. Col. Udon Chaokaek told BenarNews. "We forwarded the case file to the court already. We prosecuted them because they did break from immigration cell for a second time."
This latest incident creates a dilemma for Thailand: What to do with the 50 Uyghurs.
Sending them back to Xinjiang where they could be punished will trigger criticism from human rights groups.
Authorities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have held up to 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring "strong religious views" and "politically incorrect" ideas in internment camps since April 2017.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described Beijing's actions in Xinjiang as a humanitarian crisis that is "on the scale of what took place in the 1930s" in an apparent reference to the policies of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. He also called the incarcerations "the stain of the century."
Keeping the Uyghurs in Thailand indefinitely will also strain government resources.
It "highlights the Catch-22 situation the country has been caught in for many years with this minority Muslim group from China. It's high time to find an acceptation solution," a leading Thai daily, The Bangkok Post, said last week in an editorial.
It urged the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha to identify a third country willing to take in all the Uighur detainees.
"Beijing may frown on the idea, but Thailand, as a sovereign state, should have the right – as well as the courage – to make this decision," said the editorial entitled "Don't kowtow over Uighurs."
In 2015, Thailand drew criticism when it forcibly repatriated 100 of the 350 Uyghurs detained in the country to China despite fears they could be punished on their return.
A bomb blast at a Hindu shrine in Central Bangkok weeks after the repatriation killed 20 and injured 120 more, and was linked by the Thai police chief at the time to Uyghur militants who sought to avenge Bangkok's action. Two Uyghur men were arrested and pleaded not guilty.
"In reality, Thailand cannot want to send them anywhere – not to China because it is scared of a similar bomb attack like the one on the Erawan Shrine in 2015 and international condemnation," Chalida Tajaroensuk, the director of People's Empowerment Foundation, a Thai NGO which has helped Uyghurs in Thailand since 2014, told BenarNews. "Not to Turkey because Chinese officials keep checking on all detained Uyghurs every month."
Chalida, who had visited the seven escapees recently, suggested that they fled the cell because they lived under poor conditions.
"They said they broke the immigration detention cell because it is too cramped and unhealthy and had just one window. They did not see the sun or the moon for almost four years," she told BenarNews.
She noted that the Uyghurs came to Thailand with the intention of going to Turkey via Malaysia.
A little more than a year ago, the Malaysian government defied China by releasing 11 Uyghurs who had fled to Malaysia from Thailand after escaping from a prison in November 2017 and allowing them to travel to Turkey.
Beijing had sought their repatriation but Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the men had broken no laws.
As for those still in Thailand who have been detained for almost six years, "it seems unreasonable and illogical to keep these Uyghurs behind bars any longer," the Bangkok Post editorial said.
"Don't forget that the only laws they breached on setting foot in Thailand were those involving immigration, and they have done their time."
Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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Citing a lack of evidence, a Thai public prosecutor on Friday announced that murder and other serious charges linked to the killing of an ethnic Karen activist in 2014 have been dropped against a national park officer and three of his former subordinates.
The four turned themselves in to authorities in Bangkok last November, a day after arrest warrants were filed in connection with the killing of activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen (also known as Billy).
He went missing on April 17, 2014, the day he was stopped by park officers at a checkpoint while traveling to meet Karen villagers who had accused officials of setting fire to their homes three years earlier.
Charges were filed against Chaiwat Limlikhit-akson, the chief officer at Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province at the time, and the others.
"The committee considered the evidence from the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) case file, but found no evidence to suggest that Chaiwat and his men had killed Billy, where and how," prosecution spokesman Prayuth Petchkoon told reporters on Friday. "Particularly, there is no evidence to support how Billy was killed."
Chiawat, now a senior official in southern Pattani province, said he did not know about the prosecutors' decision.
"If the news is true, I am grateful to the prosecutors who gave me mercy and justice," Chaiwat told reporters. "I reaffirm that I have nothing to do with Billy at all."
The four were arrested two months after DSI members found bone fragments in an oil tank submerged in a reservoir inside the national park. DNA analysis confirmed the remains as those of the missing activist.
Billy's widow, Pinnapha Phrueksapan, continues to believe that Chaiwat and his men abducted and killed her husband.
" plan to petition to the prosecutor next Monday," Pinnapha told reporters, adding that villagers were skeptical about the decision because there has been little progress in nearly six years.
"The DSI presented evidence to the prosecutors to consider the case, but they dropped the charges. Everyone has doubts whether justice exists at all," she said.
In 2014, Billy was to testify in a court case filed by his fellow ethnic Karen farmers against Chaiwat and others. The farmers alleged that Chaiwat and others ransacked and burned their homes and properties in Pongluek-Bangkloy, a village near the national park, in 2011.
Billy disappeared a day before he was to take the witness stand and Chaiwat was acquitted over insufficient evidence later that year.
In his statement on Friday, the prosecutor pointed to Pinnapha's actions after Billy went missing to show she did not think he had been killed. Prayuth said Pinnapha believed Billy had been detained for harvesting wild honey and filed a request with the provincial court to order the park service to release him.
Prosecutors dropped the murder, abduction and other serious charges against Chaiwat and his underlings, but sustained one misconduct charge – failure to file a police report about Billy harvesting the honey from the national park.
Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former national human rights commissioner, questioned the prosecutors' decision.
"Normally, the DSI works very closely with the public prosecutors. In this case, I don't understand why the prosecutors dropped the charges while DSI says it has sufficient evidence," she told BenarNews. "Or does the DSI not have solid evidence?"
"I disagree with the idea of having the widow file a case by herself because the family doesn't have access to all the evidence including forensics and witnesses. The justice minister who promised justice on this enforced disappearance of Billy should come out to publicly clarify the case."
The Bwa G'Naw people, otherwise known as Karen, Kariang or Yang, are members of a hill tribe scattered across Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
The number of Karen ranges between 7.5 million and 14 million, with most of them concentrated in Myanmar, according to official population estimates. The Australian Karen Foundation estimates as many as 1 million Karen live in Thailand.



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Two Uyghur men accused of carrying out a bombing that killed 20 people at a Hindu shrine in Bangkok in 2015 pleaded not guilty Monday, a defense lawyer said, as their trial resumed for the first time since 2017.
Adem Karadag (alias Bilal Mohammed) and Yusufu Mieraili were arrested a few weeks after a bomb blast ripped through the Erawan Shrine, which is considered sacred by Buddhists and a major tourist attraction.
The two defendants, who identified themselves as Uyghurs from Urumqi in the Xinjiang region of China, had earlier pled not guilty to charges under a military tribunal, but authorities referred their case to a civilian court late last year.
"They came to the court, pleaded not guilty and vowed to fight the case," Chuchart Gunpai, the defense attorney for Karadag, told BenarNews by phone Monday.
The case was transferred to the South Bangkok Court after the Thai parliament elected junta leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha as prime minister, completing his transition from coup leader to head of a civilian government following an election in March 2019 that critics claim was engineered to keep him in power.
Also Monday, officials scheduled a Feb. 18 court hearing for Wanna Suansan, a Thai Muslim woman accused of renting an apartment that the suspects allegedly used to build bombs.
Karadag and Mieraili had been kept under detention since their arrests, Chuchart said, while Wanna was released on bail following her arrest in November 2017.
If convicted, the two men could face the death penalty, lawyers said.
Surveillance camera captured a fireball during the explosion that also injured 125 people on Aug. 17, 2015. The footage also caught a man leaving a backpack on a bench inside the shrine moments before the blast. Police later identified the man as Karadag.
Authorities said a pipe bomb, packed with three kilos of explosives, was planted inside the shrine near a busy intersection. The next day, authorities said, a smaller pipe-bomb also exploded on a passenger pier in Bangkok, but caused no casualties.
Karadag, then 31, was arrested on Aug. 29, 2015, after police said they had found bomb-making materials at an apartment he rented in Bangkok's suburban Nongjok district. He was charged with criminal offenses ranging from premeditated killing and bomb possession to illegal entry into Thailand.
Mieraili, then 28, was arrested on Sept. 1, 2015, as he tried to flee to neighboring Cambodia, police said. Investigators claimed that he was attempting to acquire bomb-making materials.
The trial had been delayed multiple times as a result of wrangling over courtroom interpreters and translators, Chuchart told BenarNews.
Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims who mostly live in the Xinjiang region of China but are also spread across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. Uyghurs have been leaving China in large numbers to escape alleged persecution and repression by Chinese authorities.
The bombing happened weeks after Thai authorities forcibly sent almost 100 Uyghurs to China.
Court documents obtained by BenarNews indicated that Karadag could not speak Mandarin or Chinese and would prefer a Uyghur-speaking translator, while Mieraili can communicate in English.
On Monday, the court directed state agencies to arrange for a Uyghur translator for Karadag and an English translator for Mieraili, whose lawyer did not attend the hearing due to another appointment.
After prosecutors presented the evidence, the court set the next hearing for March 2.


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NGOs called on Thailand's government to help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers from neighboring countries, as a migrant advocacy group on Thursday released a report into conditions facing foreign laborers in the agricultural sector.
Nearly nine out of every 10 migrants in the sector worked under difficult conditions, for more than eight hours per day, and on average were paid significantly less than the minimum wage, according to the findings of a two-year study by the Mekong Migration Network (MMN).
A survey it conducted found that 87 percent faced those issues. The report drew on data from interviews of workers, government officials, civil society organizations, employment agencies, employers along with former migrant workers who had returned to their home countries.
"Migrant workers have dreams that they want to have a good house, nice family, be a land owner – but in reality, they live in crowded and poor conditions," said Sutthisak Rungrueangphasuk, manager of the MAP Foundation's Mae Sot office in northern Thailand's Tak province.
"They decided to move to work in Thailand to save money to send back home to Myanmar, but   working in our country does not provide better conditions," he said. The foundation is a non-profit whose goal is to work with at-risk people to help them achieve a better quality of life.
Reiko Harima, the Mekong Migration Network's regional coordinator, introduced Sutthisak and other speakers involved in presenting the survey to reporters at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.
Among those questioned for the survey were 328 Myanmar and Cambodian citizens who helped harvest corn, cassava, palm oil and rubber in Tak, Rayong, Surat Thani and Phang Nga provinces between September 2017 and July 2019.
More than half of the migrants working in agricultural jobs did not have proper documentation to remain in Thailand, the study found, adding the undocumented workers ended up in jobs that pay less than the minimum wage.
Laborers on rubber plantation work the longest hours, with 87 percent of respondents working more than eight hours per day and 40 percent working more than 12 hours. In contrast, almost none of the workers on corn, cassava, and palm oil plantations reported working more than 12 hours a day, according to the study.
The survey found that 46 percent of the workers on corn farms received less than 4,500 baht (U.S. $144) per month, 10 percent did not receive owed wages and 8 percent had their passports kept by the employers, or were not allowed to leave the farm. In addition, 82 percent reported having to purchase their own safety equipment such as rubber boots, safety helmets, rubber gloves, masks, goggles.
Paid well below the minimum wage
The farm workers' pay averaged about 150 baht per day, less than half the nation's 330 baht minimum wage.
Win Soe of Myanmar, who works in Tak province, said that most workers received little pay.

"Workers who work in corn, cassava and sugar cane fields receive very low wages of 100 to 150 baht ($3.20 to $4.80) per day. Workers can make 200 baht ($6.40) a day if they can drive a truck," Win said.
"We make less when comparing wages with Thai workers. I do not understand why we earn so little money. We need the government to help talk to our employers."
An official with the Thai labor ministry who was invited to speak said laws protect documented agricultural workers.
"The government is trying to solve problems related to migrant workers in Thailand as well as improving the law and sending labor inspectors to determine if any illegal activities are found in work places," said Phattana Phanfak, assistant to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Labor.
"But at the same time, it is recommended that migrant workers who encounter problems go through their embassies to file complaints," she said.
Other mechanisms to aid migrant workers are in place, including a government employment website where complaints can be filed anonymously.
"There is a hotline, there are interpreters for Burmese, Cambodian and English," she said.
As of October 2019, Thailand had a total of 330,000 migrant agricultural workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as part of a memorandum of understanding. In addition, 18,600 were employed as daily or seasonal workers while thousands more are undocumented, according to national labor statistics.
Phattana said agricultural labor inspections over the last three months had found that 443 of 451 work places were in compliance while eight work places employing 122 were not.
Recommendations
MMN's report recommended that the government make immigration registration easier for workers, improve working conditions by implementing existing policies, promoting health and safety through increased enforcement and inspections, monitoring housing and improving access to health care.
Recommendations to employers include supporting workers' efforts to maintain immigration status, implementing health and safety standards, educating employees about workplace hazards and providing training at no cost and housing that meets safety standards.
The report also called on NGOs to increase outreach, raise awareness about health and safety issues and advocate for the reduction or ban of harmful pesticides.



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Thailand's top southern peace negotiator said Friday that he anticipated a next round of direct talks in March with BRN, the most powerful of the armed separatist groups, but it remained unclear whether MARA Patani, a panel of insurgent organizations, would participate.
Earlier this month Thai delegates and representatives of the rebel group known as Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or the National Revolutionary Front (BRN), held official bilateral talks in Kuala Lumpur for the first time in years.
"I think early March," Gen. Wanlop Rugsanaoh, the chief Thai negotiator, told a news conference in Bangkok when asked when the next meeting would occur.
He said the change in dialogue partners in the Malaysia-brokered peace process had occurred because his side wanted to involve the southern border region's largest rebel group in negotiations.
Since 2015, Bangkok has held formal talks with MARA Patani to end the decades-long insurgency in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, but the effort has failed to achieve any breakthroughs.
Late Friday, Malaysian facilitator Abdul Rahim Noor separately confirmed the upcoming meeting.
"Yes, it is true. There will be a meeting between the Thai government and the Deep South separatists in March in Kuala Lumpur," he told BenarNews.
Wanlop said the first meeting allowed both sides to get acquainted and agree on a framework for talks, while the next session would focus on presenting terms and conditions for peace.
On Jan. 20, Wanlop led a seven-member delegation, including a justice ministry official and an intelligence agency official, in meeting with a BRN delegation headed by Anas Abdulrahman (also known as Hipni Mareh). Anas is a former teacher at a religious school in southern Yala province, who is wanted in Thailand over allegations that he trained insurgents.
"At the meeting, he introduced himself as the head of the BRN peace talk delegation this time, the same as Malaysia's introduction of him. We are quite confident that he is the right BRN representative to talk to us," Wanlop told reporters.
BRN holds seats on the MARA panel but, experts say, the umbrella body may not have control of hardcore BRN fighters in the field, prompting Thailand's new top peace negotiator to pursue contact with the group's de facto leaders through Rahim Noor.
"Initially, we want to have bilateral talks with the BRN. ... When we work, we want to work with the most influential group first and other groups may join," Wanlop said.
The two sides agreed that future talks for the first time would include peace process experts who would observe the negotiations, according to the Thai general.
"The experts you mentioned are to join on an individual basis, not in the name of organizations or any governmental agencies. They are peace experts so their roles in the process could add to the credibility," Wanlop said, adding that the experts could change depending on the nature of specific discussions.
Umbrella group's role
MARA Patani spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim said members of the umbrella group were involved in BRN as well. Thai officials have said that Awang Jabat, who has a lead role in MARA, Sukree Hari, who resigned as lead negotiator but remains on the panel, and Ahmad Chuwo are all from the BRN.
"At the moment, MARA Patani is coordinating with the BRN. It is not concluded yet," Abu Hafez told BenarNews about the panel's possible role in the upcoming meeting. "There are BRN members in MARA Patani. Let them talk."
"There's BRN members in MARA who met the others in BRN. So let them sort it out among themselves. When it's done, then only the other groups can hold meetings with BRN," he added.
With Malaysia agreeing in 2013 to serve as a facilitator, the Thai government and BRN negotiators began discussions but failed to reach an agreement that year.
Later, BRN and other rebel groups including the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), the Patani Islamic Mujahideen Movement (GMIP) and the Islamic Liberation Front of Patani (BIPP) began negotiating under the MARA Patani banner.
Prior to the unannounced talks earlier this month, BRN's top leaders had stayed away from peace negotiations between the government and MARA Patani that stalled out last year.
The Deep South borders Malaysia and encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces as well as four districts in Songkhla province. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence in the region since the insurgency flared up again in early 2004 after a dormant period.
Noah Lee in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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Thailand's government appears determined to sideline negotiators who have represented separatist groups in Thai Deep South peace talks since 2015, the director of a think-tank based in the troubled border region told BenarNews.
Meanwhile members of MARA Patani, a panel of rebel factions that has engaged in the Malaysia-brokered talks for the past five years, said they would not participate in or had not yet been invited to direct negotiations announced last month between Bangkok and BRN, the most powerful of the southern insurgent groups.
"It's clear that the government intends to downgrade MARA Patani, judging from Gen. Wanlop Rugsanaoh, the peace talks chief, who said that the Thai delegation wants to talk to the most influential group, who has clear roles on the ground, first, before it would talk to other groups," said Professor Srisompob Jitpiromsri, who directs the think-tank known as Deep South Watch.
Wanlop and Anas Abdulrahman (also known as Hipni Mareh), a leader of the BRN, or Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front), announced during a joint press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 21 that the two sides were launching their first official direct talks in years, and which would also be facilitated by Malaysia.
Last week, Wanlop told a news conference in Bangkok that Thailand wanted to "have bilateral talks with the BRN," adding, "we want to work with the most influential group first and other groups may join."
BRN holds seats on the MARA panel but, according to experts, the umbrella body may not have control of BRN fighters in the field. That reality, they say, pushed Wanlop to pursue contact with the rebel group's de facto military leaders through Abdul Rahim Noor, the Malaysian facilitator of the peace process. Until the new talks were announced in January, hardcore BRN leaders had stayed away from the MARA-led negotiations with Thailand.
Srisompob described the new set of talks as a positive development in years-long efforts aimed at settling the conflict in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South. More than 7,000 people have been killed in violence across the region since the insurgency re-ignited in 2004.
But, Srisompob cautioned, "I don't know how far it can go. We have to wait and see."
"Most importantly, there must be internal agreements within each of the two sides," the analyst told BenarNews. "There are some differences within the rebel groups, and they need to sort [these] out among themselves besides talking to the government."
"On the government's side, it must have internal talks to have a unified stance," he added.
The next meeting with BRN would take place in early March, Wanlop told reporters in the Thai capital on Jan. 31.
According to Sukree Hari, one of three BRN members who sit on MARA Patani, the next round of direct talks between Thailand and BRN will happen on March 2, but no BRN representatives on MARA have been invited to participate.
"Only the BRN, led by Mr. Anas, will be attending and BRN [members of] MARA Patani will not be involved," Sukree told BenarNews.
Kasturi Mahkota, the leader of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) rebel group, who also sits on MARA Patani, said he was hopeful that the panel would be represented in the new peace talks.
"Not sure yet," he told BenarNews when he asked whether MARA would participate. "[W]e leave it to the BRN. If the BRN could arrange it, Insha'Allah, we will be together. All the management is in the hands of BRN."
Kasturi said he expected that the new talks "will be an inclusive process," indicating BRN had given assurances that "this round of peace talks would include all parties."
Who is Anas?
At Friday's news conference, Gen. Wanlop, Thailand's national security chief who was appointed as the chief peace negotiator with southern rebels in September 2019, gave reporters his impressions about his introductory meeting with Anas in Kuala Lumpur.
"We are quite confident that he is the right BRN representative to talk to us," Wanlop said.
Srisompob, the analyst, described Anas as being high up in BRN, foreign educated and a former teacher at a Muslim school in the Deep South.
"He has [played] a key role in the BRN for many years. The Thai government's intelligence circle knows him well that he is a key person. As he came out to talk, it's confident that he truly represents the BRN," Srisompob said.
However a former BRN fighter living in Yala, one of the provinces in the conflict-torn southern border region, questioned whether Anas truly was a top leader of the rebel group or would be the proper person to lead it in the new talks.
Jeh Ku, the ex-rebel, even suggested that Anas might be too close to the Thai government.
"Ustaz Hipni is no stranger to the Thai government. He has had close contact with the Thai government. The government simply wants a new face to come to the table, and there he comes," he told BenarNews, referring to Anas by his alias.
Efforts by BenarNews to contact Anas for this report failed.
"The BRN operatives on the ground are waiting to see what the Thai government will do, while they have the only goal, Merdeka, and it never changes," Jeh Ku said, using the Malay word for independence.
Nani Yusof in Washington contributed to this report.


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A Thai soldier allegedly angry over a property deal gone sour killed 29 people and injured another 58 before security forces shot him dead in northeastern Thailand, officials said Sunday, as they updated the death toll in an "unprecedented" 17-hour shooting spree.
About half of the dead were at a mall where the soldier barricaded himself for hours and reportedly took hostages, although officials did not say if any hostages had been killed.
Another 14 people died at a residence, an army barracks and near a temple the shooter drove by in Nakhon Ratchasima, a city of 2.6 million about 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Bangkok, according to a list of victims released by its chief health official.
"This kind of incident is unprecedented. The government cannot deny responsibility... We will help make sure it does not happen again," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha told reporters Sunday, after visiting wounded people in hospital in the city, also known as Korat.
Thirty of the 58 injured were still in hospital late Sunday, according to Narinrat Phitchayakhamin, the health official.

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Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha visits an injured man in a hospital following a gun battle involving a Thai soldier on a shooting rampage, in Korat, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2020. [Government House/Handout via Reuters]

Prayuth said that the gunman, identified as Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma, 32, was motivated by an argument over a property deal with his commander, the first victim of the shooting.
"It was a personal conflict. He had a problem over a property deal. They argued over 3 days," Prayuth said when reporters asked about the shooter's motive.
Thousands of people staged a candlelight vigil to honor the dead late Sunday in downtown Korat.
The night before, gunfire and explosions could be heard at intervals as SWAT teams and special forces tried to end the standoff inside the mall.
Police rushed nine people out of the mall and into ambulances at around 3:00 a.m., live news broadcasts showed.
"He was killed. We are investigating the scene," Lt. Gen. Thanya Kiatsarn, army commander for northeastern Thailand, told the media hours later.

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Thai security forces take cover behind an ambulance as they try to apprehend a shooter who took hostages in a ]shopping mall after a rampage in Korat, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2020. [Reuters]

The rampage began at around 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, allegedly following an altercation over a land deal between the soldier and his commander, local media reported, citing police.
"Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma had a psychotic break and shot at officials in a barracks, then took guns and bullets to shoot people, causing many public injuries and deaths," Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, told BenarNews.
Jakrapanth allegedly shot dead his commander, Col. Ananroj Krasae, and an elderly woman at a residence in Korat. Then he drove to his barracks where he killed another soldier, and stole weapons, ammunition and a military vehicle.
He continued shooting as he drove to the Terminal 21 shopping mall, killing among others two policemen who tried to stop him.  More people were killed and injured outside the crowded, seven-story mall.
Relatives of people stranded in the mall said the gunman had taken hostages on its fifth floor, media reports said.
Commandos flown in by helicopter from Bangkok cordoned off the area and stormed the mall, then began evacuating terrified customers from its ground floor.
Facebook said it had suspended the gunman's accounts and was working to remove "any violating content" after what appeared to be posts uploaded by the soldier during the rampage circulated online.
"We have removed the gunman's presence on our services and have found no evidence that he broadcasted this violence on FBLive," a company spokesman said in a statement emailed to BenarNews.
The suspect appeared briefly on FBLive but the seconds-long broadcast did not depict any violence, the statement said.
Uayporn Satitpanyapan in Washington contributed to this report.


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As Thailand recoiled Monday from a mass shooting that left 30 dead over the weekend, the king announced he would pay for victims' funeral rites, as condolences poured in from abroad while survivors and witnesses said they remained shaken by the attack by an army sergeant.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced the king's offer to pay for the funerals, while speaking to a national television audience as Thailand mourned in the wake of its deadliest attack by a lone gunman.
"King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the Queen feel remorse because of the shootings and extend moral support to the families of the dead and will sponsor their funeral rites," said Prayuth, who had earlier described the attack as unprecedented.
The gunman, identified as Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma, 32, allegedly went on the shooting spree in Nakhon Ratchasima, a city of 2.6 million about 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Bangkok, after seizing weapons and ammunition and killing his commander – the first victim – during an argument over a property deal on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Jakrapanth killed 14 people in all at a residence, an army barracks and near a temple in Nakhon Ratchasim, and later killed 15 others at a seven-story shopping center in the city before Thai commandoes gunned him down early on Sunday, officials said. Authorities said he went on the rampage after suffering "a psychotic break."
Around 8 a.m. Sunday, Thai Special Forces enlisted the help of a drone operator for a local TV news channel, according to the Associated Press. The journalist maneuvered his thermal-sensing drone through shattered windows and into a supermarket's cold storage room, broadcasting images of Jakrapanth and several apparent hostages back to police, allowing sharpshooters to take out the gunman.
Security analyst Nanthadej Meksawat, a retired lieutenant general who had been responsible for intelligence oversight in Thailand's insurgency-stricken Deep South, expressed concern that more attacks were possible.
"This is the worst gun violence. But Thailand is like America, there are a lot of guns and freedom," he told BenarNews.
"It doesn't matter that the gunman was military, it depends on attitude – the gunman shot indiscriminately. When things like this happen, it can be hard to stop copycats," he said.
Prayuth, who also serves as defense minister, earlier on Monday joined National Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaichinda and other officials in holding a bathing ceremony for two anti-terrorist policemen who were shot dead on Sunday morning as they advanced toward the gunman, according to police.
Under Buddhist tradition, relatives and friends pour holy water over one hand of the deceased during the bathing ceremony before the body is then placed in a coffin and surrounded with wreaths, candles and sticks of incense.
The dead – a captain and a senior sergeant – were behind a shield and wearing body armor that did not withstand Jakrapanth's gunfire. The soldier had stolen an M60 machine gun and an HK-33 assault rifle from a military barracks as he set out on his killing spree, officials said.
"I ordered the agencies involved to have after-action review within two weeks," Chakthip told reporters. "We lack equipment," he said, referring to proper body armor and shields.
Anthony Davis, a security analyst who writes for the Jane's defense publications, said it was premature to judge the Thai military's response to the siege, AP reported.
"In the end you have a professional military man with a large supply of ammunition holed up in a very large building with not much clear idea on the part of the security forces how many people are in his reach," Davis said. "It took a long time, but in a big building they couldn't risk storming in and killing a lot of people."
Among those killed was police senior Sgt. Maj. Chatchawan Tanthong, 50, who was shot as he tried to intercept the gunman who was driving a Humvee toward the shopping center, according to police. His widow held a bathing ceremony Monday afternoon.
"I can't take it. When I saw his photo, I melted down," Nattha Rattanarak, 33, told reporters at the Po Temple in Nakhon Ratchasima. "I'm proud of him. He performed his police duty until the last minute. I hope this attack is the last one."
Chatchawan's unit praised him on Facebook.
"He didn't have time to get out of the car before the windshield was shattered by bullets," the post said.
Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, called on the army to investigate.
"It is like a terrorist, the lone wolf acted alone, killing randomly and expecting mass casualties," Angkhana told BenarNews. "I hope the agencies involved – the Army, in particular – look into the case with transparency and investigate the motive to prevent future violence."

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People light candles during a memorial service at Terminal 21 shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Feb. 10, 2020. (AP)

Survivors speak
Songyost Suwanachim, a regular visitor to the shopping center, told Reuters news service that he was shaken by the mass killings but lucky because he got a late start on Saturday.
"I feel depressed and scared. I can still hear the sound of gunshots in my head and I can't sleep at night," said Songyost, 40.
He said he saw smoke coming from the shopping center from his vantage point at the Big C supermarket across the street.
"If I left half an hour or an hour earlier I would probably be stuck inside the mall because I always like to come here," he said.
Nuttawut Kanchanamethi lost his 13-year-old son and only child to the gunman's bullet. The boy, Rachanon Kanchanamethi, was shot and killed while riding his motorbike, AP reported.
"I don't want to lose him like this," Nuttawut said during the first day of his son's Buddhist funeral. "This is too sudden. We had plans for him, growing up. That's all. We didn't impose any expectations on him."
A woman who goes by the name Gem for privacy reasons, said she hid under a table at a shop inside of the mall as the gunman came by.
"He played instrumental music on his cell, sounding very relaxed. It was abnormal. I just hid under table, scared, as he shot indiscriminately," she told TV Channel 3.
The United States and China were among the nations sending condolences to the people of Thailand.
"The Embassy of the United States of America in Bangkok stands with the people of Thailand, saddened by tragic events in Nakhon Ratchasima. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their friends and families," the embassy said on its Facebook page.
China posted this message: "The Embassy of the People's Republic of China offers deepest condolences and has sincere sorrow toward to families of the dead, the injured and other families in the Korat shooting. In this time of grief, Chinese people stand by Thais."


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Thailand's army chief on Tuesday tearfully apologized to the nation and offered condolences to victims of a deadly shooting spree by an army sergeant, while claiming that the soldier had been cheated by his superior officer in a land deal.
Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma, 32, was killed by security forces Sunday morning, ending a 17-hour stand-off at a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, a city of 2.6 million people about 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Bangkok. During the rampage, which began on Saturday, he allegedly killed 29 people including his superior, civilians and police while injuring 58 others.
As of Tuesday, 24 remained hospitalized – five of them in intensive care units, according to Narinrat Phitchayakhamin, the health official in in Nakhon Ratchasima.
During a nationally televised news conference, Army Chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong discussed the timing of events that led to what officials are calling the worst mass shooting by a lone gunman in Thailand.
"As army chief, I apologize and offer deepest condolences to the families of the slain civilians, officials on duty and the injured in the tragedy carried out by an army personnel," said Apirat, who burst into tears.
"At the second he pulled the trigger to kill his commander, he turned into a criminal, no longer a soldier," Apirat said. "Don't scold the army, soldiers, but me Gen. Apirat Kongsompong. I accept criticism. You can scold me because I'm the army chief."
Despite that statement, Apirat, who is to retire in September, said he had no plans to leave his post because of the mass shooting.
"Is it appropriate to ask me this question?" Apirat told a reporter who asked if he would resign. "I'm responsible for what I order, but I cannot assume responsibility for a personal matter. ... I can't accept that."
He said Jakrapanth was angered over a bad deal with a superior officer.
"The perpetrator did not receive justice from his superior and his family over a land-purchase deal. We will take a look at the details. When the promise was broken, that motivated him to carry out this rampage," Apirat said.
The survivors of Col. Anantharot Krasae, Jakrapanth's superior officer and the first person killed on Saturday, challenged Apirat's statement. Anantharot's mother-in-law, Anong Mitrchan, was shot and killed as well.
Anantharot's widow, Pornlaphat Mitrchan, said her husband never bullied the gunman and had nothing to do with the loan, The New York Times reported, adding that Jakrapanth was owed about $1,700.
"My husband was a very kind guy," she said. "You can ask his subordinates."
Her father, Narupol Mitrchan, a retired colonel, also discounted Apirat's statement.
"No, we did not cheat him," Narupol said, according to the Times. "We were actually trying to help him because he was the subordinate of the colonel and had debts."
Commander promises probe
Speaking to the nation, Apirat vowed to investigate alleged shady deals carried out by some senior military officials.
"There are many projects among army personnel who collaborate with businessmen including real estate and loan sharking businesses. I know that and there will be generals down to colonels who will go jobless this month and in the coming months," Apirat said.
In addition, he said changes would be coming to the military to better serve lower ranking members.
"[W]hen we see something that needs to be changed and needs to be developed, we have to develop the whole plan at every level," he said. "We have to take a very good care of our soldiers down to the privates and especially the lower subordinates, including NCOs.
"[F]or the welfare of our soldiers, we need to give them good direction and we must have direct communications with them which in the past has been lacking."
Also on Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, said officials should learn from the weekend assault.
"All sides must find a practical way to prevent repetition of this," Prayuth told reporters following Tuesday's routine cabinet meeting.
"I'm concerned about copycats, especially through websites and social media," Prayuth said.
Police said they have arrested at least five people who allegedly posted threats of similar attacks on social media.
Also on Tuesday, the Office of Sheikhul Islam, Thailand's Muslim leader, expressed remorse.
"The Sheikhul Islam and the Islamic committee of Thailand hope this incident will be taken as a lesson learned to create justice, mercy and compassion in society and adopt religious teaching to guide our lives forward," it said in a statement.
Security measures questioned
Meanwhile, a former national human rights commissioner questioned security measures at military facilities in light of Jakrapanth stealing weapons and ammunition from an arsenal before carrying on with his rampage. It ended at the Terminal 21 shopping center where he was killed Sunday morning.
"I wonder how such a young and lone perpetrator could rob the arsenal and caused massive tragedy. Security at the arsenal must be lax," Angkhana Neelapaijit said.
During his news conference, Apirat explained that Jakrapanth had exploited his familiarity with a soldier on guard duty, forcing him to turn over an HK-33 rifle.
From there, Jakrapanth moved to a battalion arsenal, killing a private and injuring two others before shooting open a door lock and ramming the arsenal door with a military vehicle to steal a machine gun and ammunition, Apirat said.
The military commander said Jakrapanth's actions showed the need to review security measures, which vary depending on the post.


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Days after a Thai army sergeant killed 29 people after complaining that his commander had cheated him on a property loan, a lawyer said he was aware of hundreds of similar cases in the military.
The comment came as a defense official confirmed that two army officers had been demoted to inactive duty posts, but declined to say why. Thailand's army chief on Tuesday said it would "look at the details" of the dispute that he alleged had caused Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma, 32, to go on a shooting spree.
Lawyer Atchariya Ruangrattanapong said he was compiling a list of soldiers who had made similar complaints about being caught up in shady loans or real estate deals with superior officers.
"There are plenty of cases at the moment," he texted BenarNews on Thursday.
Atchariya also praised the military for transferring Col. Uthai Fangkratok and Lt. Col. Tee Permpol to "inactive duty" within the Second Army Region, which covers Thailand's northeastern region where the rampage took place.
"Thank you commander of the Second Army Region for the actions after we exposed the scam," he said in a Facebook post on the Help Crime Victims Club page.
A military spokesman confirmed the transfers of the two officers but withheld comment on what led to the action, referring further questions to the Royal Thai Army.
"The reported transfers are accurate but I can't give details because it is an army matter," spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich told BenarNews.
Two spokeswomen for the army declined to answer questions when BenarNews contacted them by phone on Thursday.
Last weekend's shooting rampage in Nakhon Ratchasima, a city of 2.6 million people about 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Bangkok, shocked Thailand and has put a spotlight on its military, which is widely considered to be the most powerful institution next to the monarchy in the Buddhist-majority country.
The Thai armed forces have launched at least 18 coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a former army chief of staff, led the last coup that toppled a civilian government in 2014.
Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth was killed by security forces on Sunday morning, ending a 17-hour stand-off at the Terminal 21 shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima. Officials said he killed 29 people in all during his rampage across the city, including his commanding officer, civilians and police while injuring 58 others.
His first two victims, Col. Anantharot Krasae and Anantharot's mother-in-law, Anong Mitrchan, had met with him on Saturday to discuss his concerns about the loan, when a heated argument ensued and Jakrapanth opened fire on them, according to reports.
Anantharot's widow, Pornlaphat Mitrchan, said her husband never bullied Jakrapanth and had nothing to do with the loan, The New York Times reported.
"My husband was a very kind guy," she said. "You can ask his subordinates."
'Hundreds' allege scams
Atchariya, the attorney, previously told the Reuters news service that he had been approached by 20 members of Jakrapanth's unit with similar complaints.
"Apart from this group, I have been informed that there are hundreds of other soldiers who were scammed in a similar situation," Atchariya told Reuters.
On Tuesday, Gen. Apirat Kongsompong, Thailand's army chief, apologized to the nation for Jakrapanth's rampage.
He said Jakrapanth was angered over a bad deal with a superior officer.
"The perpetrator did not receive justice from his superior and his family over a land-purchase deal. We will take a look at the details. When the promise was broken, that motivated him to carry out this rampage," Apirat said.
The general also vowed to investigate and bring to an end shady deals involving military officers and their subordinates.
"There are many projects among army personnel who collaborate with businessmen including real estate and loan sharking businesses. I know that and there will be generals down to colonels who will go jobless this month and in the coming months," Apirat said.
In addition, the military announced plans to set up a direct line to allow soldiers to call in if they believed they were being exploited by superior officers. It said the complaints would be forwarded directly to Apirat.
Meanwhile, a former military leader said officers could be involved in business enterprises, but there must be no conflicts of interest.
"They can be in any business, but they cannot deal with their subordinates. They can't make their troops their customers," retired Lt. Gen. Pongsakorn Rodchomphu told BenarNews.
According to another observer who is a professor at Thammasat University, military leaders in Thailand are exploiting their subordinates.
"As far as I can see, the military is like an empire," Anusorn Unno, a lecturer and dean of sociology and anthropology at the campus in Bangkok, told BenarNews. "The chain of command disallows subordinates to appeal anything. The resources are used in an opaque way, vastly exploited."
He also called for the military to allow more public access.
"There must be transparency to fix the problem. There are many secret budgets. Budget allocations should be open to the public, like other government units," he said.
In an editorial, the Bangkok Post echoed Anusorn's call for changes, including allowing for external audits. The 2018 Financial and Fiscal Discipline Act allows for internal audits of military spending, but "not many people are really convinced that the military's self-regulation can ensure transparency."
"For years, there have been allegations about unsound and fishy financial operations involving the military as a whole. Instead of being open to criticism and investigation, the military has always taken a defensive stance by slapping those daring to question its financial deals with legal action," the Post said.
"Without allowing greater external audits, the army risks harboring more and more shady operations."


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Police in Bangkok arrested a Chinese couple and seven Thai women after raiding 10 locations throughout the city and in nearby provinces on Thursday during a sting to bust a cross-border surrogacy racket that provided babies to people in China, officials said.
The operation, which involved 200 police officers, found seven pregnant women and a 22-day-old baby at one of the locations. The Chinese suspects, Ran Zhao, 37, and his wife, Su Yingting, 48, are suspected of hiring the women, police Maj. Gen. Torsak Sukvimol, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, told reporters.
"We have been tracking down this gang since May of last year. The target of today's operation is a transnational criminal organization and this is a form of human trafficking," Torsak told reporters.
Police pointed to travel restrictions as the reason they found the baby during their raids.
"[W]e believe the babies are left here because of the spread of the [novel] coronavirus. China has blocked travel to certain parts of the country," police Col. Manachai Kleebsatabutr said.
Those arrested face charges linked to alleged involvement in transnational crime, conducting commercial surrogacy and advertising surrogacy services, officials said. Police requested warrants for 10 people, but one remains at large, according to officers.
After a series of scandals involving foreigners and surrogate mothers, Thailand in 2015 passed a law to ban surrogacy as part of a business or profit-making enterprise in the country.
Under that law, a surrogacy broker, if convicted, could face a prison term of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht (U.S. $3,210).
Assets seized on Thursday included vehicles, a house, and a company building valued at about 30 million baht ($963,000), according to Torsak, the deputy police commissioner.
Torsak said the gang had been operating in Thailand since 2012 and its agents offered women payments of between 400,000 and 600,000 baht (U.S. $12,850 and $19,275) to serve as surrogates for families in China.
The organization sent would-be surrogate mothers to reproduction clinics in neighboring Laos where they would be implanted with embryos. The women would return to Thailand for the duration of their pregnancies and be flown to China to give birth.
Thursday's raids were based on a tip from a similar effort in January when police had found eight women who said they were hired to get pregnant in a province of Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok, along with 15 babies in one house.
Torsak said at least 100 Thai women had been hired by the gang in recent years and at least 50 babies had left the country. Police said they expect to coordinate with their Chinese counterparts to locate those children.


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A group of concerned Thai citizens Friday submitted additional evidence regarding the impact of Laos' Xayaburi dam to the Thai Supreme Administrative court, describing damage to fisheries and dramatic changes to an ecosystem that sustains millions of lives.
In an ongoing lawsuit concerning Laos' first of five planned large-scale Mekong river dams, the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces is challenging the legitimacy of a power purchase agreement between Laos and Thailand, saying that the project has failed to properly assess the environmental impact of the dam in Thailand.
"The submission of additional evidence comes after half a year of project operations. During this period, downstream of the dam, stretches of the Mekong in seven Thai provinces experienced sharp and unusual water fluctuations, and 'clear blue water' – a phenomenon that signals an absence of the nutrients and sediment that are critical to aquatic lives, fisheries, and agriculture in the lower Mekong basin," said the International Rivers NGO in a press statement about the submission.
"The timing and location of the dramatic ecosystem changes indicate that they are linked to the operations of the Xayaburi dam," the statement said.
The impact was observed in parts of Thailand's Loei province, as well as in Nong Kai, Bung Kan, Nakorn Phnom, Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchatani provinces.
"The rise and fall of the river is not normal anymore. The rapid fluctuations of the river is impacting on aquatic ecosystems and fisheries," Channarong Wongla, one of the plaintiffs from Loei province, was quoted as saying in the statement. "I am worried that fisheries, which are important for our food and income, will continue to decline."
In addition to submitting the evidence, the Network is also asking the court to suspend the Power Purchase agreement until their evidence can be properly assessed.
Om Boun, the chairwoman of the Network, said on Friday that the group has been observing the impact of the dam during its past eight years of construction and that a previous petition letter was ignored.
"We sent a petition letter to the high court eight years ago and court has made no decision yet, and nothing has been done," Om told Radio Free Asia, an online news service affiliated with BenarNews,
"Our concern is that impact from Xayabury dam in the last eight years is [observably] enormous in year 2019 and 2020. That's why we came back to submit [our evidence] again in order to make the court come up with a decision on what they are going to do," she said. "We urge them to make decision for us and for our people."
"Problems that we are concerned about are happening right now. We also worry that if the dam breaks, the court can help us. So that's why we are here," said the chairwoman.
Laos has built dozens of hydropower dams on the Mekong and its tributaries in its quest to become "the battery of Southeast Asia," exporting the electricity they generate to other countries in the region, and is preparing to build scores more dams in the years ahead.

Though the Lao government sees power generation as a way to boost the country's economy, the projects are controversial because of their environmental impact, displacement of villagers, and questionable financial arrangements.
Reported by Radio Free Asia, an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.


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Tiem Ngern-tok pointed at the water level, shook his head and talked about dragon boat races to explain how dams in China and Laos have disrupted the lives of Thai people whose villages abut the Mekong River.
"During annual boat races the water was high," said Tiem, a government hydrologist at a water-measuring station in Ban Sob Kok, a village in Thailand's northernmost Chiang Rai province.
A colleague interrupted him: "Three meters high."
With water levels usually reaching about 10 feet in April, Tiem said this year's numbers were "exceptionally low."
"In previous years, the levels were a bit over 1-meter high, but that was during the driest time in April, not this soon," he told BenarNews. "In March and April, it will get worse."
The Mekong is the world's 12th-longest river, stretching 4,350 km (2,703 miles) through six nations before draining into the South China Sea.
More than 60 million people depend on the Mekong and its tributaries for food, transport and water. Experts say it hosts 474 species of fish – the world's most biodiverse after Brazil's Amazon River.
Thai farmers said their troubles on the river began when the turbines of the Xayaburi Dam started churning upstream from Nong Khai in Laos seven months ago, further disrupting the river flow that was already drying out even at the end of the rainy season.
"Lately there is no water. ... It's very dry," Mr. Chai, a fisherman in Chiang Saen who declined to provide his first name, told BenarNews. "There are impacts from the dams. We can see the sandy river bed."
Last month, the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental agency that works with regional governments to manage the river's resources, warned that water outflows could potentially drop as Beijing said it was testing equipment at one of its 11 dams on the upper Mekong.
Laos has built dozens of hydropower dams on the Mekong and its tributaries in its quest to become "the battery of Southeast Asia," exporting the electricity they generate to other countries in the region. Vientiane is preparing to build scores more dams in the years ahead while aiming to sell 95 percent of the Xayaburi Dam's generated power to Thailand.
NGO: Villagers report 'unprecedented bluish water'
But environmentalists say that dams threaten fish populations, alter the Mekong's natural hydrology and cause major soil erosion.
Last week, members of the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces submitted additional evidence to the Thai Supreme Administrative court, describing damage to fisheries and dramatic changes to the Mekong's ecosystem, while also challenging the legitimacy of a power-purchase agreement between Laos and Thailand.
"During this period, downstream of the dam, stretches of the Mekong in seven Thai provinces experienced sharp and unusual water fluctuations, and 'clear blue water' – a phenomenon that signals an absence of the nutrients and sediment that are critical to aquatic lives and fisheries," the International Rivers NGO said in a press statement about the submission.
Thailand last year said it would develop its own solar energy section, while officials said they were also reconsidering the government's decision to purchase large amounts of hydropower from Laos.
Niwat Roykaew, co-founder of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group, based in Chiang Rai, and the Thai People's Mekong Network in Eight Provinces said the "unprecedented bluish water" underscored the fluctuations in water levels.
"These indicate troubles along all stretches of the river; impacts on fish migration, river bank erosion, impacts on flora in the Mekong," Niwat told BenarNews.
"The fluctuation endangers some trees, especially the water croton which is important to the Mekong," he said, referring to a shrub that helps prevent soil erosion during spawning season.
Xayaburi's impact, according to the dam's critics, has been observed in parts of Thailand's Loei province, as well as in Nong Khai, Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
Niwat said Bangkok hadn't done enough to push for solutions.
"The Thai government should leverage discussions about dams' water control management, how to, how much to, in accordance with seasons to keep the ecology functions, not to be severely affected like in the present," he said. "But the government isn't enthusiastic to do so."
Early this month, Bangkok responded to the environmental protests by rejecting Beijing's plan to open up a stretch of the Mekong River in northern Thailand by blasting about 60 miles of rocks and dredging the riverbed.
China's plan was aimed at creating a river link that would open up trade from its Yunnan province using massive cargo ships that would go through the five other Mekong countries – Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
But according to International Rivers, Beijing has already built seven megadams and 20 more are under construction or being planned in Yunnan, Tibet and in China's landlocked northwestern province of Qinghai.
"The scheme will drastically change the river's natural flood-drought cycle and block the transport of sediment, affecting ecosystems and the livelihoods of millions living downstream in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam," the NGO said in a statement posted on its website.
"Impacts to water levels and fisheries have already been recorded along the Thai-Lao border," it said.
A study released by the Mekong River Commission in August 2018 showed that fish stocks in the river could fall by up to 40 percent, with a 97-percent reduction in the amount of sediment going downstream as a result of the dam projects.
Last month, Thai water-resources chief Somkiat Prajamwong told BenarNews that he had documented complaints from villagers who had suffered economic hardship as a result of the river's erratic flow, which had lowered soil fertility and hampered yield in agriculture.
Somkiat said he would raise the country's concerns with the river commission.
"We compiled from and studied those concerns of the people along the Mekong River," he said.
Also in January, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Ministry responded to concerns raised about the drought and "greatly reduced" water levels on the Mekong and reservoirs in the region, saying this was caused by intermittent rainfall and climate change. The prime minister had instructed Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to visit China on Jan. 23 "to discuss ways and means to alleviate the drought situation and mitigate its impact," the ministry said.
That day Pramudwinai met with Wang Yi, China's state councilor and foreign minister, the ministry said in a statement.
"Both sides agreed that the severity of the drought situation caused by global warming has been affecting every riparian country, including China. The Thai Foreign Minister sought cooperation from the Chinese Government in alleviating this problem and mitigating the impact faced by the people in the downstream countries," the ministry said.
Pra Apichart Ratigo, the abbot at the Sob Kok Temple in Chiang Saen district, said the water level in the Mekong at various times during the past five years had abruptly risen or receded "like someone turned a faucet on and off."
"So I've noticed that the abrupt tidal changes were due to water-release control," he told BenarNews, as he called on Thai authorities to provide villagers with advance notice to water-level changes, "so that people can prepare."
"Sometimes we would hear the news that China had released more water, but the news came late and the water came already," he said.
Somdej Thanatulyakul, a fisherman in Ban Sob Kok village in Chiang Saen, a district of Chiang Rai, said the fluctuating water-level led to unpredictable fishing harvest.
"We caught more fish five years ago, even during dry season," he told BenarNews. "The water tides are unpredictable. They change so fast, fluctuating in rapid manner. Dams have such impacts."


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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday, calling for solidarity in countering the coronavirus epidemic and urging China's neighbors to reopen borders closed since the outbreak became public.
In a separate meeting on Mekong River policy in the Lao capital, Vientiane, Wang said China would release water from its upriver dams, many in Southeast Asia have blamed for drought that has hurt fisheries and agriculture in the region.
At the start of Thursday's meeting, Wang and his ASEAN counterparts locked arms in a show of solidarity in the fight against COVID-19. Wang gave details on China's response to the outbreak so far, and indicated that the epidemic might be starting to wane, the AP reported.
Several of the ASEAN ministers praised China's effort, especially its willingness to share information which allowed countries to develop testing kits for the virus.
"We reached an important consensus on China and ASEAN joining hands to fight against the epidemic," Wang said to reporters after the meeting. "We agreed to stand united and stay confident and support each other in this time of difficulty."
Wang acknowledged that the disease was bad for the inter-connected economies of China and ASEAN.
"The outbreak may have taken a toll on economic cooperation between China and ASEAN countries but such an impact can be overcome and made up," Wang said.
"The Chinese economy has strong driving forces and is highly resilient and the long-term positive trajectory will remain intact."
China on Thursday reported 2,118 deaths and 74,576 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with newly confirmed cases rising more slowly than in previous weeks.
More information sought
The ministers outlined ways their countries could better collaborate, including combined actions against the further spread of the disease.
"The COVID-19 outbreak has become a global challenge that knows no national borders. We have no other choice but to collaborate," Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after the meeting.
"Exchanges of information between ASEAN-China countries are essential," Retno said.
Secondly, an ASEAN-China mechanism in dealing with endemic epidemic crises such as COVID-19 must be strengthened by establishing an ASEAN-China Ad-Hoc Health Ministerial Joint Task Force, she said.
She said this task force could focus on exchanging information and data, joint research and activities for the detection of viruses and vaccines. A public information campaign should be carried out to counter stigmatization and false news, she added.
"Public communication and education related to the COVID outbreak is very important to prevent panic and confusion among the people," Retno said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin met Wang on the Wednesday, the eve of the ASEAN gathering, and pledged Manila's support for Beijing, his ministry said in a statement.
"Expressing the Philippines' confidence in China overcoming this public health crisis, the Secretary handed a letter from President Rodrigo Duterte for President Xi Jinping conveying the country's solidarity and support," the statement said.
Vietnam, which has reported 16 cases of COVID-19, defended its decision to seal up the border with China to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Mekong River dams
Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh rebuffed Wang's request that Vietnam allow Chinese to enter Vietnam under the same terms as before the outbreak, the official Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
"In order to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the governments of Vietnam and China have been cooperating closely on transportation between our two countries," said Doan Khac Viet, the deputy spokesman of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Doan said the measures were taken "with the aim of controlling COVID-19, not to shut the door or [negatively] affect economic, trade or exchange activities."
Hanoi suspended flights to and from China and visas for Chinese tourists last month as a response to the epidemic. Vietnam has also temporarily closed unofficial roads and pathways between the two countries, and all travelers entering Vietnam via China are required to be quarantined for 14 days.
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a statement posted on its website that it has eased restrictions on cross-border trade with China, reopening a key border crossing at Tan Thanh in the northern province of Lang Son to facilitate goods flows.
Wang followed the ASEAN emergency meeting with an appearance at the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) development project, a Beijing-backed grouping.
Wang told the LMC meeting that China was doing what it could to help its Southeast Asian neighbors cope with last year's severe drought, which lasted long into what should have been the region's rainy season.
Wang said Chinese dams on the Mekong River, which China calls the Lancang, would release water and would consider sharing hydrology information to assist its neighbors in the future.
Wang made the remarks in response to a critical economic report which said that rampant damming on the Mekong would transform the economies of five countries the river flows through and contribute to long-term inflation and dependence on China.
Critics and NGOs fault China's 11 dams on the Mekong for contributing to drought that severely damaged agriculture and fisheries downriver in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
But Wang said the drought was mostly caused by a lack of rain and pointed out that China suffered from that, too.

"China has overcome its own difficulty and increased water outflow from the Lancang River to help Mekong countries mitigate the drought," Wang told the meeting.
Reported by RFA, an online news service affiliated with BenarNews


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Thailand's Constitutional Court ordered the opposition Future Forward Party dissolved Friday and banned its leader from politics for a decade over a campaign loan, in a ruling that human rights groups and Southeast Asian parliamentarians condemned as a blow to Thai democracy.
The court voted 7-2 to disband the anti-military FFP and ruled that leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and 15 other officials from the party, which finished third in last year's general election, could not form or assume an executive positions in a political party for 10 years.
"Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit loaned a large sum of money to the party. The party executives should have known that with the debt, the party could be controlled by the debtor," Judge Panya Udchachon read from the verdict in a televised event. "Therefore this case has solid evidence that the accused violated the Political Party Act."
"[The court] orders the Future Forward Party be dissolved in accordance with Article 92 of the Political Party Act and will withhold political rights of the executives active during the time the action took place. It will disallows them to register a new party, assume party executive positions or take part in forming a new party for 10 years," the judge said.
The party's dissolution and the ban on its top leaders participating in politics for the next decade sidelines the FFP only 11 months after Thailand staged its first election since the military toppled a civilian-led government and installed a junta in May 2014. The army general who led that coup, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, oversaw the military government and again became prime minister after the March 2019 polls.
On Friday, FFP leaders, joined by more than 100 supporters, monitored the verdict from the party office in downtown Bangkok.
"The Future Forward Party comes to an end. I, as the party leader, apologize to the people that we failed you on our promise," Thanathorn told reporters. "We promised to thwart the junta's power retention, amend the Constitution and reform the armed forces, but we failed and I apologize."
"I declare a Future Forward Panel to bind people who want to carry on with the ideology of amending the constitution," Thanathorn said.
On Saturday morning (local time), the United States Embassy in Bangkok came out a with a brief statement on the Constitutional Court's dissolution of the FFP.
"The United States strongly supports democratic governance around the world, and appreciates Thailand's recent seating of a democratically elected government," said the statement posted on the embassy's website.
"While the United States does not favor or support any particular political party in Thailand, more than six million voters chose the Future Forward Party in the March 24 elections. The decision to disband the party risks disenfranchising those voters and raises questions about their representation within Thailand's electoral system," the embassy went on to say.
In Brussels, the European Union criticized the party's dissolution as "a set-back for political pluralism in Thailand."
"Dissolving political parties or banning Members of Parliament runs counter to the process of restoring pluralism initiated last year. Political space in Thailand should remain open," the EU said in a statement Friday, adding Thai authorities should ensure that all legitimately elected MPs should be able to keep fulfilling their parliamentary mandates.
New York-based Human Rights Watch was among groups that ripped into the court's decision to break up Thanathorn's party, which is popular with young Thais.
"The Constitutional Court's ruling to dissolve the Future Forward Party is a knockout blow for Thailand's teetering efforts to restore democratic rule after a military dictatorship," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "This decision seriously weakens the political opposition for the benefit of the military-backed ruling party and unjustly cancels the votes of over six million Future Forward Party supporters."
Last May, Thanathorn, 41, told reporters he had disclosed in his official declaration of assets that he provided a loan of 191.2 million baht (U.S. $6.3 million) to finance the FFP's electoral campaigns during the March 2019 general election.
Responding to a petition from anti-graft activist Srisuwan Janya, the Electoral Commission previously ruled that Thanathorn was not anticipating a repayment.
It dismissed Thanathorn's claims that the amount distributed in two sums, 161.2 million baht ($5.3 million) in January 2019, and a second of 30 million baht ($994,000) in April 2019 was given as a loan. The EC then sought a ruling from the Constitutional Court.
Thanathorn still faces sedition and other criminal charges stemming from his political efforts. The party's secretary general, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, faces criminal charges as well.
They and others formed FFP to challenge Prayuth's government. FFP holds 76 seats in parliament after finishing third in the March 2019 election, capturing 81.
Prayuth appointed himself prime minister after leading the coup that overthrew the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra. He was voted in as PM following last year's election after a rule change allowed 250 senators appointed by the junta to vote for the top office.
'No justice in this country'
Skulsri Boonchote-anand, 47, was among FFP supporters at party headquarters, and applied for party membership despite the court's ruling.
"I'm very sad. I didn't think the court would disband the party," she told BenarNews. "I like this party because they reach out to people and they do care about the people.
"They are political hope, the light at the end of tunnel, but today it was put out."
A giant banner at Bangkok's Thammasat University read: "There is no justice in this country."
Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science faculty at Ubon Ratchathani University said he had expected the court's ruling.
"Nothing to be surprised about because everyone anticipated such a dissolution. It is the same happening in Thai politics like when Pheu Thai party was undercut," he told BenarNews.
"The dissolution may help the opposition gain more support from younger generations," he said.
The Pheu Thai party, loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, who like his younger sister, Yingluck, was outed from the prime minister's office by a military coup, was the second-most popular party in the 2019 general election, picking up 136 seats in parliament.
Sunai Phasuk a Human Rights Watch senior researcher in Thailand, said the court's action was a setback for pluralism in Thailand ahead of a censure debate. Parliament is expected to begin the three-day debate against Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and five cabinet members on Monday and vote on Thursday.
"Only three days ahead of a no-confidence debate, the Constitutional Court's ruling in a politically motivated case to disband the FFP is seen as a knockout blow for electoral pluralism in Thailand. The ruling coalition will now benefit from the verdict that unjustly cancels the votes of millions who support the FFP," Sunai told BenarNews.
"The dissolution verdict violates the rights of the FFP members to freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly and democratic participation guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," he said.
Members of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) expressed disappointment with the court's action as well.
"The penalty seems wholly disproportionate to the infraction, and when you look at the huge number of cases brought against the Future Forward Party and its members since it was founded, it is hard not to question whether they are being singled out because they pose a threat to the political establishment's grip on power," said Abel Da Silva, a Timor-Leste MP who also serves as member of APHR.


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A Thai hydropower company has plans to build what would be Laos' sixth large-scale Mekong river dam, the latest cog in Laos' ambitious plan to become the "battery of Southeast Asia."
The Thailand-based Charoen Energy and Water Asia Co. Ltd. (CEWA) presented to Lao authorities the results of studies related to the Phougnoi dam project at a meeting in Pakse city on Feb. 11.
According to the plans, the Phougnoi dam would be located in Champassak province, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) south of Pakse and about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Don Sahong dam, which recently began operations.
"The company presented the results of the initial feasibility study and the environmental impact assessment of the proposed dam at the meeting," an official at the Champassak Provincial Administration Office told Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews, on Wednesday.
"Right now, they have not yet built anything and have many more steps to go through, so construction will not begin any time soon," the official said.
The official said he did not know when the Lao government would notify the Mekong River Commission about the project, a mandatory step for new Mekong river developments that would begin a six-month prior consultation process that would include an impact assessment for affected neighboring countries.
"The initial studies [presented at the Feb. 11 meeting] focused on the impact on local people, but not in much detail. If [the developer and Laos' government] go ahead with this project, they will need more details on how it would impact people who live downstream from the dam," the official said.
The studies showed that the Phougnoi dam would affect more than 200 hectares (500 acres) of land, home to 88 villages in seven districts. The most affected village would be Khon Ken village, where 811 residents reside in 142 households. Details of construction costs and power purchase agreements have not yet been revealed.
A CEWA representative said the company has completed designs for the dam as well as the initial studies into the environmental and social impacts of the project.
Residents said they are concerned about the potential impact.
"Why is the Lao government building so many dams?" a resident of Champassak province's Champassak district asked.
"We already have too many. If we build more, droughts will be more severe and the water level on the Mekong will get lower and lower," the resident said.
A village chief in Sanasomboun district, an area which would be greatly affected, said none in the village had heard anything about the development project.
Stakeholders urge Laos to share more information
Meanwhile at northern Laos' Xayaburi dam, which began commercial operations in October, government officials and stakeholders toured the facilities Thursday and recommended that the dam's developer share information about its operation with the lower Mekong countries.
The 50-person tour included NGO representatives, researchers, journalists and specialists from the MRC Secretariat.
According to a report on the MRC website, the tour included presentations by the dam's developer on the plant's design, with visits to fish passes, flushing gates, and views of water levels both up and downstream.
"We want the site visit to speak for itself regarding the situation of low flows and drought in the Mekong," said Anoulak Kittikhoun, Chief Strategy and Partnership Officer at the MRC Secretariat and leader of the tour.
"We'd like our stakeholders to see the dam and its operation with their own eyes and pose questions to the developer so that they can form their own assessment."
The visitors said they were appreciative of the developer's openness, but they expressed their hope that the company would share with the MRC Secretariat data on the dam's operation including water flow, sediment transport and migration.
"Observed data and information on sediment and fish migration above and below the dam as well as on energy generation should be shared," said Nhan Quang Nguyen, representing a Vietnamese NGO, the Centre for Promotion of Integrated Water Resources Management.
"Transparent and timely sharing of this information could help the people and relevant authorities make better planning," he said.
Knut Sierotzki, an engineering consultant for a Finnish company that assists the Xayaburi power company tried to quell concerns about the dam storing excessive amounts of water.
"There is no storing of water – what flows in will eventually flow out," Sierotzki said.
"The flow regime of the river is not changed. The inflow water is constantly released either through the turbines or spillway," he said.
He also said the discharge during this dry season was about 50 percent higher than that of the 2003-2004 dry year which saw the water flowing out between 800 and 1,000 cubic meters per second.
But Patchara Jaturakomol of Thailand's Kasetsart University said Sierotzki's claim illustrates why the data needs to be shared. If the developer were to make the official data public, the data could "speak for itself," she said.
Laos has built dozens of hydropower dams on the Mekong and its tributaries, hoping to export the electricity they to other countries in the region. It is preparing to build scores more dams in the years ahead.

Though the Lao government sees power generation as a way to boost the country's economy, the projects are controversial because of their environmental impact, displacement of villagers, and questionable financial arrangements.


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Thai security forces killed five suspected insurgents Sunday during a clash with gunmen believed behind an attack on a security outpost last month in the country's insurgency-hit Deep South region, officials said.
The clash took place while troops were pursuing separatist rebels who killed a defense volunteer and injured seven others on Jan. 12 in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat province, 1,193 km (745 miles) south of Bangkok, the military said.
"Security forces operated according to plan ... and killed five suspects," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman of the army's southern command, told BenarNews. "We believe there were seven to eight in the group, but the rest managed to escape."
The firefight was the biggest clash in the border region since secessionist insurgents killed 15 people in twin attacks in nearby Yala province on Nov. 5 last year. Authorities said they were investigating whether the five men slain on Sunday were also involved in those attacks.
Government forces did not suffer any casualties, according to a police investigator.
Pramote said the bodies of the gunmen had been taken to a security facility for identification, autopsy and forensic tests.
Capt. Kobkiat Manichote, an investigator at Cho-I-rong police station in Narathiwat, said security forces recovered six rifles after the clash that took place at I-steer village in the Tawe mountain range.
"Our combined forces were stalking the hideouts of the insurgents based on intelligence tip-off, but they saw [the officers] and opened fire and both sides clashed," Kobkiat told BenarNews.
The Nov. 5 ambushes that killed 15 – a mix of police officers, village defense volunteers and civilians – were the deadliest since 2004 in the Deep South, an area that borders Malaysia and encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces as well as four districts in Songkhla.
Nearly 7,000 people have died in violence in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking region since the separatist insurgency reignited 15 years ago.


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Thai authorities were considering legal action against a banned opposition party official who accused the government of helping to hide a fugitive financier linked to Malaysia's 1MDB scandal, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said Monday.
Pannika Wanich, former spokeswoman for the Future Forward Party (FFP), on Sunday accused the Thai government of allowing Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) to visit Thailand although he was subject to an Interpol red notice – a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and arrest the person named.
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the party, which captured the third largest number of seats in last year's general election, disbanded.
"[In response to] such assumptions based on unrelated things, involved agencies have information. They don't reveal it now but will use [it] in prosecution," Prayuth told reporters when questioned about Pannika's claim.
"Be cautious, this involves a foreign relationship," he added.
Government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat echoed the prime minister.
" affirm that the [allegation] is false," Narumon said in a Facebook post. "Agencies involved are considering filing a legal action and the main agency would clarify the matter."
Pannika stood her ground on Monday.
"It is disappointing that the government does not try to disclose the information but chose to threaten prosecution," she told reporters.
Pannika and other officials of the disbanded FFP, including leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, have been kicked out of parliament and banned by court order from political office for 10 years.
In its judgement, the court ruled that Thanathorn, whose auto-parts business made him a billionaire, had illegally loaned money to his party ahead of last year's general election.
More than 60 FFP members elected to parliament can retain their seats if they join another party within two months, the Associated Press reported.
Jho Low, who fled Malaysia and is the target of an international manhunt, faces criminal charges in Malaysia and the United States for his alleged role in embezzling from 1MDB through his relationship with former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Najib set up 1Malaysia Development Berhad in 2009 ostensibly to spur Malaysia's economic development, but the fund amassed billions in debts.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice accused "Malaysian Official 1" – later identified as Najib – and associates of embezzling and laundering more than U.S. $4.5 billion (18.8 billion ringgit) in 1MDB-linked money between 2009 and 2014. Since Najib fell from power in the 2018 general election, he has been indicted on 42 corruption-related charges stemming from the scandal, and is currently standing trial on some of those charges.
Justo case
Pannika had compared Thailand's treatment of Jho Low, of allegedly allowing him to enter and leave the country, to a man she said was innocent but spent months behind bars.
"On Oct. 7, 2016, Singapore requested that Interpol issue a red notice to arrest Jho Low for money laundering. But from Oct. 7, 2016, to May 13, 2018, Jho Low registered on immigration records five times, flying in on a private jet," she said.
"Thailand could have denied his arrival but it did not," she said. "There is no evidence that Thailand tried to deny his arrival or inform Singapore about the wanted money launderer."
She compared Jho Low to Xavier Andre Justo, a former employee of PetroSaudi International Ltd., who exposed a deal between PetroSaudi and the 1MDB fund. He alleged that Najib siphoned millions of dollars from 1MBD.
Justo was sentenced in 2015 to three years in Thai prison on charges of extorting money from PetroSaudi, his Thai lawyer told BenarNews on Monday. He later received a royal pardon and returned to Malaysia in 2018 to assist in the 1MDB investigation.
Last year, the chairman of The Edge Media group reported rewarding 8.2 million ringgit ($2 million) to Justo for helping to expose the scandal.
Not guilty plea
In another 1MDB-related development on Monday, Goldman Sachs pleaded not guilty in Malaysia's high court to charges related to the sale of bonds totaling 27.2 billion ringgit ($6.43 billion) in 2012 and 2013, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported.
At the time the charges were filed in December 2018, Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas alleged that the Wall Street investment bank needed to be held accountable for benefiting from 2.5 billion ringgit ($600 million) for underwriting the bonds.
"Their fraud goes to the heart of our capital markets, and if no criminal proceedings are instituted against the accused, their undermining of our financial system and market integrity will go unpunished," he said at the time.
In October 2018, the U.S. government unsealed indictments against Goldman Sachs bankers Ng Chong Hwa (also known as Roger Ng) and Tim Leissner, alleging they hid their partnership with Jho Low from their employer.
"More than $2.7 billion (11.28 billion ringgit) was misappropriated from 1MDB and Jho Low, Ng, Leissner and others conspired to launder this money through the U.S. financial system to pay bribes to foreign officials and for the personal benefit of themselves and their relatives," the U.S. government at the time.
Leissner pleaded guilty to two charges related to money laundering while Ng was arrested in Malaysia and faces criminal charges there and in the U.S.


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A court in Ningbo city in eastern China on Tuesday sentenced a former Hong Kong bookseller and Swedish national, who had disappeared from a home in Thailand in 2015, to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing intelligence overseas."
In a statement posted on its website, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court said that defendant Gui Minhai had pleaded guilty and would not be appealing.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the case had been "handled according to law" by the Chinese judiciary.

"China is opposed to any foreign countries, organizations or individuals interfering in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty," the spokesman said in response to questions about the case.
Gui was one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers detained by the Chinese authorities for selling "banned" political books to customers across the internal border in mainland China in 2015.

He vanished under murky circumstances from his holiday home in Pattaya, Thailand, in October 2015, only to reappear in China "confessing" on video to a decade-old alleged drunk-driving offense.

Gui was "released" by the Chinese authorities in October 2017, but his daughter said he was not free.

Instead, he was placed under various forms of control and surveillance in his birthplace, Ningbo, during which time he was reunited with his wife Jennifer, who is a German national.

Gui was suddenly re-detained in February 2018 while en route by train to Beijing in the company of two Swedish diplomats. State security police said they suspected him of carrying "state secrets" to supply to overseas organizations, according to state media reports at the time.

Gui's wife, Jennifer, declined to comment on her husband's sentence Tuesday, suggesting that the family remains under heavy pressure from the Chinese authorities.

"I don't want to say anything, sorry," she told Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews.

Repeated attempts to contact Gui's daughter, Angela, via phone and social media were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Sweden's top diplomat took to Twitter to demand that Gui be freed from Chinese custody.
"We did not receive any information about this, did not have access to the trial and have not been able to examine the prosecution," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde tweeted.

"The [Swedish] government continues to demand that Gui Minhai be released, as well as access to our citizen to provide consular support," she wrote.

Lam Wing-kei, Gui's former colleague at the now-shuttered Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong said he was a little surprised at the harshness of the sentence.

"I hadn't really expected this," said Lam, who has since fled to the democratic island of Taiwan. "I am still very sad about it."

"He had already served two years in jail ... so what secrets would he have had access to?" Lam said. "Mainland China is a ridiculous country."

[https://www]

Angela Gui campaigns for the release of her father, Swedish national and former Hong Kong book publisher Gui Minhai. [Free Guiminhai]

Court assertion ridiculed
Lam said Gui's 10-year jail term could be linked to a book he had planned to publish.

"They were going to bring out a book about the most influential leaders in Zhongnanhai [ruling Chinese Communist Party headquarters]," he said. "Maybe all five of us booksellers got detained because of that?"

"It's very likely that someone in the highest echelons of power didn't want that book published," Lam said.

The court statement also alluded to Gui having "reapplied for Chinese citizenship" in 2018.

"Gui Minhai, male, Han nationality, was born on May 5, 1964," the court statement said. "He was born in Ningbo, China. He became a Swedish citizen in 1996. In 2018, he applied for restoration of Chinese nationality in accordance with the law."

Poet Bei Ling, who is a friend of Gui, said the authorities likely demanded that Gui renounce his Swedish citizenship.

"The most ridiculous thing about it is their demand that he return to Chinese citizenship," Bei said. "Does that mean Gui needs to be a Chinese national in order to serve 10 years in a Chinese jail?"

"It's a joke, and [this assertion by the authorities] shouldn't be taken at face value, that something Gui agreed to freely," Bei said. "They just don't want any involvement from the Swedish government."

Chinese author Ma Jian, who heads the Independent Chinese PEN Center, said President Xi Jinping has presided over a huge clampdown on the freedom of press and publication in Hong Kong, which was promised the maintenance of its traditional freedoms under the terms of the 1997 handover.

"I am extremely angry about this, and I have been watching the way this has progressed in Hong Kong," Ma said. "Gui Minhai has become a scapegoat."

"Ever since Xi Jinping came to power, he has taken China ever faster towards dictatorship," he said. "The Chinese Dream is actually a Dream of Red Imperialist China."


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Almost 10,000 troops from 29 countries kicked off the annual Cobra Gold in Thailand on Tuesday, as officials offered assurances that measures were taken to prevent the coronavirus from spreading among servicemen participating in the joint exercises.
The 10-day event, one of the largest military exercises in the Asia-Pacific, began as the Thai Public Health Ministry announced two new confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The flu-like disease, which is now called COVID-19, has infected about 80,000 people and killed 2,663 in China.
"I deeply commend brave and fearless soldiers determined to join the exercise in the face of hardship and the COVID-19 outbreak," Gen. Pornpipat Benyasri, overall field commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, said in a speech during the opening ceremonies at Camp Akatotsarot in Phitsanulok province, about 400 km (250 miles) north of Bangkok.
He said the Thai military had arranged "strict measures" to prevent the virus from spreading among the troops taking part in Cobra Gold and "to ensure safe and healthy conditions for all participants."
All the troops were checked with thermal scanners ahead of time, and anyone with a fever was screened out for a medical examination, officials said.
During the outbreak the virus has jumped from its epicenter in China to about 29 countries and territories, with about three dozen deaths recorded outside China.
Thailand's latest two cases – a 31-year-old woman whose relative visited Guangzhou in China and a male driver of Chinese tourists – brings to 37 the confirmed cases reported by Bangkok, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared the disease a global health emergency.
Among the Cobra Gold participant nations is South Korea, which has reported 977 confirmed cases and 10 deaths as of Tuesday.
Pornpipat said Seoul, one of Thailand's main training partners, sent in only a few officers to join Cobra Gold this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Last year, he said, South Korea participated with a full team and joined in the amphibious landing exercise and live-fire drill.
Last week, Seoul announced a drastic reduction in the number of its participating troops, from 400 to about 30, and will participate only in a simulated command-post exercise. Other countries such as the Philippines, Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom will also join in that exercise, officials said. Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos were participating as observers, they said.
The United States has sent about 5,500 service personnel, an increase of 1,000 soldiers from last year, according to a U.S. Embassy statement. They will join Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, which has 90 confirmed cases of the virus.
The risk of infection from COVID-19 remains low, and the threat of disease or illness is commonly considered by military planners when developing operations, U.S. Marine Capt. George McArthur, of the Cobra Gold 2020 Combined-Joint Information Bureau told the Stars and Stripes newspaper on Feb. 20.
"As part of the mitigation strategy we have brought additional medical capabilities, supplies, to include individual personal protective equipment, and additional preventive medicine specialists," McArthur said.
Cobra Gold, the 39th of its kind, consists of three primary events this year, including field training. It is scheduled to run until March 6 in Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Rayong and Chonburi provinces.
China and India will participate only in the humanitarian civic-action part of the exercise in Thai communities, McArthur said.
Highlighting the event is the first appearance in Thailand of the F-35 stealth fighter jet, which will be among 64 aircraft and two battle ships – the USS America and the USS Green Bay – sent in by the United States.
Michael Heath, chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, told participants at the opening ceremony that Cobra Gold was essential to building trust among the participating military forces.
"This exercise provides our forces a critical opportunity to train together on complex and challenging missions to build trust and prepare us to fight together if ever needed in defense of the values and nations we serve," he said.


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Students at universities across Thailand during the past week have staged on-campus protests on a scale not seen in decades to vent their anger at a court order disbanding a top opposition party, and to demand that democracy be truly restored after years of junta rule.
Meanwhile amid a parliamentary debate over whether lawmakers should vote to censure his government, Prime Minister and former junta chief Prayuth Chan-o-cha gave the pro-democracy students a warning Thursday, saying they risked being prosecuted over their flash demonstrations.
"'m concerned about the children, who are the nation's future," Prayuth told reporters.
Prayuth, who took power in 2014 after a military coup that he led as army chief, and which followed a series of tumultuous street protests, reminded students to respect the law to avoid arrest. Similar protests were held four years earlier.
"The laws are sacred. I'm not threatening you, but protesters of all sides in 2010 and 2014 were prosecuted," Prayuth said.
During the debate on the floor of parliament, Prayuth said he was tracking the student demonstrations, claiming they did not compare with mass protests in 1973 and 1976 that ended in massacres.
On Thursday, students at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok joined thousands of others who have been protesting at campuses in the Thai capital and other cities since Feb. 21, when the Constitutional Court ordered the Future Forward Party (FFP) broken up and its top leaders banned from politics for 10 years.
The party that is popular with young Thais was ordered broken up less than a year after it finished third in a general election touted as marking the end of junta rule.
"After the 2019 election, instead of having a new future, a good future, we have the old future, plus 250 people (senators) we have not voted for," a student leader, who asked to be identified as "Boy" over fear of reprisal, told BenarNews.
"We actually feel hopeless and disappointed with this country."
The president of the Federation of Pattani Students and Youths (PerMAS) in Thailand's Deep South was among the students who demonstrated at the Ramkhamhaeng campus on Thursday.
"Despite the election, we don't feel it is a democracy. Laws have been drafted that deviate from the will of the people in an attempt to maintain power and restrict civil liberties," Zukriffee Lateh told BenarNews.
"It is necessary for us to come out and call for democracy to change this country," he said. "People must be able to determine their own political will."
Officials did not release details of the number of people arrested since last week's announcement to disband the FFP, which is led by auto-parts billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, nor about the charges they could face.
Thailand's strict public gathering law does not allow more than 10 people to congregate at any one time. However, these laws do not apply to gatherings on campuses.

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Zukriffee Lateh, president of the Federation of Pattani Students and Youths, speaks during the rally at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Feb. 27, 2020. (Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews)

Deadly outcomes
From parliament, Prayuth delivered a message to the student protesters.
"To correct the understandings of brothers and sisters at home, students and teachers, I'd like to say I understand your intention," Prayuth said, adding that police were trying to avoid consequences similar to the protests back in the 1970s.
Police turned on protesters on campus, killing more than 75 students in 1973, and 46 officially or more than 100 unofficially in 1976.
"The incidents of 1973 and 1976 were different. Today, I'm not creating such conditions," Prayuth said.
"I'm worried that the students might be naive ... after being fed one side of the story," he said. "May students who rally listen to the information the government has aired before choosing what you want to believe."
In 2010, leaders of street protests who supported former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat who rallied to oust then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva were arrested. The protests resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people.
Nine self-proclaimed royalist leaders were sentenced to four years after being convicted of treason following 2014 protests while 25 people were killed, according to official figures.
Natjasak Phuthachakrawan, who attended the Ramkhamhaeng rally, was not swayed by the student speakers, saying their efforts could lead to violence.
"Do you know what democracy is," he told BenarNews, adding he was concerned there could be a repeat of the Oct. 14, 1973 violence. "I know how that was."
High school students have joined the protests as well.
A group from the all-girls Satriwithaya School in Bangkok displayed pro-democracy posters as they rallied at the Democracy Monument across the street from their school on Wednesday, the Bangkok Post reported.
"We came today not on behalf of the school but as members of a new generation who don't want the monument to be just a place where vehicles make a U-turn," one said.


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Thailand's prime minister, who is the ex-junta chief, and five of his deputies on Friday survived the first no-confidence debate against him since he led a military coup in 2014, after a group of opposition MPs boycotted the final vote.
The parliamentarians from the opposition bloc walked out in protest, complaining they were not given enough time to question Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the five deputy ministers.
Lower House Speaker Chuan Leekpai announced that Prayuth had received 272 votes in support, 49 against and 2 abstentions – 22 more than half of the 500-seat lower house of parliament. Because of the boycott and absences, 177 did not vote.
"I feel somewhat relieved that I passed this thing," Prayuth said after the vote total was announced. "I can have time to handle the tasks that await me."
The others, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, Wissanu Krea-ngam, Anupong Paochinda, Don Pramudwinai and Thammanat Prompao received between 269 and 277 positive votes. Five of the six men are former members of the now-disbanded National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the official name of the junta that governed Thailand from May 2014 until after elections in March 2019.
"Give this government justice. We are determined to work with honesty. ... We are not an antagonist to anyone," Prayuth said. "We have had conflicts for decades that have held back Thailand's potential for progress."
Sompong Amornwiwat, leader of the opposition Pheu Thai Party, filed a motion approved by one-fifth of the lower house in January to allow for this week's no confidence or censure debate. The debate, which began Monday, allowed lawmakers to question Prayuth and the other officials before taking the vote.
Prayuth was accused of failing to handle economic issues properly, of having a bias toward certain business groups and close connections to a rich family to whom he sold land at a high price.
Pheu Thai and other opposition party members walked out ahead of the vote on Friday, amid claims that questioning was cut off too early on Thursday. Two of the ministers, Prawit and Anupong, were not questioned by the lawmakers.
Prayuth appointed himself prime minister after leading that coup that overthrew the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra six years ago. He was voted in as PM following last year's election, after a rule change allowed 250 senators appointed by the junta to vote for the top office along with the 500 in the lower house.
Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, founded and leads the Pheu Thai Party. Like his sister, Thaksin was forced from the prime minister's office by a military coup in 2006.
Pro-democracy student protests
The parliamentary debate began Monday amid protests by university and high school students after the Constitutional Court last week banned opposition Future Forward Party over a campaign loan from party founder Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
On Friday, activist John Winyu called on those who support democracy in Thailand to wear black every Friday to symbolize their resistance to a dictatorship.
An analyst said the latest rallies likely would not lead to deadly violence that marred similar uprisings in the 1970s and 2010.
"I believe the student rallies would not galvanize big-scale protests," Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean for the faculty of political science of Ubon Ratchathani University told BenarNews. "The government has other mechanisms to contain demonstrations other than military forces including the ministry of education which can order a ban on campus activities."
Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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As novel coronavirus cases proliferate worldwide outside China, the Trump administration has postponed a U.S. summit with Southeast Asian leaders in Las Vegas, while Thailand has announced its first death from the mystery disease.
A 35-year-old man who worked as a subcontractor for Thai duty-free giant King Power, died after being diagnosed in late January with both the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and dengue fever, Thai health officials said on Sunday.
The man came into contact with Chinese customers while serving them at a duty-free outlet in Samut Prakarn province south of Bangkok, the director-general of the Department of Disease Control said.
"[T]he deceased [person] had close contact with Chinese tourists who are in the risk group," Dr. Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told a news conference Sunday. "[The patient] died after a month of treatment with weak lungs, exhausted heart and multiple-organ failure."
The Thai citizen's death came a day after the United States announced its first fatality from COVID on U.S. soil. Amid sharply escalated international concerns over the outbreak of the virus first detected in China's Hubei province, the White House indefinitely postponed a meeting between President Donald Trump and leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that was to take place in Nevada in mid-March, U.S. officials said.
"Due to challenges facing the international community from the outbreak of COVID-19, the White House has postponed the meeting planned for March 14 in Las Vegas, so governments can remain focused on protecting the health and safety of their people," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement sent to BenarNews on Sunday.
The governments of the United States, Thailand and other ASEAN member-states "had been making great preparations for the meeting" after President Trump, in November 2019, invited leaders from the Southeast Asian bloc to a special summit with the United States in Las Vegas, according to the official.
"We look forward to future discussions with ASEAN leaders that advance the U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership and highlight the centrality of ASEAN in our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific," the department spokesperson said.
"ASEAN is at the heart of our free and open Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the United States reaffirms our enduring partnership, commitment to shared principles, and our deep economic and security cooperation," the official added.
In Washington, a senior administration official also confirmed on Sunday that the summit was postponed.
"As the international community works together to defeat the novel coronavirus, the United States, in consultation with ASEAN partners, has made the difficult decision to postpone the ASEAN leaders meeting previously scheduled for mid-March," the official said.
"The United States values our relationships with the nations of this critical region, and looks forward to future meetings."
More than 85,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed and at least 2,900 deaths recorded in at least 53 countries, with the vast majority concentrated in China, according to the latest information from the World Health Organization. But the number of cases and deaths connected to COVID-19 outside China have surged in three countries – Iran, Italy, and South Korea.
Including the case of the man who died on Sunday, Thailand has recorded 42 cases of COVID-19. The man had tested positive for the virus at a private hospital after being diagnosed with dengue fever in late January, officials said. He was transferred to the government-run Bumrasnaradura Disease Control Institute, near Bangkok, where he died.
His was only the second death from the virus recorded so far in Southeast Asia. In early February, the Philippines announced the region's first death from the disease.
Southeast Asia's most populous nation, Indonesia, so far has not confirmed any cases although its immediate neighbors have detected multiple cases on their territory, and other countries have reported infections from people who had recently traveled to Indonesia.
On Sunday, next-door neighbor Malaysia announced four new cases of COVID-19, bringing the nationwide total to 29.
The new cases included a 52-year-old Malaysian man who had traveled to Shanghai in mid-January; a 45-year-old Malaysian man who had visited Milan, Italy last month; and a 20-year-old citizen, a male trainee nurse who had close contact in a hospital with another person infected with the virus, but who had worn no protective gear, the Malaysian health ministry said.
BenarNews staff in Washington and Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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A new phase of direct peace talks with the most powerful southern rebel group will take time and require support from "all sectors," Thai officials said Wednesday after government delegates met with BRN insurgents in Kuala Lumpur over two days.
Gen. Wanlop Rugsanaoh, the chief Thai peace negotiator, met with a panel from Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, or BRN) led by Anas Abdulrahman (also known as Hipni Mareh), during a second round of Malaysia-brokered talks on Monday and Tuesday, the Thai Secretariat for the Peace Dialogue in the Deep South said.
"The overall atmosphere of the meeting was constructive," and both sides discussed technical and administrative issues, the Thai secretariat announced in a statement, noting that they also began delving into "substantive issues including the reduction of violence in order to create a conducive environment for the process."
The substantive part of the direct talks with BRN  "will require time, continuity and supports from all sectors involved, and the two sides will meet to discuss further details of all the issues in due course," the statement said.
It did not reveal much more beyond saying that the Thai peace delegation was committed to pursuing "utmost efforts to solve the problem in the Southern Border Provinces."
Abdul Rahim Noor, the Malaysian facilitator of the peace process in Thailand's southern border region confirmed that the latest round of talks took place in Malaysia's capital on March 2 and 3.
"Meetings will continue in the future until peace [is] achieved," he told BenarNews.
On Monday, Abdul Rahim told BenarNews he would brief Malaysia's new prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, about the southern Thai peace talks within a week or two. Muhyiddin was sworn into office by Malaysia's king on Sunday after a week of political turmoil, which saw the government of the Pakatan Harapan bloc collapse.
The military wing of BRN, the largest of armed separatist groups in the Deep South, until early  this year had stayed out of Malaysia-brokered negotiations held between Thailand and MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing rebel factions in peace talks launched in 2015. However, MARA's BRN panelists were not seen as commanding influence over the shadowy rebel group's combatants in the field, according to analysts.
On Jan. 21, Gen. Wanlop and Anas told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur that Thailand and BRN had opened direct talks aimed at settling the long-running conflict, which has claimed more than 7,000 lives in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South since 2004.
The first round of the phase of talks followed back-channel talks between representatives of both sides that were organized in Berlin in late 2019 by an international organization, an official with Malaysia's National Security Council told BenarNews.
Since the start of this year, 24 civilians and Thai security personnel have been killed and 28 others injured in insurgency-related violence in the region that borders Malaysia, according to statistics compiled by the regional police bureau. Seven fighters have been killed on the rebel side.
In Yala, one of the provinces of the Deep South, the head of a local NGO reacted to the news about the latest meeting between the BRN and the delegation from Bangkok.
"As I view this round of peace talks, I see some hope to making peace in the Deep South, but strong law enforcement is needed," Rukchart Suwan, president of the Buddhist Network for Peace, told BenarNews.
"Another thing that people in the area have set hopes for in peace talks is how to really make the region peaceful [in a way] that will not create more violence to harm people. If [these talks] really work, it will be a good thing," he said.
BenarNews staff in Kuala Lumpur and Nani Yusof in Washington contributed to this report.


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A judge who shot himself in a courtroom in Thailand's troubled Deep South last year, when he alleged that superiors had pressured him into convicting murder suspects, died Saturday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a separate shooting, police said.
Judge Kanakorn Pianchana died at a hospital in northern Chiang Mai province after being shot and wounded at a home in Doi Saked district, a local police official told BenarNews.
"I was informed by the McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai that a judge shot himself and he expired at the hospital. We discovered he was Kanakorn Pianchana, former chief judge of the Yala first court who tried killing himself in a Yala provincial court," said Lt. Col. Satitchai Nitayawan, deputy chief of the Mae Ping station in Chiang Mai.
Doctors at the hospital could not save Kanakorn, 50, according to Sarawut Benjakul, secretary-general of the Office of the Judiciary, the Bangkok Post reported. The shooting occurred on Saturday morning at Kanakorn's home in Chiang Mai, while the senior judge's wife and daughter were out, the newspaper said.
Kanakorn had been transferred to a court in Chiang Mai from the far southern region after judicial authorities conducted an investigation into his public suicide attempt in Yala province last October.
In a post on his Facebook page on Friday, the judge expressed fear that he could lose his job over the courtroom shooting, after which police charged him with bringing a gun into a public place without a permit.
"I was investigated by a judicial committee and the police charged me in a criminal case, in which I believe I will certainly be fired," Kanakorn said in the post dated March 6.
"I affirm to friends and fellow Thais that what I've done is to provide people with justice ... I'm proud to be a part of attempts to serve people with justice," he wrote in Thai.
On Oct. 4, 2019, Kanakorn startled an audience in his Yala courtroom when he took out a handgun, aimed it at his chest and pulled the trigger, in scenes that were broadcast live via social media. He shot himself moments after acquitting five defendants charged with killing five people at a poultry farm in the province.
Before entering the courtroom that day, Kanakorn posted another message on his Facebook page, in which he complained that higher-ranking officials in the Thai court system were pressing him to convict the suspects. In that post, he said he planned to disseminate his verdict in the case via Facebook Live.
"I [will do a] live broadcast to tell people that the director of the office of the chief justice (for Region 9) ordered me to penalize the five defendants without solid evidence to prove that they committed crimes, but I don't follow him," Kanakorn wrote on Oct. 4.
The images from the shocking courtroom scene went viral on social media in Thailand.
Commentators said the incident shone a spotlight on the lack of independence in the Thai judiciary, particularly in the heavily militarized southern border region, where a separatist insurgency has simmered for decades.
Prior to turning a gun on himself inside the courtroom, Kanakorn had also complained on Facebook about constant political interference from his superiors to convict suspects, particularly suspected insurgents, and that he was under pressure, too, to acquit security forces charged with abuse.
After that incident in October, a spokesman for the regional security command denied that the military had ever interfered with local courts.
In the wake of Kanakorn's public suicide attempt, Thai court authorities said they were launching an internal investigation into his conduct. While Kanakorn was recovering from his gunshot wound at a Yala hospital, court officials denied reporters access to the judge.
"I offer my deepest sorrow for the death of Judge Kanakorn Pianchana. My condolences to his wife and child," Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, told BenarNews on Saturday night.
"He recognized problems in the judicial system, such as the invocation of special laws [in the Deep South] for 15 years. The military has roles in the judiciary, arrests, and investigations, but there have been many reports of human rights violations in Deep South," she added.




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Seven Uyghurs who broke out of an immigration detention center in northeastern Thailand earlier this year were sentenced last week to two years in jail for the offenses, their lawyer said.
The seven are serving jail terms in a prison in Mukdaharn province, 685 km (428 miles) northeast of Bangkok, after the Mukdaharn provincial court found them guilty, lawyer Wanat Kosasu said.
"All seven are serving terms in the prison for jail break, state property vandalism and intimidating officials," Wanat told BenarNews by phone on Monday. "They will more likely than not appeal the case."
The seven are among about 50 Uyghurs remaining in Thailand after more than 400 fled persecution from northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) around 2014 and traveled through Thailand in hope of finding asylum in Turkey, according to Chalida Tajaroensuk, the director of People's Empowerment Foundation.
The seven had made a failed attempt at a jail break in February 2019, said Chalida, the head of the Thai NGO that has worked to assist Uyghurs in Thailand since 2014.
Their lawyer said five of them also face a charge of robbery for abducting a Thai man and taking his gun following the Jan. 10 jail break. All seven were recaptured three days later.
"They met a villager who was hunting for animals, tied him up and snatched his gun. The plaintiff filed a police report, but [the Uyghurs] wouldn't sign the paper to acknowledge the charge unless the police also filed a report about their physical attack by other officers," the lawyer said.
"We are compiling evidence in order to sue the alleged abusive officials," Wanat said.
He said the robbery case against the Uyghurs is at the police investigation stage.
The Thai-language Thai Rath newspaper reported that Sornchai Rasrikham, the villager in Song Peau village in Mukdaharn, was hunting for rice field rats when the Uyghurs captured him, taking a gun and a longbow before leaving him alone 30 minutes later on the evening of Jan. 10.
Chalida, who visited the Uyghurs in January, said the seven broke out of a cell at Mukdaharn immigration center because they could no longer bear the cramped and unhygienic conditions there.
"They said they would rather be jailed in a better environment with ample room to breathe, in a real prison," she told BenarNews.
"We are writing to the House Committee on Religion to make sure that they have a facility in which to pray and access to halal foods," Chalida said.
Forced repatriation
In 2015, Thailand drew criticism when it forcibly repatriated 100 of the 350 Uyghurs detained in the country to China, despite fears they could be punished on their return, and though it earlier had sent about 170 women and children to Turkey, which has traditionally provided safe haven to Uyghurs fleeing persecution in the XUAR.
A bomb blast at a Hindu shrine in Central Bangkok weeks after the repatriation killed 20 and injured 120 more, and was linked by the Thai police chief at the time to Uyghur militants who sought to avenge Bangkok's action. Two Uyghur men were arrested and pleaded not guilty. They will have a hearing on May 26.
"In reality, Thailand cannot send them anywhere – not to China because it is scared of a similar bomb attack like the one on the Erawan Shrine in 2015 and international condemnation," Chalida said. "And not to Turkey because Chinese officials keep checking on all detained Uyghurs every month."
Authorities in the XUAR have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring "strong religious views" and "politically incorrect" ideas in a vast network of internment camps since April 2017.
While Beijing initially denied the existence of internment camps in the XUAR, China last year changed tack and began describing the facilities as "boarding schools" that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalization, and help protect the country from terrorism.
But reports indicate that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities.
Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) exile group, cited the conditions in Thai detention Uyghurs have faced as the reason for January's jail break.
"As a result of such horrible conditions and mistreatment, some had no choice but to flee these detentions," he told Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews.
"These people had committed no crime. Their only crime was to flee Chinese persecution in their homeland. ... They were hoping to escape persecution for a safe haven. They deserve to be protected under international law for the protection of refugees."
Isa called the sentencing of the seven Uyghurs to two years in prison "a politically motivated decision to appease China," adding that it would do little to "bring justice to these long-suffering people."
"I call on the Thai authorities to treat these Uyghur refugees humanely and allow them to leave for a third safe country under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees," he said.


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Thailand's Ministry of Justice has signed with military legal officers an agreement aimed at promoting an understanding of human rights and related laws among members of the armed forces.  

Officials of the justice ministry's Rights and Liberties Department and the military's Judge Advocate General (JAG) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday, about a year after military-backed parties won the March 2019 elections that, according to critics, was engineered to keep former junta leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha as prime minister.
Prayuth had held the post since 2014 when he led a junta that overthrew the elected government of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Thailand has seen more than 20 coups since the country converted from absolute to constitutional monarchy in 1932.
"The purpose of the MOU is to promote knowledge and understanding of rights, freedom, human rights and related laws among judge advocates ... so they can train other personnel," said a statement released after the ceremony.
Following the 2014 coup, the Prayuth-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – the junta's official name – ordered civilians to stand trial in military court. At least 98 people had been charged with violating Lese Majeste, Thailand's strict royal defamation law, while more than 400 faced allegations of violating a law that prohibits public political gatherings of more than five people.
After Prayuth took his oath in July 2019 as the leader of an elected government, he revoked many NCPO orders that deprived people of political freedom and transferred those cases from military courts to civilian courts. Despite the change, JAG officers did not stop prosecutions of opposition members.
In October 2019, a JAG officer filed a complaint against 12 people, including academics, civilians and opposition party members, for allegedly discussing potential solutions to the separatist conflict that has dragged on for years in Thailand's southern border region, known as the Deep South.
One of those charged, Chalita Banthuwong, a professor at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, appeared to suggest that an amendment to the 2017 junta-backed constitution might help settle the conflict, according to a video posted on YouTube and Facebook.
Government officials accused her and the others, including Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the former leader of the now-defunct Future Forward Party, of attempting to create chaos and incite turmoil during Sept. 28, 2019, Deep South forum. Police said they are continuing their investigation.
Chalita expressed skepticism about the MOU.
"I haven't seen the details yet but it is likely just a mere image-building effort rather than an attempt to genuinely protect people's rights and freedom," Chalita told BenarNews. "In the past it was the military who filed complaints to police against the junta-resistant citizens."
Deep South issues
Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command-4, which covers the Deep South, hailed the agreement as a positive step.
Violence related to a separatist insurgency has led to more than 7,000 deaths since 2004 in the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking region.
"The MOU signing is a good thing. It makes government officials aware of human rights issues essential to the Deep South," Pramote told BenarNews on Tuesday.
"Previously we were not aware of human rights concerns because they were not in our training curriculum," he said. "We learned on the job and gained experience."
He blamed some human rights activists for publicizing false stories about the military.
"The prosecutions would not have happened to some rights advocates if they were sincere," he said, adding, "Some of them accused us of torture."
He said he wanted the activists to understand that violent suspects often have weapons, so the military must react to subdue them.
Meanwhile, the family of Abdullah Esomuso, 34, who fell into a coma after being interrogated at an army camp in Pattani province in July 2019 and died a month later, said they had been waiting for justice.
On Tuesday, Abdullah's family told BenarNews that Pattani police had interrogated 18 witnesses and were compiling evidence to proceed with a complaint.
"Our lawyer will urge the police to speed up the case. We heard from the Cross Cultural Foundation that officials from the Department of Special Investigation plan to question his widow and me and gather forensic evidence," Abdullah's cousin, Muhammad Nomud Mamud, told BenarNews.
This story was updated to correct the name of the Cross Cultural Foundation.


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Thai polling authorities announced Wednesday they would pursue criminal charges against the leader of a now disbanded opposition party over allegations that he knowingly violated electoral laws by holding stock in a media firm while campaigning in last year's general election.
The Electoral Commission's move marks the latest action by Thai authorities to go after Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and his Future Forward Party (FFP), a pro-democracy and anti-military party popular with young Thais. It finished third in the 2019 election, the country's first polls after five years of junta rule.
Thanathorn, the Election Commission alleged, was aware during the run-up to the election that he faced potential disqualification from the polls because he held shares in the firm, V-Luck Media Co. Ltd.
"[He] knew that he [could be] disqualified from participating in the election, thus contravening Article 151 of the Representative Act. Therefore the Election Commission will file a criminal suit with the police," the commission said.
Thanathorn could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the new charge.
"The fact remains that Thai 'democracy' since the 2019 election is one constructed to favor the military. The ruling party, Palang Pracharat, is an informal military proxy party," Paul Chambers, an expert on Thai politics and a lecturer in international relations at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, told BenarNews.
Last month, Thailand's Constitutional Court ordered FFP dissolved and banned its top leaders from politics for a decade over allegations that Thanathorn, an auto parts tycoon, had illegally loaned money to his party during the campaign.
In November 2019, the same court stripped Thanathorn of his parliamentary seat after it found the politician had failed to divest himself of 675,000 shares that he held in V-Luck, when he filed papers to register as a candidate in the election.
However, when the court convicted him then, the panel of judges did not rule at the time whether Thanathorn had intentionally broken the law, Reuters news service reported.
BenarNews could not immediately reach Thanathorn or his aides in seeking their reactions to the latest move against him. He previously had rejected all allegations directed against him in both cases. In the V-Luck case, for one, he maintained that he had divested himself of those shares before registering as a candidate.
"The judges on Thailand's constitutional court were informally selected (or had their terms extended) by the 2014-2019 junta. All current Senators were appointed by the junta," Chambers told BenarNews.
Last Friday, a defiant Thanathorn said he planned to form a new grassroots movement with a name evoking his former party, and claimed he was no longer bound by regulations on political parties.
"I don't possess any power to change laws ... I can move more freely now. And with that in mind, I have announced the creation of the Future Forward Movement, soon after the party was dissolved," he said in a speech at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.
"What is the Future Forward Movement? [It] is a network of like-minded people ... It has no legal identity. We will start with 6,000-stronger members of the former Future Forward Party," Thanathorn said.
On Sunday, 55 MPs affiliated with FFP announced that they planned to join up with the Move Forward Party, a five-year-old opposition party.
In making the announcement, Pita Limjaroenrat, the 38-year-old MP who led the 55 lawmakers, vowed that they would carry on with FFP's mission.
"I affirm to brothers and sisters that our views and ideology don't change, though we certainly move on with integrity," Pita said.
Chambers, the analyst, cast doubt that the move by Pita and the other FFP MPs to ally with the Move Forward Party would have much of an impact on Thai politics.
The ruling coalition is headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the former junta chief who led a military coup that toppled a civilian-led government in May 2014.
"[M]FP is without a doubt a weaker parliamentary force," Chambers said. "Though Pita is a good choice for party leader, since he too is somewhat charismatic, none of this really matters."


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An official autopsy has determined that seven men, whose bodies were found floating in a reservoir under military control near Thailand's border with Myanmar last month, all died of drowning, a police investigator said Thursday.
The bodies were discovered in Mae Sae, a district of northern Chiang Mai that is known for being rife with drug smuggling across the Thai-Myanmar frontier. On Thursday, Chiang Rai Hospital officials released the autopsy report to the investigator, Lt. Col. Surapol Petchpisitpong, who is assigned to the Ko Chang police station.
"The doctors concluded that the cause of death was drowning. There were no gunshot wounds or physical injuries," Surapol told BenarNews by phone. Chiang Rai province is about 880 km (546 miles) north of Bangkok.
Surapol said the autopsy confirmed his preliminary investigation after the bodies were discovered on Feb. 27. He reported seeing no signs of gunshot wounds or of physical struggles that could have led to the drownings.
Soldiers in Mae Sae said they had exchanged gunfire with about 20 suspected drugs traffickers near the frontier on Feb. 24, leading to speculation that the seven corpses found three days later could have been members of that group, according to media reports at the time.
Surapol said only one of the victims could be identified, adding he could not determine how the victims ended up in the reservoir or if they were involved in the gunfight three days earlier.
"We know one of them was a Myanmar citizen because he had an I.D., but the others didn't. The rest are likely from Myanmar as well," he said without naming the victim.
After the Feb. 24 clash, soldiers reported finding and confiscating more than 2 million "yaba" pills which contained a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and 14 kg (30 lbs.) of crystal methamphetamine. The drugs were valued at 2 million baht (U.S. $63,000), according to the Associated Press.
Soon after the bodies were pulled from the reservoir, a deputy police spokesman, Col. Kissana Phatanacharoen, said an initial investigation led police to suspect that the seven had crossed into Thailand from a neighboring country because they had no Thai I.D. cards on them, the Bangkok Post quoted him as saying.
The reservoir is about one kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) from the border where the Ruak River divides Myanmar and Thailand. The reservoir is open to the public but the area is overseen by troops from three local military outposts, Surapol said.
"We announced the discovery in the villages to see if anyone would come to claim the bodies, but no one did," he said, adding that the seven bodies would be buried in the province.
BenarNews could not immediately reach regional military officials for comment on the autopsy findings.
Chiang Rai is part of the Golden Triangle with Myanmar and Laos, a tri-border region notorious for drugs production and distribution. In 2017, BenarNews reported that methamphetamine had overtaken opium and heroin as the most produced drug in the region.
Last month, military troops in Wiang Pa Pao, another district of Chiang Rai, reported seizing 1 million yaba pills following a Feb. 5 clash with drug traffickers. Officials said no one was injured on either side.
Meanwhile on Thursday, officers at the Mae Fah Luang police station reported that a corpse stuffed in an oil drum had been pulled from another reservoir in Chiang Rai province, according to local media.
Villagers said they saw the drum floating in the reservoir about 12 km (7.5 miles) from the border with Myanmar for more than a week, the Chiang Rai Times reported. Teens pulled the drum from the water and found the body along with drug paraphernalia, it added.


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Hundreds of Thai pro-democracy demonstrators marched to parliament on Friday to demand that lawmakers amend the constitution to pave the way for a fresh election in order to remove Thailand's military-based government from power.
For two hours, protesters waved Thai flags, held signs and chanted slogans denouncing the government headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a former junta chief.
"If Prayuth's government refuses the amendment, we will go to the streets to protest," demonstrators vowed.
They called on the government to reestablish the 1997 constitution, widely seen as the nation's most liberal one. They want it to replace the 2017 constitution, whose electoral provisions were drafted in a way to allow Prayuth and many members of the old junta to retain power after a general election last year.
The March 2019 polls were the first held in Thailand since the former army chief led a military coup that toppled the government of Yingluck Shinawatra five years earlier.
After the polls, Prayuth was elected as prime minister by parliament. His election was aided by the 2017 constitution, which allowed the votes from the 250-member senate hand-picked by his junta to combine with the votes from the lower house.
One of the coordinators of Friday's march, Yingcheep Atchanont, a program manager for iLaw, a civil and political rights research and advocacy group based in Bangkok, said the protesters were calling for democracy and equality in Thailand.
"There are more people joining in the movement today than we expected. We know that it is not easy, but the outbreak of COVID-19 cannot stop us from trying to make a difference here," Yingcheep told BenarNews, referring to the global pandemic. "Now the ball is in their court, we have to wait and see what will happen next."
Upon reaching the parliament building in Bangkok, the protesters presented a letter outlining their demands to Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, a Prayuth adviser.
In addition to his role with the prime minister, Pirapan leads a 49-member House committee examining possible amendments to the 2017 constitution.
Pirapan told the protesters that MPs would consider their demands.
"We will look into the proposal and make sure to include it in our study," Pirapan said.
Anusorn Unno, a lecturer at Thammasat University who joined the protest, said the new constitution needed to be changed.
"It was designed to give the power to the junta. We have to put pressure on MPs because they do not intend to amend the law, they want to stay in the power for a very long time," he told BenarNews.
The protesters took to the streets in defiance of Thailand's strict public gathering law which prohibits more than 10 people to congregate at any one time.

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Anusorn Unno of Thammasat University submits the protesters' demands to Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, an adviser to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, in front of parliament, March 13, 2020. [Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews]

FFP
Their action followed a series of protests on university campuses in February, where thousands of Thai students called for democracy to be truly restored. The students also protested an order by the Constitutional Court to disband the opposition Future Forward Party (FFP).
Those protests were allowed because the public gathering law is not applicable to campuses.
On Friday, Human Rights Watch called on Thailand's government to drop what it called politically motivated criminal charges against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the auto-parts billionaire who founded FFP.
Earlier this week, the Election Commission announced it was seeking criminal charges against Thanathorn for running for parliament even though he was not qualified because he held shares in a media company. Thanathorn could face a decade in prison if convicted of the charges.
"Since the Constitutional Court wrongfully dissolved the Future Forward Party, Thanathorn has faced a barrage of arbitrary legal actions from agencies packed with military junta-appointed personnel," HRW Asia director Brad Adams said in a news release on its website.
"By eliminating opposition parties and threatening their leaders with prison terms, the Thai government is heading down the path of neighboring countries where autocratic, single-party rule has thoroughly destroyed any pretense of democracy or respect for human rights," he said.


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At least 25 people were injured Tuesday when suspected insurgents attacked a government office in Yala province in Thailand's Deep South, officials said.
Posts on a Facebook page linked to what some believe to be supporters of the BRN, the largest armed group in the region, had appeared to warn of an imminent attack on Saturday, and pictures of the attack scene were later posted with the words "as promised."
The attack occurred while officials were meeting at the Southern Border Province Administration (SBPAC) office in Yala town to discuss Malaysia's decision to close its borders to contain the spread of coronavirus, a local official said.
Attackers drew people to the spot by tossing a hand-held device into the yard of the building, then remotely detonated a car bomb in front of the compound, said Col. Narawi Binwae-arong, chief of Yala's Maung district station.
"While officials were meeting on COVID-19, two men on a motorcycle tossed a bomb over the fence. Later the car bomb was set off," Narawi told reporters. "At least 25 were injured, including the deputy director of the SBPAC."
"On a surveillance camera, we found a pickup truck carrying wood was parked at the site before the explosion," he said. The driver left the scene with a man on a motorcycle, according to officials.
The road in front of the SBPAC office was filled with billowing smoke while injured police ran for safety, video clips from the scene showed. Civilians, police, government workers and local reporters were among the injured.
"It was so scary, a loud bang. I could not imagine such a big explosion. There is no safe place, even at the SBPAC office," a witness who asked not to be named for safety reasons told BenarNews.
'Prepare'
The attack came on the heels of a days-long military operation on the border of Yala and Pattani provinces, where security forces have been pursuing a group of men they believe are responsible for killing 15 people in attacks on a village in Yala on Nov. 5, 2019.
Four members of the security forces have been injured since gun battles began on March 12.
On Saturday, a Facebook account that posts news about the Deep South conflict as well as videos and statements purportedly produced by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or BRN, appeared to reference the military operation and warn of an upcoming insurgent attack.
"Thanks people for sending us message after the operation took place. The BRN army will demonstrate our gratitude ... the Siam Thai army should prepare for what is going to happen at its position."
After the attack Tuesday, the page posted photos of the bomb site with hashtags "as promised" in English and Malay.
Military and intelligence sources contacted by BenarNews could not confirm the authenticity of Facebook page.
A person with contacts inside the BRN who is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said it was not an official platform for the group, but was run by some of its supporters.

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Police investigators arrive at the wreckage of car bomb following an explosion outside the Southern Border Province Administration office in Yala March 17, 2020.(AFP)

'We shall condemn them'
Col. Pramote Prom-in, the spokesman for the military command in Thailand's heavily militarized southern border region, ISOC-4, condemned the attacks.
"The assailants wanted to massacre people by luring them out of the meeting room with a grenade, then exploded a car bomb, also to add to the economic hardship amid COVID-19 threat," Pramote told BenarNews. "We shall condemn them widely."
National Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaichinda said the attackers were Deep South insurgents and said he had stepped up security vigilance around government properties.
Thailand's Deep South borders Malaysia and encompasses the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in neighboring Songkhla.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in the region since insurgents renewed their campaign against Buddhist-majority Thailand 16 years ago.
The BRN is involved in peace talks with the Thai government, brokered by Malaysia. A round of meetings took place in Kuala Lumpur in early March, but violence continues almost daily in the southern border region.
Since the start of this year, 28 civilians and Thai security personnel have been killed and 32 others injured in violence in the Deep South, according to figures compiled by BenarNews. At least nine suspected fighters have been killed.


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International rights groups on Wednesday condemned a bomb attack the day before on a Thai government office in Yala province, where officials were meeting to discuss COVID-19, as clashes between soldiers and insurgents in the Deep South claimed more lives.
Thai officials said a soldier was killed and two others were injured Wednesday while pursuing militants near Pattani Dam in Yala province. On Tuesday, three militants were killed hours after the attack at the Southern Border Province Administration (SBPAC) office.
"Entering the seventh day of pursuit beginning on March 12 ... a new clash resulted in one soldier killed and two others wounded," said Col. Watcharakorn Oanngern, a spokesman for the military command in Thailand's heavily militarized southern border region, ISOC-4.
Col. Pramote Prom-in said the militants killed Tuesday were members of a group responsible for attacks on Nov. 5, 2019 on a village in Yala that killed 15 officials, defense volunteers and civilians.
"From our initial investigation, we can confirm that the three slain men participated in the killing at Lampaya," Pramote said.
On Tuesday, attackers tossed a hand-held device into the yard of the SBPAC building, then remotely detonated a car bomb in front of the compound, the local police chief said.
Ten of the 25 people injured by the blast remained hospitalized on Wednesday, officials said, adding that all of the victims were expected to survive.
Condemnations
The bombings drew condemnations from the United Nations and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"The indiscriminate use of weapons targeting civilians is prohibited under international customary law and carrying out such attacks during a public health emergency is unconscionable," said Cynthia Veliko, regional representative of the UN Human Rights Office in Bangkok.
"We condemn this attack in the strongest terms and urge full respect for international legal obligations," Veliko said in a news release.
HRW called the attack a war crime because it targeted civilians.
"A 'double-tap' bombing outside a government building has no aim but to cause the greatest loss of human life," said Brad Adams, HRW Asia director. "In carrying out this attack during a meeting to address COVID-19, separatist insurgents have again demonstrated cruel disregard for the lives of all civilians."
HRW urged the Thai government to bring all those responsible to justice in accordance with human rights law, and also to examine what it called long-held grievances of the local population in Thailand's southern border region.
"As long as Thai security forces are shielded from criminal responsibility and long-held grievances in the ethnic Malay Muslim community are ignored, the insurgents will use the situation to try to justify unlawful attacks," Adams said.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in the region since insurgents renewed their campaign against Buddhist-majority Thailand 16 years ago.
The most recent clashes were part of a military operation that began on March 12 on the border of Yala and Pattani provinces, where security forces were pursuing militants they believe responsible for the deadly attack in Yala in November. Four suspects remained at large as of Wednesday, officials said.
Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, commander of army troops in the south, said security forces had sought to avoid clashes with the militants.
"We tried to convince them to lay down their arms and surrender, we don't mean to harm them," he told reporters. "Religious leaders came to help try to save their lives and bring them to justice, peacefully."
Thailand's Deep South borders Malaysia and encompasses the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in neighboring Songkhla.
Since the start of this year, 29 civilians and Thai security personnel have been killed and 59 others injured in violence in the Deep South, according to figures compiled by BenarNews. At least 12 suspected militants have been killed.
An earlier version of this story used an incorrect rank for Col. Pramote Prom-in.


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Thailand and the Philippines on Tuesday granted their leaders emergency powers in bids to limit the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic amid soaring infections in those countries.
At least one human rights watchdog group warned that such action, while necessary in a public health emergency, could erode freedoms over the long term.
In Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced a state of emergency, to take effect on March 26. It would allow authorities to impose curfews, bar public gatherings, censor news deemed to be fake or seen as inducing general fear and panic.
Prayuth's emergency decree would also empower authorities to stop public transportation, shut down premises and evacuate people.
"The government has been pondering an announcement of an emergency state and decided to make it effective this Thursday. We have also discussed other necessary measures," Prayuth said in a nationally televised address on Tuesday, the first anniversary of a general election that saw the ex-junta chief return to power as prime minister.
"I will lead the committee, centralizing the power at the prime minister, in order to handle the matter," said Prayuth, who led a military coup in 2014. "Media and social media who distort information shall be investigated by officials and be subject to prosecution along with those who are stockpiling foods and necessities."
To enforce the rules, Prayuth said he could mobilize civil servants, police and military personnel.
Those accused of violations could be held without charges being filed for up to a month through extensions, as opposed to two days under the regular penal code, he said.
In Manila, President Rodrigo Duterte placed the country's armed forces and national police in charge of the country's fight against COVID-19, as he thanked members of Congress for passing a law granting him emergency powers in dealing with the viral outbreak.
The departments of national defense, interior and local government along with the military and the national police "are now ramping up the implementation of the national plan as we speak to reinforce the efforts of the DOH [the Department of Health] in containing the threat of COVID-19," Duterte said in a late night address to the nation.
He did not divulge other details, but gave his speech hours after both houses of Congress passed legislation granting Duterte "emergency powers" to deal with the crisis.
"I assure the public that the government will be on top of this situation at all times," Duterte said. "We will not leave anyone behind."
"I also call on relevant agencies to ensure the speedy delivery of basic medical supplies and equipment to health facilities. From the approval, importation and to the delivery, everything must go smoothly to make sure that we do not waste time," he said.
In Thailand and the Philippines, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have trebled and nearly doubled, respectively, since Friday.
On Tuesday, Thailand reported 106 new cases and three deaths, pushing the overall death toll to four. The Philippines reported 90 new cases and two additional deaths, increasing its totals to 552 confirmed cases and 35 fatalities.
 

 
Meanwhile in Malaysia, armed forces chief Gen. Affendi bu**** announced that surveillance drones were deployed to 12 hotspots nationwide to monitor public response to the Movement Control Order, a government-imposed lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On Sunday, Malaysia deployed soldiers to enforce a two-week travel ban within the country so as to curb the virus's domestic spread.
Without disclosing the numbers, Affendi said some of the drones belonged to the government while the others were lent by businesses.
"We cannot deploy the drones to cover the whole country. They will be assigned to various locations, especially the 12 locations that have been deemed COVID-19 hotspots," he said.
Some of the hotspots include Petaling Jaya, Titiwangsa, and Lembah Pantai, all in the Klang Valley that surrounds Kuala Lumpur.
"The drones can operate from 30 to 45 minutes and cover a three- to five-kilometer radius. They are able to make a live recording to enable us to identify those seen in the footage," he told reporters during a demonstration at the Brickfields police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
On Tuesday, Malaysia recorded 106 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death from the disease, bringing its totals to 1,624 and 15.
Concerns over power
Rights groups, including Freedom House, a Washington-based independent watchdog, have raised concerns about autocratic leaders using the COVID-19 crisis to bolster their power.
"Certain limitations on fundamental freedoms are unavoidable during public health crises. But such restrictions must be transparent, and necessary and proportionate to limiting the outbreak," Freedom House staffers Allie Funk and Isabel Linzer wrote in an Op-ed published in The Washington Post last week.
"If governments are allowed to impose indefinite and disproportionate restrictions on access to information, free expression, free assembly and privacy in the name of stopping COVID-19, the negative effects will extend far beyond this outbreak. People will suffer a lasting deterioration in basic freedoms, and they will lose confidence in the institutions tasked with protecting them," Funk and Linzer wrote.
Prayuth came to power in May 2014 after leading a coup that toppled the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
In the Philippines, rights activists have raised concerns about Duterte, who has expressed admiration for former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, attempting to usurp similar power.
Nontarat Phaicharoen and Wilawan Watcharasakwet in Bangkok, Luis Liwanag and Dennis Jay Santos in Manila and Noah Lee in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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Thai state railway officials scrambled on Wednesday to find passengers who were near a 57-year-old man who collapsed and died aboard a south-bound train from Bangkok, as authorities said that an after-death test confirmed he had COVID-19.
Authorities made the confirmation as the nation's capital imposed tighter measures to impede the spread of the coronavirus, including restrictions on operations of supermarkets, food stalls, restaurants and convenience stores from 5 a.m. until midnight, starting on Wednesday.
The man boarded the train bound for the Thai Deep South after landing at Bangkok's main international airport on a flight from Pakistan, officials said.
"Anant Saho died at 10:15 p.m. on March 30 ... Thap Sakae Hospital sent his specimen for COVID-19 test at a clinical lab, which found he was COVID-19 positive," Preeda Sukjai, the chief of Thap Sakae, a district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province south of the capital, said in a statement, referring to the passenger who was found unconscious outside a toilet on the train heading to the far southern province of Narathiwat.
Preeda said the man's body was buried at a cemetery in Thap Sakae "in accordance with Muslim and medical practice." He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Thai Public Health Ministry announced 120 new coronavirus infections, taking the nation's total cases to 1,771, almost half of whom were recorded in Bangkok.
Officials also confirmed two deaths that took pandemic-related fatalities so far to 12, excluding the man who died on the train and another man who also died of COVID-19 in the Deep South province of Pattani.
The man on the train collapsed in front of the restroom and was taken to the Thap Sakae Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Voravuth Mala, deputy governor of State Railway of Thailand (SRT), said in a statement. Local authorities swabbed fluid from the man's corpse for COVID-19 tests, which came back positive on Wednesday.
Voravuth said his office had sent out to health authorities the names of 15 passengers aboard the same carriage with Anant. The whereabouts of those passengers remain unknown, authorities said.
"We also quarantined 11 people who were near him, including two train staff members in Bangkok, a security guard, seven stewards and a railway police officer," he said.
Thailand, which declared a state of emergency that took effect on March 26, has closed its borders to almost all foreigners, except for diplomats. It requires anyone arriving in the country to present a health certificate and take a 14-day self-quarantine.
Voravuth said Anant had received a health certificate and a fit-to-fly certificate from a Pakistani hospital on March 26. It is not clear when Anant arrived in Bangkok but authorities said he booked a train ticket on March 29 and boarded the train the next day.
Train staffers reported that the man was coughing and vomited during the railway ride but insisted on pushing through with his journey, Voravuth said.
The man's death came before the SRT was to announce on Wednesday that it was halting all trains to the Deep South, including the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkhla, to contain virus spread.
Globally, 45,497 people have died and more than 911,000 have been infected, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.


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More than 100 Thai Muslims who attended an Islamic gathering in India last month appealed to their government Friday to help them return home after New Delhi imposed a clampdown on the event, which has emerged as a "super-spreader" for COVID-19.
India has reported 2,567 confirmed cases with 72 deaths as of Friday, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Indian newspapers, quoting data from state governments, said at least eight of the deaths have been linked to people who attended an event organized by the Tablighi Jamaat, a prominent Muslim missionary group, in the first weeks of March.
"They have no place to go in India," Adam Danehmuso, chief of the Thai affiliate office of Tablighi, told BenarNews. "We want Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, regional religious, local military or Deep South authorities to help them."
Adam said the Thai group arrived two months ago at the six-story Nizamuddin Markaz building, which serves as a hostel and center for missionary workers who attend Tablighi events in a cramped corner of New Delhi.
But New Delhi authorities imposed a citywide lockdown starting on March 23, followed by a national one starting March 25, after hundreds of coronavirus cases were linked to the religious gathering.
Adam said 115 Thais from the predominantly Muslim Deep South region later found themselves in limbo after Indian authorities clamped down on the Tablighi gathering and prohibited participants from staying at the missionary group's headquarters.
About 95 percent of the 647 COVID-19 infections in the country during the past two days have been linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Lav Aggarwal, spokesman for India's health ministry, told reporters in New Delhi on Friday.
"Though COVID-19 positive cases were being reported, the surge has happened only over the last two days," he said. "This shows that one mistake can have repercussions and can put us back our efforts in fighting such a pandemic."
Indian health authorities on Friday confirmed 2,301 coronavirus cases with 56 deaths. Globally, more than 58,200 people have died and at least 1,083,000 have been infected, according to the data from Johns Hopkins.
Prayuth declares curfew
In Thailand, a foreign ministry spokesman did not immediately reply to a text message and a phone call from BenarNews seeking comments on the Thai Muslims.
Thai authorities, meanwhile, imposed tighter measures this week to impede the spread of the coronavirus, including restrictions on operations of supermarkets, food stalls, restaurants and convenience stores in Bangkok.
On Friday, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha intensified his nation's fight against COVID-19 by imposing a curfew as authorities reported 103 new infections, taking the country's total confirmed cases to 1,978.
"This restriction might be an inconvenience but we must adapt to survive," Prayuth told reporters. "The goal is to contain this outbreak as soon as possible."
Curfew violators could be punished by up to two years in prison and hefty fines, according to a government statement.
Prayuth had earlier ordered Thais in other countries to delay their trips until April 15. The extended measure requires Thais abroad to perform a two-week self-quarantine before flying back to the Buddhist-majority nation, where the coronavirus has so far killed at least 19 people.
Also on Friday, Thailand's civil aviation agency announced that it would temporarily ban all incoming passenger flights in order to help curb the spread of the virus. The ban would take effect on Saturday and last until the end of Monday, Reuters reported.
An official at the Thai Southern Border Province Administration Center (SBPAC) said the Thai Muslim group in India would likely be unable to immediately return as a result of tighter travel restrictions.
"I'm afraid that they cannot come soon," Chonthan Saenpoom, the SBPAC's deputy chief, told BenarNews. "They need to abide by the prime minister's order delaying home-bound trips of Thais abroad."
Authorities imposed new travel restrictions after 13 Thai Muslims who attended a similar Tablighi religious gathering in Malaysia, from late February to early March, contracted coronavirus and one of them died.
At least 22 Thai Muslims were also infected with the virus that causes pneumonia-like symptoms after attending a similar religious event recently at a mosque in Indonesia, officials said.
"The prime minister announced the trip delays [from abroad] because of those [infections]," Dr. Taweesilp Wissanuyothin, spokesman for the government's center to fight COVID, told a news conference Friday.
But, he said, almost 200 Muslims who had received approvals to travel back before the restriction took effect were expected to arrive next week.
"There are over 100 Thai pilgrims from Indonesia, as well as 83 from Malaysia who will arrive on April 6," Taweesilp said. "We prepared places for their quarantine."
The Tablighi Jamaat ("Society for Spreading Faith") is a global missionary movement whose primary purpose is to encourage Muslims everywhere to be more religiously observant, according to Pew Research Center, a think-tank based in Washington, D.C.
The group, which was founded in 1926 in Mewat, India, by an Islamic scholar, began as an effort to counteract the activities of Hindu revivalists, who at the time were attempting to convert Muslims to Hinduism, according to the research center, which says the group operates in about 150 countries, with about 12 million members worldwide.


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The most powerful among separatist insurgent groups in Thailand's troubled far south has declared a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds, citing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and calling it "the main enemy of all humankind."
The announcement by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, or BRN) rebels that they were halting "all activities" for the time being is believed to be a first in the long-running conflict in the Thai Deep South. The BRN issued the statement on Friday, saying it would cease its operations immediately but would resume them if the Thai military attacked its forces.
"To create a more comfortable and peaceful environment for the Patani people, related to the work of health workers and efforts by the related agencies to control the COVID-19 outbreak, BRN will now stop all activities on humanitarian grounds because we realized that the main enemy for all humankind is COVID-19," said the statement attributed to BRN's Central Secretariat.
At least five people have died of COVID-19 and as many as 143 cases have been detected in provinces and districts that make up the southern border region.
BRN was suspected of carrying out a twin bombing that injured at least 25 people during an attack last month on a government office in Yala, one of the provinces in the Deep South. Officials were meeting there on March 17 to discuss how to respond to a decision by nearby Malaysia to seal its frontiers to prevent the coronavirus from crossing the border.
At the time, the United Nations and Human Rights Watch condemned the attack, which occurred as Thailand was already reeling from the COVID-19 health crisis.
"The Patani National Revolutionary Front realized that COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is a serious threat to all human beings in the world including those in Patani," the declaration by BRN said, referring to the name that southern separatist groups use for the heavily militarized Deep South.
The statement, written in Malay, noted that the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus were growing and expected to increase more "if no health-related measures are taken by the Patani people."
The rebel group also accused the Thai military and government security forces of making life even more miserable for people across the Deep South by conducting raids, arrests and cordoning off homes of suspected BRN supporters or members during the pandemic.
"BRN would like to reiterate again our commitment in combating COVID-19. RN would like to call [on] all Patani people to make an effort to take care of themselves and their family members as best as they can," the statement said.
According to figures given by Thai military intelligence officials and a senior BRN leader, the insurgent group commands between 8,000 and 9,000 fighters.
When asked to comment on BRN's declaration, a spokesman for the military's southern regional command, indicated that state security forces would carry on with enforcing laws "to keep internal peace, regardless of [a] ceasefire."
"In regard to the self-proclaimed BRN statement, I'd like to state that, all along, authorities keep internal peace duly under the authority of laws and enforce laws on those who perpetrate against both officials and innocents," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command-4 (ISOC-4), told BenarNews late Saturday.
Thailand surpasses 2,000 cases
The BRN declared a cessation to its operations on the same day that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres renewed his appeal for warring parties in conflicts around the globe to "silence their guns" in order to help health authorities respond to the fast-growing coronavirus pandemic.
"The virus has shown how swiftly it can move across borders, devastate countries and upend lives," the U.N. chief said. "The worst is yet to come. And so, we need to do everything possible to find the peace and unity our world so desperately needs to battle COVID-19."
The number of coronavirus cases detected worldwide broke the 1 million mark late this week, according to data from disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. In Thailand, health authorities on Saturday confirmed one more death and 89 new cases, bringing the national total to 20 deaths and 2,067 cases.
The declaration by BRN came two months after its military wing and the Thai government announced that they had opened direct talks facilitated by Malaysia, which shares a border with the Deep South.
Meanwhile on Saturday, a day after the cessation of BRN activities officially took hold, gunmen shot and wounded a 77-year-old man as he returned home from prayers in Pattani province, police said. However, it was not immediately clear whether rebels were behind the attack.
The Deep South encompasses the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in neighboring Songkhla.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in the southern border region since the BRN and other armed separatist groups renewed their decades-old insurgency against Buddhist-majority Thailand 16 years ago.


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The most powerful among separatist insurgent groups in Thailand's troubled far south has declared a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds, citing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and calling it "the main enemy of all humankind."
The announcement by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, or BRN) rebels that they were halting "all activities" for the time being is believed to be a first in the long-running conflict in the Thai Deep South. The BRN issued the statement on Friday, saying it would cease its operations immediately but would resume them if the Thai military attacked its forces.
"To create a more comfortable and peaceful environment for the Patani people, related to the work of health workers and efforts by the related agencies to control the COVID-19 outbreak, BRN will now stop all activities on humanitarian grounds because we realized that the main enemy for all humankind is COVID-19," said the statement attributed to BRN's Central Secretariat.
At least five people have died of COVID-19 and as many as 143 cases have been detected in provinces and districts that make up the southern border region.
BRN was suspected of carrying out a twin bombing that injured at least 25 people during an attack last month on a government office in Yala, one of the provinces in the Deep South. Officials were meeting there on March 17 to discuss how to respond to a decision by nearby Malaysia to seal its frontiers to prevent the coronavirus from crossing the border.
At the time, the United Nations and Human Rights Watch condemned the attack, which occurred as Thailand was already reeling from the COVID-19 health crisis.
"The Patani National Revolutionary Front realized that COVID-19, or the coronavirus, is a serious threat to all human beings in the world including those in Patani," the declaration by BRN said, referring to the name that southern separatist groups use for the heavily militarized Deep South.
The statement, written in Malay, noted that the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus were growing and expected to increase more "if no health-related measures are taken by the Patani people."
The rebel group also accused the Thai military and government security forces of making life even more miserable for people across the Deep South by conducting raids, arrests and cordoning off homes of suspected BRN supporters or members during the pandemic.
"BRN would like to reiterate again our commitment in combating COVID-19. RN would like to call [on] all Patani people to make an effort to take care of themselves and their family members as best as they can," the statement said.
According to figures given by Thai military intelligence officials and a senior BRN leader, the insurgent group commands between 8,000 and 9,000 fighters.
When asked to comment on BRN's declaration, a spokesman for the military's southern regional command, indicated that state security forces would carry on with enforcing laws "to keep internal peace, regardless of [a] ceasefire."
"In regard to the self-proclaimed BRN statement, I'd like to state that, all along, authorities keep internal peace duly under the authority of laws and enforce laws on those who perpetrate against both officials and innocents," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command-4 (ISOC-4), told BenarNews late Saturday.
Thailand surpasses 2,000 cases
The BRN declared a cessation to its operations on the same day that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres renewed his appeal for warring parties in conflicts around the globe to "silence their guns" in order to help health authorities respond to the fast-growing coronavirus pandemic.
"The virus has shown how swiftly it can move across borders, devastate countries and upend lives," the U.N. chief said. "The worst is yet to come. And so, we need to do everything possible to find the peace and unity our world so desperately needs to battle COVID-19."
The number of coronavirus cases detected worldwide broke the 1 million mark late this week, according to data from disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. In Thailand, health authorities on Saturday confirmed one more death and 89 new cases, bringing the national total to 20 deaths and 2,067 cases.
The declaration by BRN came two months after its military wing and the Thai government announced that they had opened direct talks facilitated by Malaysia, which shares a border with the Deep South.
Meanwhile on Saturday, a day after the cessation of BRN activities officially took hold, gunmen shot and wounded a 77-year-old man as he returned home from prayers in Pattani province, police said. However, it was not immediately clear whether rebels were behind the attack.
The Deep South encompasses the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in neighboring Songkhla.
More than 7,000 people have been killed in the southern border region since the BRN and other armed separatist groups renewed their decades-old insurgency against Buddhist-majority Thailand 16 years ago.


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The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved borrowing to fund U.S. $58 billion in financial packages to help the health sector combat COVID-19 and to stabilize an economy that has reeled from knock-on effects of the pandemic.
A large portion of the packages, which total close to 2 trillion baht, will go into assisting businesses bounce back from the economic shock and into handing out subsidies to farmers – a major segment of the national workforce that has been hit hard during the crisis, officials said.
The Central Bank recently predicted that the country's economy could shrink by 5.3 percent this year because of the coronavirus, the worst since the 1997 financial crisis that rippled through the rest of Asia.
"Today, we announce that COVID-19 is our national agenda," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said after presiding over a routine cabinet meeting.
"We would arrange for an emergency decree to be able to seek a 1 trillion baht loan. The first 600 billion baht is for public health concerns and the other 400 billion baht is to aid the economy," Prayuth said without giving details on the loans except to say they could come from foreign sources.
In late March, the government asked 3 million citizens who do not work for the government and are not enrolled in social security to sign up for a remedy package. It would provide them with a 15,000 baht ($458) subsidy and an additional 10,000 baht ($305) loan. More than 20 million signed up within the first few days.
The original package, which did not list a specific amount to be spent, will be infused with an additional 400 billion baht ($12.2 billion), the government announced. In addition, the package increases the subsidy to 30,000 baht ($917) and will be extended to cover more people, including farmers, Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said in a separate press conference on Tuesday.
He said the cabinet decided to pass another decree enabling the Bank of Thailand to use 900 billion baht ($27.5 billion) in funds to provide aid to established businesses.
"The decree would empower the Bank of Thailand to firstly, grant soft loans to aid small and medium entrepreneurs in the amount of 500 billion baht ($15.2 billion)," Uttama said.
The other 400 billion baht ($12.2 billion) would be used to provide a six-month moratorium for established firms who have bonds maturing in 2020 and 2021.
Prayuth and Uttama did not elaborate on when the decrees would take effect.
The two officials called on parliament to consider cutting spending by 80 billion baht ($2.4 billion) to 100 billion baht ($3 billion) across the board in this year's budget to provide additional COVID-19 funding.
The cabinet decision was announced on the same day COVID-19 cases increased by 38 to 2,258 and deaths increased by one to 27 from Monday.
Globally, more than 80,700 people have died and at least 1.4 million have been infected, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
"I'm glad that the increment is less than last week," said Dr. Taweesilp Wissanuyothin, the spokesman for the government's center to fight COVID-19. At that time, the number of cases were increasing by more than 100 in a day.
Regional economic efforts
Throughout South and Southeast Asia, leaders have stepped up with financial assistance to aid their citizens who have seen their livelihoods crippled by COVID-19.
In Indonesia, the government has raised $4.3 billion through bonds "to fund its COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts," including one for 50 years, Reuters news service reported on Tuesday.
The bond deal was finalized in the United States on Monday and includes a 10.5-year and 30.5-year bond of $1.65 billion each along with the 50-year bond for $1 billion.
On Sunday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled nearly $8 billion in additional financial aid to stimulate the nation's economy where key industries including garment manufacturing have been battered by the pandemic. The additional stimulus brought to $8.5 billion Bangladesh's overall COVID-19 economic stimulus package.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, the government on March 27 announced a stimulus package allocating $29.6 billion for public welfare, $23.1 billion to support businesses, and $460 million to bolster the economy under what it dubbed as "The People-Centric Economic Stimulus Package." The government allocated another $2.3 billion on Monday to help small businesses.
Previously, the government granted a six-month delay on most loan payments, beginning on April 1, to ease economic suffering caused by COVID-19, according to the Central Bank.
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte late last month announced a $3.9 billion stimulus package, calling in the largest economic aid spending in Philippine history. Duterte said the money was to assist informal sector workers and people whose income has dried up amid a health crisis that has virtually shut down the country.
Days later, police arrested at least 20 people who were part of a protest group in Manila who took to the street to demand food and relief supplies. Later that day, Duterte, in a nationally televised address, ordered police to "shoot them dead" if protesters committed violent acts against officers.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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