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Bangkok governor calls it quits in wake of corruption indictment

BANGKOK, Nov 12 (TNA) – Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin announced on Wednesday he had decided to resign from his post, one day after being found guilty in relation to alleged irregularities involving the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) procurement of fire trucks and boats worth more than Bt6.8 billion in 2003.

Speaking to a press conference, Mr. Apirak, who was re-elected as BMA governor for a second four-year term on October 5, maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the corruption charges in court.

Mr. Apirak said that late Tuesday he had discussed his future with his family, opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and other party executives and had decided to resign from his post after November 19 when the royal cremation ceremonies of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana, elder sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, are completed.

The royal cremation ceremonies of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana start this Friday.

At present, Mr. Apirak is also a deputy leader of the Democrat Party.

He said that it would be better for him to resign as the issue was being watched by society.

On Tuesday evening, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) unanimously voted him — together with former prime minister Samak Sundaravej and nine others — guilty of wrongdoing and violating the criminal code inthe scandalous purchase in which the now-disbanded Assets Examination Committee (AEC) had earlier charged that the 2003 purchase of fire trucks and boats from Austria’s Steyr Daimler Puch Co had caused the state to lose more than Bt1.9 billion.

The AEC transferred the case to the NCCC on June 30, 2008, before its mandate expired, so that the anti-corruption agency could take further action.

In accordance with legal procedures, the NCCC would forward its decision announced Tuesday to the Office of the Attorney-General which will forward the case to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Court for Holders of Political Positions since many of the wrongdoers were former politicians, so that legal action could be taken against them.

A new Bangkok gubernatorial election will be held within 60 days of Mr. Apirak’s formal resignation. (TNA)

Political News : Last Update : 17:26:59 12 November 2008 (GMT+7:00)

Bangkok is home to an extensive and very informative National Museum, which claims to be the largest of it’s kind in all of South East Asia. It serves as a good place to learn about the full range of Thai culture, history, and of the traditional significance of Buddhism to the Thai way of life. Many of the significant remains of the former capitals Sukhothai and Ayuthaya are displayed here, and if you’re planning to go to them, a visit here first should be rewarding. Depending on your interest, a visit here could take anywhere between an hour or so up to most of a day.

There are free English language tours, lasting about 2 hours, available of the museum, starting at 09.30am on Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays, tours are also available in French and Japanese, and in German on Thursdays. These are well worthwhile, else you may not understand much about any of the exhibits and their significance especially as some of the galleries are lacking in information.

6 buildings make up the National Museum. The first building, on the left as you come in past the entrance, is the Sivamokhapiman Hall. This contains the ticket office, and the galleries of Thai history and prehistory. This includes perhaps the museum’s star exhibit, the Inscription No. 1 from the Sukhothai era. Supposedly written by the great King Ramkhamhaeng himself, it is regarded as the Thailand’s first work of literature. It describes the greatness and prosperity of the Sukhothai kingdom, and the benevolence of the King. All Thai school children are taught the famous opening lines, ‘nai naam mee bplaa, nai naa mee kao’ (ในน้ำมีปลา ในนามีข้าว) meaning ‘in the water there are fish, in the fields there is rice’.

Opposite here is Buddhaisawan Chapel (sometimes known as Wat Buddhaisawan). It was built in 1787, shortly after the founding of Bangkok and contains a very revered Buddha image, the Phra Buddha Sihing. The story of this tells of it floating to Thailand from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but it is generally thought to have originated in Sukhothai. Identical images are also found in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chiang Mai. It remains unknown which one is the genuine original. There are also impressive murals in here, starting from the right of the back door.

Other highlights of the museum include recovered jewelry and gems, giant shadow puppets, weapons, ivory, royal possessions, musical instruments, and Asian art and antiques through the centuries.

Details

Entry to the museum is 40B, and this includes a thin leaflet. A more comprehensive guide can be bought for 50B, and if you don’t take a tour this is worth buying. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday, 09.00am to 4.00pm, though tickets can only be bought until 3.30pm. It is located on Na Phra That road, next to Sanam Luang. Photography is banned inside the museum buildings.

Don’t listen to anyone on the street as you try to enter telling you it’s closed for a ‘Buddhist holiday’, ‘cleaning’ etc, or asking if you want to see the ‘Lucky Buddha’ instead – it’s all part of a sophisticated gem scam.

The museum is just the other side of Sanam Luang from Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho, and just a small boat ride from Wat Arun. Some of the other sights in the Ko Rattanakosin area are within walking distance. The Banglamphu accommodation is very close to the National Museum. The nearest river express pier is Tha Phra Chan. The buses that stop on the west side of Sanam Luang are the closest to the National Museum. These are ordinary buses 15, 30, 32, 43, 59, 64, 80, 123 and aircon bus 39.

The famous Wat Arun (วัดอรุณ), perhaps better known as the Temple of the Dawn, is one of the best known landmarks and one of the most published images of Bangkok. It consists of a massive elongated prang (Khmer-style tower), and is surrounded by four smaller prangs. The prang is described by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as 104m high, while most other sources quote figures around 80-85m. It is decorated by bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China, a hallmark of the reign of King Rama III. The Wat had a brief period as host of the celebrated Emerald Buddha, which now resides in nearby Wat Phra Kaew.

The Wat really looks better from a distance than close up, and you’re not missing out too much even if you only view from across the river. The grounds are fairly pleasant and peaceful though, with good murals and a main Buddha image supposedly designed by King Rama II. The mythical guardians here are also quite impressive, though very similiar to those at Wat Phra Kaew.

It is possible to walk a limited way up the (very steep) stairs of the main prang, which gives a reasonable view of the Chao Phraya river.

Despite it’s name (coming from Aruna, the Indian god of the dawn), the best views and photos of Wat Arun are in the evening with the sun setting behind it. There are some restaurants on the opposite side of the river that are good for watching this, though you’d be lucky to see the image of Wat Arun that’s on all the postcards – that of the red sky sunset with the sun setting directly behind the temple. Sunset is around 6pm – 7pm all year round in Bangkok.

Details

Wat Arun is a little unusual as it’s really the only major tourist attraction on the Thonburi side of the river. It is open every day from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Officially, entrance to the Wat is 20B and the ferry crossing is 2B. Sometimes if you walk around the Wat grounds, you will be requested for a donation (with a book showing how everyone else gave 100B/200B), and sometimes the staff at the pier will cite some excuse and charge another 10B or so to let you through.

Other attractions fairly easy to reach from here are Wat Pho, Wat Phra Kaew, the National Museum, Chinatown the Ko Rattanakosin area, and the Banglamphu district.

Due to it’s location, by far the best and most common way to get to Wat Arun is on the river. The Tha Tien express boat pier, at the southwest corner of the Grand Palace / Wat Phra Kaew, is opposite Wat Arun and boats leave every few minutes. You can get to Tha Tien on the Chao Phraya River Express boats from any other pier, or take a taxi to it. Buses that go near Tha Tien are ordinary buses 1, 25, 44, 47, 62 and 91 which stop on Maharat road. There are also plenty of Thonburi canal tours that go here.

By JANE BIRNBAUM
Published: November 5, 2008

Small merchants have long chafed at the fees they must pay banks every time a customer swipes a debit or credit card. But now, with business slowing and every dollar important to their bottom line, some merchants are pushing for changes.
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Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

Robert Kotchenreuther, owner of a dry cleaning service in Washington, says customers who use credit cards cost him $5,000 to $6,000 a year in fees, but he dares not refuse to accept them.
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The merchants are lobbying for legislation that would compel banks to negotiate fees with them and are supporting a second measure that one of its sponsors calls a “credit card bill of rights for merchants.” At the same time, some merchants are seeking class-action status for litigation claiming antitrust violations by banks and the MasterCard and Visa card networks.

Alan L. Carsrud, professor of management and entrepreneurship at Florida International University in Miami, said small-store owners have little choice but to accept the cards. “If a mom-and-pop merchant doesn’t like paying them, it can’t just stop taking cards — it would bleed customers because Americans have been socialized to use plastic,” he said.

“Although all merchants are facing real problems about profitability,” he added, “this may be a life-and-death matter for the small ones.”

A typical merchant card payment has two parts: an “interchange fee,” which includes an average 1.7 percent of the sale price and a flat per-transaction fee, and a separate fee that goes to the merchant’s bank. Take, for example, a driver who pays for a $1,000 car repair with a credit card. The bank that issued the consumer’s card receives an interchange fee of $17.10 (including a 10-cent flat fee), while the repair shop’s bank gets $4, or four-tenths of 1 percent of the total sale. The repair shop pockets $978.90.

In 2007, merchants paid $61.56 billion in electronic payment fees, up from $48.58 billion in 2005, according to the Nilson Report, a payment systems industry newsletter. The report estimated that lenders took in 82.5 percent of those dollars.

“What merchants are getting for their money is convenience, risk management and guaranteed payment,” said Denise Dunckel, a spokeswoman for Visa Inc.

Various factors make every interchange fee unique. If the magnetic strip on the consumer’s card does not work and a cashier has to enter its number manually, for example, a higher charge results. If the card “rewards” the consumer with cash back or airline miles, that, too, has a higher charge.

Beyond setting fee schedules, card agreements also reach into merchants’ daily operations. Merchants who take cards are supposed to accept them for purchases of any size. But to protect profits from customers who use plastic for everything — a recent Visa television advertisement campaign humorously suggested that only social malcontents pay with cash — some small merchants break the rule and set minimum amounts for card purchases.

“Why shouldn’t you be able to set a minimum?” asked William Dennis Jr., senior research fellow for the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington. “Some of these small guys may actually lose money on a $2 or $3 credit card charge.”

Mitch Goldstone, who owns ScanMyPhotos.com, a photo-imaging venture in Irvine, Calif., and blogs about interchange fees at www.WayTooHigh.com, said he decided to challenge the fees in 2005 after learning that fees on reward cards were going up. “I can barely understand them and I’m a lead plaintiff in the merchant litigation,” he said.

The credit card industry contends that merchants are getting good value for their contribution to the rewards card programs.

“Merchants derive significant gain from the electronic payments system, which has evolved new features such as rewards programs,” said Trish Wexler, spokeswoman for the Electronic Payments Coalition, an advocacy group in Washington. “Ultimately, merchants benefit from rewards programs because people buy more when they use cards. Higher fees for rewards cards are justified because merchants and consumers both share in their expense — but merchants want to pass their fair share to consumers, who’d be hit with higher credit costs and reduced rewards if the merchants succeed.”

Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who has sponsored one of the measures in Congress, said he planned to reintroduce a “credit card bill of rights for merchants,” as he calls it. “Our American merchants are paying the world’s highest interchange fees, a fast-increasing cost of business for them, with literally no protections,” he said.

The congressman said the merchants told him about their card problems when he set up tables at Vermont country stores. “Some Vermonters who owned multiple gas stations said that to deal with rising gas prices and interchange fees, they wanted to experiment with cash-only at some and the status quo at others, but were told this would violate their card agreements,” he said.

Wat Pho (วัดโพธิ์), or Wat Phra Chetuphon (วัดพระเชตุพน) as it is generally known to the Thais, is mainly famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue it houses. At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand’s capital. However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand’s largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand.

The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.

The large grounds of Wat Pho contain more than 1000 Buddha images in total, most from the ruins of the former capitals Ayuthaya and Sukhothai. The grounds are split in two by Chetuphon road. The northern section is generally the only one most people go to, and it includes a large bot (temple hall), enclosed by 394 bronze Buddha images. Outside the bot, there are 152 marble slabs depicting the second half of the epic Ramakian story. Also near here are fourGrounds of Wat Pho chedis, constructed to honor the first three Chakri kings (two for King Rama III). There are also a massive 91 others Chedis of varying sizes arounds the grounds, along with chapels, rock gardens, an array of different types of statues, inscriptions, belltowers and resident fortune tellers. The library is nearby too, decorated impressively with figures and pagodas made of porcelain, in much the same way as Wat Arun across the river. The much less visited southern section has less of interest, but makes a good place to find a monk to chat to for a while. Most would welcome the chance to practice their English on visitors.

Massage – Wat Pho is also famous as Thailand’s first university, and is center for traditional Thai masage – the rich, famous and powerful have all been known to come here. Inscribed on stone in the walls of Wat Pho are all that was known about Thai massage dating from the reign of King Rama III (most previous texts were lost when the Burmese destroyed Ayuthaya)

To get a traditional massage here costs 150B for 30 mins, 250B for an hour and herbal massages are available at 350B an hour. If you want to experience traditional Thai massage, this is probably the best place available and is highly recommended, though be aware that it’s not exactly a gentle experience. A foot reflexology massage is also available at 250B for 45 minutes.

It is also possible to take courses to learn traditional Thai massage. These are for 30 hours and cost 4,500B. Courses can be spread over either 10 or 15 days. The massage center is situated at the back of the Wat, the opposite side from the entrance. To get a massage, simply turn up here and wait in line until a masseur is available – perhaps 10 or 20 minutes in the quieter periods in the early morning and late afternoon. Contact them on (+662) 221 2974 or (+662) 225 4771 if you need any more information about it.

The Feet of the Reclining Buddha, Wat PhoDetails

The entrance to Wat Pho is on Chetuphon road. Entrance is 20B. It’s open every day, opening hours are from 08.00am to 5.00pm, with a break from 12.00pm to 1.00pm. Guides can be hired at the entrance for 150B for one person, 200B for two, 300B for three, but they’re not really needed. On Sundays, you can see students being taught traditional Thai dance and music.

Don’t listen to anyone on the street as you try to enter telling you it’s closed for a ‘Buddhist holiday’, ‘cleaning’ etc, or asking if you want to see the ‘Lucky Buddha’ instead – it’s all part of a sophisticated gem scam.

Aircon buses 6, 8 and 12 all stop close to Wat Pho, and the Tha Tien express boat pier is very near. Ordinary buses that go near Wat Pho are ordinary buses 1, 25, 44, 47, 62 and 91 which stop on Maharat road. 44, 47 and 91 all stop on Thaiwang road, on the north side of Wat Pho, south of Wat Phra Kaew. It’s also just a short river crossing away from Wat Arun. It’s within walking distance of Wat Phra Kaew / Grand Palace, and (if you’re feeling energetic) the National Museum too.

The Grand Palace (พระบรมมหาราชวัง) adjoins Wat Phra Kaew in a common compound, and is where you will end up after exiting Wat Phra Kaew. Despite the proximity of the two, there’s a distinct contrast in style between the very Thai Wat Phra Kaew and the more European inspired designs of the Grand Palace (the roof being the exception). The Grand Palace is nowadays used only for occasional ceremonial purposes and is no longer the royal residence. The present King Bhumibol (Rama IX) lives in Chitralada Palace (also closed to tourists), which is located not too far away in Bangkok’s Dusit district. Though the interior of most of the buildings remain closed to the public

Highlights of it are:

- Boromabiman Hall, built by King Rama VI and every king since has lived here at some time.

- Amarinda Hall, the original residence of King Rama I and the Hall of Justice. Nowadays it’s impressive interior is used for ceremonial occasions and coronations. It contains the antique throne, used before the Western style one presently in use.

- Grand Palace Hall / Chakri Maha Prasat. Visitors are allowed inside the spacious European style reception room. This building has not been used for royal residence since the mysterious death of King Rama VIII (the older brother of the current King), found shot dead in his room in 1946. The reverence for the monarchy in Thailand means that, even today, this remains a completely taboo subject to talk publicly about in Thailand.

- The impressive Dusit Hall, rated as perhaps the finest architectural building in this style.

- The Museum, which has information on the restoration of the Grand Palace, scale models of the Wat and Palace and numerous Buddha images. Labels are in Thai only, but there are free English tours available frequently. Entrance is 50B.

Details

The combined compound is open 8.30am to 3.30pm everyday. Cost is 200B (if you are Thai, it’s free), and includes admission to Vimanmek Mansion and Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, both in the Dusit area of the city, the Coin Museum in the compound, and so-so free guidebook. The entrance to the compound is on Na Phra Lan road, on the north side.

Don’t listen to anyone on the street as you try to enter telling you it’s closed for a ‘Buddhist holiday’, ‘cleaning’ etc, or asking if you want to see the ‘Lucky Buddha’ instead – it’s all part of a sophisticated gem scam.

As Wat Phra Kaew is Thailand’s most important temple, you are expected to dress appropriately or risk being turned away. Signs put up around the entrance show you are not permitted to enter wearing shorts, sleeveless shirts, singlets or any form of open ended shoes. Sarongs and long trousers are usually available for loan should you forget.

Other attractions easy to reach from here are Wat Pho, Wat Arun, the National Museum, others sights in the Ko Rattanakosin area, and the Banglamphu district.

There’s plenty of options for getting to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Ordinary buses 44, 47 and 91 stop on Thaiwang road between Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew. Ordinary buses 1, 25, 44, 47, 82 and 91 also stop on Maharat road, on the west of Wat Phra Kaew. On nearby Sanam Luang, north of Wat Phra Kaew, ordinary buses 3, 15, 30, 32, 43, 44, 59, 64, 70, 80, 123 and 201 all stop, as well as aircon 6, 7, 12, 39 and 44. The Tha Chang river express boat stop is also very near. If you’re staying in Banglamphu, it’s possible to walk there via Sanam Luang. It’s only about a 1 km walk, but involves crossing some large and busy roads which don’t have any obvious crossing places.