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news without borders
Thai PM gets small
boost from by-elections
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
received a boost from weekend by-elections, in-
creasing his parliamentary majority by 11 seats
to 48, domestic media reported yesterday.
The Bangkok Post said Abhisit’s coalition,
led by his Democrat party, picked up 20 seats in
Sunday’s run-off. The opposition Puea Thai party
and its allies only gained nine seats, according
to the paper.
The by-elections were called to replace 29
MPs banned from politics for five years by a
Dec 2 court ruling that dissolved the previous
People Power Party-led (PPP) administration
for vote fraud.
The results were broadly in line with expec-
tations, although analysts had expected PPP
substitute, Puea Thai, to fare slightly better and
gain 11 seats, rather than just nine.
Even though the parliamentary numbers now
look slightly stronger for Abhisit as he tackles an
economy teetering on the brink of recession,
analysts said the results could weaken his hand
within the coalition since the gains were ac-
counted by allies of his Democrat party.
Minister: 250 likely dead
in Indonesia ferry disaster
PARE-PARE (Indonesia): Around 250 people
missing after a ferry capsized in heavy seas off
Indonesia’s Sulawesi island are feared dead,
officials said yesterday as bad weather ham-
pered the search for survivors.
As rescuers scoured the sea, survivors told
how they escaped when disaster struck as they
slept – some by clinging to bunches of bananas.
Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal
said there was little hope any of the missing
passengers and crew would be found alive
more than 24 hours after the 700-tonne ferry
sank off western Sulawesi.
“It seems that due to the weather conditions
the chance is little but we still hope.”
He said 22 survivors had been rescued so
far, including the captain and 17 passengers,
but there was no sign of almost 250 other pas-
sengers and crew who were on board when the
Teratai Prima listed and sank early Sunday.
Eight patrol boats, along with the navy and
air force, were involved in the search, which
navy officials described as difficult due to the
monsoon conditions.
So far authorities have given no official
death toll and there has been no mention of
any bodies being found.
Survivors said the ferry suddenly lurched to
one side and flipped over as it was bashed by
waves up to four metres high.
The ferry, operated by private company PT
Nur Budi and built in 1999, was about 50km off
Majene, western Sulawesi, when authorities
lost contact with it around 2am on Sunday.
It was sailing from Pare-Pare in South
Sulawesi bound for Samarinda in East Kali-
mantan, on Borneo island.
Survivor Yulianus Mangande, 29, said he
Academic summoned over royal ‘slur’
BANGKOK: Thai police have summoned an
outspoken academic for questioning for alleg-
edly insulting the deeply-revered royal family, the
accused professor said yesterday.
Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a political science profes-
sor at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University and
member of a prominent Thai family, said he would
present himself to authorities after a police officer
filed a complaint about him.
Thailand has some of the strictest “lese
majeste” laws in the world protecting the monar-
chy and police have to investigate any complaints,
although media watchdogs have said the law is
being used to muzzle political debate.
“Ungpakorn is prepared to fight any (lese
majeste) charges in order to defend academic
freedom, the freedom of expression and democ-
racy in Thailand,” Giles said in a statement.
theSun | TUESDAY JANUARY 13 2009
“There are two margins here – the margin of
the coalition over the opposition, and the margin
within the coalition,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak
of Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.
“The less margin the Democrats have within
the coalition, the less leverage they have. That
is important when they have no confidence
debates,” he said.
Abhisit’s key coalition partner is Newin
Chidchob, an up-country political wheeler-dealer
banned from politics after the 2006 coup against
Thaksin Shinawatra.
Newin was one of Thaksin’s closest allies,
but his “Friends of Newin” faction split from the
pro-Thaksin Puea Thai late last year to jump
into bed with the Democrats and allow them to
break months of political stalemate.
However, the alliance exposed Abhisit to
criticism of pandering to Thailand’s traditional
money politics.
In a separate election for Bangkok governor,
Democrat candidate Sukhumbhand Paribatra,
a former foreign ministry official, scored an
overwhelming victory. – Reuters
REUTERSPIX
A woman grieving after locating the name of
her daughter on the list of passengers on the
ferry which sank at Pare Pare port yesterday.
was woken by the sound of the boat listing
and had little time to react before it overturned
around 3.30am.
“I felt that the ferry was listing to the left,
then suddenly it turned upside down. I had
to swim in the dark in heavy seas until the
morning,” he said, adding he was found by
fishermen at around 11am.
Rudi Alvian, 17, said he survived by clinging
to a bunch of bananas. “I was below deck. A
bunch of bananas belonging to other passen-
gers helped me float until I found a lifeboat.”
Muhammad Yusuf, 38, also said floating
bananas saved his life.
“I jumped into the sea before the ship turned
upside down. I saw a number of people were
panicking and screaming for help as the ferry
was listing and lost its balance.” – AFP
Anyone found guilty of insulting 81-year-old
King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his family faces a
maximum jail term of 15 years.
Giles wrote a book – A Coup for the Rich – criti-
cising a 2006 military putsch that ousted then-
premier Thaksin Shinawatra and has frequently
commented on the sensitive matter of the royal
family’s role in politics.
The issue has been particularly prominent
in recent months after a protest group claiming
loyalty to the monarchy stormed and occupied
Bangkok’s two main airports for a week in late
November, crippling transit and tourism.
The government revealed earlier this month
it had blocked 2,300 websites for allegedly in-
sulting the royals and was setting up a 24-hour
“war room” to monitor the internet for further
violations. – AFP