Airport guards to get power to counter mobs

Published: 28/01/2009 at 03:39 PM
Online news: Breakingnews

Security guards employed by Airports of Thailand will be given the authority to detain troublemakers before handing them over to the police.

Tougher safety measures are being considered for all major airports in Thailand after the seizure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang facilities by People's Alliance for Democracy supporters.

The draft was backed by the Transport Ministry and proposed to the cabinet in an effort to prevent further damaging political protests at the country's major gateways and improve safety for tourists.

People creating problems within the perimeters of an airport could be forcibly detained by the AoT's security guards and must be handed over to police within 24 hours.

Fines of up to 10,000 baht could be imposed on people found guilty of causing problems.

The transport minister would take charge of enforcing the new law. The minister will have full authority to issue ministerial regulations on safety measures at the airports and ensure convenience for travellers and staff.

The minister has the right to set up committees to oversee the implementation of the safety measures at the airports.

Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the draft bill would be submitted to the Council of State before being forwarded to parliament for approval. The cabinet did not set a time frame for the passage of the law.

"I think having such a law will bring a measure of confidence. Many more foreigners will soon be travelling here," Mr Panitan said.

Suvarnabhumi airport deputy director Prateep Vijittho said the planned law would authorise security guards to also crack down on intruders.

Somsak Kosaisuk, a PAD leader, said the planned law could violate basic human rights as it remained unclear how demonstrations would be dealt with.

"Issuing such a law is nonsensical. It's the wrong solution. In fact, the government should focus more on solving the people's problems," Mr Somsak said.

Transport Minister Sopon Zarum said transport authorities had also worked out safety measures, especially for Suvarnabhumi airport. These would include the construction of four permanent checkpoints to screen visitors outside the airport compound.

Earlier Report

By BangkokPost.com

The cabinet endorsed in principle the draft law to help maintain security at airports nationwide, senior airport official said.

According to Suvarnabhumi airport deputy director Prateep Wichittoe, the bill will give authority to Airports of Thailand (AOT) officials to disperse mobs and arrest intruders, and they can impose more fines on wrongdoers up to 10,000 baht.

At present, offenders can only be fined a maximum of 2,000 baht.

However, the new regulation will not increase the authority of security guard firms that have the concession to run security at the airport, he said.

Wing Commander Prateep said the draft law will cover all airports supervised by the AOT and relevant units, including the Council of State.

But some changes must be made to the name of the bill entitled Security and Safety of Suvarnabhumi airport bill, as the cabinet wants the bill to be imposed on all airports other than Suvarnabhumi airport as the title carries.

The change of the name will be forwarded to the cabinet for consideration, then it will be forwarded for approval from the parliament.

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somsak

Discussion 31 : 30/01/2009 at 04:47 AM31
voice, surprising, I wrote that Thaksin was not punished by the law which was retrospectively applied. the organic laws related to 2540 constitution was enacted 2542(or 2543), the first guy who got political ban was the Sanan Kachonprasaat, then Dems secretary general, the law was there, when Thaksin took office, you know, he was simply telling a lie, why don't you get that, if you are Thai, (Drey may be american)I became more pessimistic about the future of Democracy of Thailand, why can't you see such an easy fact? I'm curious,why? if you are thai, you can go to the following site

http://www.nccc.thaigov.net/nccc/law/act2.pdf

you can find the scanned version of the law in 2542 with the name of Chuan Leekpai, and you read article 100 then you would see in the law that spouse was prohibited to be involveded in goverment related deal.(you can read the english version in the same NCCC site.)

you see, the poster you praised as informative, is just telling a lie,
somsak

Discussion 30 : 29/01/2009 at 11:30 PM30
How can you see the picture correctly, if you don't understand the detail. It's not different two things, the former shoud be based on the latter.
voice of reason

Discussion 29 : 29/01/2009 at 03:44 PM29
Moo Noi - disc 22 - thank you very much for this information. Makes the politicians and legal system look bad doesn't it! We have ammunition to use against all those paid PAD bloggers on this board now, when they say that Thaksin is a criminal!

Somsak - disc 25 - you seem like an intelligent individual but I feel you are 'barking up the wrong tree' in criticising Moo Noi's post. You are picking on one aspect of law but you are ignoring the bigger picture which is this: Is it morally right to convict someone on a new law used retrospectively? The answer has to be no! Surely?
Jimmy

Discussion 28 : 29/01/2009 at 03:24 PM28
I cannot understand why the airports need security guards to provide the security. Most airports in other countries use either specialist sections of the police or the army to provide the security, with the hired security firms only performing tasks such as xraying and bag searches (under the supervision of the Army/Police). These officers are plainly seen walking through the airports, heavily armed, and provide a true perception of security.
With the amount of Army and Police employed in Thailand, surely it would not be difficult to create a specialist Airport Anti-Terrorism/Anti-Protest team to secure the airports, using the current laws already available.
Allowing hired security guards the power to arrest is giving undue power to under qualified and under trained personel, which I am sure will result in numerous cases of wrongul arrest in the near future.
jingjo

Discussion 27 : 29/01/2009 at 03:08 PM27
Times are bad. Our country is having serious problems economically and politically. Isn't it silly to still continue protesting? The consequences are definitely negative, affecting confidence in business as well as tourism in Thailand. Sometimes I am wondering if people know what they are doing. Or just blindly support Thaksin who lives in exile. Don't they know that if peace is not restored in Thailand as soon as possible, how can we develop in other areas. Really these people are focusing on the wrong things... Just follow the mass. Why don't give it a break. Give the new goverment a chance to redeem themselves. If they can carry out what they have promised, it's justified to protest for a new leader.
Steven Tsang

Discussion 26 : 29/01/2009 at 02:17 PM26
Current Gov. are supported by junta.PAD had done all the bad things worse than gansters what had the gov.do to them.Yet they said Thaksin bad.Its high time Thais should get a fresh election or Thailand will sink by the junta admi. wait up all Thai.
somsak

Discussion 25 : 29/01/2009 at 01:50 PM25
Moo Moi, you should read the law, which stipulated that the spouse could be exepted from the punishment, if she is not a public office holder, they gave the verdict according to the passage of the law, it has nothing to do with the restrospectble application, if you want to talk about that, you'd better to talk about the policial ban on the party executive if a pary is disolved, this amendment was introdeced by the junta, I don't know about the supreme court decision on this, but it just incresed the punishmen of the worngdoers,so all right, let's think, if the death penalty was not in the criminal law to punish killers during the time they committed it, the court still be able to order death sentence to them if it is in the current law, right?

about your argument that junta introduce the "relative, spouse" clouse in the law, you are completely wrong, the sentence was given by the Counter Corruption Committee laws based on 2540 constitution, you know, the land deal was attacked by the opposition well before the coup, if the spouse purchase was all right in those days, it had not become a schandal in the first place,
seng mak mak

Discussion 24 : 29/01/2009 at 01:40 PM24
Thailand is no longer amazing. Foreigners need to leave Thailand and find new tourist destination. Let the Democrats run its due course.
Moo Noi

Discussion 23 : 29/01/2009 at 11:44 AM23
There was an ICAO meeting in montreal (The Montreal Protocol)of which Thailand was a signer. It laid out the responsibilities of countries to keep their airports secure and what the airports had to do in the case of a takeover.

The countries must ensure that their airports are secure for the traveling public, and in the case of a takeover or major problem the airport is to be closed.

On the first the Police and military failed to provide security when asked by the AOT and the government under their Security order. This was a clear case of malfeasance if they refused because of incompetence and a clear case of Military intervention in politics if the refused. Either way the military and the police are to blame. Wait until some terror group takes over the airport. My feeling is they won't care about a 10,000 Bt fine.

On the second point the AOT manager reacted correctly under international convention closing the airport for the safety of the traveling public. Although he's taken the heat for his action.

This new law is smoke and mirrors nothing more to deflect the flack for a while..
Moo Noi

Discussion 22 : 29/01/2009 at 11:30 AM22
voice of reason - The military junta passed the law that found the TRT guilty retroactively.

Under the laws that Thaksin's wife was charged, she was found not guilty. Thaksin on the other hand was found guilty of conflict of interest not guilty of anything involved in the land case. It was guilt by association, even if at arms length. In the new constitution, brought down long after the land case deal was done and Thaksin was overthrown, the military junta wrote into the new constitution -if you were PM and knew your direct relatives were dealing with the government it's a conflict of interest. Before the new Constitution there was no such proviso and using pre new constitution laws Thaksin would have been found not guilty. So yes he was found guilty retroactively.

I followed this case quite closely because I had a friend who was one of the original bidders. He has said adamantly that Thaksin was not involved in any way and that Thaksin was setup. He said the bidding process was sealed and fair. It may be a bit clearer to know that my friend is a very staunch anti Thakinite and would have loved to see him found guilty of something.

The Thai media really dropped the ball on both these cases. Understandably the TRT case was conducted under Martial Law, with a constitutional tribunal appointed by the Junta and the media was suppressed and censored, or at least told clearly to self censor. The land case was just the media going with what it wanted to see happen rather than any kind of journalism.

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Airport guards to get power to counter mobs