The News Review:

- Six-party coalition government unveiled in Thailand
- Animal rights and wrongs
- Nominee cases may go to the police
- A beauty rediscovered

Six-party coalition government unveiled in Thailand
chinadaily.com.cn – Jan 19, 2008
The six-party coalition will garner over 300 seats in the 480- seat House of Representatives which is expected to convene its first session on Monday January 21. The formation of the coalition will leave the Democrat Party which won 165 MP seats as the sole opposition party in the House. PPP’s leader Samak Sundaravej along with representatives from the other five parties — Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party Puea Pandin (For the motherland) Party Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana (Thais United National Development) Party Matchima Thipataya ( Neutral Democratic) Party and Pracharaj (Royal People) Party made the announcement at the press conference at a Bangkok Hotel on Saturday afternoon. Samak said that the six-party coalition with a total of 315 MP seats in the 480-member House of Representatives will be able to form a new government… The six-party coalition will garner over 300 seats in the 480- seat House of Representatives which is expected to convene its first session on Monday January 21. The formation of the coalition will leave the Democrat Party which won 165 MP seats as the sole opposition party in the House. PPP’s leader Samak Sundaravej along with representatives from the other five parties — Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party Puea Pandin (For the motherland) Party Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana (Thais United National Development) Party Matchima Thipataya ( Neutral Democratic) Party and Pracharaj (Royal People) Party made the announcement at the press conference at a Bangkok Hotel on Saturday afternoon. Samak said that the six-party coalition with a total of 315 MP seats in the 480-member House of Representatives will be able to form a new government. When asked if he would become Thailand’s new prime minister as he vowed to be during election campaign Samak said that the press conference was only for announcing the coalition not for discussing the candidate of the new prime minister. The announcement came one day after the Supreme Court cleared one big hurdle for the formation of a coalition government by dismissing legal attempts to nullify the voting results of the general election and the legitimacy of the PPP’s election victory. The Court on Friday ruled against the petition by New Aspiration Party spokesman Sarawut Thongpen that sought to nullify the outcome of the advance and absentee voting on December 15 and 16 citing that the advance voting was valid and that the Election Commission (EC) was properly authorized to organize the two-day voting.

Animal rights and wrongs
The Age – Jan 19, 2008
“The idea (ofthe restructure) was to replace conservation staff with keeperswith a keener sense of the business side of things” he says. In recent years the catalyst for these debates has beenelephants. Just over 12 months ago three Thai elephants werebrought to Melbourne to join long-time residents Bong Su and MekKapah. The importation of the elephants – another five went toTaronga Zoo – sparked a domestic and international controversyincluding a protracted legal challenge from animal welfare groupsprotests in Thailand and the spending of as much as $50 millionincluding on the creation of special enclosures at Taronga andMelbourne. Under international guidelines wild animals can only beimported for conservation reasons. The zoos managed to convince theHoward government that conservation was indeed their primarymotive. Yet the zoos have struggled to explain to a wider audiencehow exactly this conservation works… Hancocks helped design the enclosure which he now says was amistake. While he believes it to be better than any such exhibit inAustralia he says his study of elephants since has convinced himthat no urban enclosure is adequate for them. He likens theenclosure to “being locked in a hotel room with four other peoplenot of your choosing for the rest of your life”. Even so the elephants tigers orang-utans and butterflies arethe stars of the show at Parkville and on the face of it seem toget special attention and money. The lesser lights such askangaroos many of the birds the pumas leopards and bearslanguish in inferior enclosures some of which have not beenupgraded for decades. Having a big pink bulbous bottom is a real disadvantage. Ifyou’re a baboon at the Melbourne Zoo you get a concrete and wirecage not much better than the barred cage used as a reminder ofthe bad old days.

Nominee cases may go to the police
Nation Multimedia – Jan 19, 2008
"If the listed [businesses] are deleted from Annex III foreign-investor sentiment about investing here should pick up as business conditions will become more flexible" director-general Kanissorn Navanugraha said yesterday. The businesses under review are brokerages firms trading domestically in agricultural goods advertising agencies hotel operators food- and beverage-retailers seed-developers computer service firms warehouse-control service-providers group consultants pawnshops schools and entertainment venues. A study of the protected list will be finished in August as part of the department's regular revision of the FBA and in response to the wishes of foreign investors to explore new fields. If the department finds that local firms can compete with foreign players those businesses may be withdrawn from the protected list and opened up for foreign investors. Those businesses came under consideration due to a change of timing since the amendment of 1999. The department believes that if the government allows foreign investors to operate those businesses it should increase the capability for domestic competition… Those businesses came under consideration due to a change of timing since the amendment of 1999. The department believes that if the government allows foreign investors to operate those businesses it should increase the capability for domestic competition. Thai enterprises may also receive more high technology from foreign investors. The final decision to be taken on freeing up the 12 businesses will be made by the Foreign Business Act Committee. Foreign parties are currently banned from holding more than 50 per cent of those businesses as the law states Thais are not yet ready for competition. The department is considering transferring to police the cases of 12 companies over nominees of foreign owners. The investigation has been going on for a year but progress has been very slow due to lack of cooperation from the companies in handing over documents Kanissorn said.

A beauty rediscovered
NEWS.com.au – Jan 19, 2008
From there we bundled into a minibus for the two-minute ride to the wharf where a banca a local mono-hulled wooden boat with bamboo outriggers waited to take us across the 500m stretch of water to Boracay. Backpackers discovered the place a decade ago and then slowly the resorts began to appear mainly modest two- and three-star properties. A few months ago Discovery Bay resort opened its doors with a minimum 15000 peso (about $400) per night room rate and there is talk of the five-star Shangri-La chain beginning construction of a hotel shortly. The world is discovering Boracay but for the moment it retains the unique character of an island where only a sand track separates the resorts bars and restaurants from the beach from which sand laneways lead back to the narrow bitumen road which runs the length of the island. It is along this road that the tricycles motorbikes attached to small passenger cabins and the main form of transport on the island buzz endlessly. A standing joke asks: How many Filipinos can you fit in a tricycle? The answer? "ne more. " Diving swimming sleeping and eating are the principal pursuits tourists stretched out on mats receiving $6 massages washing back a $5 lunch with a $2 San Miguel beer… " I’d never heard of Boracay and l’d never heard of Robert Graham but we met and a few months later we were sitting together looking out across White Beach. The Philippines is a nation of islands 7107 of them and we planned to island hop — Boracay Cebu Peluan — before returning to spend 24 hours in Manila. nce a favoured destination for Australians it has been overshadowed in recent years by destinations such as Thailand and Vietnam but offers a very different experience from these countries. English is the principal language a legacy which can be traced back to the English who invaded the island in 1782 ensuring the Philippines is now the world’s third-largest English-speaking nation after the United States and Great Britain. The Spanish arrived liked what they saw and stayed for 333 years. They left in 1898 and were replaced by the Americans who were routed by the Japanese in 1941. General Douglas MacArthur famously returned to liberate the country and on July 4 1946 the Filipinos were finally given their independence.

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