Thai rioters to get government money in Taiwan prosecution

Well well. Looks like the current Thai administration is opening the public pocketbook very wide indeed in a misplaced show of compassion for the thugs who rioted in Taiwan. This kind of money doesn't grow on trees and I wonder how many of the space cadets in the Bangkok press understand that these are funds taken from elsewhere, like pre-natal care or computer literacy training.

Ministry to aid workers with Taiwan legal battle

Financial assistance, lawyers to be offered to Thais fighting damages claim

The Labour Ministry will provide full legal assistance to 14 Thai workers being sued by a Taiwanese labour management company for their alleged involvement in a riot in Taiwan last August.

Although the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation, which hired the workers, opted against suing them, Hua Pan Corp, a sub-contractor, has filed suit for damage to the company's properties during the August riot, said Employment Department director-general Juthawat Intha-rasuksri.

Four Thai workers face a criminal lawsuit in relation to the riot, he said, and the ministry was providing them with lawyers to fight the case in Taiwan.

Kaohsiung terminated its labour-management contract with Hua Pan after discovering the Thai workers had become violent because of unacceptable living and working conditions, Juthawat said.

In response, Hua Pan decided to sue the Thai workers for damage to the company's property, he said. [ed. as well they should. it was typical Thai behaviour on full display-- outburst of mob violence with no sense of proportionality or restraint. then pleading victimization to justify their barbarity. a muddle-headed thai press and a reactionary government stand by happy to oblige. well, time for a wake up call from the adult world]

Juthawat said legal action might yet be negated, with Thai and Taiwanese labour authorities entering negotiations with Hua Pan this week.

The ministry has set aside an initial budget of Bt10 million to help defend the workers said Kumchorn Nakcheun, the head of the Labour Ministry's office of international labour coordination.

Furious about what they considered "inhuman" living and working conditions, some 300 Thai workers in Kaohsiung set fire to the company's management centre, a work dormitory, cars and other facilities on August 21 last year.

[ed. inhuman? gee, worse than the detention center Thailand put foreign tourists in last December for overstaying their visas by one day, after being told by central immigration officials that a short overstay would be no problem? photos of the living areas of these Taiwan workers abound on the net-- in many cases they are better than what Thais live in at home, and certainly better than the living spaces of Burmese factory workers in Thailand.]

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kitti Wasinondh yesterday said the ministry had ordered officers at the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei to closely monitor the accused Thai workers and keep reports flowing back to the ministry.

The foreign ministry has helped the labour ministry organise lawyers for the workers still in Taiwan.

The Public Health Ministry will also send medical officials to Taiwan to offer them psychological counselling. [ed. enough already, ridiculous. spend the money back in Thailand on children's education or improved vocational training]

Damrongphan Chaihao

The Nation