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Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 09:09:22 +0800 (SGT)
From: Monthian Buntan <[log in to unmask]>
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Subject: Please circulate this message as widely as possible.

Dear friends,

Today we, blind people in Thailand, are asking our friends, brothers and
sisters to please be with us.  Late this afternoon, (local time) Mr.
Prayat Phu-nong-ong, President of Thailand Association of the Blind, the
largest civil rights organization of blind people in Thailand, and many of
our brothers and sisters will begin fasting in front of the Thai
government house until the government officially announces its cancelation
of online lottery system plan.  Most blind people in Thailand still have
to depend on selling lottery tickets as their main source of income.  But
this plan, which has been a contract between the Thai government and a
private company, will certainly rob most if not all of what blind people
have been working hard for several years of honest and straight forward
self-employment.  Up till now, all government policies regarding
education, employment, access to public services and social participation
for Thai people with disabilities, are at the most with ramps and toilets,
almost nothing beyond that level.

We would like all of our friends, brothers and sisters to please be with
us until the Thai government wakes up from its sinful ignorance.

May Peace be with All of Us,

Monthian Buntan
First Vice President, Thailand Association of the Blind