markt7081

Its their law & the "perps" knew the risk, so no complaint from me on the anticipated outcome.

However, the Indonesians certainly havnt been smart with handling it.

The Australian Federal Police did all the work & handed the Indonesians the "bust" on a plate. Now given the outcry in Australia over the sentence & the way the Indonesians have handled things, does anyone think that the AFP would do the same thing again? So actually shooting them will be counter productive to any future co-operation.

The $130K corruption allegation.

The excessive force , riot squad, military jets etc etc, used during the transfer to the island (didnt happen for other nationalities).

The 72 hour announcement made by the Indonesians on ANZAC day, despite being asked not to make the announcement on Australias special day.

Its almost as though the Indonesians are trying to jab Australia, maybe a backlash for the Australian spying on Indonesia.

China has slowed down, the demand for Australian raw materials to china has hit the deck, resource companies in Oz are laying people off & those people wont be contributing to the Aussie economy, less income in Oz means hanging on to your old car, instead of buying new Thai made cars .

Thats one possible reason they cited China.

World economics,

(As much as America likes to think its the world powerhouse, its not the force it once was).

Maybe Oz can charge them a billion% duty on the stuff. Same as they do with our wines.

To be honest, I find the level of corruption in Thailand a little easier to live with than the level of corruption in Australia! At least here everybody knows it goes on and makes adjustments to allow for it. In Australia we have a rotten to the core Prime Minister who has been implicated in nefarious dealings throughout her adult life surrounded by a team of ex union leaders who are in it for everything they can get out of it.

The difference is that the people involved in daily corruption here are poorly paid police officers and the ones running the corruption in Australia are (very) overpaid politicians. Julia Gillard is better paid than Barack Obama for gods sake and still she taints everything she touches.

Give me the "honest" corruption here over the type found in Australia and a lot of other supposedly clean countries.

At least in Australia the politicians and various government agencies are not ordering the killings of their political opponents, environmental activists, supporting extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals, not prosecuted for speaking out against the establishment etc. I guess their would be exceptions, but rare. All in all when comparing the impact of corruption on a society I prefer the western democracies and their usually transparent judicial processes.

Agree with the OP regards day to day living in Thailand. Fortunately yet to be stopped by police for extracting tea money

To be honest, I find the level of corruption in Thailand a little easier to live with than the level of corruption in Australia! At least here everybody knows it goes on and makes adjustments to allow for it. In Australia we have a rotten to the core Prime Minister who has been implicated in nefarious dealings throughout her adult life surrounded by a team of ex union leaders who are in it for everything they can get out of it.

The difference is that the people involved in daily corruption here are poorly paid police officers and the ones running the corruption in Australia are (very) overpaid politicians. Julia Gillard is better paid than Barack Obama for gods sake and still she taints everything she touches.

Give me the "honest" corruption here over the type found in Australia and a lot of other supposedly clean countries.

At least in Australia the politicians and various government agencies are not ordering the killings of their political opponents, environmental activists, supporting extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals, not prosecuted for speaking out against the establishment etc. I guess their would be exceptions, but rare. All in all when comparing the impact of corruption on a society I prefer the western democracies and their usually transparent judicial processes.

Agree with the OP regards day to day living in Thailand. Fortunately yet to be stopped by police for extracting tea money

How come Pauline Hanson was persecuted & eventually jailed (later to be aquitted) then? Not that I particularly agreed with her policies, but man did the Australian "establishment" do a job on her.

Sad & Sick story,

Happens all over the world

A BIG BIG congratulations to the people who reported it.

I seem to read about more Qantas and Jetstar problems than Thai Airways. Because of this, I've preferred flying with Thai in recent years. Am I missing something? Perhaps someone could point me to some statistics.

Yep,

You may wish to consider if operators in societys/countrys, where loss of face is important, would report near misses, mechanical problems etc, etc.

Political expediency meets real free market conditions.

Its going to force the woeful Thai management to rationalise & make people work.

Example, go to the supermarket, someone gives you a ticket on the way in & takes it back whe you go (why?), another one stands there whistling & gets in the way when your trying to park. We can all think of many laughable (by western standards) of Thai over manning.

The other thing, of course, its all part of industrial evolution, people work for nothing, get pay increases, industry goes to a cheaper country.

Happened to the UK in the 70s & 80, Happening in Japan, there are many examples.

Luckily for most workers in those countries, they were reasonably educated & were able to go on to something else. (Hmmm).

The 'lower' classes are highly uneducated, and many have alcohol problems. In other words, dangrously unpredictable, and easily led.

?????

Automobile production requires trained and "educated" personnel. Although assembly lines are automated, the workers have to be able to read the monitors and operate complex machinery. There is a reason why they are termed skilled labour. I always have a chuckle when people ridicule skilled tradespeople. It may come as a shock, but some of these trades require people with excellent eye and hand co-ordination, advanced spatial processing skills and inherent math skills. In plain english, a good tradesman is just as intelligent as a manager, or nurse. Our lab would have been lost without the workie that would help design a specialty piece of machinery or operate some of the equipment, For all you know, it could have been the engineers that lost control. Anyone that has been in university, knows that the engineering students were abunch of social misfits with a weakness for the bottle. Or, it might have been the mid level managers. Theya re known to lose control when freebies are on offer.

Automobile production requires trained and "educated" personnel ????? <deleted>?

Ive been in the auto industry all my life.

Working on the assembly line is the pitts.

You certainly dont need any form of education to fit the same 20 bolts to 250 cars a shift.

Waste of money

Buy a penis extension, but leave it in the car

They have blundered into these free trade agreements with absolutely no intention of honouring them. The carrot would have been pure greed, without a thought for the stick as per usual.

can you imagine all the European models being allowed to enter the country at competitive prices..

Never going to happen. It would hurt the domestic market unless there was a drastic restructuring of pricing for locally assembled vehicles.

A 3-series BMW built in Germany and imported would be roughly 1/3 cheaper than a locally assembled one for example.

Such a change is badly needed as unlikely as it is to happen though. The second hand car market is saturated with over-priced, decrepit cars that are overvalued often by over 1000% for luxury models. They don't seem to have a concept of value or depreciation on used vehicles.

The automotive issue is an interesting one because there has to be a change at some point down the line. The present status quo of 1 million+ new vehicles per year on crumbling and unsustainable infrastructure countrywide further complicates matters.

Im no expert on Free Trade Agreements, but Australia has one with Thailand.

Thats cars from Thailand to Oz with impunity,

A bottle of Australian wine, here 4 times that in Australia (same stuff)

Bring your own Motorcycle from Australia, yep thats 200% tax on the NEW price !

From my (very limited) experience, the Thais will manage to load the dice and be quids in.

No doubt, someone will correct me.

So, increase the minimum wage, then give companies handouts , so they can pay it.

And the handouts will have to come from the taxpayers, no matter how you look at it.

Give with one hand & take away with the other!

I'm surprised that this comes as a . . . surprise. Does anyone really believe that Somchai on 2k/month can afford a new Hilux? Could ever afford a new Hilux?

Ah, banks and guarantees/sureties are a marvel

I recently joined a sports club here in Pattaya and noticed new staff from California club whom did not any compensation on sudden closure nor did any of the patriots whom have life long membership..to note a young newly hired X California staff that works in gym showed off his new purchased/financed motor bike, a normal loan for scooter would be affordable to most staff..have seen new models and proud staff owners...this fellow bought a NEW Kawasaki 1000cc...I was amazed this young fellow (28) just bought it...later I asked him while in gym what he paid...his reply.." It is what I wanted" finding out later he paid some 600K baht $20K...does not drive it in rain..as he waits till it stops...What amazes me is HOW did he get finance?...parent guarantee the loan? How long will he be paying and how much of his income goes towards this TOY? I know reality will surface showing narcissus way of showing how he plundered into buying beyond his means and the loan shark/bank will repossess his dream bike, similar to Impulse buying...we as frangs have all gone through this impulse in our early year..now old we seem to have the impulse in the local girlie bars..that is ok...it is a rental not ownership of up keep!

Take care and keep your impulses to the bars not to material items beyond our means..Ron

Maybe treat both desired items the same, Take them for a test ride & then return em.

Just to set the record straight, I am currently working in the new Ford plant (as opposed to Automotive Alliance Thailand, which is Ford Mazda JV).

I dont work for Ford, so I have no axe to grind.

Currently Ford source quite a lot of parts from local suppliers, already.

They do import engines & transmissions, however directly behind the new factory, they have aquired more land, which is reserved for a future engine factory. The guys here tell me that they want as much local parts supply, as practicable. (that unofficial).

In fact, just this week, they have started exporting some parts!

Now, given the factory has only been in operation around 6 months, I reckon thats a good effort.

I would be more worried about loosing jobs overseas (they just closed Southampton & Genk), I reckon the Aussie factory is on rocky ground as well.

http://www.smh.com.a...1023-282xp.html

This one did not kill but look at what he got...

The newly elected deputy mayor of Auburn, high-flying property developer Salim Mehajer, has been sentenced to 150 hours community service and been disqualified from driving after crashing his Ferrari and injuring two pedestrians.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a...l#ixzz2A5xrzQeq

Yeah, also the insurance will payout for the injuries & the guy in Oz wasnt drunk or speeding.

If the alleged Thai offence had happened in Oz, I reckon that manslaughter charges would have been the minimum, with jail time if guilty, given the speed & potential consumption of mind altering substances.

Bit of a red herring maybe,

but in line with the extra charging for Farangs, maybe there should be extra sentances for those who commit crimes against Farangs?

I worked in the automotive industry for many years and Toyota here is IMHO a guiding light for a developing auto making nation. When I first came here the local SME components people proudly stated they achieved defect ratios as low as 1%, fair too high for the global single digit parts per million standards required. Toyota has aided those components in getting up to speed and even invested in some to bridge the technology gaps. They worked very hard supporting the Thai Auto Institute and the industry with training programs and supplied training to those who needed it. Have been very active on environmental impact issues and a responsible corporate citizen in cultural, community support and educational issues.

Obviously Toyota is a "for profit" company, but without their assistance here I fail to see how the enormous industry growth here could have been achieved.

The IMV project which spawned the Hilux and variations across the globe, shifted the production of small pickups from Japan to Thailand, supply base and all.

When the President of TMT speaks, it is a smart idea to listen very carefully and act promptly.

I too have worked in the auto industry for (too) many years.

The points you make are valid, however I dont subscribe to the view that Toyota are some sort of demi gods, due to their excellent PR B/S.

I open the other eye & remember the lies told to the American public.

Even here in Thailand, they bought pallets of blank police fine books of a BIB, so they could be excused their normal weekly transport fines, coz the cops thought they already had been given it. This got an article in the paper & a small slot on TV, before it mysteriously dissapeared from the press, about 3 years ago.

They are very responsible until they get caught out, then they just say sorry & its all OK again !

Hey,

You cant build any flood protection when its raining & flooding,

And when its not raining or flooding, you dont need the flood protection, so why bother building it ?

At first the exam officer didn’t know that it was a different person because their faces were similar

Of course, All Farangs look the same

Coverage on the Telly in Perth this morning.

Ms Smiths family wanted the death sentence.

The Aussie consular official who was at the trial, explained that the bib rarely catch anyone for crimes & also informed the reporter about the Jet Ski & TukTuk scam

I am in Perth, Oz at the moment (the ladies home town).

& yes it gets 10 seconds on the telly this morning, saying a verdict is due today.

No doubt it will get a bit more time tomorrow, after the verdict.

Forgotten the day after.

Tourism will carry on as usual.

The poor lady worked in tourism.

You can bet her Aussie tour mates are still selling Thailand to others

& the Aussie govt wont put Thailand the do not visit list either.

Sad fact of life the $/Baht rules.

And we will still be discussing this sort of thing in 5 years time, as we were 5 years ago.

If I were the parents, I would try my best to get the Canadian police to come to Thailand to investigate.