drdoom6996

Corruption at its finest. Educate in western countries. Rich Thai's and politicians send their money to western countries. Thailand supposedly is doing all it can to convince western tourists to vacation here. Westerners should invest here. But Thai leaders don't want them to look at how Thais are Paid To Vote. Politicians don't trust them. If I had already started paying for votes I wouldn't want anybody here to monitor the vote. All those 100 baht notes that have been paid out already would then be more money down the drain. TIT

The past 4 elections have been monitored by Asia Network for Free Election (ANFREL) in conjunction with the Poll Watch Foundation and the People's Network for Elections in Thailand (P-NET).

The Election Commission of Thailand has fully supported this monitoring.

What Thailand has not allowed is western NGO's to monitor the elections.

TH

And what a great job they have done in the past.

One person one vote. If you don't vote don't complain about the outcome of the elections. If you don't believe that your vote counts, then you haven't been paying attention to any elections anywhere. How do you think Taksin won? He got people to vote. Albeit with vote buying, but they voted. What a bunch of mindless children.

Police fail to parley with PAD on regaining protest site for Red Cross Fair

BANGKOK, March 14 -- After more than four hours, the police failed to hold talks with Thailand's yellow-clad movement, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to regain protester-occupied area in Phitsanulok Road near the Government House for Red Cross fair.

Eight companies of police from Metropolitan Bureau and an anti-riot unit with batons and shields early Monday morning reinforced protest site ranks as a PAD leader, retired Gen Pathompong Kaysornsuk, led protesters to form human blockade to prevent police from regaining the area.

Assistant to the national police chief Pol Lt Gen Worapong Chewpreecha and Metropolitan Police Chief Pol Lt Gen Chakthip Chaichinda supervising the situation and site said the authorities did not want to force the protest to disperse but wanted only to clear two traffic lanes on Phitsanulok Road to facilitate public access. The area is be used for the Red Cross Fair scheduled to be held March 30-April 7.

However, four hours passed with police failing to achieve official talks with the PAD leadership about the matter.

The PAD have been rallying in the area and at Makkhawan Bridge on Rajdamnorn Nok Avenue since Jan 25 demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government, charging it with neglecting its duty, and causing the country to lose territory around the disputed Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia.

The movement is planning to collect 20,000 signatures on a petition to impeach Mr Abhisit, as required by the Constitution, and present it to the Constitution Court. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-03-14

20,000 signatures would not even get a no contest vote.

One of the most ridicules topics on this site and in the newspaper. All this article does is make people worry about something that they have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Mr Arisman, fugitive core leader of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) charged for terrorism, recently made an appearance on YouTube to declare that he would not turn himself in unless the Prime Minister had dissolved the House and scheduled a date for the general election.

So k. Arisman will not come to the March 26th sing-along as k. Jatuporn told us o-so-many-days ago

It does seem that everytime Jatuporn or Arisman opens his mouth, they make their cause sound ridiculous.

Such a pity that we can't just press "Ignore" and get on with the serious politics. TiT

You have an ignore button like everybody else. It is between your ears and says "Good Judgment" on it instead on Ignore. What none of the Thai political parties have. A little Good Judgment could and would go a long way here in Thailand.

So how do i understand this? people don't come to Thailand because the visa is too expensive? is this for real? Wow, Now, Thailand has no visa fees,everybody is going to come here and spend lots and lots of money,they saved on the visa fees............PUKE...

This is part of the the attract a better class of tourists plan.

Honesty???????????????????????????????? How many Thais no what it means? Much less democracy. Lying is a way of life in most areas of Asia that I have lived and worked in. I had to unlearn my daughter after my ex-wife taught her to tell me what I wanted to hear instead of the truth

WHAT A RIDICULES ARTICLE.

This sort of stupidity in this statement from supposed responsible ministries, is pathetic - even if originated by The Nation. Teen pregnancies causing deformities? Hardly. The young mothers are more capable than most elder mothers. Disabilities in 90% of cases comes down to lack of nutrition and particularly mineral deficiencies. If the pregnancies can be isolated to poor communities then there 'could' be an argument. But hardly. The additional deformities stem from parents with such things as drug dependency, heavy smokers, alcohol consumed during pregnancy and so on. The young bodies are far more capable of strong pregnancies if education as to deformities and disablement were taught. Making stupid statements such as headlined here indicates arrogance far outweighs ignorance.

I completely agree with this statement. I would like to add that education about the above said problems could help if done properly. But saying that education does not seem to be a priority here either.

Just paying lip service to the problem, nothing will change as people will just once again turn a blind eye, it was only a few weeks ago that they were instructed to fit seat belts, then that died down and we won't hear about it again until the next fatal crash involving one of these vehicles (so probably this week).

Agree - wow - 200 to be 'trained'. Well that takes care of Nakhon Nayok

Agree--200 as said will take care of about 1% of the drivers. TIT

Accountability is the main problem here. The military controls the government, not the other way round, and the military is just as corrupt, inept and useless as any other branch of Thai society with few exceptions.

Yes I agree with the fact that accountability is the problem. But because nobody is accountable to anyone for anything except for the "TEA MONEY". Everyone wants their piece of the pie, but they don't want to do anything for it. GRAFT, in my opinion, is the biggest problem in Thailand. And by eliminating GRAFT the other problems will become smaller if not gone.

A good start might be taking a bulldozer through places like Pattaya. Round up all the bargirls on the streets. Quality tourists don't flock to Thailand for ladyboys and the sex industry.

Pattaya does not make BIG headlines like the Reds and Yellows do. Most "Quality" tourists don't want to come to a War Zone. So Thailand gets the rest.

Just be thankful that Khun Taksin had the foresight to push for the airport to be finished, Don Meung, as cute as it was, would never been able to handle the traffic.

Airports worldwide are expensive for food and drinks. If you travel you should know this.

Personally i don't have a problem with Suvarnabhumi, if you travel a lot you get used to waiting at immigration, recently at Schiphol i waited more than 45 minutes to clear passport control. Paris Orly is a nightmare.

The free internet is ok, they only give 15 minutes, but you can have as many as you want.

I could give you a list as long as my arm of the worst airports i have personally been to, google worst airports in the world, and be thankful for Suvarnabhumi

I am assuming a lot of the posters on here have not traveled much.

Personally I am not thankful for anything that person pushed for. The reality is that what he pushed for was more money in his and his cronies pockets.

Totally agree with the comments. I used to use the old Don Muang airport, and really looked forward to the opening of the new one in October , 2006.

I came through there about a week after the new airport opened, and was amazed that they even considered opening it when they did.

Since then, I have come through there about 25 times . The lighting has improved in the check in areas. Initially, the girls in the THAI check in were almost working in the dark.

However , agree with you that the air condtioning is far too hot. Too far to walk from the planes to immigration. Once you go out to the gate for boarding , there is nothing out there, should you desire to get something from a shop.

Why on earth, the designers and people responsible didn't look at SIngapore, Hong Kong and Incheon, for ideas is beyond me. Incheon is the best airport I used to go through.

Basically, this place is a shopping center where people park their planes to go shopping.

An extremely over priced shopping center without the conveniences that most shopping centers have. I'm sure the BIB that have Airport duty are very happy though. Close an escalator and then wait and open it again. I fly the world over and this is no showplace.

... of course they fear a repeat of the unrest of last year ... though, I suggest the threat of violence now has little to do with the Red leaders of last year's street violence being released.

... a sizeable percentage of the Thai population is "mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore" ... their drive to change an autocratic system horribly infected by bone-deep corruption, incompetence, greed and nepotism seems to have reached the critical mass for self-determination, and they are likely continue their dissent whether the former Red leaders are released, or not.

... the scent of change is in the air ... it is blowing across a number of nations, the most obvious being the Arabic-speaking nations ... Thais are now connected to the rest of the world and not oblivious to what is happening in the Middle East (to an earlier Thai generation, that might not have been the case).

... that must motivate them ... change is coming ... to a nation such as Thailand, for whom resisting change is a cultural trait, change must be frightening, especially to the ruling elitists ... but, it is coming.

... in an inflexible system incapable of accomodating change (REAL change), the threat to civil order is not a surprise ... a better system, fairer and responsible to all the people of Thailand, rather than the entitled elitists, would not be so brittle.

... regrets to the retailers (particularly the filthy rich dynastic families controlling huge swaths across Thailand's retail sector - e.g. Central World, Gaysorn Plaza), but the threat of violence on Thailand's path toward a more reponsible system is very real ... many Thais could be hurt during Thailand's transition from feudalism, but all Thais will be benefitted.

... what a fascinating place to be, close and on the frontg row, witnessing a nation struggle with monumental social, economic and political change ... hopefully, violence can be averted, but look at the history here.

Just in time. Let them out in February. They try and organize in March. And then they cause as many problems as they can in April and May, just like last year. I'm starting to wonder if the leaders of the colored shirt movements are not really from AREA 51. ET go home.

'crimes against humanity'!

the man did everything possible to stop the loss of life and keep everything peaceful. its the red shirt leaders that are responsible for the blood.

Yeah right, they shot they're self just to get thier 15 minutes of fame. :cheesy: :jerk:

And then said no to early elections that would have already happened. Reds and Yellows have made their bed and now they have to sleep in it.

My daughter and I have discussed sex and the STD's. I gave her the condoms she currently has. No I don't want my 16 year old to get pregnant or sick. Do I think she will experiment, of course I do. If we parents do our job schools don't need condom vending machines. The biggest problem as I see it is that parents don't do their job and expect some else, schools etc., to do it for them. Hence the need for kids to make decisions without education. Not having these vending machines in schools is a bit archaic however, as I see it.

I personally had no problems with jetski operators in hua hin recently, would go back nay time again. in fact got a 300 bht reduction and an extra 10 mins on the ski at the end of the day at sundown , brilliant guys operating the skis here, Pattaya maybe has a lot to learn. If you want customers to come back, be fair to them!!!

In the parts of Thailand I have been exposed to in my 24 years I have not seen many situations that " If you want customers to come back, be fair to them". Very much more often that not it is get as much as you can as quick as you can and forget about return customers in the future. Snatch and Grab.

So what will this mean to the rural communities? Will adequate internet connections be made available throughout Thailand, or will this merely give urban dwellers better service than they already have?

I have the same problem with the same question and I think we all know the answer. I hope I am wrong, but...........................................

I only hope Pattaya ladyboys do not hear of the news! Or i am afraid passengers will be harassed in the air just as much as on the ground.

i also hope the airline is prepared to lose some customers, there is a large number of people who do not accept so called third sex.

The usual homophobic nonsense, I'm afraid.

I resemble the homophobic nonsense.

Who and what is P.C. Air?

Who cares, I'm not flying it.

LOL, Yup, one of those missing internet chat girls is my bride, I'm not giving her back either. going to keep her :-) Remember ICQ

Brilliant statement. I hope it was sarcastic. My daughter was one of those statistics last year. This subject, no matter what you think of Thailand, is not a joking or laughing matter. This happens everywhere in the world. Young people and people that don't know the internet should be taught the dangers. This does not fall under the Som Nom Nah. These people are victims. I agree the numbers are low and people in power are not always the right people to contact for help. But this is true the world over.

I see this as the most relevant comment, "a case of privileged people thinking that they are above the law."

and this attitude works down the chain, even in my poor village there are those who think they are entitled to more privileges than others.

This is a "pecking order" society.

Anyone who knows "the right people" in this country are Above The Law. The BIB act like they don't see almost any road offenses unless they are at a roadblock to catch persons without a helmet. In countries that the 16 year old children are allowed to drive the girl in question would be facing manslaughter charges at the very least and would be tried as an adult. It will be interesting to see what happens in the end, if anything at all.

Justice may be slow but it may get there - nice guy - out on bail then clubs his missus to death! How did he get bail in the first place - he is obviously very disturbed and dangerous. As for the deliberate absence of the head of the police - yes he should be removed immediately. There is a fair chance he may interfere with evidence and prejudice the case or even be involved - who knows?

He belongs to the BIB frat. and may never be treated with the punishment for the crimes here the way he would in other places.

The vice minister said that 2,501 checkpoints have been set up across the country, with 65,494 personnel being deployed. Over half a million vehicles -- 526,610 -- have so far have passed through the inspection process at the checkpoints.

Legal action has been taken against 60,497 people for violating traffic rules -- 19,260 for riding motorcycle without helmets and 18,916 for driving without licences, stated Mr Sorayut.

WOW, Those are overwhelming numbers

11.5% of drivers passing thru the check point got a blister. (assuming no driver got more than one).

For nearly every rider that was booked not wearing a helmet there was a rider or driver without a licence . If those statistics ring through at that same ratio, everytime you see a rider without a helmet, very close by is a driver without a licence.

Amazing Thailand.

On a side note, I wonder how many of those rider/drivers that were booked for not having a licence were allowed to ride/drive away after being booked?

hi

can someone explain to a thick scotsman. why is there so much accidents and fatalities ?? i am baffled..

brian

One must also understand statistics. You can make the numbers look like anything you want. Especially if you need to make them look good or bad for you or someone else. I don't believe any numbers from national sources. I live, obey the law, check in every 3 months and stay out of the way.