khunsiam

Island feud???

Ha, as if bombing Festival could make it go away, and let more locals profit more...

They will just about anything that pops into their heads. Ill formed in concept or not.

fear is a man's best friend. go away?....no no, just pay

A slave brought back from Indonesia told the press he was employed by Mahachai Marine Foods and ended up on slave island, not that difficult to find out who's behind it.

Just wondering, how good is this for tourism? Some may flee immediately, some may stick around, but how about their stories when they go home? Would anyone make the place their destination for beach activities after being clued in as to what goes on? Lots of beaches in lots of countries thus I don't think this will be luring tourists to Thailand. But, I'll bet it's good for tourism to Viet Nam, Philippines, etc.!

I remember 2004. All the tourists came running over to Samui from Phuket with "great" stories to tell.

I also remember when Bangkok was burned down a few years ago. The next day 2 tourists were in the water at chaweng beach next to me. One mentioned that something had happened in bangkok, and then they ordered another beer :-)

And yes, the waitresses at the hotels will serve beer on the beach. They take the fresh beer to the waters edge, and bring back the one you just drank. They keep an eye out too, so you can order by waving your hand. Excellent service. Tips are appreciated!

I remember the guests of the Imperial Hotel fleeing the island after they were robbed at gunpoint at the hotel.

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So 1 chap gets murdered and the "authorities" worry about the negative impact on tourism, and then, launch a full airbourne assault with 700 army an police personell. Oh course the later action will re-assure everyone!

You do not know apparently how deep the mafia network stretches in Koh Samui. The whole place is run by local mobsters and nobody even farts without approval.

It is not the first time rival mafia members have killed one another on the island. It could be a huge sweep to root out the mob.

And neither do you.

Big public companies from Bangkok and some local ones run the business end of Samui, and they fart all they want.

But yes some local gangster types try to fight over the usual grey area businesses such as bars, taxis, jetskis, drugs and to an extend real estate.

the Thai owner of a large supermarket killed in a similar way sitting in a "local" bar in Chaweng beachroad 15 years ago....or the plain public killing of Tato, owner of several bars and massagerooms in Lamai in 2005..., small fish...the 2 farang in a quarrel about the payment of a rented motorbike, the farang restaurant owner 2 years ago..."local" gangster types all over the island and the mainland, gunmen hired by big business owners, operating in the open, policemen involved, money extortion from foreign and Thai businessmen, remember all those foreigners fleeing the island and those killed who didn't pay up, all the murders never reported...

There damned if they do and damned if they don't hey!!!!!

Its about time someone stood us to these Mafia groups and here we go ..... Prayut Stiley... Top Man... Hats off to you. Now go back to Koh Tao and sweep up the scum line along the beach. Start in Sairee.

Far better for 700 to go in than a 100 than the rest sit on their backsides. Puts all the islands on notice and please no scapegoats get the real scum cleaned out and let Thailand heal itself.

15 years ago coming to this country the level of intimidation ,violence,scams and corruption was nothing like it is today. Frankly many I talk to want to move on its got past a joke and I'm talking about

younger Thai's and foreigners not bar stool philosophers.

the owner of the reggae pub left many years ago, scared to go out, on many occasions police officers at the house.....not to mention the murders of the '90's never reported and the farangs that were shot down.

Wrong island.........................

same people

According to Wikipedia -- the primary foreign language spoken in The Netherlands is English --- with a fluency rate of 90%...

Another source Dutch is a spoken language in the Netherlands as well as an official language of the country. However, most of Dutch people speak at least one foreign language, mostly English that is taught at school during the basic education. Many Dutch people speak also German, which is in many aspects similar to Dutch language and some of them speak French. http://www.amsterdam.info/netherlands/population/

ha ha ha they may be an intelligent race but their German is with a lot of hair and 5 Dutchmen speak French. So torpedo your source.

I agree about the French but not about the German. In general we are still far smarter as the Belgians. Not that that is hard of course.

The Belgians did not even have a government for a long time. Could not agree always fighting among themselves.

ploink?

The Dutch are very smart people. Most speak some English and some speak it very well. It is possible the Belgian was able to communicate to the Dutch tourists in their own language better than the Thai guides can speak English. However, he broke the law and the law won.

Wrong place, wrong time. Remember where you are!

possible???...it's the belgians' native language, those living in the northern half of the country speak Dutch.

Nope, the plan was hatched in late 2010 and Sutherp was tasked with the job outside while the military plot inside. Not hard to see as the modus operandi was similar to the 2005 Sonthi lead demonstrations leading to the the coup. In 2009 the judiciary did their part for their version of the coup. This is no return to democracy but just the establishment clinging on to power by brute force.

probably, but I mean that I was informed in july 2013 that the decision was made to start the uprising within a few months and guerilla tactics used if necessary.

So where do all the fishing boats who are unloading their catch at Naton Piers get their fish from.

nothing ever changes in Samui

You know what it means if the elected Government don;t carry out the reforms , it means the yellows out and causing havoc again

where would we be without that magic crystal ball of yours eh ?

can you PM me the lotto numbers for next week

even the lotto is fake in the kingdom of make believe

I just posted that I "Like" ddjamie's post. He had some very thoughtful comments in support of Phrayut that I agree with. In the situation that was confronting Thailand last May, a coup might actually have been the only reasonable option.

I truly hope the good General succeeds in his efforts to revamp the Thai political scene, but I also hope that he understands that big things spawn from small beginnings.

The army let the situation occur, they supported the Yellow crims behind the scenes, they armed Sutheps thugs, they funded the illegal rioting, they undermined the police and they where derelict in their self appointed duty of protecting the Thai people from internal threats. He cannot succeed, he can only delay the inevitable, enjoy your 5 minutes of nationalistic, right wing semi-fascism, democracy always triumphs.

No it was Thaksin that started it all, the PTP would still be in power if he had not let them add his name to the amnesty list (after they send the opposition home to vote on it an other pearl of democratic example). It was this that channeled the opposition and led to the downfall of the PTP and the rule of the junta. When will the redshirts get their facts straight. Probably never as it im embarrassing to them to see how selfish their leader is and how he breaks it all down.

Even the redshirt leaders acknowledge that it was this action that led to the demise of the government.

no, the plan for the uprising was ready springtime 2013, I was informed by "yellow" friends about the conspiracy in july 2013, months before the amnesty bill voting.

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The students are gradually ramping up the dissent. The parade last week, now this.

The junta will be having sleepless nights over what's coming next and how to deal with it!

Im not sure if its a joke or that you really believe it. The army is firmly in power and the only ones scared are the red shirts. Not a peep from them they are either scared or they did not get paid. Probably both.

A few students scaring the army. Real funny... if is was a big protest or nation wide maybe but just this is nothing.

the army can't even control a few taxi drivers in Samui

You really think the army should be seeing taxis on Samui as their highest priority?

You remind me of a lady in our village who tells the neighbors everyday she's very disappointed that the general has not come to fix her sagging fence.

You have anything more constructive to offer on the big picture overriding problems?

you can get it if you really want

The students are gradually ramping up the dissent. The parade last week, now this.

The junta will be having sleepless nights over what's coming next and how to deal with it!

Im not sure if its a joke or that you really believe it. The army is firmly in power and the only ones scared are the red shirts. Not a peep from them they are either scared or they did not get paid. Probably both.

A few students scaring the army. Real funny... if is was a big protest or nation wide maybe but just this is nothing.

the army can't even control a few taxi drivers in Samui

The pictures included in this article, along with the original video, will be given to local police… let us hope that they will do something about this

Wouldn't surprise me if the local police are the owners.

or the tourist police, they are involved in businesses as well.

Phuket is run by gangsters for gangsters. The Junta can posture all they want they don't run Phuket.

same same in Samui, the junta can't even control a few taxidrivers

I wonder what will happen when the hot season arrives in March April , no umbrella for you.

According to the rules nothing will happen mate

The vendors sell or hire their gear from an off beach location and you the buyer or renter carry it down to any part of the beach you like.

Not like before where you had to pay extra to get a bit of beach you wanted.

This op shows that the plan is working

It would probably work better without your criticism

Regards

pay a deposit worth the price of the umbrella, since one can walk away with it...seen the beachfronts occupied by hotels in the realm?

What, laughter is now banned? I thought satire was meant to put a smile on people's faces and encourages happiness. Is the happiness meter over heating and about to explode that they feel the need to cut back?

humor is the worst enemy of extremists.

During the last coup after about 6 months in the Junta conjured up the boarder dispute with Cambodia over the Preah Vihear temple which was never in dispute that it belonged to Cambodia. They played this card in press daily until the international court ruled in Cambodia's favor. Things have been "wearing thin" lately with the Thai's over this coup so now they are playing the imperialist American, we know better,stay out of our business card. Only the Kool-Aid drinking Yellow followers will believe this diversion tactic as any critical thinking person has seen this strategy before.

As long as I remember it wasn't after the last coup, it was during Abhisit.

oh yes and the ultranationalist yellow faction of the democrats pushing for it, Abhisit reluctant first but had to give in and who was on the stages during the people's uprising, conspiring with the military, ask any hardcore yellow who made the plans for "Sutheps" uprising and you'll know..and it had nothing to do with the amnesty law...

i live in that area and can say it is an extremely rare occurrence - and there are two sides to every story so better know the whole story before passing judgement.

the only other act of violence - apart from when the army moved in to remove the red shirts! - i have seen in the area is when a drunken foreigner tried to do a runner from a street bar without paying. the bar owner followed on his motorbike and gave the guy a good kicking. it was severe but the foreigner contributed to his own downfall and it was one on one - given that one was very drunk!

I 've seen very ugly fights in that area and not one on one

255000 trips every month x 12 = tourist arrivals a year?

thanks to Blair and Bush

Just wonder if this is the same village headman in Koh Phangan that was mentioned in the news in relation to the sad case where two young British tourists where murdered last year, and a son of village headman in Koh Phangan were in question...?

No, because that would have been KOH TAO.

Although, in the grand scale of things, they may as well be one and the same.

same families on both islands, the people of koh tao originally from koh phangan

Why don't the Muslims get out and protest against thier fellow muslims who are carrying out these attacks. I am sure if they did it would go a long way to healing the divide b/w islam and the rest.

the anti-Islam protests in Germany were going on before the attacks happened, nothing to do with the attacks in Paris.

All the waiters and kitchen helpers tell me they earn about 5000 à 6000 baht a month!