Thanet

More blah blah blah to placate fools the believe it.

Time to learn some Thai. It's a relatively easy language.

It's actually one of the most difficult to learn for a Westerner.

Pronunciation is difficult for westerners. Vocabulary and grammar aren't.

Learning to read helps a lot.

repeat: but actually the chance of it is considerably low - elites rarely choose an idiot.

elites become elites because they are not among those "more than 50%". so they sure can find an able person among them.

the best choice - tax election census - voters are only those, who pay tax more than get back.

Here was me thinking that elites become elites by virtue of labour pains.

It's sad to watch Prayuth scuttling around, trying to get famous people to shake his hand.

Prayuth and his cronies are turning Thailand into a pariah state.

The dear leader made a public announcement and spoke to Thai's on behalf of the world saying that the world was very happy with Thailand, the coup and martial law. The supreme leaders propaganda machines manure being fed to the mushrooms has come back to slap him in the face again. He should stop making announcements on behalf of others until he consults them 1st. How could anyone seriously believe a single thing said by this government.

Here is a clear two way decent conversation one of hope from the sec gen, the other explaining the situ.

Chooka your biased is showing very clear.

And you are not biased, right?

No we are not avoiding the topic, we are avoiding gingag!!

Let me remind you of your wording in a post a couple of days ago:

"He (Prayuth) is not the best by a long shot" !!

Do you have difficulty reading ??

Your reminder was for what purpose ?? I meant what I said, but similar to FIJI -Thailand will get there in the end. GINGAG ??? difficulty reading.??

Hog it all, no probs the PM will carry on without all you.

Being here we all have to tread careful, we are not guaranteed stay---if your not here chance you may not be allowed entry. Worth thinking about how strong you post.

Tell me Ginjag, do you have the influence to push forward your grubby little threats to those whose views you disapprove of, or is it just (more) empty bullshit?

RIght - discussion is the whole point of this forum. Some people here think that they can threaten people to shut them up, in the very same way that the junta does.

Delusions of grandeur.

Well, that's it then. From the results of this poll, Prayuth has all the justification he needs to stay on as PM for ever.

No need for elections. Polls are enough.

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we are talking about foot dragging here. why change the subject. plus the cost keeping going up and up every time you post. time you take a few days off of TV and relax and gain your senses back. but of course this is a typical yellow tactic to change the subject when it don't suit them.

TOPIC Yingluck, DEFICIT. her feet dragging. not your spin about uncle Tom Cobley.

The deficit is terrible. And it's made worse by all those populist policies, like the free dental care that you were recently boasting that you had received, right?

For all you who complain about given her time to prepare think back to the Airport blockage by the Yellow terrorist who have been dragging this case out for years.

Oh yeah, bad as it was for Tourism, it wasn't 1 trillion Baht worth of blockage. There was a message in the airport blockage, what message was there in Yinglucks case ?? cheat, rob Thailands coffers.

Apart from your usual soundbites, you don't seem to know much about economics. Most governments run deficits these days. That doesn't mean that they have pocketed the cash themselves.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

How do explain that Yingluck and Prayuth both have a similar net worth - around 600 million Baht each? Prayuth's army salary was 117,000 Baht per month. Yingluck's corrupt, but Prayuth's a good saver, right?

Your economics are not bright when you call Yinglucks "mistake-I did not do wrong" a Quote "deficit" 1 trillion ??

If you want to put on the table where the money came from --Yingluck/prayuth then do otherwise it is not your business.

Thailands peoples money is the concern here NOT your explanation.

I'll repeat the question:

How do explain that Yingluck and Prayuth both have a similar net worth - around 600 million Baht each?

China and Myanmar dictators are the only people who will talk to Prayuth.

For all you who complain about given her time to prepare think back to the Airport blockage by the Yellow terrorist who have been dragging this case out for years.

Oh yeah, bad as it was for Tourism, it wasn't 1 trillion Baht worth of blockage. There was a message in the airport blockage, what message was there in Yinglucks case ?? cheat, rob Thailands coffers.

Apart from your usual soundbites, you don't seem to know much about economics. Most governments run deficits these days. That doesn't mean that they have pocketed the cash themselves.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

How do explain that Yingluck and Prayuth both have a similar net worth - around 600 million Baht each? Prayuth's army salary was 117,000 Baht per month. Yingluck's corrupt, but Prayuth's a good saver, right?

Again!! A new despicable act by inhumane Thais!!

Aren't the Aussies now doing the same thing, having been invaded by economic migrants for years?

Sydney is full of them - they arrive in droves and most go straight onto welfare, instantly qualifying for privileges that bona fide migrants have to wait years for.

Real refugees are one thing, economic migrants are another thing entirely. The Aussie approach is 'sorry, there are too many of you and we can't afford to settle and support you.'

No, the Aussies are not pushing the boats back out to sea. They are intercepting them and then escorting them back to Indonesian waters where it is safe to do so. We Aussies are not a callous race. The prior Labor Government, along with the reds, sorry Greens Party, had an open border policy which saw 50,000 people, in about 800 boats, reach our shores in just over 3 years. And this does not take into account the 1000's who lost there lives trying to get to Australia via boat. There have only been one or two boats reach Australia since the Coalition Government took over in September last year, with many being retuned home or taken to offshore immigration detention centres.

Most were economic migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, then later the Indians and Sri Lanka got on board. (Excuse the Pun) You are right about a majority of then going onto welfare but this has now been stopped and they are detained at the centres until it can be established if they are genuine refugees. Many have opted to return home with a government handout of about A$5,000.00. You will find, if you'd care to check, that Australia resettles migrants more per capita then any other country.

There was a big problem between Indonesia and Australia but this appears now to have been settled, with Australia again being the sucker and having to pay monies and give assets to Indonesia totalling abut 50 million plus. Sure Australia has turned back boats but nothing like it is being reported here in Thailand. Our people have shown a lot more compassion and if it has been unsafe to turn them back they have taken them aboard Australian maritime vessels for their own safety and the country ends up being stuck with them until their bona fides are checked.

It should be noted however, that in Australia the statistics suggest that more illegal immigrants arrive by plane, 58,000 at last count, who become illegal by overstaying their visas. Unfortunately, boat people are becoming a problem world wide now and most are from mainly Islamic countries where Muslims are being persecuted by Muslims. Sometimes very good people arrive but then so do some very bad people.

At one stage it was discovered that a people smuggler from Indonesia had come to Australia on a boat and as he knew the system was able to get through. His family followed later, were able to obtain welfare and government housing, after lying about his death, yet during this time he worked in a Canberra shopping centre collecting trollies whilst still conducting his smuggling business. Even though the Australian Federal Police had a computer listed warning against him he was able to leave the country, (maybe allowed?) and flee back to Indonesia, whilst his family, who lied, as he did to get to Australia, are still there.

So now that you have a bit of background into what has happened and is happening now in Australia, I would suggest that before you suggest that Aussies have done the same as Thailand, that you check the facts before putting fingers to the keyboard. The internet is a wonderful thing you know for sourcing many subjects.

I think that this is coming down to semantics. You know - 'pushing them back out to sea' versus 'escorting them back to Indonesia'. They may have been chucking food and water bottles at the migrants while they were escorting them? Unless you are in the Navy, and were on one of the 'escorting' ships, it is a conjecture of yours to make judgements here as to how 'safe' this 'escorting' actually was, and how much force was needed to accomplish it.

As a fellow Aussie, I know that we are not a callous bunch. That said, patience was wearing thin and people were getting killed on a regular basis making perilous journeys to Australia by boat. Drastic action could be justified in preventing further loss of life.

Abbot got in on a 'stop the boats' ticket - I voted for him myself. When dealing with criminal people traffickers, the public was behind him, and he would have been painfully aware of the consequences of failing in his flagship election promise.

Tony Abbott, Australia's prime minister, deploys the navy to "push" boats filled with asylum seekers heading for Australia back to Indonesian waters

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10555392/Australia-sends-in-its-navy-to-push-asylum-seeker-boats-back-to-Indonesia.html

Ask anyone in the UK, and most would tell you that they wished that the same thing could be done with the droves of low grade migrants arriving from the ex-soviet states in Eastern Europe. Most go straight onto welfare, and there are packs of Roma gypsies sleeping rough, begging and stealing. The social services are straining to cope with lengthening waiting lists for schools, doctors and the like.

The EU is a salient example of what happens when economic migration taken to its unrestricted extreme, and it's not a pretty sight.

I don't blame Thailand for no wanting them over here. Allow a few in and next they'll arrive in droves.

I'm sorry that they are hard up, but Thailand can't support them all.

Ask anyone in the UK? OK, but don't limit your selection to xenophobic idiots. Truth is, the UK profits tremendously from migrant workers.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/05/eu-migrants-uk-gains-20bn-ucl-study

Interesting that you quote The Guardian - a minority UK newspaper, whose readership is mainly socialist intellectuals and liberals. Think the likes of Ed Miliband, Tony Blair, Harriet Harman, et al.

Socialist intellectuals in the UK, over the years, have not had to live with the consequences of their disastrous decisions. Rather, they are a minority elite who generally live in wealthy areas that are not beset with hoards of low grade EU migrants, of the type that the community in general has had to put up with.

The attitude that anyone who is objecting to uncontrolled mass immigration is a "xenophobic idiot" perfectly characterises the stance of socialist intellectuals, and the political elite in the UK (and elsewhere) generally, who have stopped listening to the concerns of the general public. It is precisely the reason why public opinion is turning so decisively against them right now. Roll on the next election, and you'll see what I mean.

As far as immigration is concerned, I'd say that Thailand looks to the EU as a lesson in what not to do right now.

Again!! A new despicable act by inhumane Thais!!

Aren't the Aussies now doing the same thing, having been invaded by economic migrants for years?

Sydney is full of them - they arrive in droves and most go straight onto welfare, instantly qualifying for privileges that bona fide migrants have to wait years for.

Real refugees are one thing, economic migrants are another thing entirely. The Aussie approach is 'sorry, there are too many of you and we can't afford to settle and support you.'

Until a few years ago the asylum seekers / refugees arriving by sea in Australia were nearly all assessed as legitimate. 'They' did not access the same benefits as bona fide migrants, most are not permitted to work and had no option other than to receive welfare support.

Oz government policy was changed by Labor that led to the influx of the large majority arriving by sea and were assessed as economic refugees. The inflow of arrivals by sea has now been stopped by offshore processing and refusal to permit entry to Oz, even if vetted as legitimate. Right now 'they' have the option to be resettled in PNG, volunteer to transfer to Cambodia, transfer back to home country or remain in detention for years whilst UNHCR try to resettle in a third party country.

If the Rohingya manage to get into Malaysia or Indonesia they are denied permission to legally work, exploited and so on.

Bangladesh has recently passed legislation to retroactively cancel all marriage licences between Rohingya themselves. local nationals and banned marriage for Rohingya in any circumstance.

UNHCR efforts are complicated by Rohingya being denied citizenship by the Burmese government, so officially stateless.

I’m sure you and others are aware Rohingya are one of the most oppressed people in the world.

Refugees in Australia are permitted to work, and any of them can tell a story about persecution to get a visa - once they have landed, getting rid of them again is a political hot potato, and the newspapers are full of stories about sending them beck to certain death.

And I'll correct you here - refugees are exempt from the normal two-year waiting period for benefits, and they are exempt the 10 year waiting period to draw a pension.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For most forms of social security:

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/newly-arrived-residents-waiting-period

The Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period may not affect you if you are:

• an Australian citizen, or
• a person who arrived under a refugee or humanitarian program, or

and, for pensions:

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension

You also need to have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least 10 years, or for a number of periods that total more than ten years, with one of the periods being at least five years, unless you:

• are a refugee or former refugee, or

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In addition to this, they were dishing out $10,000 payments, so that they could buy home furnishings, flat screen TV's etc.

Stopping economic migrants calling themselves refugees from coming over in the first place was the main reason why Tony Abbot got elected. People in Australia are sick of them all.

Aren't the Aussies now doing the same thing, having been invaded by economic migrants for years?

Sydney is full of them - they arrive in droves and most go straight onto welfare, instantly qualifying for privileges that bona fide migrants have to wait years for.

Real refugees are one thing, economic migrants are another thing entirely. The Aussie approach is 'sorry, there are too many of you and we can't afford to settle and support you.'

I don't believe you can classify the Rohingya's as economic migrants, they are fleeing for their lives!

Very easy to sit in your armchair and condemn people because of their ethnicity or religion, but remember the old saying: Walk a mile in their shoes, before judging them!!

As I said, real refugees are one thing, economic migrants are another.

Now how many of these Rohingya are actually 'fleeing for their lives'? How many simply want a better life, with another country footing the bill for that?

Why did you do that, mate? I think it's well known these girls all have a Thai guy in their back pocket and at least two of us on the go until one of em commits.

Anyway, I don't know if the police are taking her seriously or if you've committed any crime. But if they are and if you did, then they would not necessarily come looking for you. An arranged meeting is easier after all. Let's just hope they're really cops and not a couple guys waiting to sack ya. As a matter of fact, I might just skip that meeting all together and let the money go. The cops are probably gonna want some of that cash anyway, but I doubt they'll issue a warrant for some FB nonsense.

Good advice to the OP.

The meeting could turn nasty, cops or no cops, and the OP is best advised to chalk this up to experience, cut his losses and move on.

One must look at the history of this place. This a cartel based and controlled economy having grown out of the old tax farm system. The major leading cartels have no wish for foreigners to come here and express any control on investment and they definitely do no want any outside interference or agitation on the financial front. It has virtually nothing to do with politicians, soldiers, etc and until this is addressed nothing will change here and the world will simply pass them by. And those aforementioned shall be quite happy about it.

You overlook the point that several Thai commercial banks are legally majority owned and controlled by foreigners: Bank of Ayudhya, Standard Chartered Bank, OUB, CIMB. When the economy was effectively bankrupted in 1997 the government had no choice but to allow foreign banks to come in and take over Thai banks. That thinking is now entrenched since foreign banks are still allowed to come and make banking acquisitions, e.g. BAY and CIMB in the last few years.

The banking sector is an interesting example since foreign investment there illustrates that foreign appetite is somewhat limited as no one has ever shown an interest in going after a large Thai bank. Also foreign owners have tended to enhance the banks they buy into with new technology and training and will often sell out again when they need the cash or the Thai subsidiary is no longer a fit with their strategy, e.g. ABN AMRO sold Bank of Asia to OUB and GE Capital sold out of Bank of Ayudya to Bank of Tokyo. The fact that foreigners tend to flip investments after a few years provides the opportunity for the target banks to revert to Thai ownership, even though this has not happened thus far.

The results of the forced opening of the banking sector to foreign acquisitions should encourage Thais to want to open up the rest of the service sector. In addition the forced opening of the retail sector to foreign investors to prevent business closures and mass redundancies has also been encouraging. Foreigners created businesses that Thai consumers love to shop by creating value for them in place of the inefficient, overpriced Thai retail sector that existed before (if anyone can still remember it). Makro, after being developed by its Dutch owners has now reverted to Thai ownership.

Some very interesting points made here. Now I wonder why no one has ever shown interest in going after a large Thai bank ...

Makes me feel that I made the right decision in keeping all my money overseas, and sending the money I make here overseas too

' now you see him ... now you don't ' comes to mind

Right - Thailand has ways of dealing with foreigners who get out of hand.

They disappear, get kicked out, get banged up, or are involved in unfortunate 'accidents'.

I've had this conversation before with a few Thai People, and 99 percent of them, don't want Foreigners to own anything, ??? But they are happy to own stuff abroad if they live in that Country.

I explained to them that , that was the same, but they could not see it ???

For me, it would be a Great start if they could move into the 21st Century and clean the place up, in all respects....

For me, I like it just the way it is. We can expect to see Thailand remaining on the lower rung of the economic ladder, thus keeping it as one of the most affordable places for expats to retire. I don't care if they think they are insulting me and putting farangs down all the time. I wake up in the morning and see the poor laborers walking to the fields for 300 baht a day, knowing that my meager pension (by western standards) will continue to buy me a life I could only dream of had I not retired in Thailand. To all those in power who keep Thailand 100 years behind the times...Thank You Mak, Mak, Mak.

You're either joking, or you have a selfish and unkind character.

Joking aside though, I think this attitude of lording it over Thai people explains why farangs here supported the coup. Just like the generals, they want the poor to stay poor so that they can take advantage of them.

A million Baht in cash and a kilo of gold lying around his house?

Hiding from the tax man?

What do we got here? A repented sinner, a banned troll ? Some boredom and schizophrenia is going on.

Don't be so hard on the poor guy

He means well, and he himself freely admits that meaning well is a lot easier than doing well. I think that most of us have faced similar circumstances, but people here are treating him as if he's committed a heinous crime, when he hasn't really hurt anyone except himself. Visa over stayers are a problem everywhere, but bona fide visitors are nonetheless welcome.

It's not the falling down, it's the getting up again that matters. Or so they say.