BobbyL

Oh great, this same guy is back again scaremongering.

How about we just live like this forever. 

1 minute ago, Peterw42 said:

I can imagine a similar closing of a religious attraction, years ago I visited St Peters in the Vatican and it was closed to tourists for renovation and only open to attend mass.

Yes, but I bet the mass wasn't prohibited to 'Italian only'. This is the difference here. I am sure they had the brains to realise that Roman Catholics can come from any country and are allowed to pray.

Here it seems that Thailand once again thinks they are the epicenter of the world and nobody outside of Thailand can be Buddhist (even though Buddhism didn't even originate here). 

3 minutes ago, connda said:

You're an apologist for racial segregation.  That's not good.

There is no difference between me, a non-Thai Theravada Buddhist, and a Thai Theravada Buddhist - Except: 
The Thai Theravada Buddhist can enter the temple "to pray, to make merit etc."
This American Theravada Buddhist can not enter the temple "to pray, to make merit etc."
I'm not allowed in because of my skin color and ethnicity.

 

The Thai government does nothing to address this racism meaning they explicitly condone the racism.

Before Covid many of these same temples allowed Thais Buddhists to freely enter their temples "to pray, to make merit etc." but foreign Buddhist must pay "to pray, to make merit etc."
I must pay because of my skin color and my ethnicity.

Nowhere in the Buddhist scriptures does the Buddha condone racism.  Had he condoned racism then Buddhism would have died out in Northern India long, long ago as a religion limited only to the race of people inhabiting Northern India.

Thai racism is extremely ugly and vile;  Apologizing for this systemic racism is condoning the racism and is equally as vile. 

"Foreigners can not enter (Wat Po) for their own safety" is a lie which is breaking a core Buddhist precept.  If it was for 'safety' reasons then no one other than construction workers and monks could enter.  None of the general public would be allowed in if it was truly about 'safety.'  "Foreigners can not enter" because foreigners are seen as dirty, Covid-carriers - a fiction that seems to have gained momentum via the rants issued out of the Health Ministry. 

That is the ugliness of systemic racism:  Non-Thai - Dirty; Thais - Clean. 
Vile.  Ugly.  Disgusting. 
There is no place for racism in Buddhism, yet, here it is!

Fantastic post. Anyone disagreeing with this is completely deluded. 

32 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Foreigners visit a temple as tourists, Thai visit a temple as Buddhists.

 

 

 

 

So only Thai people can be Buddhists? What if a Burmese worker living here wanted to go and pray at the temple? 

Imagine a religious attraction in a country in the west saying something similar? No chance. 

This whole issue could have be solved if they just had a sign that said the temple is only open for visitors wanting to pray. 

7 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

 

 

Just to re-iterate, there will be no tourism in Thailand until there is a vaccine or a viable treatment, full stop.  

Got to disagree with that.

There may never be either them. You really think countries will indefinitely close their borders to tourists for potentially years? No chance IMO. 

The OP used to be a good poster on here. Not anymore. 

It has no impact on me, however this is just yet another shocking indictment around the lack of thinking in this country.  Something so simple is like a Darwin-esque idea for a lot people in this country. This could have been handled in a far better way to avoid this problem. 

Thailand has been built on foreign tourists yet it seems to be becoming more and more happy to breed xenophobia. Could you imagine St Paul's Cathedral or Saint Agustin having signs saying, 'English only' or 'French only'. 

Yes, I know the old saying TIT, but if this place wants to be taken seriously these things shouldn't be happening. What happens if a white foreigner living here is a Buddhist and would like to go and pray at the temple? 

Once again, they are their own judge, jury and executioner. Any normal place would see this investigation carried out by a completely separate entity.

Here it is done by the health minister's very own sidekick. 

As usual, Future Forward / Move Forward seem to have the right beliefs and ideologies that are grossly lacking in all forms of the current regime. They represent exactly what Thailand needs to do to really progress. 

Will this be properly investigated? No, as according to the international media (not published on here or in the Thai news) this was ordered from the establishment as a sign to the rest of the current uprising. 

Thai Constitution Protection Association

That would be the constitution that has been re -  written more times in recent history than any other country and also wasn't fully recited by this 'elected' government. 

I think anyone with one iota of knowledge on this topic will exactly know what happened and who ordered it. 

We're seeing millions of people around the world protesting against racism. Whereas here literally having a differing opinion gets you killed like it was medieval times. 

19 minutes ago, micmichd said:

Do Farangs grant subsidiaries to Thai tourists in the West? No. 

So why should Thailand pamper Farangs? 

People aren't mentioning foreign tourists. We're referring to expats that live and work here being entitled to these schemes. When my wife and I lived in England she was able to access schemes (reduced train travel, discounts to enter places) that were on offer in the UK even though she didn't have British citizenship / passport.

People always mention farangs wanting to be pampered etc. I don't want to be pampered at all. However, it would be nice if we're acknowledged in these new tourist initiatives seeing as I live here, work here, own a property here, pay tax here, have a wife here, spend 90% of my salary each month here etc etc etc.  

I guess this is just another example of the closed nature of this country, where the aliens here will never be anything other than just that.