Rangsit

Wanted Australian found dead in Thai prison cell

BANGKOK:-- An Australian man arrested in Thailand and charged with murder in his home state of New South Wales has been found dead in his Bangkok prison cell. The Department of Foreign Affairs says he died of self inflicted injuries. The body of 41-year-old Emil Chang was found in a cell at Bangkok's Klong Prem prison.

Chang was arrested earlier this month after Australian authorities asked for help in his arrest and extradition. He was due to be sent back to Sydney to face charges over a murder three years ago and with engaging in drug dealing. At a media conference after his arrest, Chang strongly denied the charges.

He told reporters he was innocent.

Bangkok Police say he had a Thai wife and child and had been travelling in and out of Thailand for the past three years. An autopsy to confirm the cause of death has been carried out, but the results will not be made public until next week.

www.abc.net.au

"Common hijacker redirected host.

auto.search.msn.com = 213.159.117.235"

I mostly use Firefox and have no pop-ups, no hijackers etc: also run Ad-Aware, Spybot etc.

I used IE a couple of times this week and thought l must have hit a wrong key because l was getting the above site loading when l entered a website manually when launching IE. Saw the previous post and ran Ad-Aware and got an alert about a possible browser hijacker.

Hmmm, and looking at history there are only half a dozen websites l've used IE for recently, including ThaiVisa. All the other sites used are respectable sites also, so l don't know how l got hijacked.

I'd be doing some more research on camera prices Australia versus Thailand if l was you. I keep hearing people say Thailand is very expensive but when l compared prices for well known cameras makes like Canon and Nikon l found Thai prices to be at least 20% cheaper.

Health care can be very cheap but go into a good hospital and the costs can mount quickly. My wife has had two operations recently, nearly two weeks in a private room, cost so far: 240,000 baht. I suppose that in the USA or Australia it would have been dearer still, but 240,000 is not exactly cheap.

With a non-immigrant "O" visa, can l keep using a current International license?

Can l apply for a Thai license?

You're not using Mozilla/Firefox by any chance? If so try IE, that was how l solved my problem when for some reason Bangkok Post wouldn't let me register.

Jam Session Entertainment

3rd Floor, Central World Plaza aka World Trade Centre

Tel:02 255-9574

Fax: 02 255-9573

jamsessionentertainment.com

An extensive range. Minder, Porridge, Yes Minister, The Office etc.

I was in a surburban video store recently and saw Blackadder on VCD for l think 60 baht a VCD. Shame it was in Thai or l would have bought the lot.

As usual The Nation has a more detailed report:

American leaps to his death in Lat Phrao

Published on Apr 5, 2004

An American leapt to his death from a Lat Phrao apartment building yesterday, a police officer said. Ron McGarrah, 62, was earlier seen standing on a 16th-floor balcony of the 17-storey MC Place Service Apartments by a maid and a resident of the building. They filed a report with police because work on that floor has not yet been completed.

When the police arrived, McGarrah leapt from the balcony onto a parked car, said Major Boontom Phothisit of Lat Phrao police station.

Police discovered evidence on the 16th floor that the American had cut his wrists and drunk heavily before taking his life. They found bloody razors, 24 empty beer cans, aspirins, and a can containing 15 millilitres of human blood.

McGarragh's common-law wife Lek Collinsworth, 59, identified the body and told police she had been with him for four years. He worked in the computer industry in Illinois, but travelled between Thailand and the United States once every three months, she said.

Lek said that on March 29, she and her husband had gone shopping at the Mall Bang Kapi, which is near the apartment block. "He told me he would wait for me outside a gold shop, while I was chatting with a gold seller. When I came out he had just disappeared, so I filed a missing-person report with the police on March 30," she said. Lek told police she did not know why her husband had committed suicide. "We were not in a fight or anything before he went missing," she added.

Seizing their motorcycle sounds a good idea however don't you think the riders will drive even more insanely to avoid this happening?

Poipet Resort Casino, the second casino on the left after you leave Thailand has rooms from 1800 baht per night. Purchase 30,000 baht worth of chips and you get the room gratis.

There's a Pacific Internet in Australia, might be the same company. Never used it myself but l heard no complaints from friends who were customers. Pricewise it was better value than the major telcos in Australia.

What sort of money are we talking about here? Fifty million stg?

When you're in Poipet you're only 3 hours by taxi from Siem Reap and the world famous Angkor Wat temples. A really good time to go is now, as when it rains the road deteriorates badly. If you can spare 2 or 3 days then l'd highly recommend a visit there. At least you'll get some value for your Cambodian visa.

Step by step information on how to do it by yourself can be found at www.talesofasia.com

Too many leagues can only confuse the issue

Wanchai Rujawongsanti

There are already two football leagues in Thailand _ the Thai League and the Provincial League _ and critics believe that is one too many.

But the government thinks that a third league is needed to make Thailand's dream of reaching the World Cup finals come true.

Deputy Commerce Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal, one of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's advisers on sporting matters, says the government is considering setting up a new league to be called the ``Prime Minister's League''.

The proposed league would comprise new teams other than those in the two existing leagues.

Using funds from the government, the teams would be run like professional clubs and the players would be full-time professionals.

Around half of the players in each team would have to be non-Thais so that local players would gain experience from playing against foreigners.

Foreign players in the new league who are good enough would be offered Thai citizenship _ a move Japan once did with foreign players in their J-League which proved to be successful to a certain degree.

The idea is apparently backed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who says Thailand should look for good players from Cameroon, Senegal and other African countries to play in the Kingdom.

The government, or Pongsak, may not realise that quantity does not always mean quality.

As the Thai League and the Provincial League have been struggling to gain popularity, it is highly unlikely that a third league would become a hit.

In fact, it would cause more confusion as to which league is the national league.

It is surprising that the government wants a new league as many people seem to prefer a single national league.

I believe the government should put all its efforts into merging the Thai League, run by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), and the Provincial League, organised by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).

The cost of creating a new league would not be cheap and the money needed for that should be used instead to help promote the existing leagues or to merge them together to make one strong league.

As for the idea that teams in the proposed new league should hire a certain number of players from Africa, South America or Europe, it is likely the only players who would come here would be the not-so-good ones.

Playing against African, South American or European players week in week out would certainly benefit Thai players _ but only if they are really good players.

However, if these foreign players are skilful, it is unlikely that they would come to play in Thailand when they could earn a fortune in European leagues where countless Africans and South Americans are making their names and lots of money.

The foreign players who would play in the new league would only add colour to it _ we would have people of all races and colours in the same competition.

We do have a few foreigners playing in the Thai League who come from countries like Uganda and Cuba. Do you think these foreigners make Thai players better?

Giving foreign players Thai citizenship is not a bad idea. This is nothing new and a number of European countries such as Italy and Germany have lured South Americans or Africans _ who are really good _ to play for them.

But foreign players who would be willing to play for Thailand would certainly be those who are not wanted by their home countries or football's big guns.

The proposed league looks more likely to be a waste of money or just a political propaganda _ as the name ``Prime Minister's League'' suggests _ rather than a springboard for Thailand to win a World Cup berth.

Meanwhile, PM Thaksin promised Thai football bosses who recently paid a courtesy call on him that he would try to buy back all Thai players who are making a living in the Vietnamese League, including Terdsak Chaiman, widely regarded as Thailand's best player at the moment.

The prime minister also said that Thailand should hire a capable coach whose salary would be expensive but added that he was willing to help finance that.

It is surely not a good omen for Brazilian Carlos Roberto Carvalho, Thailand's current head coach, who is apparently not liked by Thailand's major sponsor and manger Thavatchai Sajakul.

Carvalho recently was engaged in a war of words with Thavatchai who wants a high-profile coach to replace him.

The Brazilian hit back, saying he would only talk to FAT president Vijitr Getkaew and secretary-general Worawi Makudi and not a politician _ a reference to Thavatchai, who is a member of Parliament.

If Carvalho really does not like politicians, he could soon feel lonely and have no one left to talk to as many FAT chiefs are politicians of sorts with Vijitr and Worawi becoming members of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party and intending to stand in the next general election.

Bangkok Post 7/01/2004

Okay, thankyou for the info.

At this stage l will be returning home briefly around April 2004 so probably will apply for a new one year "O" visa then. It's not really possible for me to sort out all the banking requirements this time around, so l think l may apply for the extension on my return in May or June 2004.

Doc, how can l apply for an extension if my visa says "Extension of Stay Not Permitted" Thought this meant l had to apply outside of Thailand for a new one year "O" m/entry.

Re: applying for a multiple entry visa in Australia, my experience was that l went to my local Australian Consulate with my marriage certificate + a photocopy. Took a couple of minutes to fill out the application, gave it to the girl at the counter who took a look at it and said "You're married to a Thai? No problem, and you have a photocopy already? I could have made a copy for you. That will be $60(?) please."

Went back two days later, the Aussie man l saw gave me my passport and said "because you're married to a Thai we've given you a multiple entry visa, they're the best sort" How easy was that?

Dr. PP, I've got a Non-Immigrant multiple entry "O" visa issued last year in Australia (Thai wife). At the bottom of the stamp it reads "Extension Of Stay Not Permitted"

Does this mean that l have to leave Thailand to get a new visa?