retsdon

Every time this fellow opens his mouth, the old Mexican homily comes to mind, ' Beware of the idiot with initiative!'

What nonsense all Thais in the last 60 years have some form of education and certainly the under 35's have a decent education!

Which is in direct contrast to all those who made the claims that Thais lacked education to be able to vote properly!!

Based on who's standards? Whilst their Educational standards may not be on par with our superior Western Intellect (intended Sarascm), they have the ability to think for themselves when they want.

Why keep having a go at the poor standard of Thai education, when there are as many problems with education in our own Western Countries, poor grammar, Christ, all you need to do is look at some of the posters here, and see that Education and lack of it isn't a Thai monopoly.

People in glass houses shouldn't be throwing stones, if you thought the Thai's Education was "poor" try working with Arabs where they can't even write their own names!!

The Education system may well indeed be below Western averages, but it sure isn't the worst, it's a poor excuse by Farangs to keep stating Thai's lack the education to be able to vote properly, or to have some form of democracy.

I've worked at tertiary level education in both Thailand and Arabia, and in my experience the Arabs are miles ahead of the Thais in both in their general breadth of knowledge and in their ability to think and perceive hypothetically.

Not that I'm knocking democracy in Thailand btw. There's a north east Scottish saying, 'Let the laddie play with the knife, he'll learn!', and unfortunately there will inevitably be some pain to be undergone before Thailand develops a sufficient level of political sophistication not to elect populist rogues offering the moon. But the pain, even if severe, would be offset to progress and the eventual establishment of a viable long-term political system. This constant reversion to martial law every time things look rocky does nothing but perpetuate a proven vicious cycle. It's very sad, really it is.

.......and I trust that you will credit me if it is not used ie: over and above the powers he holds with marshal law and if the ensuing peace is kept.

If you're going to keep using it, you might as well learn to spell it. The word you're looking for is 'martial'.

Other than the 28,000 loans for farmers hit by Acts of God, the rest of the funds are being made available simply to roll over existing debt - presumably for the purpose of warding off large scale insolvencies and defaults by farmers who dug themselves into a hole during the heady days the P T administration. Whether this is to assist the farmers themselves or to throw a lifeline to the banks and other financial institutions who would be left holding the baby if large scale defaults were to occur is moot. No doubt there is a political consideration too.

What this scheme doesn't do is resolve any of this debt. It'seems to be a case of just kicking the can down the road in the hope of better times to come..... Pretty much par for the course for the present 'interim' government.

How many new constitutions. charters, whatever is this over the last 12 years or so? To my reckoning this must be number 3, but they come and go so frequently it would b easy to lose count.

Given its inherent bias, and the grounds for future conflict being baked into the cake. I don't imagine that this one ( whenever it gets finished) will last any longer than its predecessors. Still, I suppose constantly going round and round like so many hamsters on a wheel gives these people something to do.

No doubt at all that they'll be convicted - innocent or guilty, it's immaterial. But at the end of the day, everyone who's not a simpleton knows that in any civilized country their case would never have made it to trial on account of the investigation and subsequent proceedings being so compromised and tainted as to make any court verdict irrelevant in terms of truth of actual real criminal responsibility. But hey, this is Thailand, right?

I don't know why they're picking on the models. - they just wear (or not) what they're told. If they want paid they don't have any choice. Typical Thai Official mentality. Scapegoat the poor sod on the lowest rung of the ladder.

I will state categorically that compared to Saudi drivers, 90% of Thais drive like senior Road Safety Officers on release from the Berkshire Constabulary.

It gets worse. This piece has just appeared from Reuters.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/25/kill-journalists-report-truth-thai-leader-prayuth-chan-ocha

Can't imagine that it will do a lot for tourism or foreign direct investment.

Great Zeus. This wasn't reported in the local Thai media was it?

Last month Gen Prayuth said he had the power to shut down news outlets, and on Wednesday he took an even harsher line. Well probably just execute them, said Prayuth, without a trace of a smile, when asked by reporters how the government would deal with those who do not adhere to the official line.

The international journalists organization is going to going ballistic on this. The general is forcing the EU to impose sanctions and he just made it tougher for the USA to go easier on him. If true, he just basically killed the special trade agreement that Thailand was negotiating with Canada and has backed all the signatories on the free media agreement into a corner. Major political blunder, even if it will be dismissed as "joking".

Hardly surprising that Thai local media dodged the quote - given the content...

It gets worse. This piece has just appeared from Reuters.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/25/kill-journalists-report-truth-thai-leader-prayuth-chan-ocha

Can't imagine that it will do a lot for tourism or foreign direct investment.

Horse and stable door stuff.

Prayuth is so typically Thai you have to wonder sometimes that he's not some kind of amalgam of parts, created in a laboratory somewhere to personify the nation. The Pu Yai Maak Ban.

Maybe he should study how Lee Kuan Yew did it for Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew was a dictator

Yes , and Singapore has a thriving economy.

Both Germany and Greece are democracies - what's your point?

Prayut pledges to lead country to high income economy

Oh please. It will take a whole lot more than words. Might want to start with a complete revamp of the educational system and then be prepared to wait a generation, or two, for tangible results.

Other factors will also need to be addressed, including corruption, especially in the police and judicial system. And that's just for starters.

This guy really needs to get some good advisors.

It's all a dog and pony show. Nobody has a genuine interest in reforming anything. If they had, it would be done. So you're right. They're just words.

One could get the impression that in some quarters there's really not a whole lot of enthusiasm for this democracy business....

I read a report relatively recently about worldwide hotel price drops. I've been looking for a link, but unfortunately I can't remember where I actually saw it. The gist was 'the 10 cities around the world with the largest hotels room price discounts', or something like that. What struck me was that Thai 'cities' (they included places like Samui and Phuket) made up about six of the ten.

You have to wonder, if the visitor business is booming, why Thai hotels should have featured so prominently. The hotels in the article were all pretty swanky, so assuming that the visitor numbers are correct, it would be logical to further assume that the kind of people who spend $100+ a night on a room staying away, but are being replaced by the kind of people who eclipse the sand on a beach like the picture of Phi Phi in another thread.

Whether that's a good thing or not depends on ones perspective, I suppose.

Why do I get the impression that he's out of his depth? With every utterance, it becomes increasingly evident that there is no credible forward traction at all, and that the country is just drifting rudderless - both politically and economically. This can only go on for so long before the ship eventually drifts onto the rocks.

He has lots of guns. He can do whatever he likes

Like Kim Jong-un do you mean? Sure, why not. The peasants planting gaily inthe fields, the smiling children singing national jingoistic songs, the army marching in perfect order, and two flights a week in and out. What's not to like? Happy days!

I just returned from a holiday in this area- ao nang, krabi etc. It's not just maya bay that's ruined because of too many tourists. Add to the list railay beach, Poda Island, Tub Island, Chicken Island, Phra Nang Cave Beach etc.

There are far too many long-tail boats, too many speed boats and far too many visitors to each of these places at any one time (and not only chinese). I'm not sure what is worse- the hoards of tourists or the deafening non-stop hum of the boats.

A faustian bargain for sure- they've sacrificed the soul of the place in exchange for dollars.

Which is great if you are taking the dollars, don't be so self righteous, these people have little enough money as it is,talk to them about the importance of the environment or the importance of putting food on the table for their family, i know what would be more important to me

Except that most of the valuable real estate was bought up years ago for a song. The small tour operators have been squeezed out by the corporate package tour providers and the big hotels. The majority of the jobs are done by outsiders from places like Nakon Si Tammarat, or even further afield. The majority of locals are left with the scraps. And the locals who didn't or weren't able to jump on the tourist bandwagon have tourist induced pricing in terms of rents, services, etc, to go along with the ruination of their heritage.

I wouldn't be too confident about any country's economy next year, quite honestly. And Thailand will float or sink with everyone else.

As a side note - Burma does require males 18 and over to serve a minimum 2 years in the military

Many countries have similar requirements. So, your point is....?

Point was very clear - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/7819hh51-family-of-brits-murdered-in-thailand-say-evidence-convincing/page-48#entry8796954

further reading on their military and their ongoing and widespread practice of what is termed as their License to rape:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS582US582&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#safe=off&q=burma+army+rape

I'm confused. Are you asserting that the two Burmese suspects are ex-military who were deployed in Kachin State. In any event, it's not the Burmese army or government which is on trial, it is two individuals. So unless you can provide links to their personal crime files, you're just wasting your time. Everything else is irrelevant. You might as well suggest that in any crime in say, New York, the prime suspects should immediately be anyone from Columbia or Venezuela because fhey are high-crime countries (which Burma isn't anyway within civil society) Utterly absurd.

Alice would feel right at home in ThIland.

The fact is that in Thailand it has been repeatedly proven that anyone rich or connected enough can kill someone else like a rat and nothing is going to happen to them. The country is a classic ganster state.