Katipo

We have put up signs in many languages warning people about the dangers, but they have not been successful this is very concerning, Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut said in a meeting with Col Weerawat.

Yeah, me too. I just can't think what could possibly be done to stop these people.

It is all very disconcerting.

OK, next problem please.

What other options are there? I mean, the Lifeguards could approach people and tell them not to swim. How well would that go down? One of the things many of us enjoy over here is the freedom to do what we choose. Besides, in most western countries signs + lifeguards are all that are needed as well.

There are always going to be tourists who come over here and do silly things, and then suffer the consequences.

Oh what an omen it would be if her train derailed.

I suppose you could classify trying to topple the government of a soveriegn nation as "important business". Fair enough then

It is, in fact!

Governments are toppled all the time, all over the world. It's a "the winner is always right" kind of business. No need to get excited here. At least he's not burning the place in doing so. Try to tell Thais the '73 demonstrations against Thanom & Prapass were wrong...

At the same time, governments have always had the military at hand to subdue revolts etc. Why had the USA send in paramilitary troops, when students were demonstrating against the Vietnam War? How many died then (Don't remember the exact names, places and year)?

Military all over the world has the unwritten but imminent duty to "protect" the country against "enemies within". Now who do you call enemies within? A matter of interpretation, and about all governments call uprisings a threat from enemies from within.

And that is, why the whole thing about bringing Abhisit and Suthep to court is a political propaganda thing by the people presently in power. Which in turn is, why Abhisit isn't worried. I guarantee, that Taksin isn't brought to justice over the 2,500+ dead from his war against drugs, even though it is much more likely a criminal act to announce, that lives will be lost. So why should the Democrats worry? PR, that's all to it!

Sam

How can you even make such a comparrison, you are talking about the order to kill peacfull protesters VS a policy that was put in place to stop illegal drug smugglers, many countries have the same death penelty laws for drugs. I remember when Abiset was running for power the question was asked to him if was going to keep the policy because it was suspected that a few where wrongly executed. His reply was he was not going to change the policy at that time as it was working and there will always be collateral damage with any such policy.

Read the other Thai newspaper today. there is a good opinion piece on the 'war on drugs', the policy that was implemented, and the deaths of people who had no record of ever being involved in drugs. 2.7k people died in 3 months without any investigation into any of them. You can't tell me that isn't wrong.

Democrats are in a bit of a corner at the moment.

If they do stand, and they lose, and Yingluck/Thaksin are still in charge,

Democracy in Thailand is very broken

Democracy is very broken only if you think that the majority of the population choosing its leadership is not democratic !!!

I dont much like the Tacky administrations.. But the majority of the people do.. Welcome to democracy..

Do they really choose? How much of that choosing is influenced by vote buy and the local village head's instructions?

This is tragically comical.

A 50% drop by 2020 is possible for two reasons. 1) it's actually a reasonable amount of time 2) Thai drivers are so unsafe that any positive changes are likely to have a dramatic impact.

Ongoing media campaigns and strict enforcement of current laws (yes, they already exist) are the keys to the success of this program. That's right, I am looking at you, man in tight brown!

White status? You mean the inmate are swimming in nose candy? Not the description I would have chosen, although probably more accurate that what the Governor intended.

In my 10 years in Thailand I have never had an encounter with the Tourist Police, positive or otherwise. My point is, do they actually pro-actively approach tourists like in the lovely photo above, or is it just for show?

Revolutions start when the middle classes rise on behalf of the poor and down trodden.

Yea but not here in Thailand. The middlclass want to keep them poor & down trodden.

Disagree. Many of the middle class people I know are from farming backgrounds. The parents worked hard, put their kids through university so they could have a better life. Some middle class people may look down on farmers I concede, but I don't see them trying to keep them there.

The wealthy on the other hand (no matter their shirt colour), now they benefit from keeping them poor and down trodden. Poor farmers and labourers are cheap votes to buy and a cheap workforce to make the factory owners even richer.

Rubber farmers in Bangkok. Urbanites in Bangkok. And now Rice Farmers in the North East. Add the failed amnesty bill into the mix, and one might almost thing things aren't going as well for the PTP as they might have liked.

I would only be surprised if she admitted otherwise.

"He added that the prime minister also gave cash of Bt2 million for him to distribute to police officers on duty." - and that's how the Shinawat's stay in power.

A good move to let them in though. No target = nothing to fight. Game over.

Interesting tactics going on here.

A crane has arrived to remove concrete barriers from police HQ. Police removing fuel from the fire? Anymore who has turned up for a fight will now find themselves sitting inside police HQ twiddling their thumbs tacking part in a peaceful protest whether they wanted to our not.

Presume the police will have already removed the large metal box marked motoring fines. Meanwhile the clock is moving ever closer to the 5th when all will (possibly) have to go home.

Guess focus of attention will now move back to Government House once the protesters recover from their confused state due to being able to walk into police HQ uncontested.

Agreed, it's a brilliant tactical move by the police and whoever orchestrated it. With no one to fight, what will they do now?

Time to go home, perhaps?

Well that's the main thing I guess

Mr. Taweesak's father is brave and showing a more level head at this time in spite of the tradegy that has befallen him. My deepest respect and codolences go out to him. I hope justice is served, and the peace he wishes for is found.