pepi2005

Sorry to swim against the tide here, but it looks like when the next plandemic starts, Thailand may be one of the worst countries to be in. Was there any form of overhaul or public reflection on the dramatic effects most of what was done during 2020-22 had? I'm deeply concerned that Thailand still plans to even follow the WHO's IHR playbook, which is hard to call other than totalitarian. Life involves having to fight infections, viruses and parasites all the time, but that people in power also have the power to involve authoritarian measures under the pretense of some questionable 'risk' (which was extremely exaggerated as we know now) and policies instrumentalizing fear and panic has to be prevented in the future, if we didn't learn much else from that time.

They should rather issue 5,000 and 10,000 Baht notes. It's scary moments every time having to walk through bank branches with bags filled with large packs of 1000 Baht notes after larger deposits or withdrawals, in front of the audience.

Out of curiosity, how were the numbers during the past 10-15 years? A bit of context would be great lol Without context and comparing these rates with Europe during the flu season, the numbers sounds like peanuts, but dramatized. There might have been a small 'Advertisement' disclaimer in this 'Nation' article somewhere.

Maybe they are about to reach their goal: only "quality tourists" remaining?

Not sure whether Chinese (or ANY) tourists would really appreciate being filmed, face-scanned and thereby being treated as potential criminals all the time. Also, no one knows what happens to all the collected digital data and materials, they can easily be abused or used against you. I for one, strongly dislike this tendency, and generally try to avoid areas (or countries) where governments are gradually building out a digital surveillance state.

together with the requirement of ALL citizens to file tax returns, this will be 'interesting' (it's a very strong government measure to strong-arm / blackmail their citizens into paying taxes). Theoretically, all loopholes would be closed - who would want to be 'nominee' or offer his ID card for someone else's KYC if he would have to file a tax form for it?

What's the source of this study?

I heard the renewal of the 5-year driving license can be done online now, is this correct? (if yes, how/where?)

When will the fearmongering end .... in Thailand?

FYI, I never got to pay only the "Thai price" at any venue showing my pink card. Still the racist "FALANG" price, even though I pay taxes in Thailand and probably earn less than many Thais I'm dealing with.

Could it be that tourists don't like to be biometrically registered and constantly surveiled during their stay?

This starts to get more annoying by the month almost ... are there banks not requiring such annoyances with mandatory biometrics?

Thailand is classified as a ‘not-free’ country in the recent annual freedom ranking by Freedom House, which surveys freedoms and rights in over 195 countries and 13 territories around the world. In the 'Freedom in the World' report this year, Thailand was given a score of only 34 out of 100, which is a decline from last year, when the country was ranked as ‘partly-free’, scoring 36 points. Freedom House, a non-profit organisation based in the US which advocates for democracy, human rights, and political freedom, listed two reasons why Thailand is classified as ‘not-free’. One is the dissolution of the Move Forward party by the Constitutional Court in August 2024, which ruled their election campaign pledge to amend the lèse majesté law to be an attempt to overthrow the country’s constitutional monarchy. In addition to the party’s dissolution, its executives were banned from politics for 10 years. The second reason is the Thai authorities’ decisions to repatriate activists, refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they face mistreatment, in particular the recent deportation of 40 Uyghurs back to China in late February. As for countries in the ASEAN region, Cambodia (23), Vietnam (20), Laos (13), and Myanmar (7) are classified as ‘not-free’ countries, while the Philippines (58), Indonesia (56), Malaysia (53) and Singapore (48) are classified as ‘partly-free’. The freest countries, according to the report, are Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Denmark and Ireland. Source: https://world.thaipbs.or.th/detail/thailand-called-not-free-in-recent-freedom-house-rankings/56873 On a personal note ... New Zealand?? Canada?? Ireland?!!! lol Standards must have really dropped.

Any news about this? Looking at various EU immigration websites, it seems the new regulation has not been set into place yet. :/

I don't want sensitive biometric data to be shared with unknown other entities in Thailand. Will definitely refuse at the airport.

How great, Thailand among the countries following the Western-launched panic and paranoia circus right away!

Thailand moving up the ladder, and Europe moving down: This would be a logical move!

Thai people are seemingly ready to move into digital slavery through CBDC's. Unfortunately, they lack the foresight, awareness or love of freedom to see through things like these - It's already been demonstrated with their eagerness to submit to all the provably useless but totalitarian Covid rules. With "CONVENIENCE" the puppet masters will lead people into digital slavery - once the usage ratio exceeds 80% or so, the bag will be closed and escape routes also.

In the interest of Chinese visitors, I hope this won't include potential detainment in secret police stations the Chinese are entertaining in several countries out of China. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-police-stations-security-roundup Does anyone know about Thailand's stance on that?

Payback time for his dedicated support of the medical-pharmaceutical-industrial complex since 2020. One hand washing the other.

Fartbook is very quick and effective in automatically detecting, filtering and censoring content questioning climate and corona propaganda (for example), yet for some reason, detecting scams, spam and left-wing extremism seems an unsolvable problem for this (and many other Silicon Valley) corporations. I wonder why that is? Maybe the planet just hasn't enough computer power for that, dunno.

So in fact, not the people but the parliament votes a PM in Thailand? I wasn't aware of that. Have to re-think my understanding of 'Thai democracy' now.

500 members of parliament!?! Is this new, or have there always been 500 people? Sounds an awful lot even considering the size of Thailand, but also considering that most people in there are not wealthy. That's a lot of salaries and pensions to pay for them...