wealth

It's not out of Malaysia.It serves only as the address to pay the money to, Western Union.

About 3 years ago I saved a local HiSo as she got tagged. Yes blackberry and "tagged" social community.

Following the Ips from email conversations it originated from the UK with all the fake documents they presented as proof.

Malaysia comes last in that setting. It's a false address, People who get money via WU can actually be anywhere in the world. They only tell you they got stuck in Malaysia with some of their suitcases and gifts etc..

Pattaya is a disgusting toilet. I honestly have no idea why anyone besides a creepy sex tourist would want to visit there.

What an incredibly narrow minded and ignorant statement. There are many other things to do in the Pattaya area rather than visiting bars and hookers and there are many Expats that are happily married, with families who like living in the area. I know because I am one of them.

I am not allowed to post a link, but try Googling 50 things to do in Pattaya you might just be surprised.

I do understand both statements.

BUT I've been there once and it only confirmed my gut feelings I had before and thought it's filthy.

No, not about the Russians or any other nationalities.

All the hapless attempts to change the image of this place won't work.

There's still the aura of Schizophrenia embedded in it's roots.

Casting Pearls in front of swines comes to mind.

With ASEAN coming things will change for worse.

A GHETTO with money will turn into a slum as it was designed so a long time ago and not limited to Pattaya only. Pattaya was designed as a cash cow for Thailand from Thais. This should explain it. No matter what noble programs one thinks to achieve there, it won't work. When you live there you are only part of this cash cow and as long as it gives milk it's alright.

When you live there you are walking in the aura of Schizophrenia and nothing will change that until the Thais get really serious about it. The chances are close to zero.

Watch the arms trade for the underground in Rayong near Pattaya.

I remind everybody here that on most balconies of these hotels/condominiums , the railing is incredibly low. A foreigner is mostly taller than a Thai, let's say by at least one head taller. This leads to the rails reach only to the lower hip, so if you are a bit dizzy, smoking or phoning on the balcony and lean against the rail in a manner you would be used to on a balcony in the West, it's already to late. You would loose balance and just flip over the rail - and welcome to the Pattaya Flying Club . . .!

Now how many times to people fall in their apartments and houses? Never a female though. Are they more aware of the low railings?

Think again.

I never fall over a chair, couch or something like that when I lean on it.

Not true. A few days ago a Japanese lady fell from the second floor. Well, at least that is where she left the balcony, wether by hersel or with help, is not quite clear. As usual in Thailand.

heard about that and as far as know it's under investigation.

Now anyone tell us please about other countries where people fall from balconies in droves.

Sure this is a common problem in corrupted Thailand. Pay money to the Police bosses and you can do whatever you want. Check the car park at Police box Jomtien Beach!!

Now there is a center. Who is GM there? Talking about the big hotel there. Still Victor the Russian? He was as I remember 14 years ago. Set up by locals to launder what?

Thais don't care from where the money comes from. And as long as the money flows as illegal as possible it's alright. So who is to blame?

You will also realize that with the large presence of Russians there you don't get bothered to much.

Unlike the Germans who were there before, and/or the Americans, the Russians brought in more money than the others before. That's it all about. The love for money.

I remind everybody here that on most balconies of these hotels/condominiums , the railing is incredibly low. A foreigner is mostly taller than a Thai, let's say by at least one head taller. This leads to the rails reach only to the lower hip, so if you are a bit dizzy, smoking or phoning on the balcony and lean against the rail in a manner you would be used to on a balcony in the West, it's already to late. You would loose balance and just flip over the rail - and welcome to the Pattaya Flying Club . . .!

Now how many times to people fall in their apartments and houses? Never a female though. Are they more aware of the low railings?

Think again.

I never fall over a chair, couch or something like that when I lean on it.

it's a "research" with wrong hints and packed with assumptions.

It is organized, but not the way as described here. It is organized by locals through an extensive network. Blackmailing is just a small part of it.

As a Thai man I know describes it "Thai Mafia is very nice, not like others". This man comes from a reputable family and is not involved - yet.

Furthermore it's a trade that involves far more than prostitution. It's about drugs, weapons, realty and money laundering which is now more rampant than ever before. Follow the track about 4 and 5 star facilities. Like never before, there's a hunt over these premises all over the country.

Yesterday's report over a fast sinking Bangkok and nearby provinces was put up on a purpose for a Dubai local(easy to guess) to take over for a cheaper price. He has many businesses running and under cover. Why would one think that this Dubai local would not resort to the underground to satisfy his greed?

This article, shame on Huf or AOL, was put up to serve the same purpose. Poor quality. It doesn't matter, people will believe and chew it anyway.

To clean up Pattaya takes about 20 years and only when there's a real focus on it.

mercy mercy

but only after they name 10 others each. either dealers or abusers. this will lead to the top. many of you will wonder what's that like.

Nobody wonders why there were hardly any arrests of whiteys for a long long time? what about Indians? Better people?

So who is catering to them?

In the past the head of the drug barons just downed aircrafts and did other nasty things.Money laundering and so forth.

This time it will be an avalange to the top. Worldwide!

No more cherry picking one by one.

The Time has come!

A racist article blaming non Thais for the prostitution situation here in LOS. Yes people come here for sex but the majority of users are Thai men. Blame tourists for the mess that pattaya and Phuket for example have become. Blame them for nana, cowboy etc, but these are just new forms of a Thai prostitution scene that existed long before sex tourism kicked in.

Or before the Viet Nam war. The 'high so' Thais have always used the poorer women.

I think if you do the research back to the Ayutthaya Kingdom the reverse is also the case.

In fact, the image can be traced back to the 17th century when junk merchants regularly passed through the kingdom. Christoph Carl Fernberger von Egenberg, for example, described Siamese women as "excessively lewd.

History's wanton womenThe journal of a 17th-century Austrian merchant offers a lopsided view of Siam's lewd ladies.

As far as I remember he realized the women in front of their huts hanging around and when they saw strangers most of them came up with "pai nai? pai due" (Where you go? I go with you)

The difference? - That time no drugs. So in fact it's now worse than 300 years ago.

BTW, they all shut up when you tell them that the planet has the same age for everyone. The apologists stumble and fall bitter in their conceit.

REPRESENTATIONAL PROBLEMS:

Thai prostitution is a representational problem. The exact nature of surrounding issues is unknown. What is known, is that sex-slavery is foremost an issue of poverty, and is run by politicians, business people, military generals, police chiefs and is supported by the World Bank, international airlines and hotel chains.

It is a cultural problem; an educational problem; a problem of political corruption; a problem of making the correct distinctions between sex-slaves and sex workers; a health problem; a problem of exploitation; a social problem; a problem of misdirected self-interests; a problem of carelessness; a problem of putting the economy before humanity. It is a problem that needs to be addressed both locally and internationally.

SURROUNDING ISSUES:

Prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world, but that is not to say it is not a normal part of human social formation. So-called sex-work is prominent within sexually suppressed societies however, it is rare in societies that are otherwise sexually permissive. This difference illustrates that prostitution is not a universal social norm. Moreover, some experts argue that prostitution is an abnormal form of promiscuity that develops from strict governance of sexuality within a society.

Women who do not consider themselves sex-slaves resent organizations that deny them the right to make a living in the way they see fit. Some have argued that Western countries take a patronizing approach towards non-western women by ignoring sex-work as an issue of personal income and labor. Furthermore, placing all sex-workers into the same category, casting them as victims, denies them the chance of participating in the decision making process that affects their own future and does not respect for them as people who deserve positive rights.

Vigilantes have raided brothels in the past to rescue slaves but have not been aware of the fact that they put not only the lives of the sex-workers at risk but also their families. Many girls escape their rescuers for this reason, or because they did not consider themselves in need have being rescued in the first place. Some girls may even escape out of fear of being killed by brothel owners.

In Thailand, children are the property of their parents and it is culturally acceptable for them to do with them whatever they wish to protect their livelihoods. Thailand’s government celebrates the economic benefits of prostitution, developing a highly successful national plan to support its “sex-tourist industry”, despite its connections to child prostitution. Thailand’s current period of dramatic economic growth – labeled the “Asian Miracle” is reliant on the sex-tourist industry. The demand for new prostitutes has increased, resulting in the widespread recruitment of child prostitutes through debt peonage arrangements in small brothels.

Many Thai foundations claim to help the victims of child prostitution but merely coerce them into sweatshop work by subjecting them to arrest without warrant.

Evangelical Christian's, exploit the issue of sex slavery to grow their follower base and political strength. Their captors and their rescuers so heavily exploit these women and children and as such, the line between captors and rescuers has become increasingly blurry. Hence, the true voice and story of these girls is unheard. Self-styled US vigilantes have raided brothels in the past to rescue women, which resulted in gun battles and other disappointing results. For example, girls rescued in these raids and similar escape from their rescuers within the first 24 hours. 678 girls reported that Trafcord [an anti-trafficking NGO] continually interrogated them as if they were hardened criminals and are threatened their release will be delayed if they do not reveal the identity of their traffickers.

The Thai State government depresses agricultural prices, which enables landowners and loan sharks to exploit farmers and accumulate capital. This is because Thailand did not have a history of technological development or capital formation. The ruling class sought to specialize in sex-tourism to stimulate the accumulation of capital. The growth of the Thai economy is based on impoverishment of peasants and intensive exploitation of labor. Peasants are indebted, incomes plummet as prices decline, forcing many into low paid industrial and 'service' employment.

Since prostitution is illegal in Thailand it is difficult to estimate exactly how many girls are work in the sex tourist industry. However, the total estimate is around 2,000,000. 800,000 of which are teenagers and children.

Thanks K Nattapon for this contribution

Getting closer!

Rather soon there will be more revelation.

poorly researched, really.

This kind of business comes in many flavors, more dangerous than presented here.

Until recently 95%(maybe still that high) of the girls and boys were fed drugs and/or involved in trading, big and small through their organized networking. Sometime as statists to fill a space with friends when a trade is coming, sometime as messengers, sometimes as mules and and and and ... most of the Streetwise were and aren't aware of what's going on. They just follow the call of their superiors.

This is going to become explosive and probably on purpose. Mexico would be a safer option than here then.

Here are as many female and male pimps under the protection of (cough)... and (cough cough) ... so far a little to the farang scene

It gets even worse when you dig into the local scene. Money laundering is a huge issue, not just the drugs alone. After a recent few stern warnings the drug issue calmed down just to regroup again. Some escape(d) to the farang scene.

Most of these girls and boys are coming from the local scene, some change, others not.

There was a funny case years ago in Austria. The minister of defense and his arm trader friends built a huge luxury brothel, something like you see here in Ratchada. People were not stupid and soon after that it was turned int a Alco Rehab center and the minister committed suicide. 555 ...

Copy/paste that Thailand. The Way to go.

Rehab centers are most needed here for to combat drugs and alcohol AND ... All here to use. What are you waiting for?

No, you can't wipe it out completely, but reduce it to become bearable.

just a thought. Let them never ever touch money on duty again. If they have to write a ticket, 7/11 would be the solution to pay at. No more double book keeping. Some I suspect did or do.

This would do the trick.

This way the face of the good cops can be saved as well

It could have all been avoided by a curfew.

It could all have been avoided If Thailand could find some way of getting rid of the Muslims, or at least closing down their Mosques, there's a war going on down there, and also in other Muslim infected countries that the UK and US among others are fighting in. Get rid of the Muslims and you get rid of the trouble, but unfortunately, it's been left too late.

if you steal something and the owner complains about it and wants to attack you .Then the sollution is to get rid of the owner ?

It seems you dont know sh#t about the problem,you dont know thais stole a complete malay kingdom and tries to make them speak thai and convert them

to budism? You did not know this ?

Why do you give stupid comments like that,if you dont know sh#t about it?

Learn your history and you will understand the problems .

It was a Sultanate though and not a kingdom. Non of the people living now have experienced what it was about before. This could be a shadow arguement.

I think this is one of the major problems to fight for something that no one really knows for what and thus keep the fight going on through arguments that are not convincing.

If you are or were an owner down there protect your property by humble means. As it is the eternal wisdom, the humble and meek shall inherit the world.

Violence is no solution.

words fail me and must do so with everyone who has common sense.

If true, this was the most unqualified comment by a person in a position like he is - ever.

This must be a slap into the face of every good cop. Yes, there are good ones and even walk the extra mile.

What a disgraceful comment he made.

All I can say to Thailand is thanks for a job well done!!

Yes, the marines did their job. But what are the underlying root causes?

These are not Muslims but greedy land grabbers -

they pretend to benefit the poor but just want to get rich...

they don't care about anyone or anything except riches for themselves.

The army should protect the locals by coming down on these "Gunmen"

so they cannot steal more land from the poor.

Possible!

Rubber farms and other assets are indeed in demand, because they make high profits without much work. Killings about this happens everywhere in the South and not just in the 3 provinces.

First, they need to come down on the drug traders, then on the weapon suppliers. This could be easily obtained by accepting international support in form of surveillance and logistic. Not wanted. Why? Could it turn out that there're deals like which are underway near Krabi for an Island for 350 million Baht by locals? Money laundering?

Hell, everyone down there knows who's who. These are tiny villages where people know each other and know what everyone is doing at any given time. One just can't prepare attacks like this with local Muslims from there. Hell yes, some are short fused in between, no wonder, really. This is not to excuse anyone. Everyone must stand responsible for the deeds they commit.

But this is all politic-ed to cover the real aim.

It has system and is well organized, or not so well. Very revealing when considering all circumstances.

It could have all been avoided by a curfew.

It could all have been avoided If Thailand could find some way of getting rid of the Muslims, or at least closing down their Mosques, there's a war going on down there, and also in other Muslim infected countries that the UK and US among others are fighting in. Get rid of the Muslims and you get rid of the trouble, but unfortunately, it's been left too late.

As long as the real cause "CORRUPTION" is not identified as such, nothing will change. This also explains why they try to keep out international support on that matter.

If some as individual go down there you stand a 99.99% of getting killed by Thai Mafia and not the local Muslims. I bet on that too.

I have to say that and I'm not a Muslim either.

Why is there a power march against drug barons originating from the South? The locals there know well what's going on. Nobody or not many support their aim.

I guess the same that supply the drugs supply the weapons too. I'd bet on that.

A long history of business style practice. So there must be a very close connection with local underground and less Malay underground.

How far that goes up in the hierarchy in Thailand and elsewhere is an open secret.

any prisoners taken? If not, why?

Staged?

Think about with the mindset of a youngster down there, No education, job, money and no hope for life. Suddenly there are contacts and access to modern weapons, a few meetings and there you go.

Hell yes, all had their day. The youngsters could release their energy in the fight(nothing to lose) and the army looks good now.

Will anything change? I guess not. Unless I see POW from that incident I tend to suspect that this was staged from (a kind of) within.

This is not to blame the army, they just did their job. But what if it was staged? Not possible you think?

Where does the Thai underground go for weapons? There's a famous place for that, or used to be.

This is not looking good...I'm getting a little worried.

http://lunarscience.nasa.gov/articles/doomsday-2012-fact-sheet/

why not apply for a new calendar tomorrow?

Normal procedure. No?

But then you need to convert the numbers to the number of people to get the real picture.These stats show just the number of cases

www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms

My warmest welcome & applaud on the government's decision to have free WiFi everywhere! Best thing they did for the public. Now we just have to wait to see if they carry it through....

Only for people with Thai ID cards. You have to register with your ID card number.

sent from my Q6

Not true. It works for everyone, also foreigners who must use passport number to log in online. Touristic areas will be likely jammed though.

I'm all for some gun control, but what happened here was a failure of our health care system, or lack there of. Please also notice that a man in China stabbed 22 children yesterday.

Well, guns can't be controlled and shouldn't. They were made for this.

But people who own guns should be controlled with tough psychological tests. Random check on gun owners to see how they conceal their guns so to keep it out of reach for everyone.

This will create new jobs as well.

every religion is about money, power and control. Bad apples are everywhere.

Buddhism, Christian and others when they not stick to the original teachings have always distorted the truth. It's mainly political concepts.

It took me decades to find and decipher the Gospel of Thomas, which was banned by religious staff. It's the most revealing one and not far from the teaching of Lord Buddha.

The truth will set you free!

OPT IN FOR FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY

... link to that can be obtained by message ...

If Boonlert calls it off means trouble's just starting. This could spray all over the city and country

This is a very serious setting, all set for violence also by the govt.