MikeENZ

I haven't read Mapping Siam - looks interesting

I agree that history of Thailand is essential reading for anyone intending to stay here any length of time, and that the "official" interpretations of Thai history are risible......but which "History of Thailand" are you suggesting you don't cite the authors or ISBN?

the Baker/Phongpaichit is a great book, but the Wyatt in my opinion doesn't really even qualify as a proper history book.

Sorry - I meant Baker's book.

I really should have included amazon links.

The Thais will hate me for saying this, but heck .. Even the territory that we now know as Bangkok used to be Khmer territory at some stage, back centuries ago.

Note that they have not been armed with "Service Handguns" - they have been armed with 2700 Heckler & Koch HK33 5.56mm Army issue assault rifles. I'm all for the right to bear arms and defend oneself. But this isn't exactly the right to bear arms, this is the military arming a quazi fascist militia with a history of human rights abuses in one of the most mafia dominated parts of Thailand.

One only has to read the history of the Red Guar and Village Scouts in the 1970s to see how this will end.

It was set up by the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) of the Thai military to counter the country's students movement after the democratic revolution of October 1973.^[2] Major-General Sudsai Hasadin has been reported being its main organizer.^[1] From mid-1974 on, the paramilitary organization's units were publicly armed with firearms and grenades. Afterwards, they enjoyed practical immunity to criminal prosecution, or even warnings from police or army staff. The Red Gaurs violently attacked demonstrators at the protests against individual articles of the 1974 constitution, against U.S. military bases in Thailand, and at the protests against the return of deposed military dictators Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien.^[2]

The Village Scouts were also deployed to counter the protests of the pro-democracy and students movement. They were called via radio to occupy strategic points in all major towns during the protests against US bases in the country and against the return of ousted military dictators Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien. The probably best-known, and most impactful, mission of the Village Scouts was during the anti-leftist rally that led to the Thammasat University massacre on 6 October 1976,^[3] in which at least 46 people were killed and the subsequent coup d'état and return to military rule.

By more and more appealing to urban, right-wing conservatives, the organization gradually moved away from its poor, rural base.^[2] The movement fizzled out during the 1980s.

Does anyone actually believe for a second that the Thai's even have their hand on the Ebola virus to experiment on, and that they are experimenting on it in the very same hospital that the people who we cannot legally discuss often receive treatment, let alone have developed a cure.

I simply cannot believe that the Thais would keep one of the most feared viruses in the world, even for experimentation and study, in the same building as two of the most sacred people in their culture.

Former Crown Prince Paras Shah (on the left) following his arrest for possession of methamphetamine and marijuana on Wednesday.

http://nongkhainewsonline.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-post_17.html

Damn he looks like he's been on the pipe a bit. Check out this photo compared to older photos on Google. Either he's been on massive weight loss programme.. or its the meth.

Wow, its like he is channeling the ghost of Phibun from beyond the grave. Back when Pad Thai was introduced to stop xenophobic and nationalist Thais from eating noodles from the Chinamen.. (even though it was a knock off of Thai noodles and designed to have people eating less rice, but you get the picture)

The daily grind of bribe taking and extortion does take its toll on your mental health.

The rabid PDRC Fans hate her, as do the supporters of fascism, which is good enough for me to support her. She wasn't scared of butting heads with the locals over sensitive issues, and faced some fairly severe threats from some of the more bat**** crazy ones in the land of smiles who couldn't understand that the official policy of the US was to support democracy rather than military dictatorship.

Hopefully she is replaced with someone else who isn't afraid to criticise, as opposed to the wet blanket that the UK embassy appears to have. I'm sure that if it was a US citizen that was killed in Koh Tao that she would be moving mountains to ensure something was done about it.

Does that mean they'll be tearing all the beach resorts down in the Gulf of Thailand?

Its still ridiculous that you need a work permit (along with thai staff and registered capital) just to run a booth at a trade show or conference.

Koh Tao Murders: Accused recant confessions, tell embassy lawyer they were tortured

Two migrant workers from Myanmar recanted their confessions today, telling a lawyer from the Burmese embassy they did not kill David Miller and Hannah Witheridge last month on Koh Tao.

Attorney Aung Myo Thant from the Burmese Embassy made his comments after meeting with the two men, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, who Thai police said had confessed to the crime.

In Burmese media reports, the lawyer said the two men told him they only confessed because they were forced to under torture.

"They told me that they were on the beach that night drinking and singing songs,” he said. “They said they didn't do it, that the Thai police (along with their Burmese-Thai translator) beat them until they confessed to something they didn't do. They're pleading with the Burmese government to look into the case and find out the truth. They were a really pitiful sight. Their bodies had all sorts of bruises. I have already reported all that I have seen today to my government."

Aung Myo Thant characterized it as a “set up” that wasn’t based on evidence.

He added that he was denied access to a third suspect originally detained, Maung Maung, because police said he is “a crucial witness” they do not want interference with.

Meanwhile Thai police authorities today said they’d met with Myanmar representatives who were “satisfied” with the results of their investigation.

UPDATED: Story was updated to reflect full names of suspects as reported by Burmese media.

Source: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/10/07/koh-tao-murders-accused-men-recant-confessions-tell-embassy-lawyer-they-were-tortured

CSILA facebook page is suggesting (based on my attempt to decypher google translate) that they worked at AC2 bar.... is anyone surprised?

Generally its expected to kick back 30% or thereabouts to the guy above you.

Agreed, most of it likely goes up the food chain... kicked back to the chief of police in the region. I've heard figures of millions of dollars being paid for chief of police positions in areas such as phuket, pattaya, phangan etc... and they've gotta recoup their investment somehow.

One wonders how much of this is donated to certain places which I won't mention due to forum rules in order to make merit and gain barami.

Some quick maths.

There are 2000 migrant workers paying 500 baht a month in bribes to the local police. That works out to be 1 million baht a month, or 12 million baht a year.

Converted into US Dollars thats around $370,000 USD per year in bribes just from the burmese workers (not counting bribes from businesses who employ farang in the Dive or bar industry). There are anywhere from 5-7 permanent police officers. Assuming there are 5, these cops are pulling in $74,000 USD per year in bribes, just from Burmese workers.

A new police officers salary is 7200 baht per month (86,400 per year / $2662 USD) and can rise to a maximum of around 70,000 baht per month (840k baht per year or around $26,000 USD). This means that that the average cop is pulling anywhere from 3 to 27 times their annual salary in bribes.

That is absolutely INSANE !

Is this just a Malaysian newspaper trying to spread dirt about Thailand? Is there any Thai news report on this?

It was in Reuters as well.