TTom911

It is already in the hands of a growing list of foreign journalists, and has reached the UK Govt and Burma Gov't

what do you propose exactly we all do that has not been done?

if just a fraction of people who love Thailand show their respect and love by paying Koh Tao a little visit, have a nice and peaceful sit on the beach, play the guitar and sing along together, maybe ignoring some of the "unpopular" bars... could be a busy place all of a sudden...

What an idiotic suggestion,

If indeed people followed this suggestion many would want drinks, food etc etc..the profits of which

the so called headsmans family gets a cut.

Show respect and love for what?? 2 innocents were butchered there <deleted>.

Perhaps you should return to the 60's for some peace and love.

Fool.

you simply don't get the picture (no further comments to your language...)... emphasis, in case I was too subtle for your short-wired brain, is on "could be a busy place all of a sudden" if that should make it any easier to spark your limited imagination.......................

It is already in the hands of a growing list of foreign journalists, and has reached the UK Govt and Burma Gov't

what do you propose exactly we all do that has not been done?

if just a fraction of people who love Thailand show their respect and love by paying Koh Tao a little visit, have a nice and peaceful sit on the beach, play the guitar and sing along together, maybe ignoring some of the "unpopular" bars... could be a busy place all of a sudden...

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With some notable exceptions, Thai police are generally poorly educated and not very bright but their careers start with paying bribes to pass the police entrance exams. Those who get promoted to regional commands continue this trend but must also be aggressive and hungry with proven track records of passing enough money up the pyramids. They have to pay for plum jobs, followed by monthly fixed retainers. Jobs in tourist resorts are especially lucrative and command a premium. It is said that the Pattaya police chief job is worth B20 million a month in gross income before payment of the fixed retainer, so you can imagine how much the upfront premium might be for that job. Koh Tao and Koh Phangnan, which supervises Koh Tao, are not in the league of Pattaya, Phuket and Samui but they must also be lucrative posts. In addition to the daily crime busting work seen by the public police have responsibility to supervise a number of important businesses in partnership with local mafias, including protection rackets, illegal aliens, taxi scams smuggling of licquor, tobacco and oil, drug distribution, illegal lotteries and other forms of gambling, forest reserve encroachment, distribution of illegal cut wood etc etc.

Can you wonder that they are cosy with local mafias and resent being forced to do regular police work along with the intrusion of social media in their perfect little world?

An excellent post; those of us from West, if perhaps not exactly enamoured of the police in our own countries, at least expect a certain standard of selection, training and professionalism. In general nepotism and what one could call secular simony - payment for favours - are absent - a position of any authority has to be earned. By contrast, not just the RTP but almost any perceived lucrative profession in Thailand has the potential to be bought or 'donated'. Little wonder then at the mess that has been and continues to be made of this desperately sad murder investigation.

And it's not only the RTP, all Thai ministries are staffed by incapable people at all levels and it shows. Thailand is not moving forward on many fronts because of this factor. This is why I hope that one specific reform will be absolutely focused on this point, making nepotism and payment for promotions highly illegal and install regulations which state that promotion is based purely on the proven capability to do the higher job and specific previous high performance. And total reorganization of entrance exams, example entry exam for RTP conducted by an outside body with zero police involvement.

It will of course need a mechanism to make any new regulations work and to lock them into place. That could be through a six monthly review process whereby say 40% of all promotions, selected at random by an independent body must show, to that body, full evidence / proof that the promotions selected were based on the new criteria and with the independent body interviewing various people involved. Plus severe punishment for all people caught still engaging in this process.

Sure this is a lot of work but without something like this nothing will change.

EVERYBODY with eyes open knows that in ANY tourist destination in Thailand

- there is not a single beer you drink

- not a single taxi ride you take

- not a single night you sleep in a hotel bed

- not as single t-shirt you buy

- not a single sun bed on any beach (until they existed, that is...)

- and not a single property being developed (with mostly "illegal" foreign workers) anywhere in Thailand

without officials filling their pockets. It happens everywhere, 24/7, over decades, and it does not seem to change in any serious way.

The only good in this disastrous case in Koh Tao is that things were handled so obviously flawed that this time, with the world watching, they may not be able to cover it up anymore.

Any if they DO manage to cover it up in can only happen because "we" (their Thai compatriots, foreign governments, tourists and us TV members) just keep quite at the end and LET them get away with it. It's too much out there for them being able to sweep it under the carpet, I believe. They would need "our help"...

It wouldn't be easy in any way, but this blatant disaster can become a game changer, IF people want. And if not, then "we" just get what we deserve... and come back moaning next time...

LET'S SEE...

There are "booking.com" links on EVERY post here (just as an example). In the light of recent events, travel agencies should be FLOODED with requests to NOT sell any packages on Koh Tao (to start with). And then business owners/thai people should sue their government for damages. Easy case to prove if, while tourists are slaughtered and killers are protected, government officials openly declare their satisfaction with the corse and outcome of the RTP "investigation"...

Looks like CSI LA blocked in Thailand now.

Not for me, can still access it. Anyone else been blocked?

No its working.

"If people are "blocked" I bet they connect through TOT... They seem to block "very (over) eagerly". They block websites which you can freely access through your Thai mobile provider (on your mobile or tethered to your computer) and also other Thai, non-TOT, ISP's allow access to websites "blocked" by TOT."

Looks like CSI LA blocked in Thailand now.

Not for me, can still access it. Anyone else been blocked?

I posted it before, but just because you ask here:

"If people are "blocked" I bet they connect through TOT... They seem to block "very (over) eagerly". They block websites which you can freely access through your Thai mobile provider (on your mobile or tethered to your computer) and also other Thai, non-TOT, ISP's allow access to websites "blocked" by TOT."

The British police starting to ask questiond would be MOST appropriate. Good news... for the sake of justice and to help the families on all sides to not loose their sanity in what must be an absolute nightmare to be going through.

We all know that absolutely no Thai authority will look into any "pattern". They dont know how, and, more importanly, they simply dont want to....

No surprise there.

Well its looking more likely the killers could still be out there, while the BIB are deciding what to do next,

May I suggest the possibility this may not be such a unique event as first portrayed, others have been raped and even killed on KT recently

Time to start digging and looking for any other deaths, suicides, drownings rapes or serious beatings etc on Koh Tao and surrounding Islands over the years.

Watch the reports of rapes over this months full moon party or anything else of late like people winding up dead,

I reckon its worth looking into, a pattern may emerge.

Truth will only come out if outside pressure increases and does not fizzle out - and their high season business affected. They will try to cling on to these stories at ALL (!!!!!.....) cost.

It will also be a test for the British government if they really care what happens to their countrymen abroad, or if links between secret services, in the name of fighting terrorism, makes them to take a "soft stance" and just accept whatever the Thai police says.... "mai pen rai" British style...? Let's hope not.

Pity! Mark Kent, the UK ambassador in Bangkok, is just two letters (-Cl-) away from being just what this case needs!

unfortunately it's the same everywhere, here in th just a little more so: without the fear of (or the sudden realisation that there will be) a very public backlash and/or the wallet getting hurt badly, hardly anyone in the higher echelons gives a monkey about anything...

let's hope that the UK government is not given the excuse they need to "join the club" and conveniently shuffle it under the carpet, too... It's two of their citizens having been slaughtered ... anyone cares... ???!

Hugo Swire, the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has tweeted:

"Spoke to #Thai govt re tragic Witheridge & Miller murders. Vital investigation is fair & transparent & families have regular detailed info."

Mark Kent retweeted.

Let' just wait and see........

AI calls will anger the parents of the two British.

No respect at all.

Why....?

Cause he's a 100% Prick

"thanks" for your enormously valuable contribution... anything more meaningful to come .... !?

I have to echo the few comments pointing out that there may be a nasty accident (or suicide) befalling one (or more) of the (so called) suspects. I just can't see how the RTP are going to get this put to bed without anything else but the silencing of 'suspects'.

It has been sitting in the back of my mind for days now since this so called investigation has been pulled apart brick by brick. Or if anything, 'falling down' under it's own lack of solid foundations.

Don't be surprised to be reading about something like this in the future, especially if those in charge (and actively involved) with this 'investigation' find themselves backed into a corner and these suspects are pushing them there.

The only thing that MAY help them is fierce, harsh public spotlight, and even that may not be enough to protect them. But without objective and professional support they, and probably their families back home, will surely not stand the slightest chance. Let's hope for the best.....

I don't think McAnna is paranoid here, this Telegraph article sounds pretty believable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11113268/Terrified-Briton-flees-Thai-island-after-mafia-death-threat.html

BP reporting that Ambassador Kent was going to attend Pomyot's press conference on Tuesday then backed out. Something definitely has changed and now Amnesty International showing an interest. This is getting very big, very fast.

This is not some usual "we do as we please" case. This is a horrific, heinous violent crime of the worst kind to begin with (which seems to be forgotten a bit) and then this happens to foreigners in a tourist destination... And people STILL believe "we just deal with it the usual way and it will just disappear"... !? That is what I call MEGA DUMB... Reality will catch up FAST !

The Ambassador should be VERY careful with whom to appear "side by side" in this case...

would it be a good idea to put the two "Suspects" on suicide watch.

yeah, some people might see already some "very unfortunate accident(s)" coming... nothing can be ruled out once we get to this nasty stage...

TTom911, on 09 Oct 2014 - 11:49, said:

the heat is building up and they will be very surprised how hot it will get... maybe it becomes a "learning experience"... they will surely not "learn" without "pain" (conscience will never bee good enough for them to do "the right thing"... GOOD LUCK for AI and whoever else tries to establish the truth and bring justice !!!

You forget one thing, this is Thailand, where people get "promoted" even if nothing is learnt, it starts at school and goes on throughout their lives. Look around, how often do you see them "learn" from their failures....

I thought I made clear that I don't believe they learn(ed) anything, nor do I believe they see any reason or have any intention to learn a thing...

but the international spotlight might force their hand in a way they can't imagine even today... the international political scene of the recent years is littered with "old-school big shots" who did not realise that the "connected world" can bite EVERYONE in their a......

Let's watch this unfold in slow motion...

fighting corruption needs opening cans, and more cans, of worms, each of gigantic proportions... but this can is open now... question is what creeps out... will not be pretty, for sure... let's see...

the heat is building up and they will be very surprised how hot it will get... maybe it becomes a "learning experience"... they will surely not "learn" without "pain" (conscience will never bee good enough for them to do "the right thing"... GOOD LUCK for AI and whoever else tries to establish the truth and bring justice !!!

"reported that photographic evidence, seen by the newspaper, of the alleged abuse of three other Burmese migrant workers who said they had been scalded with boiling water during a police interrogation, had been passed to the British ambassador to Thailand Mark Kent."

“I confirm that there was no abuse of any of the suspects,” lead investigator Maj Gen Suwat Chaengyodsook"

So if the photos will be published i can name the Maj Gen officially as a Liar ?

Furthermore there is no witness anymore:

"Maung Maung didn’t witness the murder"

The whole mess for the police getting uglier and uglier,somehow it makes me happy

all lies, since day one, unfortunately EXACTLY like 90% of the TA posters suspected.... why does everyone suspect it...? Coz most are here long enough to have seen how they run their mess... No one shall call that "Thai bashing" ...

Maw may be their #3

http://www.mizzima.com/mizzima-news/regional/item/13471-rights-group-to-support-myanmar-workers-accused-in-thai-island-tourist-killings

The Migrant Worker Rights Network, based in Thailand, will seek, in cooperation with Thai officials, to gain access to the accused migrant workers, known as Win and Saw, to interview them on their past and present treatment, as well as ensure these persons understand fully their rights as accused persons under Thai law, according to the British rights activist. Another suspect known as Maw, has also been arrested.

"The team has already arrived on the ground and started work. Our mission shall seek to cooperate where necessary also with the Myanmar and British embassies, but it's important to stress that the mission itself is completely independent of any government or Thai officials," Mr Hall added.

GOOD !

"The truth and nothing but the truth" (and then the appropriate punishment) - that's all what everyone is looking for, whatever the nationality or status of the culprit(s).

I wouldn't put too much faith in the British gov., they are prone to a murder coverup when it suits them

well......... I'd wish I could disagree........