Yann55

On 26/09/2016 at 6:28 AM, NongKhaiKid said:

What happens if the PM was to manage to completely negate the Shin influence, where would he be without a bogeyman ?

Great dilemma for him, does he claim having rid the country of an evil influence and look for a new threat or roll with a version of ' Return Of The Bogeyman ' ?

Exactly.

Well, he could always switch to blaming the foreigners even more than he already does, in and out of the country, for all the problems, present, past and future.

Blaming foreigners always works in politics, and a lot of Western politicians (one of them actually running for president in the USA)  are now singing that tune with great success. Thaksin was pretty good at it too.

... and the mountain gave birth to a mouse ...

'Hell's Angels' ... one word is not in the right place here.

These guys with their big bikes, small d*cks, big bellies and ridiculous poneytails (*) are the scum of the earth, and all the posters who more or less condone their action because it was 'fair retaliation' are Neanderthals too. After they pay the compensation, I hope they are kicked out of this country for good. Thailand imports enough Western sh*t already.

When Thais attack in groups they are called the worst names here (and rightly so) but when it's these pathetic overtattoed ageing gorillas, suddenly it's OK ? Shame on them and those who support this kind of primitive violence.

(*) as one of my friends likes to say : "under every poneytail, there is an ars*hole".

Just now, alofthailand said:

idiot traveller

And you, of course, aloofposter, have never forgotten anything anywhere... so it's OK to call other people idiots from up there on your high horse ...

3 hours ago, Scott said:

I think you will find that the US does not condone this.   That is why there are laws against it.   I think you will find out that if the captain is found guilty he will be doing a long stretch in prison.   Human trafficking is right up there with child sexual abuse charges as far as the judicial system is concerned.  

 

If he is returned to Vietnam, it will probably be in an urn.

Quote : They have since been issued visas for victims of human trafficking and are living in the San Francisco area.

Yes, sometimes the US do the right thing, and not only the righteous posturing. So let's not be negative about it and when I read that phrase about the visas I think to myself : there are still a lot of things and people to love in that country (racist Trump not being one of them).

3 hours ago, CelticBhoy said:

We were due a "thumbs up for Thailand" piece of news about now.

 

Can't have all that negative publicity piling up   

O c'mon Celtic, don't be such a ... Western expat in Thailand ...

Even if it is a communication stint, what's wrong with that, in this particular case, as long as it's a true story ? Should the media publish only horrible stuff ? Wait, that's what they do, most of the time, isn't it, and the News should really be renamed the Bad News.

This lady (btw I love the hesitation with the pronouns in the beginning of the article, it is sooooo Thai) did avoid a nightmare and it was thanks to the airport staff efficiency. Nothing wrong with reporting it, wouldn't you say ?

20 hours ago, timewilltell said:

Sadly Thailand has a warped conxept when it comes to their laws. The people involved do not understand the centuries of refinements based on sound principles of justice because they have no understanding of those principles at all. This is the result of copying and pasting bits of law systems from Gernany France and the UK and then messing them altogether without any understanding of what they are doing or having a general set of principles to guide them

 

The same thing is going on with the constitution, mired in petty detail with no common thread of basic principles and seeking to serve the self interests of those in power.  Of course it is dooned to failure yet again. They would do far better having a constitution based on a set of fundamental principles and holding all laws proposed to those principles. At least the ordinary Thai might have some understanding of those principles rather than hundreds of clauses of double speak they are presented with and really can't be bothered to read as they know it is all BS.

 

Criminal laws are laws made to tackle types of crime which have an impact on the state and society as a whole. Civil laws are meant to manage dusputes of a more personal contractual nature. How then one must ask oneself does reporting on the abuse of migrant labour by a private company affect the state or society? In fact how does defamation of anyone constitute a crime against society as a whole? It is only words, nothimg to do with state secrets and solely to do with money- in other words a civil matter. The criminal defamation law is a nonsense and regularly abused.

 

The other weird fact is that criminal defamation cases - well any criminal case - can be privately brought. This is wrong since the criminal laws are supposed to be against society, society through the public prosecutor should be bringing those cases not any ass who wants to gain some leverage for monetary gain. The whole sysyem is a $&$€ up.

Thanks for that post, you obviously know what you are talking about and it's refreshing on this Forum ...

Of course we also need to ask ourselves why so many non Western countries ended up aping laws, constitutions and systems which suit them about as well as a bishop's hat on the head of a football player.

5 hours ago, jamesbrock said:

Who cares about slaves and exploited minorities when there is face and company profits to consider? 

Which is exactly what giant corporations across the world think and apply ... except for the 'face aspect', I guess (although it's called 'image' in Western corporate lingo and it does have a huge importance as well) ...

These mastodons have teams of 'communication specialists' (read propaganda and manipulation wizards) who know a thousand ways to avoid being scrutinized and caught by Human Right organizations, and even when they do get caught they find cunning solutions to finagle their way out of the media mess, so ... what do we do now ? Focus on the strictly Thai problem and thereby miss the bigger picture, or acknowledge and address the dark side of capitalism everywhere ?

5 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

You don't think there was money changing hands...just arrived in Thailand today?  ??

Your attitude stinks, Mr Knowsitall, like it often does, in too many of your comments.

Frankly it looks like a swimming pool for gays to me ... I may be short sighted but I don't see one lady in there ... I have nothing against naturism, when i was a kid my parents sometimes took the family to naturist camps and it was OK, mostly ... except for a few rancid and obviously obsessed perverts who lurked around and are probaby unavoidable in this kind of place.

Again the problem is not naturism, it's hypocrisy.

Quote : how on earth could this happen in this day and age.

Well, I guess you'd have to go to Thailand But wait, i've seen some pretty hysterical vehicles in India, South American countries and (probably top of the list on that particular skill) African countries, where they'll easily make a amphibious vehicle out of two bicycles, a few old tyres and a lawn-mower (or was it a coffe grinder?) engine

You gotta love this country !!

22 hours ago, Scott said:

My God, they must have used a lubricant to get them all in there.  

Quote : Blandford, a fluent Thai speaker, had reportedly spent time as a Buddhist monk and had taught English to school children in Fang.

A remarkably lenient verdict indeed ... so lenient that one might need to read again the above quote from the article in order to understand the leniency ... Some expats obviously know how to handle their problems the local way ...

I don't care if I'm being politically incorrect, but I find most of the 'Toms' in Thailand just as unpalatable as the outrageous ladyboys. Both are caricatures and both are highly detrimental to quiet, respectable lesbians and transsexuals. If I belonged to one of the latter categories, I would be furious at these clowns who remind me of those white guys who painted their faces black back in the 30s, and played jazz in clubs that would not allow black people in. It's despicable and shocking.

These Toms thoroughly hate men, yet they act like the most revolting caricatures of the male sex. How utterly stupid is that ?

God, I hope this piece of brainless sh*t gets what SHE deserves for harming that poor kid.

Quote : He cited one case where an unnamed company was doing 1000 million baht of business but paying only 100,000 baht in tax.

You don't say ...

20 hours ago, Alive said:

The worst thing about today in Thailand is no one really cares. This guy can go to jail and be forgotten. Thais don't even know what happens in their country and when they hear they don't care. No one gets upset and angry about the abuse going on . No ones cares and the western world with its business first attitudes empowers the abusive governments and corporations. The world needs an enema!

Sir, you make some very valid points in this post and the one you made just before. But it seems that your (justified) anger keeps you from seeing the bigger picture. In the first post, for example, you say that Thais and expats are waking up to the reality of this regime, but you do realize, don't you, that this defamation thing has been going on for a long time ? It's here to protect not a regime, but the rich and powerful. The regimes themselves actually have no other agenda, other than to serve and to protect ... the rich. That is what they've all been doing. The posturing, the words, the declarations, that's just wind, never mind what color code.

You also narrow the issue when you say that the problem 'in Thailand' today is that no one really cares. Even though it's entirely true, the problem is a lot wider than that. In the Western world, people don't care a bit either, they just react (and for a very short period) to what the media decide to put forward, and that in turn is why and how terrorist organizations terrorize the 'civilized' world : they manipulate the media, who in turn manipulate the public.

There is less and less concern, all over the world, for deeper and more meaningful issues such as Human Rights, because the general trend is to focus on oneself, the perfect illustration of this being the 'selfie', which should really be re-named the selfish.

People around the world are engulfed, lost, hypnotized in screens, big, medium or small, which are the sociological version of the black hole. To adress that problem, we need first to see it for what it is, as it is, and to see how huge it is. But most humans simply do not see it, because it's extremely difficult to be both 'in the car' and 'watching the car go by'. It's also called thinking out of the box, and it poses a challenge that few people actually grasp, even though the expression itself is very common.

1 hour ago, toho said:

See the place of this item in the menu: next to the article with the headline: "We love Thailand".

 

A valid point but saying 'We love Thailand' is just as absurd as saying 'We hate Thailand', isn't it ? In both cases, it's a simplistic statement, based on stereotypes and preconceived ideas. The fact is, sh*t happens in this country, yes, but good things happen too. Same can be said of any country, and all the nationalistic chanting, whether it's positive or negative, is essentially absurd because nationalism is absurd.

As for the fact that this guy beat up the youth in front of everyone, without any fear of consequences, his connection (real or not) with the army, the fact that no one intervened, now that is quite revealing of a problem this country has in its relationship to authority. Other countries have it too, especially in Asia where Confucius established a pyramidal society which still prevails nowadays beyond  the various political systems and religions.

To understand the sociological founding of how most Thais relate to authority (a subtle mix of subservience and defiance), one needs to go and see what happens in Thai schools. That is where the program is force fed into malleable little brains, where it usually reamins for good, because what we learn before 9 is not just information, it becomes part our identity. Seeing it, adressing it, not to mention changing it, is extremely difficult.

19 hours ago, steelepulse said:

I wonder who put the money in to begin with?  If I was a betting man I'd say it wasn't her.

 

Why "Danish Farang" instead of Danish man?

 

 

Because 80% of Thais are racist. That's why.

They are racist not because they are Thai but because they are ordinary humans, ie afraid of what they don't know and understand, envious of what they don't have, and because one government after another (never mind what color code) has been encouraging them to be racist and to blame foreigners for every problem that plagues this country. That's not specifically Thai either, hey M/Mrs Trump, Boris Johnson, Marine Le Pen, Erdogan, Wilders, etc etc etc ?

80% of people around the world are racist. The ones who are not are civilized. That's what civilization is : an acquired taste.

This story is sure gonna help solve the problem of racism and xenophobia in Thailand .... Not.

7 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

as far as carrying the passport around, there have been numerous posts on Thai Visa.  The official rule and law is still unclear.  Most believe that carrying color photocopy of the ID page and the current visa stamp page are sufficient.  But I have heard of cases where the police still drag you down to the station.  If traveling alone, I don't know what else one could do.  There is nobody I could send to go to my hotel room safe and fetch my passport for the police to see.  Or maybe the police will go with you to your hotel at their leisure which might take some hours or days before they get around to it while you languish in the jail? 

 

Come on Thailand, make a universal statement on what is sufficient for tourists to do.  Most tourists would never want to carry their passport around with them at all times, and locking it up in the hotel safe is the best thing to do.  Carry copy for sure

Right on spot gk. Couldn't be worded better.

There is NO WAY I'll carry my passport around because I do NOT wish to find myself in the nightmarish situation of losing it or worse, having it stolen.

This topic has been going on and on and on. The authorities issue one contradictory statement after another, and it's exasperating. But even if they did finally issue a clear and definitive order saying that foreigners must carry their passport on them at all times, I'll just go Thai, meaning I will know the law and won't respect it. If a cop tells me to drink tap water I also won't do it. Simple.

If the cops can't understand the common sense in that, well, Phuket.

They're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.

And, Jamesbrock, I totally get your point, but 'costly, failed, poorly implemented schemes' are one thing, and schemes implemented for the sole purpose of enriching private individuals are another.

Frankly, in my eyes, the problem is not that Yingluk is being held financially responsible for her faults (yes, faults, not mistakes), but that so many other politicians, in this country and around the world, get away with stealing mountains of money from their countries, ie from the people who voted for them, thereby turning the frail system of democracy into a pathetic farce and taking us all slowly but surely towards totalitarian regimes.

OMG ... Farang bar owners actually get fleeced by the local mafia  authorities in this country ? You don't say ...

Post #1 calls the guy an idiot ... now, that's a bit rough, but come on ... is there one Westerner who decided to open a bar anywhere in this country without knowing exactly what he was up against ?

The only thing you can do safely in the Land of Smiles is retire. Running a business ? Especially a business that deals with alcohol, night life, and the butterfly trade ? Nah, thank you very much. And look at the guys who do it here ... frankly, 90% of them look like they just walked out of prison. Not exactly a bunch of naive, kosher, law abiding entrepreneurs, ...

4 hours ago, Falcon said:

Is this  guy serious? I e been living here the last 22 years and the country is just about at its most unhappy and unsmiling point that I have ever seen it. Maybe prayut is confusing seeing people smile with those with indigestion, just like a pained 'smile' (most call it grimace!!), from a baby with colic!

LOL ...

Actually if you've been living here for 22 years, i'm sure you've heard the Thais use the expression 'yim Siam' ... which litterally means Thai smile, but really means 'totally fake and hypocritical smile' ... It's very interesting and revealing that the Thais themselves would joke about it, don't you think ? Revealing of two things : ONE that the famous Thai smile can in fact be many different kinds of smiles, including the most revoltingly hypocritical one, and TWO that Thais have a wonderful sense of self-deprecating humour, which is one of the most subtle kinds ...

19 minutes ago, GAZZPA said:

Goodness me, Is this man really so blind. Just because he uses the press to announce nonsense like this doesn't make it so.

 

So many people are unhappy about the situation right now, I hear it everywhere. I see empty restaurants, businesses closing down, increase in crime.

 

This man needs to stop kidding himself and everyone else and get over himself.

 

Thai people deserve better then this, so much better. Comedy, amateur politics for sure.

About your first statement ... of course you're right about the fact that printing a phrase or saying it on TV doesn't make it right.

But in effect ... looking around, we see a LOT of people actually taking what the media say for granted ... and 'communication', which most of the time is the polite word for propaganda, is largely - if not entirely - based on the assumption that the 'masses' are very easy to manipulate, precisely because they tend to gobble it all without 'thinking too much' as the Thais would say ...

No later than yesterday (or the day before), on this very Forum, I read a comment by an expat - I assume a British expat - who expressed suprise because a large discrepancy had appeared between what he had read in the Sun ... and reality (or perhaps just another version of it). He started with : 'I don't understand ... the Sun says' ... at which point I fell off my chair with laughter, because obviously a lot of people actually think that the Sun (and its twin the Daily Mirror) are serious newspapers, and that whatever they say can be relied on.

It's bloody scary, is what it is !

1 hour ago, freebyrd said:

 

On my first day in BKK in '88 I had to massage my face before bed as I had never smiled so much. I was living in Hong Kong at the time so it was quite a contrast.

 

When I vist BKK now I don't even interact with anyone unless it's absolutely necessary. No smiles and even though I am a competent Thai speaker, I have tired of speaking Thai to many that seem to resent it.

 

All that said, technology and the ubiquitous smartphone has destroyed interaction in societies in many parts of the world.

I am sooooo in tune with you on that one. Every word you wrote I could have written.

And you're so right about the damn smartphones ... these so-called 'means of communication' which are in fact so actively and effectively destroying real communication.

Sitting in the Skytrain and watching lines of people lost in their hopeless little screens is one depressing sight.

Your first phrase is very funny ... and very true.

To add a positive note, though, I'd like to point out that even though I've witnessed the slow fading of smiles in BKK over the past 30 years or so, every time I come back from Europe where it's ten times worse, I keep telling myself 'hey, compared to Europeans capitals, this is still the Land of Smiles' !

... Which only proves just how serious the problem is in Europe ... And looking at most of the expats here, walking around with their mouths drooping at the corners and a half angry look glued on their faces permanently, I have to ask : who are 'we' to tell the Thais they should smile more often, like in the good ole days ?