bikerbri

Went to Bangkok Immigration on Wednesday to get letter of residency to renew bike and car licence. Needed two letters. One for bike,one for car. Copy of last entry stamp. Copy of picture page. Copy of visa extension.Copy of departure card. 200 Baht for each letter. Will be posted to my home,takes 15 days. Truly a developing country.

I wonder if the Thai couple who got 15 years for picking mushrooms in the national park know about this proposal?

What is the price for a proof of residency letter?

No official charge = free.

In Bangkok it takes 10 working days to turn round. They take 100 Baht for the return EMS postage for delivery to your home. Why is no one reporting this bribe.I thought the general was trying to stamp out corruption?

What is the price for a proof of residency letter?

Looking forward to Hong Kong style democracy. Of course the people will have a choice,but we will give you the short list,and don't worry, it will only consist of "good people" we can trust.

The one word that stands out in this piece "Fashioned"

Thai stocks overvalued and manipulated, the Thai Baht overvalued and manipulated, exports down, stimulus package delayed, tourism down,energy prices due to rise.marshal law still in force,corruption rife and endemic ,the poor getting poorer,the rich getting richer,2.2 trillion infrastructure plan looking for funds,welcome to Thailand,the land of smiles and short term thinking,which is beginning to show dividends.........or so we are told.

It will not matter that the general keeps to his time line. The changes needed for Thailand to evolve from a developing country to an accepted member of the developed World will take more than a generation to achieve...............if ever. There needs to be a will to want change. Sadly Thai's prefer the Status Quo.

Of course they are coy.... They all know it's a stitch up.

I am hoping this is going to escalate into an almighty political mess for Prayuth and the police chiefs.

I am starting to get a whiff of diplomatic turmoil over this, and all in the most public of situations.

The Guardian already reported that the UK Foreign Office have summoned the Thai consulate in London to convey their suspicions (concerns) that this whole investigation has been fudged to save tourism. They must be speaking from info received from the boys in blue that are over here 'observing' this farce.

I hope thew UK and Myanmar end up breaking all diplomatic ties with Thailand like Saudi did.... Great start to ASEAN AEC....... not.

They must be speaking from info received from the boys in blue that are over here 'observing' this farce.

The General states they have returned to Scotland Yard?

God has spoken.

If the son was not on the Island during the time of the murders as stated,why was it necessary to do a DNA test and was the head mans brother tested?

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Any intelligent person knows the best predictor of future behavior is past
behavior. Thus any person who studies the police involvement in the
Blue Diamond affair, will quickly realize the the veracity of the outcome
of a major case with money and power involved is nearly bound to
less than a joke... But as long term expats have seen time and time
again, in a high profile case, there will be an " investigation" by the
Thai police, a completely insane conclusion will be reached, Thai Visa
posters will up in arms , and then time takes over and the whole thing
does the gentle Thai fade away.
Still cannot figure out how the head of a tiny village and a bar owner
could exert such influence. Must be a powerful connection, as no one
is talking about it.....

The Kamnan/Headman is a person of great influence through his (Dem) political connections on the islands and mainland. It has been suggested that these connections go to the very top in the Thai political elite structure.

Aye, Koh Tao seems to attract huge crowds so a LOT of money must transit there.

Add to that the reports about previous killings due to business competition, they must have properly cornered the market; so the millions transiting there are "properly" shared: huge interests who need high protection.

Add to that, Koh Samui and Koh Pangan business interests (all 3 Islands are linked in probably many ways) and the business connections cover the three biggest money making islands in the south eastern part of Thailand...

BIG Fishes swimming in that sea me think...

All the above is purely hypothetical though alt=whistling.gif>

I lived in Samui in 1999, and while there I had a Thai friend who in fact grew up on Samui, and knew everything about the island. He told me that at some point in the past, the Bangkok mafia came down to Samui to " organize" it. The Samui mafia sent a bunch of them back as corpses, so Samui remained firmly under local control. And if you lived in Samui and had a business, you certainly toed the line. I suspect the same for Koh Tao...So yeah, there must be a lot of money at stake...

Too true. I lived on Samui in 2006 for 4 years. Built a house there and my daughter was born there. I can remember one instance.It was children's day and I was invited to the home of the "God Father" It was like something out of a movie. His home made from teak wood must have cost a fortune.I remember all the wives had to have their own space and were not allowed to the meetings. It was a family affair and all the males,who were family would sit and discuss, in thai, the days business and how many offers they had made that couldn't be refused. The green Mango club was always a topic. Frightening place. Anyone wanting to do business had to get their permission and if the business was doing well they would "ask" for a piece of the action. I decided to move off the Island when the Russians started to arrive.

If, as stated, there is the possibility that some posters are open to prosecution under the computer crime act,why is TV still publishing the comments? Surely it could be construed that if there is a breach of the law, TV could be seen as complicit,by allowing the post to be made? Wasn't there a recent case where the Web Master was prosecuted for allowing statements supposedly against the law?

The BBC is reporting that anyone adversely commenting on the Koh Tao case on social media will be liable to prosecution which could result in a five year prison term. Would Thai Visa like to comment on this report.

Far too willing to carry out new DNA test.Some body already has the answers.

Testing the headman's son and retesting the Burmese boys by the RTP will not satisfy the doubters. There needs to be a totally independent DNA test to put to rest the conspiracy theory.There also needs to be a further enquiry into the third persons DNA found on the girls body.

Getting very close to dismissing the case against these two Birmese boy's. All the evidence,except the dodgy DNA samples, is purely circumstantial. The public prosecutor is finding it very hard to put this case before a judge. They all know that the police case, if pursued could mean the end of their careers. Better they do a bit of face saving and find some excuse to reopen the case and start looking for the real culprits. It looks like the Head Man's son is the first to know that the case is to be reopened.Now we get to the interesting point,who played around with the DNA,and where is the missing person whose DNA was found on the girls body? The British police could be the excuse they are looking for.

Be careful of the charges for medications. My recent experience with Asia's #1 hospital was to be charged double the price charged by an outside pharmacy for exactly the same medications. I now ask for a prescription and buy out side.

Think yourself lucky. I needed surgery on my wrist and told them I had insurance, and they wanted 100,000 baht. I told them for 100,000 baht I can fly to the UK, get the surgery done for free and still have 60,000 baht change. They came back with a counter offer of 80,000 and I said no. They asked me how much I can pay and I told them again, I will pay the cost of an air fare to the UK and they asked how much is that? I said 40,000 baht. They went off and had a discussion and came back and said OK, we operate for 40,000 but just this time you get discount. LOL

Amazing Thailand! Which Hospital please?

Took my wife yesterday to see the Ear, Nose and throat doctor at Asia's #1 hospital in Bangkok. To cut a long story short. The doctor indicated that my wife's allergy had cleared up,but he recommended a further month on medication,and prescribed a nose spray and allergy tablets. She paid the bill,which I thought was over the top. We then went to the pharmacy at the Emporium shopping centre and I was amazed to find the same medication at half the price.The moral of this story is don't buy your medication at hospitals.

I was going through the news after being away for a few days and after following a story ended up

watching Sondhi Limthongkul the Thai media mogul and elected leader of the new politics party

confirming what most people on here think that the two Myanmar boys are scapegoats and the

real perpetrators are known to most people on the island of koh tao.

before last night I didn't have a clue who he was but although in the video he spoke thai there

was a transcript of his main accusations in English.

I searched other news outlets and not one word of this anywhere I looked, the site I accessed

is open but I think not mentionable on here?

I would think this would be a big story so why not one word in the media/press/tv .

I tried to start a new topic in the general forum but got this topic locked by the mods

and told to post in the news section in any koh tao topic's

as I can't start a new topic in the news section this effectively means a lot less members

will see and be aware of the contents of my post.

what was my closing question again?

I thought Sondhi was put in jail for twenty years for fraud.