dageurreotype

What ridiculous TV posts.Just because you don't like the results you try and ridicule them. Dusit poll is pretty reliable. and I am quite sure that 75% of Thais want reforms before elections.

They may want them but so far haven't had them and this line can be strung out for the truly credulous. This is just a delaying tactic for further entrenchment. If that were possible. Name ONE 'reform' to date. I dare you.

I don't believe cities are the problem. When I lived in Bangkok they'd be out collecting the trash/hosing down the pavements every day. back on erstwhile green and pleasant Phuket there's shit every damn where. All thrown around the sois into the once pristine green areas around the houses/klongs. Disgusting. Start there.

A good start could be made at every 7/11 where EVERYTHING comes in at least 1 plastic bag and they are cheap and nasty plastic bags too.

Lol cheap and nasty plastic bags, are there any other kind?

This 7/11 thing has been promulgated many times in the past and has lasted but one day, if that. However just ONE branch of Tesco Lotus on the island of Phuket refuses to hand them out. The others can pack every single item individually if they so choose A better idea would be to expand their innovative cassava derived eco products to carrier bags or charge for plastic. Another idea would be many more trash bins, and a weekly free pickup of the mountains of stinking half filled food bags from outside workers' camps/implemented fines on flytippers.

Righto. Prayut's had his 'idea du jour' let's see this one sink without trace along with the rest of them.

You can all shut your yap, from today's BP this was all another 'mistake' and 'only an idea' and any minimum wage would only be higher, not lower. Guess he's already having second thoughts after he was advised any lowering of this parsimonious rate would severely hit his perceived popularity ratings detract from the happiness of the Thai people

"Sometimes, foreigners have to listen to Thai people's opinions," he said. "If foreigners disagree with some issues that are the desires of Thai people, to whom should we give more importance, fellow Thai people or foreigners?"

Why exactly? Even YOU don't listen to 'Thai peoples' opinions', they're not allowed to express one for fear of having their attitudes adjusted. Some of the absolute anti farang crap being dished out regularly by this muppet is being swallowed by certain of the Thai populace and they're not the 'prai' disparaged so many times on this forum. From personal experience they are the already nationalistic Yellows. 'General Prayut says there's a farang hairdresser in Bangkok who charges 800k for a haircut'. general Prayut says that foreigners smell because they eat bread.' Ad infinitum I must listen to this shit from my ex university professor neighbour. My lowly taxi driver, on the other hand, laughs at him and asks when are these 'reforms' supposed to come into place haha! And BTW, I believe P cares very very much about what is thought of him both internationally and domestically. Fragile little egotist that he is.

Why does he care? He's got the entire military behind him. Or is this yet another PR stunt for overseas consumption? He'd simply make himself look even more silly (if that were possible) - NYT 'Thailand's Prime Minister [sic] given mandate of 20-30,000 votes (of dubious provenance) by the people'. Oh well that's okay then.

He should have bribed an imm official before entering/exiting, same everyone else with 'issues' every day.

Samsung just spent 560 million baht on a new TV factory in Vietnam. The minimum wage in Vietnam is 50% less than the current minimum wage in Thailand. Samsung also just announced they are closing down all TV factories in Thailand, and will now make them in Vietnam. When things like this happen, governments have to respond, before all of the manufacturers leave. Companies, (I know, everyone wants to call them the Rich & Powerful), do have choices of where they build their factories, and provide jobs. If you have never owned a business in your life, using your own money, and just received paychecks all of your life, it is very difficult for you to understand what it takes to make a business successful. It all seems so easy, until it is your own money that you are investing. Living in a world of "us vs them" is self-defeating.

So where does this end? Tell me. 10 baht per day would make Thailand very 'competitive' (weasel word), whilst the corporations continue to increase their profits.

So let them go exploit the poor sods in Vietnam until their government are forced to implement a living wage or face the inevitable consequences of social unrest and all that will bring.

like said by another pster, i would not pay most workers more than 300 thb for what they do. It's not worth it.

Many farangs have unrealistic expectations. Is it any wonder why some domestic staff use the same rag they cleaned the toilet with, to wash the dishes?

If one pays 300 baht per diem for child care, then one should have supplemental children in the pantry.

You know the old saying of getting what you pay for? It applies to Thai labour. Those of us who have knowledge of local skill sets and who understand the local job market know that quality workers are paid significantly more than the minimum. This is because there is a shortage of skilled labour in Thailand. Many employers supplement the basic minimum wages by providing good working conditions, meals, lodging, medical care and extra time off.

Not quite true, my neighbour paid two Thai women 1500 baht each to clean his condo. He ended up having to do it himself. My 500 4 hour cleaner still hasn't shown up. I'm guessing her poodle's sick. Again.

It really doesn't matter where you are in the world, the wealthy get richer and the poor get poorer.

Sooner or later something will cause a revolt.

The difference in 'civilized' societies is that the poor get poorer by choice, as they opt not to work in favor of receiving entitlement handouts, which is a far cry from indentured servitude.

Stupid post. I'm supposing you've not heard of the UK's 'zero hours contracts' then?

Try being a boss and having to pay 9000 for someone to sit around, most of the time sleep and when awake play on phone and see how happy you would be.

Keeping in mind the bad bosses usually have 3-5 of those for the job of one.

If all Thai workers were as unproductive and as lazy as you claim, the economy would be in shambles and there would be no manufacturing or provision of services in Thailand.

I am a great supporter of equal opportunity and a fair living wage. However, even the Thais prefer to hire the Burmese/Khmer as they don't fiddle with their iPhones all day, snack/sleep nor job hop/endless 'mai sabai' days. Plus, the majority are lazy and stupid/ignorant. There are of course exceptions to this rule.

They have to do something once ASEAN comes into effect Thai wages will be amongst the highest and we all know what that means. The rich will be filling their bags with money while the rest fight over scraps. Once the TPTP comes into effect more factories will be shuttered in America and the carpetbaggers will rush to Asia to set up shop. Cheap labor no pollution or labor laws its a paradise for big business. However the price of their products world wide will stay the same. Its called Capitalism

It's already been happening for at least two decades despite the TPTP. Where you been?

"The wage is not in line with current labour market situation or inflation rate"

This means the minimum wage will be reviewed. It may go up or it may go down.

The agenda driven would be all over this like white on rice with their illogical baseless arguments proclaiming doom and gloom under the NCPO.

I for one hope it does not go up again as this cost is transferred onto the price of goods and services. If the minimum wage was 1000 baht a day imagine the price of Tom Yum on the street!

Remember what yingluck said when the price of goods and services went up after the last minimum wage increase..."There is no inflation, you are imagining it due to the hot weather and the children returning to school". One word to describe that statement. Contempt. Goodness only knows what the doomers and gloomers reaction would have been if Prayut said that.

Well done to the government for aligning and linking the wage scale to economic conditions instead of a populist knee jerk reaction to win votes and make the price of my wife's Tom Yum go up. This increase negated any wage increase and works still got the same goods and services that they did before the wage hike.

​About time we had some sensible well thought out, planned and economically aligned proposals.

The National Minimum Wage in Singapore is the equivalent of 2,000 per day. I don't remember the food in Singapore being commensurately more expensive than that in Thailand.

Returning happiness to the Thai bosses.....................

More a race to the bottom of cheap Asian labour in an attempt to win back foreign corporations from the sweatshops of Cambodia.

How about you ask this question regarding THEM and US to the Irish Gentleman who has lost his Thai estate worth of 65 Million BHT.

The Thai Wife,The Thai Court ,The Thai Loan Shark, The Thal Lawyer,The Thai land office ,The Thai police,and The Irish Genteman.

Link pls

Can't. The junta's blocked Drummond's site. The Irish guy was stupid. Keep dick in pants comes to mind. Then you'll have nothing to whine about all over the net about, using your kids in some campaign for justice when you are the one who they should be aiming their ire at.

2.4% interest is an average rate,you can get a fixed term where you pay no tax,but immigration dont recognise the account if using for retirement extension cos you cannot draw on it.

As far as buying a condo,its difficult to see capital appreciation cos most people want to buy new/off the plan rather than 2nd. hand....also over a number of years the building falls into disrepair unless you have a good management team.

If you buy high end,and i'm talking millions of baht worth,yes you can get capital appreciation.

Better to keep money back home and bring over when necessary,and rent here.

For all those suggesting keeping money 'back home', what if all friends/family are dead and you've not visited 'back home' for twenty years, let alone kept a bank account there.

Who the <deleted> would want to invest funds at 2 or (God forbid) 2,4 percent anyway - forget the alleged racism, think about the rational of the investment. You couldn't convince me to fart in bed for a 2 or 2.4% return.

As to buying a condo, get your Missus to buy it at the Thai price of 1.88M.

Sorted

That's all very well if you have substantial funds to enable you to invest overseas, otherwise you're stuck with the best niggardly rate a Thai bank will give you.

Also, believe it or not, many of us neither have nor want a bloody Thai wife. Next!

Enjoy what?

The documentaries. Duh.

There's also documentaryheavendotcom.

Two days ago I decided to leave the forum for some time because I didn’t feel happy about off topic decisions that had been made. But your comment doesn’t leave me a choice to come back here and say something about you and your ‘opinion’. I also wonder why your comment is still on display since this forum is run by foreigners that should know better when looking at their home countries and how such comments are treated.

Well, thank you for gracing us with your presence and deigning to return

You see, a similar remark like yours was removed when I made it as off topic. Aren't you lucky?

You really really really should get over yourself. Consider yourself ignored.

Two days ago I decided to leave the forum for some time because I didn’t feel happy about off topic decisions that had been made. But your comment doesn’t leave me a choice to come back here and say something about you and your ‘opinion’. I also wonder why your comment is still on display since this forum is run by foreigners that should know better when looking at their home countries and how such comments are treated.

Well, thank you for gracing us with your presence and deigning to return

How is this going to work in places like Phuket where just one group owns all the hospitals here save for the government Vachira aka 'the slaughterhouse' as the Thais call it, and the small shabby far flung albeit cheaper than 'the monopoly' that is The Mission. You think they can ask Bangkok Phuket Group to lower their insane prices???

Nowhere is the disparity between the rich and the poor so glaring, in any country anywhere in the world, than their attitude towards healthcare. And this country hands down trumps them all.

"He said that if an election was to be held now without any reforms the country would eventually slide back to violent political conflicts"

He would do his level best to ensure that it does!

Still he is right. Thaksin group will buy the election....Yellow will demonstrate. Red one will shoot.

In the unlikely case that the Democrats win the Reds will demonstrate.

So like him or hate him. If there will be elections just now, everything will start again in 1-3 years.

And this is precisely why this ridiculous ban on political groups being able to participate in all and any 'reform' process has the country in stalemate. Who would they be voting for? Yingluck's out and Taksin's running out of proxies. Then we have Abhisit and no one wants him either. So who? Imagine this in your home country 'there's going to be a general election on X date, but you won't know who to vote for as we're not allowing anyone to set out their policies'. Stupid bloody country. But perhaps this is exactly what the junta want. Prayut's going nowhere until and unless there's a counter coup and the only way that's going to happen is if the economy tanks and the people are hit hard, orrr Prayut falls from favour, somehow.

Sorry, but with Jonathan Head as the spokesman this organisation has zero credibility as an unbiased organisation.

People like this using the 'Human Rights' banner to disguise political propaganda make me sick. It's low and it's shameful : two of the strongest attributes in reporters I suppose.

I couldn't, and am not allowed to, disagree with you more. While he might not always write what is popular with some people, his and the BBC's, impartiality is well respected.

The you sir either do not know what happened during the protests or you did not read his reports on the BBC.

Because I did - and his deliberate omission of key facts was a disgrace. I could not believe someone could misrepresent the truth and live with their conscience. For example, if 10 people protesting peacefully got killed by the UDD terrorists he would write something like "Violent anti-government protests which left 10 dead".

Check up online and you might find your faith in the BBC is misplaced. They have a clear political agenda these days and most stories are designed to guide opinion in a certain direction.

I would not label the whole organisation (BBC) because of this persons divisive biased selective reporting, it is however something the BBC should have investigated - I suspect that Mr Head is on someones payroll and taking considerable backhanders or he genuinely just has no clue what is going on but nobody will ever know until he is investigated

Some of his reporting in the past has made me considerably angry due the flagrant disregard for accurate facts

Head's reporting was no worse than any other international media outlet at that time, including the likes of the New York Times and The Guardian UK. It all came down to 'poor people attempting to overthrow their oppressors'. Which was clearly bullshit. Same as the 'reforming' admin we have now.

I am staggered by the comments that seem to think this kind of behaviour is acceptable, especially when the 'joke' is at the expense of the country who actually contributes to the payment of their over-inflated wages.

It was a racist remark and if the manager would take HIS head out of the sand and stop behaving like an ostrich he would recognise that.

It's no wonder that many Brits ( and I am British) have such a delightful reputation in this country.

Reading some of the comments that reputation is justified.

Oh you will wax lyrical about it goes on all the time, etc., but this is appalling behaviour straight out of the human gutter. I hardly think that being charged extra for going to a Thai park is quite in the same racially discriminatory league is it?

Only among other foreign nationals. The Thais call us 'pu dee ungrit'

Shouldn't they be referred to as 'subjects'? ..