mitrapaap

She was followed by a procession of pupils dressed as SS guards - brandishing plastic machine guns.

SICK, I'm lost for words but that is sick

Not if the kids did not understand.

They go to school to learn and there is more to learn about than just Thailand, the Royal family and the Buddhist religion!

Sure, there is also more to learn than about world war II. How much did you learn about Asian hitory in shool. I'm sure they have their battles, wars and atrocities. We don't even learn anything about other religions (Thais do) and so we are suprised when we hear for the first time that Thailand is in the year 2554. Becuase we thought that our count is the only and worldwide way of counting. Don't blame them for being Asia focused. That for once is normal.

I can remember seeing a Swastika badge on the shirt of a BTS station cashier/clerk a few months ago. You can see them on bags , T-shirts, Even on the painted company buses that are everywhere, Clearly WW2 was something missing from the ciriculum in Thailand

The swastika is a religious symbols, don't mix it up with the nazi swastika. See the link in my earlier post.

While I agree with you and may want to give them some credit on the swastika and their ignorance about the european side of world war two, plastic machine guns are NOT a religious symbol nor are army or SS uniforms. So the question is how can they pretend using the swastika as a religious symbol and not as the german "Hakenkreuz" while at the same time dressing in the german's uniform and carrying plastic guns. It just doesn't add up.

A very sad incident. Not because it shows ignorance of european history (how much do we learn about Asian history in school?)but because it is ununderstandable for me how kids can find it fancy and/or funny to dress in military uniforms and holding guns. That is the real issue in my humble opinion. And even though I'm not German, I think it would be good to given the Germans a break from their own history. No need to stir it up again and again through such silly actions. Even the worst history should sometime become history.

Any farang that puts 22 rai of land in the name of a Thai wife is insane. Do you think she married that old goat for love and companionship ? Thais marry all farang for money...nothing else.

You might be a bit harsh even though you are right in the basics.

What I am wondering all the time is: if you were in the UK, would you ever sign any contract you can't read and understand? It amazes me that foreigners trust people in countries like Thailand more than they would trust their compatriots back home.

But still, this case is an example of a real bitch.

Nice BIASED Headlines. I wonder if anyone checked the archives for news flashes and see if a headline about 2 years ago might say something like ... "MP Apisit Lost Election, Now Presiding as Thai PM Through His Networks & Nepotism"

The problem is the news never get you the right information. At the very beginning it was said that one who has been sent to prison by a court had no right to vote, and, if one does not vote he has lost his party membership, ergo, cannot become a PM anymore. If that WAS as simple and TRUE, then the story would have ended there. So why do the news reporter not know that it actually is not as simple as that, or why do they initially come up with news pretending it was as simple as that if they knew it wasn't? Once he is an MP he will benefit from immunity no matter for what he will be convicted. They had to wait until the house was dissolved before being able to get him where he belongs. Let's hope Yingluck will have him back off a bit as he could become an embarrassment for Phuea Thai in case Phuea Thai is serious about all what they say and promise.

What a bunch of sore losers! The Democrates are just blindly throwing the kitchen sink and all.... I have lost whatever small respect I have for them. They should just sit at a corner and sulk for all I care.

They had over 3 years to learn exactly this from Phuea Thai.

And to think this party calls itself "Democrat." They have absolutely no grasp of the term.

They lost, Puea Thai won with a true voting mandate. Move on.

So if I steal your car, you will accept it, because I was elected properly? If I am your elected mayor, and I kill your grandmother, its ok because I was elected? The tyranny of the majority - I see.

Quite frankly, I think they should Phuea Thai let govern the country. The first to suffer from their silly policies are the poor. It's time the poor and the reds get a real feel of what Phuea Thai is, otherwise they will never realize the truth. The workers are already calling for the 300 Baht wage raise, the reds are already calling for seats in Parliament and ministeries. Phuea Thai fed them with promises, now they are hungry and want the meat to be delivered. Raise the wages and let smaller factories go bankrupt so those workers will get jobless and end up having no income at all, let larger factories lay off people to cope with the increased cost and let those who remain work harder. Give tablets to all students so they don't do anything more than sitting around with their dammed tablets playing games, or eventually throwing them in a corner becase the parents can't afford the internet connection. Why get them banned and be the bad guy again? Let Phuea Thai govern and fail.

Perhaps all the Thaksin haters and by implication Democrat supporters will now wake up and realize the true nature of the people they support.

No-one who support the current government support democracy.

The people in as free and fair election as you are ever going to have in Thailand have decided and they've come out in their millions to defeat the current administration.

This current Democratic Party move (Democratic? - what a joke) opens the door for a return to seeing tanks on the streets of Bangkok yet again.

I dont suppose it will be long.

While I agree that the democrat's move is certainly not improving the situation, I also remember that even people within Phuea Thai have warned Taksin of interferring too much exactly out of fear that what is happening now will happen. So they were well aware of it and so was Thaksin. No wonder it happens now, and quite frankly, wouldn't Phuea Thai do exactly the same if the roles were reversed? Again, it most likely does not help the country unless it prevents something normal people like us can't see from happening. But how can Phuea Thai claim that banned politicians were not involved after having proclaimed "Thaksin thinks, Phue Thai acts"? It was kind like digging their own grave wasn't it? So the final question remains, how would the voting have come out if Thaksing had kept his mouth shut?

Enough already.. politicians, and political clans ALWAYS come back in Thailand.

Everyone knows it's going to happen, let's call amnesty for the Airport idiots, the Ratchaprasong idiots, the army generals who sent in war weapons, and Thaksin, who's actual 'conviction' on a conflict-of-interest charge is so minor you'd almost smile about it. (Looking at what past PM's got away with; if you jail Thaksin for that then you need to jail absolutely everyone with the possible exception of Chuan.)

Done.

We might as well just get the group amnesties over now and see the country move on as delaying it is just going to add more and more people to those needing amnesty and increasing utter hatred and eventually it will still happen but after more acrimony.

The establishment have lost. They need to accept this as if they dont the only options they have left are a horrible violent coup that will probably result in failure or ever more court cases that more and more people see as poltically motivated and unfair to the point where the whole justice system is discredited. This was a let the people chose election and they have. They have rejected the establishment and their supporters and chosen Thaksin and his even after the establishment and the poltical parties close to them had two years to change minds or even crush their opponents. They failed in such a way that PTP are now stronger and more united than PPP 4 years ago. Unless anyone wants to see more tragedy, it is time to put this to bed, and if that means a few old elite figures have to go to tending their flower beds rather than sitting in smoke filled rooms plotting what the government are allowed to do then so be it.

Right now the country has a senate, a reasonable sized opposition and the courts havent been totally undermined in government supporters minds. There is also the media. This is a check and balance enough on a government coalition. Thailand remains a functioning developing democracy if it is allowed to be. Sadly further interferance will only destroy this with the only possible outcomes being a military backed up hated government of probably useless old people with no forward vision but plenty of backward vision, or a Thaksin government full of suspicion, utter hatred and control of everything and with absoltuely no check and balance on it. Neither of these scenarios is anywhere near as good as letting the elected goevernment get on with its job and the check and balances theirs while those who like to interfere find more pastoral pursuits and enjoy family time

The election is history and the democrats can't change it. And so should Pheua Thai accept that they can't change history. But they keep trying. They already failed twice, but they immediately restart doing it.

If nothing else, he looked and sounded good when interviewed by international press. That chap with his own cooking show couldn't even grunt in English

What country do you think this is?Just to inform you, this country is called Thailand .Its National language is Thai. That means there is no demand that to hold political office in this country or any other country where English is not the national language ,, you must be fluent in English.

It is a standard requirement in many jobs of considerably lower profile.

I'm not wishing to mud sling but I would have thought that other corroboration of her handwriting should have been checked, it is conceivable that her son could write a letter and say it was his mothers.

Let me make it simple for you even though you may not believe it: Swiss people don't do what you are suggesting here.

It's pretty obvious that they want us here if we can 'prove our worth' so to speak but don't want us here if we can't!! Also, maybe fewer people will bother to get a work permit and this will lead to extra 'revenue' to the usual suspects when finding Aliens working without said permit!!!

Thailand, still proving to be ultra Nationalistic, inward looking and backwards, just what one should expect from a 3rd world mentality with an old elite in control.

Before you lament over what you call the 3rd world mentality - spend a few thoughts on how it works in any of the 1st worlds. Can anybody just come and get a work permit without proving by any means that he is qualified for the job? If you apply for a job in your home country, do you mention your degree in your resume and attach some documents to it?

Some people bash on Thailand as a 3rd world country every and each time it makes a step closer to the first world.

As a uk citizen i have had work permits in france, germany, switzerland, austria, I dont recall being asked for a degree in any of these countrys.

The way you write it it sounds as if in those countries work permits can be obtained like bus tickets. But as citizen of the countries you mention I can guarantee it is not. I'm tempted to mention that the fact you don't recall... is not any proof that you or your employer did not have had to submit any documents showing that you had a degree. But I don't want to get in an argument with you about this.

It's pretty obvious that they want us here if we can 'prove our worth' so to speak but don't want us here if we can't!! Also, maybe fewer people will bother to get a work permit and this will lead to extra 'revenue' to the usual suspects when finding Aliens working without said permit!!!

Thailand, still proving to be ultra Nationalistic, inward looking and backwards, just what one should expect from a 3rd world mentality with an old elite in control.

Before you lament over what you call the 3rd world mentality - spend a few thoughts on how it works in any of the 1st worlds. Can anybody just come and get a work permit without proving by any means that he is qualified for the job? If you apply for a job in your home country, do you mention your degree in your resume and attach some documents to it?

Some people bash on Thailand as a 3rd world country every and each time it makes a step closer to the first world.

The essential difference is the opportunities provided in the west.. Not only work, but medical, housing, benefits, pensions, care.. Etc..

Please explain what drain a westerner can be on the thai social systems ??

Two things: first, the "West" consists of a rich number of countries which handle the points you mention in very different ways. So there is no such thing as "in the West you get in the West you have...". Second, Thailand is not surrounded by the West or western countries, and not all rules and regulations primarily target westerners. But of course, the term foreigners includes all and therefore any rule valid for foreigners is valid for westerners and non-westerners.

Why should Thailand not have the right to ask for the qualification of people who will work in their country? After all every foreigner takes a job opportunity from a Thai. And for jobs unqualified people can do, there is really no need to hire foreigners - especially not westerners.

On the bottom line the equation is very simple. If you have a degree, you can get a job that requires a degree. If the job doesn't require a degree, Thais, even Thais with a degree, can do it for less than the westerner, or Thais without a degree can do it as well as somebody from a neighbouring country without a degree.

It's pretty obvious that they want us here if we can 'prove our worth' so to speak but don't want us here if we can't!! Also, maybe fewer people will bother to get a work permit and this will lead to extra 'revenue' to the usual suspects when finding Aliens working without said permit!!!

Thailand, still proving to be ultra Nationalistic, inward looking and backwards, just what one should expect from a 3rd world mentality with an old elite in control.

Before you lament over what you call the 3rd world mentality - spend a few thoughts on how it works in any of the 1st worlds. Can anybody just come and get a work permit without proving by any means that he is qualified for the job? If you apply for a job in your home country, do you mention your degree in your resume and attach some documents to it?

Some people bash on Thailand as a 3rd world country every and each time it makes a step closer to the first world.

She believes that the winning contractor will be able to start the installation later this year.

we all know what that means. at least a year of bidding wars, just like with the sky train that goes out to the airport which had been finished over a year until it was finally opened because they were waiting for the right amount of money to flow into the right pockets. and now that the rest of the world has 4G thailand will finally get 3G nationwide by mid 2012. it's ridiculous!!!

And while the rest of the world.... you chose just that one single country to live in. It's ridiculous.

45 seconds per person? More like three minutes at least.

Again, as many people have been saying, this looks like it's all about Thai travellers, who may well normally get past the miserable sods in 45 seconds because of no arrival & departure cards, etc

Never travelled with Thai people? Thais need the same arrival/departure card as foreigners. The only difference is they use the departure card first and the arrival card when they come back.

So... we can expect computers that show up late?

Or computers which, between checking the data of two travellers, casually chat with each other for five minutes about why the canteen lunch was 'phet maak' or 'nid noi"..

How do you know they show up late? Do you have a copy of their work schedule?

saves a whole 20 seconds?

It's 50%. So twice the speed or half the waiting time.

Hope that was helpful.

Don't know what all your complainers are whinning about.

Never thought BKK Airport was overly hot (maybe just a little too warm, but still ok considering the openness of it).

Only once was I annoyed that I had to line up for 45 mins to get through passport control leaving Bangkok airport. The other times it has been 5-10 mins.

They have definitely increased the number of immigration staff. Hardly different to any other airport. Seen the line for non nationals at Melbourne airport? Same same...long lines.

Stop bashing just because you can. Every post on TV about something that comes up in the news, someone or many people HAVE to say something negative (in a non-constructive way). I'd hate to meet some of you guys in real life, you must be really negative individuals.

You act like Thailand is the ONLY place in the world with corruption, infrastructure issues etc. Wake up. It's not. It's just more blatant to everyone in Thailand and the media does a much better job of covering it up and brain washing the masses in the West to make them believe the same 'shyt' doesn't go on.

I agree. I was thinking that for every Thai basher posting I will bash all the western countries that are most likely represented here on TV. Never go to the barbecues myself just because that's what would be happening whilst stuffing the bellies. Thai bashing at it's glory.

Couldn't agree more. They have an airport that works, they have a sky train that works (since more than 10 years), they have an underground that works, they have ID cards with color pictures (I don't and I am from a very developped country), all of this modern technologies that work - there is no reason at all, why these immigration machines should not work. Unfortunately Thai Visa forum often appears to be the club of the most frustrated foreigners a country can host. I think Thai Visa should by default display the users age aside the user name - maybe that would shed some light into this deplorable phenomenon.

Last April when I left the country it took me almost 30 minuets to go through immigration. I don't know anything about 25 seconds. It was not that short of a time with the immigration officer either. There has got to be a better system other than looking for 500 bhat overstay.

Why not read posts carefully? The 25 seconds refer to the processing time, not to the time you are standing in the queue to wait.

Whilst this is good news for everybody I'm not very confident that "the system will go live at the end of the year" is a very realistic time scale. They are only just drawing up the terms of reference and Technical specifications for the bidding process, the prospective bidders have then got to put together their bids, a bid team will need to assess the bids, looking out for such things as competence and reliability, cost of installation and running costs and tea money, a preferred bidder will need to be selected and then further negotiations will take place. No way is all that going to happen in seven months, that said, I wish them well.

I suspect this will mainly benefit Thai passport holders, though his should free up more Immigration Officers to deal with none Thai passport holders.

Other countries have automatic passport controls which foreigners can register for, lets hope they go down this route, though there would be many hurdles.

This is one of the Thai announcements that I hope will actually come to fruition.

Why not read posts carefully? The bidding process is for the airconditioning. I always wondered what kind of smart architect designs a glass house for a country like Thailand - and what other smart people approved it.

To Somo

Where did you ever get the idea that Thailand has Free Speech? I don't believe it is stated anywhere in law or the constitution.

Not every country in the world has Free Speech, and some for very good reasons.

Any country that makes Slander a criminal offense does not have Free Speech so I suggest you stop whining about it, or move

somewhere you can say whatever you want to (but have to abide by many other stupid laws that we are Free of in Thailand).

Just another example of the lack of free speach in Thailand.

First - you can have bail as long as you don't say anything controversial.

Oops - We heard that, go back to jail.

It seems no one here likes him but crikey trying to lock him up for saying a few things

is just stupid and plays into the hands of those saying they are fighting for freedom.

He'll get more votes than ever now and rightly so. This fear of free speach says it all.

Jatuporn is a 41 year old loudmouth who thinks its smart to badmouth a hospitalized 83 year old man

any other issues aside, he is a morally bereft, disrespectful arsehol_e and he deserves to be exactly where he is

the longer the better

and to anyone who thinks that its OK to do that, in my opinion deserves to be in there with him..........

So if he was younger and in good health it would be ok then?

The principle of free speach is surely extended to those you disagree with or it is meaningless.

What you say about Jatuporn applies to most politicians. Would you put them all in jail?

Your intolerance implies you are not in favour of democracy unless it suits you which makes you irelevant to any meaningful discussion on the matter.

What problem do these free speech freaks have? You can say whatever you want in any country - as long as you are willing to take responsibility and accept the consequences. Can I go to US or the UK and tell somebody he is a dammed <deleted>.. assh.. and get away with it, or will I face a lawsuit? There are rules where free speech ends and violation of others basic rights begin. These rules are not everywhere the same, but Fatuporn is Thai and knows the rules perfectly. It's not by braking the law you change it.

Without the jail story he wouldn't be allover the news on Thai TV today.

Nothing about Yingluck, but Jatuporn is in the news like seldom before.

Of course he's in the news allover for today. After all, having him where he belongs is probably the best news of this year so far. But I also think he will very fast disappear from the news.

How many times has Thaksin promised his reds he will soon come back - and never came. But they still are st..... enough to believe him.

'This is a good warning against stopping to look at accidents,' Samut Sakorn Police Lieutenant Colonel Chaiyaphat Charoenwai told Thai TV.

More like a good warning to wear SEAT BELTS.

You're so clever. Maybe YOUR seatbelt might help YOU if another car will crash into you from behind. I don't think so.

But all these crazy people who want to watch the scene should be punished! It's dangerous in many ways. And it might cause some more accidents as other drivers do not expect anybody stopping on the right lane just for have a look at something.

Who told you the watchers got killed and not those who crashed into the stopped car from behind? Think about it: If you sit in your standing still car and another car crashes into it from behind - who gets most likely killed (assuming none of both cars had the seat belt on)? Most likely the car that crashs into the other. Ergo, seat belts might have helped.

'This is a good warning against stopping to look at accidents,' Samut Sakorn Police Lieutenant Colonel Chaiyaphat Charoenwai told Thai TV.

More like a good warning to wear SEAT BELTS.

The driver fled the scene, police said.

Do they ever do anything different?

Aah... SEAT BELTS would have helped them avaiod being hit from behind by a speeding motorist?

I'm missing something here.

You missed that the report did not say who got killed: the two in the car that stopped and watched or the two that were in the speeding car and crashed into the watchers. In the second case, seat belts eventually could have helped.