scorecard

Well said. I add that it seems to me there's an ongoing / historical factor that a very high % of Thai folks (county and city folks) don't read newspapers and don't watch TV news programs (flip over to the soaps) so they are very poorly informed. Further, many folks (more especially the older folks) grew up being told/observed that it's not their business to decide anything, just do as you're told by the puu yai baan. Then there's a reliance on whether the puu yai baan understands the details and whether he/she does regularly inform the village folks.

Or (IMHO) some citizens / groups of citizens have for a long time believed (and still believe) they are above the law and are a body which is entitled to be the ruling class with ultimate power to decide destiny and decide actions without abiding by laws and without equality and without transparent justice.

"...after several years the Australian government notified him that his residents visa was being cancelled and his pension was being stopped because he is not an Australian citizen and has left Australia." He may be able to return to live in Australia for 2 years to gain/achieve 'residence qualifications' which would mean he is qualified to receive the full OAP (old age pension). In this situation (if he accepted to gain 'residencecy' he would receive the OAP immediately in Australia. If he can gain 'residence' then after 2 years in Australia he would also be entitled to 'portability' which means he could get his full pension paid into a bank account abroad for the rest of his life and not need to personally ever return to Australia.

These reenactments are gross. How many time shave you seen cops telling the suspect and/or telling him/her where to point, or specifically how to act out an incident. All of which means the suspect is forced into saying things/doing things which are often not accurate and even worse totally incriminating. All totally ignoring all aspects of basic human rights. There's a long way to go.

Why are these extra 'laws' needed? Surely: 1. Torture means aggravated violence for which Thailand already has laws with severe punishments for very violent cases. 2. Killings by state officials is murder for which Thailand already has laws with severe punishments for certain circumstances.

Yes, but when they get some convictions then they can be praised, not before.

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Re-post to correct mistake: Agree, good luck for a happy and successful future young man.

Also not impressed; I wanted a small house or apartment for one night, found several airbnb possibilities, selected one but further into the booking there was a list of 'can', 'cannot', 'forbidden' etc., added by the owner. e.g: - Don't touch the fridge door without using a tissue - fingerprints on the steel will bring additional changes. - Can use shampoo in the shower cubicle but bottle is weighed after tenant leaves, reduction in weight more than 5% per 24 hrs will bring additional charges. Also don't touch the shower cubicle glass. And more... I went to agoda and booked/used a local 4 star hotel, which was excellent.

Good advice. On start up my notebook opens to g.mail, as set up (my choice) when I bought the notebook in Chiang Mai.

Dhipaya Health have a policy with maximum age of 99 years. Suggest you google them.

Part of this issue is that within the Education Ministry there's close to zero staff (permanent public servants) who have any advanced / philosophical knowledge about education, no real experience at pedagogy development and no desire to gain such knowledge. Same for the numerous past education ministers.

It was only 40Baht when I got mine, not exactly expensive.

Yep, got your point. My point is that there needs to me a multi pronged approach which a good government could create: 1. Get vaccinations up fast for all citizens and all other folks who are in Thailand permenantly/long-term. 2. Get some parts of the economy open (with full vaccinations) to get as many people as possible back to work. (Keeping everybody totally locked down for another 3, 6, 12 months is not the answer.)

Agree, good luck for a happy and successful future god man.

OK but what about the millions of Thais who are now in survival mode and their level of survival/desperation getting worse by the day?

Your point taken, it could be worse/far worse than it is right now, but it is quite bad right now and it's clear the gov't are lost and have no idea how to handle this situation and no idea how to handle the awful effects on the Thai populous.

"...But now the government is out hat in hand begging rich foreigners to move to Thailand to boost the economy because they are too inept to make it happen themselves. ..." Is that correct? Is it the actual government pushing these ideas? NO! These recent media announcements aren't official announcements of actual policy. These recent media shout outs are coming from the real estate / property developers who want to sell real estate / property. Why? Very simple reason, they know well that overall the Thai economy is at rock bottom and into the current and mid term future the number of Thai folks who can afford to buy condos is very very limited. So they aim strongly/specifically at foreigners who they believe can afford to buy condos. Regarding the comment about owning land; again just beat up by the property developers who know what will get the attention/praise of foreigners. But will foreigners ever own land in Thailand? IMHO there is no chance whatever this will happen. Just one reason, this would mean serious changes to sovereignty etc., laws. It would need very big support from both the lower and upper houses of parliament. Ultimate bottom line - a very big majority of the members of the upper house/the senate are military appointees, 99%/100% of these people will NEVER EVER support foreigners owning land. Plus the basic every day Thai populace will never support foreigners owning land in Thailand. Ask your Thai relatives?

"What about us?" Good point. However let's be very realistic, call a spade a spade, the folks driving this and hoping/pushing to get government to support them with policies/regulations making it attractive for foreigners to come and get long-term visas, no 90 day reporting, own land etc., are just greedy ruthless unethical property developers who have no interest or concern re what foreigners already in Thailand (some with money and many who just survive) think. They couldn't care less.

And disclose the real FACTS of the red bull case and name all involved. Never happen of course.

His pocket; it's on fire and drooling for condo sales to pull hundreds of millions of Baht into his pocket. That's what this 'visas etc., to attract rich foreigners' etc., drive is all about, nothing more, line the pockets of the greedy property developers.

Sure but other folks have different attitudes and values. I'm happy to follow the vaccination rules (already completed 2 jabs of Astra Zenica and getting Pfizer booster in a few weeks) to help protect me, my family, my neighbors, my village staff and my village friends, and those I have to interact with when I'm shopping, travelling etc.

But it's relevant and good advice.

To me, the bottom line, the drivers/supporters of all of this is very simple and it's been said before; all driven by property developers who want to sell many more condominiums. It is mentioned 'allowed to own land' which would not be condo sales, however the supporters of this 'scheme' know very well, foreigners owning land will get mentioned every few years but it will never ever happen, not in a million years. Can you imagine all the army/navy/air force brass in the parliament and the senate voting to allow land ownership for foreigners? The answer is NO, NEVER! Takes the whole thing back to greedy developers wanting to sell mass numbers of condos.

Foreigners holding a Certificate of Residency (Permanent Residency - PR) still need a work permit to work legally in Thailand. In other words, holding PR doesn't cancel the need to have a Thai work permit.