.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
pete_r
-
Posts
577 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by pete_r
-
-
Regarding the effect of the strengthening Baht on the Thai exporters, yesterday I had a chance to ask a manager at a large export company (chicken products). He said it can be a problem in the medium term, but for the short term they have an insurance to guarantee them a fixed exchange rate in case of a sudden increase in the Baht value. So they were not worrying yet.
That's from a large company, smaller companies are more vulnerable to currency fluctuations.
-
In 1982 when I was living in Papua New Guinea, I used to take ample quantities of vitamin B Forte daily. I didn't get 1 single mozzy bite for the whole time I was there.
B-12/Brewer's Yeast can ward off some insects, especially fleas/ticks, although I'm not sure about mosquitos?
I've heard about taking vitamin B to repel mosquitos too. It's something to do with altering the smell of the body.
-
Bannavit lashed out at the previous government, blaming it for the current construction concerns.
He claimed the Thaksin-Shinawatra administration had abandoned a "defective child" for others to raise.
Finally we get the real reason why he left the government: He resigned over the new airport.
-
Thaksin arrived in Tokyo late Thursday on his first visit to Japan since being toppled from office in a Sept. 19 bloodless military coup."Now is time for me to relax, get together with my family, see my old friends," Thaksin said Thursday after arriving at Narita international airport outside Tokyo.
---------------------------------------------------
USA >>> England >>> China >>> Hongkong >>> Indonasia >>> Singapore >>> Japan >>> ???
>>>>Botswana???
>>>> Australia
-
So now at last we're getting down to the crux of the matter.....the Thai elite. They'll fight and argue amongst themselves but when all is said and done they'll close ranks to preserve the status quo. Ah, the so called '26 Clans' who own more than half of the country's wealth, at least according to Khun Sumet of the Chaipattana Foundation reported in The Nation some time back.
I too would be interested to read Yos Santasombat's article (is it a thesis or a published book?...in English or Thai I wonder) so if anyone out there knows anything about it then that'd be appreciated.
It's a PhD thesis from 1985. Probably difficult to get hold of but if anyone has it, I would be interested too.
Yos Santasombat 1985. “Power and Personality: An Anthropological Study of the Thai Political Elite.” Ph. D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. 285 pp.
(reference from this page: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/thaipol/xyandz.htm)
-
A few months ago, saw a (very) barebone bus being driven near Ayuttaya, there was only the base with the motor at the rear end and the steering wheel at the front end. The driver was sitting on a plastic chair and wearing a helmet. Very cool!
-
Now I know why Thais don't understand when I use just one wrong tone and/or one wrong vowel length. There are so many possibilities to choose from.
-
Can you imagine back in those days before Phitsanulok had water buffalos, how many farangs had to send money to their girlfriends for sick dinosaurs.
Excellent!
:D -
In America anyone can own a gun as long as they are not a criminal. Aliens who establish residency by just living in a State can go out and buy a gun and anyone can buy a shotgun. Too bad we in the USA allow law abiding people to own a firearm but not here.
The woman should have come out with a shotgun and blown his head into pulp. Handbags do little against a firearm.
A very backwards country is Thailand in this regard.
By your standards, pretty much all countries in (western) Europe are very backwards.
I thought the US had one of the highest rates of deaths by firearms in the world, counting both accidents and murders. I sure don't want that in Thailand.
-
Amazing Bangkok...
Thanks for sharing these figures. I see the fuel consumption in a traffic jam is quite high, 21.2L/100km (was curious about that). Fortunately we don't have to travel far in these conditions.
-
Ok, so every government worker will be told not to take bribes any more. The incentive is not a salary increase, but adhesion to ethical behavior and the principles of sufficiency economy, combined with "severe punishment -- including dismissal from government service" if found guilty of corruption.
That's a Brilliant Strategy.
-
Working for a government research institute, I enjoy 15 days paid holidays (but wouldn't mind more
), and 15 days paid sick leave.My wife has 10 days paid holidays as a university lecturer, I don't know about her sick leave.
Something I like in Thailand is that there seems to be always a bank holiday weekend around the corner.
-
-
If that is the case, The Nation would have to be in cahoots with the Junta. I am not betting my money on whether this is the case. But anyways, would you happen to know of any links unknown to me about whether who is whose brother-in-law or lover or well..... you get what I mean, between the Junta and the owners of The Nation?
No, I'm not aware of any special relationships. Just trying to guess the future... The link I see is the Nation group being close to the Manager group, whose owner Sondhi L. is good friend with the new government (he is getting back his slot on Channel 9 next month, if my information is correct). But whether this connection is good enough for The Nation to get control of ITV is anyone's guess, specially seeing how critical of the coup they can be (see link below). Wait and see.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/pag...amp;id=30021310
-
It's a typical Thai trait of doing something without thinking it through first...
You don't let young children play with matches for fear of them getting burnt, you also teach them to look both ways before crossing a road... unfortunately this level of learning hasn't been developed yet in Thailand and so when they get a big red button to play with that could send off several nukes you can be sure that someone will press it to see what will happen and only after the dust has settled do they say "I don't think i'll press that again because i don't like it..."
Reminds me of a chat with Mrs Pete a while ago about future energy supply in Thailand. Whatever happens, she said, Thai people should never, ever have a nuclear power plant. Because sooner or later, someone will try to be more clever than the instruction manual.
-
Damage already done
Yep, foreign investors have plenty of other places to put their money in.
-
Why all the debate on the price and availability of drugs? It seems we are moving more into a debate on whether the war on drugs was a success or not. The next step will be to say it was justifed. To my mind this is getting bizarre. The fact is, thousands of people were killed in the war, and all those killed were innocent because they were never tried. What happened is not only disgusting but also a gross breach of human rights. How it affected the price or availability of drugs is irrelevent. Those involved should be tried. Unlike those that were killed the people involved in this massacre will if there is evidence get trial.
Good summary, although I would say that price and availability of drugs are relevant to the millions of parents who have to worry about the activities of their children/teenagers.
So, if there is agreement that the killings during the war on drug were a breach of human rights, and that those involved should be tried (I agree), maybe we could move the debate to what happens next? The investigation committee set up by the government will gather evidence, and then... What will happen to the people who organized the extra-judicial murders? And what could/will be be done to prevent a similar crisis from happening again?
-
So the military had to do their coup in order to prevent a bloodbath. That's called a pre-emptive strike, the theory is made in USA, and it doesn't exactly work. See Irak.
To stay on topic, the war on drug was brutal and horrendous, but not pre-emptive. The drug situation was out of hand, even before Thaksin was elected. I've been digging BBC archives:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1160453.stm8 February 2001
Thai students in grip of 'crazy drug'
A report by the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) said in 1999, there were more than 660,000 cases of drug-related offences by students - either as users, pushers or addicts. More than 80,000 of these cases involved primary school children.
The NPEC described the figures as extremely alarming - especially as they come during concerted efforts to reverse the trend.
Officials for the United Nations Drug Control Programme say the figures underline the failure of authorities to control the spread of a popular form of amphetamine, known locally as "Ya Ba" - or crazy drug.
The Ya Ba phenomenon has been described as Thailand's number one national security issue and the NPEC's report explains why. [...]
It also says that efforts to halt its spread are failing. [...]
That article is dated 8 February 2001, 2 years before the war on drugs, and discusses figures from 1999, 2 years before Thaksin was elected.
As for Thaksin's responsibility and the silencing of critics, these were already asserted at the time too:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2828203.stm7 March 2003
Thai drug war critic threatened
[...] The Thai Government has also threatened Mr Pradit with impeachment if he continued to criticise government policy openly.
Suranand Vejjajiva, the ruling party spokesman, told the BBC's East Asia Today programme on Thursday that Mr Pradit should be careful.
"If he starts accusing the Prime Minister of being a dictatorship... that that there is state-sponsored violence, that's not right," Mr Vejjajiva said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has also said Thais should not act at "whistleblowers" or "give away Thailand's independence". [...]
A search for "war on drugs thailand" on the BBC website brings many more such reports of the situation before, during and after.
-
What is this all obviously heading towards? And what is the motive behind this act? There must be a political motive involved or is the world suddenly a better place?
1) To own ITV thus having 100% control in Thai broadcasting?
2) To earn some cash out of foreigners as is the culture (double pricing standards)?
3) To punish Mr Taksin? (I really don't know how this can apply as the money is not out of his own pocket)
4) To punish Temasek? (Yup for buying something that no Thais had the cash for. Made the people lose so much face.)
5) To squeeze Singapores' balls and then release with an IOU for future favors?(Millitary governments like to do that)
6) To teach others a lesson.... SPEND MONEY IN THAILAND. NOT MAKE MONEY... OR ELSE.
Let me see... ITV originally belonged to Nation Multimedia, before Shin took control in the aftermath of the 1997 economic crisis (one of the reasons for the resentment of the Nation against Thaksin, by the way and IMHO). Could it be that the Nation are preparing to get the baby back? They just have to wait for the declaration of bankruptcy that will wipe out the debt, then to step in to buy a popular and profitable channel at a very reasonable price. It would be a suitable reward (...)
-
Not that I am against nice and friendly drinking, but in Europe I don't know many countries where one can buy alcohol at 3am in a grocery store. Either it's illegal, or they are closed. Why should it be different in Thailand?
-
Land prices have dropped, in some cases from 30,000 to 13,000 Bahts/sq.wa according to a property magazine recently.
For houses, the demand is high so there is no reason for a major drop, unless the house sits directly under the flight path. For example, I don't see the new housing projects reducing their prices just yet.
-
Thanks Swelters, it's great information just on time. I've moved into a new house with no insulation whatsoever only last weekend.
-
Yeah, and some of the parties involved might be happy to use real money again too. It makes the 10% transaction tax easier to collect.
-
I was missing his posts too in the last few weeks.
Best wishes for a quick recovery, Tim.
Holiday In Cambodia
in Visas and migration to other countries
Posted
Last February at Phnomh Penh airport, it was 20 USD on the way in for a visa on arrival, and 25 USD on the way out for the departure tax. The rule applied for Thais nationals as well.