thai_narak

...... Does anyone know of a map that points out the locations of the damage? I thought it was only taxiways and runways that had problems.

The BKK Post published a map in their print edition on Fri. 26.01.07

here is a scan:

Damaged goods... This is Thaksin's bequest!

But, AFIK, it is nothing to do with settlement and I know nothing about the daily adjustment. The jacks are part of the seismic isolation system that ensures in the event of an earthquake the airport remanins undamaged and operational.

According to the Kansai airport's own website it has all to do with uneven settlement. "This is the system that jacks up each of the buildings. It includes installing iron plates in order to adjust and even up the surfaces that slope or lean because of unequal settlement."

But you are correct in that they don't make daily adjustments. "Jacking up of the pillars under the passenger terminal is done biennially."

From:

http://www.kiac.co.jp/en/tech/sink/sink4/index.html

Hence, this is a design feature and got nothing to do with sub-standard construction. The japs design the buildings with jacks so they can adjust when necessary...

I thought this training is not going work but yesterday when I flew from KL I have experienced first hand the result of this training. YES, the immigration officer smiled at me when handed my passport. This is the first time I saw an immigration officer threw a smile. But I think this officer is high rank as he is wearing a coat with decorative stuff oh his shoulder. Well, it's good start and I hope other officers will follow suit.

While not excusing the present and/or former governments from blame, this sort of thing happens regardless of who's in charge so unfortunately shoddy building practices are more a part of the culture of mai pen rai and corruption than anything.

nothing to do with building on a swamp then ??

No.

Provided the design was correctly carried out for the soil conditions correctly predicted in the soil report written around test borehole results. Provided the correct number and size of piles were installed, driven to the correct depth. Provided the surface layer(s) of earth were removed to the correct depth and then replaced by the correct grade of backfill correctly compacted. Finally if the correct grade of concrete together with correct reinforcement was installed. If all that basic foundation work was done in accordance with the specifications everything would be fine.

Unfortunately there are just too many opportunities for cost cutting for corrupt organisations not under rigourous supervision to miss out on.

I agree. The problem is not because it was built on the swamp. There are many airports that were built in a man made island (land filled) but they are not sinking.

Typical finger pointing technique...

Why do you want to see anyone, any country, or anything at all fail?

Rots are designed to kill. Look how big their mouth is.

Don't you need a permanent resident to have funeral in Thailand? I would assume that if you only have a non-immigrant visa your embassy has to be notified upon your death and your corpse sent to your home country afterwards... Ever thought about this?

I don't have any big issue with them. But a simple Sawadee Krup/Kha or even "Hello" in English would be polite. Then when they stamp they could at least say "Welcome to Thailand" - I'd settle for that.

There is no immigration officer in any country in the world that do this "Welcome to blah, blah..."

In other words, you cannot have a family in Thailand if you are not in a certain living standard set by the Thai immigration. OR even if you have a family, when you lose your job or earning less, get out of Thailand!

I have money and everything now but what if one day when it is a little rather "just enough" situation arise? This is really a harsh rule.

Just got back from KL, chose this route as all the threads and advice suggested stay away from Penang for multi entri visas.

Asked for the NON O and next day I picked up my visa with a single entry NON B !! I Wrote on the application "Non O for marriage visa".

Had all the required papers and more showed legal marriage and house papers etc. OK I am confused, they said I just need to go to the immigration office in the kingdom to get it changed to one year status.

Please advise

Sorry to hear this...

Last year I had the same problem (in KL) where I applied for a multi non-o visa and got a multi non-b visa the next day! I called them up and informed them that they had issued the wrong visa type so they've asked me to come the next day so they can change it. It took just less than 30 minutes for the consul to crossed out the visa type from non-b to non-o and stamped it with the embassy's seal plus the consul's signature.

When I first moved to Thailand, almost twenty years ago, I would say that the general reception of foreigners was almost wholly positive. I have to measure that against the fact that I, and the other foreigners I was working with, were given a number of privileges that came with being employees of a multinational. At that time there were extremely few expats living in Thailand outside those working for multinationals.

So rarity of foreigners actually living in Thailand has to be considered.

However, it was not all good news. The company I work for have in place extremely stringent anti discrimination policies, our policies are the same across all our offices. They need to be since we move employees globally.

This brought about my first encounter of Thai Xenophobia. We had an incident of Thais refusing to work with an Indian member of staff who had been assigned to our Thailand office.

The company response was to add 'Anti Discrimination Practices' to our cross cultural training.

It was clear we needed it, when the issue of 'You are required to work with whoever is assigned to your team regardless of race, religion, gender or age' was raised, we had a group of Thais ranting 'This is Thailand we do Thai way'.

Clearly, the cover they took for their bigotry was to hide their beliefs in 'Thainess'.

Well you take the company money you take the company rules. One of these ranters, was dismissed less than six months for distributing racist cartoons in the office.

But it's not just in the office, sitting on a Bht bus one evening I overheard the driver ask the driver of the bus next to him 'how was he doing for passengers?" - 'Two Thai people and one farang animal was his reply' (If you speak Thai, you'll know the classifier he used and it's implications).

Those are cases, of what I would regard as background racism and xenophobia. I would not regard them as noteworthy beyond that they are an indication of how things where.

Things have got worse.

There was a marked shift in Thai attitudes to foreigners during the financial crisis of the mid 90s. Foreign speculators and foreigners in general where made the scapegoats for the collapse of the Thai economy. The ensuing collapse of work and income for Thais created ill feeling, I experienced this and I know of many others that did too. Perhaps we can understand this, I don't say excuse it, but at least accept that it arose out of extraordinary conditions.

What is not excusable is the use Thaksin made of this atmosphere of increasing dislike of foreigners. He and his Thai Rak Thai party used fear of foreigners as a means to gain political control. Thai Rak Thai played on the growing Xenophobia and racism.

The consequences of that were regularly discussed here on TV.

What where those consequences. Well for one there has been a raft of laws that preclude foreigners from gaining any more rights in Thailand and there has been an increase of animosity towards foreigners.

Back when I first came to Thailand I almost never heard of Thais attacking foreigners, or rather it was such a rare occasion that when it did occur it made the BK Post. The same cannot be said now, attacks of foreigners are common place.

I've not suffered such an attack, I know others who have, but as a Thai speaker I am absolutely aware of the change in the way Thais speak about foreigners.

Yes we can argue that the quality of foreigners turning up in Thailand has dropped and yes that would have an impact on Thai attitudes. But I think it is more than that, post after post on TV and else where asks 'where has the Thai smile gone' or some other reference to Thais no longer being as friendly as they once where.

To deny this is to deny repeated reports from many quarters while to suggest that xenophobia does not exist in Thailand is just plain silly (or out of touch with reality).

My firm belief is that there is an increase in Thai racism and xenophobia and that the reasons for the increase is the use the Thai Rak Thai made of nationalism and xenophobia for the political ends of Thaksin and his henchmen.

I might add, to imbibe the Thais with some super human quality of not being possessed of the self same faults as the rest of humanity is nothing more than the flip side of the racism coin – The intellectual failing is the same, to attribute qualities (negative or otherwise) on the basis of race. It’s the kind of feeble thinking that comes from a lack of real knowledge and experience of Thailand, its people and culture.

great post.

this so called thai rak thai party (leader) has just sold the thais to singapore because they love the thais so much...

In which part of the world you will often see a BOTTLE of whisky on the table say during dinner? SODA may soften the bitter taste of whisky (I hate whiskey with soda by the way) but the Thais just love it. Heavy drinking is one big factor of the hypertension on many Thai people...

Some 15 military officers, civilians detained for questioning over Bangkok bombings

BANGKOK: -- About 100 commando police raided 18 areas in Bangkok and other central provinces and detained some 15 military officers and civilians for questioning regarding the Bangkok bomb attacks on New Year's Eve.

Police sources the 15 persons were not charged yet but were detained under the martial law.

The raids in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Lop Buri, Nakhon Pathom, and Suphan Buri took place at about 6 am.

The sources said the detained persons included Lt Col Suchart Khadsungnone, an officer of the Special Warfare Command from Lop Buri and Pipop Juengluang-on, 50, the organiser of a van passenger service in Bang Bon district as well as Col Surapol Supradit.

-- The Nation 2007-01-20

A familiar name from the past or just coincidence?

From The Nation Septermber 30, 2006:

Car-bomb suspects get bail

Three Army suspects in the alleged plot to assassinate caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with a car bomb were released on bail yesterday.

Sgt-Major Chakhrit Janthana, the only suspect police said had been cooperative in their investigation, was freed from military custody in Nakhon Pathom but was still under the protection of Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police at Chokechai Soi 4.National Police chief General Kowit Wattana had reportedly given investigators permission to drop Chakhrit as a suspect and treat him as a key state witness. CSD commander Maj-General Winai Thongsong confirmed nvestigators had reached a consensus to exclude Chakhrit as a suspect.

Police will soon complete their probe, leaving Chakhrit out, and recommend prosecution of the four other suspects, although the exact charges against them have not been decided.

Also released were Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana and Colonel Surapol Supradit. Thawatchai was arrested on the morning of August 24 while driving a Daewoo sedan loaded with explosives under the Bang Plat flyover, where the vehicle was intercepted.

Surapol was alleged to be the buyer of the sedan and a key operative in the car-bomb attack. Thawatchai posted bail worth Bt500,000. He was required to report to the Bangkok Military Court on October 11. The value of Suraphol's bail was not known.

Lt-Colonel Manas Sukprasert is now the only suspect still in military detention.

I still think that the "plot to assassinate Thaksin" with a car bomb was a Pro-Thaksin setup, trying to get compassion votes, Colonel Surapol Supradit was one of the "actors" then and is still is.

Many educated Thais believed that this is the case...

If they were JI there will be more casualties.

That's was their short term solution. They switched to Thai owned True.

Still, navy can't rely on mobile phones in the open sea.

In open sea? I haven't heard of any cellular site in open sea. Are you talking about satellite (iridium) phones?

....this is thailand! why you come here?

I'm in the ICU please extend my visa ....

And even if there is such a visa don't you have to have a beneficiary for such an investment?

I think VPN is not a solution for these singaporean guys who are fond of eavesdropping into other country's secured channel. They have taken photos of Australian Military facilities? COOL!

Expert says takeover should be blocked or Thailand would have to spend billions to ensure signals are not intercepted

Singapore's takeover of the Thaicom satellite and AIS mobile phone company is a "tragedy" for Thailand's defence communications network and should be blocked if possible, a top Australian defence analyst said yesterday. Professor Des Ball said the sale of the ShinSat satellite and AIS to Temasek would end up costing Thailand billions of baht - which would be the price of having to launch a new satellite to ensure the Thai military's signals could not be intercepted.

"It's not in Thailand's interests to allow Singapore control of such a critically important communications system, through the satellite and mobile phone company," Prof Ball said in an interview in Bangkok yesterday. "That's why they [the Thai Army] are now talking about their own satellite and using [two-way] radios - their system has been compromised." Professor Ball, from the Australian National University in Canberra, is a world authority on signals intelligence. A regular visitor to Thailand and Southeast Asia, he has strong links with the Thai military.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday the government would solve the problem in the long run - by either buying the [shinSat] stake back or launching a new satellite. "We have to think about this in various aspects, not only security, but also commercial," Surayud told reporters. "Further, we don't know whether the current stakeholder wants to sell to us." The government had no plan to launch a new satellite in the short term, but the Information Communications and Technology Ministry was likely to launch its own satellite late this year, he said.

Prof Ball said Australia went through a similar debate five years ago when Singtel purchased the Optus mobile phone company. He was one of a series of analysts who publicly opposed the takeover. The Australian government eventually allowed the sale to go through, partly to ensure continued close cooperation with the island state, but Australia had to spend a huge sum on fibre-optic cables to avoid use of the Optus satellite and ensure its defence communications were secure.

Part of the problem, Ball said, was "Singapore have a track record of taking advantage of information for commercial and political purposes" - as did the US, and former Soviet Union. Singapore had "listened to and photographed Australian military facilities", which had created diplomatic rifts, he said. "They have a history of abusing their access to training in other facilities abroad. "That is not what friends are supposed to do - they abused their friendship," Ball said.

But remarks made recently by Army chief General Sonthi showed it was very clear Thailand was aware of the problem posed by the Shin takeover, he said. The sale of ShinSat to Temasek had "given Singapore direct access to the Royal Thai Army's satellite communications", Ball said. "They are going to have to have their own independent system, otherwise they hand their military and very sensitive [data] traffic to Singapore on a plate. "It's a tragedy they've handed that away with the Shin deal and will now have to redesign their own system. "If they could get out of this [shin] there are national security reasons why they should. If not, they'll have to spend billions [of baht] - or hundreds of millions of dollars - to redesign another satellite system. Launching a new satellite could cost US$250 million. "If I was in [Thai] Army HQ [headquarters] I'd be trying to get out of this [shin] deal as quick as I could."

Singapore already had an extensive array of satellite listening facilities, from a major base on Sentosa Island to listening equipment at the Thai Army base in Sai Yok - which Prof Ball said appeared to be "primarily focused on Thailand" - judging by the types of antennae he had seen there in recent years. There were both HF (High Frequency) and VHF (Very High Frequency) antennae at the Singaporean compound at RTA base in Sai Yok, but he believed "the VHF is predominantly listening to Thailand" within a radius of 100-150km. A priority target might be a military base such as the Ninth Division and its associated units at Kanchanaburi.

Ball presumed that Thai military data sent via the Thaicom-3 would be encrypted - "so that's not easy [to decode ] ... it depends on the level of encryption and the Singaporeans' ability to access this stuff. "The Thaicom-3 satellite system carries a considerable amount of military and non-military [data] traffic. And in a sense, AIS and the mobile phone system is the same issue - it's the ability [of Singapore] to monitor the mobile phone traffic devices from that satellite.

" Thailand's communications experts were "very switched on" and among the leaders in Southeast Asia, Ball said. "And Thaicom-3 is one of the most advanced in Asia.

"These guys know how your circuits flow better - probably better than anyone, other than the Singaporeans. They would have been aware of this [problem] from the start."

Jim Pollard

The Nation

This is unbelievable! The 400K is only required for the extension of stay in the old rule.

Go to your nearest Thai embassy and ask them the requirements for non-immigrant type O visa based on retirement. Once you get this visa, let's say 1 year multiple entry, you will be able to stay in Thailand for 90 days at a time in 1 year, you have to exit Thailand every 90 days if you do not apply for an "extension of stay" permit from the immigration. To apply for extension of stay, the requirements are, you should have at least 800K baht bank deposit (local bank in thailand) for the last 3 months certified by the bank or 40K baht salary/pension from your home country certified by your embassy and the bank. Go to the thai immigration and ask for further requirements because I might be wrong.

There is no such ABC way to stay in Thailand and the rules are always changing.

How about my wife? Can she bring her car from USA?

how much for that?

She will drive in the wrong side of the car. Cars are right hand drive in Thailand.

My wife took my last name and changed her house papers, land papers and ID card. She has had no problems with anything. She also feels a lot better when she checks us into hotels.

This is very true. When my wife was still my girlfriend, checking into hotels was horrible they looked at her like a wh@r%. Now that we are married and using my last name those episodes are over.