realfunster

Sigh - yet another abysmal failure by the Thai judicial and penal systems. I think we have seen quite a few similar cases over the years. He is 34 years old and yet already released after murdering his previous wife- what time did he serve for the worst crime of all ? 6 years, 8 years, 10 years ? What behavioural and psychological assessments were made prior to his release ? RIP to the (2nd) victim.

Whilst I am sure we all want to reduce corruption, be careful what you wish for folks...Thailand is awash with archaic laws, where you may have noticed ridiculous and disproportionate fines/penalties applicable. Relevant for this case, fines for vaping are 4x estimated vaping equipment cost, up to a maximum of THB 100,000. Apparently, a prison sentence of between 1-10 years is also possible.... If the police are suddenly motivated to 'prosecute' to the full extent of the law to maintain their income streams, expect choppy waters ahead. On the other hand, like most things here, this will probably all blow over in a matter of days....and the police will revert back to sensible settlements for most issues in the THB 200-THB 1,000 range. They were getting ridiculously greedy and have been pulled up on it.

That's what I was going to say. I am not a serial cheese "smuggler" but on occasion bring some back and would put in the checked bags for this reason for the 16+ hour trip back from UK. (Door to door). Myself and the good wife found a particularly pungent soft cow's cheese "Stinking Bishop" which we loaded up on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_Bishop_(cheese) Had we actually brought that onto the plane, I think we would have caused an aeronautical incident of some sort.

Coffee meet keyboard ????

Yep, I also made the mistake of watching the video. An hour later and I'm happy to report the ear bleeding has just about stopped now.

It's good to familiarise yourself with the common international codes they use. Prefix +69 is a common code at the moment. Once in your phone has the missed call, you can then block the number. Seems they don't use many as I've blocked a couple and that has seemed to work. I was chuckling at the filipino lady comment, seconded. Normally they are the back office for some westerner to sell you a spurious investment opportunity...with those guys I have tried telling them (i) I am extremely poor or (ii) I am a qualified financial professional who self-manages my investments to get them to disappear. I have asked them directly to stop wasting their time for these reasons and remove me from their calling lists.

Just look at the guy - 44 years old ? The daily stress of managing a small car park has obviously got to him. Joking aside, this is obviously a tragic overreaction and incident but overall I do wish Thais would speak up/stand up for themselves more against their "superiors". It seems a societal problem to bottle things up until the explosion comes...

You have my sympathy, sounds irritating ! If most of the fuss is around your house/land development, maybe it will quieten down as things nears completion ? If I understand correctly, the gentlemen is a retired teacher ? This comes with some prestige/status in Thai society and he may be used to barking instructions and getting his own way. If you have a strong and objective feeling he is being unreasonable, I would not expect to be able to suddenly change this behaviour, or indeed at all. I had an insufferable neighbour for several years and discussion, mediation, neighbourhood meetings, some verbal arguments and council involvement did nothing to solve it. Eventually, he moved away. Ultimately, we simply cannot "control" others behaviour unless it is in the realm of criminality, which I don't think this is. I would suggest a couple of options : 1) You find a method to park this away mentally and just accept it for what it is ("let it go"). You had many positive words about the support and friendship in the village, focus on that. He may still continue to be an annoyance but you will be more at peace mentally and physically and may be able to gradually improve relations with your neighbour. 2) Next time he comes out give him the full verbal treatment. No violence of course but give him a strong and direct verbal outburst. In English is fine, he will get the message from your tone, volume and body language. Avoid using the f-word. That might give him a shake up that you are not to be taken as a soft touch and to back off. Of course, there's a fair chance it might also make things worse with him and also lower your standing in the village.... I wouldn't bother with any legal recourse, nothing will come of it accept worse relations with your neighbour.

I am enjoying this one ! Everyone is standing their ground, it will be interesting to see what happens. I keep an open mind. I am intrigued that she claims she has talked to ‘interpol’….

Sad but true…far too often in my central Bangkok locale I catch a clear whiff of some burning going on somewhere nearby.

80. 8-0. Hope there’s enough immigration officers left for Chaeng Wattana and Suvarnabhumi after Big Joke is finished with them ! They should continue to go after the wife of the main perpetrator, who was an immigration police officer herself. One would suspect she played a vital role in making the introductions and this scheme.

Yes, after thinking about this for a few days, I did consider that I see police (in uniform) regularly stationed at office buildings, schools, gold shops etc. No doubt this comes with some monetary compensation. So, it is in fact quite common here. What the actual rules are, who knows. In this case perhaps the apparent use of publicly paid for vehicles is what has contributed to the ire (along with the smug and irritating tourist), hence the deflection on the vehicle ownership in the OP In the UK, for example, uniformed police are available for hire - just look at the footy !

Sigh....don't these clowns at Thai PBS realise how stupid they look when they report something that looks like it was written by an 8 year-old. A 2 second Google informs me that every other English language news source has managed the gargantuan task of actually including 5Fs in the 5F list, with Thai boxing included as "fighting". (Insert puns here...) I can't be arsed to make any comments on the actual strategy itself, in much the same way that Thai PBS can't be arsed to write above an infant school level.

Words fail me. Not a graphic video but if you are easily disturbed I wouldn't watch it. If he had just carried on they would have made it. The driver slowed and virtually stopped directly on the tracks for some reason - perhaps others telling him to be careful or stop (before the tracks....) or just plan panic when he saw the train. Dear oh dear. What an unnecessary waste of life. I note a total absence of physical barriers (I see lights) which seems unusual where trains are passing at high speed. Is that now 2 fatal incidents with train and passenger vehicle collisions in just the past few days ?

Mum is sweet and loves her boy dearly but dumping a motorbike in the road and then running across traffic it to beat and stab someone doesn’t sound like a ‘misunderstanding’. I suggest there is more to this than meets they eye. No pun intended.

I don't know about her but my banking app and CC app inform me of virtually every transaction, sometimes to my annoyance even. Maybe she should check her notification settings... I guess more details will come out but I have the gut feeling these people have messed up and put themselves at risk and are now trying to blame others so they can recoup their losses. At our company, we do periodic test fake emails and the hit rate for opening and replying with sensitive information is worryingly high....certainly high enough to encourage these scammers to keep trying with these approaches.

A quote oozing with Thainess...

I understand where you are coming from, Thailand has its unique charms and culture, and for many of us, that is one of the things that attracted us here. Respectfully, however, I think that is an easier position to take coming into Thailand as a foreigner having had all the benefits of the system which is supported by 'greed/profit'. Education, healthcare, work experience in desired industries and yes, financial security have, in many cases, given us as westerners financial and career freedom to either explore Thailand as a worker or as a retiree. That is, by definition, a wholly different experience to those born and raised here. I can't speak for others but when I see this kind of pronouncement but national security is not the first thing that springs into my mind but rather a continuing ploy by a small, unelected group to keep firm control over business and national interests, more than likely to the overall detriment of the wider Thai populace. This would appear to be evidenced by Thailand's gini co-efficient and general poverty, educational and socio-economic measurements.

Broadly agree with all of the above. Thailand has poor population demographics and other significant societal challenges. They have already, for many years, needed to import labour from surrounding countries. This has tended to be in the lower-value sectors but if they are to fulfill Thailand 4.0 and escape the middle-income trap, I think it is likely at some point they will need to open up other industry sectors and the employment market. In the context of regional and global economies, you can only artificially manipulate your economy for so long before it starts to hurt. Of course, when the chips are down, a bit of rampant nationalism can also be a great unifying cause and distraction for the people, let’s hope they don't go down that path even more…

You classify Thailand as developed ? If not, why make the comparison ?

They might even have a similar rule in Thailand, but you know, it’s the Navy isn’t it…they are pretty much above the law, never mind pesky “regulations”.

This must be a cunning ploy of some sort? Threaten Thais with Prawit as PM and they may actually be excited and overjoyed to continue with Prayut - more so than now anyway.

I’ve lost track now, I thought I saw a published result of 10mg and with 20-30mg metabolization per hour, which with a 4-5 hour delay, would still put him at least 90mg, and possibly (probably) higher. Someone posted a blood alcohol calculator on another thread and unfortunately there are so many variables, I expect it will give him an exit route. Our only hope is the public outrage remains steadfast and something is done as a result. Unfortunately, interest in such cases typically appears to wane fairly quickly…

Surprised 4 hours after this OP there is little comment. This is very bad news, sailing against the wind of any reasonable interpretation of competition laws, restricting consumer choice and free market dynamics. It is symptomatic of a dysfunctional society, economy and bureaucracy. . Virtually impossible these days to avoid passing at least some of your hard-earned to CP. Maybe they should change their name to OCP (a la Robocop) to reflect satire becoming reality, at least in Thailand.

Let’s all hope this fails like most TAT projects or projections. Thailand was already creaking at the seams with 40 million pre-covid. I have zero confidence that they can make the required infrastructure improvements to sustainably handle 80 million within 5 years. If this prediction comes true, I expect it will be hellish in many tourist areas and providing an overall experience which only the mass-tourism market would accept. Once again, it raises the (rhetorical) question of how does this fit in with a quality and sustainable tourism strategy as so often espoused by the TAT ?