turbog3

All his and his family's funds should be seized to help rebuild the country he has tried so hard to tear apart.

Do you honestly think that there is anyone with any political power what so ever in Thailand today that would use Thaksin's seized Billions of Bahts to rebuild... the country?

Try "help rebuild their personal wallets" and you might be closer to the truth...

But I agree, it would be the right thing to do, if it could be done...

A quick calculation of the sums mentioned in the article about the British couple:

The couple payed £ 7 500.

Tony had 'helped' 150 people so far this year.

Provided Tony manage to extract £ 7 500 from every person he 'helps', that gives us:

£ 7 500 * 150 victims = £ 1 125 000 - so far this year...

That means per year: £ 2 250 000.

That roughly translates to Baht 125 000 000.... 125 million Baht... That buys a lot of Tea!!!

Even when we take into account that Tony might exaggerate his number of victims and maybe not every victim pays as much, does anyone here think that Tony and the Police commander are the only people involved - or that this is likely to be stopped any time soon???

Score one for Team LOS

The first step is restoring confidence of airlines and passengers to actually use the place. Talking about top 10 ranking now is nothing more than laughable.

Couldn't agree more. I think however that the statement made wasn't meant for an international audience, but more likely for an internal audience. In the traditional Thai way, sweep away everything bad, pretend it never happened, smile and then bluntly explain that everything is normal again... Works like a charm every time!

Serious suggestion: Get rid of the Taxi-touts at arrivals!!! Better signs to get to buses and taxi-station, More seats for the restaurants, More snack-bars, More Toilets... Oh, and more smiles from the Immigration officers, I thought the Kingdom was called LOS for a reason, but whenever I have my passport checked I have my doubts... Could be for totally different reasons of course...

... They had previously expressed their concerns to the Thai government. If this happens again, I would expect these countries making an explicit statement of not traveling under any circumstances including the inability to provide consular services. It's been done previously in respect to countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe, and East Timor. Good company to be in............

On a side note - If western governments were to issue explicit statements or advices to it's citizens not to travel to Thailand, that could have serious consequences for the Tourism industry in the Kingdom. I know that at least in my country, if State Department were to issue a explicit warning about not traveling to Thailand, that would mean that my travel insurance would be void, since I am in direct violation of a serious "advice" about not traveling to a country or region deemed to be unstable or dangerous. No insurance company would cover my expanses if something were to happen to me if I have traveled, "against better judgment", to a country or region that is known to be dangerous. The airlines might still fly me there, but once I'm there I have no insurance-cover.

To me, that would mean I would have to consider very, very carefully the pros and cons about going to Thailand, if I'm not covered by an insurance.

I'm a very certain that nearly all "normal" tourists from my country would choose not to go to Thailand and instead go somewhere else. It's not like they have no choices these days... Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, China, heck even two weeks in the Canary Islands would be sufficient for most would-be Thai-travelers if the insurance companies say a big No-No about a vacation in Thailand...

With the tourism industry being such a big part of the Thai economy, a severe cut in the number of tourists coming to Thailand would be devastating, even for the ruling class, especially nowadays with the recession/depression making it's entrance even in the Kingdom.

Happy Birthday to His Royal Majesty the King, on behalf of me and my wife!

May your wisdom and protection continue to grace the Kingdom and it's people for many more years to come!

Long Live the King!

Look, if 400 protestors came storming suddenly into melbourne airport, or sydney airport... i doubt anyone could stop them either... to be quite honest. cant comment about other countries

If 400 protesters came storming into a international airport anywhere else, the police and whatever other authorities and armed forces deemed necessary to deal with the situation, would likely do something more than, 1) wait, 2) talk with the protesters and 3) wait some more, and finally 4) let them all leave peacefully once they achieve their goals...

Sure thing, if 400 or 3000 or whatever protesters entered the airport area, no-one would be able to stop them initially, unless the airport is a military airport with a division or two of marines based there, but what happens after the initial take-over is most likely where Thailand differs from most of the other countries, IMHO...

Concern mounts at Thai airport security lapses (Airports OF Thailand Public)

...

Airline representatives in Thailand contacted by Reuters were highly

critical of the response to the airport blockades, how the emergency was dealt

with and efforts to restart operations.

None was willing to be identified. "We have to work here," said one.

"We are under enormous pressure to open -- from the airport authorities,

from stuck passengers, from shareholders, from the tourist industry ...," said

one airline official.

"But our genuine security concerns are being ignored."

Chief among those concerns are the security lapses that allowed a

supposedly state-of-the-art, $4 billion airport, opened just two years ago, to

be overrun in minutes by a few hundred protesters, even if some were armed with

clubs and metal rods.

...

Kind of was afraid I would see something like this... After hearing from both Thai officials as well as foreign experts that it would normally take at least a week or two to get a compromised airport operational again with regards to security concerns, we will now see Swampy in full operations within two days...

"Nothing of concern found", "initial security checks confirm everything is in order" - h*ll, the terrorists even cleaned up after themselves - how bad can it be?

Arriving on the 19:th, hopefully they will have had time to perform some more satisfactory security sweeps by then, just hope nothing happens meanwhile...

King not giving much-anticipated birthday speech

His Majesty the King has assigned HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to represent him to grant an audience to his subjects at the Dusidalai Hall at 5:15 pm Thursday on the occasion of His Majesty's 81-year-old birthday.

Some 20,000 subjects, representing senior government officials and other groups, gathered at the Dusidalai Hall to wish His Majesty a happy birthday.

The Crown Prince said his Majesty was not well.

-- The Nation 2008-12-04

One can only hope and pray that His Majesty gets better soon.

Absolutely agree All the best well-wishes, may His Majesty the King recover soon and continue to rule wisely over the Kingdom for many more years to come! And Happy Birthday in advance!

Here's a suggestion for improvement:

Post a policeman outside the airports, on a 24/7 basis. That way, when the protesters arrive next time (oh, they will come back, this strategy proved to be successful...), the policeman in place can start talking with the protesters straight away so the police don't have to wait a day or two before trying to talk the protesters away, as they did this time around...

TiT...

On a more serious note, the language used by the foreign diplomats, as described by OP above, seems to be very sharp and extremely to the point, for diplomats... "Beef up security and do not allow this to happen again - or there will be consequences!"

About bloody time, if you ask me...

I once watched the driving tests at the tax office in chonburi while I was waiting to pay my road tax.To pass the test they had to drive in a straight line between 2 rows of plastic poles over a distance of about 20 meters and then the same distance back in reverse.

You can not believe how many failed that test.But I'm sure an extra few hundred bath landed them a driver licence.

Reminds me of something my grandmother told me. In Sweden, back in the 30's or 40's, when she was young driving lessons/exams (there were no lessons, only exams back then) existed of a group of 4 or 5 men (what? You thought women could drive? This is the 30's!! ) getting in to the car together with the instructor. One man drove about a kilometer in one direction, made a turn and stopped, changed place with one of the other men who then proceeded to drive back and then all 4 or 5 men passed the exams and got their driving license!

My mother has a driving license for driving motorcycles. She has never even sat on a scooter, much less a motorcycle, in all of her 58 years! But back in the days, if you could get a license for a car, you might as well get one for a motorcycle while you where at it...

To me it would seem that the Thais are just doing what they always do, copy the West, "thaify" the concept and then take it up a notch... Driving in reverse... Oh my, what will they think of next?

... and one day when you are having a beer and notice beer dribbling out your ears...its too bloody late !

Beer leakage, it's not a pretty sight!

But it sure does feel good after downing half a dozen or so...

p.s can someone tell me where I go to get my free health insurance and child care as suggested by the new member??

You're welcome to relocate to, for instance, Sweden, where you get "free" (as in <paid-in-most-part for by taxes>) child care (as in kindergarten).

As for where you could get free health insurance, uhm, I have no idea? Maybe you could have a talk with your employer about your benefits-package? What I mentioned was free health care which is also the case in Sweden (while we in Sweden do pay a small fee for every visit to the doctor's and we do pay for our (subsidized) medicals, there is no need for us to worry about insurance or money or balancing our accounts before a trip to the doctor's office or the hospital). If I'm not mistaken I believe that, at least basic medial care is free for Thai nationals as well, while foreigners seeking medical care in Thailand would have to rely on insurance for cover or pay at the cashiers desk.

As an added bonus, relocating to Sweden is fairly easy and straight-forward.

1. Marry a Swedish citizen.

2. Apply for a combined Swedish Residence Permit/Work Permit at the Swedish embassy in your country.

3. Wait approximately 6 months (can depend on the current situation) for a decision from the Swedish Migrations Board.

4. The descision will be positive (since you have fulfilled the one condition required; being married to a Swedish citizen) - unless you have provided false or incomplete information in your application.

5. Visit the Swedish embassy to get your visa stamped in your passport.

6. Book a flight!

(7. Stay in Sweden for at least 2 years and your formerly temporary Residence and Work Permit will be made in to a permanent Residence Permit. Stay as long as you like!)

(8. Live in Sweden for at least 5 years, and you will have the opportunity to become a Swedish citizen, if you so desire. The citizenship doesn't really add any significant bonus, apart from the passport and that the Swedish embassy can help you if you have problems while abroad. As a Visa-holder and resident of Sweden you already benefit from all the Swedish social welfare-programs, such as tax-payed child-care, free medical care, free schools, you can vote in the general elections and so on.)

(Compare the above 8-step process with the process of first trying to live in Thailand on a permanent(!) basis without having to exit and enter the kingdom on a regular basis and then to try to become a Thai citizen...)

My point, if it didn't get through, was that a government provides certain basic functions for it's citizens. In Sweden, for instance, we get free schools and I believe the same goes for Thailand. When it comes to tourists, however, the basic functions provided by the government is reduced to basic infrastructure, such as roads, electricity, international airport and such. The rest of the functions demanded by tourists, such as accommodations, car-rentals, amusement parks and what ever else you can think of, is provided on an as-needed basis by, for the most part, private investors. A tourist does not and can not demand free medical care or free education for their children while mommy and daddy spends the days in the pool-bar...

Hence, a tourist only spends money while visiting the country, while a resident also demands certain basic functions to be provided, functions that in part or in full will have to be financed by the government.

Oh, and just because I posted for the first time doesn't make me a "new member". Besides, would being a "new member" mean something special? Like "shut up and don't post stupid posts because you're new and we're old"? I hope not...

God knows why they have this aversion to letting foreigners buying a place to live, they let the Chinese and Indian Thais eventually have the right to own land; poor Thais who cannot buy are priced out by RICH Thais not by the few westerners who might like to buy a house.

I think that's exactly the whole point with the Thai protectionism, to protect the RICH Thais.

If foreigners can't buy land, then who can? Thais, that's who.

Which Thais can afford to buy land? The RICH Thais, that's who.

If foreigners want to build a house, that's fine, but the land is owned and leased by the (RICH) Thais.

Want to build a new restaurant in Pattaya? Fine, but the land is owned by a Thai.

Want to buy a hotel in Bangkok? Ok, but you can only lease the land that the hotel stands on.

Great system, don't you think?

The ruling class in Thailand haven't exactly made themselves a reputation as protectors of the poor villagers out in the goonies struggling to get by, one day at the time.

They are not concerned with who owns the land that your house stands on in the village 10 miles north of Korat or 7 miles east of Khon Kaen. They don't care if your name or your wifes name is written on the deed.

What they are concerned with is who owns all the valuable land in Bangkok. Who controls all the valuable land in the booming tourist-locations? Who can make money buying and selling and leasing land to international corporations setting up offices and constructing buildings? There's a whole lot of money for the wealthy Thais to be made here... Which ex-PM, now turned football-club-owner and NOT(!?) a politician any more, stands accused in a shady land-deal in Bangkok? (Hint: his name starts with a "T" - and ends with "haksin"...) Whoops, better not go there...

There's a reason Thailand welcomes tourists to spend all their money on vacation, a foreigner visiting as a tourist spends a whole lot more money per day than a foreigner living in the country as a resident and doesn't require the Thai government to spend a whole lot of money on them. Tourists have to take care of themselves - education, child-care, health care and everything else has to be payed for by the foreigners home-country.

As a tourist, the Thai authorities don't have to take care of anything, except maybe build a few roads and a new international airport (but that can be a great OPPORTUNITY for the wealthy, ruling class...) but as for the residents of the country, the Thai government has to actually try to spend some money on education, health care and what-have-you. A tourist only spends money, a resident also consumes money.

As soon as the tourist wants to stay a little longer, as soon as he wants to buy a house and settle down - the Thai government show their true face by slamming a bunch of xenophobic prohibitions in the face of the farlang:

- You can own the house but not the land!

- You can stay in the country, but not for too long, you have to leave the country and then come back and the rules for all the different visa's change every two or three years so no-one really knows, not even the immigrations officers, eventually wearing and tearing the farlang down so he leaves the country (and the property, in the capable hands of the RICH Thais...).

- Compare the rules for visa or citizenship with most of the western countries, or even other SEA countries, and you'll see that Thai rules are not meant as an encouragement.

For the wealthy and rich foreigners looking to invest money in Thailand there are of course a whole different set of rules. Set up a corporation and let the company own everything - nemas problemas. The investment has been made, the money transfered in to the country and everything is owned by, uhm, at least 51% Thai nationals... which means that Thai lawyers and the RICH Thais control most of the foreign investments...

Great system, don't you think?

But at least the beer is served ice-cold and the women are hot-blooded in Thailand!