jonclark

46 minutes ago, ezzra said:

The Thai authorities has the upper hand here when it comes to extreditions of wanted people as Thailand is a harbor to several, if not many wanted or would be wanted by the UK authorities, so Thailand can play the tit for tat game here too if they they play their cards right...

If holding on to wanted criminals - who potentially could cause harm to people in Thailand - is the upper hand? Well it must be a very weak hand. 

The big issue here is that Yingluvk alledgedly holds both Nicaragian and Montenegran passports. Even though she is clearly Thai

So if she entered on one of these passports then technically she is not Thai and this is supported by the fact her Thai passports have been revoked. So from a legal perspective Thailand is requesting the UK extradite a person from a third party country that is not covered by the extradition treaty that exisits between the UK and Thailand. 

My interpretation may be wrong but when my daughter who has dual cirizenship enters Thailand on her Thai passports she gets all the rights, privilages and protections that are afforded to Thais in Thailand and her UK passport is filed away. 

I would assume that if YL entered on one of her third party passports she would be afforded the protections those passports provide. 

7 minutes ago, robblok said:

To be honest i doubt it, because they are trying to placate the foreign countries with having some sort of democracy. That is what they are working towards, a PM for life would certainly destroy that image. Why bother then with elections at all. 

 

Just my two cents here. 

I would like to think that you are correct here and that the image of democracy in the eyes of the world would guide the governmet.

With the exception of the EU. I do not think ASEAN countries, BRIC countries or the USA would actually kick up a stink if democracy was 'dumbed down' in thailand so long trading conditions remained favourable.

24 minutes ago, robblok said:

So you equate 10 years to for life... I would hate to be you that is a short lifespan. (joke)

 

I would not call the Shins democratic rule at all. They broke plenty of the democratic rules and act just like the junta. Look at how Prawit his watches not investigated and stalled. Now look at how YL ignored the ombudsman on Thaksin his passports protecting the one who supplied the passports. Look at how PTP MP's voted for others and how secret votes were held when others were already send away (we are done sending the opposition away and then voting). Not to mention how YL totally ignored the pleads to investigate the G2G deals as they were fake and she only did a token investigation saying no corruption while the corruption amounted to 35 billion. Having a banned corrupt criminal as a leader (against the laws in Thailand) is also not really democratic. 

 

So no I would not call the Shins fully democratic, they are better than the junta. But still neither of them is good at all. So i stand with my opinion that both are evil. The Shins might be more democratic.. but that is not hard if you compare them with a junta. If that is their only plus point its not much. 

 

But maybe your right maybe they are the better option, at least I will have fun here at TV commenting on all their corruption scandals again while they happen. At least the PTP can be prosecuted for corruption (even though its hard to do whilst they are in power as they like every goverment will do whatever they can to stall the process even threaten people like what YL did with the rice program whistle blower).

 

So maybe your right they might be the least bad of the two. But only because some rule of law can be applied to them, the junta on the other hand is a disgrace corruption wise. 

 

 Totally agree with your sentiments on previous administrations and the current one.

Joking aside I feel that when the secratary of the three allies group starts making statements about PM for life and you consider who this rather murky group are openly aligned to and their strategy of poaching opposition heavy weights.

The final play is quite clear. Weaken the oposition to such a degree that it can no longer functìon and you have as the only viable option  (with a bit of window dressing to make it seem legitimate and palatable) a PM for life. And the upper house of senators will support this as......yep the PM appointed them and they are mainly military men. 

And that ensures the PTP never, ever, comes back. And what was the aim of the coup? To absolutly bury PTP and the Shins.

26 minutes ago, robblok said:

Your exaggerating, nowhere is it said its for life.

Final paragraph..??

And it has been sugested in previous articles as well.

I think Charthaipattana Party (which is pro junta) endorsed him being PM for 10 years last year as well.

Like yourself i see this as a battle between two entities, but the personalities of those entities are: Authoritarian rule vs democratic rule.

And much as i did dislike the Shins (and i wrote some pretty daming posts on em on tvf). I would have them back in  a heart beat over any junta. 

It is very easy to make one sided political predictions when your political opponants have been silenced and are not allowed to present their alternative political pathways to the public; that would just cause conflict in society..right?

Thailand is very soon going to have to make a big choice with significant implications for the future. 

An outsider, unelected PM for life. If that does not set off some serious alarm bells then quite frankly the people of this fantastic place I call home are completly complicit in their own demise and the long term conaequences that will bring.

Human history shows that the only way a society ends the rule of a "for life PM" is well.....with the ending of many lives.

Makes perfect sense given the fact that a huge range of chemical compounds used in modern medicines are plant based or derivatives of plant compounds. 

I would also go one step further and say that all drugs - hard and soft should be legalized and produced / regulated by governments. I would rather those who choose to take drugs can be assured of the quality and also that the money that users pay for their drugs goes into the government coffers (via taxation) rather than into the hands of criminal organisations which reap vast profits and leave society to clean up the mess or funnel it into other criminal activities.

Drug use (and abuse)  is a social issue not a criminal one as such, it needs to be wrested from the clutches of criminals and controlled by society. 

It is a complete farce: Until all parties are able to compete on a level playing field and present their policies and plans to the public for them to decide. This is just another fool getting his 5 minutes in the political spotlight spouting the juntas party line with even more vim than the fool that had his 5 minutes yesterday.

The public are going to be the ones who choose the PM not these life long beuraucats that think they know best.

I think it would be darkly funny if Prayut became PM when he actually has an opposition attacking him in parliment. A very different monster than the nodding dogs he has now. 

For my 2 cents worth.

If money is the primary concern then the GPS tracker is dead in the water. 30 million plus brackets and the hardware and software required to put individual basic data on plus running costs takes this way over the 64 million. Unless they budget this as 2 baht per bracelet per year. 

All tourists should have insurance for personal injury. But if a third party is to blame like the Pheonix tradgey then its up to the state or operator to cough up.

As 20 % of the GDP comes fro  tourism this 64 million is a drop on the ocean. I bet todays arriving tourists spent more than 64 million bath by lunchtime today. 

8 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Often finding the passwords isn't that difficult, even with a limited number of tries. I know someone locally used 1111 as the password. 1234 is another popular choice with people who have no understanding of security.

 

My wife left her card in an ATM once (after a transaction), went back fifteen minutes later and it was gone. She phoned the bank immediately who cancelled the card, They told her it had just been used in Big C (the ATM was directly outside).

She went into Big C and spoke to the manager who was helpful, showed her the till receipt for 3,000 baht-odd that was spent. As no one here ever checks the signature, it's not a deterrent.

However, the manager noticed the buyer had used a Big C loyalty card at the same time. The culprit was caught through that, but only by my wife's persistence. She had her money refunded by the thief who also went to prison for theft.

Shows the stupidity of this particular thief, using her own loyalty card.

 

I know the event wasn't funny - But thank you for the giggle - A thief that uses a loyalty card when making a purchase with a stolen card is brilliant. 

4 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

The UK doesn't follow Thai laws. Please learn how to respect other peoples' laws and cultures. If you don't like things put up on Facebook, ask the user to remove it. If they don't want to, ask Facebook. If Facebook say no, then block Facebook in Thailand. See how Thais like that. Otherwise, shut up and stop wasting tax payer's money. 

I've heard that Big Joke will be asking the UK police to arrest any Thais in the UK who use electronic cigarettes to deport and send back to Thailand as vaping is illegal in Thailand. 

Before people start offering advice I think the legal relationship between the child and adult needs establishing. Put simply are you by law allowed to take the child out of the country and can you prove your relationship. That is the bottom line that immigration will look at.

So in all likelihood immigration will stop you and want to see supporting documentation for this - birth certificate to prove parentage, and some evidence that you are allowed to take the child and the mother is aware of this / evidence of custody or guardianship. Immigration are pretty tight on this as foreign fathers in a divorce / custody battle do frequently try to take the child from the country. 

 A minor, who in this case will be travelling on a Thai passport with a foreigner, will be flagged for further investigation as you go through immigration.  

And to be very blunt - Your opinion that the mother doesn't care about the kid will carry zero weight with immigration. Because being very honest they have heard all the stories, excuses and reasons a thousand times before, Their concern is the welfare of the minor / Thai citizen. 

Suthep must be fuming as he has only just come out of retirement after a career spanning 3 decades in Thai politics to support Prayut - and here is Prayut telling people not to support the same old faces.

Back to the monkhood Suthep. 

2 hours ago, robblok said:

Why is the media under fire they are doing their job it should be the people sleeping in the picture that are under fire.

Exactly right. It is 100% within the realms of 'public interest' to know if the NLA members are doing their jobs properly and scrutinizing the contents of the debate. After all this is the public's money they are spending. 

On one hand 93 billion baht is made available for satellites and on the other school children are being fed kanom jin and fish sauce for lunch as the schools budget is not sufficient.

Bringing happiness to the people Junat style.

This was on the morning news on tv and suffice to say the drunk driver was very inebriated. And judging by the state of both cars was travelling pretty quick when he hit.

Such a tragic waste of life.

Although the news item after of the school van/lorry full of students which sped through a red light at a cross roads in Prachin and narrowly missed a lorry, could well have been an even bigger tragedy.