KhaoNiaw

It's quite a long list of murdered dissidents now for Laos, Thailand and Cambodia in each other's countries. True regional cooperation.

Yes, I agree completely. Which was the point of yesterday's Thai Enquirer article, telling MFP that they can afford to be patient and wait for the next election if need be. https://www.thaienquirer.com/49648/an-open-letter-to-the-move-forward-party/

The idea, I believe, (going from listening to the chat on the radio while I was driving home) is that there are other parties who might be willing to form a coalition with PT that senators would be more open to and enable them to form a government. PT can hold their own counsel for now and let MFP get on with trying to form a government. If it works out, they will be part of the government. If it doesn't come to fruition, as the next biggest party it would be their turn. So will PT and other potential MFP coalition partners be willing to go along with the repeal of Article 112, for example? Is this a policy that MFP will insist on as a priority? This could apparently be the main stumbling block to MFP forming a government. Supporting MFP in the formation of a government doesn't mean supporting their entire platform. What compromises will they be asking of each other?

There may be other obstacles to Move Forward forming a government. It wouldn't only be senators opposed to the removal of Article 112. It's not Pheu Thai policy or of other parties that would be in a Move Forward coalition. So what should Move Forward do, for example, if PT say you have to put that aside? Is that a compromise Move Forward should make? Some suggestions in the Thai media today that PT may be happy to wait and let Move Forward fail to form a government as it then becomes their chance.

Yes, but if that doesn't go as hoped ...

https://www.thaienquirer.com/49648/an-open-letter-to-the-move-forward-party/ I think this is a really good article. Move Forward can afford to be patient. Some pressure on Pheu Thai now to show their true colours. If they join any kind of coalition that keeps Move Forward out of power, it could well be the end of them.

Post-election is when the bullets start flying around. Local organizers are given cash to distribute to ensure a certain number of votes in their area. Up to them to make sure they deliver. If they don't it can be fatal.

Closed. It's a government holiday (but not a bank holiday).

Pretty much I'd say. I've been here since 1990 and was never asked for a TM30 until 2018. The first one was when I went to get a re-entry at CW and they asked me to fill in a TM30 at the same time, with no other documents from landlord or lease or anything. It wasn't until the late 90s that I had to do a 90-day report either and for a number of years after that it was very patchy whether they actually bothered about the 90 days or not.

I have the Note 10 Pro. Never had any problems with it and the camera really is good. I don't remember that there was a 5g version originally? So they may have compromised the specs to bring one out? I know later models don't have the camera of the Note 10 Pro but I'd certainly go back to look at the Note whenever this one expires, which hopefully won't be for a few years.

You can get married legally in Thailand. But you still need to go through a lot of the hoops in Laos to get the necessary documents. The video here is a Lao woman talking about the process she went through to marry in Thailand to a French national (language is a Thai/Lao mix). If you marry abroad but want a marriage that will be legal in Laos, you also need to get it registered with the Laos embassy/consulate in the country you marry in. Some people say that Singapore is the most practical option to achieve this quickly. It seems quite difficult to find people who've actually done it though and most people who've successfully been through the process have spent a lot of time and effort to get a marriage that is legally recognized in Laos. If you read between the lines with the woman in this video, I think she may have family connections that took some of the hassle out of the process. She thinks it was cheaper and not that difficult to do it in Thailand but in a previous video her husband said it was very complicated.

RIP Joe. A great loss. My condolences to the family.

I asked at KBank today and they told me their system will be up and running from the 12th.

Received mine about the same time as you yesterday evening. Immigration didn't have a holiday yesterday though. Submitted 25 April, approved 1 May. CW office

I think you're talking about accent rather than dialect. If you really want to distinguish between the more formal taught Thai and everyday spoken pronunciation, you should do a lot of messaging. In text messages they tend to spell following normal pronunciation. So my friends often type มั้ย instead of ไหม. Years ago, when my daughter was a kid, she used to buy those comic/cartoon books that Thais love (not sure if they still sell them these days) and they did the same thing in the speech bubbles. Quite interesting to see the differences written down.

So nothing to do with experience, ability or policies then. More of the same old same old Thai politics.

May well be. I'm expecting Pheu Thai to choose Srettha though, especially if they need to do a deal with Prawit. Srettha seems to have a lot of momentum behind him whereas even some in Pheu Thai seem to feel Thaksin's daughter is just Thaksin's daughter.

Bank holidays, not Government holidays. 1 May is a bank holiday but not a government holiday. 4 May is both. 17 May is a government holiday but not a bank holiday.

Just pointing out that he's not really a man for the poor. Famously, of course, saying that any areas that didn't vote for him wouldn't receive any development funds. Also quite open about the fact that he had little interest in furthering democracy (until he was removed undemocratically). Very much a case of distributing largesse from the centre and by doing this in the early days of his administration and focusing on funds going through village heads, kamnans etc. to get their local backing, it allowed him to get on with his own business. He undoubtedly did some good early on but it was well planned and targeted for his own benefit. Removing him in the fashion they did was a daft move.

Government offices get a holiday on Ploughing Ceremony day instead - May 17th this year.

But some of the very poorest parts of the country never voted for Thaksin parties.

Move Forward has no chance of getting anywhere near the number of seats that Pheu Thai will. What might be interesting is if Pheu Thai didn't get their landslide but could form a clear two-party majority with Palang Pracharath. Would PT then accept Prawit as PM as the price for forming the government? Maybe they would offer Srettha as PM candidate rather than Thaksin's daughter, with Prawit to help swing the senators?

One dead. The most recent one still living. Although they were divorced, the police have discovered they apparently reconciled and have been living together again. Some of the families have said that she borrowed money from the deceased. But after the deaths, she would contact the families and say that in fact they owed her and demand payment from the families. She even turned up with her lawyer. On occasion accompanied by the husband.

True that you need a UK address. But that will work in combination with a Thai phone number.

Potential victims from 6-7 years ago. A lot of the latest victims seem to have been in one of those 'share' loan groups. If the killer's been running share groups for years who knows what the total might be.