thaikahuna

Absolutely ignorant! You mandate wage increases and at the same time lower the social security liability? Make more now, get screwed later when you retire., Teh government is going to lower cost of living and control increases? In what country has that EVER worked?

Although this sounds completely insane, there is underlying reason - namely a B387 million fund to plunder.

Sand is mobile stuff. If you want the beach to look like it did in 1952, you need to look at what has been changed since then... <snip>

So the only viable solution is to bulldoze the entire town.....Sounds like a reasonable option.

Just shows you that the politicians in Phuket have no balls. They have a police force to enforce the law are they afraid of them too? OR are the police being paid by the mafia?

Looks like the new government is in favor of having the foxes guarding the hen house.....

While I'm tempted to just deride the swift cancellation, of yet-another daft pre-election promise from PTP, on balance I think it's better to applaud their realisation that this B410-billion scheme was-and-is a non-starter, wide-open to corruption & abuse & potentially very-damaging to the poor farmers !

Making them jump-through-hoops for normal bank-loans is more fiscally-responsible. Perhaps the new government might also care to continue the previous administrations efforts, to help wean the poor off high-interest mafia-loans, next ?

Well Done PTP !

Well said!

This also just adds more credence to the fact the politicians only care about one thing....getting re-elected.

He said the way to prevent future coups – the stated goal of Nitirat – would be to create a political system that was honest and benefited the Thai people as a whole.

Yea right! Not in our lifetime and beyond!

Once more adding credence to: Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. The bloody teachers should have been monitoring this and those responsible should be sacked.

Priority number one

Make implementation of rules consistant

Annual extensions in general

Indeed and do away with the ridiculous requirement to renew your visa where it was obtained or where you now reside.

(example: I live in Bang Na and can go to Samut Prakan office and back in an hour taking care of business Going to Chaeng Wattana takes most of the day.)

90-day notification of staying longer than 90 days

If they must have the 90 days reports, then allow us to go on line and do so FOR FREE!

The media protects him the same way that "see daeng" was protected? One would hope not....

"...a 30-day interest-free period..."

Just wondering what the APR is after this 'honeymoon period', or is that irrelevant?

Don't see this a a long term or even medium term solution, but then are any of these election promise policies?

I also see alcohol being purchased under the guise of "grain" and nothing will get done, the farmer stays drunk and the credit card company bills the government for its delinquencies.

Stupid, stupid move and I hope it bites them in the ass.

Grant the pardon, with the stimpulation absolutely no politics for life, if he breaks this royal mandate he will go to jail for life and forfit his fortune to the state. He would last about 2 days before he opened his mouth.

Surely you jest? He can't keep his mouth shut! However jail for life and forfeiture of all assets would be a good start.

As far as the comments of the previous administration "shelving" the petition, tell them to go pound sand. Its politics, get use to it. Additionally, it would not be a wise person to submit ANY petition to ANY one without verifying the validity of the affixed signatures. It is the prudent thing to do.

So anyone fancy a small wager about how long this crackdown will last for. 10/1 its forgotten about within the next two weeks

I'll take that action for 100 baht. ;-) I think the bigger problem will be smoothing the ruffled feathers of the cops who will have their pocket money radically reduced because of it.

A one Km. meter taxi in Bangkok would only be 35 baht. *** the damned tuk tuks. They tried to rip me off for 400 baht for 4 people to go the same distance when I was there last year. I told them to *** off and I would walk rather than pay their extortion. The authorities do not care. The reason is simple, THAI RAK THAI and blood is thicker than water. As foreigners we do not matter. When the hell are people going to wake up and vote with their feet and walk? Let the bastards starve because the responsible parties will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell let alone be arrested for what they have done.

So long as the baht is being artificially propped up at its current levels (25-28% higher than it should be) it will not be a value oriented destination.

I think Mr Smith will find little sympathy from fellow Brits and other Falangs.

A 57 year ne'er do well who expects his government to support "because he has paid taxes" will find that his bleating will fall on stoney ground.

Responsibility starts, and remains always, with the individual.

Agreed! One must be responsible for one's own actions and deeds....

Thai Embassies and Consulates abroad to be stricter with requirements when applicants are applying for Tourist visas for Thailand.

Does this apply to "Visa Exempt" entry also?

What happens if the tourists are staying with friends?

Or if you are married to a Thai citizen and will be staying at their/your residence.

Too me this sounds like another way to kill tourism.

Looks like Thaksin is running things already......

The Headline reads - "Phuket taxi cartel grants US Military safe passage"

I thought to myself - wow - thats very nice of them - what a nice gesture to 'grant' them a safe passage.

These are US servicemen from just about the most powerful nation on earth, and the Phuket Taxi 'Cartel' was gracious enough to grant them a safe passage

we bow down before you - oh great tuk tuk drivers!

And Phuket would possibly face the loss (or is that loss of face?) of the U.S. Navy even pulling into port there....

Woravat said school executives should first try to improve their institutions and if they refuse to do so, or are unable to solve the problem, then the schools should be closed down and the students moved to other vocational colleges.

He also said the Sriwattana Institute of International Business and Technology and Bangkok Institute of Technology whose, students were involved in the brawl on Wednesday, have been ordered closed for one week to prevent the situation from escalating.

The proposed solution is ridiculous. It's pretty obvious that the problems lie with the student. We are not talking about 7 or 8 years old kids fighting and causing trouble. It's a pack of teenagers who chose to let their emotions take over the situations.

Okay, let's suppose the school couldn't solved the problem. Thus, it was shut down. Then the students who caused the school to shut down moved to other vocational college. If the same thing happen again, I don't think there will be alot of schools left in Bangkok.

A better solution would be sent them for counseling and get their parents involved. If it doesn't work, I don't think anyone can help the situation. Suspending them might be a short term solution for the school but it doesn't solve the discplinary problem of the teenagers.

Come to think it again, It seems things are hopeless for them. They might as well be thrown into the cell and have some discipline instilled in them.

I drive Sukhumvit daily and oft times right after school is dismissed for the day. These kids see a bus and rush into the street. If you don't stop or get around them you are at their mercy. I saw the bus they destroyed. It was more than apparent this was intentional as all the broken windows on the bus were broken from the inside. What needs to happen is for the police to lock up mommy and daddys precious little bastards for a few days and give them a taste of what is to come if they don't clean up their acts.

The questionnaires were completed by a sampling group of 18 students aged between 15 and 25 over June and July. It was found that most of these students had been placing bets on football matches for eight years.

...many of the students had placed bets to make money to buy alcohol or luxurious goods. They admitted that staying up late to watch football matches ruined their health and some of the female respondents confessed to having sex in order to pay off their debts.

It took them 2 months to interview 18 people?

Why use "most", "many" and "some"? They could have used individual names with so few people.

From 18 people, how many is "some of the female respondents"? 1? 2?

Why is there a news report on what can only be described as a class assignment submitted by a student?

I agree 18 students is hardly a core sampling but just enough to cast blame on someone else....usually we falangs

Would've been cool to have it, better than tripping over people and potholes every two feet on the sidewalk below....

And if you think that there would be no vendors up there you would be sadly mistaken. As for potholes, give them time...

Hmm,it would appear that the sinking ship is leaving the rats!.

Seems Thailand is following the US by electing people who have no dam_n idea how to run a country and care only about themselves.

Congrats, PM Yingluck! I wish you good luck!

You must be one of the best looking PM in the world!

If SHE is going to accomplish anything at all, SHE will have to prove that SHE is not listening to HIM! I do not think that will happen.

"But, perhaps for the sake of national harmony and out of a sense of Thai politeness, nobody has really taken her to task over that."

Perhaps if they did they might see the pack of liars and thieves they elected....not to mention that she is really nothing more than Thaksin's "YES" woman.

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

The reason being is that the RTAF owns the airport...