monkeycountry

Am I the only one who cannot find the name of the former board member in the article? Obviously the name has been revealed to the police in order to file the complaint, so I am guessing it is not mentioned because he is a minor?

The reason so many people/officials cheat is that there are no repercussions. Forget swearing in front of Buddha, which cheaters do not care about anyway, and start putting everyone who is found cheating in prison, regardless of his/her social status or bank account - that will deter a large portion of potential cheaters from cheating.

TOT, THAI and other government owned Thai companies are the least efficient companies in Thailand, and would have gone bankrupt long ago if they were not subsidiced by the government. Further, the fact that they do not have to worry about their performance, their competition nor customer satisfaction, means both performance and customer service levels are usually very low.

The best thing to do would be to close them, and let private companies fill the gab and absorb many of their staff.

"In April, Surat Thani Governor Mr.Chatpong Chatraphuti, along with the government sectors went to inspect the area after Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha commanded the governor to take care of the problem."

For those who don't know, the incinerators have been closed for years, it is not a recent problem. Unfortunately the governor has been too busy to do anything about it, and everything else for that matter, until now. The plan is now to dig the garbage further down and cover it with dirt, and the job has to be completed before the generals next visit.

For those who don't know, there are no waste water treatment plants on Samui either, in case anyone wondered what happens to the dirty water in the island's many klongs

So, after they announced he was 86'd (that's an American restaurant industry term for banned, or taken off the menu) he refused to leave. So, instead of calling the police and having him trespassed, their security beats him up. The club owners should be permanently banned from operating nightclubs. Self-help evictions are not acceptable in the hospitality industry.

Especially not with steel hooks.

Maybe the police should make some routine checks for bouncers weapons. I think they would find alot of interesting things.

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So a criminal being fleeced by criminals. Where's the story? This is standard practice under Thainess. They deserve each other.

The woman is no criminal trying to make a living selling at a small profit items she bought and paid for. The police are the criminals extorting money at the wrong end of the deal. Arrest the illegal copy makers and the police and get the country civilized.

Oh, on second thought arrest the illegal occupants of offices belonging to elected officials. What a concept.

A small profit? They buy these bags in Bangkok for around 100-200 baht, and sell them on Samui for around 1000 baht to tourists. Hardly a small profit. There is a reason she can afford the initial 50k bribe.

And yes, by defininition you are a criminal if you buy and sell illegal items. It does not matter if it is illegal handbags or drugs.

And how do you know what the vendors pay for illegal goods? Sounds suspicious to me. ;-)

The price of goods such as shoes and handbags etc. is a very popular talking subject among Thai girls, and girls in general :-)

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So a criminal being fleeced by criminals. Where's the story? This is standard practice under Thainess. They deserve each other.

The woman is no criminal trying to make a living selling at a small profit items she bought and paid for. The police are the criminals extorting money at the wrong end of the deal. Arrest the illegal copy makers and the police and get the country civilized.

Oh, on second thought arrest the illegal occupants of offices belonging to elected officials. What a concept.

A small profit? They buy these bags in Bangkok for around 100-200 baht, and sell them on Samui for around 1000 baht to tourists. Hardly a small profit. There is a reason she can afford the initial 50k bribe.

And yes, by defininition you are a criminal if you buy and sell illegal items. It does not matter if it is illegal handbags or drugs.

How about also arresting the mother and the construction worker from the 19 yo's workplace?

Any chance of giving them any better pensions than the 500Baht a month?

Or this is unthinkable in Thailand?

In order to pay out pensions, first you have to teach people to pay taxes, unless of course you do like Greece (sorry couldn't help myself :-)

My opinion may not be shared by anyone, but here it is.

FGM is, as the name suggests, a form of mutilation. I believe it compares in ways to other mutilation, such as foot binding, neck stretching, plates inserted into lips etc. Reasons why these are done are religious and cultural / traditional.

These mutilations are barbaric to most westerners and do not fit into our world view.

I believe however we should not involve ourself. It is not our culture, believe system or religion. Getting involved and criticise those who practice any such mutilations will be perceived as interference from outsiders.

Do I think these acts are cruel? Certainly I do. But I also believe I have no right to judge other's ways, believes and cultures. I can tell them I think it is barbaric, but I don't take myself the right to ask them to stop.

Minor mutilations are tattoos, piercings etc. Depends where your threshold is.

Think many centuries back, we had human sacrifices, witch hunts, canibalism etc. All very gross and in the name of religion. But changes have to come from within the system of believes, not outsiders.

Let's make the world a better place, but keep in mind we share this place with many others who may have different values. We are actually the minority.

Again, this is my opinion.

And to stick with the Topic, from what I hear FGM is common amongst Thai Muslims. As the south has significant Muslim population it is common there.

From what my Muslim friends tell me it is however declining, at least further north, not sure about declining in the south.

Imagine that someone decides to cut off the right arm of their healthy infant child, claiming it is a religious/cultural habit. If you were right next to the them, and no one else was around, would you not feel obliged to stop them by any means?

What if it was the foot, or perhaps just 2 toes or an ear. Or maybe just a few hard punches in the infants face. Where is the limit for how seriously someone is allowed to physically hurt their defenceless child?

culture and religion is no excuse. The child understands neither religion nor culture, it is simply a victim of other peoples beliefs.

The guardian is reporting FGM:

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/apr/01/thailand-muslim-south-authorities-blind-eye-fgm-who

This is a disgrace and should not be occurring in the LOS. There are so many things about the Islamic religion that I disagree with...

The way that these people think:

''I dont know what the benefit is behind it, but I believe there must be one. I know the prophet said it is desirable for the husband when women are cut. Actually in Islam we believe that women have more desire than men, so there must be something to control the women, give them humility and modesty and this could be one way to do it. Maybe in the future the scientists will find out and then we will know the benefit. All the girls here in the south do it.

"All the girls here in the south do it."

Yes, because they are given no choice! All prisoners in the south also stay in prison, but try opening the gate and see what happens.

"Maybe in the future the scientists will find out and then we will know the benefit."

Unlikely, afterall muslims are not exactly famous for their scientists :-)

I hope the participating hotels will eventually go bankrupt, which is what they deserve.

"Pattaya Police would like us to publish this story to highlight the ever-present dangers of Ladyboys and other criminal elements who prey on vulnerable foreign tourists around Pattaya City."

To those who always defend the ladyboys, it seems at least the police agree with me that the ladyboys are just a bunch of criminals.

Hopefully the polices next step will be to ban and remove all the ladyboys once and for all.

I'm quite sure you intended your post to get a reaction from those who defend a bit of diversity in society.

So let's make a list of those stereotypes who should be rounded up-gays ( absolutely) , drug dealing Nigerians, Irish , the boiler room lot, Russian mafia, dodgy Brits in property scams, dogs , backpackers and of course those pesky digital pikeys.

Please feel free to add more.

Get to know a few lady boys- and I don't mean down a back alley. Like every aspect of society - there are good and bad guys out there- some are main stream and extremely successful .

I sincerely hope you were not too serious - next you will be suggesting a little Zyclon B to sort out the problem.

I am sure there are a few nice ladyboys around with ordinary jobs. I was referring to those working on the streets (and some bars) in Pattaya (and other red light areas), who I believe are all criminals, which I think local police records will confirm.

Hence I am very serious when I say that they should be banned from the area, rounded up and removed, just as the police there sometimes do with other groups of criminals.

Seems they already started :-)

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/813424-undesirables-rounded-up-by-police-on-pattaya-beach/?utm_source=newsletter-20150331-0749&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

"Pattaya Police would like us to publish this story to highlight the ever-present dangers of Ladyboys and other criminal elements who prey on vulnerable foreign tourists around Pattaya City."

To those who always defend the ladyboys, it seems at least the police agree with me that the ladyboys are just a bunch of criminals.

Hopefully the polices next step will be to ban and remove all the ladyboys once and for all.

I'm quite sure you intended your post to get a reaction from those who defend a bit of diversity in society.

So let's make a list of those stereotypes who should be rounded up-gays ( absolutely) , drug dealing Nigerians, Irish , the boiler room lot, Russian mafia, dodgy Brits in property scams, dogs , backpackers and of course those pesky digital pikeys.

Please feel free to add more.

Get to know a few lady boys- and I don't mean down a back alley. Like every aspect of society - there are good and bad guys out there- some are main stream and extremely successful .

I sincerely hope you were not too serious - next you will be suggesting a little Zyclon B to sort out the problem.

I am sure there are a few nice ladyboys around with ordinary jobs. I was referring to those working on the streets (and some bars) in Pattaya (and other red light areas), who I believe are all criminals, which I think local police records will confirm.

Hence I am very serious when I say that they should be banned from the area, rounded up and removed, just as the police there sometimes do with other groups of criminals.

"Pattaya Police would like us to publish this story to highlight the ever-present dangers of Ladyboys and other criminal elements who prey on vulnerable foreign tourists around Pattaya City."

To those who always defend the ladyboys, it seems at least the police agree with me that the ladyboys are just a bunch of criminals.

Hopefully the polices next step will be to ban and remove all the ladyboys once and for all.

Thailand has more and stronger sunshine hours than most other countries, yet cannot manage to implement a proper solar power strategy. No surprise there.

To those who don't want to be forced to contribute by being forced to pay for government subsidies through taxes or higher electric bills, fair enough, but then please ensure that I in turn am not forced to breathe in the polluted air from the coal/gas plants you prefer to use.

You are not forced to breath, feel free to stop any time you wish, or move elsewhere. But before considering those options, let me ask you how you intend to obtain energy when the sun doesn't shine? Will you buy energy from those coal/gas plants, or install a large bank of batteries, assuming you can find the non-polluting type?

Likewise you are not forced to pay expensive electricity. Simply stop using electricity and/or stop paying the electricity bills or your taxes - or move as you suggest.

Noone has said we need 100% solar power, 50% will be a good start, and will mean the air will be that much cleaner. Further there are other sources of energy such as wind and water power etc. This works better if power is transported across borders.

Mains electricity is far from expensive, and I will continue to use it without a hint of hypocrisy. The biggest problem with energy policy is that it is driven by (well intentioned?) people with huge agendas and miniscule levels of knowledge.

But continue on in your fantasy land. Remember, anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

I do admit I don't know what you are talking about!

Thailand has more and stronger sunshine hours than most other countries, yet cannot manage to implement a proper solar power strategy. No surprise there.

To those who don't want to be forced to contribute by being forced to pay for government subsidies through taxes or higher electric bills, fair enough, but then please ensure that I in turn am not forced to breathe in the polluted air from the coal/gas plants you prefer to use.

You are not forced to breath, feel free to stop any time you wish, or move elsewhere. But before considering those options, let me ask you how you intend to obtain energy when the sun doesn't shine? Will you buy energy from those coal/gas plants, or install a large bank of batteries, assuming you can find the non-polluting type?

Likewise you are not forced to pay expensive electricity. Simply stop using electricity and/or stop paying the electricity bills or your taxes - or move as you suggest.

Noone has said we need 100% solar power, 50% will be a good start, and will mean the air will be that much cleaner. Further there are other sources of energy such as wind and water power etc. This works better if power is transported across borders.

Park officials said several accidents have happened at the spot.

But of course they have, and nothing has been done to prevent future ones.

Nice job, park officials.

That is not true. They have increased the price in order to discourage tourists from visiting the waterfall and thereby preventing them from falling off the waterfall. Only problem is the price is not yet high enough to discourage all tourists, but this will be changed shortly.

1.6 billion compensation. Compensation for what exactly? Surely no Thai movie would ever make that sort of money. Sounds like an opertunist grab for cash. Universal pictures have bigger and more powerful an army of lawyers than a little Thai production company could afford but they do have the trump card. It will be heard in Thailand by a Thai judge so I guess universal are screwed and about to be Thai owned.

Fortunately for Universal it does not matter much to them what a Thai court orders, as they are not a Thai company. The only damage a Thai court can do to Universal is block all future Universal movies from being shown in Thailand, but I doubt the Thai theaters such as Major and FX and the Thai audience will accept that.

Further, this seems to be an issue between the actor and the Thai movie company. I am not sure how Universal can be held responsible for anything, as they have not made any contracts with the Thai movie company (as far as I know).

I would not be surprised if Universal sues the Thai movie company for loss of earnings due to the movie not being shown in Thailand.

Give me martial law anyday over bombings and red shirts on the street. They have a track record for violence, if there were some guarantees they would not come come out and start protesting / killing.. and intimidating judges and such. Why not.

But actually I think this is the only thing that keeps them from the streets.

Robbie old friend, let me explain it to you very slowly!!

When a majority of a country's people over and over again have seen their legally cast votes being voided by the juridical system and/or the army, they might lose patience.

That loss of patience may sometimes sadly result in violence, when people reach their breaking point.

Not defending the violence, but I can understand, that sometimes people just had enough!!

You are from Holland, a very democratic country, and you are defending this:

A new Thai constitution being drafted by the ruling junta is a throwback to an era when a royalist and military elite had a stranglehold on politics, analysts and politicians say, warning of dire consequences for democracy.

Beyond me.......................

If a kindergarden was run by democracy, the kids would vote for eating ice cream all day long till they got sick and fat and/or the kindergarden went broke. Fortunately there is no democracy in kindergardens, and the teacher has absolute power. The reason noone complains about that setup is that everyone agrees the kids have no idea what is good for them, or for the kindergarden as a whole.

Personally I think the same could be said for a very large portion of the Thai electorate.

I am quite certain that any PM candidate promising to borrow an enormous amount of money abroad at any interest rate and then distribute say a million baht as a gift to each and every thai, would win any election.

The fact that it would obviously turn Thailand into Greece would matter little to most Thais. Most Thais don't even know about Greece's current situation, they cannot even find it on a map.

And that is why many if not most Thais are simply not qualified to vote, especially not when many of the politicians don't care about the future of Thailand either.

Give me martial law anyday over bombings and red shirts on the street. They have a track record for violence, if there were some guarantees they would not come come out and start protesting / killing.. and intimidating judges and such. Why not.

But actually I think this is the only thing that keeps them from the streets.

Robbie old friend, let me explain it to you very slowly!!

When a majority of a country's people over and over again have seen their legally cast votes being voided by the juridical system and/or the army, they might lose patience.

That loss of patience may sometimes sadly result in violence, when people reach their breaking point.

Not defending the violence, but I can understand, that sometimes people just had enough!!

You are from Holland, a very democratic country, and you are defending this:

A new Thai constitution being drafted by the ruling junta is a throwback to an era when a royalist and military elite had a stranglehold on politics, analysts and politicians say, warning of dire consequences for democracy.

Beyond me.......................

If a kindergarden was run by democracy, the kids would vote for eating ice cream all day long till they got sick and fat and/or the kindergarden went broke. Fortunately there is no democracy in kindergardens, and the teacher has absolute power. The reason noone complains about that setup is that everyone agrees the kids have no idea what is good for them, or for the kindergarden as a whole.

Personally I think the same could be said for a very large portion of the Thai electorate.

A new Thai constitution being drafted by the ruling junta is a throwback to an era when a royalist and military elite had a stranglehold on politics, analysts and politicians say, warning of dire consequences for democracy.

To all the junta lovers/ anti election posters here, please read the above twice and reconsider your support to the Thai elite!!

Your are supporting people and a system belonging in a long gone century!!

And cut your "but Yingluck" BS.

Democracy is not a goal in itself, and in a country where most politicians are corrupt criminals and many if not most of the voters are like children, democracy may not be the best form of government yet.

>>Prayut said the Cabinet did not discuss the lifting of martial law during its meeting at the Hua Hin Cabinet retreat Friday because the issue is under his authority as the NCPO chief.<<

Why waste time and taxpayer money on playing democracy??

Prayut is clearly aiming at absolute power!!

I agree, no reason to play democracy. Just stay in power and thereby ensure the usual corrupt and criminal politicians and paid for voters stay out of power.

Democracy is for developed countries with a mature and informed voter base.