monkeycountry

All these populist policies, graft, borrowing etc. will eventually mainly hurt those who support it - the poor (red shirts), so I don't really care.

The poor may get a bunch of freebies now, but eventually Thailand will have borrowed so much money that the lenders say stop. When that happens the situation will be similar to Greece, except that Thailand cannot get the EU to bail it out, and I seriously doubt ASEAN will step in. Then all public spending will automatically stop and public schools, hospitals and all other forms of welfare will deteriorate rapidly. Alot of people will lose their jobs too. Needless to say, this will hurt the poor most, but no matter how much they protest, or how many building they set on fire, there will be no more money to throw at the problems

The rich however will have moved their money out of the country by then, and they will be using private schools and private hospitals etc., so for them nothing much will change.

As it is the poor who insist the government spends money we don't have, I believe it is only fair that it is the poor that pay the bill in the end! I just wish for their sake, that they could see the future problems now, so they have a chance to avoid them :-(

Or maybe it is his way of seeing if you are serious or not.

Bingo. They get lots of requests, and if some gives up because they do not know how to make a floor plan or cannot afford it, then it is probably not the tenant they are looking for anyway. If the OP wants to increase his chances I suggest submitting a budget and/or business plan together with that floor plan. It shows them that he is serious and knows what he is doing. You will often get the same request when borrowing money for a business from a Thai bank. They don't care about the budget or the plan itself, but it helps them screen who is serious and likely to succeed, and who is not.

How and why do you release rice "gradually" when everybody knows you have massive quantities stockpiled? Will the auctions have a reserve price at the price paid for it, or is the government prepared to lose money on the sales, and be accused of dumping?

Using Thai logic, the government will blame the loss on the buyers after the auction. Claiming that if they had not bid so low, the government would not have lost any money. Then the government will be in the clear, and all the red shirts will be upset with the buyers who are all from the rich elite.

Afterall the red shirts actually believe Thailand has more oil than Saudi Arabia, and that the rich are smuggling it out of the country to get rich - they will believe anything Tida and the red shirt radio tells them!

I agree, most ladyboys are not deceitful, they are openly trying to steal your money or your phone. Why they are tolerated,and not removed from various party areas such as Soi Nana, Walking Street, Soi Bangla, Soi Green Mango etc. is beyond me. Afterall, I am quite sure that if a known gang of ordinary male thieves were standing there openly robbing tourists night after night, even the ineffective Thai police would do something about it!

"But the catch is she will be obliged to appease the red shirts and ensure all her allies have equal access to the pie if she wants to prevent an implosion of her government."

Yingluck most likely does not have to appease anyone, especially not the red shirts. Come election time, the red shirts will still have to choose between the democrats or the PTP (or some insignificant parties), and no matter how upset they may be with PTP, they are not going to choose the democrats.

Personally I prefer the democrats, but if stuck with the PTP, at least I prefer to be stuck with a PTP who will forget about Thaksin and who will not give in to the ridiculous constant threats from the red shirt lemmings.

Just out of general curiosity. If someone (not Mr. Lee) is forced to stay in Thailand by a court, has no money and no family or bank who can/will pay, and is not allowed to work in Thailand. Then who pays for food, shelter etc? Is Thailand, or the persons home country legally obliged to pay?

You are forced to pay. The Thai government and the UK government WILL DO NOTHING with regards to financial support

I am sure you are right with regards to the governments, but my question still stands. If you are not allowed to work, and not entitled to any form of welfare, which a foreigner in Thailand is not, then what money are you supposed to pay with?

If nothing else, i am getting an education about the Thai system.

Can the accused sue for loss of earnings?

In another Thai civil court case a neighbour seriously damaged a house, refused to repair it, and refused to remove the reason the house was continuously being damaged, so the owner could not just repair it himself even if he wanted to. The owner obviously had to let the tenant of the house move out and thereby stop paying rent. As no new tenant could be found due to the house being damaged, the house stood empty for years. The house owner sued the neighbour and won. However, damages could only be claimed for the remainder of the original tenants contract, not for the entire period the house stood empty until it was finally repaired.

Going by the above case one can probably claim damages for lost earnings, but only if a contract with an employer or similar exists, not for potential lost earnings.

One can claim legal fees, but the amount claimed is not the actual amount spent, but instead an amount decided by the court, which has no relation to the actual amount spent. In the above case the amount decided by the court was about 10% of the actual amount spent. For that reason alone one should only file civil suits in Thailand if the amount that can potentially be won is well above the amount one has to pay in legal fees.

"He has to wait for a visa to be approved, allowing him to leave Thailand.

But that itself is not without drama, as it will cost him £800 in fines for overstaying a visa he never had."

Minor detail, but Thailand in a nutshell :-D

Just out of general curiosity. If someone (not Mr. Lee) is forced to stay in Thailand by a court, has no money and no family or bank who can/will pay, and is not allowed to work in Thailand. Then who pays for food, shelter etc? Is Thailand, or the persons home country legally obliged to pay?

"Charges were not immediately pressed because the defendants’ lawyer appealed for “a fair investigation into any allegations of wrongdoing.”"

Ohh, you want a fair investigation? Sorry, we are not used to that request, but sure, we can postpone it for as long as you want. Is that envelope for me?

Having been in Thailand for almost a year he most likely has a Thai phone number. If the parents do not have the number, the Dive School most likely does. If they can get the number from the dive school, which I assume they can, then the number can be used to trace his current whereabouts. Doing this will however most likely require a court order, which I do not know if the family can obtain. (It could be the guy does not want to be found).

Considering the amount of corruption in Thailand, a trace can probably be made without a court order, if the family pays the right amount to the right guy at the phone company - just a guess!

I think the most telling statement is that the thought they hadn't done anything wrong because others had done it too.

That in and of itself says it all.

Agree - they can still vote at elections though, which is why I think everyone should be required to pass some sort of IQ test or similar before being allowed to vote.

when did you last vote in a Thai election?

Don't see why that is relevant? But never, as I am not Thai, and therefore not allowed.

By the way, the vote test is relevant for all countries imo, and not limited to Thailand.

What does this mean: "Only a few companies, which enjoy close connections with the government, can trade rice at a low cost and not suffer tremendously from the high pledging price, a source said." ????

Are they getting free rice?

Free or cheap yes - afterall neither the buyer nor the seller (the PTP) have to shoulder the cost. It has all been paid by the taxpayers. All the buyer and the seller (the PTP) have to do is decide how to split the profit.

I have found the details of how "statutory rape" is deemed in Thailand, this is a translation of, Criminal Law in Thailand, The Penal Code. Interesting read.

Criminal Law in Thailand.

Not sure if I am actually allowed to post this, if it gets deleted OK, as an earlier post was taken down due to where I got it.

I will say it again, I am not, in anyway condoning what has happened to this poor girl or any others. Rape is rape, end of.

Actually, this says it all: "Whoever, has sexual intercourse with a girl not yet over fifteen years of age and not being his own wife,.....". It's OK to marry her under 15.

If the quote is accurately translated then it is also interesting that it says "girl", not "person". and "wife" instead of "wife/husband".

I think the most telling statement is that the thought they hadn't done anything wrong because others had done it too.

That in and of itself says it all.

Agree - they can still vote at elections though, which is why I think everyone should be required to pass some sort of IQ test or similar before being allowed to vote.

I just experienced a similar case in my thai wife`s family..

Her sister is married to a thai man, and their son is 28 years old. He just "married" a barely 12 year old girl, with both his and the girls parents` blessing. Even borrowed the money from his dad to pay for her, in traditional thai style.

I of course brought it up when I heard about it, and said that this is absolutely not acceptable for me. The parents did not even understand what was wrong about it, and I was told that this was not unusual, and it was not any of my business.

My wife and I have dropped the contact with them now, and I wonder every day if I should tell the authorities about it.

So far I have chosen to look the other way, but it makes me sick to think about it.

What a sick world we live in.

Did you think of asking the girl how she thought about it, if not, you bloody well should have and if she was against it then you should have gone to the police. Just turning your back means that you are as bad as them and it should be haunting you.

This is not as black and white as you put it, there are many things to consider for me here. Most important, I have a thai wife who can lose her contact with her whole family, so no, I haven`t asked the girl.

And don`t put the responsibility on me here, I feel that I did what I can do to a certain point. I brought it up and tried to reason with the parents. Not much more more I can do in this situation, without putting my wife in the line of fire.

There is a difference between can't and won't. As an example you can leave your wife and call the police. This way your wife will not lose her family, you will though, which is why I suspect and to some extend understand that you won't, but please do not say that you can't. Perhaps your wife should also reconsider the relationship with her family if saving a 12 year old girl from what I consider rape is seen as a bad thing!

Anyway, I understand the pressure you are under, but still hope you will do the right thing. Perhaps you can contact the Pavena Foundation from the article anonymously and let her deal with it

I just realised what we have (mostly) missed.

He actually jumped her pre-nuptials. That changes everything. The bride price is about face saving so she won't be seen as a slut. also she will be difficult to get rid of as a bride when she is actually of age..

That actually makes him guilty of molestation and has nothing to do with the bride issue at all..

In my home country an adult having sex with a 13 year old is considered and prosecuted as rape regardless of whether the girl consents or not!

I just experienced a similar case in my thai wife`s family..

Her sister is married to a thai man, and their son is 28 years old. He just "married" a barely 12 year old girl, with both his and the girls parents` blessing. Even borrowed the money from his dad to pay for her, in traditional thai style.

I of course brought it up when I heard about it, and said that this is absolutely not acceptable for me. The parents did not even understand what was wrong about it, and I was told that this was not unusual, and it was not any of my business.

My wife and I have dropped the contact with them now, and I wonder every day if I should tell the authorities about it.

So far I have chosen to look the other way, but it makes me sick to think about it.

What a sick world we live in.

Did you think of asking the girl how she thought about it, if not, you bloody well should have and if she was against it then you should have gone to the police. Just turning your back means that you are as bad as them and it should be haunting you.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing

Is said man Thai or farang? Can't help but wonder how desperate the parents were.

Can't help but wonder what a bunch of retards there must be who live in this village if 12 & 13 year old "brides" are common as claimed.

I bet every single one of them vote PTP :-)

"The man, his parents, and the victim's parents were brought in for questioning."

Since the man and his family has already confessed to the story, believing he has done nothing wrong, how come he is not arrested for rape?

Remember, in a democracy these people can vote too, and according to them there is alot of like minded people around.

The guy killed someone, got arrested, paid a bribe, got released and went home. At least Thailand is very consistent on this practise, so no double standards to complain about here.

Replace the word "dam" with "storm surge barrier" or similar, then the idea is fine. Build a gate system at the mouth of the river, and install a series of giant pumps next to the gates (yes pumps large enough do already exist). Then when the tide is high and the river is flooding at the same time, simply close the gates, and pump water from the river into the sea. The electric bill will be large, but since it is only a few days or weeks a year, that does not matter much.

This method works, and it has already been done in both the US and in europe. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, and certainly no reason to continue with the "water pushing machines" they invented during the last flood, and which any engineer worth his salt, or just a person with common sense, could have told the government would not work at all!

Do you have any idea of the amount of electrical energy required? Where does it come from - the Chinese nuclear power station(s) mentioned early perhaps? What do you do with all that generating capacity for the rest of the year?

Around 10 New Orleans size pumps will do the trick, and they are each equipped with 5,000 hp diesel generators, which is the cheapest solution when they are not supposed to run all year. Yes, both the pumps and the diesel are expensive, but still cheaper than the losses incurred when Bat could be done ngkok is flooded, especially when considering the pumps will last for many years, and will potentially save Bangkok from many floods.

Remember also we know in advance when floods will come and when the tide is high, so we can both empty the dams upriver in advance, and use the pumps to lower the level in the river well in advance of the floods, making the whole riverbassin one giant buffer. Calculating a bit on this would probably mean we could do with fewer pumps, thus lowering the cost.

Lifting 6,000,000 litres/sec of water 1 metre would require at least 60MW, or 80,000+ UKHP. Yes it could be done, but as you say bloody expensive.

As for your second paragraph, I refer you to recent history.

Don't think water has to be lifted anywhere. Pump inlet and outlet can be at the same level. Anyway, the 5000 hp pump can pump 150.000 gallons/sec, so 10 of those would just about do, even if none of the other measures I mentioned were not taken, which they probably will be in the future - even in Thailand. 50.000 hp = 37 MW. I pay around 3.5 baht/kWh, so that would be 3 million baht/day if the power was from a powerplant. That is peanuts compared to the amount of money saved by not flooding Bangkok.

WTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFF Where do they want to place the dam??? On Baiyoke Sky Tower???

Stupid is as stupid does or in other words:

"We protect Bangkok city, by sh*****loading more on the other provinces, have a nice day, province-scum!!!!"

BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK they know nothing else.

But we all know blocking the water isn't the answer

You don't understand, it is not a dam per se, but a tidal barrage.

Don't say "We all know blocking the water isn't the answer" most of us are not stupid. You don't understand, it is not a dam per se, but a tidal barrage. blocking the water at exceptionally high tides which coincide with excessive rains and storm surges to prevent disasterous flooding.

The dam is a barrage across the entrance from the sea at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. This barrage is similar to the Thames barrier in London, and in those in Holland. Bangkok continues to sink, and already 100's of sq. kms of land around the mouth of the river on the west side has already been lost including several villages. Unless the barrage is built Bangkok will be under water every year by 2020.

Japanese, Dutch and British experts including myself have recommended this solution for many years and was to have gone ahead in 2006 but the coup stopped work on the final phases of the King's Master Plan to prevent flooding in Bangkok and its environs. The barrage will only be closed under exceptional circumstances to prevent Bangkok being flooded by exceptionally high tides. Most of Bangkok is less than 2 metres above mean sea level as it is. Pictures and explanations are available on the internet.

Remember also that Bangkok is known as the Venice of the East because it was built on swamp land on the mouth of a river and is much like Venice in Italy. Venice also continues to sink and currently floods regularly as they still have not built a barrage.

Bangkok and the areas to the south are very flat and sloping very gently towards the GoS - water made them that way.

Building a 1.3km closable barrier will just push the high tides around the sides.

True, but since the tide is not that high, the land part of the barrier only have to be a few meters high, if that, and can therefore easily be built for many kilometers on either side.

Replace the word "dam" with "storm surge barrier" or similar, then the idea is fine. Build a gate system at the mouth of the river, and install a series of giant pumps next to the gates (yes pumps large enough do already exist). Then when the tide is high and the river is flooding at the same time, simply close the gates, and pump water from the river into the sea. The electric bill will be large, but since it is only a few days or weeks a year, that does not matter much.

This method works, and it has already been done in both the US and in europe. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, and certainly no reason to continue with the "water pushing machines" they invented during the last flood, and which any engineer worth his salt, or just a person with common sense, could have told the government would not work at all!

Do you have any idea of the amount of electrical energy required? Where does it come from - the Chinese nuclear power station(s) mentioned early perhaps? What do you do with all that generating capacity for the rest of the year?

Around 10 New Orleans size pumps will do the trick, and they are each equipped with 5,000 hp diesel generators, which is the cheapest solution when they are not supposed to run all year. Yes, both the pumps and the diesel are expensive, but still cheaper than the losses incurred when Bangkok is flooded, especially when considering the pumps will last for many years, and will potentially save Bangkok from many floods.

Remember also we know in advance when floods will come and when the tide is high, so we can both empty the dams upriver in advance, and use the pumps to lower the level in the river well in advance of the floods, making the whole riverbassin one giant buffer. Calculating a bit on this would probably mean we could do with fewer pumps, thus lowering the cost.