wensiensheng

And that’s exactly why they won’t gain power. The senators know what might be in store for them.

The reporting makes things very unclear. As I understand it the thai nominees are in trouble because they helped circumvent property ownership laws. I don’t understand the reference to evading property tax by buying and selling company shares instead of the land itself. Sure, property tax is avoided by doing that, share stamp duty is paid instead, but it’s not illegal. Unless of course it is done via nominees and all in the pursuit of evading property ownership laws. I see reference in posts to FQ. That of course only apply a to condos. There is no FQ for landed properties and the article does not indicate whether it is landed or condo property involved. anyway, a big fuss because something got too big to be ignored, then it will be back to normal again

“Starting”? where have you been for the last decade…..or so.

Personally, I don’t think that the PR spin put in the article in favour of tourism in Thailand is a particularly good example of investigative journalism. If you told me TAT itself wrote the article, I would believe you. Having visited Lithuania and received nothing but kindness and hospitality from the locals, I hope the victim recovers from the trauma she obviously suffered.

Looking deeper into the numbers, just 15 people were “nabbed” for overstay. the rest were not at their reported accommodation, or had already left, or had visa applications pending, and, 109 had died! So no nabbing those 109 unfortunate souls. the headline is just ridiculous and bears no correlation to the actual facts reported.

I think the colour reference was to the accommodation, rather than the foreigners being scrutinized. Must be, because if you think you have got it tough, just try having black skin while in Thailand. The level of scrutiny is much higher

Why not keep it simple and just crackdown on lawbreakers…… every day. it’s called doing your job

Correct

Not sure about that. AFAIK a serial kills for the killing “buzz” or out of compulsion. this lady seems to be alleged to have killed because of money transactions. it seems different to me.

Singapore and Indonesia do pretty well for tourists. Albeit the former with short term visitors transmitting to Aus etc, but also with Chinese when they can travel and Malaysians. And Singapore can claim to be attracting quality tourists. Indonesia does pretty well by virtue of Bali. So Thailand #1 in SE Asia, always has been and always will, is an overly broad statement imho. That said, I haven’t done any number comparisons because physical headcount is inaccurate in Thailand, maybe Bali also for all I know. And then there are other metrics, such as percentage of GDP, average expenditure per tourist headcount, total expenditure by total tourists etc etc

But that would place me in the tourist camp. And I have lived here for 16 years on an annual visa extension. I’m not really a tourist. But maybe you are just pointing out what they probably do, not it’s accuracy.

Sure immigration can but they want this tax included in the price of a ticket so as to hide it in plain sight. any fool could have foreseen that airlines can’t be expected to know the immigration status of people at the time they book tickets. but there you go.

Have we established that it’s not the Seahorse yet? If so, maybe I’ll read a few more comments.

It’s hard to say whether what the Thai official said is absolute rubbish or not because what he said isn’t quoted in full. what is for sure is that the headline is absolute tosh, so if that’s what he actually said, he is talking rubbish. On the other hand, it is possible that the writer has grabbed a few words out of context and utilized a click bait style headline. who knows which it is, but one thing is for sure, not wearing a seatbelt does not cause accidents, it increases the risk of serious injury if an accident occurs while in a car. the headline doesn’t mention a similar dynamic with helmets and motorbikes, although some minor reference is made to it near the end. all in all, I’m not sure why seatbelts get to become the focus of the article, unless that was the focus of what the official said. And it appears the seatbelt thing was just let of a slew of statistics being reeled off in one place. so a nonsense article again that leaves the reader with more questions than answers and casts a Thai official in a bad light.

I recall flying into Perth with a golf bag as I intended playing golf while there. The customs officer asked if I had golf shoes in my luggage, which of course I did. He then proceeded to check them, decided they were dirty with strands of grass and the like, and took them away to clean them. he did an excellent job but didn’t seem so happy when I asked him if he could also clean my black leather work shoes ????????

Do you expect a sign on every inch of road saying to be careful because cars pass and can cause accidents? Or do you use common sense and take as much care as possible? and even if you do take as much care as possible, accidents do still happen. Thailand has an appalling safety record and I am as critical of the authorities in that respect as anyone, but this sounds like a freak accident. I personally can’t see that the authorities bear much blame. Venturing into a dark area with slippery conditions underfoot, yep, it’s possible to slip and fall. The guy is very unlucky that it led to serious injury.

Kudos to him for assisting a young girl in trouble but he got off very lucky indeed.

Destroy? Perhaps you mean deface? The rocks and concrete she painted are still there you know.

The picture may not be representative of the actual situation, but the cash didn’t look to be exactly hidden. Looked to be in an envelope on the back seat.

The head injury is more than suggestive that a helmet wasn’t worn. Just as the insurance company concluded.

The article states that all the names are fictitious

What a bizarre thread. The article mentions nothing of refugees, simply tourists and Russians buying and renting property in Thailand. there’s mention at the beginning about a “pact”, no mention of what that it is, simply that it doesn’t need to be approved by Parliament. what a waste of time reading it.

For those who prove to the satisfaction of the authorities that they are very wealthy and/or have a high income, why the need for insurance? They can clearly afford to pay for their medical expenses

It’s rife in Phuket. Visa agents abound and imho most love off getting visas for farang who don’t qualify for one bit pay 30k baht to get one

Any bank that asks its customers for detailed personal information such as passwords is being grossly negligent. And any customer providing that information is grossly stupid. I can’t say that I have EVER been asked for that type of thing, on the contrary, often I receive messages saying that bank staff will never ask for such a thing. When I compare the security requirements for my Singapore bank and my thai bank, this is just Thailand playing catch up.