roamer

BTW, I think it may be against forum rules to edit my post you are replying to (16) You will not make changes to quoted material from other members posts, except for purposes of shortening the quoted post. This cannot be done in such a manner that it alters the context of the original post.).

In the future, please copy and paste into your reply the part of my post you want to respond to. Selective quotes, without the complete original post available for readers to refer to, can be misleading. Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation in this matter.

.

Avoiding the topic again? If mods had a problem with the way I snip quotes to make the thread more readable, they woukd have mentioned it at some point in the last 6 years.

Maybe others don't care; I do. I haven't reported you but if it continues, I may. Thanks for your understanding.

.

Enough material there for a conference (Fawlty Towers)but I doubt they would have you. Is there a problem with the meds?

Colleague was talking to a Thammasat student yesterday. He wanted to demonstrate and feels almost guilty for not doing so. Has 2 young sisters and Mum is the sole breadwinner. She works for the civil service, but most likely not for long should he join the demonstrators.

I'm sure there are many others like him. The laws may be oppressive but they only tell half the story.

Here we go, just noticed this in the newsfeed.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan Thursday denied that troops had been dispatched to intimidate families of 14 student activists, who have been arrested and remanded for violating rally ban.

Martyrs cannot be silenced. Creating martyrs is self-destructive.

The martyrs are being made almost every day...people are realizing this.

The coup started out so well, then went south faster than a swallow in November.

Cosmetic reforms, gerrymandering, an appointed government...they knew one primary principle--if people are comfortable, they will go along with almost anything...but they started creating martyrs using both new powers and the old "let's tag our enemies with the lese majestie thing" (which both sides always accuse each other of abusing, so I tend to believe it is, indeed, an abused statute).

Since PM Prayuth has Article 44, and is not using it to plug the biggest holes in the dam, I am assuming he did not realize his own friends and associates are also feeding at the trough.....it's not a matter of feeding, it is a matter which pigs are first in line.

IMHO, the feeding depends on the breeding. Pedigree pigs always seem to get more out of the trough than the common porker.

i have driven as far as the Singapore border as it was just to much hassle to drive into Singapore as u need buy/rent that machine that allows you to drive in town

lots of toil roads on both coast in Malaysia. Make sure you have Malaysian money as banks are few an far between.except in cities

You need a document from the vehicle dept for your car which is a translation of your cars blue book

u can ONLY have a maximum tint of 40% to get thru the border ( Sadao is a pain in the ass and has a machine to check the tint %)

You need english translation stickers of your cars license plate you can buy them at the border in Sadao ( after immigration/customs) or Satun ( before immigration) 100 baht each an u need front and back

Need insurance I pay 800 baht for 1 month for a honda civic buy same place as u get the stickers and also get the round tax disk required to drive in Malaysia

driving is easy but signs are <deleted>

gas is 10 baht/lt cheaper

Americans get 90 days for both countries visa exempt stamp

great info, think the OP should stop off in Phuket and buy you a beer

Colleague was talking to a Thammasat student yesterday. He wanted to demonstrate and feels almost guilty for not doing so. Has 2 young sisters and Mum is the sole breadwinner. She works for the civil service, but most likely not for long should he join the demonstrators.

I'm sure there are many others like him. The laws may be oppressive but they only tell half the story.

Good for them. Nice to see some people with a bit of backbone. Not quite up to the level of students in Hong Kong, but there definitely seems to be more outward dissent in the last month or so.

You can't blame Thammasat students for being a little cautious. Events of 1976 when more than 100 of them were massacred under a previous junta is part of a Thammasat students DNA.

The embassy certified all these restaurants all over various countries. Yeah right.

Our local Thai restaurant doesn't even have krapow for gods sake.

Usually because it's hard to get hold of the holy basil due to EU regs on pesticide levels.

Switzerland prepares to support Thailand's political development

BANGKOK, 1 July 2015 (NNT) - Swiss ambassador to Thailand Christine Schraner Burgener has made known during a meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha that the European country supports Thailand’s reform process .

The premier thanked her for her role in strengthening Thai-Swiss bilateral relations for the past 6 years. He also thanked the country for hosting a photo exhibition of His Majesty the King’s stay in Lausanne on May 12 in a bid to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the royal family’s first official visit to Switzerland.

According to Mrs Schraner Burgener, as the ambassador to Thailand, she and her team have witnessed the political development in Thailand, and that Switzerland is prepared to support the ongoing reform process and assist in areas needed.

Relations between the two countries have been concentrated on trade and tourism. In 2011, Switzerland became Thailand's eleventh most important trading partner, making it the most important trading partner in the European bloc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe what I am reading above. According to Mrs. Schraner, the second-oldest democracy on this globe, is supporting the current "political-developments" by supporting an unelected "military-junta"? Outrageous !

Knowing very well, that the main goal of the current "government" is only to keep Thailand in the hands of the 50 "important families" that have controlled Thailand for the last 100 years. And all this, while the US and most other "western-countries" are absolutely not supporting the current "political- developments" taking place in Thailand.

If this is only a personal "exploit" from Mrs. Schraner, fine ! Otherwise, if this should represent the latest official orientation concerning Foreign Policy by Switzerland, then I could only ask: Quo Vadis, Switzerland ? All for a fistful of more Dollars (Baht)?

Cheers.

Entirely unconnected with the fact that Swiss banks have been up to naughties again to the tune of several billion dollars and a Swiiss whistle blower, Xavier Justo has been detained in Bangkok.

The students outwitted the junta.

They knew they would be arrested.

Then they played their ace. They refused to apply for bail.

What would have blown over in hours has turned the spotlight firmly on the junta.

"E" isn't particularly dangerous, addictive or destructive. Most truly civilized countries wouldn't be too concerned with this crime.

You think methamphetamine mixed with caffeine is not particularity dangerous ?

Ecstacy is supposed to mainly comprise MDMA, back in the 70s marketed as the 'love drug', but now often mainly made up of amphetamines.

The 50 year sentence seems extraordinary, especially as he pleaded guilty, was it commuted from a death sentence? Anyone know if it was an importation or drugs acquired locally. Hopefully the guy will get sentence reductions in the coming years. Does HMG arrange repatriation after a certain period to serve time in UK prison?

I saw a TV programme in the UK a few years ago about a guy who had been sentenced to an extraordinary length of time in jail for 20 or 30 ecstasy tablets (25 years?) Maybe if had been heroin or cocaine, he may have been treated more leniently. Or maybe he got the same judge - I don't know.

Anyway, this guy was being interviewed after he had been in jail for a while, and he was quite philosophical about it - he took ther risks, got caught, and was serving his time. He said that the only complaint that he had was that if he had been a US citizen, or French, or any number of nationalities other than British, after 8 years in a Thai jail, he would have been allowed to serve the rest of his time in a a jail in his own country. However, the UK did not (does not?) have such an arrangement in place, so I fear it is down to appeals, and lots of money paid to lawyers, or if he is lucky, a King's Pardon.

there are reciprocal arrangements with Thailand and the UK. Kings pardon also applies.

"Sandra Gregory (born 1965) is a British woman who was imprisoned for four years in Thailand after being caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Bangkok's Don Muang Airport. She was then transferred to a UK prison for three years, before being pardoned by the King of Thailand. Gregory has since earned an Oxford degree and published her memoirs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Gregory

Usual operating procedure for PTP leader.

Get others to do the dirty work for you.

Learn it from the criminal in Dubai

Give us a break - you're like an old worn-out record...

You're wrong Simon. Even old worn out records once played a good tune

And these people want to be taken serious in the rest of the world?

Maybe they need to employ Justin Sacco to handle their PR for them ? Or maybe they already have....

"EU condemns arrest of 14 students in Thailand".

Ok, let me rephrase the above statement and try to take a litte bit of heat and excitement out of some of the conversations here.

What about this? "Some unelected bureaucrats in Brussels (I assume) advise/teach/blame some other unelected bureaucrats in Bangkok".

I'm always surprised, how many people rush to support or defense the one or the other party of these hypocritical, shameless taxeaters, who are prepared to resort to any violence (this includes economic sanctions btw.) at any time. Taxeaters who don't know any of us and give a crap about what we, the people, really think, how we feel or in what economical situation we are, be it here or there.

The only people who you should support or who can support you if you need it, are family, friends and neighbours - Never the ruthless, money wasting muppets in any capital. The only thing they can do, is to make your life more difficult or even miserable (if you don't do or pay as they say in their respective gang land).

So watch/enjoy the sarcastical show as what it finally is: A sad soap opera with the team "evil unelected guys" vs the team "bad unelected guys", where you can emotionally choose your side - They don't care about your oppinion either way.

No time to reinvent the wheel pal, we are where we are.

If that is your "wife" in the picture you might need to get her a new wig so that customs don't recogonise her.

Seems reasonable.

What is the Juntas' response ?

A forthcoming statement will explain that Thai justice is different and that these students are the masterminds of all the human trafficking, so please remove Thailand from the blacklist.

He who shall be obeyed has already made a statement:

Interim Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he did not have to clarify the issue with the EU and that Thais must be under the Thai law.

"I have to thank the students and other agencies, which are not these 14 students. There are a lot of other good students. Wherever I go, they would come to praise me," he told reporters. "But these (arrested) students only wanted democracy and election."

How dare they!

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/UN-rights-office-urges-Thailand-to-free-14-6357257.php

EU slams sedition charges against Thai anti-coup student activists

Published on Jun 30, 2015 1:33 PM

0 0 0 0PRINTEMAIL

BANGKOK (AFP) - The European Union hit out at Thailand's junta on Tuesday for pursuing sedition charges against a group of anti-coup student activists, describing their arrest and prosecution in a military court as a "disturbing development".

The fourteen detained students are part of a small network of pro-democracy campaigners who have dared to publicly challenge Thailand's military rulers after they seized power from an elected government last year and imposed severe curbs on civil liberties.

They were detained on Friday after holding a protest at Bangkok's Democracy Monument the previous day and charged with sedition, a national security offence that carries up to seven years in jail.

Their case is being handled by a military court which usually holds hearings behind closed doors and to which there is no right of appeal once convict

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/eu-slams-sedition-charges-against-thai-anti-coup-student-activists-2#sthash.PRbJ6msK.dpuf

UN also echoing the call. Clever move by the students not to seek bail, keeps the spotlight on this.

I think this is brilliant:

Interim Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he did not have to clarify the issue with the EU and that Thais must be under the Thai law.

"I have to thank the students and other agencies, which are not these 14 students. There are a lot of other good students. Wherever I go, they would come to praise me," he told reporters. "But these (arrested) students only wanted democracy and election."

How dare they!

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/UN-rights-office-urges-Thailand-to-free-14-6357257.php

"Actually, this is not beyond our expectation, especially mine," Piyarat said. "You can't [carry out] a kamikaze [attack] ..."

Kamikaze attack? Did I miss something or is the PM becoming a bit hysterical?

Amazing how fearful the Junta is of fourteen students.

I'll bite if only to put a spanner in the works of some of the stupid comments so far. I support the junta but not everything they do.

Despite some doubts whether they are being egged on by 'certain' political groups or not - Jatuporn's support certainly gives some credence to that view - I totally condemn putting them on trial in a military court. Almost treated as badly as Palestinians by Israel who face the same severe reduction in justice.

I applaud their courage and have hopes that the junta will look again - they've already allowed appeals which were not formerly a part of military courts - and, if they have to put these people on trial, at least do it in a civilian court.

I sort of agree and indeed I back what ExPratt said in respect that it was a crime against a military decree and thus the military court was used. I can live with that as seems fair to me under the current circumstances of the temporary Junta Government.

Why oh why though cannot folk just tow the line for now. We have what I sincerely feel is a fair and honourable temporary junta Government. They are proposing what appears so far to be an excellent charter for sensible electoral reform proposing the only true democratic system there is and that is Proportional Representation (PR) and the German flavour of that as proposed gives a pretty sound democracy too. On top of that they are proposing a full referendum for the Thai people to accept or reject that charter once it is clearly explained to everyone how it will work and why it will work so much better. Hopefully then Thailand can finally have true and fair democracy and the true will of the Thai majority will finally be a highly desirable reality, certainly I for one will welcome that very much.

So come on folk STOP complaining and just tow the line for now and wait and see what the final charter says and what the results are of the peoples' referendum next January. Why oh why do some trouble makers have to stir things up, is it any wonder that they get arrested in the circumstances. Just be patient as these things cannot happen overnight but once we have this proposed true PR based democracy here then for sure full free speech can return as is sensible and right. But worth noting that with PR then surely we all can and should accept the elected Government as the people's democratic and true free will. There should then be no more minority elected Governments that give understandable fuel to uprisings and political turmoil amongst the people who cannot accept the will of a Government with only say 40% of the electorate who voted for it, as that is truly an undemocratic minority elected Government as we see all too often in my home country of the UK so often and indeed right now.

You claim your home country to be the UK but have no problems with a military junta. Just the "troublemakers" who stir things up for protesting against what the rest of the world sees as the overthrow of a democratically elected government. And you can't see the hypocrisy of supporting a coup to get proportional representation?

Can't really take anyone seriously who can use the phrase "fair and honorable temprorary junta Government"

May be even a little more bizarre, reports that the decapitated head might belong to one of the attackers

Just booked a flight with Aeroflot for my wife bk to farang land for 635€ the cheap quatar flights and swiss flight for 800 € was all gone within 24h !so Aeroflot was cheapest deal I found!

I never fly with Aeroflot!

Any known problems with this airline!

Ok there is a Alcohol ban on board is the airport in Moscow big?

Thx for info!

So you put your beloved wife on an airline you've never flown to save a bit of money??

You said romance was dead??

Cheap Charlie comes to mind & another failed relationship is on the horizon

Jayzus

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sandman, failed relationship ? Sandman is a failed relationship

And in other news, the Union of bank robbers, safe crackers and lock pickers have threatened to stop all activities until harassment by the authorities ceases. "It's diabolical" said their spokesman, Mr Gnasher Bates. "Here we are, trying to earn a decent night's pay for an indecent night's work, and for what? To be shaken down and locked up. Enough is enough. And I'll tell you what, it won't be long before our brothers at the Shoplifters and purse snatcher's association follow us. Then you'll be sorry! Just you wait and see!" The roll-on effect could be huge. Just last night, a senior member of the stuck-at- traffic-light-windscreen-washer's syndicate was heard by this correspondent muttering about a go slow as he threw a bucket of grease over a Toyota at Asoke junction.

Someone put me out of my misery, what Ealing comedy does this scenario belong to ?

Good article. I'm surprised the junta allowed it to be posted.

There won't be any more of these types of if the junta gets it's way as reported on the front page of today's BP, which also has an article asking not if reforms have worked, but if they've actually started.

I believe the writing's on the wall. How mass dissent will manifest itself and how it will be dealt with by the junta will come about sooner rather than later. Prayut can forget about his two more years.

I would like to think you are right but I think you might have got this one wrong. Previous coups have ended with a nod/prod from above, not sure that can happen anymore.

Previous history is no guide to the future.

I also wonder how long the media can continue to push the envelope, his tolerance now seems to be on a very short fuse.

Nothing good is about to happen.

I think the long distance buses will always be around and more so if Thailand builds some motorways in the future. Air travel in thailand is very cheap. When its not too busy you can buy a ticket for the next day or even the same day and get a low airfare on the busy routes with lots of flights. This situation may not last forever. Airlines consolidate, oil prices go up, governments add taxes and it might not be so cheap and easy in the future meaning some people may choose the bus.

Compare the same domestic journeys to other countries. UK turn up on the day or book the day before for a flight between Scotland or Manchester and Heathrow. You will be very lucky if you pay 5000 baht but could be more like 10000 baht on BA. Book well in advance and you get the "lowest" price about 3500 baht if you are lucky. Its the same in the USA. As Thai people become more wealthy the airlines will charge more. Right now airfares and domestic travel is as good as it will ever be but it wont stay like this forever.

No maybe it won't stay like this forever. I actually have to be in Manchester by 9am tomorrow. My train ticket one way is £135 @7000THB. Only flight that would work for me is £155.

Thought your first post was reasonable, if somewhat naive.

Blew it with the second post.

Unique racist, not even 2 of his best (black) friends were aware of it.