AjarnJan

I don't get it. Reading here I only see criticisms of the Thai way. You don't seem to realize that things like this actually are what make Thailand what it is; the place we have chosen to live or visit on holiday. Here there aren't laws and regulations for everything; and the ones there are aren't enforced very strictly. This gives you the wonderful freedom to use your head and be responsible for yourself instead of having others packing you into cotton balls and deciding what's best for you.

I surely feel sorry for the young man's family and friends because of this tragic accident. However Thailand is what it is and accident like this occur here. Before going here on holiday, or to live here, you should be aware of that, and make up your mind whether you are willing to run the risks that goes with it or not. People ought to be responsible for themselves instead of always just blaming things on others.

I have worked and lived most of my life in 3^rdworld countries, been in the midst of civil wars, terrorist attacks, mob rule, and similar stuff. Yet I'm still alive, have never been hurt, badly cheated, or otherwise burned my fingers severely. I surely had my share of bad experiences, but when that happened I only blamed myself for my lack of forethought, not the place or the people I had chosen to be amongst. Once I had a close friend killed by a dentist in Bangladesh. Who's really to blame? The poorly educated dentist who gave my friend an overdose of anaesthesia or my highly educated friend who was stupid enough to go to a dentist in Bangladesh? If you are a smoker and catch lungcancer can you then blame the tobacco industry?

If you want babysitter mentality with laws and regulations for everything try out a place like Denmark or Singapore instead of Thailand. I'm sure you're going to love it .

<br />KGI stock does not seem to be affected. 3.10 today, I bought is for 2.33 and it keeps going up and up. <b>Were there any other incidents like that?</b> I am with Bualuang and I do not like their service, especially IT support and was actually thinking about switching to KGI.<br />

I and a group of 7 friends have been customers with KGI for 3+ years. We haven't had incidents like the one yesterday before. Though, we now and then got issues not being able to log on to our accounts, KGI's connection to SET being down, etc. When it comes to service from their HO it is not existing, especially not when talking IT support. They have never responded to any contact when we have had issues.

The only reason we are still hanging on is that the managers of the 3 different local branch offices we are using are extremely rare species. They are always present, their doors always open, speaks fluent English, and anything you throw at them are effectively dealt with immediately. If there are any problems, if they got hot tips related to your portfolio, or anything similar you got them on the phone. They are more than aware of their HO's shortcomings (quote "arrogance"), but are all doing their best to avoid this affecting their customers. It was also them who solved the problem for us yesterday. HO didn't lift a finger.

If you are considering using KGI my advice is that you pay a visit to the branch office nearest to you. Talk with the manager and see what type of person he is. Do not rely on the HO in any regard.

PS. The KGI share is considered a speculative one. According to all analysts the real present value is only 1.88 and they all recommend SELL. Maybe you should consider doing exactly that before it dives.

Today's morning an unknown number of KGI Securities customers had to realize that they were denied access to their funds and to maintain their portfolios inflicting severe economical losses for many. The blockage of the accounts were done without any warning nor prior information to the customers. KGI staff at their local branch offices couldn't access the accounts either on behalf of the customers.

Contact by customers to KGI head office by phone and/or email requesting an explanation remains neglected and unanswered until this evening.

According to three different local KGI Branch Managers affected customers talked with this morning KGI's head office claimed to have informed them (but not the affected customers) about the upcoming action one month ago. All three Branch Managers independently denied to have received any such information from their HO. They seemed to be as stunned as their customers. They could only inform that KGI Securities head office in their wisdom had decided to take a number of customer accounts up for review, which obviously meant they were being blocked without notice and customers denied access to their funds/portfolios.

Why the accounts were closed/frozen/"taken up for review" it hasn't been possible to achieve an understandable explanation to neither from KGI's head office nor from the local Branch Managers. What is known is that while it only takes a deposit of Baht 50,000 to open an account with KGI accounts with deposits and portfolios of more than Baht 500,000 was included in this closure/review. How many accounts were affected is only known by KGI's head office, but according to a list yours sincerely was allowed to scroll partly through at a local branch office it was many hundred.

For the customers to gain access to their funds/portfolios the Branch Managers had to go through the whole procedure/paperwork for establishing new accounts. Around 11.30 am most customers were again allowed access to their funds/accounts/portfolios. However for many that was too late to avoid losses. At closing time 16.30 at least some customers had to realize that KGI's way of performing customer account maintenance directly had cost them an immediate loss of 3.4% on their portfolios.

KGI Securities head office has, following their usual behavioural pattern, up till now also neglected to comment on whether they are going to compensate their customers these losses.

It's expected to hit the NorthEast and the North, but everything people in this thread are talking about (incl. 95% of the article) is Bangkok. Somebody around here a little selfcentered maybe?

Eagle Rider Udon Thani Team now got their own Website. There you can catch up with all information about planned trips, events, meetings, etc.

You'll find it here: www.EagleRiderUdon.com

Cheers,

Friday morning my wife and I passed a road block manned by appx. 20-30 red shirts aged around 20 at the town hall in Udon Thani. My wife, who is a school teacher, told me to stop the car because she wanted to talk with them. And so she did. After five minutes she came back clearly disgusted and sad. Her talk with these "highly political motivated" young men disclosed following:

* They all had a very poor educational background.

* Appx. 80% of them were without a good, regular, steady job. (Jobs with a future - jobs in which you can develop and advance).

* They had very, very little knowledge about and understanding of the principles of democracy, and Thaksin's policies versus the present government's.

* They had even less idea about what they really wanted to achieve with their road block.

* They informed they were there because they were each paid 500 baht and they expected it to be a lot of fun (This part they all understood and agreed to).

Please, no more claims that these people are not being paid. Please, no more claims that these people are political motivated. They are simply misguided poorly educated people being taken advantage of. It is sad. As someone else are mentioning - this all comes down to poor education (and a poorly informed population). The ones guilty for the present mess are everybody calling themselves politicians, no matter whatever political fraction they are from. They are the ones who have neglected proper education of the poorer part of the population for decades and still are. This is what happens when the access to information rise (thanks to technology), but peoples skills in understanding and evaluating the content isn't developed accordingly.

Until the attitude towards providing everybody with a proper basic education changes, the present situation will keep on repeating itself over and over.