Oberkommando

I wonder what would happen if I wore t-shirts with one of the many Thai dictators on them, as most of them are regarded (with perhaps the exception of Suchinda) as national heroes or 'good people'.

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I saw a tourist bus driver attack a taxi driver on Sukhumvit in Bangkok in front of his Western passengers. He was trying to turn down a soi that was far too narrow for the bus and the taxi was in the way. He had an iron bar and smashed the windscreen of the taxi. The tourists sat on the bus watching, amazed while the tour guide tried to calm things down.

Welcome to Thailand.

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Final judgment for people like him will be set by his fellow inmates. I am sure, Oberkommando.

Thai prisons function totally differently from Western prisons, as do the inmates.

There's only thing more pathetic than an idiotic Thai with a gun, and that's a Westerner living in Thailand that owns one.

I've often thought it should be a Democrat policy that after winning an election

Winning an election!

Comedy gold mate, keep 'em coming.

It will be a sad day when the Press do not report News events, however distasteful they are

That day has come and gone, even on this forum.

More money wasted on another campaign to disguise all the shit that is really happening here, instead of using the funds to address the problems. Just bring the tourists here regardless of their safety from terrorists to tuk tuks.

Absolutely this.

When you get into the pokey mate, you will find out what it is like to be abused.

I doubt it, this is a Thai prison we're talking about. It's very likely he will continue similar activities with much younger and willing cellmates.

He told me that, if I was considering moving to Thailand, to accept the Thai's and the way they do things. It's not up to them to change to suit my needs but, up to me to just accept their ways because it's their country and culture, not mine.

good advice many years ago.

The great irony of course being they will never, ever accept you.

However I think that to accept their criminality, stupidity and arrogance brings you down to that level.

I applaud the expats that stand up for their rights, point out injustices where they find them and are not scared to rightfully criticise where criticism is due.

In almost ten years of living here I have only experienced one bad taxi driver

Oh please! It's one from every two are bad in my experience.

Thailand's taxi drivers are terrible, but they can console themselves in the fact that Malaysian cab drivers are worse.

One can only assume that Pitakpong has expensive taste in beds? B31,000 ?

Indeed, 900thb would have got him a lumpy straw filled single mattress for the floor of his hovel apartment.

The hideous and uncomfortable vinyl coated 'wipe clean' variety of mattresses seem to be popular in Thailand too, especially in lower end accommodations.

It would be a sad day for justice if this guy was guilty and got off on technicalities.

It would also be a sad day for justice if the wrong person got convicted for this crime.

I hope for the sake of justice enough evidence can be found to convict the person who murdered this US marine, who ever it was.

It was a sad day when the incompetent and corrupt Thai Police let him escape.

Thailand will never have a high speed train anywhere in the country by 2015. The entire railway network is a dangerous, antiquated shambles that needs complete overhaul to the tune of billions.

Additionally, 80% of the buses in Bangkok require to be replaced as they are also antiquated and dangerous, so logically they would only be implementing it on the newer air-con buses and the BRT.

Cannot see it happening. We may get a joint BTS/MRT/BRT ticketing scheme with the failed Airport Link thrown in for good measure, but anything else is pure fantasist.

That would require winning an election, something they have been incapable of accomplishing in recent years...................

Something they have been incapable of doing since 1992.

At the time he rose to power, i favoured, and am on record here as saying such, Abhisit calling elections promptly so in which to give himself a decent mandate with which to work - or if not him, someone else. He chose however not to - and i think he paid ultimately for that decision - but that was his choice to make, and nobody had any right to try and force him otherwise - least of all by violence and intimidation. Once the violence and intimidation began, which didn't take long, i became opposed to him calling elections as to do so would have been to perpetuate and encourage the cycle of mob rule.

The Democrats have been unelectable since the Chuan administration of the late 90's thanks to harsh fiscal policies against the nation's poor and corruption which eventually brought down that government.

Abhisit would have known this only too well and would have simply been handing power back to the elected majority.

That is of course assuming he was allowed to make that decision which he clearly would not have been by those behind and complicit in the machinations behind the 2006 coup.

The repeated attempts at toppling him, were perfectly understandable.

The means attempted at toppling him, were no more legal or democratic than the coup.

I would argue that a civilian protest movement even with a militant element is more democratic than a military coup and junta.

But you reap what you sow, and the whole matter should have been solved without military intervention in politics at the behest of others which continually holds Thailand back.

You are right, Thaksin's media censorship and human rights record was quite appalling.

It certainly was, remarkable then that is was so easily eclipsed by the Abhisit tenure.

I hope the police/courts make an example of these poachers that might deter a future sensless killing of wild elephants.

I agree with your sentiments, but wonder what would be an appropriate example?

In Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and maybe Kenya and tanzania, some poachers when caught are shot on sight. No trial.

As are some Cambodian loggers found in Thailand. There are incidents of them being tortured and burnt alive by the Thai army.

What continually comes back to me is the sheer incompetence of the Thai Police to allow him first to escape from Phuket, then from Thailand into Cambodia through a border checkpoint.

Those demanding 'justice' would be better served looking at the reasons how and why he escaped so easily in the first place.

All the important current and past leaders in Thailand were educated outside of the country going back more than a century. What did they learn?

How to be better thieves.

18 years 'experience' and the guy makes a mistake that almost causes a disaster.

Thai Police then criticise the media for reporting it, denying their was even an explosion.

There's no end to their deceit and incompetence.

any foreigner? yeah right maybe pull some drunk off a bar stool and get his opinion...somehow i suspect that many who constantly criticize thais are the very same ones who left your home country because it was OVER regulated....if you want super safety standards then perhaps you should consider living in a country where the govt tells you when, what, where, how, why, how much, how little, how big, how wide, how many etc....to expect to find the level of inspections and employee training in a country like thailand and still have a low cost of living and all the freedoms that Thailand offers is just a bit naive....

What "freedoms" are you meaning here?

It's a myth that Thailand is more free than Western countries unless you are breaking the law.

Who is the person of influence involved or is this just an assumption? I know nothing about the facts of this case but do know that even in the US that 40% of murders go unsolved. The US along with Thailand also has some of the highest incarcerations (% of pop. behind bars) in the world. Unless there are facts to point another way, I wouldn't just assume this unsolved crime has anything to do with corruption.

Nearly every thread I read has one of your pointless and off topic comparisons with the USA.

I've noticed that as freedom goes up in a country, 'safety consciousness' goes down--and vice-versa. Can anyone explain, or offer counter-examples?

I treasure the freedom that Thailand offers, and realize that its price is eternal vigilance when crossing the road or doing almost anything else.

Free to report or leave the country every 90 days and carry your passport at all times.

This is just another inevitable and wholly preventable accident in the World's Most Dangerous Tourism Destination for Brits, Aussies and Swedes.