loveandlaughter

Here is the Guardian (UK) profile of Thaksin an interesting read:

The ex-policeman who made grand promises but didn't deliver

John Aglionby

Wednesday September 20, 2006

For Thaksin Shinawatra to be forced out in a coup d'etat would be a strange twist in the career of a man who has preferred to write his own rulebooks rather than abide by prevailing conventions.

From his transformation from a police colonel into the country's most popular leader, via a farcical attempt to buy Liverpool football club in 2004 and an alleged plot on his life last month, Mr Thaksin has always led a larger-than-life existence where wheeling and dealing behind the scenes has been as important as what is presented to the public.

His chameleon nature emerged when he resigned from the police in 1987. He claimed to be burnt-out but the reality was he had used his police connections to establish a software marketing company which, true to form, he named after himself, the Shinawatra Company.

Three years later he helped fuel rumours that he was bankrupt but then almost magically obtained a 20-year concession from the Thai telephone authorities for his mobile network and his future was assured.

In 1994, having conquered the business world, the tycoon, who had obtained a PhD in criminal justice from a little-known university in Texas while in the police, turned to politics.

In 1998 he created his own party, Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais), saying the existing parties were tainted by decades of failure to deliver sustainable development.

Populist promises to deliver cheap healthcare, village rejuvenation projects and a debt moratorium for farmers turned Mr Thaksin into an overnight hero. In the 2001 general election Thai Rak Thai swept into office with the first absolute majority in Thai political history.

That might have been enough for most politicians. But in May 2004 it emerged he was in "serious" talks to buy a controlling stake of Liverpool football club. Mr Thaksin said his motivation was to associate Thailand with world-class brands rather than the sex industry and drug trade.

The fact that the Liverpool deal never happened was typical of the prime minister's past two years: lots of grand promises followed by failure to deliver.

His popularity with the rural masses is strong but Thailand's better-educated urbanites have mobilised against him. What proved the last straw was the sale by Mr Thaksin's relatives in January of their stake in the family conglomerate to Singapore without paying any tax.

Thanks Sunbelt We go tomorrow to Mae Rin to have a chat with the officer about it all.

Limited Partnership is what we need as for our business there is no supply chain so really we are liability free.

Probably best to do Mae Sae in December then a proper visa - tourist two months in the New Year. Immigration department extension on that, and then again one or two thirty dayers to bring you up to May and perhaps having the flight coupon with you when it's near the time so you can legitimately say you are leaving next month anyway......

Of course it doesn't feel as good as that lovely Non-B I know I was in the same situation in the Spring doing monthlies while waiting to fly back to UK. These days it will all feel much more edgy then I was always either wondering about the 10K question or if the queue would move so I wouldn't miss the bus.....mind you my own fault I've always used the visa run to build up the CD and DVD collection which is the best thing about Tachilek

Backpack Thailand......

Maybe good thing.

Lao you could hike through the northern hills - a la Devla Murphy - and the Vietnamese well they were not so easy going some years ago......

One of the best times I had was cycling in China

Thailand is far too easy! A Lonely Planet means no guidebook no 7-11 That will give 'em some soul.......

Makes me want to travel thinking about it

The very same equation was put forth by I think the managing director of Diethelm (possibly the biggest travel/import co in Thailand) or a big hotel on the BBC's programme Fast Track when they were broadcasting from Thailand.

The Tourism Authorities have been looking to go upscale for quite a few years. They feel they have grown out of backpackers and gap year students. That doesn't also mean they automatically turn to single male sex tourists either.......

However to my mind the big change to backpacking/travelling might be that with the internet the youngsters now carry their home like a comfort blanket with them. In the old days you had post restante which you had to work out in advance, so in Thailand it was arrive Bangkok go to the GPO catch up with the mail and then no more for a month or two......

Now how lonely is the planet? If you don't find a friend or get somewhere away from it all, you can spend your time writing home to the friends you left behind. What made travel - rather like boarding school - a growth experience was that you had to become self reliant, on a wing and a prayer you flung yourself on the mercy of total strangers to sink or swim.

When you do that how can you afford to be arrogant and treat the world as your servant?

Sure everyone brings in money, but the authorities don't see it as so much, otherwise why is the "show and tell" for 30 days only 10,000 baht?

Besides there is a lot of amongst the youngsters, perhaps as our western culture gets more and more self centred. For most thais who are brought up still to respect elders and not get out of hand the young farangs are seen as a poor influence. Look at the social control the government tries to exercise........bar closing was not only about farangs but targetted at underage or young drinkers.

Possibly way off topic here, but think about it.......

There are always two sides to every story.

Final say, look at "The Beach" idea.....the only thing they made different in was that it was exclusive and they did their own washing up!!!! Change the world

Backpacker today more rightly translates as budget tourist.

Visa changes make no difference for you.

Where your problem lies is that you are not related legally or otherwise to your girlfriend so as far as immigration rules you are two independent cases.

If her work operates in Thailand maybe they can get her papers as yours did for you. Or if she is not working then back to back tourist visas or as many do a multi entry non Imm B

Otherwise you are having a long distance relationship in which as her work permits she comes to visit you in Bangkok and so forth.

Not easy.......best of luck to you.

When or if you get married a different story I guess.....this would be the same if you went to Japan for her work. .

Brief question here.

First what is the sifference between limited company and limited partnership and what businesses apply to the latter.

Second. I gather the registered capital can be in the form of cash and non-cash assets. Does that mean that we can buy a car with the money now and declare it as a company car (which it will be as it will take us to work every morning and home at night).

Can we also tot up the years rent, have a paper from the landlord to say we have paid in advance and again offset that. Plus the costs of recent rennovations.

Price all the equiptment we use and then factor in that.

Any allowance for training of staff?

And then top that up with money reserves in the bank?

I'm presuming the ONE THING you cannot do is put a residential property in there.

Third. As we are a married couple going about this, the amount is halved to One Million thai baht. Do we have to open a new account under the trading name or can the account be simply under my wife's name? We have just opened an account for our house purchase and so that has had a larger sum of money paid in from abroad to pay for our new home, but it is in the wife's name and the property and mortgage are also in that name - so the money will be disappearing from there very shortly......but the statement would look good

Our business is poacher turning gamekeeper and does not require fresh capitalisation.

Our situation is much the same.....except already married and have non-B visa.

What is limited partnership? And to what business can it apply?

The capital money does it need to be in a specific business account or can the account be a personal one in my Thai wife's name?

What are the rules then as for employees thai to myself?

I always thought international criminals would be cash rich anyway......

Oh come on......

What George Soros did in 97 was surely outsiders manipulating the economy for their own ends.

With all this we have to wait and see what will happen.

Perhaps the best thing is that people are forewarned and so expect some change, difficult or otherwise.

Logistics????

The bomb did what it was meant to do and gained attention.

Pretty much like most civil insurgencies they don't go out of their way to target outsiders (ie tourists) as the outcome would be very negative. Look at the Maoists in Nepal or the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.....

How to work out these difficulties. Well military action seldom does the trick on its own, again the Indian Peace Keeping operation in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Isareli action in Gaza, Kashmir the list goes on and on. It's not just building a dialogue but a long process of rebuilding trust in an aggrieved community.

I don't know all the ins and outs of this but it does seem that the heavy army present has only made things worse.

Terry you don't know what really happened and you seem to see everything as some Tarentino style vision, maybe these teens did too.

A bit rough Mr Gonzo the Face

The Herald article does put it all very succiently.

As does Marquess......

The bar-sex-tourism thing is running out of steam.......even Michel Houellebecq said in interviews about his book Platform - in which the narrator set up a resorty for sex tourists (of both sexes) only to have it blown up by Muslim extremists - that if he had been a bit more risque and up to date he would have set it in Cambodia.

This must be what is meant by not marrying for love, as they cannot see why anyone would marry a bar girl

Do they get many sham marriages?

It seems pretty easy to find a partner here

Hardly surprising.

Work Permits are meant not as a DIY fix.

The hiring company should be already a going concern and have registered capital etc.

Siam Int, Sunbelt and all the others are helping out for a good fee, as they are not the employer in a way it is still rule bending for tourists who suddenly want to change but haven't a post with a real employer.

Better to sort it all out first at home.

One Year Multiple Entry Non Imm-B visa from consulate in Hull, UK.

Now to convert to Work Permit over next few weeks.

Check site here or Hull itself for details.

Talk about closing door after horse has bolted.......

Dialogue from 'Snakes On a Plane' - captain: If no one can fly this plane it's going down quicker than a Thai Hooker.

I mean it would take decades to clean away all the stains

Mind you Afghanistan has taken over from the Golden Triangle as heroin central.

But that took the CIA,DEA and 40 years prohibition

The IT/consulting/creative distance working thing is a difficult one and yeas we have friends who settle here as they are doing that. It's not easily defined work in it's old fashioned sense.

But there your problem is more how long do you want to stay in one place...... maybe for the really good at it amongst you that's what the condo investment visa is for.....oh you microserfs

As for the sex-tourists with money, well is here really so exciting now? Do they still dance naked at Nana Plaza? Is Pattaya so wonderful....... I'd have thought the hardcore would be in Cambodia or the Philippines anyway what with all the other little laws they keep enforcing here.

Do you really expect counting? They hardly count calender wise on the original stamp itself.....

As they sometimes do now they have a flick back through the passport, or look at the onscreen (behind the counter) record.

If they see a lot of stamps, then as previously (sometimes) they tell you not to come again, and as has been posted on a different thread, write something in your passport.

This probably will mostly be at the FOUR or FIVE visa run borders (where the other 50 are who knows) ie. MaeSot, MaeSai, Ranong, Malaysia, Poipet and Vientienne.

Use some sense of proportion. Look at the 10K in your pocket rule. That is posted all over MaeSae (my local border) and only some get asked. The border folk have an idea of what they are looking for.

As for the poor golfers oil rig workers, all they have to do is ask to see the ticket out.....this has been done in Indonesia for years. Ticket out two days, a week later no problem as you are not likely to be living here (maybe should take golf clubs on visa run )

Reading, reading, reading the regulations as if it was a debate in front of the House of Lords is not going to cut the mustard.......if you feel maligned who would you appeal to and on what grounds? Do you think honestly we really have legal rights in Thailand?

Sure Sunbelt can ask immigration.......

No one picked up on the fellow turned back out of Ranong.......

We must wait and see how this goes in October......

Well said Ned

Look at the other thread that the Consulate in Penang are stopping issuance of multiple entry tourist visas.

It ought to be obvious to the consulates who is or isn't a bonafide tourist.

And yes at least it isn't all means tested as it is for Thais going to the West.

Farangs are assumed to have enough money to travel but not permenantly and as someone else posted after six months you are basically living here.

Retirees......well after a certain age (and 50 is on the young side) they figure you cannot work or would not want to/need to.

Younger people who don't need to work......well that does fit the profile of drug dealers or other criminals.......

And yes they do suddenly get these high profile extraditions that make the news overseas. Note how quickly the Thais wanted to give up Mr Karr.

It has been very easy to be here, now it's getting more involved.

Immigration anywhere in the world is a fraught topic.

The bigger problem that Thailand may have is if long haul tourism goes out of fashion. The Thai tourist industry took off with low airfares. Now there is talk of factoring in the enviromental costs to airfares, as planes are major polluters. If the world wakes up to global warming and the enviromental crisis then in the next 50 years the concept of travelling halfway round the globe to see elephants and sit on the beach (or drink too much and <deleted> strangers of a different race ) might be laughable.......

Expanding the tax base or encouraging foreign investment in a limited way (selling expensive condos) is good going for a government that on the news yesterday is bringing down petrol prices by adding more subsidies.......

Of course that doesn't help us as caught up individuals

Is it MULTIPLE ENTRY??????

If it is, then you can get an extra three months stamp by leaving before the expiry date (in your case the 25th October) and coming back to Thailand before that date (better a day or two before).

If the visa is single entry then it is finished when you enter Thailand so you must leave at the end of your 90 days as in 29th October.

Hope that helps.

Isn't a non immigrant O visa also for a period of stay of 60 or 90 days?

The advantage being that add on's such as extension due to granting work permit, or to support dependents are possible but not with a tourist visa.

.........Don't forget SAFE SEX as Cambodia has rising HIV problems.

If you think Thailand Government is unstable and corrupt Cambodia is a long way from stability.

Still it can be fun....there was a book about living in Phenom Penh as a journalist forget the name (Ganja, Guns and Girls????)

BUT IT IS NOT CONDOS AND SHOPPING MALLS, MULTIPLEXES etc.

I have visa from Hull consulate.......

Liisten, these visas are so archaic they are still a simple rubber stamp . Just that worried me as most visas anywhere are printed with security measures as stickers and put in passports.....for the UK (my wife and daughter) they have your photo also printed in there.

I should expect those "honourary" consulates to stop being able to issue visa, perhaps even to exsist within a year or two.

It will be real consulate - ie London only - and they will want you to be part of a real company ie listed in the UK companies directory or sponsered by a real company in Thailand.

Go figure they are not so stupid it's like Sesame Street.....one of these visas does not look like the others......

If like me you have any form of B or non O and are young, beg borrow or steal the money and get a WP on it.

I should also think they would issue without WP once but you must get WP within the year.....again makes sense.....another loophole see

This is hot news outside the forum.

Our friends both Visa and non-Visa cannot see the sense of it and feel it will have an impact.

If you don't plan ahead on stopping in Thailand then the monthly run is a godsend.

There are lots of youngsters still travelling on a whim and without much money, not planning too far ahead "going where the wind blows".

These sorts of thing just make "living free" more and more difficult.

So now you can't simply "hangout" a bit in life just get with the "hustle and the bustle"

Sad that that's how the world is getting......