Thais rip into "5,000 baht for a tourist's life" check presentation

[webfact]

Thais rip into "5,000 baht for a tourist's life" check presentation

 

Picture: The Pattaya News

 

Thai posters ripped into a story on The Pattaya News after the Tourist Assistance Foundation and police handed over a check for 5,000 baht to the family of a dead Russian tourist. 

 

The tourist was killed last weekend in a 'big bike' accident.

 

Picture: The Pattaya News

 

Several of the presenting party are seen smiling from ear to ear including Pol Col Pongphan Wongmaneethet.

 

The media said on Facebook that the money - about US 165 dollars - is to help the victim's relatives cope. 

 

Posters commented negatively in large numbers. 

 

Chanakan Wenzel spoke for many when they said: "It's embarrassing. 50,000 baht would have looked a little better".

 

Paweena Sudtanom said that rather than making a show of presenting such a small amount the police should be concentrating on getting justice for the victim in the case. 

 

Nutcha Rin was more conciliatory saying that it may be small but it was the thought that counts. 

 

Montok Naksuthi pulled no punches with a couple of Thai expletives asking: "What the hell are you smiling at?"

 

Source: The Pattaya News

 

 

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[YetAnother]

many thais complained but my bet is a lot of thais think that is about what a farang life is worth, hence the amount

[richard_smith237]

No...  50,000 baht wouldn't have been better.... the price of a life is not $1620.

 

But, what really happened here? was the deceased at fault ? or was the car driver to blame for the accident? (based on the photo alone it would appear that the motorcyclist was at fault).

 

If the deceased was at fault, why should they get any money?

If the car driver was at fault, then ensuring lessons are learnt, laws are applied and through penalties the message sent out that causing an accident will be dealt with by the law.

 

This would seem an insight of the minds of those involved in these issues, thinking that 5000 baht in some way makes a death ok. 

 

The only thing that could be comforting are the words "we'll do whatever it takes and do our best to make sure something like this does not happen again".... but that would be the response of a mature society. 

 

[Isaanbiker]

The media said on Facebook that the money - about US 165 dollars - is to help the victim's relatives cope. 

 

That will help them a lot. Three bottles of good vodka will do the trick. 

 

   

[Orton Rd]

Probably both at fault as the car looks illegally parked, better not to give anything than that amount.

[KittenKong]

11 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

But, what really happened here? was the deceased at fault ? or was the car driver to blame for the accident? (based on the photo alone it would appear that the motorcyclist was at fault). 

 

If the deceased was at fault, why should they get any money?

If the car driver was at fault, then ensuring lessons are learnt, laws are applied and through penalties the message sent out that causing an accident will be dealt with by the law.

The payment is a gesture and has nothing to do with responsibility.

 

The incident was reported previously. A large bike driven by an Arab tourist drove into a parked car, killing the Russian standing by it. The answer is to ban large bikes and to ban all rentals to people without licences and full insurance. Will that happen? Probably not as nothing is ever done that might prevent "poor Thais" from earning money.

[ezzra]

I say, if you want to give, then give good and right and don't make a mockery of Thailand and it's people giving a paltry 5,000 baht, also, get some decent people with proper manners and suitable attire to handle such situations respectful and not a motley crew of smiling presenters when it come to people lost lives...

[wendyfromoz]

this is very disturbing and tacky.  Thais all smiles and proud of themselves whilst handing over a pultry 5k baht.  They victims family look offended and it's as if they have been forced to attend the photo op for the thais 

[holy cow cm]

Should about cover the taxi trip back to the airport. Pretty pathetic to do a photo shoot though when as kittenkong said he was the innocent victim of an out of control Arab rider.. 5000 or 500 or even 50 baht has the same feeling effect. Got to fell bad for them.

[Yinn]

32 minutes ago, ezzra said:

I say, if you want to give, then give good and right and don't make a mockery of Thailand and it's people giving aplatary 5,000 baht, also, get some decent people with proper manners and suitable attire to handle such situations respectful and not a motley crew of smiling presentes when it come to people lost lives...

How much you going to give?

 

The money just to help a bit. 

 

The police will will make the Arab pay more sure.

 

52 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

many thais complained but my bet is a lot of thais think that is about what a farang life is worth, hence the amount

No. The life not have the price. Irreplaceable.

[Thaiwrath]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

handed over a check for 5,000 baht to the family of a dead Russian tourist. 

 

The Tourist Assistance Foundation probably thought they were saving the "oh so precious image" of Thailand.

If anything, this pathetic attempt (cheque -spelt correctly) has made it's image multiple times worse !

[smedly]

and the Arab rider ?

 

what happened to him ?

 

why is he not paying up ?

[darksidedog]

Whoever came up with the idea that 5,000 Baht would help the family cope should be sacked. That is just an insult.

[smedly]

13 minutes ago, Bipolar said:

The key thing is that why would anybody with any self-respect wanna accept Bt 5,000 baht after a relative has died and worst even pose for such pictures??????

she got confused with all the zeros 

[BestB]

Police did not have to help with anything   Nice of them that they did, however there was no need for the photo as amount is hardly worth celebrating or publicising. 

[NanLaew]

40 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

The answer is to ban large bikes and to ban all rentals to people without licences and full insurance. Will that happen? Probably not as nothing is ever done that might prevent "poor Thais" from earning money.

These big rental bikes in Pattaya are mostly owned by cops so nothing to do with any "poor Thais."

[Anythingleft?]

The cynic in me just regards this a poorly thought out easy path to putting the episode behind them with no further investigation or follow up........

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[AhFarangJa]

I would have told them in plain terms to shove the cheque where the sun doesn't shine, and there is no way I would give them the satisfaction of a photo op, unless it was a view of the said cheque disappearing up an orifice. 

Disgusting lack of empathy for the Families concerned.

[Rimmer]

Better to do nothing than stage this macabre attempt and cheap shot at some publicity.

Don't they realize this paltry amount and all the happy grinning faces will backfire on them.

[petermik]

The smile on a Thai,s face is to cover up the fact they do not know properly how to react to any given situation........

[Lucius verus]

Who is the clown second from the left??? It looks like the cops found him sleeping in the soi and dumped him in the pic simply to fill in space.

Geeeezuz.

[Tropicalevo]

Whilst there is a lot of angst about this one, I can think that a small gesture from the TAT is a nice thought, but what is the point in giving a cheque to the family of a tourist. Can they cash it without a bank account?

[stanleycoin]

What were they thinking. total Muppet's.

 

[potless]

1 hour ago, petermik said:

The smile on a Thai,s face is to cover up the fact they do not know properly how to react to any given situation........

A grin on a face can sometimes signify embarrassment. Its not unusual to see these large bikes tearing along Thepprasit and Thappraya road. Thankfully they are not allowed on motorways.

[neeray]

• 2 hours ago, Bipolar said:

The key thing is that why would anybody with any self-respect wanna accept Bt 5,000 baht after a relative has died and worst even pose for such pictures??????

Agreed. You prompted me to go back and look at the picture again. Pathetic ! In extremely poor taste !

 

[Henrik Andersen]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

and the Arab rider ?

 

what happened to him ?

 

why is he not paying up ?

Like meny other tourists 

No insurance 

No money 

But Thailand show how much they care for tourists in this case 

5000 baht that is a joke 

[VocalNeal]

44 minutes ago, potless said:

A grin on a face can sometimes signify embarrassment. Its not unusual to see these large bikes tearing along Thepprasit and Thappraya road. Thankfully they are not allowed on motorways.

They are apparently if ridden by police or motorway personnel. So don't stop looking in your mirrors, if you thought there were none.

[wgdanson]

54 minutes ago, potless said:

A grin on a face can sometimes signify embarrassment. Its not unusual to see these large bikes tearing along Thepprasit and Thappraya road. Thankfully they are not allowed on motorways.

Not SUPPOSED to go on motorways! 

[RichardColeman]

Looks like a promotion for the Thai Police 5th placed lottery winner to me

[MRToMRT]

3 hours ago, Bipolar said:

The key thing is that why would anybody with any self-respect wanna accept Bt 5,000 baht after a relative has died and worst even pose for such pictures??????

I would suspect they had no idea what was actually happening.