Pattaya: Mayor hits back after Facebook site questions his integrity and compares resort unfavorably to Bang Saen

 

Picture: Manager

 

Pattaya's mayor Sontaya Khunpluem may have been smiling in a picture taken by Manager, but underneath The Thai smile he was clearly seething. 

 

This followed a post criticising him in a veiled way and suggesting that Bang Saen was packing the tourists in while Pattaya had almost none.

 

The post on Pattaya Future showed Bang Saen, 30 kilometers away towards Bangkok but still in Chonburi, packed with traffic and holidaymakers. 

 

"Why is Pattaya so quiet and Bang Saen so busy?" said the poster saying they had their suspicions. 

 

They went on to say that "Bang Saen is their home" but Pattaya is just a place for shoveling up money. 

 

Pattayans were told to open their eyes to the corruption and "treasure seekers". 

 

There were no names but a damning hashtag suggested Pattaya had a "bad guy" image. 

 

Pattaya had to dig up its roads three or four times, but Bang Saen was just once, job done, the post continued. 

 

The story was shared neary 1,000 times with hundreds of comments.

 

Mayor Sontaya slammed the post saying that the poster had no idea of the differences between the two resorts. 

 

Bang Saen relied 95% on Thai tourists while Pattaya was visited - in a good year - by 10 million foreigners and five million Thais, he said. 

 

Picture: Manager

 

Traffic jams in Bang Saen were normal because of its Thai clientele, he said, saying don't they know how many times the beach road was dug up there.

 

He defended his record saying that since the pandemic he and his teams had worked to attract Thai tourists with events like the music festival and fireworks shows. 

 

"Do they have a brain?", he said of the poster adding that they should ask him personally so that such misinformation is not posted in the future. 

 

It appeared that Manager had not asked the mayor to respond directly to criticisms of malfeasance in Pattaya.

 

Though the mayor was quoted as saying that the post would be scrutinized for possible legal action. 

 

He quipped referring to himself that he would set up a page to set things right called "Ask Lung Peh". 

 

Picture: Manager

 

Thaivisa notes there may also be some sibling rivalry at play here. The mayor of Saensuk district Narongchai "Lek" Khunopluem is the Pattaya mayor's younger brother. 

 

His social media presence and decisiveness has been lauded by the locals in Bang Saen for helping to promote the beach. 

 

Both men are sons of notorious Chonburi godfather Kamnan Po, now deceased, who was convicted for murdering a rival. 

 

Source: Manager

 

 

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35 minutes ago, webfact said:

Bang Saen relied 95% on Thai tourists while Pattaya was visited - in a good year - by 10 million foreigners and five million Thais, he said. 

Did he learn Maths at school?

Definitely comparing apples and pears - numbers and percentages.

The Pattaya's mayor was not elected, he was appointed to this post by the

unelected military junta power after the coup

 

needless to say that the opinion of the people is of no importance for them

and if one of them  dares to express his dissatisfaction, the answer is 

to sue him in court, usual reflex of this plutocracy

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He quipped referring to himself that he would set up a page to set things right called "Ask Lung Peh". 

 

Ohh the fun that could be had with this !!! 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Pattaya: Mayor hits back after Facebook site questions his integrity and compares resort unfavorably to Bang Saen

 

 

 

"Do they have a brain?", he said of the poster

 

 

 

 

 

The same question I,ve asked myself countless times since I first came here.....

1 hour ago, webfact said:

There were no names but a damning hashtag suggested Pattaya had a "bad guy" image. 

Well that's blown the "world class family resort" myth clean out of the water! I always wondered why grandma was'nt impressed!

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pattaya's mayor Sontaya Khunpluem

is his knick name "Bugsy"?

18 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

The Pattaya's mayor was not elected, he was appointed to this post by the

unelected military junta power after the coup

 

needless to say that the opinion of the people is of no importance for them

and if one of them  dares to express his dissatisfaction, the answer is 

to sue him in court, usual reflex of this plutocracy

Shock gasp horror, imagine intimating that there is corruption in Thailand, and particularly the jewel of Pattaya, no one will believe it. 

No one will dare write anything on 'Ask Lung Peh' page in case they wake up in bed with a severed horse's head.

He can hit back all he likes, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Bang Saen isn't a patch on Pattaya. Sitting on a sweltering beach pigging out on seafood is the main daytime activity. At night time most bars are full of university students getting drunk and pigging out on seafood.

15 minutes ago, champers said:

Bang Saen isn't a patch on Pattaya. Sitting on a sweltering beach pigging out on seafood is the main daytime activity. At night time most bars are full of university students getting drunk and pigging out on seafood.

 

What is the magical environmental characteristic of Pattaya such that its beach is less "sweltering"?

When I have been in Pattaya I see many  beach chair sitters pigging out on greasy fried food like mcDonald, Burger King and KFC. How is that  any better?

I would rather go to a bar filled with university students than many of the farang tourist ghetto bars in Pattaya,(Phuket and Chiang Mai too).The Thai students are certainly are more fun. They dress up when they go out and you won't see them in dirty clothes or flip flops  with dirty feet and fungus encrusted toenails.  I would rather be with happy young people having a fun night with friends eating seafood than the crowd I often see in tourist bars.

 

45 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

 

What is the magical environmental characteristic of Pattaya such that its beach is less "sweltering"?

When I have been in Pattaya I see many  beach chair sitters pigging out on greasy fried food like mcDonald, Burger King and KFC. How is that  any better?

I would rather go to a bar filled with university students than many of the farang tourist ghetto bars in Pattaya,(Phuket and Chiang Mai too).The Thai students are certainly are more fun. They dress up when they go out and you won't see them in dirty clothes or flip flops  with dirty feet and fungus encrusted toenails.  I would rather be with happy young people having a fun night with friends eating seafood than the crowd I often see in tourist bars.

 

To each their own.

53 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

I would rather be with happy young people having a fun night with friends eating seafood than the crowd I often see in tourist bars.

 

Off you go to the YMCA then.

Elephant mayors by the sound of it ????