Squatters In Bangrak

[bbcsamui]

23 March 2008

Nothing much has happened over the last few months. We have been trying to stay calm etc, but this morning it caused a bit of a stir at home so my wife went off to wash her hair and get a facial and I decided to take some pictures and put them on the web page. Both of us trying to release some frustration.

They are still there, they are still living in the rooms, they are still putting their raw sewerage onto the beach, they are still adding walls and windows, they are still wrapped around a power pole etc. They have not finished taking the columns out of the beach and have not cleaned up the beach where they dumped the concrete rubble ... Although they did go and get some of the sand off the beach to tidy up the front of their place.

They did disconnect the large pipe from the toilet to the concrete tank on the beach. They have replaced it with a smaller pipe that goes to a new tank. They are using one of the old water storage tanks as the waste tank now. Maybe they thought that using a smaller pipe would be better. The trouble is it keeps blocking and then it comes away from the down pipe and puts the waste straight onto the beach.

We are still waiting for the authorities to do something about it. Some days we feel OK, but some days we feel very bad - like today when they were doing some more building and I made some innocent remark about how it annoyed me ... which sparked off my wife who screamed that we were supposed to be forgetting about them and carrying on with our life ... hence the facial and the photos...

More photos can be found here: 23 March 2008

[Tony121]

If I was you a would just build a big wall, yes you will lose some of your view but as they say out of sight out of mind !

or why not split the land and sell the part next to them ?

Im sorry to say but it looks like nothing is going to change it seems laws only apply to falangs and outsiders on Samui

[bbcsamui]

Well no real movement of late.

Although it is looking extremely quiet at the bar and the staff appear to have left leaving just Pappa to mind it in the absence of any other family members. It seems a pity really as if it was done well, they could have a nice bar and probably do ok.

Anyway, Roger who has been following the story on the Internet came and had a look for himself and as I was showing him around the older son Ng put his head out the window and asked what we were up to.

I explained I was just showing Roger the mess and asked Ng when they intend to take away the remaining buildings. He said they had no plans.

I then said that the Harbourboard have told me the buildings have to go, that the Tessaban have told me the buildings have to go, that Poo Yai Wit told me that the buildings have to go and that I can put a car park and tourist viewing spot there.

Ng said that they had no plans to go and would go and talk with Poo Yai Wit.

I asked him if he was comfortable seeing Buddha everyday while he was stealing from the King. He just smiled and then said that he has no plans to move and that he does not have to because he is local people and he pays taxes.

I said that I was a local person that also paid taxes … and he promptly said I was a “backpacker”.

So even though farangs bring money (backpackers as well) and buy land and make businesses, it seems that we are still not of any importance or value to this family.

I used to think Ng was a nice enough guy, but lately I have seen the dark side of him ... all the time smiling. As my Buddhist wife says, just leave them to be that way, they will have a bad life because of it.

At that I just said that he should hurry up and move back to their other houses and stop stealing from the king and local people and backpackers.

I was tempted to go and get the sledgehammer to help them on their way, but know it would do no good unless I could flatten it all before the police or guns arrived.

So better I wait. The strong winds have taken a fair bit away, maybe the authorities will soon sort it out. It is not impacting our plans at this time so just chilling out and doing our own things is a better way to proceed.

Backpacker by choice

(BBC)

[mattias33]

Backpacker by choice

(BBC)

Its good yu keep the mood up a bit in all this mess!

Im afraid i would have lost my temper a long time ago, but as you say yourself that would not do you any good. Maybe we just form a group of thaivisa members on your side (should be at least 50 on this forum) and go down and tell him the backpacker maffia demands he take his rubbich out of the beach within 24 hours. Pretty amazing how these monkeys can go on and on with no real action from the police....

[chapman]

If I was you a would just build a big wall, yes you will lose some of your view but as they say out of sight out of mind !

or why not split the land and sell the part next to them ?

Im sorry to say but it looks like nothing is going to change it seems laws only apply to falangs and outsiders on Samui

or you could get lenny the tramp from enfield to move to samui, the smell p*** would then make them move.

[Lite Beer]

It must finally be sinking in that they are NEVER going to go.

You either have to put up with it. OR Move OR get the bulldozer.

Sorry but you have been treated appallingly and are never going to get justice.

Forget Phu Yai and the local whatever. Sort it out yourself OR Move.

Sorry. You deserve so much more.

[SamuiJens]

It must finally be sinking in that they are NEVER going to go.

You either have to put up with it. OR Move OR get the bulldozer.

Sorry but you have been treated appallingly and are never going to get justice.

Forget Phu Yai and the local whatever. Sort it out yourself OR Move.

Sorry. You deserve so much more.

I agree with Lite Beer here, learn to live with it or move, Simple.

[BigC]

23 March 2008

Nothing much has happened over the last few months. We have been trying to stay calm etc, but this morning it caused a bit of a stir at home so my wife went off to wash her hair and get a facial and I decided to take some pictures and put them on the web page. Both of us trying to release some frustration.

They are still there, they are still living in the rooms, they are still putting their raw sewerage onto the beach, they are still adding walls and windows, they are still wrapped around a power pole etc. They have not finished taking the columns out of the beach and have not cleaned up the beach where they dumped the concrete rubble ... Although they did go and get some of the sand off the beach to tidy up the front of their place.

They did disconnect the large pipe from the toilet to the concrete tank on the beach. They have replaced it with a smaller pipe that goes to a new tank. They are using one of the old water storage tanks as the waste tank now. Maybe they thought that using a smaller pipe would be better. The trouble is it keeps blocking and then it comes away from the down pipe and puts the waste straight onto the beach.

We are still waiting for the authorities to do something about it. Some days we feel OK, but some days we feel very bad - like today when they were doing some more building and I made some innocent remark about how it annoyed me ... which sparked off my wife who screamed that we were supposed to be forgetting about them and carrying on with our life ... hence the facial and the photos...

More photos can be found here: 23 March 2008

Thailand money talks. you either need to speak to the Pui Yai baan or some security compand. to rid of them. beleive me you get the Pui Yai baan on your side they can make everything clear.

[Gatorade]

It must finally be sinking in that they are NEVER going to go.

You either have to put up with it. OR Move OR get the bulldozer.

Sorry but you have been treated appallingly and are never going to get justice.

Forget Phu Yai and the local whatever. Sort it out yourself OR Move.

Sorry. You deserve so much more.

I agree with Lite Beer here, learn to live with it or move, Simple.

Learn to live with it? Ludicrous! Totally disagree. It's good that BBC has the guts and tenacity to keep the fight going.

It is an obvous wrong and just because a Farang is involved I see no reason to accept moving

as an option.

[Lite Beer]

It must finally be sinking in that they are NEVER going to go.

You either have to put up with it. OR Move OR get the bulldozer.

Sorry but you have been treated appallingly and are never going to get justice.

Forget Phu Yai and the local whatever. Sort it out yourself OR Move.

Sorry. You deserve so much more.

I agree with Lite Beer here, learn to live with it or move, Simple.

Learn to live with it? Ludicrous! Totally disagree. It's good that BBC has the guts and tenacity to keep the fight going.

It is an obvous wrong and just because a Farang is involved I see no reason to accept moving

as an option.

You are of course correct. However after months of fighting he has got nowhere. It is not really doing him any good.

[BigC]

It must finally be sinking in that they are NEVER going to go.

You either have to put up with it. OR Move OR get the bulldozer.

Sorry but you have been treated appallingly and are never going to get justice.

Forget Phu Yai and the local whatever. Sort it out yourself OR Move.

Sorry. You deserve so much more.

I agree with Lite Beer here, learn to live with it or move, Simple.

Learn to live with it? Ludicrous! Totally disagree. It's good that BBC has the guts and tenacity to keep the fight going.

It is an obvous wrong and just because a Farang is involved I see no reason to accept moving

as an option.

if someone has bought a house next to squatters how can they sell and move. who would want to live next to squatters.

[ClaudeFeller]

Pay the police, pay the puu jay baan and finish this problem.

[SamuiBond]

Pay the police, pay the puu jay baan and finish this problem.

Unfortunately this is most likely the way You need to take in order to get some action. I've seen and heard bribe' effectiveness time and time again. It can still be small price to pay for peace of mind.

[bbcsamui]

I have been sent to my office to calm down while my wife is talking with the tourist police.

Today Pepsi were out front putting up a sign for the squatters. It is totally illegal as well because it is outside the line of the electricity poles (only because the squatters have built around the electricity poles). I was asking them how they can put up a sign like that and he went on a tirade about me being a farang etc and to go away. At one stage he wanted to see my Chanote peg so I was standing behind it and he pushed me away saying I have no rights etc. He got very abusive including swearing etc. I asked him for his name so I could report him but he would not give it to me ... so I took a photo.

As I was taking a photo one of his sidekicks who evidently works for Poo Yai Wit showed me his gun and told me to go away. I was not quite quick enough to take a picture of the gun, but it can nearly be seen in the photo here:

This guy evidently works for Poo Yai Wit. All they needed to tell me was that Po Yai Wit had said it was OK, they did not need to push me or try to scare me by showing me a gun. I was vocal as usual, but they were 10 people. I did not touch anything of theirs, I did not touch anyone ... I just talked.

I have had enough of being nice now and am going further up the line. The embassy is already in the loop, but now all of the high end officials in Bangkok will be informed and I would appreciate any additional press etc if you can find the time.

I think it will make good headlines: "Pepsi uses guns while illegally erecting a sign outside Big Buddha". Telling the legal land owner to go away while they steal from the people.

I will have photos of the Pepsi staff and full facial of the man showing the gun on my own website when I calm down enough to do it.

Just another day at the office.

[highdiver]

Dear BBC

Please calm down. the last thing we all wish is to see you get in a fight with them.. its not worth it.

As I told you before they are doing this squatting because if they can get away with it will be very profitable.

under Thai law if they squat on a land for long enough with out any one evacuating them then they can one day stake a claim for this land and even at a much later stage get a title deed. its a long process but they know its worth it and the last thing they want is a Farrang interfering...

I belive that the resolution by poo Yai wit to allow them to keep the Bar has actually opened the door for them to continue the squat.

I believe that you or better yet your Thai wife needs to call Poo yai wit and advise him that his staff """ presumably under his name""" have threatened you with a gun and that you would like his position about this. also ask him why the Tae Saban or him have not yet addressed the issue of removing them from the property apart from the small bar.

I can also advise you as i have before that if the locals don't address the issue you can report it by e mail to the DSI using the following address.

they are really hot for people who have encroached on public land at the moment.

Department of Special Investigation (DSI)

499 Sukprapreut Building

Prachachuen Road, Bangsue District

Bangkok 10800

el: 0-2913-6789 , 0-2831-9888 Fax: 0-2913-7777

just for the record.. you keep referring to it as the Kings Land. it is not... it is public land owned by the general public through the government.

the royal lands are clearly marked.. you can see one on the right hand side of the road from you towards Chongmon.

Edited May 21, 2008 by highdiver

[chinkles]

Contacting the PuYai Ban and arranging some kind of 3rd party mediation would have been my first choice as well, Claude. But, now that the police have become involved I wonder if its too late for that?

There was a thread in the real estate section a few months back called Squatters Rights. Although this specific problem isn't addressed, it does make for interesting reading.

One thing that isn't addressed in that thread that I have heard from Thai people, but do not know if is true or not, is that if you buy land with squatters on it, and allow them to stay (ie do not force the previous owner to evict before you purchase) then you do not have the right to kick them out as they were there before you owned the land. No idea if this is true or not, but worth investigating. If it is true then the owner will have to use other legal means, ie damage to their house, pollution, and destruction of Crown property (construction on the beach is illegal).

so sorry to say ,that is correct im affraid

[chinkles]

23 March 2008

Nothing much has happened over the last few months. We have been trying to stay calm etc, but this morning it caused a bit of a stir at home so my wife went off to wash her hair and get a facial and I decided to take some pictures and put them on the web page. Both of us trying to release some frustration.

They are still there, they are still living in the rooms, they are still putting their raw sewerage onto the beach, they are still adding walls and windows, they are still wrapped around a power pole etc. They have not finished taking the columns out of the beach and have not cleaned up the beach where they dumped the concrete rubble ... Although they did go and get some of the sand off the beach to tidy up the front of their place.

They did disconnect the large pipe from the toilet to the concrete tank on the beach. They have replaced it with a smaller pipe that goes to a new tank. They are using one of the old water storage tanks as the waste tank now. Maybe they thought that using a smaller pipe would be better. The trouble is it keeps blocking and then it comes away from the down pipe and puts the waste straight onto the beach.

We are still waiting for the authorities to do something about it. Some days we feel OK, but some days we feel very bad - like today when they were doing some more building and I made some innocent remark about how it annoyed me ... which sparked off my wife who screamed that we were supposed to be forgetting about them and carrying on with our life ... hence the facial and the photos...

More photos can be found here: 23 March 2008

Thailand money talks. you either need to speak to the Pui Yai baan or some security compand. to rid of them. beleive me you get the Pui Yai baan on your side they can make everything clear.

so sorry my friend,keep your chin up if you can you know we are all here for you ......

[chinkles]

Backpacker by choice

(BBC)

Its good yu keep the mood up a bit in all this mess!

Im afraid i would have lost my temper a long time ago, but as you say yourself that would not do you any good. Maybe we just form a group of thaivisa members on your side (should be at least 50 on this forum) and go down and tell him the backpacker maffia demands he take his rubbich out of the beach within 24 hours. Pretty amazing how these monkeys can go on and on with no real action from the police....

here ,here .i would say there is more than fifty. may the force be with you bbc.

[chinkles]

23 March 2008

Nothing much has happened over the last few months. We have been trying to stay calm etc, but this morning it caused a bit of a stir at home so my wife went off to wash her hair and get a facial and I decided to take some pictures and put them on the web page. Both of us trying to release some frustration.

They are still there, they are still living in the rooms, they are still putting their raw sewerage onto the beach, they are still adding walls and windows, they are still wrapped around a power pole etc. They have not finished taking the columns out of the beach and have not cleaned up the beach where they dumped the concrete rubble ... Although they did go and get some of the sand off the beach to tidy up the front of their place.

They did disconnect the large pipe from the toilet to the concrete tank on the beach. They have replaced it with a smaller pipe that goes to a new tank. They are using one of the old water storage tanks as the waste tank now. Maybe they thought that using a smaller pipe would be better. The trouble is it keeps blocking and then it comes away from the down pipe and puts the waste straight onto the beach.

We are still waiting for the authorities to do something about it. Some days we feel OK, but some days we feel very bad - like today when they were doing some more building and I made some innocent remark about how it annoyed me ... which sparked off my wife who screamed that we were supposed to be forgetting about them and carrying on with our life ... hence the facial and the photos...

More photos can be found here: 23 March 2008

Thailand money talks. you either need to speak to the Pui Yai baan or some security compand. to rid of them. beleive me you get the Pui Yai baan on your side they can make everything clear.

sorry to say they havent done much of wot i can see my friend

[bbcsamui]

Last Night ...I sent off an email to Pepsico Corporation in the USA giving them some detail as well as some links to my website. If they are a professional organisation worried about their brand image, then I am sure there will be some reaction. I sent it in the evening as I thought it would be a good option with the time zone differences

today ...

22 May 2008, 10.30 am

We received a visit from 2 Pepsi management staff, The District Manager and the Regional Sales Manager based out of Suratthani. They had received calls from Bangkok who had received calls from USA and had already been to see the staff concerned as well as the squatters and were now coming to see us - impressive speed of action.

It was a very good meeting lasting about 1 hour so just the summary points here:

They were very apologetic and admitted it was stupid thing to do and totally outside corporate policy etc.

They are going to transfer the team to another location (we pointed out that we did not want them fired as then we would feel less safe as it could cause personal grief to up to 12 people and if they had guns once, maybe they would have them again). They will get the staff to come and apologise in person.

They feel they are stuck in the middle because if they take away the sign and the support of the bar then the squatters might get angry at them. I pointed out that they must be lucky to sell 5 cans a day so cannot see the value to Pepsi of getting into such a large dispute. I pointed out that while they are supporting the squatters, they will continue to be an enemy of mine and I will keep the pictures and everything on the Internet and might even step it up a notch. They say they cannot make a decision now and will have a meeting about it.

They asked us not to go and write a police report as that would take it out of their hands (we did talk with the police but did not go to the station and lodge a formal complaint ... yet). We stated that we were waiting for Poo Yai Wit to come and talk with us before we escalated it further but if nothing was positively forthcoming we would certainly go and lodge a police report.

As far as we are concerned if they continue to support the squatters then we will continue action against them, but will give them time.

I reinforced the fact that I was not pleased to be scared while standing at my own home, that we are a family with 3 children and to have a gun shown at me is not a pleasant feeling (a small positive as I could not sleep so ended up watching the cup final ... a good match).

So we will see hat happens next.

(PS: regarding squatters rights. They are no longer on my land - just 50cm away so the issue is not mine explicity. It is the fact they are on the beach in front of my land blocking my view, dirtying the beach etc - all still after being served notice by the Harbourbord and the Tessaban to leave ... we are going to escalate it to higher levels of Harbourboard adn Tessaban out of Bangkok)

[jeztennis]

i know is been mentioned before but ehy not pay a thai contractor working on the ghost road with a big jcb to drink too much thai whiskey and accidently bulldoze the place?

[bbcsamui]

A bit of a sleepless night again. While we have always known there were guns on Samui, it is a bit traumatic to actually be shown one in a threatening gesture. We'd like to think it was a one-off act of stupidity but i t does leave a concern especially the way it was part of a group showing off - like a pack of kids ganging up on a weaker kid at school. What happens if they get together again and think it is fun to go and scare the farang again? We will try not to think about it.

Pepsi management were in the restaurant again at 3.30pm yesterday explaining that they had decided to remove the sign - and it is gone. So as a corporate entity they worked fast and professionally. It is a pity that some junior staff caused such a lot of trauma.

Poo Yai Wit has not come around yet so we are a bit in limbo.

[a_classic_cigar]

A bit of a sleepless night again. While we have always known there were guns on Samui, it is a bit traumatic to actually be shown one in a threatening gesture. We'd like to think it was a one-off act of stupidity but i t does leave a concern especially the way it was part of a group showing off - like a pack of kids ganging up on a weaker kid at school. What happens if they get together again and think it is fun to go and scare the farang again? We will try not to think about it.

Pepsi management were in the restaurant again at 3.30pm yesterday explaining that they had decided to remove the sign - and it is gone. So as a corporate entity they worked fast and professionally. It is a pity that some junior staff caused such a lot of trauma.

Poo Yai Wit has not come around yet so we are a bit in limbo.

Hi BBC,

Chin up as others have mentioned in previous posts. Semi knowing PYW and a few of his colleuges - plus how we all know that some things take a little more time to resolve thank others, he will come forward with a solution (as he has done for us in the past.) Of course, not the same exact situation, but complex never the less.....

Good on ya to get Pepsi involced (the nations drink of choice of course, and they DO take their product serious!)

We (your true locals) will always be by for a bevie, food and support and can only be positive on hoping this is resolved quickly.

a_classic_cigar

a.k.a. (400cc = lawnmower from hel_l! lol)

[BigC]

what you want is to sign someone into the lease of your land. someone you know thaty has a liscenced fire arm. then u can legally shoot them. you might have to pay some money but if they are on your land and you havbe a thai with a liscence fire arm then you can get them to shoot them as long as there gun is registered to the address where the squatters are.

i might know someone that might be able to help

[SamuiJens]

what you want is to sign someone into the lease of your land. someone you know thaty has a liscenced fire arm. then u can legally shoot them. you might have to pay some money but if they are on your land and you havbe a thai with a liscence fire arm then you can get them to shoot them as long as there gun is registered to the address where the squatters are.

i might know someone that might be able to help

Worst advice ever! A shoot out at the gates to Big Buddha isn't the way!

Edited May 23, 2008 by SamuiJens

[loiner100]

Well, some positive news at last for you Mark, at least Pepsi have taken it seriously and removed their sign.

As to Big C's suggestion I can lend you a catapult if it helps.

[Rooo]

Can I ask a question please BBC,if the the land they are occupying is government land, why don't you approach the government to legally lease it for ex amounnt of years & then you will be within your rights to move them off.

You can tell them you will maintain the area as parkland & open space for all to enjoy (as a provision of the lease).I think if you come up with a proposal that will benefit them, you might have a win win situation.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Rooo

[bbcsamui]

As I understand it there are 2 components to it. 1 is the roadside which is controlled by the tessaban and poo yai ban and the other is the beach.

My understanding is that you cannot really lease the beach (even Poo Yai wit said that if it was possible to lease the beach, he would have leased choengmon beach ages ago and made lots of money). The roadside is possible to get some arrangement for, but generaly anything outside the line of the telephone poles is supposed to be clear for parking vehicles etc.

When you look at the survey maps, there is no other land in front of mine so I do not think it is possible to lease it.

As a provision of clearing it, I already offered to make it a parking area and put some tourist type seating and information etc - and thought it was agreed .... but eveidently they are not in a hurry.

We have started up the figurative "bulldozers". The Thai TV were there this morning doing some preliminary filming and are investigating it more with plans to put it on TV this week. The Tessaban in BKK have been informed and a delegation of Thai people are taking photos, a formal written complaint etc up there next week. The marine department in Bangkok has also been informed and given pictures etc. (none of this was done with me involved... local Samui Thais and a Government consultant to the marine department who has been on Samui investigating various locations for a Government marina)

There are also more things underway.

We believe that the locals have had plenty of time to sort it out. It is well beyond a face issue now. If these new figurative bulldozers do their job properly then there will be a lot of red faces, but I can't say we did not give them a chance.

But then again, nothing more might come of it...

[Tony121]

Bring on the bulldozers!

P.s Good to see Pepsi doing a good job.

[PoorSucker]

Any news