People With Influence

[jaiyenyen]

A few weeks ago, I was at a Temple and got into a conversation with a Thai man who spoke very good English. He told me that he was a high ranking Police officer and he was at the temple to escort the Abbot to another Temple. He was not in uniform, and had 3 or 4 other men with him who seemed to treat him with a great deal of respect. As we parted, he gave me his mobile phone number and told me that if I was ever in trouble, to call him.

I did in fact see him leaving the Temple with the Abbot a little while later.

My question is, if I ever call him, and he helps me, what is he likely to expect in return.

Regards

Jaiyenyen

[Lilawadee]

Either a scam, or just bullsh1t, or both.

Smile & Disregard.

[Heng]

Yeah, smile and disregard, you're likely not important enough to warrant a favor.

[lazeeboy]

theres many who say they can help ,but rarely can ,mostly they just want money

[steveromagnino]

real people of influence....you know who they are and if lucky they might offer a name card or similar as a point of friendship.

Which generally means a two way street, but sometimes in my past experience has indeed been a helpful hand subtely extended.

The people who say they can help and are high ranking almost invariably never are. I still fondly recall receiving a Shinawatra name card, and listened to a 5 minute speech of this guy's close relationship with (I think it was) his brother in law.

After listening to the drivel for 5 minutes, he then asked for his card back at the end - 'I am important, but you aren't important enough to need my help. ever'

Yeah..........some influence. Sweet surprise that it was meeting him not long after in relationship to his idiot brother in law.

Ancient Chinese secret huh???!

[RueFang]

I wouldn't completely disregard it. Whenever we go anywhere on our travels in Thailand my husband (thai) is always, without fail offered business cards or phone numbers from almost strangers with the offer of if we're ever in their area or need a hand to give them a shout. He actually has a little box to keep all these numbers in!!

It's not like you're likely to get into trouble (are you?!) and actually need his help, but if he is a cop, it wouldn't hurt to keep his number. He'd probably expect a bit of money in return if he's the sort to tell you he's "high ranking" but if you're in trouble with the cops, it would pay to know someone on the force.

[richard_smith237]

It happens commonly – its more of a ‘Jai Dee’ / ‘Nam Jai’ thing.

It’s happened to me many times meeting friends of friends, I politely go along with the farce… especially when there is no phone number handed out. However in this case you give off the impression that he seemed genuine enough.

Normally, If it is someone you’ve just met I’d suggest that they were just being polite but without any real expectation that you would ever take them up on the offer.

If you were to find yourself in a sticky spot then he might be very helpful. Everyone is different, maybe he is willing to help, if he is powerful enough to get you out of a sticky situation then it’s quite likely he doesn’t need the money. But, he may be able to help you facilitate payment to his subordinates whom he has instructed to help you out. Thus he gains face, his subordinates gain some money and you get a ‘get out of jail card’…..

I have some friends like this, we are good drinking buddies, one of whom I am god father to his child, he has visited my family in the UK and I consider him an excellent friend. I’ve never needed or felt the need for his help, he is a friend not because of his position. I wouldn’t want to waste his time with something as simple as being pulled over for a traffic violation or speeding etc. He respects this while at the same time enjoys telling his friends that I’ve got this get out of trouble card and I never want to use it. My friends enjoy the stories I have told when something does happen. They seem to like the fact that when ever I have been stopped, the police are always polite and I’ve managed to secure a satisfactory compromise.

I reassure my friend that if a situation arises where I do need his help and I’ll call him, however at that time I’d be in a lot of trouble, so much so he might not be able to help so it’s almost a catch 22 situation.

[Cuban]

A business card is better than a mobile number on a scrap of paper, with a card you can "accidently" pull it out of your wallet when you are being interviewed at a police station during a serious issue. That allows the cop or whoever is giving you a hard time to understand that you are "connected" and gives them a chance to "resolve" the situation without you having to say, "...I'm an important friend of Khun X." Think Face.

If you spend any length of time in Thailand away from the bars you will encounter people with some power, the thing to do is not use it at the drop of a hat. Calling in the big guns because you got stopped for speeding will mark you down in everyone's books and powerful friend would not be best pleased for being used that way. ( Reverse the situation and consider how you would react if a person you met on one occasion called you in such a situation. )

You need to judge who are the Thai people that you consider you can use, let's be clear you are looking to use these people at some point in the future, and who will simply be happy to take from you but not be in a position to return a favor one day. Nurturing useful contacts will take time and a little money on your part, usefull contacts are not likely to take a lump of cash from you dispite other threads talking about bribes, unless you are dealing with particular elements in Thailand you will not encounter Mafia directly. Even then you would be dealing with lower tiers and the money goes directly to them not the organization profits.

For a "high" cop to be doing a close protection escort on an abbot, the abbot would need to be very high. Maybe do some digging to see if the abbot is high ranking nationally - is the cop that spoke to you religious? (Is that why he was there - making is own merit?)

If this is the first time you have come across someone that might be of use, I suggest it would be an interesting project to see where it goes if you want to follow it up. As you established contact via the Wat/Abbot if your Thai OH (I assume your partner "took" you to the Wat.) is religious find out when the next Budda day is (once a month normally) and use that as the "reason" for calling the guy.

It just so happens that today Friday 8th Feburary 2008 is Parinirvana - Nirvana day (Buddha's death), another referance source. Or you could use Chinese New Year as an excuse, give the guy a call and invite him to join you and your OH for a meal somewhere. This keeps it very informal and cheap (watch the whisky orders), say you enjoyed your chat before at the Wat and wanted his point of view about X, Y, Z. People like to talk and asking his opinion will flatter him. You want to talk so choose a place that does not have noisy music or women etc. (Beering and &*%£$ing might come later if the person is that way connected.) Worst that can happen is that you weed him out as a non-starter and it has cost you a few hundred Baht and a couple hours of your time.

Maintaining contact can be tricky, informal meetings over a few drinks or food is common and the way Thais maintain these contacts. Also at some point in the future when an aqantance is a friend, you might happen to have a camera to hand the next time you meet, having a picture of you with Khun X on your desk can have an earth shaking effect on a Thai person - understand that you know X well enough to have such a picture. When my OH understood I knew such a person she was shocked as she had seen him on televison many times, she kept shaking her head and looking at the picture.

How can I offer this advice? I have a few good quaility contacts (I live outside Pattaya and in Khon Kaen) amoung the two divisions of police down here and regional political connections. Up country I only have a few local police contacts, but that is enough when stopped by the roadside. In time I hope "my" contact there will raise through the ranks, the best contact is one that you have known a long time and has progressed well in his career, the fact that his kids wear holiday T shirts I bought for them is an investment of a few hundred Baht that can only work in my favour. I have made other connections but I could not possibly mention them here.

As I said above nice to have, but best not to abuse.

[GuestHouse]

All societies, that might be a nation, a club, an office or a local community.

The person who holds influence on one issue, might not be the person who holds influence on other issues.

And the person who has the most influence may not be the richest or best educated.

The value of 'A word in the right ear' is known the world over and for good reason.

[Payboy]

give the guy a call and invite him to join you and your OH for a meal somewhere

and spend the next months figuring how to stop him from stalking your other half....

[lannarebirth]

If one wanted to build a rolodex containing people of influence, I'd start with middle level and upper middle level government functionaries. They are the people who make things work here. Maybe a bank manger or two also.

[howtoescape]

My opinion is the look who i am brigade are complete wa..ers no matter what country they are in, even if they are the elite that i should aspire to be.

Edited February 8, 2008 by howtoescape

[jaiyenyen]

Thank's for all the advice.

I asked my wife about the Abbot and she seemed to think he was very important. The Wat we were visiting when we met this guy is Wat Chedi Hoy near Patum Thani.

He seemed quite genuine (Don't they all ) and told me he had just returned from East Timor where he had been working with the UN. I dont see us becoming best friend's or anything, and I certainly would never call him over anything trivial. However, in this country it seems anyone can soon find themselves in deep, brown, smelly stuff, so it might be worth holding onto his number.

One other story.

My wife and I live in Don Meuang, Bangkok. There is a beautiful park near our home, which is attached to the Royal Thai Air Force base. We decided to go there for a picnic early one morning. We were the only people in the park, we had just laid out our picnic and were standing on a small jetty, feeding the fish, when I noticed a black limo with four police motorbike outriders and a second limo. They stopped near to us and four guy's in the second car got out, we were sitting at the picnic table by now. They walked over to us and said goodmorning, and seeing that we were the only ones there, signaled to the first car. A man got out and walked onto the jetty and started to feed the fish. Afterwards, he lit some inscense and made an offering at a spot close to the water. When he had finished he came to our table and offered the remainder of the fish food to our children. They then left.

I havn't a clue who he was, but I really regret not offering him some of our coffee or food.

I bet he could have got me out of a sticky spot.

[Heng]

Just for the record, the standard procedure (which of course is in constant evolution) is for the police, army, or whatever gov't official (as GH mentioned, it depends on what you're trying to get done... there's no magical one pass fits all card, or at least... none that most of us will ever see): is that they give you their business card and they'll sign it. They'll often also write a general note on the back like "please help/extend your courtesy to Khun (your first name only here), if there are any issues, please contact me at (often there will be a cell phone number included)." In the past (in my parents and grandparents time), 'people of influence' gave out cards with no signatures or messages... these cards could actually be passed on and used by others as credit. Well, the favor bank got more and more tangled as the population and economy (both over and underground) grew, to the point to where they now try to keep favors as person specific as possible.

I shouldn't say that you need to be important to get these 'hard' cards as they are called, but they usually aren't just randomly handed out either. They have to feel that it'll be of some use to you and there has to be some chance of you being of some benefit to them in the future. Important to note that you have to use some common sense as to when and where you can use them, as you do have to also pay attention to turf and jurisdiction.