Phuket Acts To Clean Up Jet-ski Woes

[Duangta]

Notice to all foreigners planning a Thailand Holiday.

Why take chances. Protect yourself...

come to Chiang Mai...... not a jet ski in sight...

Come to Phangnga, Khao Lak, Jet Skis are banned here for good reason....

[zaZa9]

It may interest readers that 'JJ' is out on bail ( rumoured to be 70,000 baht) and riding around with a bandage on his head on Nanaii road. Expats say he has two sides and most dont mind him in small doses.

I have spent a lot of time with the jetski boys as a surfer and have defended them on previous occasions because i have witnessed them save many swimmers in trouble at there own risk and at no reward or accolades.

However the season is so low that many of them (not all) have stooped even lower and are in constant conflict with their customers about spurous claims for compensation.

They cant even look me in the eye now as they know I cant abide their current behaviour.

[walkertalker]

Notice to all foreigners planning a Thailand Holiday.

Why take chances. Protect yourself...

come to Chiang Mai...... not a jet ski in sight...

No don't come to chiangmai we don't want all you tourists up here spoiling our beatiful part of Thailand. Don't have the problems that they have in all the major tourist areas can live peacefully here. If all the tourists pour in then it will ruin the place and become another shit hole like Pattaya full of bars and prostitutes and scammers.

"your beautiful part of Thailand " My arse ! Chiang Mai is 'lifting' pall & is rampant with all of the problems you label other "major tourist areas" added to that it's smelly ! I'm sure your message that Chiang Mai isn't interested in encouraging more tourists to visit is shared by everyone . You narrow minded Dope !

[justnbangkok]

Jet ski video maker faces prosecution

Police admit extortion of tourists hard to stop

PHUKET: -- A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission.

Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office which comes under the Tourism and Sports Ministry, yesterday said police had traced the tapes to a company called Black Sheep Productions.

She said the managers of the company, which had produced the Big Trouble In Thailand series for Bravo All News station in England, admitted to holding the copyright for the recordings.

More here http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2404...ces-prosecution

-- Bangkok Post 2009-09-18

because the video was faked. why do all you farangs never take responsibility.

[raynimmo]

This is so typical of the Thai authorities. If it is illegal to show/film footage for international consumption that portrays Thailand in a bad light then what happens with all the TV news companies, newspapers and bloggers that publish details of life in Thailand. Obviously recent Thailand-centric news items have all been from the darker side of life, Thaksins exploits, yellow and red shirt antics and anything thats happened in the south for the last 5+ years. Surely all of these items show thailand in a bad light and as such their broadcast is illegal!

This seems like an extension of the lese-majeste debacle to cover the country as a whole and we have all heard ridiculous stories regarding lese-majeste accusations.

This seems like just another nail in the coffin of Thailands free speech movement, if one exists.

[Eagle60]

I think The Thai authorities have every right to look into it. Why just because our own societies are full of scummy second rate programs, negatively harming our societies and creating unnecessary fear, should Thailand follow suit. It looked staged to me. As for the fights, I think it is more of a damning indication of how revolting some tourists are than anything else. They are guests here and they behave like retards. Those in prison are in there for a reason. They have broken the law.

By the way there are 5,000 foreign prisoners in UK prisons ! Kind of dwarfs the hundred or so here !

The high season is upon Thailand and we are in the world’s worst recession ever in history. People are losing their homes, businesses are going bust and there are fewer jobs. This is the real world. Do you not think it was highly irresponsible and selfish beyond belief that someone should make such a program at this time ? We do not live in an adolescent TV world where no one takes responsibility. How self centered, self indulgent and naive can a human being be. This is garbage television for idiots. In 10 years I have never had a problem in Thailand. I stand side by side with Thailand 100%. Yes they do have problems but does it need spitefully spreading all over the globe; just before holiday season. How clever that is ? What moron thought it was a good idea ?

Try looking at our own countries and if you don’t like it here go home. The poor Thai’s must be so sick of foreigners moaning all the time. Why are you here if you want to criticize it all the time ? I hear so much moaning and criticizing in Thailand but are we not guests here.

The Thai’s know their country is not perfect. No country is; but is it polite to come here as a guest and just moan and criticize ? This is what is so screwed up in Western society and the Brits are the worst. Moaning, negative and unnecessary sensationalism......garbage for garnage minds.... I am English and I am ashamed of my own nationality. Look at the effluent on the program fighting and acting like spoilt retards……..Thank god I live in Thailand. I love the country. This is pathetic garbage TV for idiots who do not have the intelligence to watch something well researched, well thought out and positive. The good far outweighs the bad here. I am so sick of all the moaning whining selfish people who do nothing but moan. Go home. The makers of the film are probably kids who like to sensationalize and read comics. Average reading age of most UK papers is below 15 so guess they don't even know what they did. Thank god most English people are actually quite nice. Shame the bad ones get TV time.

Edited September 18, 2009 by davidcc

[Chris Lawrence]

Company faces prosecution for Phuket jet-ski show

Winai 'JJ' Naiman on film at Patong Beach, Phuket,

in the first episode of 'Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand'.

PHUKET CITY: -- The Thai television company responsible for producing the Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand series, which featured footage of an alleged jet-ski scam on Phuket, is to be prosecuted, the Bangkok Post reported today.

The managers of Black Sheep Productions, which produced the show, could face 12 months in jail and fines of up to a million baht, the report said.

The first episode of the series showed a Patong jet-ski operator, Winai ‘JJ’ Naiman, extracting 35,000 baht from a group of British Royal Navy Marines in compensation for ‘damage’ to one of his vehicles.

At one point, Mr Winai was shown holding an air rifle as he argued aggressively with the men, who denied damaging the jet-ski.

For our previous report, click here.

As well as being broadcast on British TV, the show has been uploaded to YouTube, causing uproar among those who say jet-ski scamming is rife on Phuket’s beaches.

In today’s Bangkok Post report, Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office, is quoted as saying those responsible for the show had violated Article 34 of the motion picture law by failing to submit the footage to the Tourism and Sports Ministry for approval before its broadcast abroad.

Director-general of the Office of Tourism Development, Seksan Nakawong, reportedly said the film-makers had violated Article 23 of the same law for making a film damaging to Thailand’s reputation.

Meanwhile, Region 8 police chief Lt Gen Santhan Chayanont has suggested the TV show was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of Thai tourism and the police force.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-09-18

Change the law. Face would not be lost if the job was being done?

[Hanimal]

Article 34 of the motion picture law is the key to understanding this hooha. Nearly all the responses on ThaiVisa have been along the lines of "It is fine for the foreigners to come and break local laws if it reveals that other laws are being broken by locals."

The Thai government has a law that says you cannot make a film or TV show here without going through a series of formalities. I feel sure that this TV crew knew about the law before coming because most professional film crews do their homework before leaving home soil. I do not believe it was "an innocent mistake."

Everyone knows that there are laws being broken by locals every day somewhere in Thailand - but somehow we should tolerate an entertainment porgram's producers that break the law because it proves what we all already know?

If a Thai TV crew had broken British or Australian laws in filming illegal scenes in those countries, and were subsequently put on charges, I guess ThaiVisa denizens would be crowing about how Thais cannot break the law with impunity in "their" countries. Laws are laws are laws. Why are some worth paying attention to but others not?

[perousing]

the police say they can not stamp out the problem of coruption !!!!!!!!!!!! i wonder why !!!!!!!

[LivinLOS]

Does anyone actually know of a tourist coming to Phuket just so they can rent a jet-ski?.....no

Do you really think anyone will return home saying "I'm never go to Phuket again...They don't rent jet-skis"!!!

Simple solution...Ban them from swimming beaches like has been done in Australia (for safety reasons, not rip-off related).

I doubt they wll be missed

And the tuktuk ??

And the mocy gangs ??

And the now licensed thieves the gogo touts ??

Phuket is digging itself into a deeper and deeper hole.. They are allowing an anything goes attitude to ripping of tourists and its getting suddenly much worse. Its not just the jetskis or just any one segment.. Its the attitude of a whole town that fair means or foul you can lie cheat and steal and the police will back you up for a cut.

[Insight]

Retrospectively, the threat of jailing the producers is probably a lame attempt at intimidating them into not airing the remaining episodes back in the UK.

If so, what the authorities don't realise is by now it's probably out of their control, and even requesting the show be stopped will create more problems in the eyes of the international media than it solves.

As much as they clearly don't like it, Thailand is just going to have to grin and bear this one. Scams aside, in all honesty the country doesn't come off too badly in it.

[hansgti]

It was not staged managed, the Royal Marines would never have been involved in that at all.

I also don't think the marines were necessarily involved in the stage managing but I do think the rest of the 'cast' were and had probably been paid. I also wonder why the soldiers and the MP did not object to the camera being present or even seem to ask questions of why it was there. When the MP turned up he didn't even look at the camera or ask questions - if it had been me it would have been my first question as it could have had a great deal of relevance to the scenario that I was presented with and had to sort out. Why aren't some of the posters here looking critically at all this?

I have looked critaclly at this, and in further research it appears the producer was already known to the MP as he was explaining the scams to the film guy who was also following the off duty soldiers around Phuket.

The producer had recieved a phone call after interviewing JJ about the jet ski business and related problems, the call came from JJ to come to his workshop as an incidence had taken place and was about to to resolved, JJ even arranged a motorcycle and sidecar for the film crew of 2 people to get them to his place, you can also see one of the soldiers say hello to the producer as he sees him again, when they arrive.

Nobody was paid and none of this was stage managed or scripted, JJ's ego did it all, the MP could have done better but at the end of the day his boys had already been warned about the jet ski scams and chose to ride them full stop.

Only 2 or 3 people know the truth as to wether the jet ski really damaged or not, the soldier seems willing to pay, if he was larking around close to one of his mates on the jet ski and the vehicles touched or collided, he has only himself to blame, but the damage could have been old and pushed back into place therefore hiding the split, until the convinient low speed collision.

Yes JJ is a crook, it doesnt cost anywhere near that to repair a jet ski, i would like to see his face and reaction if somebody tried charging him even 20000 to repair it.

BTW you can buy jetski from cheangghon for 100000 bht!

It seems a shame the producer didnt dot is i's and cross his t's when it cam down to the small print of film making here in thailand as it made for some good viewing.

[farangmal]

wow, and do they think it will do them more good for tourism than harm by sending the production company to jail? How about using that energy and the courts to I don't know maybe arrest the scammers, put a stop to the tuk-tuk crap, arrest any cop on the take....

WOW is all I can really say.

Why is ANYBODY surprised?

Thailand's a Military controlled corrupt mess that puts a smile on to cover up the dung.

Same as Burma but with a smile.

JJ will be back scamming, just don't rent anything in Thailand, unless it's got a pulse.

[asean]

The jetski scam is alive and flourishing in pattaya too. I watched it happen three times in three weeks. Ruining the tourist's vacation. I intervened once and was threatened with violent retribution for calling the tourist police. The gang increased from three to eight in seconds. They demanded that they call their own "police man". Two of the gang followed me back to my car.

Rule 1 when renting a jetski, demand that they pull it out of the water onto the beach and you take fotos of the complete underside of the hull with your phone or camera before you take it out.

Rule 2. Don't let them call their own policeman. Keep that tourist police number in your phone. In this case the tourist police arrived and took them all down to the station to negotiate the settlement. In this case it was 15,000 bath for some scratches under the gunnel rail which is impossible to scratch in open water. I used to race jetskis. I know this. I also watched the renters for 30 minutes as i was about to rent same. They did not hit a thing.

[farangmal]

Retrospectively, the threat of jailing the producers is probably a lame attempt at intimidating them into not airing the remaining episodes back in the UK.

If so, what the authorities don't realise is by now it's probably out of their control, and even requesting the show be stopped will create more problems in the eyes of the international media than it solves.

As much as they clearly don't like it, Thailand is just going to have to grin and bear this one. Scams aside, in all honesty the country doesn't come off too badly in it.

What are you smoking?

[BlueSmurf]

I'am sure the reason for the arrest of the Black sheep film crew is to get them to admit(lie)staging the video so TAT can say its not true and all is well in Thailand..Meanwhile I'am looking forward to Next Monday to see the next Episode of "Trouble in Thailand" on Bravo Tv.The other thing we can be sure of in the UK is That it won't be taken off the air! All this "arrest" rubbish will just make the program more popular and get it sold to other net works around the world!lol

[farangmal]

The jetski scam is alive and flourishing in pattaya too. I watched it happen three times in three weeks. Ruining the tourist's vacation. I intervened once and was threatened with violent retribution for calling the tourist police. The gang increased from three to eight in seconds. They demanded that they call their own "police man". Two of the gang followed me back to my car.

Rule 1 when renting a jetski, demand that they pull it out of the water onto the beach and you take fotos of the complete underside of the hull with your phone or camera before you take it out.

Rule 2. Don't let them call their own policeman. Keep that tourist police number in your phone. In this case the tourist police arrived and took them all down to the station to negotiate the settlement. In this case it was 15,000 bath for some scratches under the gunnel rail which is impossible to scratch in open water. I used to race jetskis. I know this. I also watched the renters for 30 minutes as i was about to rent same. They did not hit a thing.

Rule 3, don't rent a jetski.

[LivinLOS]

Article 34 of the motion picture law is the key to understanding this hooha. Nearly all the responses on ThaiVisa have been along the lines of "It is fine for the foreigners to come and break local laws if it reveals that other laws are being broken by locals."

The Thai government has a law that says you cannot make a film or TV show here without going through a series of formalities. I feel sure that this TV crew knew about the law before coming because most professional film crews do their homework before leaving home soil. I do not believe it was "an innocent mistake."

Everyone knows that there are laws being broken by locals every day somewhere in Thailand - but somehow we should tolerate an entertainment porgram's producers that break the law because it proves what we all already know?

If a Thai TV crew had broken British or Australian laws in filming illegal scenes in those countries, and were subsequently put on charges, I guess ThaiVisa denizens would be crowing about how Thais cannot break the law with impunity in "their" countries. Laws are laws are laws. Why are some worth paying attention to but others not?

Thailand has an archaic system of rules and laws that no one adheres too.. they just keep those laws around so they can throw it at anyone selectively as they choose.. Its another way they can collect tea money by lose and conflicting laws that benefit only the people paid to (not) enforce them.

Do you really think BBC or CNN pre approved every red / yellow shirt news broadcast ??? Dont be so naive

[Insight]

Retrospectively, the threat of jailing the producers is probably a lame attempt at intimidating them into not airing the remaining episodes back in the UK.

If so, what the authorities don't realise is by now it's probably out of their control, and even requesting the show be stopped will create more problems in the eyes of the international media than it solves.

As much as they clearly don't like it, Thailand is just going to have to grin and bear this one. Scams aside, in all honesty the country doesn't come off too badly in it.

What are you smoking?

I quit 3 months ago. What part do you disagree with?

[BlueSmurf]

Retrospectively, the threat of jailing the producers is probably a lame attempt at intimidating them into not airing the remaining episodes back in the UK.

If so, what the authorities don't realise is by now it's probably out of their control, and even requesting the show be stopped will create more problems in the eyes of the international media than it solves.

As much as they clearly don't like it, Thailand is just going to have to grin and bear this one. Scams aside, in all honesty the country doesn't come off too badly in it.

The program is only aired in the uk on Bravo tv on Monday nights at 10pm. But it has been uploaded to youtube! I think there will be another 8 weeks to go of episodes so watch this space!lol

[nemomil]

I think The Thai authorities have every right to look into it.

I stand side by side with Thailand 100%.

but is it polite to come here as a guest and just moan and criticize ?

From BKK Post:A Thai video production company involved in the filming of alleged extortion of foreigners by a Phuket jet ski operator is to be prosecuted for sending the recordings abroad for broadcasting without permission.

"will be prosecuted" = "look into it?"

Do you stand side by side with the 3 out of 10 Thais who are wrongly prosecuted or is it the prosecutors you stand side by side with?

In 10 years I have never had a problem in Thailand.

That doesn't make you immune. I was here for 12 years and could have said the same thing until I became a victim of corruption.

[Mic]

This is so typical of the Thai authorities. If it is illegal to show/film footage for international consumption that portrays Thailand in a bad light then what happens with all the TV news companies, newspapers and bloggers that publish details of life in Thailand. Obviously recent Thailand-centric news items have all been from the darker side of life, Thaksins exploits, yellow and red shirt antics and anything thats happened in the south for the last 5+ years. Surely all of these items show thailand in a bad light and as such their broadcast is illegal!

This seems like an extension of the lese-majeste debacle to cover the country as a whole and we have all heard ridiculous stories regarding lese-majeste accusations.

This seems like just another nail in the coffin of Thailands free speech movement, if one exists.

Let me tell you how the authorities in Germany handle such unwanted behaviour by someone. They come to visit you at 4:30 in the mornig and confiscate your computer (wich will ruin your business ergo your financial existence). Prosecution could be suspected child porn or tax violations. This happened to the local wikileaks domain owner. The basic laws to protect citiziens are only for show. This counts for every country including and especially the USA. It has always been this way, but nowadays we find out about the dimensions of it - thanks to the internet.

Best regards into the upcoming weekend

Mic

[chmike]

Well, in the states, right now the hot news is that of a 20 and 25 year old went into an "ACORN" branch with a hidden camera and asked about getting government paid help with buying a house to host their "Prostitution biz, complete with underage girls from south america". The managers of the offices (they went to four offices throughout the states), wanted to help them, no one threw them out. Then the videos got posted on the internet, and now the company ACORN is under total fire, it has been getting millions of government money.... The people that broke the story, no charges.... The crooked government is finally cutting off funding to this company, they have no choice, the country now sees the corruption,, well, we saw it before, but now "they" have to do something about it. ITS ON THE INTERNET!

Ahhhhhh, America, you can compare it to finally putting on clean socks and shoes after wearing flip flops for three months in thailand.

Here is the site, if you were wondering... biggovernment . com

Is there a moderator to keep people on topic? What on earth does a political issue in another country have to do with this topic?

[BlueSmurf]

Article 34 of the motion picture law is the key to understanding this hooha. Nearly all the responses on ThaiVisa have been along the lines of "It is fine for the foreigners to come and break local laws if it reveals that other laws are being broken by locals."

The Thai government has a law that says you cannot make a film or TV show here without going through a series of formalities. I feel sure that this TV crew knew about the law before coming because most professional film crews do their homework before leaving home soil. I do not believe it was "an innocent mistake."

Everyone knows that there are laws being broken by locals every day somewhere in Thailand - but somehow we should tolerate an entertainment porgram's producers that break the law because it proves what we all already know?

If a Thai TV crew had broken British or Australian laws in filming illegal scenes in those countries, and were subsequently put on charges, I guess ThaiVisa denizens would be crowing about how Thais cannot break the law with impunity in "their" countries. Laws are laws are laws. Why are some worth paying attention to but others not?

Thailand has an archaic system of rules and laws that no one adheres too.. they just keep those laws around so they can throw it at anyone selectively as they choose.. Its another way they can collect tea money by lose and conflicting laws that benefit only the people paid to (not) enforce them.

Do you really think BBC or CNN pre approved every red / yellow shirt news broadcast ??? Dont be so naive

As stated on the programs credits it had full permission to film in Thailand with the Tourist police. Now the program has caused some "Shock waves" they are trying to find a way of saying all is well in Thailand!lol..maybe by getting the Black sheep film crew to say the jetski scam was a setup so then they will not be put in Jail..Then TAT can say anything they want as usual. The only thing we can be sure of here is that this will now be aired all around the world as Bravo Tv will sell the program to every network that wants it............

[Mic]

This is so typical of the Thai authorities. If it is illegal to show/film footage for international consumption that portrays Thailand in a bad light then what happens with all the TV news companies, newspapers and bloggers that publish details of life in Thailand. Obviously recent Thailand-centric news items have all been from the darker side of life, Thaksins exploits, yellow and red shirt antics and anything thats happened in the south for the last 5+ years. Surely all of these items show thailand in a bad light and as such their broadcast is illegal!

This seems like an extension of the lese-majeste debacle to cover the country as a whole and we have all heard ridiculous stories regarding lese-majeste accusations.

This seems like just another nail in the coffin of Thailands free speech movement, if one exists.

Let me tell you how the authorities in Germany handle such unwanted behaviour by someone. They come to visit you at 4:30 in the mornig and confiscate your computer (which will ruin your business ergo your financial existence). Prosecution could be suspected child porn or tax violations. This happened to the local wikileaks domain owner. The basic laws to protect citiziens are only for show. This counts for every country including and especially the USA. It has always been this way, but nowadays we find out about the dimensions of it - thanks to the internet.

Best regards into the upcoming weekend

Mic

[grayfield18]

If anyone had any doubt what kind of clowns that are in control at all levels throughout the nation, we got it confirmed today. Again.

And I like this:

Sasisupa Sungvaribud, president of the Film Production Services Association, said the recordings took the form of a reality show and the events depicted were obviously staged and scripts written for the film.

First of all, it is a false statement.

Secondly, if it was not, it would mean the show is a film/tv-series production like oh-so-many-others with guns in them and their film-makers never got arrested for 'tarnishing the image of the nation'.

It requires stupidity to use that law for this and even greater to try to cover up the issues with claiming they are staged at the same time...

It is ridiculous when you look at Thai soap opera's. Which my Thai wife does whilst i listen to internet radio. My Thai is not good enough to follow what is going on. These are awful things though. People - mainly women constantly hitting other women. One where a man and a small overweight midget (for want of a better word) have a women in chains on an island. Another where one family seem to be doing another bloke down and then a load of shooting took place and the woman got away whilst the man appears to die.

The Thai soap opera only seems to be shown here, so that is alright then ?? Sorry i know this off topic.

The programme did appear staged to me. I thought it was along the lines of Crimeline reconstructions in the UK. It would be an odd thing if a film crew happened to be there when this took place and both parties willingly consented to it being shown.

Whatever the truth of the position with the film censorship never works in the end. People will talk, look at Burma, look at China etc etc. It didn't work in the UK when Mrs T insisted the IRA were voiced over. We just didn't know what they really sounded like.

It does not tarnish your reputation to tell the truth, if you go on to say we are doing something about it. Which is exactly what happened with the airport scams and most people i know have been impressed with the response by the Government. I know there is cynicism on this site about the long term effect but at least they appear to be doing something.

[Hanimal]

Article 34 of the motion picture law is the key to understanding this hooha. Nearly all the responses on ThaiVisa have been along the lines of "It is fine for the foreigners to come and break local laws if it reveals that other laws are being broken by locals."

The Thai government has a law that says you cannot make a film or TV show here without going through a series of formalities. I feel sure that this TV crew knew about the law before coming because most professional film crews do their homework before leaving home soil. I do not believe it was "an innocent mistake."

Everyone knows that there are laws being broken by locals every day somewhere in Thailand - but somehow we should tolerate an entertainment porgram's producers that break the law because it proves what we all already know?

If a Thai TV crew had broken British or Australian laws in filming illegal scenes in those countries, and were subsequently put on charges, I guess ThaiVisa denizens would be crowing about how Thais cannot break the law with impunity in "their" countries. Laws are laws are laws. Why are some worth paying attention to but others not?

Thailand has an archaic system of rules and laws that no one adheres too.. they just keep those laws around so they can throw it at anyone selectively as they choose.. Its another way they can collect tea money by lose and conflicting laws that benefit only the people paid to (not) enforce them.

Do you really think BBC or CNN pre approved every red / yellow shirt news broadcast ??? Dont be so naive

As stated on the programs credits it had full permission to film in Thailand with the Tourist police. Now the program has caused some "Shock waves" they are trying to find a way of saying all is well in Thailand!lol..maybe by getting the Black sheep film crew to say the jetski scam was a setup so then they will not be put in Jail..Then TAT can say anything they want as usual. The only thing we can be sure of here is that this will now be aired all around the world as Bravo Tv will sell the program to every network that wants it............

The laws were revised a few years ago to speed up approvals and thus are hardly archaic. They apply to filming in Thailand but not news. There is a difference.

[CrossBones]

I think this is good news.

The jet ski incident was obviously a set up. Yes JJ seemed to be "typecast" and I have no doubt hes ripped people off with Jet Skis many times but this was clearly exaggerated.

I hate these bottom feeding producers, go back to ibiza and film some more kids on 18/30 holidays.

This documentary just exaggerates the bad behavior of foreigners and wouldn't do us any favors at all in the long run.

On the other hand, I wonder how Bravo are going to react... they didnt complete some of the episodes so I wonder what they will do??

[grayfield18]

Is there a moderator to keep people on topic? What on earth does a political issue in another country have to do with this topic?

Surely it is on topic to compare and contrast what the Thai's do with what the American's do. Otherwise there would be no reasoned analysis on this forum. How can you just have a debate on the Thai position. If every other Country did the same thing it would not arise as an issue.

I also think if you read the post he was demonstrating that an issue was dealt with in a different way. I think just to say expose's in other Countries are allowed to be broadcast is not really enough. This was showing that a Government sponsored company and therefore de facto the Country was tarnished by the actions of the Company. A film was made and it was shown and had the desired effect. The end result being that the Country is portrayed in a good light as it deals with the issue not with the person who let the cat out of the bag.

[webfact]

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