Surayud's Khao Yai Thiang Home Demolished

[george]

Surayud's Khao Yai Thiang home demolished

NAKHORN RATCHASIMA: -- The vacation home of Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont at Khao Yai Thiang in Nakhon Ratchasima has been demolished and the plot has been vacated and restored to its origninal state of underveloped land, forest official Suthep Pawaretwithayalan said on Friday.

"A team of forest officials, including myself, checked and found the plot vacated and devoid of any property or physical structure," he said.

-- The Nation 2010-02-12

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[ballpoint]

"A team of forest officials, including myself, checked and found the plot vacated and devoid of any property or physical structure," he said.

In a separate statement, another spokesman went on to say, "if you would like to buy this pristine plot of undeveloped land, please call xxxxxxxxx"

[hhgz]

One down, 500 to go...

[Briggsy]

Wot, no photos?

[monkfish]

Saw it on Thai TV nice sea views! poor bugger hope he at least gets the money back he paid for the land and the judge is not to harsh on him.

[surayu]

Wot, no photos?

I just milked out this photo on the "Cow Yai" thing....

[ballpoint]

Saw it on Thai TV nice sea views! poor bugger hope he at least gets the money back he paid for the land and the judge is not to harsh on him.

Sea views from Khao Yai? Must have dam_n good eyesight.

[Jai Dee]

Saw it on Thai TV nice sea views!

Are you sure?

The sea is about 2-300 km from Khao Yai (in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima).

[Payboy]

That only says something about the size of the plot.

[ballpoint]

That only says something about the size of the plot.

Ah, the plot thickens.

[ratcatcher]

One down, 500 to go...

Yes indeed, the lid is off. Good thing Surayud got out and odered demolition so no other big shot poo yai could move in.

Now let's see what happens to some of the other encroachments all over the country by resorts and golf clubs such as Alpine in Pathum Thani.

[monkfish]

Saw it on Thai TV nice sea views!

Are you sure?

The sea is about 2-300 km from Khao Yai (in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima).

Oops sorry did I say Sea view I meant to say See View.

Looked like the Sea on TV

[basjke]

Are you sure they didn't hire Copperfield to make it invisible?

[poleax]

It is my understanding that "demolished' is not the correct word, and that again,...... again,....... there is political connotation to the selection of words

I understand that some very valuable lumber was used in that home. Lumber that was a protected natural resource not allowed for construction purposes.

As opposed demolishing, it was carefuly "deconstructed" and the special building materials carefully scurried away.

Demolished.....I dont think so.

Edited February 12, 2010 by poleax

[Johpa]

Now let's see what happens to some of the other encroachments all over the country by resorts and golf clubs such as Alpine in Pathum Thani.

Perhaps we should start a list

The Phuket Yacht Club on what was formerly the public lands known as Nai Harn beach

Koh Phi Phi Island in its entirety

The Four Seasons Regence in Chiang Mai

Shinawat's sisters encroachment onto public forest in Sankampeng

[rixalex]

As opposed demolishing, it was carefuly "deconstructed" and the special building materials carefully scurried away.

Demolished.....I dont think so.

The property is gone and the land returned. I think most ordinary citizens are happy enough with that and pleased that for once a person of power and influence has been forced to obey the law, rather than wriggle out of it as they so often do. If only the same sort of progress could be made in all the other potential cases, how wonderful that would be. Bigger issues to worry about than whether property is deconstructed or demolished i would say.

[SomTumTiger]

It is my understanding that "demolished' is not the correct word, and that again,...... again,....... there is political connotation to the selection of words

I understand that some very valuable lumber was used in that home. Lumber that was a protected natural resource not allowed for construction purposes.

As opposed demolishing, it was carefuly "deconstructed" and the special building materials carefully scurried away.

Demolished.....I dont think so.

I like how pole made it appear that Surayud used illegal timber. Cite your source Pole. More likely, they timbers were reclaimed from another older house, refinshed and used in the new home.

Polaex - Trivializing the momenteous and complicating the obvious since early 2010 (snark).

[rixalex]

I like how pole made it appear that Surayud used illegal timber. Cite your source Pole. More likely, they timbers were reclaimed from another older house, refinshed and used in the new home.

Polaex - Trivializing the momenteous and complicating the obvious since early 2010 (snark).

Whether or not there were any illegal materials used in the construction of the property that no-longer is, i think most would consider the potential crime fairly trivial. Strange that The Pole, as he likes to be called, is so concerned for every last letter of the law to be obeyed in some cases, but in the next breath is defending a convicted criminal who fled justice. I'm sure it all makes sense to him and the red-shirts though.

[Samuian]

I like how pole made it appear that Surayud used illegal timber. Cite your source Pole. More likely, they timbers were reclaimed from another older house, refinshed and used in the new home.

Polaex - Trivializing the momenteous and complicating the obvious since early 2010 (snark).

Whether or not there were any illegal materials used in the construction of the property that no-longer is, i think most would consider the potential crime fairly trivial. Strange that The Pole, as he likes to be called, is so concerned for every last letter of the law to be obeyed in some cases, but in the next breath is defending a convicted criminal who fled justice. I'm sure it all makes sense to him and the red-shirts though.

It doesn't?

[scorecard]

- The ultimate ruling was this the land was illegally occupied. Let's also note that he did, many years ago, ask the forestry people for a ruling on whether he could buy it from the original person who claimed to to have legally bought the land and built the house*. The ruling was that it was OK. In fact I can recall this being in the news 4 or 5 years ago.

*note, gen s did not actually build the house, it was already there.

However the law is the law, he quickly cleared the property, and he's obviously highly embarrassed by the whole thing.

Can't help but think there must be a couple of officials who were hoping that in time the saga would be forgotten and they could 'move in'.

As mentioned by other posters, let's see how long it takes for some definitive action on other similar cases, eg. Alpine Golf.

[chantorn]

A bank robber rob a bank and took a million dollar from the vault.

The law finally caught up with him after a few years.

He is then force to return the money to the bank.

Since the bank no longer lost the money, the robber committed no crime.

SO HE WALKS FREE.

Sound familiar?

[geriatrickid]

I like how pole made it appear that Surayud used illegal timber. Cite your source Pole. More likely, they timbers were reclaimed from another older house, refinshed and used in the new home.

Polaex - Trivializing the momenteous and complicating the obvious since early 2010 (snark).

I don't want to get in the middle of the pissing match, but when's the last time a self considered hi so would use recycled timber in a home? Reusing old growth timber has only become popular in the past 10 years or so in the west in large part because of the lack of availability of the desured timber. I don't think it's a big trend in Thailand, particularly when the well connected will just cut it from protected forests or import it from Burma. If the fancy pants of Thailand are recycling timber, bless them, but I don't think so.

[Thai at Heart]

I take great satisfaction in watching the removal of state land from the hands of so called "poo yais" of all political persuasion.

These people are guilty of abusing their position, nothing more nothing less. I don't hold Surayud to be a better or worse example than any other. We all know, that they are all at it, and have been for a long time, be them businessmen, politicians, or law enforcement. Granting favour because of position, money or power is the starting point of 99% of all the problems in Thailand. It may be what makes the world turn in Thailand, but it is in my opinion a huge ball and chain on development in Thailand.

Simply having the "position" to grant your self benefit whilst others must live by a different set of rules sums up the most basic of inequalities in this country.

[otherstuff1957]

Some of my wife's relatives built a new house in central/north Thailand about 10 years ago. They disassembled their old wooden house and reused the wood for the interior walls and floors.

It is done here, if the wood is high enough quality.

[hammered]

A bank robber rob a bank and took a million dollar from the vault.

The law finally caught up with him after a few years.

He is then force to return the money to the bank.

Since the bank no longer lost the money, the robber committed no crime.

SO HE WALKS FREE.

Sound familiar?

More like you buy a nice painting from someone and a few years later it is found the painting was stolen so it is taken away from you to be returned to whom it was stolen from. However, who goes to jail? You who bought it or the guy who stole it and sold it to you.

Sound familiar

[Credo]

I suspect that the difference is whether or not you have reason to believe, or should believe, that what you are purchasing is stolen.

In the case of the wealthy and well-connected, they most likely have the staff and resources to check out whether what they buy is 'clean', whether it be land or timber. This would be especially true for the land.

[Ricardo]

I've always admired the 'Jim Thompson House' in Bangkok, assembled just after WW2 from several traditional Thai houses, in a quiet (for Bangkok) klong-side location. So the idea has been around here for some time.

[ballpoint]

More like you buy a nice painting from someone and a few years later it is found the painting was stolen so it is taken away from you to be returned to whom it was stolen from. However, who goes to jail? You who bought it or the guy who stole it and sold it to you.

Sound familiar

Interesting line of thought. Say you buy a used car, put new tyres on it, a new paint job, upgrade the engine, replace the stereo, spend a lot of your own money on it. The police trace it as one that was stolen. By the laws of most western countries I know of, you lose the car. But, what happens to the money you spent on it?

[way2muchcoffee]

A bank robber rob a bank and took a million dollar from the vault.

The law finally caught up with him after a few years.

He is then force to return the money to the bank.

Since the bank no longer lost the money, the robber committed no crime.

SO HE WALKS FREE.

Sound familiar?

No. That doesn't sound familiar at all.

A man is offered a parcel of land to purchase.

The man checks with the land and forestry service to see if he can legitimately purchase the property.

The office says yes and the man buys the land.

Years later it turns out that the seller had no right to sell the property.

The man suffers public scorn, even though he had checked the legitimacy of the sale years earlier.

The man awaits a forestry department review of their earlier decision on the status of the land.

Once that decision has been made made he returns the land and removes the structure that was on it.

Edited February 15, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[ballpoint]

I've always admired the 'Jim Thompson House' in Bangkok, assembled just after WW2 from several traditional Thai houses, in a quiet (for Bangkok) klong-side location. So the idea has been around here for some time.

And look what happened to him. When we built our house we bought an old teak house, dismantled it and built ours from it, in a totally different design. There wasn't enough wood to complete the new house, but my idea of buying another old one was shot down as it's most unlucky to merge two houses into one (apparently). To appease my wife, and everyone living near us, we had to buy new timber to finish it. Village superstition, but considering Jim Thompson's case, and now Surayud's (assuming he did use more than one house to build his), I feel an "I told you so" moment coming on.

Edited February 15, 2010 by ballpoint