So who gets sent the bill?

Or do the Thai people as a whole have to foot the cost through the Govt?

While I am in total disagreement with the Red Shirts' tactics, some of their complaints are very legitimate. Thailand, as a nation and as a society, has failed to address genuine human and civil rights concerns, and as a result, the "bill" does belong to the whole nation. And, some of the Red Shirts ought to be put in jail for a very long time.

I agree that the newspaper's burying of the details about the number and value of the denied insurance claims is a huge and important part of the damages story.

But I'm not sure using or not using the world "terrorism" alone would have changed that result. I've been looking at both my life insurance and medical insurance policies lately for other reasons... And they don't just exclude that one word, but they exclude a whole list of similar words/causes like civil unrest, riot, etc etc...

So even if the Thai Govt. hadn't declared the Red activities "terrorism," which they absolutely were, I think a lot of policy holders probably would have still found themselves out in the cold.

Now the interesting part will be...will the Thai govt., in its infinite wisdom, try to do anything to rectify that situation, not withstanding the policy language that clearly exists in many cases...

I can see how regular businesses and shops could easily get reamed by that kind of insurance treatment. But I wonder how the "big boys" like the owners of Central World are going to be treated by their insurance carriers???? Equal treatment for all, I wonder???

Eighty-eight flights were cancelled during the Songkran festival in April and the loss was estimated at Bt600 million.

I do not think this had anything to do with the red shirts, it was the ash cloud over Europe

The number of tourists for the entire year was estimated at 15.5 million, about 500,000 below the original target.

This amazes me that the problems only had a 3% reduction in tourists. With travel bans being placed upon Thailand at the time and the empty hotels (well the ones I used) I feel it is somewhat more.

But that's what Thailand wants to tell the outside world, "no problems here mate".

Despite the rhetoric the fact remains there is a cost here. And a lot that was assessed will never be compensated. Insurance companies notwithstanding, business owners will have to rebuild. If they lack the resources (financial) they should at least be 'financed' on low or zero interest from the Bank of Thailand. No skin off BoT's nose and it would boost the perception of Thai's for Thai's. A loan of this nature can easily be underwritten by a Govt Guarantee and this in turn can be fobbed off as a Bond issue if it was ever needed to be called up.

That will of course not assist the people who lost their jobs in the short term but being helped to rebuild may offer jobs back on completion. It would be a start.

But despite the wasted man hours, figures perceived, it is little or no meaning other than saying "Gee, that much!"

Edited September 1, 201015 yr by asiawatcher