Slandered In A Popular Thai Magazine

[lomatopo]

Does the relevant Thai criminal code, is it 326 and 328, apply to foreigners? I assume it should, being criminal code rather than civil, but wouldn't be surprised if it didn't?

I'm still a little surprised that the OP's real name was used as it is easy to mask, say "John D. from Australia", without detracting from the commentary. I wonder if the OP's details might have been gleaned from the public "hook-up" site he originally used to contact the nurse?

It does suck that so many of the OP's friends, colleagues and even supervisor read this magazine. I suspect one found it and then passed it around.

Edited November 16, 2010 by lomatopo

[Colabamumbai]

Does the relevant Thai criminal code, is it 326 and 328, apply to foreigners? I assume it should, being criminal code rather than civil, but wouldn't be surprised if it didn't?

I'm still a little surprised that the OP's real name was used as it is easy to mask, say "John D. from Australia", without detracting from the commentary. I wonder if the OP's details might have been gleaned from the public "hook-up" site he originally used to contact the nurse?

It does suck that so many of the OP's friends, colleagues and even supervisor read this magazine. I suspect one found it and then passed it around.

Boss showed it to employees for 2 days before he approached me. I should know later this week what action the lawyer will take.

[GarryP]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article. The OP comes across as a tightarse, womaniser. He supposedly has a woman or three in every province of Thailand but pays for nothing, having the women pay everything.

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Oooh nnothing like a woman scorned.

She also claims that the article was written to warn other women about this foreigner.

[samran]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article. The OP comes across as a tightarse, womaniser. He supposedly has a woman or three in every province of Thailand but pays for nothing, having the women pay everything.

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Oooh nnothing like a woman scorned.

She also claims that the article was written to warn other women about this foreigner.

suggest the OP up stumps and heads back to Farang Land. He might be a bit safer there.

Just about every post on TV is a tale of woe. Am begining to wonder if it is all self-inflicted. I mean, no one can be THAT unlucky, can they?

[lomatopo]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article.

Was the OP's real, full name printed? An email address like [email protected], and 2 phone digits redacted would seem passable, but the real, full name should not have been printed, IMO.

[GarryP]

The email address was made up from a first name and family name, although I believe there was a typo in the article, deliberate or not I do not know.

[Colabamumbai]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article. The OP comes across as a tightarse, womaniser. He supposedly has a woman or three in every province of Thailand but pays for nothing, having the women pay everything.

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Oooh nnothing like a woman scorned.

She also claims that the article was written to warn other women about this foreigner.

If she claims that she knows me, then she should have mentioned that I have been married since July.

[lomatopo]

The email address was made up from a first name and family name, although I believe there was a typo in the article, deliberate or not I do not know.

Is the OP's real name used in the article? How is he referred to in the article, other than the derogatory adjectives and nouns? Is the only (near) mention of his name in the email address, which may or may not be spelled accurately? Are there other similar stories in this magazine? Kinda sounds like "she said", "he said" so not sure the defamation thing will work. The fact that the OP is/was married, and "the nurse" might not have known that doesn't exactly make him look better, to uninterested parties who might judge the merit of his defamation claim.

I looked for this mag. today but it was sold out everywhere, probably further exacerbating the OP's situation.

[rgs2001uk]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article. The OP comes across as a tightarse, womaniser. He supposedly has a woman or three in every province of Thailand but pays for nothing, having the women pay everything.

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Oooh nnothing like a woman scorned.

She also claims that the article was written to warn other women about this foreigner.

You cannot help but laugh as pointed out by GarryP,

"This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Tells me more about the character of the woman than the man concerned, hope the woman was considerate enough to reveal her own details.

Maybe she hadnt heard of "no money no honey".

[GooEng]

Finally, last night I sat down and read the article. It is certainly not very complimentary. The OPs email address and phone number with the last two digits crossed out are printed in the article. The OP comes across as a tightarse, womaniser. He supposedly has a woman or three in every province of Thailand but pays for nothing, having the women pay everything.

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Oooh nnothing like a woman scorned.

She also claims that the article was written to warn other women about this foreigner.

hmm, yes it's interesting that the woman is comnplaining about him having sex free - was she expecting to receive payment for that?

but bless her little heart for taking the time to write the other article to "warn other thai women". altruism is alive and well in muang thai after all!

Edited November 17, 2010 by joe ekkamai

[GarryP]

hmm, yes it's interesting that the woman is comnplaining about him having sex free - was she expecting to receive payment for that?

Exactly my thoughts. Had she known he was going to do a runner (according to the article)would she have charged?

[Tod Daniels]

Tried to buy the mag at the local 7/11 this morning, but it was sold out. Went to a bigger thai magazine shop near my soi, also sold out. Finally found a single copy at B2S. I perused it over coffee, and found it well worth the 20 baht price tag even for that single article.

FWIW: Any foreigner with high-basic or low-intermediate thai reading skills won't have very much difficulty getting thru it. It's definitely written more ภาษาพูด (colloquially), than something you’d read in the real newspapers here. Then again it's a gossip rag about thai superstars, much like Dara Daily, or Siam Dara.

The O/P and the poster know as “GarryP” are totally correct in their assertions; the person referred to in the story is most definitely not painted in the most glowing light and accolades (if any) are few and far between . The author signs it "Person who was deceived/tricked" as well as saying she's from พังงา (Phangnga). She did say she's gonna go to post it on her Face Book page too, so I'd check there as well.

It would also appear by going to Google thailand and typing in the thai title of the article that there 6 or 7 comments on the mag’s website about the article. One even took time to comment, only to say they didn't read the article, . One was a warning about foreigners written in engrish by a thai female , and one even asked "I read the story, just how was he terribly bad to you?" .

I think it's definitely up to you and your thai lawyers to see what possibly could be gained by pursuing it. Then again how much good money are you gonna throw after bad to be compensated in any way?

I seem to remember a few years ago when a female reporter for an english language newspaper wrote a totally factual article about Thaksin Shinawatra’s government; she was promptly sacked, and then nearly litigated to death by thaksin's legal team to the tune of millions of baht in libel charges. In the end she was totally vindicated, all the suits were thrown out, and I think even won her old job back or something like that, but it took several years to plod its way thru the thai legal system.

Now if you lose your brand new job over this, or are financially impinged upon in another way, maybe you'd have a better case. In all honesty, I hope your new boss takes this story with a grain of salt, and it doesn’t affect you . The mags that haven’t sold get pulled off the shelves on the 20th to make way for the new edition, and as I mentioned earlier, I had to go to three different shops to find even a copy.

Dunno, but you're certainly in quite the quandary, my posting pal. Good Luck.

[Lumumba]

OP has not told the whole story.

Thai women dont just get the knickers in a knot with someone 600kms away just for fun.

I must have featured in a few of those types of gossip rag, but no one bothered to tell me anyways.

Internet can be a good thing. No?

Lucky she has not been on the late night TV shows with black goggles on, describing how bait women and how sloppy the sex was.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Lumumba

[lomatopo]

My unsolicited advice would be for the OP to focus his efforts on repairing and reinforcing the relationship with his supervisor and co-workers, rather than chasing down the magazine. Make sure everyone knows that, while you might have communicated with this woman over the internet, you never met her, and never solicited money or sex from her. End of issue now let's get back to work and let me show what a great employee I am.

[IanForbes]

At this point it's got nothing to do with the woman in question and everything to do with the person who published the article without backing up the information. Just suppose someone wrote a similar story about the King of Thailand in a Thai publication. What do you suppose would happen to that publisher. It's the same thing. It is not legal to print lies about someone on someone else's say so.

[mca]

Some of what she has written is quite funny "This foreigner behaves worse than a pimp, ate free, stayed free, slept free, holidayed fee, had sex free."

Worse than a pimp but at least he doesn't sound like a hooker.

I don't seem to recall in all my years of marriage my wife actually presenting me with a bill at the end of a session. Though with me huffing and puffing away on top of her like an asthmatic rhino maybe she should have done.

[bubblehead]

I think you are making a big deal out of nothing. If this happened to me i would just laugh it off and so should your boss. Be grateful they are not more serious allegations like rape or child abuse then there would be a problem. I can't understand why you are the slightest bit concerned. Forget about sueing the magazine and put it down to experience. Good luck !!

[Colabamumbai]

At this point it's got nothing to do with the woman in question and everything to do with the person who published the article without backing up the information. Just suppose someone wrote a similar story about the King of Thailand in a Thai publication. What do you suppose would happen to that publisher. It's the same thing. It is not legal to print lies about someone on someone else's say so.

Thanks for your positive contribution.

[jazzbo]

Just to play defense attorney, mind you, I might say that the plaintiff has posted so much information on line about himself including starting the juicy TV topic 'Wife of 6 weeks wants divorce' that there is nothing my client published that has not been already divulged by the plaintiff ...

[jdinasia]

Hmmm when did this thread get moved to Farang Pub? (I think it is exactly where it belongs ... but ...)

[Tod Daniels]

Actually now that I took the time to read thru the entire magazine;

OFF TOPIC:

I found the articles about Leopards and Hyenas, as well as the one about a girl with lesbian feelings, and even the one about breasts, and what constitutes pretty breasts versus ugly ones of far more interest than the thai woman scorned; foreign bashing one referenced in this post.

BACK ON TOPIC

I’d concentrate on damage control at your place of employment with your boss, and staff (seeing as, from the videos on their website, it does look like a pretty nice place to work! )

The quicker this gets swept aside and becomes ‘old news’ the better off you’ll be for it. I don’t think you’re likely to find any satisfactory resolution to this via legal channels. Then again, <deleted> do I know .

However, I concur with the poster known as “jazzbo”; even a brief perusal of your posting history just here on T/V could be interpreted as lending credence to an opposing party’s perceived grievance. (Darn the internet for making that stuff so easily to find! ).

Even a semi-intelligent thai lawyer could pick your posts to pieces and quote you outta context, giving quite a different spin than you originally intended when you posted .

Factor in ANY legal proceedings are gonna be carried out totally in thai, the oh-so many ambiguous ways that engrish can be translated into thai often carrying a totally dissimilar meaning than the original english context, and I think you’re tryin’ to paddle upstream pursuing this.

Good Luck though, let us know how it pans out.

[jdinasia]

Just to play defense attorney, mind you, I might say that the plaintiff has posted so much information on line about himself including starting the juicy TV topic 'Wife of 6 weeks wants divorce' that there is nothing my client published that has not been already divulged by the plaintiff ...

And that claiming to be slandered (what is in print may be libelous .. or constitute defamation ... but it isn't slander) and naming the source might constitute defamation in itself?

[StreetCowboy]

Maybe its all a bit Carly Simon....

[GooEng]

SC you been at the cooking sherry? that's the second post i've seen by you this evening that has left me completely mystified. (see thread about thai ladies underwear and comments about a "quaint" VCR)

care to elaborate on the carly simon connection here old son?

[473geo]

Carly Simon (Mick Jagger)......you're so vain....