Tourism Ministry to set up tourist court for better protection of foreign travelers

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BANGKOK, April 30, 2013 (NNT) – The Tourism Ministry is working on a plan to set up a tourist court to offer better protection to foreign visitors to the country.

Tourism Minister Somsak Phurisrisak said on Monday that the idea of the tourist court establishment was conceived to provide fair and better protection to visiting travelers after more and more have been reportedly harmed while traveling in Thailand.

Mr. Somsak said the concept is now under deliberation with Mr. Wirat Chinwinijkul, Secretary-General of the Courts of Justice.

He added that the court establishment will initially begin in the form of a tourist department under the Courts of Justice.

The Tourism Minister went on to say that the discussion with Mr. Wirat also shed light on the idea of a night court, in order to help speed up the legal proceeding.

Mr. Somsak is also scheduled to meet with National Police Chief Pol. Gen. Adul Saengsingkaew on May 1, when he will ask the police to be more swiftly and determinedly handle all cases related to tourists in order to allow subsequent court proceedings to go on and without any delay.


-- NNT 2013-04-30

TAT are really spreading thier wings. Establishing schools and now courts of justice.

What is the point of having a specific tourist court if the BIB don't get off thier arse and do something before the tourist victim's visa expires and they return to thier homeland. Your average tourist is only in the country for around 10 days. Maybe this court is to process tourists who refuse to pay the scammers.

Be fair, at least they are trying to do something positive - remember the saying some you win some you lose - let's not change it to become "some you lose, some you lose!"

If the court requires judgement, the first thing required is to get the police to 'police' incidents. Setting up a court of justice is not going to solve a lot of the issues unless criminals are dealt with correctly. Or is this going to be one law for Thai's and one for Farang?

Be fair, at least they are trying to do something positive - remember the saying some you win some you lose - let's not change it to become "some you lose, some you lose!"

Like the tourist police? Please tell me how they have protected tourists from the thugs that run the jet ski operation in Patong? The government can't even control the taxi cartel or get the airport bus up and running in Phuket.

Fast track,night court,special foreigners,better protection etc all good sound bites...We take care you na....The reality may be fast track only if foreigner admits to the charge,night court- each defendant must pay a set fee regardless of outcome(unsociable hours premium).Special foreigners-this needs no explanation to regular readers here,but in Thailand "special customer"-"special price "or "special deal" means extortion without ground pegs!Fines may not reflect regular Thai legislature and could be doubled or tripled or more Finally better protection-would you feel more proctected at 3am with some shyster lawyer(court appointed of course)telling you to plead guilty-pay the B14,000 fine(he may at this point use the expression "small money")and you go enjoy holiday...or opt for regular court,surrender your passport(if a minor charge)get consullar and legal assistance in the morning...

Tragic that it has come to this.........all they have to do is enforce the laws available to them.

However that seems to be beyond their capabilities.

Just dissolve the useless tourist police and foreign volunteers. Bring the BIB up to an acceptable standard with at least one English speaker per shift. Job done.....and then I just woke up from my dream

Who comes up with this stuff?

How about trying to protect tourists in the first place by cleaning up the cheating taxis, jet ski clans, and everyone else trying to rip them off at every corner. Having bus and van drivers who actually know how to drive and don't race each other wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Will tourists be allowed to blockade it if they don't like the decisions the judges make ?

If this court moves with the same speed of all Thai courts, better plan for a very long stay.

A new... Judicial... Wait for it... Here it comes... HUB!

and what happens when they catch these criminals, the tourists will have to stand around in court all day to be a witness and then the court will find the criminal 300 baht . So then he can walk away and do it again .Then the authorities can say the system is working .

The Tourist Police program is a failure.

They run the gem scam.

Be fair, at least they are trying to do something positive - remember the saying some you win some you lose - let's not change it to become "some you lose, some you lose!"

Like the tourist police? Please tell me how they have protected tourists from the thugs that run the jet ski operation in Patong? The government can't even control the taxi cartel or get the airport bus up and running in Phuket.

The government IS the taxi cartel. Their boss is the Mayor of Patong's son!

More lip-gloss, smeared over a mouth that hasn't brushed its teeth in decades.

and what happens when they catch these criminals, the tourists will have to stand around in court all day to be a witness and then the court will find the criminal 300 baht . So then he can walk away and do it again .Then the authorities can say the system is working .

I get the feeling the court will be set up to sentence tourists who have done wrong. Not Thais.

Get the tourist fined quickly so that the money can come in faster and the tourist can be on their way without missing flights because of big delays. Quick resolution = more money to pay so they can get the hell out of Dodge.

Just my take on it anyway.

better they focus on the source of the problem rather than the aftermath

There are courts? But I thought the police were judge, jury, witness, hangman, bailiff and money collector.

Makes you simply throw up your hands in despair, doesn't it. Failure to police their own people they turn to persecuting tourists. Sigh.

Will there be little kiosks set up at the beach in Phuket and Pattaya to deal out instant justice to the jet ski scammers ???

'Tourist Court'. Should be as genuine as Judge Judy or The Peoples Court.

Stand here, say that, the verdict will be ...

Will there be little kiosks set up at the beach in Phuket and Pattaya to deal out instant justice to the jet ski scammers ???

Give this country a break guys! just maybe, this is a genuine attempt to offer some assistance to tourists who have problems here (a tiny minority).

However they do it, we need more (Western) tourists at the moment. Things are rather too quiet at the moment and negative publicity about the country doesn't help. If having brought in these courts, they could address the problems of the over strong baht and tell the immigration dept to get off foreigners backs, we might get a few more foreigners back and hold back the Red Tsunami from Beijing.

Somsak Phurisrisak.

Some Don't.

It would be interesting to know the current procedures dealing with suspected shoplifters.

For example, at the airport, if someone get accused of shoplifting, they are held by police in a filthy short time hotel room, introduced to a fake lawyer that tells them 6 months incarceration until a court date, then drains their ATM account of the maximum each day, then lets them go without a hearing.

Will the new system be better?

Okay okay, in the case of farang number 83 VS. Somchai Jetskichavong, we find that you, Mr. Fat farang owe Mr. Jetskichavong big big money. You want to pay cash or go ATM na?

You see, before police take your money, and now we have court to take your money too.

Now it officiaw

DDD & 555

Come back next year na.

Give this country a break guys! just maybe, this is a genuine attempt to offer some assistance to tourists who have problems here (a tiny minority).

However they do it, we need more (Western) tourists at the moment. Things are rather too quiet at the moment and negative publicity about the country doesn't help. If having brought in these courts, they could address the problems of the over strong baht and tell the immigration dept to get off foreigners backs, we might get a few more foreigners back and hold back the Red Tsunami from Beijing.

We need more Western tourists at the moment? Jing jing? In what part of Buriram are you talking about? How on Earth is more Western tourists going to "Hold back the Red Tsunami from Beijing"??

Do we hold hands in a human chain to create one giant cock-block in front of Soi 4?

Do they have judges/lawyers that speak Chinese, Russian, Tongan, Swazi, English etc to deal with tourists at these Tourist Courts or will all proceeding be dealt with in Thai. The tourist works away saying <deleted> just happened in there?

Maybe we will see a story "Thai Lawyers Protest About Tongan Lawyers Working in Exclusive Tourist Courts"

I see alot of you TV members are talking about the scammers , what about the bad tourists like the one who shoot and murder people, will they go to this court??