Thai Tourism Ministry To Set Up Tourist Court For Better Protection Of Foreign Travelers

[Markaew]

These are just more headlines to try to calm tourist enough to come here. Fantasy, but all their headlines are.

[TechnikaIII]

My god, why not address road safety issues before greasing the backsides of lawyers and judges,
and themselves, the politicians.
The capacity to misappropriate funds in this country is truly, truly astonishing.

[belg]

i think they want a fast court for condemning tourists .... that will be 300.000 baht to leave the country right now , or you prefer 3 months in jail awaiting a court date or 3 years if some landlord pretends you broke some furniture

[bigbamboo]

"All rise for the judge, Khun Skippy."

[webfact]

COURT
Tourism court to be set up: Justice Ministry
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Justice Ministry is proposing the setting up of a Tourism Court to consider tourismrelated cases to help foreigners and Thais, Wirat Shinwinitkul, secretary general of the Office of the Judiciary said Tuesday.

If the Attorney General approves the idea, the Tourism Court would first be set up in Bangkok, which draws the biggest number of tourists in the country, he said.

The Tourism Ministry will be responsible for the court's budgets and rules while his ministry will help provide personnel, he said, adding he expected cooperation from police and public prosecutors.

The Tourism Court will be held at existing district courts and will be open for service at night, as tourists usually go out in the daytime. "We are opening the court to protect the rights tourists and provide fairness to those who may receive unfair treatment from tour agencies."

Trials in the Tourism Court could be low budget and require a quick response and processing, as tourists usually stay in Thailand for only a short period.

He added Thai people could seek trials in the Tourism Court but their claims would have to be under set rules, such as if they were cheated by tourists.

The setting up of the court is to respond to Thailand's entry to the AEC, he added.

He added the ministry has held night courts operating from 4.30pm to 8.30pm in Bangkok for long time and is considering launching a similar system in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui and Chiang Mai.


-- The Nation 2013-04-30

[unanimosity]

These are just more headlines to try to calm tourist enough to come here. Fantasy, but all their headlines are.

What? Are you suggesting that advertising a special court just for tourists is a good marketing move? Is this some kind of five-star court joke?

"Come to our amazing beaches and cultural attractions with your very own tourist court dedicated to cutting through the red tape of legal issues you are sure to encounter here. Never again stand in line with locals while waiting for your claim or litigation to be heard without benefit of translation."

Courts are for protection? That's a hoot. Even the police cannot protect, in any country. They wrap a crime scene in yellow tape and look for perpetrators. What protection?

Edited April 30, 2013 by unanimosity

[Dr Wanchai]

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?

Sure this is going to be the case.

All countries look after their own citizens.

[rikkie]

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

jetski renters are as stupid as the guy next to them renting it again... why still rent from them just stay flat on your back in the sun

[RogueLeader]

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

jetski renters are as stupid as the guy next to them renting it again... why still rent from them just stay flat on your back in the sun

Blaming the victim: A sure sign that you've been in Thailand too long.

Some people want more out of their holiday than skin cancer and poor quality beer.

Edited April 30, 2013 by RogueLeader

[sunshine51]

To.."Protect & Serve" or to Prosecute & Forget?

Too dam_n many questions here...

[dighambara]

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

It has always puzzled me that non-Thai speaking foreigners were selected as tourist police... On more than one occasion I have helped translate between Tourist Police and Thais - and my Thai isn't that good.

The Tourist Police program is a failure.

They run the gem scam.

The BIB side of the Tourist Police do a much better job than the regular police. When in a jam call them, not the regular BIB.

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

The courts back up the police, because the police are a powerful force in any Thai community. In the long term the judges receive a nice income by backing the police over reality.

[Cardiff1963]

good if it works, try, try and try again

[theajarn]

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.

LOL.

You forget The Golden Rule of Thailand: if it's being considered, there's DEFINITELY money involved.

And if there's no money to be made, then <deleted> it.

[lemoncake]

Not sure if its been said already, but how would a court deal with a tourist claim when tourist is no longer in the country?

I seriously doubt court application and hearing can be arranged say in under 7 days.

Then there is a question of language, who would represent the tourist? if self, judges would have to carry on the entire hearing in English, then what happens to Thai party?

How about setting up consumer protection board which actually has enough manpower and english speaking staff to deal with issues on the spot and should service providor fail to resolve it,that board can take legal action and tourist does not have to stay in the country.

This might benefit not only tourists but locals and expats as well.

Yes i am aware such board already exists, but they are useless and takes months if not years to achieve anything.

[annabel]

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.

The TAT and the Tourism Ministry are completely different entities... The TAT is primarily a tourism marketing department of the government and doesn't actually have a seat in the cabinet.

I've tried dealing with TAT. They're so busy putting up pretty pictures of ideal Thailand, that there isn't any way to contact them about anything.

I think that is one of the reasons the tourism ministry was created... I've dealt with them several times "professionally" and you couldn't call them decisive.

So why do we need both ??

[annabel]

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

It has always puzzled me that non-Thai speaking foreigners were selected as tourist police... On more than one occasion I have helped translate between Tourist Police and Thais - and my Thai isn't that good.

>The Tourist Police program is a failure.

They run the gem scam.

The BIB side of the Tourist Police do a much better job than the regular police. When in a jam call them, not the regular BIB.

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

The courts back up the police, because the police are a powerful force in any Thai community. In the long term the judges receive a nice income by backing the police over reality.

Jeeezz ... where is WIKILEAKS when you need them ... Pfff...

[growe237]

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

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

I went to court once when they caught the teenager or grabbed my bag. It was the bizarre experience I have ever had in thailand. I wish I had taken better notes. At the end, the judge asked ME what I wanted the punishment to be. Wha??? No idea if he ended up in juvey detention or what. The judge told the boy to ask my forgiveness and he crawled on his knees across the aisle to me with palms raised in subservient wai.

[chooka]

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

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

I went to court once when they caught the teenager or grabbed my bag. It was the bizarre experience I have ever had in thailand. I wish I had taken better notes. At the end, the judge asked ME what I wanted the punishment to be. Wha??? No idea if he ended up in juvey detention or what. The judge told the boy to ask my forgiveness and he crawled on his knees across the aisle to me with palms raised in subservient wai.

Having to crawl on his knees and beg to a farang in a public arena would be a severe loss of face for him. probably hurt him more than 30 yrs in prison.

[maidu]

Deputy PM Chalerm can assign his sons as the first three justices for the new court.

[maidu]

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

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

I went to court once when they caught the teenager or grabbed my bag. It was the bizarre experience I have ever had in thailand. I wish I had taken better notes. At the end, the judge asked ME what I wanted the punishment to be. Wha??? No idea if he ended up in juvey detention or what. The judge told the boy to ask my forgiveness and he crawled on his knees across the aisle to me with palms raised in subservient wai.

So, the thief had to do a half minute of uncomfortable play-acting, and then he's back on the streets to rip more people off. That's Thai justice in a coconut shell. It's very subjective. Thais hate to discipline Thais. If a gov't employee breaks the law or does a shoddy job, what's the worst that can happen? Inactive post with pay and benefits.

Thailand's top cop, Chalerm, recently declared at a press conference: "I know who the top mafia bosses are. I will tell you their first initials, but I won't mention their names. Just by them knowing that I know who they are, should be enough for them to stop their illegal activities."

[Palairacois]

A friend of mine was stabbed last december and went to court this week only to be told that his assailant refused even to pay his hospital bills----let alone compensation---the poor guy could have died from his wounds !!! Now as it must go to a higher court they have told him the audience will be in february 2014!!!! And the assailant is not even in prison!!!! Tourist courts seem like a good idea to me ---there are more and more tourists being assulted while on holiday in Thailand perhaps this could speed up the judical process a little.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Palairacois

[timewilltell]

This is a fantastic idea and long overdue. Tourists are not going to bother reporting crime if they have to wait 5 years for a case to be heard. Thereby many criminals never get prosecuted. If the Thais can make this court fast track at least for certain offences then more tourists might complain. The whole way the court operates will need to be much more streamlined than the awful system of administration that exists now which makes the system so slow as to be stupid. Not all Thais are bad and this is a good idea that needs support.

[Orac]

From The Nation article:

"However the ministry said the crime rate is still lower here than many places elsewhere. The standard abroad is not more than two victim of crime out of every 100,000 tourists. Now, the Kingdom's rate is 0.02 percent."

By my maths this makes Thailand 10 times worse than the standard with 2 victims for every 10,000 tourists

[Pui]

This sounds like a step in the right direction to me. If this means foreigners wouldn't subjected to the same judicial process as natives then I don't see what foreigners are complaining about here. Unless you actually think it will be less fair you want to go to Thai court. Perhaps they would have English speaking court staff instead of training the whole country. I don't see a reason to complain about this and as for the Patong Jet Ski operators, that would be a different subject, surely?

The jet ski example shows the police are on the sides of the criminals.

Well a court setup to protect foreigners sounds like a goods idea to me and thats the subject of the discussion. How that effects Jet Ski's is another matter. Now if a Jet Ski case should make it to one of these special court hearings then there would be a connection.

The effectiveness of the Police in Thailand is I admit questionable but a separate issue. This discussion is about the laws and the courts. Those laws need to be up help by the Police but at this stage we're talking about the law and the courts and not the police.

I don't think the mention of Patong Jet Ski operator demonstrates categorically that the Police are on the side of criminals but surely a specially court that could understand both parties would be in s a better position to make a ruling, if such a case went to court.

This sounds like a step in the right direction to me!

Edited May 1, 2013 by Pui

[BwindiBoy]

They're basing this on one of their tourist groups; Australians, and will call these Kangaroo Courts!!

[harrry]

Not sure if its been said already, but how would a court deal with a tourist claim when tourist is no longer in the country?

I seriously doubt court application and hearing can be arranged say in under 7 days.

Then there is a question of language, who would represent the tourist? if self, judges would have to carry on the entire hearing in English, then what happens to Thai party?

How about setting up consumer protection board which actually has enough manpower and english speaking staff to deal with issues on the spot and should service providor fail to resolve it,that board can take legal action and tourist does not have to stay in the country.

This might benefit not only tourists but locals and expats as well.

Yes i am aware such board already exists, but they are useless and takes months if not years to achieve anything.

Singapore many years ago offered some people who had to appear in court when they had caught someone offending the oportunity to return to Singapore free including hotel and airfares so that the criminal could be convicted and punished in the Singapore way. Cut down on crime against tourists fairly quickly.

Edited May 1, 2013 by harrry

[Silver Lining]

Oh come on "Tourist court"? I've heard this few years ago and I'm still waiting for the outcome ...Just stick with putting up basket ball court, tennis court or volleyball court...that I can trust the Thais will do