Phuket's Second Coming

[SeaVisionBurma]

Can this island rise from the ashes of Thailand’s political turmoil?

Opinion on Phuket, by Adam Frost

The tropical island of Phuket, located on Thailand’s west coast, became famous for its stunning and pristine white sandy beaches. Many of these were virtually unknown – with numerous hidden gems waiting to be discovered. Adventurous travellers could only gain access by local longtail fishing boat or on foot, having to walk along grassy trails and rocky paths leading down from steep headland trails. Having the idyllic backdrop of the azure Andaman sea, and overhanging palms offering shady protection from the tropical heat of Thailand’s perfect weather, these secret beaches really were as close to paradise as one could hope to find.

Cruising sailors started to arrive in numbers to explore Phuket’s waters in the mid to late 1980′s. It was easy back then to find a deserted bay or anchorage, and maybe rather selfishly expect to have it all to one’s self. Only occasionally would you be disturbed by another cruising yachtie coming in to share the anchorage, or possibly a longtail boat with one or two tourists aboard, noisily arriving to spoil the total tranquility. Reminiscing, it seems such petty grumbles were so insignificant and rather banal. Those were surely the perfect days of Phuket!

With such beauty comes popularity, and over the years the reputation of Phuket’s natural allure spread far and wide. The ever increasing number of international tourist arrivals has lead to many bungalows, small hotels and international resort chains coming in to buy up and develop nearly all of the prime beach land, in order to satisfy tourist demand. The days of hidden secret beaches on Phuket are long gone. The newly built tourist infrastructure on the island has allowed millions of holiday makers to enjoy the islands natural pleasures. Global air-travel and budget airlines have catered to demand, opening up air travel to virtually everyone. Flights have become so cheap in fact that low cost charter flights are now bringing in bargain-basement tourists by the plane-load, from the previously unseen markets of eastern Europe, Russia and China. One may argue whether this is the type of low end tourism that Phuket deserves, but the fact is that it is here and looks set to remain.

Thailand’s relatively free and easy economy, lazily implemented laws, widespread corruption, as well as the old indoctrination from the Thaksin era that every man should be his own entrepreneur, led to a complete free for all. Phuket became infested with a myriad of local problems: Land encroachment. Local gangster-style taxi and ‘tuk-tuk’ consortiums fleecing innocent and unsuspecting tourists. Unscrupulous jet-ski operators plying their well known and sometimes roughly enforced scams on holiday makers. An emergence of an almost complete blanket of deck-chair and beach umbrellas on all west cost beaches, to such an extent it became almost impossible to walk down to the waters edge, without going through an aggressive local beach operators ‘patch’. All of these problems invariably led to Phuket’s image being tarnished, and have to an extent driven many of the high end, high net worth tourists away.

The recent turbulent political history of Thailand is well documented. There have now been eleven successful military coups since the foundation of the Thai Constitutional Monarchy in 1932, the last two of which were as recently as 1991 and 2006. Beyond the coups, there have been countless and oft-changing inefficient governments. The infamous Thaksin siblings have asserted their powerful presence, leading to the subsequent ‘yellow-shirt’ and ‘red shirt’ devotees forming something akin to civilian armies to protest and fight each other. This brought the country to an economic and civil stand still. Rumours of a pending civil war were being widely whispered, and for good reason. No side would back down, and there was no foreseeable way out of the mess.

Things came to such an impasse, that on the 21st of May 2014, the Thai Army stepped in to take over control, with a military coup being announced late that day. Seen from the eyes of the west to be another major negative factor to count against Thailand, it has in fact been completely the opposite. General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the head of the Thai Army and military coalition has been a complete revelation. He has emerged as the country’s new hero. He is proving himself to be a fearless commander and is determined to rid Thailand of all the negatives & problems which previous governments and police were unable or unwilling to deal with. General Prayuth has come in with a strong metaphorical yard brush, and is now starting to “sweep the country clean” of all the dirt and dust which has brought the image of Thailand down over the past ten to fifteen years.

Phuket has been one of the main focuses of General Prayuth’s attention, and the positive results are now starting to show. Phuket is emerging with a new confidence that has not been seen for many years. The local community has witnessed first hand that Prayuth is serious and means business. Historically it was all too easy to buy off corrupt police and officials, and for illegal practices to continue unhindered. This attitude is gone and the gangsters are now running scared. During the three months in which the Military have been in command, Phuket has seen the complete dismantling of the illegal black taxi and tuk-tuk cartels, their ring leaders have been arrested and some have been jailed. Many of their bank accounts have been seized with millions of dollars of laundered money being exposed and confiscated. More than seventy cartel drivers now face serious charges and await court proceedings against them.

With the major issue of illegal land encroachment being the main battlefield, the military have investigated and rightfully returned to the Thai people as much as 700 Rai of land so far, including areas in the Sirinath National Park on Phuket’s northwest coast. The plan is to reforest and replant this area in an effort to return it to its natural state. A large tract of land surrounding Freedom Beach is also under investigation, as it is part of Phuket’s reserved forest areas. Local developers have laid claim to this land and are planning to build new resorts, basing their claims to ownership of the land on suspected fraudulent land titles. Many beaches on Phuket have now been completely cleared of unauthorised beach vendors. Their deck-chairs and umbrellas removed, and the illegal and mostly ugly shanty looking beach structures have been bulldozed to the ground. The local police force is being carefully monitored, their chiefs are being removed and investigated. The police force is now firmly on everyone’s radar, with officers on their best behaviour and perhaps finally doing their jobs properly, without the innuendo about simply lining their own pockets hovering above them.

The next step on our wish list is for General Prayuth to implement a reliable and affordable local mass transit system to relieve traffic congestion. The years are rolling back and Phuket finally looks to be on the path to recovery. It feels like a cancer has been removed. Is the island now back on track to having a bright future? Only time will tell.

Read the article here: Phuket's Second Coming

Adam Frost has been living and working as an expatriate in Thailand for 25 years, based in Phuket. Having started out in 1988 operating diving and sailing liveaboard charters, Adam is now the Managing Director of the Seal Superyachts group of companies spanning nine countries in SE Asia and the Indian Ocean

[NomadJoe]

There is no doubting the many great improvements, but it's not all roses and bunnies as this editorial suggests. If there is one thing Thai people know how to do it it's how to put on an act of compliance when when someone is watching. Once past the traffic police, helmet goes back into the basket. This last week the Army was in town and guess what....no tuk tuks, motosai taxi's, or ping pong touts Bangla Rd. No illegally parked, double or triple parked tuk tuks on the beach road or 200 year Rd. No fireworks or fire lanterns on the beach. Everyone was told to take a week off. There was a very noticeable difference. But it was all a show. By Friday night, everything was back to normal, and having missed 4 days of action, the touts were extra aggressive. It is naive to think the military doesn't know this goes on. As long as the tuk tuks are allowed to park wherever they want taking every public space in Patong, as long as a 1km fare to the other end of the beach road remains 300B, then this cannot be considered a success for Phuket. There is still a long way to go before we can call this a victory. One thing is for sure, if our benevolent dictator can't do it, if it doesn't happen now, it never will. Phuket can say goodbye permanently to the "high end, quality tourists."

Edited August 24, 2014 by NomadJoe

[Guest]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

[razer]

To change the culture of corruption it will take a generation of real law enforcement and the moral educaion of young students. National pride is is what we see in Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore ... it is what the rest of the world thinks about a country and its people. Thais need to learn at an early age their behavior and work ethics develope public opinion about Thailand around the world.

[kerrysum]

To change the culture of corruption it will take a generation of real law enforcement and the moral educaion of young students. National pride is is what we see in Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore ... it is what the rest of the world thinks about a country and its people. Thais need to learn at an early age their behavior and work ethics develope public opinion about Thailand around the world.

I'd agree with that statement....

[robertthebruce]

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

[stevenl]

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Edited August 25, 2014 by stevenl

[hawker9000]

Phuket has had enough "turmoil" of its own causing its problems. Thailand's political turmoil is almost irrelevant. If anything, initiatives taken since the military took charge should be helping!

[Strangebrew]

No but they stupe low to scam tourist though.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

This is smaltzy ad promo rubbish.

"This attitude is gone and the gangsters are now running scared".

Oh really, running scared. Keesin is just in the process of developing a huge new commercial premise on Bangla.

Yeah he's petrified...

[MediaWatcher]

stevenl, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:43, said:

robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Stevenl, the story is about Phuket, no where else, please keep it local, what happens elsewhere is of no significance. The fact is, Thai do deny, in fact they are indoctrinated at an early age to believe they are right and do no wrong and are better than other nations, this they are forced to believe every day at school. Their "face saving" culture does not allow them to be self critical or to accept criticism from others. KEEP IT LOCAL.

[stevenl]

robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Stevenl, the story is about Phuket, no where else, please keep it local, what happens elsewhere is of no significance. The fact is, Thai do deny, in fact they are indoctrinated at an early age to believe they are right and do no wrong and are better than other nations, this they are forced to believe every day at school. Their "face saving" culture does not allow them to be self critical or to accept criticism from others. KEEP IT LOCAL.

Ok, at your special request: I see in this respect no difference between Thais living on Phuket, Thais living elsewhere in Thailand and people from other nationalities.

[jpeg]

To change the culture of corruption it will take a generation of real law enforcement and the moral educaion of young students. National pride is is what we see in Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore ... it is what the rest of the world thinks about a country and its people. Thais need to learn at an early age their behavior and work ethics develope public opinion about Thailand around the world.

Thais don't 'need to'. They already know. Some of you on here truly believe some 'golden dawn' of 'learning' aka the oft mentioned countries in your post will bring about a sea change in the Dtai/Tai/'Those barbarians from over the Yangntse' will, haha, EVER effect a change. It WON'T Ever. Idiots

[MediaWatcher]

stevenl, on 25 Aug 2014 - 17:01, said:

MediaWatcher, on 25 Aug 2014 - 16:57, said:

stevenl, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:43, said:

robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Stevenl, the story is about Phuket, no where else, please keep it local, what happens elsewhere is of no significance. The fact is, Thai do deny, in fact they are indoctrinated at an early age to believe they are right and do no wrong and are better than other nations, this they are forced to believe every day at school. Their "face saving" culture does not allow them to be self critical or to accept criticism from others. KEEP IT LOCAL.

Ok, at your special request: I see in this respect no difference between Thais living on Phuket, Thais living elsewhere in Thailand and people from other nationalities.

You still seem to want to go outside Thailand...Please, keep it local, or does this diminish your argument.

[MediaWatcher]

stevenl, on 25 Aug 2014 - 17:01, said:

MediaWatcher, on 25 Aug 2014 - 16:57, said:

stevenl, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:43, said:

robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Stevenl, the story is about Phuket, no where else, please keep it local, what happens elsewhere is of no significance. The fact is, Thai do deny, in fact they are indoctrinated at an early age to believe they are right and do no wrong and are better than other nations, this they are forced to believe every day at school. Their "face saving" culture does not allow them to be self critical or to accept criticism from others. KEEP IT LOCAL.

Ok, at your special request: I see in this respect no difference between Thais living on Phuket, Thais living elsewhere in Thailand and people from other nationalities.

I also don't see why you even need to differentiate between Thai that live on Phuket and Thais living elsewhere in Thailand, you seem to be another that thinks Phuket is separate from Thailand, I guess you must believe people from Tasmania are different from those on the mainland, those on Hawaii are different that those on the mainland... get my gist.

[sanuk711]

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Your right Stevenl, there is always someone ready to dump on Thailand, either living & enjoying life here, or bitter because there not here.

Sort of makes you wonder what they are like when they wake up in the morning with the sun streaming trough the curtains.... Oh <deleted> not another day in paradise......................

[khounteen]

This Prayut guy is trying to win over the country by cleaning up all the corrupted practices which were the norm before. Many people with skeletons in the cupboard are now running scared. Lets just hope that he does not turn out to be a power hungry zealot or this is all just a show to win support from the masses.

[Chainsaw]

There is no doubting the many great improvements, but it's not all roses and bunnies as this editorial suggests. If there is one thing Thai people know how to do it it's how to put on an act of compliance when when someone is watching. Once past the traffic police, helmet goes back into the basket. This last week the Army was in town and guess what....no tuk tuks, motosai taxi's, or ping pong touts Bangla Rd. No illegally parked, double or triple parked tuk tuks on the beach road or 200 year Rd. No fireworks or fire lanterns on the beach. Everyone was told to take a week off. There was a very noticeable difference. But it was all a show. By Friday night, everything was back to normal, and having missed 4 days of action, the touts were extra aggressive. It is naive to think the military doesn't know this goes on. As long as the tuk tuks are allowed to park wherever they want taking every public space in Patong, as long as a 1km fare to the other end of the beach road remains 300B, then this cannot be considered a success for Phuket. There is still a long way to go before we can call this a victory. One thing is for sure, if our benevolent dictator can't do it, if it doesn't happen now, it never will. Phuket can say goodbye permanently to the "high end, quality tourists."

Patience brother, be a believer. Give it time, the new PM has only just got started.

[Chainsaw]

This is smaltzy ad promo rubbish.

"This attitude is gone and the gangsters are now running scared".

Oh really, running scared. Keesin is just in the process of developing a huge new commercial premise on Bangla.

Yeah he's petrified...

Ahem......have you checked the news lately? I would love to read your spin on the latest police/military action.

[EBlair48]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

And I'm quite sure your sentiments are exactly what Pol Pot, and every other Asian despot counted on. Hell I'll throw in a few European ones too.

Sorry the newly annointed PM doesn't fool me one iota and he proved it with his first action on his very first day to request immigration to not follow rules on in and out tourist visas as it "will affect teachers..," totally contradicting the work permit requirements. Talk about populist BS !!

When ( or more likely, if) martial law is ever lifted, and we get a look at what is going right now to political prisoners - I think history will agree with me .

[Guest]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

And I'm quite sure your sentiments are exactly what Pol Pot, and every other Asian despot counted on. Hell I'll throw in a few European ones too.

Sorry the newly annointed PM doesn't fool me one iota and he proved it with his first action on his very first day to request immigration to not follow rules on in and out tourist visas as it "will affect teachers..," totally contradicting the work permit requirements. Talk about populist BS !!

When ( or more likely, if) martial law is ever lifted, and we get a look at what is going right now to political prisoners - I think history will agree with me .

<personal frustration to negativity removed/oilinki>

Someday, in the future, it might be beneficial for you to consider that even we others, are indeed able to think quite amount of different kind of scenarios how things will turn out. Some are nice, some are not pretty at all. After thinking different possibilities, it's time to make a bit of calculations to determine which endings are likely and which are not. This includes quite amount of variables during the process.

For what I have seen you writing earlier, you like to go from point A to point B directly. As an example questioning 'why the poor suffer and nothing has been done to the rich'. You have failed to see the strategy which this scene has been build on.

Now, as an exercise, think what the General would Really gain to turn this into Pol Pot situation. Think what he would lose as well. Then calculate the possibilities what he might do in the future. What are the pressure points and by whom.

What will come out of this huge change which is going on? I don't know. I might understand some of the levels this game is played, but not all.

At this point I enjoy the clearance of the mafias, greedy people and general malpractices which has happened here in Phuket for ages. As long as things are getting better I do not see a reason to do nothing but enjoy the changes. Wait and see, as long as things get better.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Guest

[NomadJoe]

There is no doubting the many great improvements, but it's not all roses and bunnies as this editorial suggests. If there is one thing Thai people know how to do it it's how to put on an act of compliance when when someone is watching. Once past the traffic police, helmet goes back into the basket. This last week the Army was in town and guess what....no tuk tuks, motosai taxi's, or ping pong touts Bangla Rd. No illegally parked, double or triple parked tuk tuks on the beach road or 200 year Rd. No fireworks or fire lanterns on the beach. Everyone was told to take a week off. There was a very noticeable difference. But it was all a show. By Friday night, everything was back to normal, and having missed 4 days of action, the touts were extra aggressive. It is naive to think the military doesn't know this goes on. As long as the tuk tuks are allowed to park wherever they want taking every public space in Patong, as long as a 1km fare to the other end of the beach road remains 300B, then this cannot be considered a success for Phuket. There is still a long way to go before we can call this a victory. One thing is for sure, if our benevolent dictator can't do it, if it doesn't happen now, it never will. Phuket can say goodbye permanently to the "high end, quality tourists."

Patience brother, be a believer. Give it time, the new PM has only just got started.

Well hopefully the news today will help.

[Jimi007]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

And I'm quite sure your sentiments are exactly what Pol Pot, and every other Asian despot counted on. Hell I'll throw in a few European ones too.

Sorry the newly annointed PM doesn't fool me one iota and he proved it with his first action on his very first day to request immigration to not follow rules on in and out tourist visas as it "will affect teachers..," totally contradicting the work permit requirements. Talk about populist BS !!

When ( or more likely, if) martial law is ever lifted, and we get a look at what is going right now to political prisoners - I think history will agree with me .

<personal frustration to negativity removed/oilinki>

Someday, in the future, it might be beneficial for you to consider that even we others, are indeed able to think quite amount of different kind of scenarios how things will turn out. Some are nice, some are not pretty at all. After thinking different possibilities, it's time to make a bit of calculations to determine which endings are likely and which are not. This includes quite amount of variables during the process.

For what I have seen you writing earlier, you like to go from point A to point B directly. As an example questioning 'why the poor suffer and nothing has been done to the rich'. You have failed to see the strategy which this scene has been build on.

Now, as an exercise, think what the General would Really gain to turn this into Pol Pot situation. Think what he would lose as well. Then calculate the possibilities what he might do in the future. What are the pressure points and by whom.

What will come out of this huge change which is going on? I don't know. I might understand some of the levels this game is played, but not all.

At this point I enjoy the clearance of the mafias, greedy people and general malpractices which has happened here in Phuket for ages. As long as things are getting better I do not see a reason to do nothing but enjoy the changes. Wait and see, as long as things get better.

When EB posts that the clearing of the beach is comparable to war in Beirut then goes on to comparing the new government to Po Pot, he or she has lost all credibility and is simply a troll looking for attention… Possibly time to stop feeding the troll? Maybe it will go away. But it has been rather amusing at times!

[Guest]

When EB posts that the clearing of the beach is comparable to war in Beirut then goes on to comparing the new government to Po Pot, he or she has lost all credibility and is simply a troll looking for attention… Possibly time to stop feeding the troll? Maybe it will go away. But it has been rather amusing at times!

The trolls can be both good and bad. Sometimes they raise interesting points to the discussion and sometimes they are simply obnoxious little people. Quite often one follows the other as it's addiction without ability to build the case for some. For some it's a temporary style, which is like swearing - good when done in style.

[Chainsaw]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

And I'm quite sure your sentiments are exactly what Pol Pot, and every other Asian despot counted on. Hell I'll throw in a few European ones too.

Sorry the newly annointed PM doesn't fool me one iota and he proved it with his first action on his very first day to request immigration to not follow rules on in and out tourist visas as it "will affect teachers..," totally contradicting the work permit requirements. Talk about populist BS !!

When ( or more likely, if) martial law is ever lifted, and we get a look at what is going right now to political prisoners - I think history will agree with me .

<personal frustration to negativity removed/oilinki>

Someday, in the future, it might be beneficial for you to consider that even we others, are indeed able to think quite amount of different kind of scenarios how things will turn out. Some are nice, some are not pretty at all. After thinking different possibilities, it's time to make a bit of calculations to determine which endings are likely and which are not. This includes quite amount of variables during the process.

For what I have seen you writing earlier, you like to go from point A to point B directly. As an example questioning 'why the poor suffer and nothing has been done to the rich'. You have failed to see the strategy which this scene has been build on.

Now, as an exercise, think what the General would Really gain to turn this into Pol Pot situation. Think what he would lose as well. Then calculate the possibilities what he might do in the future. What are the pressure points and by whom.

What will come out of this huge change which is going on? I don't know. I might understand some of the levels this game is played, but not all.

At this point I enjoy the clearance of the mafias, greedy people and general malpractices which has happened here in Phuket for ages. As long as things are getting better I do not see a reason to do nothing but enjoy the changes. Wait and see, as long as things get better.

When EB posts that the clearing of the beach is comparable to war in Beirut then goes on to comparing the new government to Po Pot, he or she has lost all credibility and is simply a troll looking for attention… Possibly time to stop feeding the troll? Maybe it will go away. But it has been rather amusing at times!

+1

[NamKangMan]

robertthebruce, on 25 Aug 2014 - 13:36, said:

We all know that Thais are in denial with a lot of,things, as we all have came across it..., in one situation or another...

Please speak for yourself, I see in this respect no difference between Thais and other nationalities.

Stevenl, the story is about Phuket, no where else, please keep it local, what happens elsewhere is of no significance. The fact is, Thai do deny, in fact they are indoctrinated at an early age to believe they are right and do no wrong and are better than other nations, this they are forced to believe every day at school. Their "face saving" culture does not allow them to be self critical or to accept criticism from others. KEEP IT LOCAL.

Ok, at your special request: I see in this respect no difference between Thais living on Phuket, Thais living elsewhere in Thailand and people from other nationalities.

Really????

Have you ever been to Issan?

[hawker9000]

@SVB Thanks for bringing new sources of articles to the News forum. This article, while is was not fully accurate as it was partly written in positive future tense, was a fresh breath the the normal news.

The psychology, people's feeling and general ability to look forward is the key to solve the issues which Phuket has. That's why, specially at this moment, it's so important to maintain the good general feeling to the changes which are happening in Phuket right now.

When large changes happen, there is always resistance. Some people will complain that the changes are not fast enough. Some will criticize the priorities on which order changes are made. Some people are just too impatient to wait things to get back to normal. Some people are simply Me, myself and I personalities who demand that their needs are put to the front of the queue, regardless what would be best for everybody else.

And I'm quite sure your sentiments are exactly what Pol Pot, and every other Asian despot counted on. Hell I'll throw in a few European ones too.

Sorry the newly annointed PM doesn't fool me one iota and he proved it with his first action on his very first day to request immigration to not follow rules on in and out tourist visas as it "will affect teachers..," totally contradicting the work permit requirements. Talk about populist BS !!

When ( or more likely, if) martial law is ever lifted, and we get a look at what is going right now to political prisoners - I think history will agree with me .

OK. So rather than just bloviate, go on the record. Tell us who these political prisoners are, exactly why or for what they're being persecuted, and what you think is happening to them. Maybe start a new topic so we can all easily find it when the time comes. Then we'll have something "history" can judge you by.

[ableguy]

Who cares about this sewer, let it self destruct.

[NomadJoe]

Who cares about this sewer, let it self destruct.

Perhaps many of the 100,000 expats that live here. With the problems I still consider it better place to live than any other part of Thailand. Patong is sewer, but that is a very small part of the island. Phuket is the geographic size of Singapore.