Corrupt ‘government officials’ selling public beachfront in Pattaya, top Chonburi official claims -

[RTH10260]

All the coastline beaches belong to the state. Walking street in Pattaya on the seaward side is all built illegally, and they tried to have the buildings pulled down some 20 years or so ago. However on closer investigation they found that many of the building belonged to senior politicians and so the demolition could not proceed.

On my first ever visit to Pattaya end of 1989 the sea looking side of what now is called Walking street was still partially fishermens huts (at the marina end) and part of the old Pattaya fisher village. The top end to Beach road was part of the beer bar scene. Todays Simomns seafood restaurant with its deck over the sea was then the open stage for the tranny shows. Any encroaching must have taken place at the time of the R&R for the US forces in Vietnam. I guess its difficult today to determine if the fishermen back then were legally owning beachfront property and persuaded to hand it over to influential persons.

IMHO calling to scratch this section of Pattaya to return it to a "pristine" form is stupid.

[lapd]

Why are they going after the beach chair people? Seems to me they are just caught in the middle trying to earn a living.

Go after whoever they are being forced to pay for ownership of public land.

Edited October 17, 2014 by lapd

[RTH10260]

I wonder who will be first to claim ownership of the Gulf of Thailand.

Already happened, belongs to the Thai Navy and it's a top secret place to hide their submarines

[Cake Monster]

Same old, same old.

Until there are high profile people at the top of the food chain put in the dock for the corruption, nobody either living here, or from the International stage, will believe in any change for Thailand.

Fighting corruption means that heads should roll, and there is very little of that at the moment, even after 5 months of hot air.

[simple1]

Why are they going after the beach chair people? Seems to me they are just caught in the middle trying to earn a living.

Go after whoever they are being forced to pay for ownership of public land.

The OP sounds odd. Wife has family that lease / license beach space via City Hall, have been doing so for years, is this poor wording for 'owning' rather than leasing?

Edited October 18, 2014 by simple1

[harrycallahan]

First they came for the beach chair vendors, and I did not speak out—
Because I can lay a towel on the sand for free.

Then they came for the jet ski renters, and I did not speak out—
Because I have no desire to be a victim of extortion.

Then they came for the corrupt public servants, and I did not speak out—
Because I prefer the rule of law.

Then life was much better.

[hugh2121]

Along with many others, both expats and tourists, I find these beach facilities perform a very necessary service. I do not wish to sit or lie on the sand with no shade. The prices charged I find reasonable. However, about 3 months ago, on Pattaya beach, I was sitting in a deck chair under a beach umbrella when a female tourist came along the beach and sat on her towel on the sand in front of the area where a beach facility was operating. She was hassled and intimidated into moving by 2 really brave Thai males who claimed that the beach in front of their area was controlled by them as they rented it all. The lady will probably go elsewhere for her next holiday. As usual, no police within hailing distance. I do not wish to see the beach chairs and umbrellas removed but Thailand needs to do something to protect tourists rights to the public beaches. This lady was doing no harm to anybody and was outside the area with umbrellas. Maybe leaflets given out to all arrivals with a free phone number (most people carry a mobile phone) and permanent notices along Beach Road. Most of all, instruct the beach operators that they do not own the beach and if they claim that they do own it they will be thrown off and all their chairs, umbrellas cold cabinets and other equipment confiscated and destroyed. Last but not least, imprison the corrupt officials and seize all their assets. Not so difficult to accomplish in Thailand.

[scorecard]

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Until they throw corrupt politicians in the slammer for extended period and take their ill gotten gains, nothing will change. Might go away for a week or two, but that's it.

How true, and from what I notice the general / his team are well aware that:

- There needs to be serious reforms drafted, with many checks that the reforms are well framed. Plus there needs to be well designed communications to get the populace / the corrupt politicians and officials, etc., to understand that the old status quo is being seriously challenged. The communications must be good enough to make these people sit up and take notice. Plus serious upgrade of the agencies tasked with searching for / identifying corruption, plus more resources and more funds. Plus reporting lines which mean that politicians and senior officials cannot interfere. Ideally this also means several different approaches to searching for corruption, including bodies generated from the public but funded from general revenue.

- Implementation of the agreed changes, and this will be the hardest part - to get people to really change and permanently change their attitudes, morals,. behaviors, activities etc etc. This will very probably mean 2 steps forward and then fall back and start again. It will take a long time, it will be frustrating.

- Policies and mechanisms (especially mechanisms) to lock the changes / the gains in place so that things cannot fall back to the old picture. Far from easy but it can de done.

Be ready for a long ride.

[BlackJack]

clearing the beaches is the easy part

what about the illegal buildings going up or already up in Jomtien

monster buildings right on the beach front and to tall and to close to the ocean

have a look at the developments in Jomtien

some went to court already and were approved

by whom???

[Searat7]

In Jomtien they have reduced the size of the chair areas which are usually well managed so there is finally some space between the chairs and the water. The government should be charging a reasonable rent for these concessions which are heavily used by tourists,

That's a wonderful idea, but.....The "officials" could care less about anything except what tea money is in it for them.

What you suggest is (I will say again) a great idea, however, it will require an entire paradigm shift in the mentality of graft & corruption that has flourished for decades, if not centuries in Thailand.

The Junta could, maybe stomp their boots a WHOLE lot harder than they are doing right now.

The country is blatantly, obviously, not ready for any kind of democracy.

Behind every 'official' smile is a gazillion lies.

Just own up to the fact that you are STUPID, and learn.......Yeah, right, one can dream, no?

-----no offense meant to the OP...You are not stupid. I meant that as a theoretical statement.

I am just saying what should happen. Since the Junta took over the amount of corruption being exposed is astounding and involves all levels from the top down....Prayut would have to be in power for a good 5 years to eradicate most of this which is very ingrained. Seeing how they handle influential persons with property on state owned land/forests will be interesting.

[Lupatria]

[scorecard]

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In Jomtien they have reduced the size of the chair areas which are usually well managed so there is finally some space between the chairs and the water. The government should be charging a reasonable rent for these concessions which are heavily used by tourists,

That's a wonderful idea, but.....The "officials" could care less about anything except what tea money is in it for them.

What you suggest is (I will say again) a great idea, however, it will require an entire paradigm shift in the mentality of graft & corruption that has flourished for decades, if not centuries in Thailand.

The Junta could, maybe stomp their boots a WHOLE lot harder than they are doing right now.

The country is blatantly, obviously, not ready for any kind of democracy.

Behind every 'official' smile is a gazillion lies.

Just own up to the fact that you are STUPID, and learn.......Yeah, right, one can dream, no?

-----no offense meant to the OP...You are not stupid. I meant that as a theoretical statement.

I am just saying what should happen. Since the Junta took over the amount of corruption being exposed is astounding and involves all levels from the top down....Prayut would have to be in power for a good 5 years to eradicate most of this which is very ingrained. Seeing how they handle influential persons with property on state owned land/forests will be interesting.

It will take a long time. 5 years - why not, so that there is some real achievement.

[scorecard]

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Why are they going after the beach chair people? Seems to me they are just caught in the middle trying to earn a living.

Go after whoever they are being forced to pay for ownership of public land.

The OP sounds odd. Wife has family that lease / license beach space via City Hall, have been doing so for years, is this poor wording for 'owning' rather than leasing?

But in many cases, somewhere in the puzzle, there are corrupt officials, this aspect needs to corrected so that things operate legally and fairly.

[biplanebluey]

This could be interesting....

I know what you mean but I wish people would elaborate instead of just adding to their post count.

[media]

Its almost impossible to park a motorbike on Pattaya Beach road, because every space is taken up with illegal Bike Rental Mafia

so im guessing that they are Paying the City hall or Police to do so

More corruption

[NativeSon360]

This could be interesting....

To whomever intellectuals?

[scorecard]

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Prayuth appears not to be interested now that he has discovered "Foreign Travel" Pity he never got to Samui before he lost interest in the beach enroachment problem.

Perhaps you could make it easy for yourself:

Every week make a list of everything the good general and his team are involved in

then spin each time to be a negative.

Much more efficient for you.

[slygeeza]

Its almost impossible to park a motorbike on Pattaya Beach road, because every space is taken up with illegal Bike Rental Mafia

so im guessing that they are Paying the City hall or Police to do so

More corruption

Im guessing that most of it is owned by police and they dont pay anybody

[Rimmer]

Off topic posts discussing pronunciation removed

[manhood]

Pattaya needs a "strong hand" that comes not from the Pattaya officials!!!!!!!!!! Because the a rowing in the same boat!!!!!!!!!!

As long no consequences are seen with all the illigal actions done on beaches, taxis and whatever in this country nobody realy care!!!!!!!

So only if the military realy takes action something might change and happen!

[zaZa9]

"All beaches are public property and cannot be owned or rented out to private citizens, Chawalit pointed out. Sorting out the situation, he said, is causing delays in complying with the National Council for Peace and Order’s directive to clean up and reorganize Pattaya-area beaches."

It was all so simple here in Phuket.

"Here is the sand , and your business is on it. Get it off now , or we the army will - and make you pay for us doing so."

So what can possibly be meant by "sorting out the situation" as it applies to Pattaya?

What is to "sort out"?

Issue a 'move by ' date , then act just as was done in Phuket.

Or is it really a case of having to placate the true 'owners' - owners that rub shoulders with the highest echelons?

[spidermike007]

Nothing less than a 10 to 20 year sentence, in a very hard prison, where they can become the boyfriend of a hardened inmate, and fines of 10 to 50 million baht, that the immediate family is obligated to pay, while their crocodile patron is rotting away in prison, is enough to stop this kind of nonsense. Without a deterrent, society ceases to function in a decent, and functional manner. All sorts of crimes manifest, when society lacks law and order, and when that society refuses to punish the rich, powerful, and well connected. Prayuth. Are you listening?

[mordicae schnable]

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Still no people being put in jail,It is just talk.

The other similar 'scenario' is the footpath vendors all over Bangkok.

The military, police, BTMA officials have cleared them out of various parts of Ramkamhaeng Road several times in the last few months, and of course after a couple of days they return and block the footpath again and large numbers of pedestrians have no choice but to walk on the road, often with little kids and in danger.

Last evening I walked around the corner onto Ram. Road to go to 7/11. There was pandemonium; senior military, senior police and more just picking up whole stalls one after the other and throwing them all on the back of a 10 wheeler.

I speak / understand a lot of Thai, the message was loud and clear, 'who have been told again and again you cannot block the footpath, now you lose everything, next time straight to jail, and we have photos of you all'.

Not surprising lots of abuse and one female thug, perhaps 35 yrs. old, landed numerous heavy punches on a senior policeman. Other police asked around whether anybody knew the woman's relatives, if so call them and tell them to get here quick and take her away. People did turn up a few minutes later and took her away.

One of the staff from my accommodation was also watching and shared that the 'thug lady' had several stalls and was also intimidating the other vendors for protection payments plus a few months back she had tried to intimidate the 7/11 staff to give her cash from the drawer and had deliberately fully blocked the 7/11 door so that customers could not enter.

good job by the police and army have they done the streets around nana? its hell walking there with all the vendor crap on the streets and you have to dodge the other people with no place to pass. thug lady sounds a nasty piece of work.her day has come