Thai government backpedals on booze ban

[LannaGuy]

it's all Thaksin's fault

[anotheruser]

You have to admire the military like strategies of the junta. The use of misdirection to keep us focused away from their real objective and keep us in useless conversation and debate. What they do is far from Mindless. It is calculated. Anytime they implement a plan they use misdirecting, confusing language that causes panic and reaction. Two examples come to mind: The statement that triggered the mass exodus of illegal Cambodians but was later denied and the announcement and bias implementation to crackdown on foreigners abusing the visa system. Now, more of the same and now they offer clarification in the form of an altemadum. Mission completed.

I am sure that our useless discussions here on TV are not the catalyst that drives their announcements. As much as I would like to feel that I am that important but I sort of suspect that is simply not the case.

[ggt]

Following an afternoon of heavy drinking near an unnamed Bangkok University...with a constant parade of co-ed eye-candy passing by...leadership has decided to rethink its booze band near universities...

[cookee68]

Well thats a <deleted> surprise, we all knew this would happen, except the people who think they have a brain, dont

[CNXTim]

More "Fiddling while Rome burns"

Replace Rome with "Thai Economy"

This country has much to love and much to despair

[brewsterbudgen]

When the rest of the world stops laughing; then maybe this country will be taken serious.

I doubt the rest of the world cares about alcohol restrictions for Thai students. Why should they?

[Ceruhe]

I wish we had some kids on this forum, like 5 year olds...legit one that everybody knows to be 5 years old for sure....just to read "Told you so" from a kid...

...because this was easy enough even for a kid to understand just how badly this was planned and rushed.

[empireboy]

Why enforce law when you can side-step it?

[paymaster]

I don't drink so it dosnt bother me but what have they "backpeddled on".....am I missing something, the ban still apqplies in the 300 yard exclusion zone or not?

Well it's a pity you don't drink because you can't blame missing it on the booze.

[paymaster]

This is so typical of Thailand The authorities get a little push pack from others and backbeddle .

This is anther reason Thais have little respect for authority. They know if they rock the boat it will tip.

This sort of infantile behavior is not tolerated in other countries

Right! In my country they respect authority because our goverment knows the only acceptable "backbeddle" is on election promises.

[pomchop]

Next thing you know they'll ban YA BA sales near schools.

[taiwanatoa]

I don't know why it says " you cannot start a new topic" , so I" ll post it here.

If you want to know what is REALLY going on in Thailand , don't bother with the usual garbage. You need to read :

http://www.prachatai.com/english/

It's really good. Enjoy.

[Jonmarleesco]

Well, that didn't take long; quicker, even, than the climb down over enforcing the fishing industry legislation. When will governments learn to beware of sticking their feet in their collective mouths; especially when their size sevens are still attached?

[sprq]

Do you really need somebody to tell you that drinking is bad for you????

Do you really need to use tax payers money to tell you that drinking is bad for you????

Drinking isn't bad for you. Drinking to excess is bad for you. Wake up.

[MW72]

The moral of the story is..... take every newly announced policy with a pinch of salt. Wait a week or two (sometimes a day or two) before the picture clears up a bit and we have a better grasp of what is going on in the minds of those in charge.

Remember all those new casinos they were talking about? We are going to have them... No we are not... Yes we are... No we are not. Oh look , the polls say the people are against them. Roll out the PM to say there will be no casinos. What a man of the people. And they hated the last mob for being populist?

Remember the sub saga? And now the booze blunder. What next???

[easybullet3]

so here we go.

special drinking zones = special drinking zone tax ???

wouldnt it be so much easier to enforce stricter penalties to people that sell alcohiol to underage kids?

i'm sure it isnt hard to set up a few teams of sting-units that go around the country with underage kids and try to buy alcohol.. (all business owners that sel the alcohol to the kids will be punished with harsh law and publicly announced in the media),, this will be a major deterrant.

it certainly works in western countries this way. (shop owners are scared of getting caught coz of the HUGE fines and undercover operations that help enforce this law)

[NongKhaiKid]

Oh classic climbdown. Not even a public protest and they cave in

This govt is to enforce the laws involving fishing boats having granted an extension already, they'll get tough and clean up aviation etc etc. ?

Better stick to locking up students, well at least until the majority of the student body react and get uppity.

[Thai at Heart]

Oh classic climbdown. Not even a public protest and they cave in

And this is a govt hat's going to enforce a ban on fishing boat owners and operators, clean up the aviation industry etc ?

Better stick to locking up students, well until the whole student body gets uppity.

These guys don't even have a basic ability to understand human nature let alone Thai culture. They have a big stick like a feather duster. Why the reds don't protest God knows. What will they do?

Wait for them to understand that this govt is useless? They are utter numpties with guns

[hawker9000]

It needs to be properly thought through- it's the sort of law that could ruin people who have invested a lot of time and energy in pubs, bars, restaurants and so on which will be affected by the ban- and I'm not talking about farangs (although no doubt some will be included) but Thai people. It's moving the goal-posts after the game as started with no sign of a safety net, to mix up some metaphors.

Declaring a 300 metre radius and then declaring there's no radius is just messy and confusing- it's another decree passed that is contradicted a day later and then a few days later after that. Why not map out the zones first and then at least consult with businesses who fall outwith those zones but within the zones for banning before making the big announcement?

Also if it's six months to map out these zones, and an election is supposedly happening in 2017... it's a lot of effort for a short term solution that could well be over-turned by a democratically elected government. Prohibition doesn't have the best record of success, perhaps the efforts could be channeled into education on alcohol and ensuring the age limit is adhered to by venues.

"It needs to be properly thought through..."

I'm sorry. You lost me. Say again, WHICH country are we talking about here?

<<<<>>>>

It's like that other poster said - here it's a question of Ready, Fire, Aim ...

[slipperylobster]

so here we go.

special drinking zones = special drinking zone tax ???

wouldnt it be so much easier to enforce stricter penalties to people that sell alcohiol to underage kids?

i'm sure it isnt hard to set up a few teams of sting-units that go around the country with underage kids and try to buy alcohol.. (all business owners that sel the alcohol to the kids will be punished with harsh law and publicly announced in the media),, this will be a major deterrant.

it certainly works in western countries this way. (shop owners are scared of getting caught coz of the HUGE fines and undercover operations that help enforce this law)

actually law enforcement would be ineffective, as the illegal activities are overlooked, with tea money. many of these places are actually patronized or by local government people/police.

it would take the military to shut them down.

[NongKhaiKid]

so here we go.

special drinking zones = special drinking zone tax ???

wouldnt it be so much easier to enforce stricter penalties to people that sell alcohiol to underage kids?

i'm sure it isnt hard to set up a few teams of sting-units that go around the country with underage kids and try to buy alcohol.. (all business owners that sel the alcohol to the kids will be punished with harsh law and publicly announced in the media),, this will be a major deterrant.

it certainly works in western countries this way. (shop owners are scared of getting caught coz of the HUGE fines and undercover operations that help enforce this law)

actually law enforcement would be ineffective, as the illegal activities are overlooked, with tea money. many of these places are actually patronized or by local government people/police.

it would take the military to shut them down.

Don't forget too that many of these places and other entertainment venues are either owned by police and military personnel, government officials at all levels, politicians etc or they have a financial stake in them. This makes law enforcement difficult and often selective plus the conflict that arises if the military raid a ' police place ' who then look to return the compliment and so on.

Edited July 28, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[Fullstop]

Do you really need somebody to tell you that drinking is bad for you????

Do you really need to use tax payers money to tell you that drinking is bad for you????

Actually ...yes. It's called "education". Something Thailand is seriously lacking in.

If you mean do you and I need to be told about it...well, no. For me... I was educated about that in Australia when I was a kid. I was also educated on how to operate a vehicle on public roads and 1001 other things.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Fullstop

[Srikcir]

As predicted. A lot of fuss about nothing.

Call it trial and error, or learning from mistakes and correcting them. Should they have a national referendum over every issue?

When you consider how many referendums the Junta has allowed since being in power, why not?

When you consider that elections are currently banned, referendums would be the only way Thais people can directly participate in government decisions.

[samuibeachcomber]

It actually isn't that funny.

These idiots are playing with the livelihoods of mostly decent folk here without thinking it through or looking at the big picture.

Off the cuff decisions like the one announced on the 23rd July should have consequences to the committees that made them IMO.

they never think before they speak,hear it time and time again same as TAT do.

[NongKhaiKid]

It actually isn't that funny.

These idiots are playing with the livelihoods of mostly decent folk here without thinking it through or looking at the big picture.

Off the cuff decisions like the one announced on the 23rd July should have consequences to the committees that made them IMO.

Spot On but as we know responsibility and accountability aren't a big deal here plus the people making these decisions were handpicked by the PM.

[Lung Mike]

why not simply ban entry and the sale of alcohol in any establishment to younger than 18? The law is already there but is not enforced.

That would need a functioning police force, which is never going to happen in Thailand.

Most policemen that I have talked to over the years, have absolutely no idea about the scope of actual police duties.

[DM07]

Sad bunch of losers!

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Oh classic climbdown. Not even a public protest and they cave in

These guys don't even have a basic ability to understand human nature let alone Thai culture. They have a big stick like a feather duster. Why the reds don't protest God knows. What will they do?

Because it's much better to let people in the middle class anti-red camp figure out for themselves if this is what they wanted or not. (They'll get there eventually. ) Even The Nation of all places had a sensible commentary the other day. They're still too thick to realize they were cheerleading it all the way of course, but at least the quarter seems to be dropping in those echelons.

A (red) protest would be what the military REALLY wants.

Edited July 29, 2015 by WinnieTheKhwai

[webfact]

The authority is considering to amend the law to "manage" alcohol sales including online sales and delivery to prevent underage drinking./ Bangkok Post

[Toknarok]

The most apt description I can think of in this matter is "couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery"