Owners of rented houses, rooms ordered to report foreign occupants

[MiKT]

I personally know Thais, Burmese and Laotians in my home region of California, who just showed up (legally or illegally, what does it really matter?) ....and were able to buy cars, start businesses, buy real estate. Just in California (about 1/20th of the US) there are literally millions of foreigners who are moving and grooving, making money, and doing everything else a Californian can do - with little care about legalities because US is quite easy-going about foreigners residing there, despite the rhetoric and rules from on-high.

Now look at how Thailand deals with farang. It's like night and day. Being a farang in Thailand is akin to being a black man in Apartheid S. Africa, except blacks in S.Africa could own land and start businesses without beating around the bush like quasi-criminals. Thailand's laws and attitudes toward farang are archaic and force farang to spend a lot of money and time trying to comply.

I've heard it all now. Being a farang in Thailand is like being black in Apartheid South Africa. I'd laugh if wasn't such a ridiculous and shameful comment!

I said 'akin to'. Look up the word. And when you're done laughing, tell us how different it is being forced to carry ID and getting checked anytime was in S.Afica's apartheid, and currently for a white person with pointy nose and hairy arms in Thailand? I once got nearly accosted by 7 plainclothes Thai undercover cops in broad daylight, for being a farang who was not carrying a passport. One big guy grabbed my arm while I was bicycling by. Luckily for me, I knew how to break his grip in a second. It surprised him because he was martial arts trained, and he couldn't hold on to a guy (with all his strength) - who was half his weight. Did plainclothes police randomly grab black folks off the street for ID checks? I don't know for sure, but Thailand does. And they do urine checks in Bangkok, based on a person's skin color, as well as Bt.2000 fines for purportedly dropping a cig butt. Apartheid, Thai style.

I really dont think you could have been in SA duri g the apartheid years or you would not post such s..t. I dont recall seeing Thai only beaches in Pattaya. Especially seeing whites only beaches with shark nets and blacks and asians beaches with no nets made me very angry and that is only a tiny, tiny, very insignificant fraction of the indignities coloured people had to live under. Maybe being such a fantastic anti-martial arts expert gives you a horribly frightening mien that causes the cops (probably very sagely) to continuously pick on you. Have you considered a face transplant. Maybe a black or brown one would give you a different perspective of Thailand. PS take a tip. Give up smoking and you wont have any problems with discarded buts.

His example might have been a bit extreme, but like many stories or anecdotes there is some truth to what he says.

I think you also have a very one sided view of racism. Sure, there may not be any "Thai only" beaches. BUT there are, at least unofficially "Thai only" clubs and bars!! Or at least, "Japanese only" bars and clubs, not just in Tokyo, but right here in Thailand (Bangkok). Now that's RACIST. In a sense, also racist towards the locals too as only locals who are employed by the bars in question can even enter.

Then there are the stories of black and African people getting rejected from other bars and clubs in Bangkok, including one near Prathunam. Asian and white people can enter, but not Indians or blacks. Many stories about this online. That too, is racism my friend.

Then, like I said in my previous reply there are the stories of blacks being rounded up and taken in for questioning in Nana, which caused a huge controversy amongst white and black people when it happened last year. And I'm sure we haven't heard the last of those stories. There's also the plain clothes officers rounding up westerners and asking them to produce ID or on the spot urine tests near Asoke (like in the example made above). Admittedly, officers also ask Thais and other Asians for urine tests (which they probably presume to be Thai too as most Thais don't have a concept of there being Asian tourists in their midst, they think all foreigners are "farang") but some people have made the observation that it appears to them that only westerners and people of African origin (of which there are few of course) being taken aside. So in a sense they accuse the police of racial profiling.

Then there are stories of how the U-tapao military base doesn't allow foreigners in (not sure if that's true but a couple of members here have mentioned it) - and of course how do they determine you are a foreigner? They look at the color of your skin. Racism again. I wonder how Mr. Heinecke, a naturalized Thai citizen would feel if he encountered this situation - he is Thai and only Thai, yet of course he would be seen as being a foreigner by those who don't know who he is because he's white and not Asian.

Dual pricing. Practiced by many national parks, some museums, zoos, temples and various even privately owned tourist attractions. Foreigners, particularly "visible" foreigners will almost always be asked to pay more. Sometimes they can get away with paying the "local" rate by showing a Thai driver's licence, speaking Thai, arriving with a Thai national, showing a work permit, long term visa etc. but the onus is on that "foreign looking" individual to "prove" their credentials by showing these documents - however, their Vietnamese or Cambodian friend only has to look Asian to get in at the local price. Again, racist. Imagine the outcry if that happened in the USA or Australia. The courts would be forced to award damages in the millions to bereaved individuals who were discriminated in this way. In Thailand, it's considered "normal" to assume a white guy or black guy has money.

Get your head out of the sand. Just because you aren't being attacked for being a foreigner doesn't mean there's no racism here. There are a lot of very obvious, and many more subtle forms of racism in Thailand. White people are affected in one way, blacks and Indians in another, arguably worse way. Migrant labourers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are affected too, but they have one advantage over us when they want to go to a tourist attraction that practices dual pricing as I have indicated above.

Apartheid it may not quite be, but there is certainly an underlying torrent of hostility towards foreigners here. The Thais may never say it to your face, but the sour facial expressions and mediocre treatment one gets used to here is evidence of that.

well since my previous reply to your post seems to have disappeared without trace like a missing meteorite I had presumably be a little more circumspect in this post, so I wont start off by calling you an idiot. But how on earth did a simple notice about house owners reporting foreign guest which has, as the very first poster pointed out, been the law for a long time and is in force in many countries, descend into a diatribe against Thailand that totally nonsensically equates it to Apartheid South Africa? I will therefore restrict myself to debunking some of the anti-Thai myths you have attempted to perpetuate. 1. all countries have private clubs and if some Japanese want to keep themselves to themselves it can hardly be a slur on Thailand. But in any event if you know the right people you can get in anywhere. 2 Total rubbish about U-tapao I have been many times and despite my best efforts I still look white. 3.Yes there is racism here, but far, far less than you get, lets just say for instance, in Japan or maybe Korea. 4. No I am getting bored. Only left to say if you get a torent of hostility towards you in Thailand maybe you should consider some drastic attitude adjustments, but I suppose based your post that would be a touch optimistic. and..Lastly, I wouldn't need a GPS to know where your head is.

I think you need a GPS to figure out how to properly reply to someone's comment. Your reply is all mixed up with mine.

Yes it's racism if you are refused entrance to a club for looking different.

Have you ever heard of Asian only or white only clubs in the USA or Europe? If they exist, then they would be considered racist too. What makes you think it's different just because the clubs in question are located in Thailand or Japan? When there used to be foreigners only clubs in colonial subjects of Britain such as Burma and British India, that was also an example of racism. But they were no different to the Japanese only clubs now. They are not "gentlemen only" clubs; if the Japanese want to exclude foreigners they are racist. Look up the definition of racism, you might actually learn something.

Besides, I would never ever want to set foot in a club that at first glance, wanted to refuse me entry based on me not being Japanese or not being Asian, or whatever other criteria is being used.

As I've also said, there are plenty of clubs in Bangkok that refuse entry to black people and Indians. Look it up.

Now take your rose colored glasses off and get your head out of the sand.

Maybe learn a bit of Thai so you can understand that what the Thais are saying about you is not actually positive. It might also help you to understand the country a bit better.

Maybe there is more racism in Japan and Korea, maybe. But these countries are also a lot more developed and last I checked, they don't practice dual pricing, there is virtually no corruption and while it's hard to become a citizen, they are happy to allow foreigners to stay as long as they respect their rules.

Thanks so much for your advise, but please go back a few posts to see who mixed what with what. Also your tips about speaking Thai will come in really handy when I am talking to my Thai daughters and Grandchildren, so much appreciated. Oh, by the way, read what I actually said, or is your head so far up your ... that you can't even see straight; and if you think Korea is much more advanced than Thailand last time you checked must have been a long, long time ago. The only thing they have better is a decent railway system and thats only because they need lots of tunnels as bomb shelters. Finally the Koreans are totally xenophobic and most certainly do practice dual pricing. Edited September 9, 2015 by MiKT

[speedtripler]

ive seen thai people drawing two diagnol lines accross the passport copy and writing accross it what this copy is intended for

i always thought it was overkill .........and then i met a guy in the police station and he was there because someone opened a company and then took out credit cards and loans in his name

and he was receiving threatening letters etc to pay up