The week that was in Thailand news: Are we miserable? – sorry, that’s a rhetorical question.

[rooster59]

The week that was in Thailand news: Are we miserable? – sorry, that’s a rhetorical question.

 

 

Was it just me or were there really such few laughs in the Thai news this week. Everywhere I seemed to look there just appeared to be more negativity and while several old cases promised a resolution of sorts it seemed painfully inadequate to give any cause for optimism.

The latest Thaivisa survey of expatriates indicated that despite evidence to the contrary earlier in the year we appear to be eminently miserable after all. Those who pooh-poohed mid-year results that we were blissfully happy have now been vindicated. Expats are unhappy. It’s official.

The news of the last seven days seemed to mirror this. Of course the country is still in the early throes of serious mourning for the death of His Majesty – but it seemed much worse than even that dark event though perhaps it acted as a catalyst. The kind of feeling Britons get in October when the clocks go back and there appears nothing but darkness and cold ahead.

Leading the way in the misery stakes was the state of the roads with many stories based on the complete mess that are the country’s highways and the biggest oxymoron that exists in the kingdom – the rules of the road.

Jenphop – the heir to a fortune who ended the lives of two students with his car – now claims he is mentally unfit. It is a depressingly standard ploy and one that will see the case drag on for years until it is all but forgotten because others will take its place and muddy the waters.

Then along came another nutter – this time a “pretty” that most forum posters who recognize true Thai beauty, saw as being more of a plastic surgery “ugly”. ‘Namzom Zomy’ showed that her powers of transliteration were as poor as her concentration as she caused a nine vehicle carnage on Rachadapisek Road on Tuesday.

Even reportedly trying to take her clothes off in the police station didn’t suggest to the cops that she might be worth a breath test. Or was it just the two tier justice system? That is a Rooster rhetorical question, in case you think I have swallowed my marbles with my Sunday Som Tam.

The so called “internet idol” (‘idle’ more like) is another one who is depressed. Also shedding a tear or two this week was former PM Yingluck who said she may not be able to find the billion bucks to pay off the rice pledging fine.

Rarely has a Thai figure so divided a nation as comments on the forum both feeling sorry for and condemning her appeared in equal measure. While the tears might be rather crocodilian in nature one could only imagine the incandescent rage of those in current power when a group of Isan farmers offered to help her pay the fine!

Meanwhile several long running cases were in the news again and it was more depression. Compensation was announced in the case of the New Year’s Day fire at Santika pub some years back but the figure that the Bangkok authorities need to come up with was a pittance. And they will pass it onto the taxpayer anyway. When is someone who is not a janitor going to be held accountable? More than 60 people did not see January 2nd for goodness sake.

A smidgen of good news seemed to be on the horizon for the Burmese pair languishing in jail for the Koh Tao murders. The prosecution have yet to issue their rebuttal in the appeal process that may mean the defense claims going unchallenged. That still has a week to change, however, and will doubtless go all the way to the Supreme Court and back again.

My call, for what it’s worth, will be that the case will drag on for years and years. When enough time is deemed to have passed the two men will be released on some kind of compassionate inter neighbor mutual trade deal that will provide absolutely no resolution and no pardon. There will be no death penalty and equally no justice.

For all intents and purposes the death penalty doesn’t really exist here anyway. It hasn’t been used for seven years and even Amnesty International considers ten years of nonuse of the ultimate sanction as tantamount to a country not having it.

Which makes the rejection of a confession as grounds for not giving the death penalty to a Phitsanulok man guilty of raping and murdering a seven year old, rather a moot point. Unless someone comes along in Thailand – Duterte style – who stands to gain politically from actually implementing the death penalty, it will remain a toothless threat.

 Investigative journalist Andy Hall got a result of sorts when an appeal court threw out a defamation charge against a fruit firm but he is far from out of the mire with other cases pending. Depressingly the defamation laws seem to exist to stop free speech far more than they act as a deterrent to libel or slander.

The disgraceful nature of driving on the nation’s roads was highlighted in several videos featured in the UK’s Mirror newspaper’s online editions this week. One wonders what the average person in Britain would think of the sight of the articulated lorry overtaking on the corner in the wet causing a family saloon to come screeching to a halt to avoid certain death.

Posters on Thaivisa lamented it was just another day and who could really argue with that though that video gave me the heebie jeebies as did the one where an undertaking car clipped a packed minivan resulting in the death of passengers. The prevalence of dash cam footage shows us how such a seemingly minor nudge can be so catastrophic at speed.

As a motorbike rider I used to watch accident footage from time to time to remind me to be careful on each and every journey – I feel looking at it too much these days could well just keep me off the roads altogether.

Part three of the Mirror’s “Thai roads week” was thankfully a little more lighthearted especially for locals in the Kingdom. It featured a jetski doing 40mph on a flooded road as a line of trucks were at a standstill. The laughs of those behind the camera made me smile though I was still shaking my head…

Very depressing and totally predictable this week was the case of the gambling raid in Bangkok on a group of men drinking and playing Hi-Lo. A 34 man died and the medics said he was covered in bruises. At first it appeared that the police were going to claim they were not even there – it was some rogue patrol – but the evidence meant they had to backtrack on that ‘rozzerly ruse’.

Both the metropolitan police chief and his spokesman put their foot in it by saying that their policemen hadn’t put theirs in, as CCTV footage soon emerged. Why do these top cops continue to give their opinions even before their  investigative committees have reported their findings? And why does it always take 30 days to get to what passes for the ‘truth’?

The victim’s relatives want justice but when even the army can’t bring the police to book, is there really any hope for Joe Soap?  Sorry, that’s three more rhetorical questions. I will just stop asking now in case anyone thinks such posers really have any worthwhile answers.

Providing a bit of light relief from one of the most miserable weeks of the year was the continuing saga of ex-porn star Nat Ketsarin and her 70 year old tycoon hubby Harold.

“Nong Nat” was depressed after foreign news media suggested that her idyllic life with balding but loaded Harold was as a result of her Buddhist prayers. No, no she said – I have been meditating and making merit since I was a kid, don’t mess with my religion, this is true love.

I did like the translator’s comment that perhaps her curves may have had something to do with the union, however.

Yes, media hungry Nat was furious at those naughty foreign press hounds spreading her and Harold all over the tattling tabloids – a clear case, considering her roly-poly husband, of the pot belly calling the kettle black.

And so to this week’s Rooster awards. “Fecking Futile” award goes to the government for thinking there is any point to their blocking 200 URLs when as pointed out on the forum any ten year old could probably figure out a way to circumvent the ban.

While the “Try Tasting Your Food Before Serving It” award goes to the cook at a funeral in Lampang who nearly dispatched a further seventeen mourners by adding caustic soda instead of salt to the lunch.

And there was I thinking that MSG was all I needed to worry about in Thai food.

Finally there was some light on the horizon as it was announced that November 14th would be the day when various entertainment bans would be lifted. That has to be a good thing for while the Thai soaps will return shortly thereafter it will no longer be necessary to try to make conversation with the missus come weekday evenings.

And that same November 14th promises to be a night to remember. Loy Krathong day will feature the biggest full moon available until 2034 no less. The “Super-Moon” phenomenon will make it appear that the lunar landscape is 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. Not to be missed; I might even go out and float away some of my troubles.

If I can find a Krathong big enough, that is.

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-11-06

[williamgeorgeallen]

great roundup but yinglucks billion bucks wont pay off the her rice scam. it only covers about 20% of it and i think the army has already decided to turn around and hand a fair chunk of it back on in the form of more subsidies.

[bbbbooboo]

hmmmm.......maybe this question answers itself so I'm not going to comment.

[Crash999]

Ask a miserable bunch if they're unhappy and should be no surprise that they report back that they're unhappy. 

[elgordo38]

32 minutes ago, Crash999 said:

Ask a miserable bunch if they're unhappy and should be no surprise that they report back that they're unhappy. 

I  am happy to be unhappy at times. If I were too happy I would start to believe that this world is a happy/wonderful place. The poorer one is the more unhappy I would guess. I guess I am middle happy or middle unhappy like a glass half full or half empty. I still laugh at stale jokes so I guess that makes me somewhat happy. How does one measure happiness maybe in the number of years that they happily survived on Mother Earth. We sure do not want to make Mother Earth unhappy. 

[patrick joseph kennedy]

That was a very good take for the past week,but,you missed the best one of all,What is happening about Mr Red Bull Heir,racing driver,cop killer??

[connda]

"That has to be a good thing for while the Thai soaps will return shortly thereafter it will no longer be necessary to try to make conversation with the missus come weekday evenings.

 

Lol Classic! 

[Battybird]

Great write up.  

[trainman34014]

Loved it....I'm as happy as a pig in doo doo !!!!!