The week that was in Thailand news: Thailand braces for the invasion of the young!

[rooster59]

The week that was in Thailand news: Thailand braces for the invasion of the young!

 

 

My mum told me when I was a tender age that when she was young it was the time of the old but when she was older it was the time of the young. She said it was never her time.

She had been born in the mid-1920s and up until the 1950s it was the old that were the most important in society and still respected. Thereafter the world changed though whether the heady times of the 1960s and beyond have continued is debatable.

Rooster has never seen himself as young or old. Leaving England as a teenager to seek my way in the world it was Thailand that grabbed my attention. Yes, I have grown in years in the Kingdom but for me life has been defined much more by being different – and specifically having a different nationality.

It always amuses, and slightly perplexes me, when I hear people moaning about being second class citizens or somehow disadvantaged in Thailand. I have always felt I had a distinct advantage – in fact at times I felt the need not to flaunt it, even apologize for it, albeit with an embedded tongue.

This week both in Thailand and abroad it was the young that seemed to be to the fore. Over in the UK the young and their engagement with the political process were one of the reasons Mrs M was left scurrying and getting pally with Ian Paisley’s descendants.

Where was ironfisted Mrs T when you needed her! The difference between TM and MT, patent.

Here in Thailand the population – like everywhere - is ageing. But to me it has always felt like the place of the young despite the reverence to the elderly. Revering the elderly per se is rather silly but seeing as I am getting to the point when thirty some things see me as old, if not decrepit, I am starting to see its merits.

Funny that – a bit like despising corruption until one is in a position of power, something we see all too often in Thailand, our land of the rising sum.

This week it was revealing to see that  Thaivisa was claiming that the site has seen a big rise in young members and posters making it the “go to site for the young to access news”.

The notion was panned by the old fogies that the article criticized as its trolling past. To Rooster the article made sense and is probably indicative of more young people coming to live and work in Thailand as much as anything.

And why not? There are more English teaching jobs than ever and the internet means that seeking work in a variety of sectors is now much easier than in my day……and seeking relationships online with mainstream Thai women and men is now easier than ever, or so my wife tells me…..

Perhaps another reason to make the young come and stay.

However, a young person who Thailand could do without is ex US moron Morman missionary Nate Bartling. “My Mate Nate” could find himself in hot water (preferably 100 degrees C) after cat lovers prepared to file an animal cruelty complaint following his latest YouTube stunt featuring a moggy and a scorpion.

Nate should have realized that while last time it was only a fish that he doused in liquid nitrogen, a cat is cute and fluffy. And Thais by and large don’t eat them.

The country’s animal cruelty laws – mostly introduced in 2015 – are already responsible for people being jailed and fined.

This led to an animal protection group warning people this week about the absurd business of capturing birds only to release them to make religious merit.

It is hardly surprising that such a practice took hold as it mirrors the habit of the authorities who capture rapists and murderers only to release them shortly after in quite a similar fashion.

The TSPCA boss called it a sin – he might also use the same designation for a law that protects soi dogs. One attacked a four year old girl in Hua Hin later in the week.

Ochi was left scarred by a mutt the locals are too scared to send to doggie “sawan” because of the new laws.

Many forum posters bang on that Thais are Buddhists and won’t eradicate the dogs. No one batted an eyelid – my first wife included – when someone came and shot all the menacing dogs in her estate. But that was several years ago before the new laws.

Now the do-gooders who may see the end of Nate’s antics also mean that little children like Ochi can’t play in peace outside their houses. It is a sad state of affairs that needs some common sense to prevail when it comes to stray dogs.

Unfortunately common sense seems less prevalent when it comes to animal rights versus those of downtrodden homo saps.

A young man driving a “song thaew” in Bangkok stood up to an older car driver who came menacingly at him early in the week in a road rage incident. When I say stood up, actually he produced a veritable sword Crocodile Dundee style from his underpants.

Aforesaid oldie meekly got back in his car. Unsurprisingly, many Thais found the incident hilarious rather than concerning that a public driver might be armed in this way.

This is a country where the last thing you want to do is get angry on the roads – they are dangerous enough as it is.

The UK’s celebrated 1996 case where career criminal Kenneth Noye murdered Stephen Cameron in broad daylight with a knife is something that could be repeated every day of the week here in Thailand due to the proliferation of weapons kept in motor vehicles.

Two teachers at a school where I worked were attacked by baseball bats kept in taxis while a friend was followed to his house to have a gun pulled on him after he gave a bad driver the finger at a nearby intersection.

Muttering something under my breath is the absolute most Rooster will ever do. I was hardly surprised see Thailand named as one of the top twenty – or bottom twenty – dangerous countries in the world.

I think it must be the thrill of mortal peril that keeps me feeling young.

And in other non-news the article stated a reason for the danger was that Thailand does not have an effective police force.

Bless! What with that and the staggering revelations that Surin cops were earning their daily bread by writing 100 baht on a fine and taking 200 in hand I was beginning to think that this was what the British call the silly season – the slack summer time for news between parliament sessions.

More interesting – though equally well known to Thais and residents – was the story about the gangs touring around in old cars deliberately causing accidents to extort money. On this occasion the con artists – who Rooster could have called “gippos” in his younger days – wielded a golf club to threaten their wily victims who were filming.

It was a mere putter – at least a driver would have made for a better headline!

My missus keeps going on about when am I going to repair the dent in the back of the Civic put there thanks to Rooster’s excellent parking skills – I tell her I am waiting for someone with insurance to go into the back of me.

She never laughs or even appreciates that I am actually being serious.

Upbeat but bordering on the delusional this week were two of the usual suspects – the tourism minister and the head of Pattaya police. The former – the elegant if vaguely doolally Khun Kobkarn – was talking about six guidelines for attracting more tourist dosh.

Unfortunately only four were mentioned in the story – sport, health, maritime and “food tourism” – leaving Rooster to daydream at what the other two might be.

When the missus came in suddenly and saw me smiling I’m sure she thought I was viewing some internet pages that the Thai authorities often frown on.

“No,” I said, “just fantasizing about Khun Kob….” If I had had my mouth sewn up on arrival in Thailand I would not only be slimmer but have far fewer scars…..

Pattaya Potentate of Plod Apichai also seemed to be paranoidly losing the proverbial plot as he praised his upstanding men to the rafters. Apparently the public have absolute faith in his force.

Well done sir – I admire a boss who stands up for his workforce. Though admittedly I have more faith in your farce.

Which brings me rather neatly to this week’s awards that are all based on stories emanating from QUOTES (the Queen of the Eastern Seaboard). The “Raising the Tone” award goes to the Swedish serial rapist for taking up residence in the resort albeit temporarily until his arrest later in the week.

The police did well to nab him so quickly, though I think they were helped a little by the tattoo on his forehead that said “I’m a serial rapist” or suchlike.

The missus, learning some English recently, just smiled, perhaps perplexed as to why anyone would commit heinous crime because of cornflakes.

The “Where’s Chief Apichai When You Need Him Award” went to the military newbie “General” Thatsanai who found all the lights off and everyone gone home in a sex and drugs raid.

As befitting his soldiering tradition he stoically hid his blushes by paraphrasing General Douglas MacArthur by saying “I will return, again and again if necessary”.

Full marks for trying but more like a one star general than a five star, methinks.

While the “Road Rage Storm in a Teacup” award goes to all those involved in Pattaya in the latest handbags at dawn in the ongoing spat of spit that is the local taxi mafia versus Uber.

This one was hardly good advertising for tourism or the non-existent local force but at least it kept the resort, as ever, at the very top of the news, or as the Germans there might like to say….

Pattaya Uber Alles.

Rooster

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-06-11

[anon4546543]

Thanks Rooster for another quick witted post. Well done sir

[RikDao]

Not that it matters too much to Thailand, but India is getting younger, meaning they will be stronger in the future, esp compared to China which is aging rapidly.

[masuk]

Possibly the missing examples  of six points of tourism would fit in between "Sport" and "Health".   Speaking for myself of course....

[RikDao]

Feel I should mention the happy news that India's getting younger because they're keeping more babies alive than they used to...

 

China, on the other hand, is facing a crisis because they don't have enough young people to take care of all their old people.

[eeyang wah]

Another great article, thank you Rooster.

I particularly enjoyed the cornflakes reference. I wonder does Mrs Rooster read this and do you have to explain to her what the various jokes mean? Would love to be a fly on the wall in that situation.

[Stargeezr]

The young in China go abroad and finish their education, then stay abroad, as they know what kind of

life they would have in China.  In India the young get educated, then get jobs and try to get rich in call

centres and the like.  Good  article Rooster. I am glad that people like you and BB at Hua Hin have

positive attitudes, and actually enjoy living in Thailand.

Geezer

[USPatriot]

Top notch post most likely the best I have ever read.