No kidding? Really? My goodness, that is so hard to believe . . .
By Barry Kenyon
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
I mentioned in another post recently that there seems to be an uptick in Brits acting barbaric on the scene lately - so this doesn't surprise me.
Not sure why this is.
I can say with a sense of pride that incidents like this in Pattaya involving Americans is extremely rare.
I wonder how many people I just pissed off with that remark...
Not sure why this is.
I can say with a sense of pride that incidents like this in Pattaya involving Americans is extremely rare.
I wonder how many people I just pissed off with that remark...
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Not me - because I don't think the nationality of the criminals really have anything to do with it. Criminals and idiots will try these sorts of things no matter where they come from.
The part on my "I Don't Get It" list is that they are willing to risk ending up in a Thai prison for many years, perhaps the rest of their lives, for the sake of money. I don't understand what makes that kind of a risk worth it, especially since many often do get caught. Are they truly that desperate for money?
I'd love to have huge amounts of money too, but take that kind of a risk to get it? No way.
Each step along the way diminishes their chances of getting away with it.
First they have to obtain the drugs - without getting caught
Then they have to get the drugs on the airplane - without getting caught
Upon arrival they have to get the drugs out of the airport - without getting caught
Then they have to get the drugs sold - without getting caught
That seems a little bit too much of a risk for me . . .
Re: By Barry Kenyon
You're probably right, but it sure seems strange that a high percentage of call center crimes involve the Chinese...with the award for the most crimes involving motorbike infractions going to the Arabs...with the Brits specializing in barroom brawls.
When was the last time you heard about a Japanese or Korean tourist getting arrested in Thailand for anything?
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Gaybutton
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Yesterday . . .
Thai and South Korean Nationals Caught in High-Stakes Poker Raid in Bangkok
By Goongnang Suksawat
24 March, 2025
https://tpnnational.com/2025/03/24/thai ... n-bangkok/
Accused Japanese scam gang boss arrested in Bangkok
March 20, 2025
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... in-bangkok
Touché ?
Old adage for lawyers in the courtroom: "Never ask a witness a question unless you know the answer".
Re: By Barry Kenyon
I'll stand corrected.Gaybutton wrote: ↑Tue Mar 25, 2025 12:30 pmYesterday . . .
Thai and South Korean Nationals Caught in High-Stakes Poker Raid in Bangkok
By Goongnang Suksawat
24 March, 2025
https://tpnnational.com/2025/03/24/thai ... n-bangkok/
Accused Japanese scam gang boss arrested in Bangkok
March 20, 2025
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... in-bangkok.
Thailand does have a way of attracting some pretty unsavory characters. Actually, with all the corruption over here, it's a dam breeding ground.
Re: By Barry Kenyon
Exactly. Corruption encourages illegal activity.
If a country had corrupt police, rather than trying to stop illegal activity, the corrupt approach would be to welcome it and figure out how much tea money they could extract.
When some illegal activity is tolerated due to the payment of bribes, the question is how far does that stretch ? I'd imagine all sorts of shady enterprises might be tolerated, if the authorities were paid off. Including illegal gambling etc.
Then when they arrest people for playing bridge, it's difficult to avoid the suspicion that even that was a shakedown.
Then if we look up to government, they seem to have no interest in reducing corruption and if anything, they're trying to expand the scope of murky semi-legal policies that would just expand the scope of corruption. Cannabis (but at too low a low concentration), gambling for certain people, giving immigration officers "discretion" etc.
Fortunately, we can avoid direct involvement in much of the corruption.
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Gaybutton
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Gaybutton
- Posts: 23444
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Re: By Barry Kenyon
Pattaya’s love-hate relationship with illegal Myanmar workers
By Barry Kenyon
March 27, 2025
The arrest in Pattaya earlier this week of 52 Myanmar nationals without work authorization papers highlights yet again the acute labor crunch. Pattaya employers cannot fill all the jobs with Thais alone and need many tens of thousands of guest workers from neighboring countries and Myanmar in particular.
The main gaps currently are in the hotel and food industries as Pattaya prepares for a record-breaking Songkran, but the Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry also points of shortages in the construction sector as the building boom continues. According to the real estate research center AREA, the Chonburi housing market is worth more than any other province in Thailand.
But Myanmar nationals have their stern critics in Pattaya and elsewhere. Khaosod reports that xenophobia and anti-Burmese sentiment is spreading in Thailand through social media. On Facebook, Paiboon Arunthanawanich claims that the medical budget has to be shared with aliens and that Myanmars are taking away Thai jobs.
Other Facebook critics complain that Thai budgets should be spent only on Thai citizens and write enthusiastically about president Trump’s immigration policies in USA. But, as Khaosod stresses, these sentiments have lost sight of the fact that low-paying manual jobs are no longer attractive to Thais whose actual unemployment rate is under one percent, mostly graduates looking for their first job.
There are approximately four million Myanmars currently in Thailand with about a quarter domiciled throughout Chonburi province. The majority, perhaps two thirds, are illegal entrants who have crossed via rivers and woods along a border too long to police effectively. The Burmese military junta has all but banned its citizenry from leaving the country legally and commonly enlists any sent-back, repatriated males in the army which is fighting an insurrection in half of Myanmar. Thailand has deported across the border several thousands already in 2025.
Thai authorities look both ways at once. On the one hand, they allow some illegal workers to remain here provided they can show a Myanmar birth certificate or ID card and can find a Thai employer sponsor. On the other, they acknowledge that economic ties between the two countries are strong with huge Thai investment in the Myanmar oil and gas sector and close collaboration between the five Thai national banks and their opposite numbers beyond the border.
Next month the junta leader senior general Min Aung Hlaing will be invited to his first ASEAN conference since the 2021 Myanmar coup, to be held significantly in Bangkok. He will be warmly welcomed by Thai army chiefs with whom he has a warm relationship. Meanwhile, the Thai population declines year by year and Thai children are fast becoming a scarce commodity. The answer is for Thailand, a nation of immigrants, to welcome its neighbors and make them feel at home. The reality is that the Thai government will likely continue to pursue both the carrot and the stick in what many economists see as a delusionary compromise.
Story and photos: https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ers-495479
By Barry Kenyon
March 27, 2025
The arrest in Pattaya earlier this week of 52 Myanmar nationals without work authorization papers highlights yet again the acute labor crunch. Pattaya employers cannot fill all the jobs with Thais alone and need many tens of thousands of guest workers from neighboring countries and Myanmar in particular.
The main gaps currently are in the hotel and food industries as Pattaya prepares for a record-breaking Songkran, but the Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry also points of shortages in the construction sector as the building boom continues. According to the real estate research center AREA, the Chonburi housing market is worth more than any other province in Thailand.
But Myanmar nationals have their stern critics in Pattaya and elsewhere. Khaosod reports that xenophobia and anti-Burmese sentiment is spreading in Thailand through social media. On Facebook, Paiboon Arunthanawanich claims that the medical budget has to be shared with aliens and that Myanmars are taking away Thai jobs.
Other Facebook critics complain that Thai budgets should be spent only on Thai citizens and write enthusiastically about president Trump’s immigration policies in USA. But, as Khaosod stresses, these sentiments have lost sight of the fact that low-paying manual jobs are no longer attractive to Thais whose actual unemployment rate is under one percent, mostly graduates looking for their first job.
There are approximately four million Myanmars currently in Thailand with about a quarter domiciled throughout Chonburi province. The majority, perhaps two thirds, are illegal entrants who have crossed via rivers and woods along a border too long to police effectively. The Burmese military junta has all but banned its citizenry from leaving the country legally and commonly enlists any sent-back, repatriated males in the army which is fighting an insurrection in half of Myanmar. Thailand has deported across the border several thousands already in 2025.
Thai authorities look both ways at once. On the one hand, they allow some illegal workers to remain here provided they can show a Myanmar birth certificate or ID card and can find a Thai employer sponsor. On the other, they acknowledge that economic ties between the two countries are strong with huge Thai investment in the Myanmar oil and gas sector and close collaboration between the five Thai national banks and their opposite numbers beyond the border.
Next month the junta leader senior general Min Aung Hlaing will be invited to his first ASEAN conference since the 2021 Myanmar coup, to be held significantly in Bangkok. He will be warmly welcomed by Thai army chiefs with whom he has a warm relationship. Meanwhile, the Thai population declines year by year and Thai children are fast becoming a scarce commodity. The answer is for Thailand, a nation of immigrants, to welcome its neighbors and make them feel at home. The reality is that the Thai government will likely continue to pursue both the carrot and the stick in what many economists see as a delusionary compromise.
Story and photos: https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ers-495479
Re: By Barry Kenyon
Surely the correct approach would be to take steps to improve productivity in the Thai economy and if there's still a "shortage of labour", permit some permanent immigration from people who are likely to assimilate from neighbouring Buddhist countries.Barry Kenyon wrote: ↑Fri Mar 28, 2025 7:03 am Meanwhile, the Thai population declines year by year and Thai children are fast becoming a scarce commodity. The answer is for Thailand, a nation of immigrants, to welcome its neighbors and make them feel at home. The reality is that the Thai government will likely continue to pursue both the carrot and the stick in what many economists see as a delusionary compromise.
Also, if people are legally in Thailand and subject to the same taxes, they ought to accumulate the same benefits as Thai workers.