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Thailand - Pattaya People Newspaper

.TNT.

New Member
Crime Threats

Although the crime threat in Bangkok remains lower than in many American cities, non-confrontational crimes of opportunity such as pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, and burglaries have become more common in recent years. Travelers should be especially wary when walking in crowded markets, tourist sites and bus or train stations including the Skytrain and underground subway lines. In the past year, American citizens have reported passports, wallets, and other valuables being stolen in Bangkok's popular Chatuchak Weekend Market. Purses, wallets, back and fanny packs should be worn to the front in crowded areas. In the event of a loss or theft of these items, travelers should report the loss to the police. Thailand has an attentive Tourist Police Division comprised of English-speaking personnel designed specifically to address crimes committed against foreigners in Thailand. The Tourist Police Division of the Royal Thai Police can be reached throughout Thailand by dialing 1155.

More recently, travelers to Thailand have experienced criminal activity targeting their credit cards and passports for identity theft. There have been several reports of criminals using skimming devices on legitimate ATMs to ascertain valid credit card numbers and pin numbers for debit cards. There are well-organized credit card fraud rings that have international connections. It is highly recommended that the use of credit cards and debit cards be restricted to well-established businesses. Travelers should take special care in safeguarding all items that could be used for identity theft. The typical Lotto Scams and fake money-wash greed scandals are also prevalent.

Reports of serious crimes involving taxis or "tuk-tuks" (three-wheeled taxis) are also relatively rare, although attempts to charge excessive fares occur regularly. Americans should not hesitate to ask to be let out of a taxi immediately if the driver is acting suspiciously or driving erratically. When riding in taxis, make sure that the driver turns on the meter. Visitors should exit the taxis immediately if the driver stops to pick up additional passengers. It is recommended that visitors coming to Thailand do not enter a taxi that has someone in it besides the driver. When arriving at either of Bangkok's airports, travelers should use only taxis from the airport's official taxi stand, cars from the airport limousine counters, or airport buses. Visitors can have major hotels in Bangkok arrange for a car and driver to meet incoming flights.

Visitors should be aware of several commercial and merchant-based scams operating in Thailand. These scams involve precious gems, tours, and entertainment events. Travelers should be wary of any implausible sale featuring precious gems and/or jewelry. Americans frequently encounter taxi drivers and others who advertise for particular gem stores or entertainment venues. Often-times kickbacks or commissions are involved. Some unscrupulous merchants may drive up the prices of the goods or services because they are dealing with Americans or foreigners. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) receives over 1,000 complaints each year from visitors who have been cheated on gem purchases.

Political Violence

Historical Perspective

In the months prior to September 2006, Thailand experienced a number of large, public demonstrations of up to 100,000 persons, primarily in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The protests were directed toward the ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin and his government and were sponsored by many factions opposed to its policies and practices. During this time, several small improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated in areas frequented by the protesters, but the devices were detonated during early morning hours and not designed to maximize injuries, thus indicating a desire to send a message as opposed to cause mass casualties. This year witnessed similar demonstrations, IEDs, and political unrest and instability that led to many injuries and some deaths.

The far south of Thailand experiences frequent incidents of criminally and politically motivated violence, including incidents attributed to armed local separatist and extremist groups. These incidents frequently include drive-by shootings, ambushes, and small bomb attacks of Thai security patrols. These groups seek increased autonomy in furtherance of a separate state related to the partitioning of the Thai/Malaysia border in the early 1900s. There has been sporadic separatist violence over the last one-hundred years relating to this struggle.

The latest round of violence, generally identified as beginning in January 2004, has been a series of incidents in the far southern provinces. This includes arson attacks directed at schools and other buildings associated with the government; the placement of bombs in public areas and near local government offices; killings of police and other officials; and the theft of weapons and explosives. Attacks in the area have increasingly been targeted against commercial areas where foreigners might congregate. In 2005, two American citizens were injured when a bomb detonated in the Hat Yai International Airport. On August 31, 2006, a series of 22 bombs exploded inside commercial banks in Yala Province, injuring 28 people. On September 17, 2006, a series of bombs detonated in the commercial district of Hat Yai, killing one American citizen and injuring another. Travelers should be aware that Thai authorities have, on occasion, instituted special security measures in affected areas, such as curfews, military patrols, or random searches of train passengers. 2007 and 2008 also witnessed dozens of bombings and periodic attacks and shootings.

The State Department's Country Specific Information Sheet for Thailand advises American Citizens to defer all non-emergency travel to Thailand's five southern-most provinces. Americans are also encouraged to use caution and remain vigilant in areas with large public gatherings. Embassy Bangkok requires all official travel to the southern regions of Thailand to be approved in advance by the Regional Security Officer and Deputy Chief of Mission.

For a number of years, Thailand has also experienced limited violent incursions in the areas bordering Burma and Cambodia. Continued fighting between the Burmese Army and Karen separatist groups has led to numerous incidents of banditry inside Thailand in years past. Heavily armed drug smugglers have also had deadly clashes with police in border areas near Burma. Persons wishing to travel to the border areas should check with Thai Tourist Police or visit www.travel.state.gov for the most up to date travel warnings for U.S. citizens traveling to the region.

Regional Terrorism and Organized Crime

Following the 2006 New Year's Eve bombings in Bangkok, the State Department released a Public Announcement on January 3, 2007 advising U.S. citizens to remain alert to their surroundings while in Bangkok and to avoid large public gatherings. According to the Thai Government, the bombings, which killed three and wounded 55 (including several foreign nationals but no Americans), were the product of political rivals' attempts to discredit the interim government. There has been no claim of responsibility and the Thai Government continues to investigate.

As noted above, Southern Thailand continues to experience daily attacks directed at anything perceived to be associated with the Thai Government. Although these groups primarily target Thai Government entities (police, military, etc.), some of the recent violence in the area has targeted public places, including areas where tourists may congregate. While there is no information indicating that these groups have targeted Westerners, American citizens have been victims of this indiscriminate violence. The Department of State's Consular Information Sheet for Thailand urges U.S. citizens to defer non-emergency travel to the far south of Thailand: Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala Provinces, including the town of Hat Yai. If U.S. citizens must travel to these areas, they should exercise special caution and remain vigilant with regard to their personal security.

There are numerous international and indigenous organized crime elements operating throughout Thailand, but they are mainly concentrated within the major cities. Their activities include drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, document fraud, etc. The Royal Thai Police actively investigates these crimes, but due to corruption, resource limitations, and bureaucratic inefficiency, the apprehension rate is extremely low. The embassy is currently unaware of any U.S. businesses operating in Thailand that are experiencing problems associated with organized crime.

Civil Unrest

Thailand has been the scene of several violent demonstrations this year. All demonstrations are unpredictable, and any demonstration can turn violent without warning. For this reason, the embassy encourages all Americans to monitor local media for announcements of possible demonstrations and to avoid the areas where demonstrations might occur. If a demonstration is expected to pass near U.S. Embassy facilities, embassy entrances and functions may be restricted, depending on circumstances.

Post-specific Concerns

Kidnappings

Thailand has not seen kidnappings happen within its borders, but given the number of organized crime elements in Thailand, the potential threat of kidnapping, albeit small, does exist.
 

.TNT.

New Member
Education in Thailand: A Terrible Failure February 13, 2008 by Cassandra James

The Thai Education System is One of the Worst in S.E. Asia and is Worsening Every Year

I taught in the Thai education system for more than three years and during this time learned quickly how bad the education system in Thailand really is. Plagued by inadequate funding, huge class sizes (more than 50 students to a class), terrible teacher training, lazy students and a<script type="text/javascript"><!--// <![CDATA[ /* [id2] Default 300x250 */ OA_show(2); // ]]> --></script><noscript> </noscript>

system that forces teachers to pass students even though they've actually failed - there doesn't seem to be much hope education in Thailand will improve any time soon.

I taught in a private bi-lingual school, so had many less problems than exist in government schools. Even here though, the school falls under Ministry of Education bureaucracy, which is one of the most ridiculously inept in the world. Rules change every semester, new guidelines are handed down to teachers regarding course content, lesson plans, testing etc at the beginning of each new semester, then change again the following semester. Teachers are told to pass students, even though they've failed, and a blind eye is turned to serious problems like plagiarizing.

Every year, the Ministry of Education brings into effect another bright idea for improving education in Thailand. This year's bright idea is to force every Western teacher teaching in Thailand to take a Thai Culture course. Regardless that many teachers have been here for years and are well-versed in Thai culture, in order to get a teacher's license or renew one, they will be forced to take this course. As the course costs between $110 and $300, money that has to be paid by the teacher, many teachers are saying they will not do it. I already know of two excellent teachers who have left Thailand to go to Korea and Japan to teach instead.

In most other countries in South East Asia, Western teachers are paid more, it's easier to get work permits with less hoops to jump through, and the Ministry of Education in these countries is much more forward thinking. Thailand already has problems getting and keeping good, qualified Western teachers. Implementing this new law will simply mean even more of these teachers will go elsewhere.

In most countries, government organizations are known to not be particularly effective. The Ministry of Education in Thailand though, is the worst government organization I have ever dealt with. When I was teaching at my last school, I was approached for help in English grammar one day by the Thai computer teacher who was very upset because he'd just been chastised by a representative from the Ministry of Education. The Ministry representative had seen some work he had been doing with the kids and had told him very rudely that he should make sure the English wording on the kids' Mother's Day greeting cards was correct. This coming from a representative of an organization that routinely sends forms in English to Western teachers that don't have even one grammatically correct English sentence on them. Some of them were so unintelligible my boss would just chuck them in the nearest garbage can.

Thailand is now facing a crisis in education. Thai students are not taught to think for themselves so have no critical thinking skills. At government schools, more than 50 students in a class is the norm. Half the kids just sleep through class, as the teacher doesn't notice if they're listening or not. Books are limited, science equipment doesn't exist in a lot of schools, and Western teachers in government schools are often the dregs of society. But as the schools can't afford to pay more than $750 a month, they get what they pay for. (Many of these 'teachers' are old men without college degrees who simply came to Thailand because of the Thai women, then ended up teaching as it's one of the few jobs Westerners are allowed to do).

In order to try to solve the problem of unqualified Western teachers, Thailand is now clamping down on tourist visas. These unqualified teachers cannot get work permits so they live here on tourist visas, leaving the country and renewing them every 3 months. Now it's going to be more difficult to do this. However, the only thing this new tourist visa restriction will do is to penalize the true tourist to Thailand. The guys who are getting them illegally, will just choose to stay in Thailand illegally, so nothing will change.

Meanwhile, education in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea and China is improving in leaps and bounds. Thailand is set to fall to the bottom of the pile of southeastern Asian countries both educationally and economically, yet the government and the Education Ministry wastes their time on ridiculous new rules, instead of a more common sense way of dealing with things.

Firstly, if the government simply mandated that a college degree and a TEFL certificate were the basic qualifications to teach in Thailand, this would rid them of most of the Western men here who aren't qualified to teach. Secondly, if they increased teacher salaries for both Thais and Westerners, they would get better qualified teachers. As it stands right now, Thai schools pay the exact same low wages they did when I came here five years ago. Yet prices in the last five years have gone up more than 20%. Thirdly, if the government made getting a work permit easy for qualified individuals, instead of the mess it is now, teachers would come here and would stay. But at the moment, you can get a visa, work permit and a better paying job in Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan. So why come to Thailand?

However, things are not likely to change in Thailand any time soon. Thai society is all about saving face and appearance is everything. The Ministry never listens when it's given advice by teachers who know better than them what Thai education needs. And as long as the way a kid looks is more important than what the kid knows, Thailand's education system is a lost cause. Thailand will continue to fall further behind in the education game and the better Western teachers will continue to leave. But hey, who cares, at least the kids look cute when they're all parading around in their Scouts uniforms. Just a pity less than 10% can actually speak more than 20 words of English correctly and a lot of them aren't very good at Thai either.
 

tonychat

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Re: Education in Thailand: A Terrible Failure February 13, 2008 by Cassandra James

WOW, some losers here trying to pull a bad image at thailand. Nice try dude... You need to work harder than that.. wahahhaha!!!
 

Jah_rastafar_I

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Re: Education in Thailand: A Terrible Failure February 13, 2008 by Cassandra James

WOW, some losers here trying to pull a bad image at thailand. Nice try dude... You need to work harder than that.. wahahhaha!!!



i didn't know posting reports on thailand means putting a bad image on it.

It's important for foreigners which obviously means sinkees who read this forum to take note of crime that takes place in thailand, so that they can be aware and take precautions.


i also concur with you that they definitely need to work harder than that to give thailand a bad image. I mean who even gives a crap about it's education system? All the females need to do is open their legs and they get some easy money much much better than getting some stupid degree and then slogging again in some dumb company under some trannical boss.

The day the girls from thailand dries up will be the day foreign ppl speak ill of the country, so don't worry.
 

tonychat

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Re: Education in Thailand: A Terrible Failure February 13, 2008 by Cassandra James

It is advisable for all sinkies to stay away from thailand in order not to pollute it. Crime in JB and crime in Thailand, crime in every country. Then stay in your own sinkieland and dun go around since your own sinkie country is the greatest of all and cleanest of all.

Sinkieland is the most crime-free of all in the whole world. That makes a good report and headline in your shittyTimes.
 

boundThunter

Alfrescian
Loyal
Re: Education in Thailand: A Terrible Failure February 13, 2008 by Cassandra James

Go to Thailand to get laid. So it shall be named THAILAID.

Never been colonised ???

Now, even their PM is an Englishman. Bwahahahah.....
 
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