True respect laws and you won’t need to go to jail like millions of other people who do write negative reviews and haven’t been sued
-1 karma · joined June 14, 2020
The article is mixing issues unrelated to the case here
If the defendant were in his home country he would have been arrested all the same for not following procedures and appearing when asked. Please check the whole story before you just downvote.
People often criticize the police in Thailand when they are doing their job (issuing tickets, lol) and also when they aren’t doing their job (when it’s not their jurisdiction or position). Thailand is not much different than other countries and has laws that need to be followed. Many foreigners including me live in Thailand for decades and manage it just fine to not get into trouble while posting harsh negative reviews online. :)
We see the same with many foreign tourists who come and assume they can ride motorcycles without valid driving license and experience. Lots of them injured and asking for money in gofundme pages to pay hospital bills since insurance won’t cover illegal behavior.
If I were to take your way of thinking then USA should be also on travel warning list. A (Canadian) foreigner living there was killed when she called police to report someone breaking into her house. However she was killed by police. I think that’s a bit more drastic than being arrested for (allegedly) not showing up in person to the police station as per report.
The law is sometimes abused by people but it’s not draconian.
Defendants are usually called and asked to appear at police station to make their own statement. Very civilized way of handling.
Then you have most likely two times there to negotiate with the person who filed report.
If nothing comes out of it, and only then, criminal charges are filed and investigated.
A judge has to write an arrest warrant and does it if the defendant didn’t answer to calls by police to appear.
Then and only then they can arrest him. He would have been brought to the station, went to jail for not following proceeding and he got out on bail.
So far this seems like a very appropriate handling.
Also I’m sure that before the case starts the judge usually ask both parties if this can be negotiated first. They have more critical cases than to deal with stupid posts on social media.
If no agreement can be reached then there is a trial and it’s not guaranteed that defendant would get 2y in prison unless is unreasonable. He has a lot of influence there. His reaction will determine the proceedings and he will get a fair trial.
You’re inventing things and twisting reality. People are less likely to get in trouble with the law in Thailand than to get shot by police in the US.
So please let me know how reasonable it is for foreigners in USA to get killed by police when calling 911 and reporting a break in.
The ridiculous part is your comment about the proceeding and size of island. The charges for violations of laws don’t get smaller the smaller the island is.
In reality he could be Elvis born again and also to him laws would still apply.
If the resort would have made up the comments they say he posted, then they would be in much more legal trouble than he is now.
From statements that were posted as screenshots he might be also technically liable for violations of cybercrime act. But that hasn’t been announced or he hasn’t been charged yet for that.
From where I’m standing, the guy looks like someone who went overboard to not just complain but incriminate himself. That’s what counts.
Honestly, every business has customers that complain. You can’t please everyone. But if someone were to make certain statements about my business, employees etc, I would also use my legal rights to fight abuse.
I have myself complained for decades very harshly about other business on social media, their own TW/FB/Google profiles and haven’t been sued by anyone.
It would be interesting what the guy can state as his side of the story apart of the incriminating screenshots from online platforms.
Edit: typo
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8w...
From my own experience with complaints and the legal system a) lots of people write realistic, truthful and harsh negative reviews but don’t get sued for defamation b) one doesn’t just get dragged to court c) no matter if direct contact was attempted, if a filing is made at police station, the police call the defendant and he has to appear to get the charges read and to make a statement. d) there are usually several negotiations at police station to settle matters without having to go to court or even starting a civil or criminal proceeding e) if no agreement is reached then it becomes a real case. Also there is arbitration in civil cases f) general legal experience, not related to the case: foreigners not obeying local laws and regulations does result in a rude awakening. This is the case in any country. g) western countries specially USA have very strict local police and court rules. Try to miss a court appointment there and compare. h) technically the defendant may be charged with not just defamation but also with violating cybercrime laws (more serious) i) Not sure why this clickbait populist article is given so much attention. It’s badly researched, badly written. Classic “blogger - wannabe journalist” piece. A new low for Yahoo News.
Should be replace by the Singaporean link from commenters below.
I see every day negative reviews of places in Thailand rarely heard of anyone who got sued about it.
Edit: typo
NB. If you don’t break the law you can leave negative reviews in Thailand
If not, then it’s just a silly statement made up by you.
Sadly the really bad players detect that this is not a normal user and redirect to a error page.
You will have to try harder to fool them into thinking your headless browser is a real user. Probably your test device is in a server center and they detect the IP isn’t a end user IP.
Hope you get it working
E.g. would be used for offline statistical analysis
Alterntively, any way to export cli sql results as csv?
Im currently using caffeine (french roast, double cup espresso on the rocks) which provides a moderate boost and is available legally over the counter where i live. Lol
Pushing the body with meds, to work be able to work longer, may be just really contra productive to recovery.
From my background in chemistry, biochemistry and genetics, modafinil reduces sleepines and keeps you awake. It would be dangerous for someone with burnout as they wouldnt feel the tiredness naturally and wouldnt take time to recover. The research on its effectiveness as cognitive enhancer is not conclusive yet. Probably good for people with sleeping disorders not related to burnout.
I burned out at 34, that was 8y ago. Now cant still do productive work more than 4h/day. And thats on a good day. Im lucky to have sufficient expertise and high enough hourly rate to pay for my modest lifestyle.
Meds and therapy help only so much. While some meds are available under social security its usually not very modern meds, so a good part of income goes to self paid therapy and more modern meds that help me be at least somewhat functional ans productive.
4y ago, my productive hours were 2h/ workday on good days. Or 1 day per week. I survived at that rate but couldnt afford necessary help to recover faster.
2y after burnout my inflammation levels were still so high that doctors suspected i had cancer. (Wasnt the case). I had to move to small town, close to nature, cut out all even the slightest stress factors from my life.
Of course if i could have avoided burnout or proper medical attention and time off after burnout it would have gone better faster.
Now it serves as info for others what not to fall into
Buy router, plug it in, change password and rarely any setting required for average user.
Not worth the monthly fees and data collection on users (name, email, location, credit card,...)
Even now in deep financial crisis (no covid within Thailand at the moment) people get food donations. People who have more created cabinets where poorer people can pick up food for free. Its not pretty but it works. People donate to orphanages so children dint starve. Yes. No social net for them either.
Well we cant blame foreigners and their social nets, charging them 10x more because Thailand hasnt made sufficient social coverage from taxes is still discrimination.
Most Thai people in Thailand pay no income tax. VAT is 7%. Every foreigner working in TH must pay income tax - which is fine - they live there. But foreigners cant finance the social security system alone :)
Lets say some european country charges 20% VAT, and for average worker 35%+ income tax. Not to count higher municipal taxes for water, electricity, garbage collection. This is what pays for national parks. For social security, for good education, for better roads. For Thai tourists entering the same national parks at same price like local residents because anything else would be discrimination and is illegal. And youre welcome.
As for those Thai people who are very very poor (in Thailand). They usually dont go to national parks because the transportation and food there would be too expensive even with the cheaper entrance fees. They go to local forests or rivers instead. They pick mushrooms, hunt wildlife e.g fish and lizards to eat. Ive seen this first hand. They hitch a ride fromm their village to nearest “town” on the back of someones truck as the regular “passenger truck” is out of their financial reach. Still, overall they have a good life, they grow some crops or keep animals. They live usually with extended family closeby, spend time with family and friends and are happy.
The fact that a part of Thai population is poor does not justify discrimination of foreigners.
Most Thai people at big Thai national parks come with nice cars (which even i could not afford). If the poorer are lucky to get to a national park, then the whole family rides huddled on the back of a pickup truck, no safety belts or seats.
Lol visa discrimination. I do agree that many countries made it harder to obtain visa. And so has Thailand. Simply because some people all over the world abuse visa regulations and the good folks suffer because of the changes.
My friend from USA has also to apply for his tourist visa at Thai embassy. And he has to pay for it too. There are often hurdles for that.
Foreigners are denied visas or visa extensions. Sometimes for silly buerocratic reasons. And you wouldnt believe how often the reasons change. Very stressful and humiliating.
Every year, a foreign friend has to extend his business visa. He has legitimate business, with employees, pays all required salary taxes and company profit taxes etc. He loves Thailand and has a family. One year, after waiting for hours in queue at immigration he was told they cant accept his visa extension application.
Why? Because the revenue department issued official tax payment receipt is not accepted anymore without a separate additional stamp from revenue department to make it “official”.
Nobody told him before, so he lost half a day just to have to go back to revenue department to get a stamp on their officially issued tax receipt which makes it “more official”.
Then he has to go back to queue at immigration and after hours of waiting, gets told by officers that this year they require some additional documents. Nobody told him before. If they accept the application he gets 1 month extension only while they check his documents and he has to come back before expiration of that month to receive final approval or rejection of his application.
What if there is recession? A foreigner orperated company in Thailand must have 25% profit. Otherwise he cant extend his visa. A payment of profit tax is required. :) Businesses operated by Thai citizens arent required to make profit. (That foreigner still has to pay 10x more at national parks, lol)
So every year, he submits his visa extension and if they dont approve it, he has 7 days to leave the country. What about his Thai wife and children, car he bought, house they rent, all belongings? He cant afford to fly them overseas and get visas for them, plus a job for his wife, school for kids etc.
Life overseas is x times more expensive. Just becuase someone has higher salary overseas than a Thai person in Thailand doesnt mean that they have more money left at end of month.
At the same time in Thailand, an educated Thai person with some expertise in their field gets same salary as a foreigner with equal expertise. If not even more :) companies are reluctant to hire foreigners due to paperwork and revenue department scrutiny involved. If a small company hires more than 2 foreigners their company income tax doubles. This goes wirh the fact that for every foreigner hired they must hire 4 Thai employees.
Did i mention that foreigners have to check in every 90 days at immigration to report that they still live on same adress? (Even if they havent moved in 15 years, sounds a bit ridiculous, right?). If youre late for the 90 days report thats 2000 baht fine. If you forget and they caught you its jail and 4000 Baht.
Additionally if my friend leaves the country e.g. on a business trip to Vietnam or to visit parents in home country, upon return to the same house in Thailand in which he lived for years, he must be reported by landlord within 24h at immigration that he returned to that same house. Never mind the fact that he entered the country through immigration and had to fill in a form where he will be staying.
If the landlord doesnt want to go make the report (happens if they didnt disclose the rent as income), the person who is fined is the foreigner (2000THB) becuase he is the one who has to have that report paper. Furthermore without that landlords report, the foreigner cant make the 90 days report or visa extension etc at immigration. Imagine how humiliating that is.
If the foreigner decides to take vacation within the country, the guesthouse/hotel has to report him to immigration within 24h. Then after return home upcountry the landlord must do the same report agin within 24 hours.
By law a foreigner who leaves the registered place of living and stays overnight somewhere else has to go to nearest immigration or police station and report himself to be there now, within 48h. Also when he returns to same registered place of living he has to make same report that he is now back. Thats besides the fact that the landlord has to make the same report on different form as outlined above.
There is one worthwile category of foreigners to mention. People from certain countries have to make a request at local immigration or police station and apply for permit if they want to travel outside the district. Without that approval they arent alowed to leave, lol, lets say to visit the national park in other district of same province. If they get caught without that permit to travel within country, they face fines and deportation. And humiliation.
This last group of foreigners is often the lowest paid group of people, even less than Thais. So no not all foriegners can afford your $12.9 to enter national parks at discriminatory prices.
Now while it may look all bad, i have to say that most foreigners who live in Thailand are happy to be there and love the country. They just dont like the discrimination and being ripped off :) if you know what i mean.
The Thai government has increased prices for Thai citizens and reduced price for foreigners for exactly that reason at Doi Inthanon. And also because foreigners dont appreciate being ripped off.
There is huge online movement against dual pricing of foreigners in Thailand. You might not have heard about it.
Yes its precisely Thailands business. Thailands tourism industry revenue comes 2/3rds from foreign visitors. A discriminatory surcharge harms the tourism industry, and other countries in SEA proved that by making such practices illegal.
Thai people aren’t charged double or 10x more to enter national parks in other countries just becuase they are Asian :) its illegal there, its called discrimination.
Filipino and Malay people get Thai price at national parks in Thailns, because they look similar to Thais. So its then racism if caucasians get charged 10x more.
Would you think it fair if foreign operated business in Thailand charge their Thai customers 2-10x as much as foreign customers? It would be a big scandal if they did.
Overcharging foreigners is also a big scandal. Check social media. Its being reported on a daily basis and its bad for reputation of Thailand. Tourism Authority of Thailand thinks its not fair to charge foreigners more.
Not sure why you think discrimination is ok.
A fair equal price would bring more visitors :) im sure of that.
On a trip to a national park nearby my Thai friends were shocked that i would get charged 10x as much. Each of them gave extra money to pay for my ticket. Not because I couldnt afford it. But because its discrimination.
Since then we visit national parks less often. Not because we cant afford it. But because it feels bad to be discriminated against. It ruins the experience at such places. There are lots of other beautiful places to explore in Thailand, for free, with good Thai friends.
Edit: just to add, now that Thailand does not allow foreign tourists entering the country due to Covid, relying on tourism by expats living here has become much more important. The revenue generated by Thai tourists traveling to other parts of the country has brought occupancy in hotels just to 10%. Thats not counting those hotels/guesthouses/restaurants that already closed forever.
Edit2: embarrassing typos
Many tourists post online that the 10x price is not worth the visit. As you say there are sometimes issues with maintenance etc.
Most of tourists are Thai. We do find sometimes families throwing out trash on side of road.
A Thai person pays entrance fee of 40 THB (1.29 USD). This is regardless if they are poor or rich, if they pay income tax or not.
A foreigner who for example lives in Thailand, and who pays income tax, still has to pay 400 THB (12.9 USD) entrance fee. That’s 10x more. Pure discrimination.
Let’s say an average foreigner family of 4 (2parents, 2children). That’s 2x 400 THB and 2x 200 THB incl vehicle 50 THB. 1250 THB.
A rich Thai family of 4, pays 2x40 THB, 2x 20 THB and 50 for vehicle. Total 170 THB.
You don’t decide what’s affordable for foreigners or not.
Not every foreigner is rich. Lots of expenses are higher for foreigners, many venues and restaurants charge higher prices to foreigners. Rental is often higher for foreigners,...
Not all foreign tourists are rich either. Many save the whole year to afford a two weeks trip to Thailand with their family.
National parks that charge them 10x more, restaurants that charge 2x more etc aren’t helping with welcoming foreigners.
If you do feel that paying 10x more is justified because it’s little money to you, why not sponsor not so well off foreigner families who wish to visit Thai national parks.