Year: 2009
- Phuket News
Phuket prepares for lucky number nine
PHUKET: Tomorrow – the ninth day of the ninth month of the year 2009 – is considered a highly auspicious day by Thais.In Phuket, Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop will preside over a ceremony attended by his deputies and other government officials at Phuket Community Hall to mark the special date.A large number of couples will also register marriages at Phuket’s registry offices…
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Phuket president cleared of vote-buying
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) President Paiboon Upatising has been cleared of vote-buying following an Appeals Court ruling earlier today. Mr Paiboon said he would return to work ‘immediately’ following the ruling by the Region 8 Court of Appeals in Bangkok. The verdict overturned a ‘yellow card’ ruling by the Election Commission (EC) in Bangkok, which found there…
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Big Phuket birthday party for ‘World’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: More has been revealed about the amazing life of Luang Pu Supha, claimed by adherents to be the oldest man in the world. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of a temple named after him in Chalong, is preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday in Phuket next week. Government-issued identification records presented to the Gazette show he was born on…
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Phuket Land Office announces February deadline
PHUKET CITY: Holders of Sor Kor 1 land possession papers have only until early February to apply for upgrades to full land title deeds, the Phuket Provincial Land Office has announced. Land Office chief Paitoon Lertkrai said that all Sor Kor 1 papers, which allow holders to use land for commercial purposes, will expire on February 6 next year. “To…
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UFOs drop into Phuket
PHUKET: A family in Phuket had a close encounter with unidentified falling objects at the weekend when about a hundred small spheres ‘dropped from the sky’ onto their roof and garden.The family of six said the transparent balls fell on their home in Wichit about 9am on Sunday directly after a rain shower.“After the rain had stopped, we heard the…
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Opinion: Nature punishing man’s folly in Phuket
Developments in recent weeks underscore the need for better engineering design when planning construction projects on the island. Phuket was able to withstand centuries of tin mining with enough of its natural beauty intact to subsequently develop into a world-class tourist destination. Yet as destructive as tin mining was, its legacy has been no match for the environmental destruction that…
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Phuket’s police find nothing in drug raids
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, some top officials and a lot of police officers crashed some of Phuket City’s most popular parties on Friday night – on the hunt for drugs and weapons. But those who fret about the loose morals of Thailand’s youth of today will be relieved to find out the police came out empty-handed. Gov Wichai,…
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‘Mermaid’ baby passes away at Vachira Phuket Hospital
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born in Phuket with ‘mermaid syndrome’ has died of kidney failure after a month-long struggle for survival, doctors have confirmed. The infant, named Nichapa, was born at Vachira Phuket Hospital on July 9 after just 35 weeks of gestation. She suffered from the rare congenital condition known technically as Sirenomelia, which is found in approximately…
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Phuket road project still on hold
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Governor and three of Phuket’s top politicians on Thursday traveled to Bangkok to lobby Cabinet to endorse a controversial plan to allow construction of a new road to Saphan Hin through protected mangrove forest. Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-gnop made the trip with Phuket MPs Tossaporn Thepabutr and Rewat Areerob, as well as appointed Senator Phummisak Hongyok,…
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Phuket police report rise in prostitution
PHUKET CITY: Police reported a rise in arrests for prostitution in Phuket during August 2009, with 164 arrests representing a 70.8% increase over the same month last year. Statistics for August released by the Phuket Provincial Police show that drug-related offenses were the most common crimes, with 208 people arrested in 179 cases. The figure is a 50.4% increase year-on-year.…
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Plans for wind farm near Phuket’s “Big Buddha’
PATONG, PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Energy Office plans to build windmills in the Nakkerd Hills near the ‘Big Buddha’ image, a seminar on alternative energy was told on Thursday. Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasuk Tummawetch made the announcement during the seminar, held at the Royal Paradise Hotel in Patong. Chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai, the seminar was organized…
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Phuket Police to earn “coffee money’
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Police Superintendent Wanchai Ekpornpit has a passion – other than fighting crime, of course. Col Wanchai is mad about coffee. That’s why he came up with the idea for ‘The Seat’, a new coffee shop under construction next to Phuket City Police Station. The Seat is a ‘police welfare project’ aimed at supplementing the ‘meager income’…
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Panic in Phuket: Supercheap roof collapse
RASSADA, PHUKET: Shoppers at discount retailer Supercheap got a scare early this morning when three sections of roof blew off and fell onto the merchandise below, causing considerable damage and a public panic. Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries. The collapse saw around 200 square meters of roof fall on three different departments: seafood, compact discs and baby clothes.…
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Phuket pounded by moonsoon weather
PHUKET: Strong monsoon winds last night uprooted a large tree in front of Wachira Phuket Hospital causing a blackout in the immediate area when the tree fell onto power lines along Yaowarat Road.By 8am, municipality workers were using a crane and chainsaws to lift the tree off the power lines and cut it into logs to be loaded onto trucks…
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Phuket cheerleading squad to take on Asia’s best
PHUKET CITY: A cheerleading squad from Phuket will represent Thailand at the Asian Thailand Cheerleading Invitation 2009 contest at Nimibutr National Stadium in Bangkok on September 19 and 20. The team, all Phuket Wittayalai School students, will face stiff competition from teams representing Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries in the region. Although Phuket is a…
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Phuket Gazette readers favor total ban on jet-skis
PHUKET CITY: A majority of readers believe jet-skis should be banned with immediate effect, the results of the latest Phuket Gazette Poll have revealed. A total of 1,346 people voted in the poll, which asked what Phuket’s policy on jet-skis should be. A clear majority, 53.8%, supported a total ban on jet-skis with immediate effect. Local expat residents were 58%…
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New Phuket Gazette Poll online now
PHUKET CITY: The new Phuket Gazette Poll is online and awaiting your vote. Drownings on Phuket’s beaches continue, the latest being a Russian man of Karon beach. A local leader says that with under-equipped and underpaid beach guards, more deaths are inevitable. We’re asking you what you think should be done to prevent any more tragedies at Phuket beaches. To…
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Phuket abbot is ‘world’s oldest man’
PHUKET CITY: A revered Buddhist monk preparing to celebrate his 113th birthday could be the world’s oldest living man. Luang Pu Supha, abbot of Luang Pu Supha temple in Chalong, has presented the Gazette with copies of government-issued identification papers showing that he was born in Sakon Nakhon province, in the the northeast of Thailand, on September 17, 1896. The…
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Top cop orders end to Phuket jet-ski scams
PHUKET CITY: Phuket police are under strict orders to crackdown on jet-ski operators who scam tourists and to actively assist those who become victims of the scammers at Phuket’s popular beaches. The orders came from Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pigad Thantipong after he made a frank admission during a press conference that some police officers were knowingly allowing jet-ski…
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Phuket Immigration sweep nets 42 foreign workers
KARON, PHUKET: Forty-two foreign workers were arrested during an Immigration police raid on vendor stalls in Karon early last night. Phuket Immigration Police Superintendent Col Chanatpol Yongbunjerd said the arrests were part of an ongoing crackdown on alien workers violating the terms of their work visas by engaging in work, such as retail sales, that is restricted to Thai nationals.…
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Phuket police weed out elderly dope dealer
PHUKET CITY: An elderly drug dealer who was caught on his motorbike with a small package of marijuana in his pocket turned out to have a kilo of the drug stashed at his Phuket house. Police said Tee Laohasuntaratam, 59, aroused suspicion when he began acting strangely while stopped at traffic lights outside Kajornkiat School on Chao Fa West Road…
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Phuket house will cost 100 baht for lucky winner
PHUKET CITY: The top prize in this year’s Red Cross Fair raffle will be nothing less than a new home, it was announced yesterday. In past years the top prize has always been a car or truck, but this year the Red Cross is upping the ante. “I am sure no province in Thailand has ever dared to give away…
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Phuket Governor gets new ride
PHUKET CITY: Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop took possession of a new hybrid car this morning, courtesy of the Interior Ministry. The handover ceremony took place at the Governor’s mansion on Narison Rd, where Chaipat Na Ranong, assistant managing director of the Toyota Pearl dealership in Koh Kaew, handed over the keys to Gov Wichai. The hybrid is a black Toyota Camry…
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New tsunami warning buoy for Phuket
PHUKET: The tsunami detection buoy off Phuket will be replaced “as soon as possible”, the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has said. NDWC Deputy Director Somsak Khawsuwan told the Gazette the mission will take place as soon as conditions at sea allow. “We can’t wait until the end of the monsoon season,” he said. For our previous report on the…
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Foreign investors in Phuket facing police investigation
PHUKET: A fact-finding effort is underway in Phuket to compile information about local businesses in which Thai people are hired by foreigners as their nominees – a practice which is generally illegal under Thailand’s harsh Foreign Business Act. Provincial governor Wichai Phrai-sa-ngob, who ordered the investigation, said he was not discriminating against foreign investors, but guarding against the illegal use…
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More Phuket drownings ‘inevitable’
KARON, PHUKET: In the wake of the drowning of a Russian man at Karon Beach in Phuket, a local leader has warned that “more will die in the days to come.” Karon village chief Winai Chitchiew said more drownings were inevitable because beach guards were under-equipped, underpaid and couldn’t guarantee tourists’ safety. At least 10 people have drowned off Karon Beach…
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Phuket surprise: Massive fee hikes for work permits mooted
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette has learned that recent rumors of substantial increases in work permit fees may be well-founded. Discussions are underway in the Department of Employment that could once again lead to massive hikes in these annual fees. The current fee for a new work permit, or renewal of a one-year permit, is 3,000 baht. The office of Thanawan…
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Two more sick turtles found in Phuket
KATA, PHUKET: Two stricken turtles have been found in Phuket over the past two days. Fishermen found an injured olive ridley turtle missing its front-right flipper floating in the sea off Kata Beach yesterday evening. Dr Patcharaporn Kaewmong, a Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) vet, said the turtle was hit by a boat motor, severing the flipper. The roughly 15-year-old…
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Dr Preecha returns to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: An old Phuket hand made a welcome return to the island on Saturday when former governor Preecha Ruangjan opened a new OTOP fair at Central Festival Phuket. The ‘All Thailand OTOP/OPOP Festival’ features products from 14 different provinces around the country. Dr Preecha was representing Phitsanulok province, which he now governs. Dr Preecha was governor of Phuket for…
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Phuket’s luxury villa sales top 3.5 billion baht
PHUKET: Transactions in Phuket’s luxury villa market topped 3.5 billion baht in the first half of 2009, according to figures just released by Phuket-based consulting firm c9 Hotelworks. The report, ‘Luxury Villa Market Update Mid-year Edition’, defines luxury villas in Phuket as those with price tags of 65 million baht (approx US$ 1.9 million) and above, and puts the value…
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OPINION: Is xenophobia damaging Phuket’s prosperity?
A recent front page story in the Bangkok Post claiming foreigners control 90 percent of Phuket’s beach land through Thai nominees stopped many expats in their tracks.The truth of the claim – by the authors of a new study into foreign land ownership in Thailand – is difficult to verify.The authors of the research, a team from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open…
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Minister went missing off Phuket, now back safely
PHUKET: A government vice-minister fell foul of the terrible weather conditions currently spoiling many a tourist’s Phuket vacation when the speedboat returning him from Koh Racha Yai to Phuket got lost in the rain yesterday. Commerce Vice Minister Veerasak Jinarat’s boat set out at around noon. Shortly afterwards, the Immigration officer steering the boat reportedly became confused because of the…
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Patong mayor helps fill the gap
PATONG, PHUKET: A large sinkhole which opened up on the route from Phuket City to Patong following torrential rain last night received quick attention thanks to the vigilance of one Patong Municipal official. The mayor of Patong himself, Pian Keesin, happened to be heading down Phra Baramee Road towards Patong at about 5pm – just as the surface of the…
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Phuket Yamu back on track
PHUKET: Construction of the stalled Yamu Hotel and Residences development on the East coast of Phuket is set to restart later this year. The revival of the über-luxury development is the result of a new partnership between the project’s developer Campbell Kane and Evolution Capital PCL, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Construction is expected to…
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Mermaid baby returns to Phuket
PHUKET CITY: The Burmese infant born with ‘mermaid syndrome’ returned to Phuket on Wednesday night after being declared terminally ill by doctors at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Hospital in Songkhla’s Haad Yai district. The baby girl, named Nichapa, is now back at Vachira Phuket Hospital, where she was born earlier this month. She was rushed to PSU Hospital after…
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FIFA president to open Phuket football center
PHUKET: FIFA President Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter is set to visit Phuket next month as part of a whistle-stop three-day visit to Thailand. Mr Blatter will travel to Phuket on September 15 to participate in the grand opening ceremony of the Tsunami Memorial Football Center with Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. Built at the Baan Ao Nam Bor School near Ao Makham,…
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Weekend washout forecast for Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Those hoping to spend this weekend basking in sunshine on Phuket’s beaches will be disappointed, if the Met’s predictions are anything to go by. The weekend is expected to be a washout. Chokchai Patarayongphaisarn, a Phuket Meteorological Department forecaster, predicted the heavy rain pouring down over Phuket would continue until Wednesday. And there was worse news to come.…
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