Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
Mob protests police “lack of action’
CHERNG TALAY: In the latest flare-up in an ongoing gang war between youths from Bang Tao and neighboring Baan Don, some 100 teenagers blocked the main road intersection in Cherng Talay last night for seven hours. The mob were protesting about the “unfair” arrests of two Bang Tao teenagers during a brawl yesterday afternoon in Thalang, and about the repeated…
- Phuket News
Anti-disease drive in markets
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) plans to spray the island’s fresh markets with germicides frequently this summer with the aim of preventing diseases. Somboon Aiyarak, from the PPHO, told the Gazette “Stomach illnesses such as diarrhea spread very quickly in the summer – we have problems almost every year. So we should try to provide some protection for…
- Phuket News
Out of school, out of work
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s plan to find work for students over the hot-season school break has received a cool reception in Phuket. As of April 1, only 21 of the 207 students who applied for jobs had found work. The plan, which got a major publicity boost when PM Thaksin put his daughter Paethongtan to work passing out burgers…
- Phuket News
Sun sets on Phromthep eyesore
RAWAI: Visitors going to Laem Phromthep recently to watch the sun set have been getting more than they bargained for. At the top of the stairs leading up from the carpark, and blocking the view, is a large, unfinished stone monument. But now it has been decided that the unsightly new structure, built at a cost of 200,000 baht as…
- Phuket News
Gov urges swift action on seaweed
PHUKET: At a provincial meeting this morning Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura admitted that bright green seaweed covering large parts of Patong Beach is the result of poor waste disposal practices by the Patong Municipality, but stressed that it is not a danger to human health. The Governor did acknowledge, however, that the piles of macroalgae are a threat to tourism.…
- Phuket News
Tax man’s take rises 50pc
PHUKET: The island’s tax collectors were highly successful in February this year, collecting almost 50% more than in the same month in 2003. The latest figures released by the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office show a rise in the overall tax harvest from 223.97 million baht in February last year to 334.17 million baht in the same month this year, an…
- Phuket News
Roads claim 15 more lives
PHUKET: Fifteen people were killed on Phuket’s roads between January 20 and February 20, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. All of the victims died while riding motorcycles, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn, of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, reported. In the same period, 1,024 people were hurt in crashes involving motorbikes. Another 80 people were…
- Phuket News
Heated views at zoning seminar
PHUKET: What might have been a dry discussion of the technicalities of zoning in Phuket turned into a wide-ranging and sometimes emotional discussion of Phuket’s ills when 150 people attended a Phuket Gazette-Nation seminar on Saturday. On stage to lead discussion of “Can Zoning Save Phuket?” at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort were Dr Sommai Prijasila, Head of the Foreign…
- Phuket News
Hotel unions examine service charge issue
PHUKET CITY: For members of local hotel labor unions, the question of who gets service charges was high on the agenda at a recent international meeting of labor officials in Phuket. Regional representatives of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) gathered at the ST Hotel on March 27-28 to discuss collective…
- Phuket News
Video captures tourist’s “suicide’
KARON: A video recording of a Thai tourist speaking her last known words was found in the bedroom of her Karon holiday home where she apparently committed suicide. Pol Maj Jessada Sangsure, of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that he received a call yesterday at 6 pm from a male cleaner who found the body. Maj Jessada arrived to…
- Phuket News
Songkran water battles to be zoned
PHUKET (The Nation): Revelers will have to watch out where they hurl water during Songkran next month because local authorities plan to designate specific areas for their antics. “We will ensure that the revelers have fun while observing laws and safety rules,” Phuket police chief Pol Maj Gen Veerayuth Sittimalic said. The proposed free-for-all zones are Saphan Hin in Phuket…
- Phuket News
First round of zoning hearings completed
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Public Works and Town and Country Planning Office (PWTCPO), which is responsible for drawing up a comprehensive set of island-wide zoning regulations by October 1, has completed a first round of public hearings in each of Phuket’s three districts to gauge public opinion on zoning issues. The zoning is intended to curb the unregulated development that…
- Phuket News
Phuket Seminars to focus on quality-of-life issues
PHUKET: In connection with a Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) editorial board meeting to be held in Phuket this weekend, The Nation newspaper and the Phuket Gazette will present an English-language seminar entitled: “Can zoning save Phuket?” Focused on provincial planning, zoning, environmental and other issues critical for tourism, property development and day-to-day living on the island, the seminar will be…
- Phuket News
Move to curb long-tail rip-offs
RAWAI: Island-wide measures are to be introduced to register all of Phuket’s long-tail boats, set standard fees for tourist trips, and punish rip-off boat operators. Most of the island’s long-tail operators are honest, but some unscrupulous boatmen have been known to charge excessive rates and cheat tourists. Another cause for concern – and action – is the tour group operators…
- Phuket News
Police seek witnesses to double fatality
RAWAI: Police are keen to interview anyone who may have witnessed a collision between a car and a motorbike that killed a British tourist and his Thai girlfriend on Wiset Rd, Rawai, on Sunday night. Killed were Briton Scott Tristan Watkins, 33, and Sasithorn Kaewyai, also 33, from Buri Ram. The following day, the driver of the Mitsubishi Pajero involved…
- Phuket News
New base for anti-smuggling operations
AO MAKHAM: The new Customs House and pier at the Ao Makham Deep Sea Port, officially opened yesterday, is expected to play a major role in the protection of the area around the port from various maritime perils, including smuggling and environmental problems. The Customs Department will base five vessels there to intercept fuel-oil smugglers and drug runners. Anti-smuggling operations…
- Phuket News
Mayoral candidate disqualified
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Election Commission (PEC) has barred Thanapong Kho-udom, leader of the Pattana Baan Rao (“Develop Our Home”) Party from running for Mayor of Phuket City in elections due to be held on April 4. Kittipong Thiengkunagrit, Director of the PEC, told the Gazette that electoral rules state that a mayoral candidate must have lived within municipal boundaries…
- Phuket News
Court accepts Blue Canyon case
PHUKET (The Nation): The Phuket Provincial Court has decided that a complaint filed by a founder of Murex Co, developer of the Blue Canyon Country Club, has sufficient merit for it to proceed. The court set March 29 as the date of the first hearing, allowing the accused, Sia Leng Yeun, an executive of Murex, to defend himself against the…
- Phuket News
Piglet deaths “not from bird ‘flu’
PHUKET CITY: The deaths of 60 piglets on a single farm recently from respiratory infection were the result of hog cholera, not avian ‘flu, according to the island’s top livestock official. The Chief of the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO), Sunart Wongchawalit, told the Gazette that the piglets died after contracting hog cholera, also known as swine ‘flu. The deaths…
- Phuket News
Democrats in landslide victory
PHUKET TOWN: The ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party’s attempt to become a force in provincial politics in Phuket received a stinging setback in yesterday’s elections for the presidency of the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), with the TRT candidate coming last by a long way. The winner, after vote-counting ended at about 4 am today, was Democrat candidate and former…
- Phuket News
Obstructive bureaucrats slammed
PHUKET CITY: The President of the recently formed Phuket Real Estate Club (PREC) yesterday slammed bureaucrats for constantly putting obstacles in the way of the booming property market. Announcing that the club plans to stage a public seminar on April 3 at the Royal Phuket City Hotel to address problems faced by those in real estate development, Phummisak Hongsyok, former…
- Phuket News
Phuket must decide on expo center: Chavalit
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket and its tourist trade are essential to Thailand’s economy but what matters most is that the island’s inhabitants decide their own future, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said today. “I’d like to ask if Phuket people really want to build the International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) or not,” he said of the controversial 2.5-billion-baht project…
- Phuket News
Broken leg foils car thief’s escape
PHUKET CITY: A man suspected of stealing two cars and electrical equipment in a wave of thefts tried to escape through a third-floor window at Phuket City Police Station today and ended up in Wachira Hospital with a broken leg. The man specialized in robbing the homes of foreigners, police said. Pol Capt Akanit Danpitaksat, Sub-Inspector of Investigation at Phuket…
- Phuket News
Bird ‘flu saves prawn farmers
PHUKET CITY: With the appearance of avian ‘flu in Thailand, many consumers have made a switch to fish, seafood and the other “white” meat – pork. Fish, and prawns in particular, have become shoppers’ favorites. Before bird ‘flu, prawn prices were depressed because of caps on imports imposed by the US and Europe, resulting in huge surpluses. For prawn farmers…
- Phuket News
Autopsy finds Russian girl was electrocuted
PHUKET: Police have resumed their inquiry into the death of a 10-year-old Russian girl beside the pool at the Dusit Laguna Resort Hotel, after an autopsy by the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) in Bangkok established that she was electrocuted. It is almost two months since Ksenia Drashinskiy died in mysterious circumstances while on vacation with her parents at the…
- Phuket News
Deadline approaches for fun venues
PHUKET: Entertainment venues on the island have just a few more days to register under a new law that requires all such venues to have licenses. From January 13, owners of the venues were given 60 days to apply for licenses under the revised provisions of Section 3 of the Entertainment Act. The 60-day period expires on Friday. Wisut Romin,…
- Phuket News
Makeover for Immigration office
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Immigration Office (PIO) is to be redecorated as a prelude to a proposed full-scale redevelopment that could add an IT crime center and make Phuket an Immigration center for other southern provinces. The new Superintendent of the PIO, Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop, told the Gazette that the new look for the Immigration ofice should be complete…
- Phuket News
Resort guards arrested
CHERNG TALAY: Two former security guards from Banyan Tree Resort Phuket have been released on bail by the Phuket Provincial Court after being charged with attempted murder. Over police objections, the court released the two men the same day they were taken into custody – March 4. Pol Lt Col Suwat Kaewprom, Deputy Superintendent of Cherng Talay Police Station, named…
- Phuket News
Stranded dugong recovering after rescue
CAPE PANWA: A sick dugong was rescued by the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) on Friday, given medication and food, and is making its first steps toward recovery. A fisherman saw the animal, a young female, stranded in Klong Pa Khlock, Baan Para, close to where the klong meets the sea. He contacted the PMBC who came and retrieved the…
- Phuket News
Search and destroy at the chicken farm
PHUKET: This week has been Clean Your Chicken Farm Week. Starting on Monday, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) initiated a campaign to destroy any viruses in chicken farms and chicken meat companies in Phuket. While the campaign has been deemed successful, PPLO Chief Sunart Wongchawalit and Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit took matters into their hands yesterday morning, personally administering the…
