Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns.
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Opinion: Bad timing for Phuket’s full-scale tsunami drill
PHUKET: The announcement of plans to conduct a full-scale tsunami evacuation drill in Phuket on Christmas Day was a surprise (story here), given that the next day marks the 10th anniversary of the most horrific loss of life and devastation in the island’s recorded history. Thankfully, the inevitable complaints about the timing have been lodged, and hopefully it is not…
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Opinion: Beware of deadly little worms, Phuket
PHUKET: I am surprised that the Department of Disease Control does not inform the public of or educate it about the dangers of eating raw foods. There is a disease, called gnathostomiasis, caused by a nasty little worm that is ingested by eating raw or partially cooked foods, particularly freshwater fish and crustaceans, but also eels, frogs, birds and reptiles.…
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Opinion: Saying it with puppets in Phuket [video]
Rat Puanrak, 40, graduated with an electronic engineering degree from Ragamangala University of Technology in Nonthaburi. However, he made a career switch to the tourism industry before becoming a professional freelance photographer. He then began studying the art of puppetry and eventually founded the Phuket Marionette. Here, he talks about how the art of puppetry can help children develop into…
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Waves of kindness in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket is famous and infamous for a list of commendable and questionable attributes. One thing that seems to have made it onto the list in certain circles is surfing. Because of the teasingly short surfing season and fickle beach breaks, Thailand will never qualify as a dedicated surfing destination. However, for beginners or less-seasoned surfers whose standards for waves…
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Opinion: Dealing with unwanted phone messages
PHUKET: Earlier this year, after I returned to Phuket from South Africa, a friend of mine gave me a 49-baht TrueMove H SIM card package – the type you can just top up at a 7-Eleven or Family Mart without having to worry about the hassle of monthly bills. That suited me fine. After South Africa, where you have to…
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New Phuket Police commander identifies top priorities
Maj Gen Patchara Boonyasit, 58, took up his new post as Phuket Provincial Police Commander on October 1. Before coming to the island, he served as commander of the Nakhon Sri Thammarat Provincial Police. Here, he talks about the duty of police to work hard to protect the people, gain their trust and help build a good image and reputation…
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Blisterful beach: The need for umbrellas on Phuket’s key tourist beaches
PHUKET: Despite some recent stormy weather, the “official” start to Phuket’s annual high season for tourism got underway as planned on November 1, kicked off by this year’s installment of the annual Phuket Carnival in Patong. With a spectacular street procession, free concerts, fireworks and a wide range of other high-profile activities, this year’s event was branded under the theme…
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Jet-skis in Phuket must go – for good
PHUKET: The Gazette joins its online readers in expressing outrage at the recent announcement by the Marine Office that jet-ski rental operators will be allowed to remain on island beaches (story here). The dumbfounding news comes despite a woman being run over by a jet-ski trailer on Kata Beach (story here), children nearly being hit by a jet-ski at Surin…
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Video Report: Thai Tourism and Sports Minister names Phuket as the next sports tourism hot spot
Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, 54, is the Tourism and Sports Minister of Thailand. She was appointed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in August. She studied in the United States, graduating from Rhode Island School of Design. Before becoming minister, Ms Kobkarn was a chairperson at Toshiba Thailand. Here, she expresses excitement for the upcoming 4th Asian Beach Games and hopes that the…
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Phuket public venues attracting the wrong visitors
PHUKET: As a Phuket local who was born and raised here, and who has seen many things change over the years, I’ve started to wonder about the reasoning behind a few new places that have popped up – and why so much money was spent on them. I am particularly curious about two recent developments: 72nd Anniversary Queen Sirikit Park…
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Taxing changes in Phuket will see payoffs
Peerawut “Chris” Kunchorn has been part of the team at the Vijitt Resort in Rawai since 2009, and is currently manager of the resort. He attended Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Bangkok, and also studied at the Hotel and Tourism Training Institute. Here, he shares his views on what needs to be done to advance Phuket’s tourism sector, as well…
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Satire: Schizoid about English teachers
PHUKET: Some time ago, a website called EnglishClub.com ran an article announcing that foreigners wishing to teach English in Southeast Asia may soon be subjected to draconian screening procedures. According to the article, Asean education officials were proposing a whole battery of tests for foreign English teachers, beginning with police background checks and tests for drugs and personal hygiene. There…
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Nightmare holiday in Nai Harn
PHUKET: We are a senior Australian couple who have been lucky enough to have visited Phuket several times over the last ten years. This year we, and our son in a separate booking, paid upfront for eight weeks accommodation in Nai Harn, an area we love. The first six weeks were fine. A number of Muay Thai fighters from various…
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Fishing around for the answers
Jaroenchai Srisuwan, 48, from Songkhla, has been involved in Phuket’s fishing industry for more than 10 years. In March 2013, he became chief of the Krabi Fishery Management Center. During the short time that he has been chief, he has dealt with more than 100 cases of illegal trawling and arrested more than 250 suspects for illegal fishing. Here, he…
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Bag it up, Phuket
PHUKET: This island seems willing to bag, and double bag, almost anything – except what’s most important. The speed with which a single bottle of cola is dropped into a completely unnecessary plastic bag is astonishing. Simply asking a customer if they need a bag would show a much needed, and improved, awareness of the amount of packaging products we…
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Bad news in Phuket
PHUKET: There’s been a lot of death in Phuket lately. It seems that stories about death and violence have been pouring in on a regular basis over the past several weeks. There was the drug-crazed maniac who chopped up his friend with a meat cleaver and tried to do the same to his girlfriend, and himself. Then, there was the…
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Say hello to Phuket’s new man in charge: Governor Nisit
Nisit Jansomwong, 52, from Ratchaburi, landed on the island earlier this month to take up the position of Phuket Governor. He has a master’s degree in administration from Chulalongkorn University, where he graduated with honors. Before coming to Phuket, Governor Nisit was governor of Ratchaburi province for one year. Here, he talks about tourism’s importance and impact on Phuket and…
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A Phuket Fable: The bowed tree and the bow saw
PHUKET: In my little piece of jungle there was a tree that had grown so verdant it had bent double with the weight of its leaves and mass of branches, so that its top-most twigs had tangled with the grass around its base. The tree’s lopsided state was also the result of a taller tree spreading its branches above and…
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Phuket Opinion: Tourism meets toilet humor
PHUKET: Efforts by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to clean up corruption in Phuket have had some dramatic results, steering the island toward sustainability – at least for the time being. Unfortunately, some smaller destinations, including the Phi Phi Island chain, continue to suffer from unregulated development and mass tourism on a scale that has led to…
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Opinion: Beach Games to showcase new Phuket
PHUKET: There has been a great deal of discussion and debate recently about how Phuket should “rebrand” itself as a world-class tourist destination in the wake of the National Council for Peace and Order’s unprecedented anti-corruption drive. Hopefully, the 4th Asian Beach Games next month will serve as the perfect showcase for the so-called “new” Phuket, spreading the message far…
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Letter from the Governor: Maitri Inthusut says so long to Phuket
PHUKET: I will leave this island with no regrets about anything I have done as the governor of Phuket. I have done my best, and am confident that I have brought many people together. I am proud to have been part of so many beneficial projects and events over the past two years. Phuket is a small, but big city.…
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Opinion: Hooters or bust? Tourists should be handled more delicately
PHUKET: The foreign family with their two young children being subjected to a military-clad scare during a raid on the illegal taxi they hired is unfortunate (story here), but efforts by police to rid the island of “black plate” taxis still deserve full public support. Like many other tourism-tarnishing incidents, this one involved tourists travelling on the “mafia mile” between…
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Opinion: Bilking billions from Phuket’s beaches
PHUKET: The arrest of Karon Mayor Tawee Tongcham and subsequent revelations about the nature and scale of the “beach rental” concession rackets along Phuket’s west coast is just the latest in a stunning series of graft-busting power punches made by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) since it took power on May 22. One of the most remarkable…
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Living the life of Riley in Phuket
PHUKET: One morning, about six months ago, a bedraggled black dog appeared at the rear doorway to our office at Gazette Square. He looked worse for wear and had clearly been fending for himself on the street for some time. He managed to beg a few scraps of food, and before long, he was waiting each morning for the first…
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Opinion: Hope for Phuket metered-taxi drivers
Chomsorn “Patty” Chaowai, 57, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, has been working as a taxi driver on the island for more than 20 years. The long-time Phuket resident and mother of two was the first female taxi driver in Phuket and became one of the first metered-taxi drivers in 2004. Here, she talks about the rapidly changing world of taxis on…
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Battle against Phuket land grabbers moves to the hills
PHUKET: The entire island should give its full support to the ongoing efforts by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to rid public beaches of encroachment in all its forms. The results, which so far have been nothing less than stunning, are sure to go a long way to restoring the island’s attractiveness to tourists, both foreign and…
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Taking Phuket tourists’ safety to heart
Malika Chergui, 61, originally from Morocco, has been a Tourist Police volunteer for nine years. Before retiring in Phuket, she was a successful business and family woman in Italy. Now, she spends her time helping tourists alongside the Phuket Tourist Police. She patrols the streets of Patong every night from 9pm, using her language skills – she is fluent in…
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The price of looks in Phuket
PHUKET: I’ve been disturbed by my electricity bills recently. Ever since I moved into a new, cheaper house a few months back, my electricity bills got substantially higher. In my search for the energy-sucking culprit, I spent one Saturday evening turning different household appliances and gadgets on and off, and checking the electricity meter readings. The result of this little…
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Phuket police or caprice?
PHUKET: The arrest of former Patong Mayor Pian Keesin (story here), his scion “Prab” and the younger heir to Pian’s Pisona Group empire, Mr Pattawee, offers a priceless opportunity for Phuket’s future. Why don’t we take the under-the-table money for “extra services” tacitly – and corruptly – permitted by officials, and use it to bolster the salaries of government officers,…
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Making education a top Phuket priority
Chalam Attatham, 55, is the director of the Phuket Primary Educational Service Area Office. He received a master’s in education from Srinakharinwirot University and a master’s in educational administration from Thaksin University. Before taking up his post in Phuket two years ago, Mr Chalam held the same position, but in Phattalung. Here, he discusses the importance of education, its funding…
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