Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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OPINION: Phuket looking ahead to 2010
PHUKET: As 2009 draws to a close, it would be easy – very easy – to highlight issues which remain thorns in the sides of Phuket’s expatriates. Negatives almost always trump the positives in the world of news. However, it is encouraging to see that Phuket has made progress toward the island’s continued development not only as an international tourist…
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PHUKET OPINION: What constitutes a crisis?
PHUKET: I expected some backlash for my support for a provincial plan to implement a charge for plastic bags, and it came the weekend before last in the form of a strongly-worded open letter to the Phuket Energy Office with the heading: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’, after the 1975 Supertramp album by the same name. The letter, by a Canadian who…
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OPINION: Phuket not yet ready for another tsunami
PHUKET CITY: With the fifth anniversary of the tsunami approaching, now is a good time to reflect on how well prepared Phuket might be should a similar disaster befall us in the future. The sad truth is that we are still a long way from where we should be, even though public awareness of the threat of tsunamis is understandably…
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OPINION: A tough time for Phuket police
PHUKET: The past week has seen a real change in the weather in Phuket, literally and figuratively. The monsoon season appears to finally be drawing to a close and with temperatures dropping in colder northern climes, high season is upon us. Hotel occupancy rates are rising and the island’s population continues to swell. By some estimates Phuket’s actual population is…
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OPINION: Good news at long last
PHUKET CITY: Developments in the aviation industry bode well for Phuket and its tourism industry going into the high season. The most important of these is Thai AirAsia’s decision to establish Phuket as a second ‘aviation hub’ for its growing operations in Southeast Asia. Since entering the Phuket market in 2003, Thai AirAsia has been a consistent performer in an…
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OPINION: Roy the right word for Phuket music fest
Phuket likes to think of itself as the island that offers something for everyone.But the major events that take place here tell us a lot about the sort of tourists the island is best at attracting.The Blues Festival, the Old Town Festival, the King’s Cup: all perfectly respectable, but much more appealing to the old than the young.While Phuket is…
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OPINION: Let computers deal with Phuket’s jet-skis
PHUKET: Wouldn’t it be better if Phuket’s government were turned over to computers? Surely an application exists whereby, having keyed in the facts, viable results emerge. As it is, local government tends to tip-toe around decision-making until matters are manifestly out-of-hand. Let’s take as a case in point the current eruption involving jet-skis precipitated by a YouTube video-clip showing a…
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OPINION: Is Phuket ready for welfarism?
PHUKET: Thailand’s leading think tank has proposed a “survival strategy” for the nation: an exit from the current economic and political distress by transforming the country into a “welfare state” that would help bridge wealth and income disparity. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), led by its chairman, Dr Nipon Poapongsakorn, says the group’s research has found that disparities in…
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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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OPINION: Do foreigners really own 90% of Phuket’s beach front?
PHUKET: The front page story in today’s Bangkok Post which quotes a leading research body as saying foreigners own 90% of Phuket’s beach front land has certainly struck a sour note against foreign ownership of land in Thailand. The study, which was put together by the Thailand Research Fund, quotes a professor from Sukhothai Thammathirat University who says these holdings…
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OPINION: Thaksin’s plea rang hollow in Phuket
PHUKET: Here in Thailand’s ‘Solid South’, a bastion of support for the Democrat party, Phuket people were unlikely to have been impressed with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s emotional plea to His Majesty The King in Bangkok yesterday. Under the backdrop of the red-shirt rally seeking a royal pardon for him, Thaksin made an emotional plea – like a closing statement…
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