Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Phuket Opinion: Resolving not to fail
PHUKET: With the New Year rapidly approaching, we wait to see just how effective efforts mandated by the Phuket Provincial Police will be in ridding the island of illegal actions by numerous, unregistered taxi and tuk-tuk ranks by its specified “D-Day” of January 1. Any long-term resident of Phuket can only hold hope that the promised effort will bear some…
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Phuket Opinion: Beware the water
PHUKET: I’ve been losing sleep lately thinking about all the poison I’ve subjected myself to during 12 years in Thailand – alcohol, sugar, fatty and acidic foods, traffic smog, secondhand smoke and perhaps the biggest culprit of them all: water. I’m referring to fluoridated water, and the “forced-medication” of the planet’s prime life supply – drinking water. The practice, which…
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Phuket Opinion: Teaching that it’s not rude, it’s just culture
Madunan Chehteek, 47, is a native of Yala who left school at age 15 and came to Phuket to work at age 19. He held various positions at Phuket resorts, working his way up to receptionist, then was a tour guide for five years. He opened his shop, the Madunan shirt and souvenir shop, on the bypass road in 1997.Here,…
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Phuket Opinion: When democracy requires protest
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is a political science professor and Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and an MA from Johns Hopkins University, and from 1998 to 2005, worked at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Here, he explains the recent Thai protests as a battle between those…
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Phuket Opinion: Hold the icy judgments of police volunteers
PHUKET: The arrest of well-known former Tourist Police Volunteer Gary Halpin, and the very serious charge of selling the illegal narcotic ya ice (crystal methamphetamine), rocked the Phuket expat community this week (story here). For many people in the local English-language media, the New Zealander was relied on as a valuable and trusted source of information on numerous high-profile cases…
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Phuket Opinion: Providing justice for aggrieved consumers
PHUKET: A friend came to see me the other day. He had a problem. He had fully paid for a pool to be built at his rental house. The pool, measuring only 6m x 8m, took the contractor 11 months to build – and within a few months of completion, it was falling apart. The concrete on the pool terrace…
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Phuket Opinion: Pushing for an Old Town revival
Phuket native Don Limnun-thaphisit, 49, is the project leader of Lardyai walking street and the head of the Phuket Old Town community. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Prince of Songkhla University in the faculty of Science. Here he talks about the need to revive Phuket Old Town and increase the popularity of the Lardyai street market with tourists.…
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Phuket Opinion: Mixing danger
PHUKET: The recent claim of drink spiking by a young British tourist who survived a two-storey fall from her Patong hotel room is just the latest in a long string of similar accusations by foreign tourists, the vast majority of which go unreported. Reliable sources in several units of the local Tourist Police have over the years said that claims…
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Phuket Opinion: Quest to conquer island transport
PHUKET: Mount Everest, K2, Cape Horn; the Sahara Desert – conquering these places represents the pinnacle of human potential and achievement. To this list, I would like to to add the streets of Phuket! For most, just a mere mention of the above places will conjure up images of sweat, tears, pain, joy, patience and adrenaline: all ingredients of “willpower”.…
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Phuket Opinion: Patong’s good-time juggernaut spins on
PHUKET: Reports that Patong Municipality hopes to install a huge Ferris wheel along the beach road have generated considerable interest within Phuket’s large and ever-growing expat community, and some skepticism with regard to the cost/benefit of such an erection.But the fact that this is even a serious topic of discussion clearly demonstrates just how good we have it here in…
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Phuket Opinion: Changing for a Safer Phuket
PHUKET: While wishing ‘Safer Phuket’ (story here) the best of luck in its difficult mission to raise marine-safety standards in local waters to international levels, it is clear that the new NGO’s success will depend on its ability to change a deeply-entrenched “culture of carelessness” that pervades locally, both on land and at sea. This will be no small challenge.…
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Phuket Opinion: Tackling power woes needs input from all
Natthaporn Kochsiripong, 34, is the Electricity Supply Assistant Manager at the Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA). A Bangkok native, Mr Natthaporn has a degree in engineering from Thammasat University and a master’s degree in management from Ramkhamhaeng University. Here, he talks about the electrical issues facing Phuket. PHUKET: Phuket has become an island that never sleeps. This has caused a…
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Phuket Opinion: Purchasing votes to run the island
Kittipong Thiengkunakrit, 57, has been the Director of the Phuket Election Commission for three years. He has a science degree from Prince of Songkhla University, an advanced diploma from the University of Paris and a master’s degree in public administration from the National Institute of Development Administration. Mr Kittipong is a lecturer on how to run elections, election law and…
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Phuket Opinion: Russian cold warms memories of Phuket
PHUKET: With all the recent talk about the influx of Russian tourists and expats to our island, I jumped at the chance to attend a Phuket Gazette exhibition in Moscow and see how the other half lives, as it were. Moscow, like any other large European city, has a wealth of grand historic architecture, museums, galleries and cultural attractions –…
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Phuket Opinion: Being connected helps save lives
PHUKET: We offer our sincerest condolences to the families of the many victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines last week, and commend the multiple relief efforts still underway here in Phuket to help residents on the islands of Samar and Leyte, the most badly affected areas. Among those who deserve praise are some familiar names, such as…
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Phuket Opinion: Who deserves a consul?
PHUKET: I read recently that the South Africans may open a consulate on Phuket (story here), and my first thought was, South Africans? They need a consulate? Apparently about 80,000 come here per year. It’s not that I think they don’t deserve a consulate, let them have one, by all means. But there’s another group of foreigners who live here…
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Phuket Opinion: Level ground
PHUKET: It is astounding to be in a place where so many “haves” and “have-nots” co-exist in such close proximity. We live on an island where trucks packed with rain-soaked illegal migrant workers are such a common sight that many of us have grown impervious to their suffering as we wait and hope for the traffic light ahead to turn…
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Phuket Opinion: Why I’m keeping my dumbphone
PHUKET: Life today is inundated with myriad marvelous advances in technology, not least in the realm of personal telecommunications. I can’t go anywhere without encountering the latest news, entertainment, music or point of view being delivered by a screen a short distance away, a friend within range of such a screen, or by someone’s smart phone. Even on this idyllic…
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Phuket Opinion: The high price of protests
PHUKET: Local outcry over the amnesty bill recently passed by the House is understandable, but there should be concern about establishing the island as a regional center for political protests. The protest last Sunday at Sanamchai, the large open field opposite Phuket Provincial Hall, was relatively peaceful given the huge number of people who took part (story here). Many came…
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Phuket Opinion: It’s everyone’s job to improve cyclists’ safety
Danny Ruangkanch, 54, is a Narathiwat native. He graduated from the California College of the Arts 29 years ago, and spent 10 years working abroad before coming back to Thailand. He came to Phuket 15 years ago and works as a freelance artist and Moderator of Thaimtb.com. He joined the Phuket Bicycle Club in 2000. Here he talks about how…
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Phuket Opinion: Slicing up Thailand’s cash cow
PHUKET: Reports of government plans to raise both arrival and departure taxes on foreign tourists reflect an almost complete lack of cohesion on tourism policy by government officials, and fly in the face of previous pronouncements that Thailand stands at the ready to become the “tourism hub” of the Asean region.The proposed increases, a 100-baht hike in airport departure tax…
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Phuket Opinion: Climate change of opinion
PHUKET: Whenever I read the letters in a national newspaper, or dare to utter the phrase “climate change” in a bar, someone invariably seems to want to take issue with the idea of global warming. There have always been skeptics – usually from vested commercial or political interests. Proponents of climate change have been branded “criminals” by Lord Monckton, advocates…
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Phuket Opinion: Warding off bad luck with a smile
PHUKET: Scams, robberies, thieves, taxi mafia… this place is evil, one might think. Especially if he gets his information from the internet, from online discussion forums and so on. Scary!Yet, in some mysterious way most of these evil things seem to happen to other people and almost never to me personally. Sure, visas are an everlasting struggle and I had…
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Phuket Opinion: The fine art of garnering government support
Anucha Deeviset, 35, is a freelance photographer and member of B&W Photo Phuket Club. A Chaiyaphum native, Mr Anucha has a photography degree from Rangsit University and spent 13 years working in production companies in Bangkok and Phuket before becoming a freelancer. Here, he talks about why more people don’t know about Phuket’s art scene and how the government can…
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Phuket Opinion: Scare tactics to keep Chinese safe
PHUKET: A few weeks ago I was swimming at Racha Island, in Batok Bay. When I got out past the breakers I found myself face-to-face with a Chinese man on a boogie board. He immediately struck up a conversation with me, asking where I was from. After determining that I do not speak Chinese and have no plans to visit…
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Phuket Opinion: New top cop staying tough on drugs
The new Phuket Provincial Police Commander, Ong-art Phiwruangnont, 59, is from Yasothon. He graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy and has spent his entire career in the police force. Before coming to Phuket, Maj Gen Ong-art was Provincial Police Commander in Nakhon Ratchasima.Here he talks about why his priority is eradicating drugs from Phuket, and why gambling should be…
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Phuket Opinion: A festival full of firecrackers
PHUKET: Credit must be given where it is clearly due: to the authorities who arrested more than 20 people for the illegal use or sale of dangerous fireworks during the recently concluded Vegetarian Festival (story here). The Phuket Provincial Police have sent out somewhat mixed signals in recent years with regard to what level of fireworks usage would be allowed…
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Phuket Opinion: Keeping the glory
PHUKET: Standing at the top of the tower at Khao Khad View Point, one is surrounded by a breathtaking vista. What a marvelous project it is, with footpaths meandering through the pleasant woods below – and, yet, on closer inspection, this iconic Phuket landmark is crumbling to pieces. The painted cement “boards” of the walkways below have caved in and…
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Phuket Opinion: Signs of Chaos
PHUKET: Thailand can claim credit for some of Southeast Asia’s most high-profile land transport boondoggles, yet often overlooked is the long-standing and scandalously in-your-face inadequacy of the Transport Ministry to provide drivers with one of the most basic motoring necessities: accurate and informative road signs. We live in an age of amazing geographic technology. Cars, cameras and other electronic gadgets…
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Phuket Opinion: No pesticides please, we’re only human
PHUKET: In the wake of the latest surge in dengue fever cases in Phuket and Thailand as a whole, the Public Health Ministry is once again stepping up its efforts to reduce if not eliminate the looming threat. At the core of the officials’ latest reactive strategy (now that’s an oxymoron!) is the so-called “3-3-3” campaign that in more words…
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