Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Phuket Opinion: Memories of Mario
PHUKET: Having grown up in the 1980s and 1990s in a middle-class American suburb, much of my outlook on life was admittedly influenced, if not framed, by an ingenious team of Japanese programmers and script writers.Indeed, the original Nintendo Entertainment System (launched in the US in 1985) provided an invaluable framework for the formation and development of some of the…
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Phuket Opinion: Shooting for Island Justice
PHUKET: The failure of police to bring to justice the man who shot and killed 21-year-old Ekkasit Sangangam in the heart of Phuket Town in early May last year will come as little surprise to veteran observers of Thailand’s criminal justice system. A low-ranking officer assigned to the Patong Police was arrested and charged within minutes of the shooting, which…
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Phuket Opinion: Refugee runaways – shelters aren’t jails
Jiranun Cheamcharoen, 46, from Ratchaburi, received a BA from Thammasat University and an MA from Ramkhamhaeng University. She has been a social worker since 1991 and the director of the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families on Koh Sireh for four years. Here, she talks about the difficulties of housing Rohingya children and what action she took after they ran…
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Phuket Opinion: Promoting Islam for Phuket youths, tourists
Maroj Thongyon, a 66-year-old Phuket native, has been a member of the committee of the Phuket Islamic Council since 1990 and is president of the Foundation Nurul Islamiah. Two years ago he took the position of Imam at the Nurulislam mosque in Patong. Here, he talks about the loss of cultural identity among Phuket Muslim youth and the opportunity to…
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Phuket Opinion: Exceptions, all of us
PHUKET: As children we were told that we were special, unique – exceptional. Those of us who have flocked to this little island have taken our parents’ words in stride and to heart. Individuals of every nationality in Phuket believe that they are an exception – an exception to everything: laws, moral creeds and consequences. I am without a doubt,…
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Phuket Opinion: Samsung’s new gilt trip
PHUKET: So there we were – me, my wife and our nearly 3-year-old daughter – sitting down for a family dinner together when the advertisement for Samsung’s latest technological marvel came on the television. A mother sends her son off to travel the world armed with only his wits, backpack, stunning girlfriend and of course his Samsung S4, reasonably priced…
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Phuket Opinion: Life-saving skills, English to the rescue
Juan Burana, 37, came from Surin to work in Phuket in 1995. He has been a Kusoldharm Foundation volunteer since 2003 and has worked as a rescue worker in Patong for the past four years.Here, he talks about what tourists can do to stay safe and what Kusoldharm can do to improve the skills of their staff and help save…
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Phuket Opinion: Culture of neglect holds steady path
PHUKET: Failure of local authorities to complete the multi-million baht “Sea Gypsy Cultural Center” on Koh Sireh in Rassada is just the latest in a long string of long-delayed projects on the island that highlights the inefficient use of taxpayer money and failings of bureaucracy – all at the teetering altar of “tourism promotion”. Millions of baht in funding for…
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Phuket Opinion: Airports welcoming pros, avoiding cons
Angkarn Yasanop, 29, graduated from the Sampran Royal Police Cadet Academy in Nakhon Pathom in 2007. After he served as an immigration officer at Phuket International Airport, he was moved to Phuket Town to work as an immigration office Sub-Inspector. Here he discusses the need to pair swift immigration processing at the airport with sufficient security. PHUKET: People are working…
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Phuket Opinion: Deputy PM adds insult to injury
PHUKET: Recent protests over inflammatory comments made in Chiang Mai by controversial Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi are just one small reflection of growing national unease with the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra. In an address to the people of Chiang Mai, Deputy PM Plodprasop said the refusal of the people of Phuket to elect a Pheu Thai Party candidate would…
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Phuket Opinion: Stop the tour bus insanity
PHUKET: The latest crash of a tour bus descending into Patong highlights yet again the need for tour bus operators – and drivers in particular – to take personal responsibility for the safety of passengers under their care. If it can be considered as such, the only good fortune in this latest tragedy is that no lives were lost and…
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Phuket Opinion: Coordinate manpower to corral illegal taxis
Manaporn Likitmanon, a 31-year-old Songkhla native, was a Police Investigator at Samut Sakhon Immigration from 2008 to 2012 before returning south last year to become a Highways Police Inspector covering the tri-province area of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. Here he talks about how to solve the problem of metered and illegal taxis in Phuket. PHUKET: We have received many…
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Phuket Opinion: Let the taxis go free
PHUKET: I saw many things of interest in Bangkok last week, including a woman riding a motorbike with a squirrel on her shoulder. But the sweetest sights of all were the little red lights that peeped out here and there between tuk-tuks, trucks and cars on the busy streets of the capital. They spelled out waang in Thai, or “free”…
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Phuket Opinion: Finding a cure for overloaded courts
Parinya Chaowalittawin, 45, took up the position of Chief Judge at Phuket Provincial Court on April 1. Originally from Trang, Judge Parinya has Bachelor’s of Law, Barrister-at-law and Master of Law degree from Ramkhamhaeng University. He has served as a judge for 17 years. Here, he explains what needs to be done to help clear the backlog of cases at…
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Phuket Opinion: Keeping pace with disaster
PHUKET: The construction of a wall along Kamala Beach that could be a barrier during an emergency evacuation once again highlights the need for constant vigilance and above all, common sense in the never-ending preparation for a tsunami or other natural disaster. Few places on Phuket were hit harder than Kamala, where the bathymetry and onshore topography allowed the surging…
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Phuket Opinion: Tourist abduction, another sign of transport greed
PHUKET: The allegations of abduction of a female Chinese tourist by an illegal taxi driver operating out of Phuket International Airport once again highlight the need for a comprehensive overhaul of Phuket’s arcane, baroque and disreputable “public transport system” (story here). The shocking allegations against “independent” taxi driver Paitoon Kruain could not have come at a more conspicuous time: just…
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Phuket Opinion: Proactive CCTV use necessary to protect resorts
Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) Vice President Bhuritt Maswongssa, 51, is also the Vice Chairman of the Patong Resort hotel. He received law degrees from both Ngee Ann College in Singapore and Ramkhamhaeng University in Thailand. In the wake of a recent spate of hotel robberies across the island, he discusses how to boost hotel and resort security. PHUKET: More than…
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Phuket Opinion: For the Love of Bob
PHUKET: Many years ago, backpacking through Malaysia, I found myself at a hostel one night swapping stories and listening to a fellow traveller playing guitar and singing.When the dreadlocked musician asked if any of us had any requests I jumped in with “play some Bob Marley” assuming that he would have at least a dozen Marley songs in his repertoire.His…
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Phuket Opinion: Meth-ods for drug abuse prevention
PHUKET: Dr Ruangsit Netnuanyai, the psychiatric social worker who runs the drug treatment center at Vachira Phuket Hospital, is absolutely right that more needs to be done to prevent youths from falling into the potentially fatal trap of drug abuse (story here). As he notes, this effort should start with the most commonly abused substance among young Thais: methamphetamine, known…
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Phuket Opinion: Looking for privacy for Phuket’s addicts
Psychiatric Social Worker Dr Ruangsit Netnuanyai, 36, is a Phuket native who has been working at Vachira Phuket Hospital for 13 years. He is the head of the drug-treatment program at Vachira and also does research on drug treatment for young addicts. Here, he talks about drug addiction in Phuket and calls for a new drug-treatment center and drug education…
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Phuket Opinion: Finding life balance through Daodexinxi
Sopin Koaysomboon, a 53-year-old Phuket native, is a vice president of the Phuket Daodexinxi International Club. She has been practicing Daodexinxi for more than three years. Here, she talks about how to improve our lives with exercise, meditation, songs and charity. PHUKET: People in the modern world are making a great deal of unnecessary sacrifices. Youths give up their vital…
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Phuket Opinion: Tourist Court, another pie in the sky
PHUKET: Recent talk of establishing a special court to fast-track legal cases involving foreign visitors raises some interesting issues, but at the end of the day is unlikely to result in little more than that: just talk. The reasons put forward to establish such a court are probably well-intended and certainly easy enough to understand. Thailand’s tourism industry is a…
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Phuket Opinion: Year-long road safety in Phuket
PHUKET: The nationwide Songkran Seven Days of Danger road-safety campaign was deemed to be a raging success on Phuket, with only one fatality on the island’s roads during that period. The strong police presence and abundance of police checkpoints definitely made a difference. But the checkpoints have vanished along with the police. Is that their work for the year done?…
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Phuket Opinion: Partners for life
Jeerattakarn Nuannum, 30, was born in Phuket and graduated from Phuket Rajabhat University. After joining Phuket’s renowned Simon Cabaret Show as a performer in 2002, the Phuket native became a fashion model at Phuket Pop Top Model in 2008. Here, Jeerattakarn explains what rights the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community expect to be granted if Thailand moves ahead…
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Phuket Opinion: Speak up for public transport
Jaturong Kaewkasi, a 41-year-old native of Pattani, has been the Chief Transport Technician of the Phuket Land Transport Office for one year. He has a master’s degree in Social Development from Yala Rajabhat University and before coming to Phuket worked as a transport technician in Bangkok. Here, he talks about how to convince people to use buses in order to…
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Phuket Opinion: Plenty to do, if you can get there
PHUKET: Participants in popular online forums indicate that long-time expatriate residents of Phuket tend to decry the changes that have transformed the island over the past two decades, yet fail to appreciate many of the positive developments that have taken place over the same period. In this space since 1994, we have chronicled, criticized and editorialized – often in futility…
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Phuket Opinion: Paradise found
PHUKET: I lived on Racha Yai Island for five years, teaching English to the staff at the luxury resort there, and I support the local conservation group that wants to ensure that restaurants and hotels deal properly with their wastewater and garbage, and allow streams to flow freely to the sea.I love nature, but I’m no enviro-activist. I don’t have…
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Phuket Opinion: Taking responsibility for Phuket’s garbage
Environmental specialist Nutthakrit Polpetch, 45, is the director of the Phuket office of Natural Resources and Environment. He has a bachelor’s degree in Forestry from Kasetsart University. A native of Phattalung, he has lived in Phuket for 20 years. Here he talks about how managing organic garbage in Phuket can reduce garbage and also create useful products. PHUKET: I am…
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Phuket Opinion: Let Songkran sanity prevail
PHUKET: As this edition arrives at newsstands across the island, readers can judge for themselves whether the Royal Thai Police are adequately enforcing the controversial nationwide ban on using pickups and other conveyances to fuel roadside water fights over the Songkran holidays.We sincerely hope that the ban will have a significant impact on the number of deaths and injuries related…
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Phuket Opinion: Solving water problems with rain, prisoners, and solar
PHUKET: Many places on this planet, including Phuket, are going through one of the driest spells of the last decade. My home state of Colorado is no exception. Denver, the state’s capital, only two weeks ago declared a stage-two drought, based on a scale on which four is an emergency.With its two prime reservoirs at 59% and 73% capacity (sound…
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