Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Sponsored 5 ways retirees in Thailand lose money (and how to stop it)
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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Island View: Put it on a stick
PHUKET: Food on a stick is a very important staple of street food in Thailand. Coming from the midwest region of the US, I can assure you that we too have our obsession with food on a stick. Every year, we anxiously await the announcement of new food booths at the state fair to see what concoctions have been invented.…
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Opinion: Cyclocops roam
PHUKET: THE recent launch of two-wheeled ‘Beach Police’ patrols at every police district on the island is a small, yet potentially positive pedal forward for a provincial police force that has developed a dubious reputation for ensuring tourist safety along our world-famous shorelines. But it’s sad that the initiative, ordered by Police Region 8, had to come in direct response…
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Opinion: On same-sex marriages
Robert R Virasin serves as managing director of Virasin and Partners. He is a licensed United States attorney and a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Houston Law School and Chulalongkorn University. Here he talks about the real issue with same-sex marriages and the legal obstacles that these couples face. PHUKET: After 15 years of…
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Opinion: Usual suspects
PHUKET: Authorities here in Phuket have acted sensibly in the wake of the recent terrorist bombing at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, stepping up security at popular tourist destinations across the island and urging the public not to unduly panic or believe everything they see in social media. Sadly, in this case, it was not only the social media where…
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Phuket’s aspirations call for new projects
Nisit Jansomwong, 52, from Ratchaburi, landed on the island in October 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 a year. Governor Nisit is pushing mega infrastructure projects in Phuket in order to…
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Opinion: I write for the trees
PHUKET: Construction is underway for the much anticipated and loathed underpass at the Bang Khu intersection with cranes in full swing and excavators making their rounds on what little patches of green are still left. While sitting at the red light recently, I was daydreaming of the beautiful new home that all the little shrubs, flowers and bushes would be…
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Opinion: After the flood
PHUKET: Recent flooding in many parts of the island will have come as little surprise to long-time Phuket residents, who have witnessed so many of the island’s natural drainage courses bulldozed and covered with concrete or asphalt over the years. Water-related issues seem to increasingly dominate our collective, social-media-driven reality. We are told that ‘El Nino’ was responsible for the…
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Opinion: Corruption battle
Law Professor Chaisit Trachoetham, 65, has been the Chairman of the State Audit Commission since 2014. He earned his Bachelor’s in Law from Thammasat University, where he is also a professor, and his Bar-at-law and Doctorate from Mahasarakam University. He has been a judge for 37 years, and is also a former president of the Court of Appeals and the…
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Opinion: In mourning
PHUKET: The Gazette joins the Phuket community in mourning the death of Paiboon Upatising, who passed away after a long battle against cancer last week. A descendent of Chinese immigrants, Mr Paiboon was a highly-successful businessman, who used his own good fortune to help those in need. In addition to having exclusive rights to sell Boon Rawd Brewery products on…
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On your mind: Realpolitik defines US/Thai relationship
PHUKET: Webster’s dictionary defines realpolitik as a system of politics based on a country’s situation and its needs, rather than on ideas about what is morally right and wrong. No doubt, US government officials would deny that realpolitik defines American policies, but it is hard to see any clear moral imperative with regard to that country’s relationship with Thailand. The…
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Opinion: Fishing for change
Capt Preecha Tuntiruk, 41, of the Third Naval Area Command is head of Phuket’s Port In-Port Out (PIPO) Center. Originally from Samut Songkhram, Capt Preecha graduated from the Royal Thai Naval Academy in 1997. Here, he talks about why PIPO is necessary in Phuket and what role it takes in fighting the battle against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing vessels.…
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Opinion: Taking up space
PHUKET: If you have ever been to Tesco Lotus or Big C – I will go out on a limb to say that most of us on the island have – did you ever park your vehicle in a handicapped parking spot if you are not handicapped? I hope not. If you have, stop being selfish and give the spot…
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Opinion: Sterilizing Phuket strays
John Dalley, originally from Leeds in the United Kingdom, is the president of the Soi Dog Foundation. John worked as a chemical plant manager for many years before retiring in 2002. In September 2003, he became involved with the Soi Foundation when it first started in Phuket. Here, he talks about the soi dog problem in Phuket, and Thailand, the…
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Opinion: Gambling in Thailand: Out with the old, in with the new
PHUKET: There has been a lot in the news lately about gambling. One recent Gazette article discussed the history that Thailand has had with this recreational activity and noted that it originally came here with Chinese immigrants. As late 19th century western leaders found gambling to be crude and thought it synonymous with crime, King Rama V led the government…
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Opinion: War on drink
PHUKET: Enforcement of Thailand’s Alcohol Beverage Control Act has been inconsistent since it was passed in 2008. Restricting it further will penalize those who play by the rules, while heaping more reward on those who do not. Some of the more rational aspects of the act, such as banning the sale of alcohol at roadside service stations, have been fairly…
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Opinion: Phuket’s only woman lifeguard stands tall
Jongdee Haemkaew, 35, from Songkhla, is the assistant sport and recreational manager at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. A former taekwondo athlete with a bachelor’s degree in health and sport science from Thaksin University in Pattalung, Ms Jongdee is the first female lifeguard on Phuket and one of the first to be certified by Surf Life Saving Australia. She has…
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Opinion: Use Article 44 to take down the dolphinarium
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette endorses the recent call by SKAL and several other groups in petitioning Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul to put to an end, once and for all, to the plans to open a “dolphinarium” in Chalong. In their letter to the minister, SKAL makes a succinct yet highly compelling 12-point argument against the dolphinarium, which has…
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Opinion: The lay of the land
Dr Sangdao Wongsai, 35, from Bangkok, is a professor at Prince of Songkhla University’s Phuket campus. She graduated with a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the King Mongkut University of Techonology in Thonburi, before earning a Doctorate in Applied Statistics from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She now teaches statistics and researches geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing.…
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Opinion: Traffic bubble buster
PHUKET: There is a social glue that seems to be forcing more and more drivers to a complete standstill at red lights in Phuket than ever before. However, it only takes one weak link in the proverbial chain for old habits to kick in, along with first gear. Depending on how long ago you arrived on the island, the significant…
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Opinion: Thailand’s embarassing ‘war on drugs’
PHUKET: The recent revelation that the Thai Postal Service is being used to transship large quantities of illicit drugs is just the latest in a long list of embarrassments in our country’s effort to combat recreational drug use. As far back as 1943, the government passed the Krathom Act in a bid to halt declining revenues from the government-taxed opium…
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Opinion: Soi animals: Good, bad, scary, weird
PHUKET: There are many tales told, time and time again, by Phuket residents of good, bad, scary or weird encounters they’ve had with stray animals who live their lives on the streets of this island. The stray dog problem was recently cast into the spotlight in Rawai and Nai Harn. However, this problem is not exclusive to the south of…
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Opinion: Human rights
PHUKET: The plan by Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos to ban migrant workers from keeping dogs is unlikely to have much of an effect on dog populations in the area; the scheme not only fails to address the main cause of the problem, but also shifts the blame to the most convenient scapegoat. Predictably, news of the proposed ban has set…
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Opinion: Accessing a world of change
Todd Lemons is the founder of InfiniteEARTH (infinite-earth.com), a Hong Kong-based project development company whose mission is “to move the world from an unsustainable extractive economy to a sustainable replacement economy by changing the way [we] view the consumption and pricing of goods…” Here is his commencement address to the Class of 2015 at the British International School Phuket last…
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Opinion: Big media blunders [video]
PHUKET: Earlier this month, the Ambassador for Nepal, HE Khaga Nath Adhikari, came to Phuket to ask for our help in rebooting Nepal’s crippled tourism sector – an industry that, before the May earthquakes, accounted for about 50 per cent of the country’s annual GDP. The Ambassador’s message was that – despite news reports to the contrary – Nepal has…
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Opinion: Last chance to rid Phuket of jet-skis
PHUKET: Officials’ reactions to efforts by one resort to spare its guests the annoyance and dangers posed by jet-skis indicate that this plague on Phuket’s tourism industry is highly-resistant, defying everything from common sense to existing Thai maritime law. It remains mystifying how this particular industry has somehow been spared the law-and-order crackdown that has gone a long way toward…
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Opinon: Life-saving lessons
Prathaiyut Chuayuan, 50, from Phuket, is the president of Phuket Lifeguard Club (PLC). He graduated from Prince of Songkhla University, Pattani campus, with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He was involved in exchange programs in England and Australia related to life-saving services. He started his first job as a lifeguard at Le Meridien in Phuket in 1998. He has…
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Opinion: A stone’s throw
PHUKET: It is imperative that you have excellent defense driving skills in Phuket, especially if you are a daily commuter on some of the island’s busiest roads, such as Thepkrasattri. Drivers stop in front of you and park without warning, and people switch lanes without signaling and open car doors without looking. And, as I found out on my way…
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Opinion: Too good to be true
PHUKET: The recent proposal to launch a potentially free shuttle service for tourists transiting at Phuket International Airport is an excellent idea. However, islanders should not be optimistic about such a service being available any time soon. Until the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) came to power just over a year ago, Phuket’s tourism economy suffered brazen abuse…
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Island View: For cyclists’ sakes
PHUKET: There has been a lot of talk lately about bike safety throughout the nation, with even the idea of cyclists needing some sort of licence being considered. Concerns were made ever more vocal after last month’s road deaths up north in Chiang Mai and Bangkok where a total of five cyclists were killed within a two-day span. It wasn’t…
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Opinion: Stop national park plunder
PHUKET: The recent request by the Sirinath Marine National Park chief to invoke Article 44 of the interim Charter in order to speed up the investigation and prosecution of long-standing land encroachment cases raises important questions and concerns. Use of Article 44 would speed up the judicial process in encroachment cases already in the court system and hasten the Land…
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