Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns.
-
Sponsored Long-term life in Thailand? 5 reasons private health insurance pays off in the long run
Thailand is a great place for expats and retirees, offering a warm climate, affordable living, and rich culture. However, healthcare can be tricky for foreigners since they aren’t eligible for public health coverage, and private care can be expensive. Private...
-
Phuket Opinion: Burning desire to keep island’s flames at bay
Puchong Manavakrit is a volunteer firefighter with the Phuket City Municipality Fire Department. Born and raised in Phuket, Mr Puchong is in his final year for a computer engineering degree at Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus. He has been a volunteer firefighter since he was 18 years old. Here, he explains what is needed to save the lives of…
-
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”.…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
Phuket Opinion: Click to care
PHUKET: Sharing a link on Facebook may save a whale or a starving child in Africa, but if the number of clicks truly count, then what headlines people look at highlight where our genuine interests are – and it’s shameful. The statistics available through Google Analytics, shown clearly on the Phuket Gazette Forum, are depressing, and I know I am…
-
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…
-
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 –…
-
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…
-
Phuket Opinion: Preserving the essence of Phuket
General Manager of Business and Network Development at DaimlerChrysler (Thailand) Co Ltd, Pannate Rangsinturat, 36, is a Phuket native. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a degree in international relations and has earned a master’s degree in European studies from Cambridge University. Here she talks about the changes she sees when she returns to Phuket and how they can be…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Phuket Opinion: The meter of madness
PHUKET: After landing at Phuket Airport on October 7, I passed all the scam businesses and made my way to the metered taxi stand.I’ve used it for years and know that despite the word “metered” in the name, the price is fixed, about 550 baht to Patong. But with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) visits, it’s a new era.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Phuket Opinion: SuperCheap inferno inevitable
PHUKET: We find astonishing the surprising lack of reaction to the catastrophe that took place last week when the entire SuperCheap complex on Thepkrasattri Road in Rassada went up in a fireball more closely resembling a World War II bombing than a scene on a tropical resort island. The fire was predicted in this space just 14 months ago (story…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Phuket Opinion: When testing water, don’t trust your eyes
Dr Somkiat Khokiattiwong, 54, is head of the Oceanography and Marine Environment Unit at the Phuket Marine Biological Center. A Phuket native, he has a master’s degree in oceanography from McGill University in Canada and a PhD in eco-toxicology from Southern Denmark University, Denmark. Here, he talks about how Patong can better handle its treated wastewater. PHUKET: It is one…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Phuket Opinion: Out of the house, into a brave new world
The Chief of the Phuket Women’s Development Fund is 52-year-old Natthaporn Phanitpichatewon. A Chiang Mai native, she has lived in Phuket for 30 years. She is a realtor and board member of the Phuket Red Cross and the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center.Here she talks about why women shouldn’t stay home and how she helps women start their own businesses.…
-
Phuket Opinion: Hailing a new era
Prasat Pechwang, 56, is a Phuket native. He earned a BA from King Mongkut’s University of Technology in North Bangkok, majoring in Electrical Engineering. He started working at Saudi Oger Company Ltd in 1981 and moved to We-Ef Lighting Company Ltd in 1987. He has been a taxi driver with Phuket Taxi Meter Service Company Limited for ten years. Here,…
-
Phuket Opinion: The testing paradox
PHUKET: Obtaining a driver’s license on our island is a paradoxical task.It is an ostensibly simple process, all done within one building and in eight hours, driving lessons optional – which may rev your confidence up – but it’s fussiness has been known to trip up even those with decades of driving experience.A mere inch of yellow line-overstepping during the…
-
Phuket Opinion: “Tis the season to crack down
PHUKET: A recent crackdown on Westerners working illegally in the marine leisure industry has generated a great deal of comment from readers, yet the debate focused almost solely on Thailand’s notoriously vague definition of what constitutes work, while missing out on some fundamental aspects of the issue.Comments posted on the Gazette website failed to reference the fact that arrests of…
-
Phuket Opinion: Tourist Court vs Holiday Justice
PHUKET: The opening of a new court to resolve non-criminal cases involving foreign tourists in Phuket tomorrow is a welcome step in the right direction, but only time will tell if the initiative will achieve its goal of bringing about prompt justice for visitors and improving Thailand’s image as a tourist destination abroad. When the idea of establishing such a…
-
Phuket Opinion: Chow for a champion cheap charlie
PHUKET: First thing I did when I got out of prison last week was go to my favorite Thai-Muslim eatery and scoff down a brunch of champions – fried fish, veggies, Chernobyl-strength namprik (chili sauce), with plenty of rice and a fried egg to prevent me from spontaneously combusting.It cost less than half the price of an equally voluminous plate…
-
Phuket Opinion: Beauty is only skin deep – even in paradise
PHUKET: The emergence of Phuket as an important regional center for plastic surgery is great news for the local economy, but raises some important ethical concerns about elective surgeries in general. Throughout history, people – especially women – have wanted to look their best. Until very recently, however, the only certain way to achieve this came, like everything worthwhile in…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.