Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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Sunday Opinion: Phuket Town could become a driver for island-wide dining
PHUKET: Phuket Town’s plan to apply for listing as a UNESCO “City of Gastronomy”, if carried out, would be one of the more rational overtures put to the United Nations (UN) by Thailand in recent years. But it’s premature to think that we’ll soon be seeing a wave of ‘gastro-tourists’ coming to Phuket to sample the local cuisine. [See story,…
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Phuket Opinion: Pink buses delivering people, promises and dreams
PHUKET: The recent expansion of the poh thong (pink bus) public transport service to the people of Koh Sireh is not only great news for some of the poorest residents of Phuket Town, but also gives long-suffering tourists an overdue, low-cost travel option. The latest route’s eastern terminus at Laem Tukkae will be a blessing for many, from the poor…
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Phuket Opinion: Has the Convention Center project become a farce?
PHUKET: The latest turn in the decades-old saga of Phuket’s fruitless efforts to build a world-class convention and exhibition center taxes the nation’s credibility. It recently came to the attention of the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning that the140 rai of coastal land slated for the project lies in a “tsunami risk” zone, necessitating the need…
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Phuket Opinion: Captive dolphins pitied, even in the Land of Smiles
PHUKET: The recent announcement that a Canadian investor has sought provincial support for his plan to develop a 900-million-baht aquarium, resort and retail facility in Rawai has generated much debate over the ethics of keeping dolphins in captivity. Soon after the announcement that dolphin performances were slated to be among the attractions at the aquarium, forum comments and letters arguing…
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Phuket Opinion: Policy on Thai residency should not be secret
PHUKET: It’s time for the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to set up a special task force to begin fast-tracking the processing of the huge backlog of permanent residency (PR) applications it is now sitting on in silence. Such a move would have multiple benefits for all parties involved, including, especially, foreign investors (potential and extant) and Thailand’s all-important tourism industry.…
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Phuket Island View: Sidecars extremely dangerous, but not to worry
PHUKET: The crackdown on motorbike passengers having to wear helmets has been excellent, though it hasn’t stopped parents from carrying babies, talking on a mobile phone, or smoking (or all three) while driving.I understand the trusty Honda Dream is the sole mode of transport for many families on Phuket, and that if they could afford something with four wheels they…
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Phuket Opinion: ‘No budget’ no excuse for road mayhem
PHUKET: Last year we pointed out the irony of the central government’s nine-million-baht investment in the Patong City welcome sign on the Patong Hill road, at a time when local authorities were telling us it was impossible to come up with the meager funds needed to simply paint lines on that notorious road. Now, five months later, the bizarre sign…
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Phuket Opinion: Keeping the cops out of the drug business
PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette wishes the new City police superintendent the best of luck in his effort to rid Phuket of illegal drug use and police corruption. He is certainly going to need it. It is normal for newly-appointed government officers taking up key posts to state policy objectives, and those of Pol Col Chote Chitchai are irrefutably noble. Col…
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Phuket Opinion: Bull elephants should be banned from Thai tourism
PHUKET: The terrible stomping death of a Swiss tourist by a berserk male elephant last week once again underscores the need to restrict tourism work to female elephants, as many operators who provide these services already do. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full issue.) Riding through the jungle on the…
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Phuket Opinion: Beach nipples not naughty
PHUKET: I note there is no space [for a reader to] comment on Blair Christopher’s online story ‘Phuket Nipple Alert: Staying abreast of nude on our beaches’. (See story here.) So [as a Phuket resident] I’d like to comment here on how it is apparently perfectly acceptable for the male walking along the beach in the accompanying picture to have…
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PHUKET OPINION: Guns and gangs not child’s play
PHUKET: Just hours before this editorial was written, friends of slain Phuket teenager Surachai (‘Neung’) Takuasook were burning his remains in the furnace of the crematorium in Baan Don village. (See front page story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) The shiny white coffin used to house Surachai’s body until it…
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PHUKET OPINION: Why not support a bit of heart for unlucky tourists?
PHUKET: The plan by the Phuket Tourist Police to build a shelter for foreign tourists who fall on hard times is laudable and long overdue, as evidenced by the number of hard luck cases whose travails have been chronicled in the Phuket Gazette for many years. Exact details of the plan have yet to be revealed, but Ekachai Pramanakul, chief…
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Phuket Opinion: Let’s get the sea gypsies off our list of tourist attractions
PHUKET: The ‘Sea Gypsy Summit’ recently held in Phuket sheds a great deal of light on the many issues currently facing the people of the Andaman Sea as they try to maintain the language, culture and traditions handed down to them by their ancestors. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full…
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PHUKET OPINION: Put the alcohol ban on ice
PHUKET: While possibly well-intended, the recently announced ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in Thailand’s 110 national parks is just one more addition to the long and growing list of regulations that are difficult or impossible to enforce – and that probably do more harm than good. The new rule, announced over the recent holiday period, calls not…
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OPINION: Mentality change needed for safe water
PHUKET: Water-related issues are a constant source of complaints received both at the Phuket Gazette editorial offices and at Provincial Hall. A recent online poll revealed a great deal of confusion among readers as to whether or not household tap water is safe to drink. Overall, less than 20 per cent of those taking part in the poll thought it…
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OPINION: Street Show a great event for Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket Street Show festival last weekend was a wonderful coming out party for Old Phuket Town following its recent facelift. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) Whoever came up with the idea to host world-class street performers in the old quarter is to be given a great…
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OPINION: Phuket truly a leader in education
PHUKET: Construction of the new international school with a Chinese-language curriculum is good news for Phuket. [See front page story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.] The school will provide an important new option for parents who want to position their children to tap the potential of the world’s most-populous nation…
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Phuket Opinion: Fire lanterns out of control
PHUKET: The festive season is upon us and visitors from around the world continue to pour into Phuket in what is shaping up to be a banner high season for tourism – at least in terms of arrivals. Use of khom loy (“fire lanterns”) is increasingly common during festivals in Phuket and the night sky above our island was replete…
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Phuket Opinion: Dogs trump humans against drugs
PHUKET: A police officer this week was able to sniff out thousands of poorly-concealed ya bah (methamphetamine) pills being smuggled onto the island in a car at the Tah Chat Chai police checkpoint. (See story, current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers click here to download the full newspaper.) This raises the question of why detection dogs are not…
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Phuket Opinion: Good news for medical tourism
PHUKET: Results of a recent Phuket Gazette readers’ poll provide an interesting glimpse into how Phuket’s expatriate community feels about private healthcare services on the island. (See statistics in this week’s issue of the newspaper. Digital subscribers click here.) The poll question asked readers to rate the overall the quality of treatment offered at private hospitals and clinics in Phuket.…
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Phuket Opinion: Making sense of the numbers game
PHUKET: Our story this week about violent crime in Phuket set off a lively, multi-sided discussion in the Gazette readers forum, with several contributors pondering the relationship between police statistics and the actual situation on the ground. Dismissing the report as irrelevant, some pointed to the astonishing number of reported cases of prostitution: 1,692 in the whole province for the…
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PHUKET OPINION: Road lines too cheap to catch attention?
PHUKET: There are some grandiose schemes underway to accommodate the rising number of vehicles plying Phuket’s roads, which is growing at a higher rate than ever with some 500 new registrations every month. Few hold out much hope that the stranglehold on public transport by the island’s widely detested syndicates will ever be seriously addressed – at least in areas…
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Phuket Opinion: Making a meal of a festival
PHUKET: Our front page headline this week says it all: the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a serious commercial success. (See “Festival reels in millions” in the current issue of the Phuket Gazette. Digital subscribers can download their copy here.) Not only is this year’s festival being touted as the creator of a much-welcomed 200-million-baht boost to the island’s economy, but…
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PHUKET OPINION: Opening the door to devastation
PHUKET: A special notification issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) in July to break the impasse over the proposed Klong Koh Pee Road project will no doubt be treated as great news by the vast majority of Phuket people who work, study or relax at Saphan Hin. (See Governor retires, front page, current issue of the…
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Phuket Opinion: Muslim prayer rooms are part of local life
PHUKET: News that Rawai Municipality is considering building a surau (Muslim prayer facility) at Laem Phromthep has ruffled some feathers among Gazette readers, though at this stage it is difficult to understand why. Few details have been made available about the project because it is just in the conceptual stages. However, that fact hasn’t stopped readers from expressing concern that…
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PHUKET OPINION: New market a boon for Old Phuket
PHUKET: The soft opening of the new municipal wet market in Phuket Town last weekend was a major achievement by the municipality, one that could mark an important turning point in its efforts to transform Old Phuket Town into a meaningful tourist destination. Given the months of effort needed to convince the vendors to return to their old Ranong Rd…
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Phuket Opinion: bus U-turn may be red herring
PHUKET: Plans to introduce an “experimental” U-turn channel for the big inter-provincial buses slated to depart Phuket’s new bus terminal on Thepkrasattri Rd exhibit a novel approach to a vexing problem. But the enterprise is likely to confuse motorists who are unfamiliar with the somewhat unique, if not tragic, behavior we witness daily on the roads of Phuket. Let us…
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OPINION: Should Phuket be more of a colony?
PHUKET: Consider the humble ant. Ever industrious and capable of astonishing engineering feats, she comfortably air conditions her entire polity, maintains traffic control so no one ever experiences a fatal collision, and supports avidly the concepts of sufficiency economy and Gross Domestic Happiness.She lives in a crime-free, environmentally friendly colony, without recourse to burning hydrocarbons.On Phuket, we too are highly…
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Phuket Opinion: ‘Terminal’ traffic ills can still be solved
PHUKET: Residents of Rassada Village 2 have good reason to complain about the lack of a public hearing before the construction of Phuket Bus Terminal 2 in their community. But now that the station has sat idle for seven months, it’s time for all stakeholders to sit down together and work out a solution acceptable to all sides. As long-term…
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Phuket Opinion: More dam projects needed
PHUKET: Work on the much-needed 5.7-million-cubic-meter Klong Krata reservoir in the foothills behind Wat Luangpu Supha in Chalong can finally proceed, now that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has finally approved a request by the Phuket Provincial Irrigation Office (PPIO) to use a 60-rai plot of Forest Department land needed to begin construction. The issues holding up…
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