Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Sponsored How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip
Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...
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Island View: End of circus show
PHUKET: I was deeply relieved to see justice served when the court in Phuket delivered a ‘not guilty’ verdict last week in the case against Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison of local news blog PhuketWan. Though there was a great amount of grandstanding, showboating and circus entertainment for the international media leading up to the trial, it was important that…
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Opinion: Monkey business
PHUKET: The recent arrest of a number of touts for the illegal possession of gibbons on Phi Phi Don Island reveals, yet again, the continuation of the pathetic practice of using exotic animals as props to make money from uneducated tourists in Thailand. On a somewhat brighter note, the fact that the arrest followed images being sent to the Gazette…
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First Person: Small hospital with big debt
Dr Sirichai Silpa-archa has been the director of Patong Hospital since 2013. Prior to becoming hospital director, he worked at Vachira Phuket Hospital for 26 years. He earned his medical degree from Chulalongkorn University, and later a specialist degree in urology from Chiang Mai University. Here he talks about the trials and tribulations of managing a small, local hospital trying…
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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: 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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Opinion: Love for Bangkok unshaken
PHUKET: Last night I was three blocks away from the tragic bomb blast at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok. Like so many nights when I am in the capital city, I stay at a nearby hotel and walk around that same corner to capture the unique flavor of a truly special place. Call it routine or else a beckoning call…
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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: 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: Real estate xenophobia
PHUKET: While some Thais are jittery about foreigners buying Thai real estate, particularly land in some form or another, they should remember that they themselves can buy real estate in most western countries, with the rationale being that one can never bring that piece of real estate back to one’s home country. It is also pertinent to remember that Thai…
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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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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: Packed prison
PHUKET: Credit is owed to the government for finally coming through with funding to build a much-needed and long overdue new prison for Phuket. It is well known that the existing Phuket Provincial Prison is dangerously overcrowded. With a maximum capacity of just 800, the 115-year-old facility currently holds more than 3,000 inmates – a recipe for disaster if ever…
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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: 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: Uphill safety battles
PHUKET: Accidents happen every day on the island – whether they are caused by drunk driving, running a red light or something else. I argue that the most serious accidents on our island occur during the rainy season on the hills in Patong, Kamala, Surin and Kata. Maybe some of these accidents are caused by ‘slippery roads’, as is often…
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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: 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: Bring back sun loungers, tourists will come again
Tommy Serban, 35, is the senior product manager of TUI Nordic, a tour operator in Scandinavia. He is originally from Copenhagen and has a master’s degree in business management. Mr Serban lived in Phuket from 2007 to 2010 and has been working with TUI Nordic for 14 years. Here, he discusses Nordic tourists’ concerns about Phuket, the current state of…
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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: 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: Lack of discipline
PHUKET: I have been driving various vehicles in Phuket on a daily basis for 12 years now. I started out riding a Honda Wave, before moving on to a car and a big bike. My 12 years of experience on the road has made me realize that people risk their lives every day because of their sheer lack of discipline.…
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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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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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