Crisis of tourist safety

The string of bad PR incidents that have left behind an alarming number of dead and seriously injured visitors to the Kingdom are greatly compounded by inaction or worse on the part of police and can only be countered by strict reform of local law enforcement agencies

Published: 2 Dec 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

On Tuesday in Australia, Channel Nine's A Current Affair programme called the actions of Koh Samui police "callous, calculated and evil" as they attempted to extort money last month from a man after his fiancee, 24-year-old dancer and sportscaster Nicole Fitzsimons, died in a motorcycle accident.

On Thursday in The Sun, a British tabloid, a prominent story about a violent attack in October by a machete-wielding "rape gang" of Thai youths on a young British couple in Ao Nang, Krabi, included many details of other such cases, scams and safety issues around the Kingdom.

The Evil Man of Krabi YouTube video, made by the father of an alleged rape victim also in Ao Nang, Krabi, in July, has garnered more than 500,000 views since Oct 23.

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Wally
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Discussion 15 : 02 Dec 2012 at 09.1415
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You made the point that is very true, from the western perspective it is understood occasionally things can happen, so it is always better to be honest about it, cover ups are always viewed with suspicion. It is also not news to the Thais that the police is basically a legalized criminal organization, however that is unlikely to change as it is the bedrock of all the criminality that is built upon up from the bureaucracy to the politicians. All facets protect and rely each other and thus the system is self perpetuating.
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tcr
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Discussion 14 : 02 Dec 2012 at 09.1214
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Corrupt police are the root of the problem. They allowed that hotel in Chiang Mai to clean everything up before they arrived. And then said there were no problems. Same thing in Phi Phi. Right.

Embassy officials continually complain to Thai authorities. But it doesn't help. We still have the jet ski scams, tuk tuk mafia, etc.
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amerman
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Discussion 13 : 02 Dec 2012 at 08.3113
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Nice story but the truth of the matter is nothing will ever be done to address this problem. The Thai government doesn't care. The Tourisim Dept doesn't care and for sure the Police don't care.
Tourist are only for one thing. MONEY The mind set in Thailand is the tourist are a walking talking ATM machine. Get all the money you can from them and send them home.
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oldairman
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Discussion 12 : 02 Dec 2012 at 08.1012
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The ostrich syndrome might be one way of deescribing it. If you bury your head in the sand you can't hear or see things happening therefore they didn't happen.
A large part of Thailands problem is that while there are a great many laws only a fraction are ever enforced and the more money you have the easier it is to make things go away.
I have been living in a small village in rural Thailand for years now and find that out in the countryside is a completely different Thailand and I now visit big cities only when I have to.
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drsmith
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Discussion 11 : 02 Dec 2012 at 07.5911
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When the majority of the country makes 300 baht per day or less, college graduates 15,000 baht or less how do you claim Thailand is upper middle income? Compared to who? Cambodia and Burma? Well both of those countries sandwiched between Thailand are deeply entrenched in the third world. Ranking 37th in the world out of 40 in education means Thailand is not an educated, developing nation, it is third world. Lack of equal law enforcement, no enforcement for the rich and massive govt corruption are all traits of being smack in the middle of the 3rd world
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amazed
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Discussion 10 : 02 Dec 2012 at 07.3810
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Of course there are far more cases that could have been reported but weren't. It doesn't take long when talking to authorities to interpret what is heard, compared to the officers in their own countries, as questionable to say the least. I'm sure many drop any thought of reporting anything to anyone because at that point, who can you trust? Even good cops who have many opportunities to witness illegal activity by fellow officers won't report because the bad apples are so organized and in big enough numbers that retaliation becomes a real concern. But there's always room under the rug, isn't there?
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NangrongJ
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Discussion 9 : 02 Dec 2012 at 07.389
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Considering the amount of foreigners that come to Thailand these crimes are small compared to many other cities and countries. However, what makes Thailand different is the incompetence and corruption of the police, at least in most other countries the police can be trusted, not here sadly.

Whilst we focus on these crimes what has not been focused on is the biggest killer of ex-pats - road safety. This is the last thing on a tourists mind but the biggest risk and nothing is being done about it in the Kingdom.
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barryw
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Discussion 8 : 02 Dec 2012 at 07.148
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I have lived in Thailand for nearly 20 years and I have yet to hear a Thai apologise or accept responsibility for anything. To do so would be to lose face, and that has to be avoided at all costs - sometimes even resulting in murder. Where I come from, 5-year olds deny deny deny, but eventually mature enough to admit and learn from their mistakes. Thais remain firmly at the 5-year old stage.
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GenetheMachine
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Discussion 7 : 02 Dec 2012 at 06.597
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The sheer audacity of the Koh Samui police in blaming the innocent victim and demanding money from him at a time a great personal tragedy appalls the rest of the civilized world. It is the epitome of corruption. Because many of these incidents of corruption involve high level police officers the world sees this as the normal way crimes are handled in Thailand. Police need to start acting like law enforcing police and protect all people.
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nicholas
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Discussion 6 : 02 Dec 2012 at 05.376
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Having ,lived here for a number of years and also being an ex-police officer, I find it incredulous that the attitude of the Police especially in crimes against tourists( be it accidents or even assaults ) is carried out the way it is.
Thailand Government officals especially the Police seem to be completely indifferent to this situation,their investigative skills are poor, as they seem to rely on coerced confessions rather than facts and the truth. Victims are at their mercy and they ( The Police ) know it. The situation must change but as corruption is endemic it will take a very strong leader to do that.
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Crisis of tourist safety | Bangkok Post: opinion