I would think that if Gen Prawit was truly a loyal friend to Gen Prayut and Gen Watcharapol, the two people who have power over him but seem very reluctant to take any action against him, he would do the honourable thing and resign to stop making life so difficult for these two.
Clinging to his position is only casting a shadow over and hurting people who are his friends. Where is the honour in that?
It seems to have been overlooked during the exposure of nefarious activities at Victoria's Secret Massage recently that the name of the establishment has been pilfered from the more illustrious and international outlet for slightly naughty women's lingerie and other things. I went there locally on a frantic last-ditch effort to buy a Christmas present for my wife and felt like I should have been wearing a dirty old mac and breathing heavily. As to the latter I probably was and sweating profusely because I was tailed by a couple of giggling and interested salesgirls who delighted in trying to show me somewhat provocative garments despite my protests.
Anyway, there is more fuel for the fire.
Re: The so-called power of a passport has got nothing to do with GDP (PostBag, Jan 19).
If that was the case then Cambodian and Vietnamese passports along with many other Southeast Asian countries would surely be able to make similar claims as their GDPs are substantially higher than Thailand's. An individual's passport is the property of the state and by that fact alone the passport's so-called power is reflective of the how the state is perceived and its treatment of its citizens, not the amount of GDP the state generates.
Last week an illness left me sitting at home with plenty of free time for reading. I was enjoying a wonderful book set in Istanbul 200 years ago when the author detailed a real event that had taken place in that time.
It concerned the Janissary Corps which had once been an elite military force recognised for its effectiveness and training.
This force, however, regressed into a privileged hereditary class allowed to partake in a wide array of businesses and trades exempt from taxes and finally a threat to its rulers and civilians.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I recognised this behaviour but have trouble remembering where.
Re: The great tourist rip-off, (PostBag, Jan19).
The debate has been unfolding in this country for a very long time and Jack Gilead is right that it is blatant theft but the dual-pricing strategy practised by the Neon Market food vendor is nothing more than the extension of the government practice of overcharging non-Thais at all national parks, monuments, famed temples and museums.
Other tourist attractions have just followed suit and that is why many taxis, restaurants and hotels will maintain separate price details, one for locals and another for non-locals.
Dual pricing relies on information asymmetry, that is the intended target shall preferably not be aware that it exists; some restaurants often have a menu in English with inflated prices and a menu in Thai for the locals with much lower prices.
Information asymmetry stops working when everybody knows what is happening as with the case Mr Gilead has highlighted. Social networks are a great tool to combat such crass policies, but for the time being we can only vote with our feet and stop visiting these establishments.
With the development of the internet, dedicated sites are widely publicising this Thai practice -- just search for "dual pricing Thailand".
One of these sites takes pains explaining in detail how the trick is performed by advertising the entrance fees in Thai numerals for the local prices and with Arabic numerals for non-locals, thinking (wrongly) that such shameful dishonesty will not be discovered.
As another website concludes: "Charging a higher price to your guests is just greedy and creates ill-will." Although duplicitous, this practice is seemingly not illegal (it is in other countries), therefore do not get your hopes too high expecting a transparent pricing system any time soon. This unethical behaviour of perceiving non-locals as walking ATMs will continue as long as some will silently pay the inflated prices without complaining.
Just walk away and talk about it!
Why should the government crack down on two-tier pricing? They condone it and practise it themselves. National parks and other tourist attractions under the government umbrella mostly have two-tier pricing.
Contact: Bangkok Post Building 136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110 fax: +02 6164000 Email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th
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20 Jan 2018
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