The future of Swiss expat Urs “David” Fehr in Phuket is at stake after a series of conflicts with local residents. Fehr, owner of an elephant park, is faced with the threat that his long-term visa will not be extended. This comes amid allegations of inappropriate behavior towards the local community, including an incident in which he is accused of kicking a female doctor and accusing her of trespassing at Yamu Beach.
This confrontation has led to significant resistance within the community, resulting in protests calling for Fehr's departure. The situation came to a head on February 24, when Dr. Thandao Chandam alleged that Fehr insulted her and a friend while they were sitting on a staircase he claimed as part of his private property, despite a sign in English – a language they were believed to not understand. This incident sparked public outrage and led to a rally against Fehr, with the local community expressing their dissatisfaction and demanding his expulsion.
In addition, controversy has arisen surrounding Fehr's elephant park. Locals accuse him of falsely claiming to be rescuing elephants to solicit donations, when in reality he is making deals to rent elephants. These allegations have intensified calls for his removal from the community.
Such a shame that a guest can't behave, you know you always lose if you act like a jerk towards the Thai. Unfortunately for him, it would be best to leave, this will never be good for the local population again.
According to news reports, he kicked the woman in the back. Moreover, the stairs, which have since been destroyed, had been placed on public property.
Why didn't he also write the warning in Thai?
A strange situation.
This was the first of two reports of aggression by foreigners towards Thai people.
Another man (apparently also Swiss) had horribly abused a woman in a shopping mall in Trang:
https://ap.lc/eDVdS
I think that's terrible. Whether it is Thais or foreigners who commit violence. I hope they both get their just punishment.
Unfortunately, another incident happened a month or two ago at the market near where I live that didn't make the headlines or social media: an acquaintance of mine was driving his car home while he and his Thai wife were doing some shopping at a market. A motorcyclist he may not have seen stopped in front of his car and punched the car.
When the man got out and wanted to talk to the motorcyclist (it was difficult, neither spoke English), the motorcyclist punched him in such a way that my acquaintance fell to the ground.
The police arrived and did nothing.
My acquaintance, who has lived in Thailand for four years and is a very nice man, was so upset that he considered moving back to France with his wife and four-year-old son. He also believed that as a foreigner you have no rights in Thailand and that you are treated as a second-class citizen.
Of course, as a foreigner you have the right to walk safely on the street, sit on a public bench or drive a car.
It is then about what is being done about injustice. And that depends, not surprisingly if you know Thai society a little, more on who you know (your network) than what has happened to you. People with a powerless network lose out or are bought off, whether they are Thais or foreigners.
Bizarre story Sjaak, from that Swiss man in Trang. I live in Trang myself, I hadn't read anything about it yet.
I don't experience any hatred towards Farang here myself, actually only friendly people, with exceptions, but you have that everywhere.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2753988/swiss-retiree-acused-of-assault-inside-trang-supermarket
Dear Roelof,
Maybe read what I said above carefully:
“… an incident that did not make it to the headlines and social media …”.
Isn't it normal that you haven't read anything about it?
Dear Jack,
Maybe read what I wrote carefully.
I'm talking about the incident in Trang, which you posted the link to.
Read Phuket News and you will know everything from start to finish.
David rents a villa for the sweet amount of THB 1.000.000 per month (I don't write too many zeros now and the time frame is correct per month)).
Has 75 people working in its oil park, who must be paid every month, although the salary will not be high, but it will have to be paid.
Receives THB 13.000.000 per year in donations, maintaining an elephant is an expensive activity and we are talking about several here.
The chief of police is his “friend” which the man denies but photos show him drinking wine with David (that's what he's called).
He drives a brand new Audi, which is not cheap either, in other words he must have dipped his fingers into lucrative businesses.
He has already faced several charges of improper conduct.
It will probably end without a hitch because his “friend”, the head of police, will find a way to make this go smoothly (THB's of course).
So you see how the media magnifies this story and includes all kinds of trivial things.
– What does this story have to do with him renting that villa and not being the owner?
– What does this story have to do with him driving a new Audi?
– What does this story have to do with him running an elephant park?
All fodder for the newspapers, of course. And the stupid crowd that enjoys all that gossip. Just as bad as the paperazzi in the UK.
There is no doubt that the man is at fault. But his trial is not being conducted behind closed doors but in the media and is anything but fair. And of course the big police boss has to appear on screen many times (even on national television), a very important event for the man. What a circus. Even on our blog this is 'breaking news'.
That villa appears to have been rented and therefore not owned by this Swiss man. Which makes it extra sad that such a man had to go completely crazy because someone sat on the bottom step of a staircase (with a small planter on the left and right) of the separation between the beach and the garden of the villa. That is difficult to classify as “trespassing” (illegally entering someone's own property) if you ask me.
And whoever has those few centimeters that someone stuck their butt out over the private property (the stairs were partly on public land, but that's besides the point) should put up a piece of string, a small fence or the like so that the boundary is more than clear and you don't accidentally get a few going over the line by centimeter is more difficult or impossible.
Pathetic if you are concerned about people who (apparently regularly) sit more or less exactly on the edge of your (rented) garden. The woman who was kicked was a 26 year old doctor, so smart and young enough to speak at least some English. I think she must have been able to read those signs, but only pathetic tantrums stumble over “your butt is a few centimeters over an invisible line in the big garden”. And then, just ask if someone wants to move a few centimeters. Screaming and kicking are not necessary.
But I must also say that a very big circus is being made of it now. He remains a pathetic little man with a self-control problem, but all the various government services that are now interfering with him and deporting him as a “danger to public order” is also a bit much. I think there are many larger and more dangerous fish to be caught in terms of abuse and other criminal offenses.
I think it would be great to set an example for other farang.
Make a mess when you are a guest = get out of the host country! They should also do a lot more and a lot of vakar here in the Netherlands.
I have heard the other side of the story through insiders.
All this is a hyped up story for the benefit of our doctor who pretends that her nose bleeds.
So on the evening in question she was not alone but with a group of friends. They were not sitting quietly at the bottom of the famous steps and were making a lot of noise with the entire group.
Our Swiss expat had already calmly and kindly asked twice to leave his domain (the stairs) because he had caught intruders in his garden many times. He was laughed at casually and the group pretended not to understand English.
Our expat understands quite a bit of Thai. They told him that he had no demands to make and that if he did not agree with anything, he could always return to his country. They refused to get up and leave.
Then some pushing and pulling occurred. Most of the men then left, our doctor remained determined. The Swiss then reacted excessively and indeed punched the woman in the back after which she left.
The man sticks to his story that he had initially calmly asked to leave, but that the group, mainly the doctor, escalated the situation. He is convinced that she does speak English but was only out to make a mess.
Now, all this will probably end up to the detriment of the Swiss. His elephant park, which ultimately has nothing to do with it, is also being used to further portray him in the wrong light. Sad if you ask me. It is indeed a circus where relevance is unimportant.
I think there are many bigger and more dangerous fish to be caught in terms of abuse and other criminal offenses, this was your last written sentence.
In my opinion, this man has a dark past and may not be the biggest fish, but he is not kosher, so leave him alone.
Nobody is one for unspoken behavior, but this man is not clean on the bone and if you don't investigate it, this way of letting it blow over will lead to all kinds of riff raff that no one wants.
But he suffered from burglary and the Chinese enter his house uninvited (that's his excuse) that's why he took this kicking and screaming action.
Fortunately, the attacked woman did not speak up, speaks English and is a doctor in the hospital, so not really stupid and her father is a professor who also speaks good English and responded to him because David kicked his daughter for no reason.
It seems to me that if you pay THB 1.000.000 per month in rent there will be some form of security on your property.
Perhaps illogical on my part, but I have no sympathy for David and returning to Switzerland is the best solution for me.
MVG
Voila, there's the crux of the matter. The reputation of the doctor, her family and her entourage must be upheld. As a result, everything is being done to deport our Swiss national from the country. Thanks to the doctor who indeed did not say anything (which was also the cause of the dispute on the stairs at the beach).
And then there are even people on the blog who clearly know that the man is not kosher without any burden of proof. Or did you read it in the newspaper?
Anyway, everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but whether or not it approximates reality is unimportant.
Fehr (David) initially denied assaulting the doctor, saying he tripped on the stairs and accidentally kicked her in the back. The video of the incident, which Fehr recorded himself, proved his claim to be unreliable.
Police also expanded their investigation into property owned by Fehr and his wife, along with his firearms possession.
ThaiRath reported that the deputy governor of Phuket has also called for the Swiss to be blacklisted and permanently banned from entering Thailand if he is found to be involved in further illegal activities.
This is the latest news copied by me from Thaiger, so it shows that this man is being unfairly targeted.
Not so.
MVG
Dear,
A sensible man should know that you should not believe everything that appears in the newspaper.
We already know that this entire story was magnified by the media. I will never blindly believe and copy what they write in the newspaper. I'm not that naive.
There is again a lot of nonsense in what appears in the media.
A large part of the staircase stood on the property of the villa. I regularly walk along that stretch of beach and know the situation very well. By the way, if a staircase is only on public property, what was it used for (nonsense)?
As you say yourself, if they want to label the expat as guilty, this is spread several times in the press, with much fanfare and the necessary untruths.
If something happens where a Thai hits an expat, the police do NOTHING and everything is covered up.
I would take the story about the Swiss that appears in the newspaper with a large grain of salt. And a doctor who does not speak English and cannot read a sign that says “private domain – no access” is not worthy of the title of doctor.
What a lot of people still don't realize is that there is an increasingly large group of Thais who hate Farang, and this is only reinforced by incidents like these that are widely reported in the media.
A small group of rude Farang who have no respect for the Thai people and who think that their money gives them the right to do what they want ruins it for the well-intentioned people who know how to behave.
Look at how foreigner hatred has developed in the Netherlands and Belgium, where these groups are even in parliament, that could easily happen here.
GeertP I fully support your opinion. There are indeed still a number of Farang who abuse Thailand's hospitality through their elitist and rude behavior and who feel superior to the Thais. They give the Farang a bad image, but fortunately this only applies to a small portion of Westerners. In my opinion, proof of respect is learning the language or at least trying, as I did on my first holiday in Thailand 35 years ago. Then I bought a Thai/Eng Eng/Thai dictionary and after 6 holidays I was able to write my first sentence. Thai is not a difficult language unlike what many think. Simpler than English, among other things, because they have no conjugations, no plural form and no past tense as in ours and in English and also the tones that are so difficult to repeat are exaggerated. Just listen carefully to the Thai and then you will hear how to pronounce it. What is difficult at first are the words and no connection with our Western languages, but you learn that too. Just try and try again and the locals will have a lot of respect for you if you try to speak their language.
I actually feel a bit unfairly addressed.
Language knowledge has nothing to do with whether or not you have a rude character.
If you are marginal, you will remain so, even if you master the language perfectly. Worse still, you can even behave rudely in the Thai language.
I've lived here for 12 years. I do not speak the language, but I am treated with the necessary respect in the entire community around me. I live in a small village and thanks to my wife I receive a friendly welcome everywhere. I participate in all local activities, everyone knows me.
But as has been said several times here on our blog, many Farang come from the lower social class and sometimes this is accompanied by marginal behavior. Unfortunately.
I absolutely do not support the statement that there is “an increasingly large group of Thais who hate Farang.” Put a bunch of people together and there will always be problems. Thai media are full of all the aggression from Thais to each other. If a Farang behaves inappropriately, it is certainly news. But I don't perceive that the latter creates antipathy towards farang.
The Thais themselves bring them in by the millions, many are welcomed with open arms without socially desirable behavior, without knowledge of culture or civilities. Most of it doesn't bother you and you don't see it, but you always keep a small part that does cause a nuisance, which you have everywhere in the world.
I have also read these stories, it's a shame that things have to get so out of hand. You increasingly read that people have or are developing a shorter fuse.
In my circle of acquaintances I occasionally hear similar sounds from people who are increasingly seriously considering moving.
The reason is what Sjaak S. indicated earlier.
Are you talking about the short fuse of the Thai or that of the expat?
I have asked my wife several times what remains of the much-praised friendliness of the Thais with their beautiful smiles in recent years. She keeps telling me that Thailand has changed a lot from the past.
I have experienced the stiff attitude of the Thai several times. I am a quiet, friendly type, I will always remain calm, and yet I am sometimes treated unfairly or even rudely.
If they continue like this, the success of tourism could quickly change. And the large group of retirees who bring a lot of wealth here could visibly shrink.
Honestly, I've been living here for 8 years now and see this beautiful country changing for the worse every year. Would the blame really lie with that one Expat who punches an (arrogant) doctor in the back?
There is a video in the newspapers of the event, which is completely different from the story you heard.
Mistake, so let the man return to Switzerland.
MVG
Videos NEVER show what is really going on. What happened before is not shown.
People only film or show what is in their own interest. And when it appears in the newspaper, it will probably have been cut and pasted. The really relevant information about BOTH parties is not shown. I no longer believe in honest reporting.
“large group of retirees who bring a lot of wealth”
I don't understand this part, you mean that those people share their wealth with the Thais. Or do they raise the prices, because I think few Thais can afford a rent of 1.000.000 per month.
Regarding the elephant parks both in Thailand and, for example, Indonesia, I see that these Western people often charge very high prices. I still have my doubts about that if you do it to prevent animal suffering. How do we get these elephants?
Once read in Viet Nam;
We don't care if you're black, white, short, tall, fat, skinny, rich or poor..
If you're nice to us, we'll be nice to you,
Simple as that!.
It's a pity that not everyone understands this... and it is a fact (as Khuntak states) that there are more and more bigwigs walking around with a short fuse... including, as Geert says, also marginal farangs.
In itself “quantité negligable” but they do make headlines that the vast majority of well-behaved / sympathetic farangs may be associated with, which is regrettable.
Not everything should be viewed negatively, recently a farang saved an old Thai lady who had fallen overboard in Bangkok.
You know what bothers me, Philippe, is that something makes headlines when it fits THEIR agenda.
I am certainly not saying that the Swiss are not at fault, on the contrary. But if a Thai does something stupid to a Farang, it will never appear in the newspaper or on the news.
The unacceptable behavior of that Swiss citizen can perfectly be punished by deporting him from the country without this being reported in the media every day. This even made it to national TV news. Everyone was talking about it.
The result is now that the reputation of a Farang is once again taking a serious hit, despite the fact that many live here with good intentions. I'm actually sick of this hypocritical stuff from the media.
Anyway, Mrs. Doctor and Dad, the professor, have done their job. They'll get a few promotions.
I understand that the gentleman's visa/extension has been revoked. This will mean that he will have to leave Thailand within x days.
No matter what happens, you don't kick a woman unless she's attacking you, and you don't kick anyone in the back or other part from behind.
But a Thai is allowed to hit a Farang to the ground after a minor traffic accident. Even if the police are involved, everything is quickly 'forgotten'.
Or worse, a Farang is hit by a fool on the zebra crossing while the police stand by and act as if nothing happened.
When it comes to Mr. Farang, he will ALWAYS lose out. What hypocritical stuff.
You don't knock people to the ground...
You don't hit people crossing the road at the zebra crossing...
… unless it is a farang, then as a Thai you are allowed to do this!
I am 63 and am increasingly experiencing the harshness in Dutch/EU culture. Everything must be resolved now and immediately, otherwise there will be consequences, such as negative publicity, a fine, etc. What used to be resolved amicably will now be resolved quickly with hard agreements in hand.
The person with the biggest mouth and the toughest attitude, or the biggest complainer, can get a lot done if you know the way. I think this Western mentality is moving to Thailand and is also manifesting itself in Thailand.
Recently at the bin, a farang was also lecturing a bank employee. His Thai partner was sitting two rows away with his head bowed, looking away in shame and clearly not wanting to belong. Unfortunately, you see this on a regular basis. Foreigners who behave like foreigners in Thailand and do not integrate at all. In the autumn I will definitely come to Thailand and hope that I can leave the Western world and all the hassle behind me. Hopefully Thailand will remain friendly as I know it for a while and I can integrate with this culture and adapt to the Thai way of life and not the other way around. Then they can kick me out too.
It's great that this behavior is not accepted. Let it be a lesson.
French
Dear French,
I'll have to disappoint you somewhere. Thailand has not been as friendly as you might think for some time now.
Even in my own family I am viewed with suspicion. A lot of it revolves around jealousy and envy. The Thais were once very friendly, but this is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past.
You can integrate as best as possible, you are and will remain a Farang. Just look at how people sometimes treat you in the many immigration offices or municipal services.
That harsh Western mentality also spreads over here. Not so much among the elderly, but especially among the youth.
I know 3 growing teenagers in the family and I could write a book about them. Even in everyday life when I come into contact with other Thais, friendliness and courtesy are sometimes hard to find. Nowadays it's every man for himself. It's not always easy to ignore this.
Oh yes Willy, I understand that.
I don't believe in fairy tales either. It is not a paradise in Thailand. Every family has its own things, especially when it comes to money and... growing teenagers there is always something going on. Fortunately, I don't have that problem in our family. I think everyone has their own story, with good and bad sides. But still much better than in the Netherlands. Especially for someone who is more or less retiring 🙂
It's not that bad in Thailand and grumpy Thai types and farang types should be ignored. That's how they do it in this country. Those who traveled to this country full of expectations and could do nothing but idealize Thailand are now severely disappointed. Just think: how come RonnyLatYa is so busy with questions about visa issuance? Why farang still looking for a Thai partner? Why does the Thai government nevertheless think that this year the number of tourists will far exceed those of previous years? Exactly: it's not that bad in this country!
Dear Henk,
Where did you read that it is so bad in Thailand? Nobody says that.
It just says that it's not the same as it used to be.
After 17 years in Thailand, I can confirm that the mentality of the friendly Thai is changing for the worse. The 'me me me and the rest is fine' attitude is now appearing everywhere.
I am now 82 years old and am no longer able to walk well. Recently at the BTS in Bangkok…. If you think the young foals were going to give up their seat to that old farang, nope, the tapping on their smartphone is the only thing that keeps them busy.
Anyway, with rose-colored glasses on, everything negative fades into the background. With the idea that things are probably many times worse in our own country, we will survive here for a few more years. And then... onto the pyre 😉
Unfortunately, I have also recently noticed that young people are not making room for the elderly. This despite the (supposed? old-fashioned?) respect for the elderly that is said to be so highly valued.
In the BTS I am the one at 61 years old who is the first to stand up to offer my place to someone who needs it more, the many Thais continue to stare at their phones and don't pay any attention to anything.
You shouldn't expect much more from that respect for the elderly. The youth are only concerned with themselves.
My father-in-law is about the same age as myself. He has 2 daughters. He is bedridden and is cared for by my wife and a nurse who visits twice a day (paid by us). Mother-in-law is no longer there.
His other daughter and her 3 children do not care about him. We have no children ourselves. The elderly are increasingly left to their own devices.
I fear that few people know what exactly happened, but the fact remains that both he and that partner felt a little better than the rest. Accepted arrogant behavior has to be earned, but given the unlikely income there may be a little more going on and now that the media and the population are fully aware of it, it will become trial by media. The praise for the police does not really work and he is now seeking refuge through the courts . We will see and nothing is ruled out, but these types of people fit exactly into the image of a Thai to hate certain types of figures and that setting an example can work quite well.
And hopefully also for 65+ people who, on a public transport boat, find it necessary to fondle or horny their recently acquired chick like an adolescent. If I were 65+ I would say something about it, but as a much younger person I think mine......