News from Thailand – February 7, 2015
This page contains a selection from the Thai news. We list headlines from major news sources including: Bangkok Post, The Nation, ThaiPBS, MCOT, etc.
There is a web link behind the news items. When you click on it you can read the full article at the English source.
News from Thailand – February 7, 2015
The most important news on the front page of The Nation is the report about the visit of the Chinese minister of defense to Thailand. Even more remarkable is the photo in which Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Chinese Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan walk hand in hand as close friends. Prayut has previously stated that he sees China as an example for Thailand. The Chinese in turn sense an opportunity and spawned Prayut with substantial loans for the modernization of the infrastructure in Thailand. Now China and Thailand are going to intensify military cooperation and Prayut is sending a signal to the US. The United States nevertheless seems to want to play the political game hard. The AFP news agency reported yesterday that the US State Department officially said it would end military cooperation with Thailand if the junta continues to refuse to restore democracy: http://goo.gl/Xuqcgl
Bangkok Post headlines with the aftermath of the fake message about the health of the Thai king. The webmaster of news site ASTV, who had taken over the fake statement, will now also be arrested for lèse majeste. On Wednesday, Krit Butradeejin, musician and red shirt sympathizer, was arrested in that case. A police spokesperson says that everyone who shared or distributed the message has committed a criminal act: http://goo.gl/2vzKrH
– Coconut Bangkok reports that a video is circulating showing a Dutch couple in a car being stopped by the police on their way to Suvarnabhumi airport. The car is searched and they find a Swiss army knife which is confiscated and fined for it. The scene was filmed by a Thai lady from the car: http://goo.gl/QCRos4
– Police in Pattaya have arrested a 52-year-old monk on charges of sexually abusing his 10-year-old stepdaughter: http://t.co/1kTS6qLjcc
– A 70-year-old German has been arrested for a visa overstay of 4 months. The man seemed confused and stayed near Jomtien beach. The elderly German stated that he had lost all his money to a Thai lady with whom he had fallen in love: http://goo.gl/Sfb6qm
– In Samut Prakan, three occupants of a sedan died on Saturday morning. The car crashed into the back of a truck on Srinagarindra Road: http://t.co/yyZlicu255
– A tourist from Kuwait has reported theft from a safe in his apartment. He told police that $3000, five credit cards, a smartphone and a passport went missing: http://t.co/LSht5f2myK
– You can read more current news on the Twitter feed of Thailandblog.nl: twitter.com/thailand_blog
That knife doesn't look like a normal Swiss army knife to me. Incidentally, if you wear such a sleeve emblem you have a slightly higher chance of being checked.
This is indeed not a normal Swiss army knife, it has a special grip, that it does not easily slip out of your hands if you use it, according to the woman's statement it is not even his knife but hers, I quote "When police found the knife, the woman said she had it in her car because she sometimes drives alone in Thailand and carries it for self-defence. “, so she did have it with her to use as a weapon and it probably just meets the conditions to be a prohibited weapon, just like in the Netherlands where the most absurd things fall under the weapon law.
Another quote ” I'd like to explain that people cannot just carry a knife in public. It's illegal,” Chamlong told Daily News. “She could not claim she carried the knife for self-defense because there were three people in the car that night. If it was a woman traveling alone, we may have cut her some slack.” to the extent that. I also dare to say that this was not a police harassment and the decals on the man's shirt do give some cause for further investigation.
Yours faithfully,
Lex K.
Police don't know anyway what kind of emblems are on the sleeves of the occupant when they stop a car !!!!
This seems more like a case of quickly collecting a little pocket money from the police side!
Doesn't make any sense at all that you shouldn't have a pocket knife in your car.
Every time I go on a trip I always have a pocket knife with me, of course not in my hand luggage.
As soon as I'm at my destination, it just goes in my pocket.
Seems very far fetched to me that having a knife in your car is prohibited, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong!
No guys.
There would have been no problem without a sleeve logo, but above all without cheeky behaviour
The agents are very young and it looks like they are being trained. If you then think you can act brutally then that's a gamble and you shouldn't act childish………… You just see the cops thinking “we want to let you go, but this way we have no choice”
well
It seems since General Prayuth has been in power, many corrupt cops have lost their money. And now try to get that in a different way.
Those "agents" just steal that knife that has nothing to do with the fact that you are not allowed to have a knife with you.
If it were a stilletto or something like that, that wouldn't be allowed, but a pocket knife to peel your apple is just fine.
Let them pay more attention to road safety, but they don't understand that and they probably get tired of it, the suckers.
It is indeed a stiletto… not a Swiss army knife. It's a switch blade. The author of the article made a rather gross mistake.
I have long noticed that Prayuth chooses the side of China and abandons the USA.
The USA is being difficult and only asking difficult questions about press freedom and democracy.
And I don't like that, because I'm the big boss in Thailand now
He now has to get it from those other dictatorial friends.
I have noticed that he now also travels abroad a lot. Former Prime Minister Yingluck was once resented for all those trips to foreign places.
Why not even book a trip to the far north or the Isaan are also in Thailand .
In the north of Thailand we have not yet seen the great General.
And why then??
Since he has relatively few fans .
Jan Beute.
Perhaps there were other suspicions and the police were looking for a reason to stop the car with the Dutch and check for other things that they suspected to find.
This type of knife, also called stiletto in the Netherlands, falls under the Weapons Act. In the Netherlands, I think also forbidden to have with you in public. The police have every right to issue a fine. And it doesn't matter if they just use that "messie", as the driver disparages it, to peel apples.
Moreover, that Thai lady talks people's ears off. I would only fine her for that: obstructing the police in carrying out their duties.
This article was also on Thaivisa and now people are getting upset about the "corrupt" police, who did nothing more than their duty. If you then have to have your car searched during an inspection, is the police the culprit? It also happened to me in the Netherlands, when I came by car from Germany a few years ago and was almost home. Not at the border, where you would expect it.
I carry a taser with me on my bike every day here in Thailand. This is prohibited. I know that. Should I get upset if I get a fine for this, when a cop stops me?
First: It was not a Swiss army knife but a switchblade and is prohibited, also in the Netherlands.
Second: They should be happy that they were not taken to the police station for questioning and that the police let them go after paying a fine.
The chattering lady on that video gave me an ear ache, just like Donald Duck.