Thai coup leaders ban political meetings

The Daily Telegraph ^ | September 21, 2006 | Staff

[ko_kyi]

She thinks he is more honest than most.

I base most of my opinion on conversations with a few individuals when I was in Bangkok 2 weeks ago, so anyway my take should be taken with a large grain of salt.

I think even more than in the US, honesty in Thailand's public officials is a VERY relative thing. He certainly did a few good things, like paying back an IMF loan of 20b US in 4 years, the health insurance program, and promoting Thai business interests overseas.

[USMCPOP]

You betcha the corruption is relative. I was in the Peace Corps and attached to a Thai agricultural office out in the boondocks. My co-workers dutifully filed paperwork for me each month to claim field per-diem. They made it seem like we were out afield 5 days a week. In reality, we hardly ever left the office, but they had to claim for me because they were probably doing the same and everything had to agree. I had to buy a motorcycle and go off on my own and start projects. The bosses changed, and the replacement was an absolute scumbag. I had a camera, so he wanted us to cruise around and take beauty pictures to send to HQ, even if we had nothing to do with it. I wasn't very compliant, and he eventually prevented me from extending for a year. He also threatened to kill one of the other Thai co-workers once. All in all, it was an education. Now my sister-in-law's husband is cool and very straight. So are my wife's relatives, but they are of Vietnamese origin, so it's a little different.

At present, we own some land in Thailand and are engaged in a lawsuit with a low-level Thai bureaucrat that tried to seriously encroach over the property line. The land is technically in my wife's sister's name, so he doesn't know who he's dealing with, or what resources are behind it, he, he, he. He's on about the third appeal and the judge has threatened to jail him if he loses again, but this guy thinks he's entitled to a piece of our land because he's a government worker. Big deal. Bet he doesn't know her husband is also a government worker, ha, ha. Maybe I can visit this land-grabber in jail next time we visit :)

It's a bit scary of you think about people with the same mentality that are multi-millionaires or better. I saw some pretty incredible houses in Ayutthaya last time I visited that I know I couldn't easily afford.