Artikel tagged “Phuket Magazine”

  • Swedish national police chief praises Phuket Police

    Swedish national police chief praises Phuket Police

    PHUKET: Sweden’s national police chief Bengt Svenson yesterday praised the Phuket Police for utilizing foreign volunteers and for developing deeper relations with the community. “The way they presented it here, it is the best way [for police] to work: with volunteer tourist police and to be near the citizens, near the tourists, to be among them.

  • Phuket expats risking lives on the road to stay in paradise

    Phuket expats risking lives on the road to stay in paradise

    PHUKET: The visa van crash that took the life of Filipina singer Renita Dequina Polido on October 21 (story

  • Tuk-tuk ejection scheme draws mixed reactions

    Tuk-tuk ejection scheme draws mixed reactions

    PHUKET: As the clock starts to tick down on a plan to evict tuk-tuk drivers from parking spots in Patong, response from tuk-tuk drivers varies from flat refusal to requests for fairness in the application of the new measure.

  • Phuket Opinion: It’s everyone’s job to improve cyclists’ safety

    Phuket Opinion: It’s everyone’s job to improve cyclists’ safety

    Danny Ruangkanch, 54, is a Narathiwat native. He graduated from the California College of the Arts 29 years ago, and spent 10 years working abroad before coming back to Thailand. He came to Phuket 15 years ago and works as a freelance artist and Moderator of Thaimtb.

  • Phuket Opinion: Slicing up Thailand’s cash cow

    Phuket Opinion: Slicing up Thailand’s cash cow

    PHUKET: Reports of government plans to raise both arrival and departure taxes on foreign tourists reflect an almost complete lack of cohesion on tourism policy by government officials, and fly in the face of previous pronouncements that Thailand stands at the ready to become the “tourism hub” of the Asean region. The proposed increases, a 100-baht hike in airport departure tax on international flights and a 500-baht “arrival” tax to help cover the costs of treating uninsured foreign tourists, need to be evaluated independently. The fact that they were put forward in the same week by different government ministries is likely to reinforce the perception abroad that Thailand’s reputation for hospitality is becoming increasingly eroded by greed and over-dependence on its premier cash cow: the tourism industry.

  • Top cop warns new officers over bribes, extortion

    Top cop warns new officers over bribes, extortion

    PHUKET: Phuket’s new top cop warned the island’s police reinforcements that swift disciplinary action will be taken and criminal charges will be levied against them if they go crooked. “The most important thing is to not use your career to benefit your own pocket,” Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiwruangnont told the 97 recruits, all recent graduates of the police academy. “If you accept bribes or extort people, or do anything else illegal for financial gain, you will face not only disciplinary, but also criminal charges,” Maj Gen Ong-art said.

  • Phuket airport taxi collides with tipsy motorbiker

    Phuket airport taxi collides with tipsy motorbiker

    PHUKET: An airport taxi driver rushing to pick up a tourist at the airport collided with an inebriated motorbike driver in Thalang yesterday. The man on the motorbike suffered minor injuries. The taxi driver, Wattana Patan, 36, told police that he was en route to the airport and saw the motorbike riding in the left lane on the Cherng Thalay-Baan Don Road, said Lt Chatree Chuwichian of the Thalang Police.

  • Central Festival Phuket installs life-saving automatic external defibrillators

    Central Festival Phuket installs life-saving automatic external defibrillators

    PHUKET: Central Festival Phuket has became the first Central shopping mall in Thailand to have Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for use in the treatment of heart attack victims. Motivated by the death of a patron about four months ago, Central Festival made the AEDs available in conjunction with a new medical bay operated by Phuket International Hospital which opened in the mall yesterday. “One of our customers had a heart attack after eating dinner in a restaurant in the mall,” said Central Festival Phuket General Manager Wilaiporn Pitimanaree.

  • Phuket officers push LINE for drug crime clues

    Phuket officers push LINE for drug crime clues

    PHUKET: A popular social networking application that was recently used to locate a missing man with Alzheimer’s disease (story

  • ‘Brother Pom’ says he’s clear of extortion charges; DSI disagrees

    ‘Brother Pom’ says he’s clear of extortion charges; DSI disagrees

    PHUKET: Pom Sukkasem, the leader of the Central Festival taxi group arrested in September on extortion charges, has announced that the charges have been dropped. However, the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) begs to differ. “I reported to the Criminal Court in Bangkok on Monday as required, and I was told that the prosecutor decided not to pursue my case,” Mr Pom told the Phuket Gazette.