Artikel erschien September 2013

  • Phuket Opinion: Hailing a new era

    Phuket Opinion: Hailing a new era

    Prasat Pechwang, 56, is a Phuket native. He earned a BA from King Mongkut’s University of Technology in North Bangkok, majoring in Electrical Engineering. He started working at Saudi Oger Company Ltd in 1981 and moved to We-Ef Lighting Company Ltd in 1987.

  • Phuket Opinion: The testing paradox

    Phuket Opinion: The testing paradox

    PHUKET: Obtaining a driver’s license on our island is a paradoxical task. It is an ostensibly simple process, all done within one building and in eight hours, driving lessons optional – which may rev your confidence up – but it’s fussiness has been known to trip up even those with decades of driving experience.

  • Phuket Opinion: ‘Tis the season to crack down

    Phuket Opinion: ‘Tis the season to crack down

    PHUKET: A recent crackdown on Westerners working illegally in the marine leisure industry has generated a great deal of comment from readers, yet the debate focused almost solely on Thailand’s notoriously vague definition of what constitutes work, while missing out on some fundamental aspects of the issue. Comments posted on the Gazette website failed to reference the fact that arrests of foreigners for labor and immigration law violations seem to cluster in the low season. Before we explore that issue further, it needs to be understood that Thai authorities have two quite different definitions – legally and linguistically – of what constitutes “foreign labor”.

  • Rubber protests yield gains in Phuket

    Rubber protests yield gains in Phuket

    PHUKET: Rubber protests in recent weeks in Southern Thailand are now paying dividends for plantation owners in Phuket and the rest of the nation. Though the direct demands of the protests, which included a government subsidy for sheets of rubber were not met, the government has allocated a total of over 21 billion baht to be paid out to households legally owning rubber plantations.

  • Kata jet-ski operator attacks Israeli tourists

    Kata jet-ski operator attacks Israeli tourists

    PHUKET: Two Israelis, a father and son, were attacked and injured by a jet-ski operator wielding a “No Swimming” flag-pole on Kata Beach yesterday afternoon. The attack was motivated by damage to the jet-ski the pair had rented, the attacker – who was arrested soon afterward – told the police

  • Samkong underpass construction set to begin in November

    Samkong underpass construction set to begin in November

    PHUKET: Construction is to start on the 850-million-baht underpass at the Samkong intersection in mid-November.

  • Video Report: Transnational drug lord Hunter deported, new Thai search laws enacted

    Video Report: Transnational drug lord Hunter deported, new Thai search laws enacted

    PHUKET: High on the United States authorities‘ most-wanted list, Joseph Manuel Hunter was deported back to the US this morning, days after the Prevention and Suppression of Transnational Organized Crime Act was enacted in Thailand. Mr Hunter, 48, who was arrested in Phuket by officers from Phuket Immigration and the Crime Suppression Division on Wednesday (story

  • All invited to Islamic New Year fiesta in Phuket Town

    All invited to Islamic New Year fiesta in Phuket Town

    PHUKET: Everyone, regardless of faith, has been invited to mark the Islamic New Year with a fiesta and keynote speakers in Phuket Town on November 8 and 9. “The event to honor Hijrah 1435 [the upcoming Islamic New Year] will be held on November 8 and 9 at Sanaam Chai Field (map

  • Police boost ranks as high season approaches

    Police boost ranks as high season approaches

    PHUKET: Much needed police boots will march onto the island in mid-November to help protect the swelling numbers of tourists and the general population of Phuket as officers ready for high season. “Our ranks will grow by 146 officers by mid-November,” said Phuket Provincial Deputy Commander Saneh Yawila

  • Police ordered to carry out weekend blitz on crime

    Police ordered to carry out weekend blitz on crime

    PHUKET: One of Thailand’s top-ranking police officers has ordered Phuket law-enforcement authorities to ramp up their crackdown on all forms of crime over the weekend as part of a blitz to improve tourists’ confidence in safety. Gen Wuthi Liptapallop, a national-level adviser to the Royal Thai Police, was in Phuket yesterday to review progress made in the island-wide crackdown launched on August 16. The effort is scheduled to conclude on Monday (story