Farang rights in Thailand?

"When you get into this land, when you get off that plane тАУ you better know,┬аitтАЩs their way.┬аYour civil liberties, your human rights, as you know them, donтАЩt exist hereтАж You better educate yourself, before you get here. Understand that you donтАЩt have any civil rights. Whether youтАЩre American or (otherwise). If you understand and youтАЩre willing to accept thatтАж and you donтАЩt make a mistake, then fine".http://www.thaiprisonlife.com/news/you- ... ai-prison/ (http://www.thaiprisonlife.com/news/you-have-no-liberties-here-in-the-thai-prison/)

[dutchkiwi]

Not only Thailand, all this kind of countries were corruption and poverty is leading.

Read the book. The damage has done from Warren Fellows , Forget you had a daughter , You never walk alone, books about the Thai Prison.

Generally everybody get the same treatment when you arrive the police cel or prison.



If you interested, visit the courthouse in Pattaya, Jomptien, (i think around 16:00) at the back of the building you have the two cages where the monkeys are waiting for gettting out after paid the bond or ready to get tranfer to the big monkeyhouse.

Yes also there are falangs in the cage, last times some arabs ,because they were stopped by police for another reason, but it was the big argument in a loud voice (wrong, never offend a thai police with loud voice) and so they were taken to cool down.

for years my Thai friend was caught and tested positive of illegal substance in his body, so overnight in overcrowded, overheated cages in the police build on pattaya beachroad, the next morning i was able to visit him and brought him some food and water.
The laywer was waiting, so it cost me 20.000 bath to get him free on bail. But there was a formal mistake and so he slept one night outside pattaya, the next evening he was released, i nearly recognized him, his nice trouser was cut , his nice shirt was cut, his hair was cut, but i not felt sorry for him, he make the mistake.
The only comment he gave to me was " good experience". after that he never got or touched illigal substances.









I am coming 20 years in Thailand , never ever had problems, avoid areas where problems get occur, stay away from drugs or so. Never be angry on police when they stop you with police control, the bath rules.
I have always 100 bath together with my id , when i have to overhand my passport, always a 100 bath note is somewhere between the pages. It is up to him to take it.

donot forget we are foreigners, they treath foreigners and we treath sometimes the foreigners in our own country.

Do not forget , you are foreigner, guest, alien in Thailand, behave yourself, respect the law , certainly you wil have no problems.


If you not like the system, it is up to you to visit this country.

[joe552]

what was the guy in the linked report in jail for?

[thailuv]

This also reminds me of the story that just came out in the news about a drunk British guy who was sexually harrasing a chinese woman in the streets od Beijing. He got the beating of his life from Chinese passers by who were shouting all kind of racial obscenities while poundng him senseless. The video is on Youtube

[kjun12]

The site you gave a link to is very interesting. I learned a lot while perusing it.

[arsenal]

My experience with the police in Thailand have been mostly pretty ok. In Bangkok when I popped into a police station to ask for directions to the train station they kindly gave me a lift there, but that was over twenty years ago and those days are not coming back.
In Pattaya the fines I have paid (parking, wrong way driving, blah blah blah) have been small and the bribes even smaller. Only once did I get irritated when the policeman on duty was taking an interminable amount of time to hand me back my IDL that was on the desk in frot of him. I told him
"I've paid the fine, I'm on holiday now PLEASE, just give me my licence back."
Even his colleague told him to stop being so difficult. I don't speak Thai but he gave it back immediately.

[TravellerDave]

My contact with the Thai police only consists of being fined when riding my rented motor-bike. Once for riding wrong way up a one-way street and the second time for not having an appropriate drivers licence (UK one is no good). The fine is small but you have to wait a long time at the Soi 9 police station to actually pay and get your bike back.
I have howver talked to farangs who got into the monkey house following accidents when a Thai has been injured and negotiations for compensation follow.

My contact with the Thai police only consists of being fined when riding my rented motor-bike

You know in all my trips to Thailand that never even occurred to me !! I've hired motorbikes many times and always just used my UK licence, I did actually go and get an international drivers licence for my last trip as I was renting a car and it was a requirement by the hire company, but for bikes it never even entered my head ! It appears I've had a few lucky escapes by the looks of it then !!!

Out of interest how much was the fine - and when you get your bike back do you simply get back on it and drive off again, with you still not having the correct licence I assume or do they insist you get the correct paperwork before they release it back to you - which of course would be quite ironic if they did considering what they just fined you for in the first place but being Thailand nothing would surprise me !

[Shuee]

The BIB will always go for the biggest fish with the biggest wallet, using or stepping over whoever comes their way until the get to a bigger & better arrest up the line, of course if this person has cars, house, bars, guest house etc, then in some cases thats a bonus for the bib to be had,

simple really; greed breeds greed! especially in a country where you just being a westerner means you got megga bucks, even if you havent!

[TravellerDave]

When they got me over the drivers licence I was riding my bike back to Pattaya from Jomtien. Near the top of the hill, they were pulling in a lot of riders. The policeman snatched my keys from the bike and said "show Licence" I pulled out my UK plastc licence, but he said "No Good" and directed me over to another who was dealing with fines. The ticket was written out and I was asked for 600 baht which I just paid and was handed back my keys to the bike. I was relieved not to have to go to Soi 9 and wait a long time to pay. I have no idea why my UK licence was "No Good"
When I was fined for the one-way offence about 3 years ago I was waiting to pay for about 2 hours at Soi 9 because they were doing a purge on helmets and were catching and fining loads of Thais.

[vnman]

You're like a deer, dear. You got hunted after and shot. Easy as that. Thailand is infamous for this practice. Just imagine. Police stops you in your country. No valid drivers license. You pay a ticket and all is well. You can continue your driving.

Last time in Pattaya, just arrived two hours prior, I got a scooter and drove a bit. Bam, stopped by police who almost took my scooter apart searching for drugs. Of course, I didn't have any and I could go on my merry way. I was lucky that they were looking for drugs, otherwise it would have surely been a ticket, for what ever reason.

600 u say? I'm guessing you could have negotiated a lesser amount. But other than your ego, who cares about 600 baht compared to time lost in Soi 9. Swallowing your pride is always best I guess.

Opposite in VN. Never paid police a cent for traffic violations. Not having a housing license is a different matter.

[arsenal]

It's a rare trip where I don't get stopped at least once. The fines are small but the aggravation can be awful. The police can keeep your bike until after the fine is paid. An IDL is so easy to get. It costs just ┬г7.50 from the RAC and they will post it to you abroad for no extra charge.

It's a rare trip where I don't get stopped at least once. The fines are small but the aggravation can be awful. The police can keeep your bike until after the fine is paid. An IDL is so easy to get. It costs just ┬г7.50 from the RAC and they will post it to you abroad for no extra charge.

Funny I've NEVER been stopped on any of my numerous trips, I guess I've just been lucky and I don't think I've ever even spoken to a police man for any reason yet on my travels ! I have spoken to several expat bar owners who have related the whole note inside the wallet thing taken as automatic almost by both parties when they are stopped but have to say never happened me- so far anyway !

And re the International licence, they're also available in main post offices as a walk in service, just bring your UK licence and passport I think and away you go - now that I think about it it really should be a must for me and I'll not make that mistake again as if you were involved in a "serious" accident it leaves you wide open for your insurance company to try and welch on any claim you may need to make, whether that be for medical or damage to other cars / bikes etc so yeah it's definitely well worth the small amount of money just to tick that one legal box and avoid any possible hassle.

I have been here about 11 years. In that time I gave them 100b for my driver speeding to get him to go away and one big one related to the bar. I had an accident last night where a car that was parked came out, no lights, no signal. Took some time and they ruled him 50% fault and me 50%. Didn't understand it but the insurance guy showed up and told me npt to worry, they would take care of everything. Nope guess I have been pretty lucky.