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Discussion 1 : 22/09/2012 at 07:05 PM

Disc56 "As we all know only a small percentage of Thai citizens pay income tax because a big part of the population earns so little that there is nothing left to pay any taxes" That isn't the reason at all. Only 7.75% of the population is considered to be below the poverty line. Thailand is considered an upper-middle income country. The idea of the poor peasants is far removed from the reality of Thailand. Almost all households have satellite TV, mobile phones and some form of transport. Not exactly the 'prai' the UDD would have you believe.

Discussion 2 : 20/09/2012 at 05:19 PM

As we all know only a small percentage of Thai citizens pay income tax because a big part of the population earns so little that there is nothing left to pay any taxes. This is maybe also the reason why many people don’t really care about corruption because it is not their money which is wasted. Maybe it’s time that everyone in Thailand should pay income tax, even if it is only 10% for the minimum wage earners. Maybe this will motivate the voters to look a little closer how their hard earned money is wasted by our elected leaders.

Discussion 3 : 20/09/2012 at 05:12 PM

@soltair #50: Sure, you are right about the budget and that the money “has to be spent”. This happens in the government and in lots of big companies. But even if the money “has to be spent” there should be at least a thousand possibilities which would be more beneficial for Thais and Thailand.

Discussion 4 : 20/09/2012 at 04:59 PM

Somsak wasted tax payer’s money; most of the voters are non-tax payers so why should they bother! And as D29 pointed it out tax evasion is a national sport especially among the rich so why should they bother either. We the tax payers, I’m one of them can complain but unfortunately no one care about minorities.

Discussion 5 : 20/09/2012 at 04:43 PM

Why would media people have to go to Europe to see how to manage water? Will news reporter manage the flood next year? Well, can't be worse then the government officials last year and this year.

Discussion 6 : 20/09/2012 at 04:14 PM

I guess if your supporters generally are non-tax payers, it doesn't hurt so much when you waste tax payer's money.

Discussion 7 : 20/09/2012 at 03:32 PM

I think that the government must be alienating the people more and more with their greed, corruption, self-serving behaviours, and incompetence. Those who still have not been paid for flood damage will be upset by this news.

Discussion 8 : 20/09/2012 at 02:53 PM

"comes from the 2012 fiscal year budget ending on Sept 30." The truth of the matter is if he does not spend all of "his budget" in time he will get less budget next year for he obviously did not need it. This happens ALL OVER Thailand in every government department. The buzz word before every 30 September since umpteen years is SPEND THE BUDGET. Sorry, nothing will change ever, this is par for the course.

Discussion 9 : 20/09/2012 at 02:48 PM

How come PTP cheerleaders never condemn the wrong doings of PTP MPs and ministers? Seems like whatever they do must be right and for the good of the people.

Discussion 10 : 20/09/2012 at 02:43 PM

No moral no ethics. Corruption everyehere. The people get the Gov. they voted for, but must ALL the silent majority that did not vote for that Gov. suffer and accept its corrupt and shameless behaviour ???

Discussion 11 : 20/09/2012 at 02:15 PM

Even if they received positive information or advice from foreigners on this “study” trip the likelihood of them acting on it is as remote as Thaksin giving up politics.

Discussion 12 : 20/09/2012 at 02:13 PM

"The invitation came from parliament at the last minute, and stated that it was an academic study tour to observe water management systems,". Well, lets hope there is heavy rain at the English Premier League matches see they can learn something. Look forward to see the report and learning points...

Discussion 13 : 20/09/2012 at 02:11 PM

@aussie Disc#34: The reds are not particularly happy because they have missed out the joy ride; while the rural poor are completely clueless of what's happening around them. Time to educate or should I say re-educate them of facts rather than false beliefs that have been imposed on them.

Discussion 14 : 20/09/2012 at 01:58 PM

Is that not the person whose chair was (literally) pulled away by Dem MPs ?

Discussion 15 : 20/09/2012 at 01:46 PM

Regarding elections and people awareness: Will the buffalo press report about this or are they all busy looking football?

Discussion 16 : 20/09/2012 at 01:41 PM

Wow! Can I work for this man at least for a free trip? What a total waste of tax payers money but then again its PT and they could care less about the peoples money.

Discussion 17 : 20/09/2012 at 01:37 PM

as I posted before their only asset is "NO shame"

Discussion 18 : 20/09/2012 at 01:29 PM

and people ask me why I moved my factories out of Thailand ...

Discussion 19 : 20/09/2012 at 01:21 PM

Disgusting! Should be made to pay it back from his own pocket.

Discussion 20 : 20/09/2012 at 01:09 PM

Seems like the only water related issues Somsak and his puppets will study are the showers in their 5 star hotels...Sure the red villagers will be veeery excited to support these clowns!! LOL

Discussion 21 : 20/09/2012 at 01:03 PM

Once more Somsak has proven to be a true crony of the great fugitive.....And a disgrace to Thailand!

Discussion 22 : 20/09/2012 at 12:54 PM

I am missing our usual PT defenders today in this form. Come on, come out and tell us why the 7 million baht was well spent and that we all should be grateful that our politicians travel so far to learn something and all to make Thailand a better place to live… P.S.: No “the DEMs did this also” comments please, we read them already at least a few hundred times.

Discussion 23 : 20/09/2012 at 12:30 PM

Guessing the reds and rural poor are more than happy about all this missing and squanderred baht ?

Discussion 24 : 20/09/2012 at 12:24 PM

Couldn`t that money have been better spent somewhere else yingluck , like educational textbooks for Thai children. By the way where are the Thai peoples missing millions yingluck ?

Discussion 25 : 20/09/2012 at 11:46 AM

"Sack the organiser, Skylight Elegance, for making such a politically dangerous printing error" Bula you have to be sacked too for your error of printing "Skylight Elegance" instead of "Somsak Kiatsuranont"

Discussion 26 : 20/09/2012 at 11:43 AM

This trip looks like a disguised corruption... in pleasing some influencila people...

Discussion 27 : 20/09/2012 at 11:41 AM

"Publicizing this matter is plain stupid telling the whole world how stupid is Thailand." Experience around the world has shown that the media are instrumental in controlling government corruption by exposing what they are actually getting up to. There should be MUCH more of this in Thailand, not less. "telling the whole world how stupid is Thailand." Believe me, this is nothing compared what PT are doing in their efforts to get TS amnesty. Thailand really is a joke at the moment.

Discussion 28 : 20/09/2012 at 11:08 AM

So Bula sees nothing wrong with the house speakers actions ?

Discussion 29 : 20/09/2012 at 11:03 AM

Did K. Ploy get invited - get to see her tax dollars at work. Stuff like this is why Thai's embrace tax evasion as the country's national sport.

Discussion 30 : 20/09/2012 at 10:54 AM

OMG, thai politicians on foreign travels that look more like leisure than work...wow start to look like what he have seen in Europe for ages, not a year passes without news about Politicians misusing funds or having excessive expenditures, or claim to live somewhere else than they actually do to cash in on expense account or...only fantasy is the limit.......Surprised ? NOT !!!!

Discussion 31 : 20/09/2012 at 10:25 AM

#22 Bula: Is that the only element of this story that you find worthy of comment?

Discussion 32 : 20/09/2012 at 10:17 AM

Disc 12: bkk-farang. I couldn't agree with you more. The gullibility of the Thai people who vote for this kind of politicians every time stems from their basic unawareness of these political figures' real motives and their inability to process what is righteous and what is not; inability to distinguish the grain from the chaff. Why? Primarily because of lack of quality education and access to unbiased media reporting.

Discussion 33 : 20/09/2012 at 10:11 AM

I hope they bring pictures and blueprints of the "water pushing machines" Thailand has invented to the French and European parliaments and show them there. And I hope even more that BP will publish pictures of the reactions they get from european politicians when showing the pictures :-)

Discussion 34 : 20/09/2012 at 09:58 AM

If something good were to come of it fine but it will not.We already know they have a problem taking good advice so where is the point.Let alone the money spent and the deception used to cover up the "holiday". When it comes to timing they are priceless,possibility of flood so lets get away the climate in Europe at this time of year is warm and with not much rain.

Discussion 35 : 20/09/2012 at 09:32 AM

What is the point of crying over spilt milk? Can any arrest be made? Why was this not stopped until it happened? Publicizing this matter is plain stupid telling the whole world how stupid is Thailand.

Discussion 36 : 20/09/2012 at 09:22 AM

Sack the organiser, Skylight Elegance, for making such a politically dangerous printing error.

Discussion 37 : 20/09/2012 at 09:11 AM

Its become painfully obvious that the taxpayer has become nothing more than a door mat for politicians to wipe their feet on or a buffalo ATM service .

Discussion 38 : 20/09/2012 at 09:10 AM

What a dirt bag once again..tax payer is a bottomless pit of money. No accountability at all. Oh and guess what..nothing will happen to him. No matter how crappy you are you are never held accountable

Discussion 39 : 20/09/2012 at 09:03 AM

This flagrant misuse of taxpayer's money under the guise of 'educational trips' has been ongoing for many years in practically all government agencies and state-owned enterprises regardless of who is in power. I commend the Bangkok Post for declining the invitation and be party to the circus.

Discussion 40 : 20/09/2012 at 08:51 AM

the house speaker reward by his boss ,the fugitive, no need to pay let the thai tax payers pay ,a freebie to his family and friends to remind this independant house speaker which side of the bed he lies

Discussion 41 : 20/09/2012 at 08:43 AM

Just another way of blowing the tax payers money, what's wrong with that? Hope they all enjoyed the football.

Discussion 42 : 20/09/2012 at 08:38 AM

Disgrace! But not only happen in Thailand..people should consider twice when pay their taxes to lousy government from iPhone application.

Discussion 43 : 20/09/2012 at 08:14 AM

When will these jokers start wearing face paint so that the country can see who they really are, clowns!

Discussion 44 : 20/09/2012 at 08:08 AM

Unfortunately he's playing with taxpayers' money within the rules of the game. We need to tighten this absurd spending rules to make it more just.

Discussion 45 : 20/09/2012 at 07:59 AM

- Another fine example of government, politics and politicians not worthy of existing.

Discussion 46 : 20/09/2012 at 07:51 AM

There are so many things to criticize about this trip that this page would be full. But at the end it does not matter in present Thailand. Nobody will lose his job because of this, nobody will be prosecuted because of this and the gullible voters will vote exactly for the same politicians again next time. Nothing will change and nobody will be surprised. TiT

Discussion 47 : 20/09/2012 at 07:28 AM

Quite apart from the number of media involved at tax payers' expense, and the fact it is while parliament is in session (he is the Speaker!), and the fact that it is obviously a junket, the stated purpose of the trip is entirely inappropriate for involvement of the House Speaker. There are already far too many people "looking at" the water resources problems of this country without adding another. This subject surely is the remit of the Science and Technology Minister. Whether he is capable is an entirely different matter. The Speaker, if he really must go on junkets, would make far better use of his time if went to look at governance systems, and parliamentary codes of conduct etc, but, please, in countries that are not banana republics.

Discussion 48 : 20/09/2012 at 07:25 AM

Hoping that Khun Voranai would tone down his criticism. Good try Mr.Somsak but that is not going to work. Study trip for 9 days. What can they learn in 9 days?Nada. They go shoping, now they might already have the list of what to buy for friends and family.No Netherland on the list? fishy as usual. By the time they learn any thing about water management The whole Thailand will be Pompeii.

Discussion 49 : 20/09/2012 at 07:09 AM

My Dear PM Yingluck, I feel that it is necessary for me to go on a price comparison trip to some European cities as I have been told that we, as a country, might well be losing money by undercharging our customers. My intended itinerary would be Hamburg’s Reeperbahn, Paris’s Place Pigalle, Amsterdam’s De Wallen and finally Barcelona’s Las Ramblas. For a more intensive study I would need to take with me 8 of my friends who are experts in these matters and could gain valuable knowledge about pricing which we can pass to our friends in Soi 4 and Soi Cowboy. I would envisage a budget of around 4.7 million baht for this study trip, and I look forward to receiving your Petty Cash voucher for 5 million baht in the next few days. Yours very sincerely……………..

Discussion 50 : 20/09/2012 at 06:28 AM

It's always nice to see that one's tax money is well spent. Bravo!

Discussion 51 : 20/09/2012 at 06:24 AM

Shameful! 20,000 baht a day pp means a pretty comfortable hotel and all the trimmings, I could understand if this was MPs rewarding themselves for 'hard work' but when you start taking political science lecturers on junkets and flying them all over first class, I wonder how educational this trip can be.

Discussion 52 : 20/09/2012 at 05:48 AM

Not going to Netherlands, so not going to study water management. What will they learn at the Louvre, The Economist and the BBC? Another 7m baht ill spent. Yes it happens in the West also, it's called a junket.

Discussion 53 : 20/09/2012 at 05:32 AM

Somsak just went 'far away' to Europe for a 'study trip' after being advised by the man 'far away' so that he could go 'far away' from the current domestic political problems.

Discussion 54 : 20/09/2012 at 05:08 AM

When will the Thai people wake up and realize how bad their government is financially ripping them off?

Discussion 55 : 20/09/2012 at 05:04 AM

Well here's a partial explanation as to where the money to prevent the current flooding that is with Bangkok again now, was spent. These guys know no shame and shove their wrongdoing right in your face." . . . academic study tour to observe water management systems" !Please!!

Discussion 56 : 20/09/2012 at 05:02 AM

"n invitation to attend the three-country trip with the House speaker was made to Post columnist Voranai Vanijaka in late August, but the newspaper declined the invitation....." Really? Any special reason ?

Discussion 57 : 20/09/2012 at 04:14 AM

Inviting a "BP" representive shows the "importence" of this mission(impossible) Oh well,they not planning the Delta Water Management works in Zeeland The Netherlands,regarded as a state of the art water management engineering achievement...... why should they? have a nice trip.