Talk:Thailand/Archive 1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents

Redirect from Siam

You can't just redirect. Siam is different than Thailand so it should have its own page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.161.238.220 (talk • contribs) 06:01, 31 March 2003 (UTC).

Why not? In the last century the name of the country was changed from Siam to Thailand to Siam back to Thailand, and all of the enduring institutions of today's Thailand are inheritances from Siam. "Thailand" covers more than "Siam", but includes all of it; the best place to cover Siam would seem to be under Thailand. David K 11:55, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I think there should be a little info on the use of the word Siam. --Dara 08:15, July 29, 2005 (UTC)

Obsolete information on municipalities

The information on municipalities is seriously obsolete: nowadays every amphoe has at least one municipality, thesaban tambon <name of amphoe> . That means there are nearly a thousand. As far as I know, all the sukhaaphibaan were eliminated in the process of creating the new municipalities. Is there someone with access to current government data who can update this?David K 11:55, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I could find numbers from the census 2000, which suggest that there were 7,408 Tambon (including the 154 kwaeng (แขวง) in Bangkok) and 69,307 Mubaan. Yet sadly those lists did not say about how many of the tambon are thesaban tambon, nor what happened with the Sukhaphiban. Once I find more information I will update those numbers (and probably write up those information into a article tambon). andy 22:50, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Featured status of provinces article

Hi, I came here via the 'Featured Article' link on the main page and I'm somewhat surprised to find absolutely nothing here on these topics which brought Thailand into world attention during the last year or so:

etc. I know that Rome wasn't edited in a day, but this being a featured article I was hoping to find something to put those media reports in perspective. In all fairness, the stuff which is already there looks like very serious work. regards, High on a tree 05:07, 9 May 2004 (UTC)

Well, the featured article was Provinces of Thailand, not all our articles about Thailand. That one article by itself (plus all the province articles) should be fairly complete, yet for Thailand by itself it has many holes yet for sure. You are of course right that those points you list are missing, so why not be bold and add something on them where it fits. As I am the main contributor of Thai topics I simply haven't found the time or enough background information to writeup something good. E.g. for the problems in the deep south - I know about the recent problems for sure, as well as some bits about the inclusion of the Pattani sultanate into Siam in beginning of the 20th century, but I am ignorant about all the developement during the 20th century. andy 09:22, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
I see, seems I clicked on the wrong link then - apologies... in any case, I definitely respect your fine work. My issue was that maybe the decision to make this a 'featured' article was a bit premature, because one would expect some sort of completeness. (Btw the CNN article I linked mentioned incidents in Yala, Pattani and Songkla, and to be fair in two of those articles the separatist movement is briefly mentioned.) I felt hesitant to enter things I only read in the newspaper into articles which already seem quite polished. (Actually I spent a day in Hat Yai once and I've read Platform by Houellebecq, but that doesnt make me an expert in Thai moslem separatism... ;) ) grüße, High on a tree 03:25, 10 May 2004 (UTC)
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's controversial anti-drug campaign is covered in the articles on Thaksin Shinawatra and in slightly more detail in Policies of the Thaksin government#Anti-drug policies. Patiwat 05:28, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Map

I just noticed the map here still lists neighbouring country Myanmar as Burma. This should be updated.

I disagree, but if you feel the urge, feel free. Markalexander100 03:04, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
It isn't much surprising, as that map is from the CIA world fact book (and thus PD) - and the USA is one of the few countries which did not accept the renaming to Myanmar. andy 07:44, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I started the comment, just forgot to put on my sig. I don't know much about East Asian politics but I do know that the official name for Burma is Myanmar. As long as the Myanmar is the official name, we should be using it. I won't bother finding a new map. If another agrees with me and is willing to update it, that would be great. --Will2k 14:54, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

Provinces

"The name of each province is derived from its capital city." Isn't this the wrong way round? --Bobbagum 15:18, 31 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I don't think so- the provinces take after the old-style meuang, where there was a city-state (maybe more accurately, "town-state") which had an undefined, fluctuating hinterland. The city/town was always primary. Markalexander100 00:35, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Thailand has 75 provinces, not 76 provinces. See the Ministry of Interior's web site - http://www.moi.go.th/province.htm .Bangkok is special administration area - the capital city, not province. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.142.207.162 (talk • contribs) 02:22, 9 April 2005, UTC+7.

Muang or Prathet?

I've never seen anything other than prathet Thai used in official contexts, surely this should be the local formal name of the country in the infobox? Jpatokal 17:09, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I'd like both at least to be mentioned (more info is always good!). We could always note that muang is informal, but it might get a bit cluttered. Markalexander100 01:52, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

'Muang' is informal. Prathet (literally means 'country') is more formal. But the real official name of Thailand is 'Raja-anachakra Thai'(ราชอาณาจักรไทย - Pronounced as Rat-cha-ar-nar-chak-thai), it means 'Kingdom of Thailand'. And this should be mentioned, not 'Muang Thai'. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.121.130.34 (talk • contribs) 22:41, 2 March 2005, UTC+7.

Colonization

ONLY STUPIDs?

I CAN SEE THAT LOTS OF IDIOTS ARE HERE!!!

PLS DONT CHANGE THAILAND (SIAM) HISTORY UNLESS YOU KNOW BEST!

SOME ARE VERY STUPID AND DONT EVEN KNOW OUR HISTORY; PLS WORK HARDER ON BOOKS AND REFERENCES!

ANY ADMINS; BEFORE CHANGING ANY DETAILS; PLS BE CAREFUL OF VANDALISM! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.191.162.226 (talk • contribs) 04:52, 22 June 2005 (UTC).

PLS READ PS

The sensitive case is that Thailand was the (informal) British colony, which it actually never was, and we cannot accept that. And the truth is that we also used to own the areas around which was later became the new territoties under the British Empire by an unfiar threats (in many historians' opinions). I think this page should not be changed by anybody anymore unless he/she knows what is behind the true story and understand OUR history well.

PS1: I HATE IDIOTS! PS2: SIAM HAS NOT BEEN COLONIZED BY ANY COUNTRY (FORMAL OR INFORMAL) PS3: PLS DONT CHANGE ANYTHING IF YOU DONT KNOW SIAM HISTORY! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.191.162.226 (talk • contribs) 07:35, 22 June 2005 (UTC).

If you stop shouting and stop insulting people, I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Mark1 07:40, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
The person doing the shouting should also have the integrity to sign their postings. Rlevse 19:01, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

As usual, many Thais do not understand the blatant censorship that came with Thousands of years of stifled thought and lack of equality and democracy in society. DeJure - Thailand has never been colonized. DeFacto - not entirely clear. Why were Japanese in Thailand printing money in World War 2? Please look at the situation and extrapolate what happened, rather than believing the heavily edited and biased historical references written by Royal Thai scholars." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chokdii (talk • contribs) 02:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC).

very upset with fairness fo somebody

I dont understand why the foriegners always changing the contents of our histoty. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.94.23.91 (talk • contribs) 14:40, 23 June 2005 (UTC).

Because this is a Wiki and everyone is allowed to edit. And please notice that noone denies the fact that Thailand was never a colony, but you also have to accept that Siam had to make contracts with the British which included quite "unfair" terms for Siam. And as there are historians who call that "inofficial part of empire" it is worth noting in the article. The basic idea of this website is NPOV, thus showing not only one view of the topic. BTW: If only Thais would write about Thai topics here there'd be very few about the country, most was written by farang interested in the country. andy 20:32, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
History of Thailand is a debatable issue. Research done in english language is not that well-establish (compare to other country's history) and one could argue that eesearch done by Thai historian is arguable. The term "part of Empire" is a controversial concept and is still up-to-debate among many historians, so I don't believe its appropriate to state it in wikipedia. Personally, I don't believe that "unfair contract" with Siam and British empire could be inteprate as "part of Empire". The term could, if possible, apply to relationship between Siam and China, but not UK. If I remember correctly, in one point of the history, Chinese actually consider china-siam relationship as more than just a diplomatic one. --Underexpose 00:29, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
This page is for discussing changes to the article, not for general discussions. Which part of the article are you talking about? What changes would you like to make to it? Markyour words 01:34, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
I were talking about the possiblity of putting term "inofficial part of empire" in the article, in response to andy's comment. --underexpose 03:26, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
That was taken out of the article months ago. There's no point reviving old discussions. Markyour words 11:53, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Any East Asian-International historian here?

This is not only one view, please read before- keyword "Thai history". (and please considered your view too, do you have any reference???)

I think that there are many books in amazon.com, you can order, or just go to the library nearby, if you love to read. I found this is already a war and to me it is quite stupid that I have to change it back again and again since I am also have things to do.

Thailand is not so big as China but we also have the right as written to declare that, if you are one who stay in our territory, please study and clarify yourself of our knowledge.

But I beg your pardon, I think you have some knowledge but plese working on that more a bit, or read a history written by other neutral countries, then you will see more. Please do not based your knowledge on the one who take the land and write the history by themselves. This is crap!

I am sick to say if the Ang-Sach writes about WWII of the Soviet army. Tell me who are the best? I am really sick with this kind of stubborn people around. I will let it be after this and hopefully the Thais and other will not rate this WiKi, as the neutral source any longer. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.191.148.33 (talk • contribs) 22:25, 23 June 2005 (UTC).

I know at least two people who edited this page who have read Wyatt's "History of Thailand", which is the standard english language history of Thailand. Though Wyatt doesn't use the term "informal empire" (so I cannot give the quote to proof that statement), if YOU read it you'd see what I explained you before. BTW: If you want to tell anyone to shut up - what did YOU contribute on Thai topics here so far? Those you claim to be ignorant stubborn idiots have done that, and they definitely don't do it to insult your country. So you can tell everyone that this is not the place for the nationalistic version of your history - and we are more than happy to accept this rating. andy 11:14, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 ;-)

sorry man! I havent used or cited from Wyatt's "History of Thailand". In fact, I've learnt and read so many for nearly 10 years, using one book is so stupid like using just only yours brain.

This is really wasting my time- talking with air-head-type1-animals. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.191.152.137 (talk • contribs) 22:03, 24 June 2005 (UTC).

So we finally have one point to agree - I don't see any point in continuing this discussion anymore with someone who think all other editors are ignorant. andy

I assume from your[the above aggressive one] opinions that you are Thai citizen, and so do I! Tell me who are the best, you said? You think only Thais can write their own country's history? Don't be stupid! As you probably know, all the accepted Thai history taught in school was written by only one person! I get sick of what I have been taught here! It is commonly said that the British Empire and France took our lands, but where were them from? Didn't our ancestors get them from our neighbour countries? Didn't our today's territory use to be Khmer's before the age of Sukhothai? Wasn't 'Pra Kaew Morakot' taken from Vientiene? I'm agree with andy that this is not the place with our patriotic history. I want some thing more neutral than the Thai aspect which always protect our great ancestors and monarchs! Ps. I agree with him for only one thing, please declare the evidence of 'informal British Empire'. I am not such an idiot radical, I just want to see where is it from. CW32 17:13, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Apparently it's in The Oxford History of the British Empire—Volume III, edited by Andrew Porter. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. (among other works, I'm sure). It's mentioned in this review. Mark1 02:22, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Bitte Vorsicht bei Änderungen wichtiger Kommentare

Das ist eine öffentliche Diskussion. Kein Kommentar sollte gelöscht werden, nur weil sich einer aufgrund eines Fehlers persönlich angegriffen fühlt und weibisch nicht damit umgehen kann. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.181.7.166 (talk • contribs) 22:15, 24 June 2005 (UTC).

As this is the english WP German comments are no good idea - nor do I understand what you mean as noone has deleted anything. Besides, even IF the text is deleted, it will always stay in the editing history. andy 09:47, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Link removed

I have removed this link, which is not working at this time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.118.120.214 (talk • contribs) 03:51, 26 June 2005 (UTC).

This is operational again. I think it should be displayed again. Any objectiuons? I will go ahaead and edit this in. Felixboy 20:04, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

I just checked it, and it works fine here. Must have been either a very temporary problem of that site, or routing problem with your ISP. andy 20:57, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

lots of mistakes with no quote

Actually I am sick to write against those air-heads. But please see some written by some neutral articles to quote. The history of the un-unified Siam can be reached back quite long. The same as written in Burmese and Chinese historical books. In the past, SEA was not totally influenced by the Khmehr, but more by the India. Some history of Siam before the unification can be refered by the French version in Wikipedia: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha%C3%AFlande

Wish all the stupids here understand more or less with learning. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.181.59.40 (talk • contribs) 02:58, 21 August 2005 (UTC).

Siam-Dvaravati

Markalexander100, you just violated the "three-revert" rule. That is not productive. You should explain in the discussion why you insist that "Siam-Dvaravati" was not a precursor to Thailand. −Woodstone 09:54:41, 2005-08-29 (UTC)

Now also 85.181.21.107 violated the "three-revert" rule. Please stop behaving like this and come to an agreement on the talk page first. −Woodstone 11:03:29, 2005-08-29 (UTC)

Mark probably skipped the discussion because he considers it nationalistic nonsense - Dvaravati was a Mon kingdom, with hardly any Thai people - the Thai people came to the area centuries after the establishment of Dvaravati. There may have been some Thai people around already, but those weren't in power for sure, other than in the clearly Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya. Thus there wasn't anything like "Siam-Dvaravati", nor is it correct to consider Dvaravati a precursor to Thailand, just because it covered the same land area. And I haven't ever read about Dvaravati to be "dependend" on Funan - it may possible, but as most of Dvaravati history is unknown due to lack of sources it cannot be proved to be true or false, but given the distances it is not much likely. I have however read about Dvaravati dependend on Srivijaya, or as one of the Indianized states one can even consider it depended on Sri Lanka. andy 16:19, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
Neither of us violated 3RR (it forbids more than three reverts, not three). Also, what andy said. It's nationalistic nonsense. Mark1 00:50, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
Now we just did. I've reverted myself for now. Since we're here now, has anyone heard of such a thing as "Siam-Dvaravati", and do they have any reason to believe that it or the real Dvaravati was ever controlled by Funan? Mark1 02:51, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

sources???

please quote "many historians"? sources? please provide your sources and references of the Independence date of Thailand from Kmehr Empire? when? how? International acceptance? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.181.20.140 (talk • contribs) 11:31, 31 August 2005 (UTC).

And where are sources for the Siam-Dvaravati - see above section? andy 11:33, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
I don't really like the "from Khmer Empire" part myself, although for a different reason: it implies that "Thailand" became independent then, rather than Sukhothai. I'd like to cut that line. Mark1 02:25, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
I don't really like the "from Khmer Empire" part myself>>please! delete "YOUR" wrong idea. Since there is no concrete evidence of that yet. And the SEA region is mixed of several kinship groups until there is no roots as obviously seen as i.e. "Hans" Chinese.
Siam-Dvaravati can be seen until today's central Thailand from their culture, language, song, frock and there are many more evidences. In addition, the "Mon" and the "Tai" has been also noticed that they have "Fair" skin, not "Dark-Tan". And do you think that after the "Tai" came, with your common sense, do the "Mon" in central Thailand ran off into the sea and disappeared or gradually integrated with the "Tai"?
However, if this is not a public encyclopedia, I wont step in to talk in a "funny" thing in a mafia community!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.181.9.4 (talk • contribs) 03:18, 2 September 2005 (UTC).
Of course the common people have mixed with each other, as well as gradually replaced each other - maybe the Mon had to take the less fertile fields and thus their number reduced... But the ruling class changed from Mon to Thai with the Ayutthaya kingdom, thus the earlier ones cannot be considered a direct precursor. Of course the entry in the infobox is a very strong simplification of the complex and still widely unexplored history, but it is generally accepted that Siam started with the Sukhothai kingdom.
But of course this is all a big conspiracy between western historians, this website and however else may come to you mind, to steal you great Thai people 500 years of history. If you really think that then you better leave this space, as that is not the case. andy 11:47, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Culture

This section notes: "... therefore one should not slide a book across a table or place it on the floor" when discussing books and printed material.

I don't have a Lonely Planet Thailand handy, but this sounds very much like a direct or near direct quote from the Thailand LP guide, which is a copyrighted work. Dxco 01:06, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

Actually the statement seems somewhat obsolete. Stepping over or on books is still taboo, but to "place it on the floor" is not really a no-no anymore.--Paul C 17:10, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

After living in Thailand for seven years, I can honestly say that most of the supposed Thai taboos are merely paid lip service in modern Thailand. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.144.63.140 (talk • contribs) 00:51, 11 June 2006 (UTC).

idiot

Lonely Planet Thailand gives so many errors, and do not based on a real research, i.e. (1) the meaning of Bangkok= Bang Makok; (2)the Thais often shit in the street-bushes; (3)Tha cinema and etc. One should not relies on the articles of this book so much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.39.221.13 (talk • contribs) 14:11, 28 November 2005 (UTC).

Safety

does anyone know anything about how safe thailand is to visit/ live for a female [canadian] in her early twenties? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.30.77.17 (talk • contribs) 22:17, 4 December 2005 (UTC).

In terms of being raped or murdered? Safer than Canada. In terms of being run over? Less safe than Canada. Mark1 23:09, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Ditto on safety, but be advised to be wary of robbery, theft, pick pockets, etc. Rlevse 18:23, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Thailand 001

There was an article Thailand 001 that was marked as a copyright violation from the following URLs:

Material from these pages may be useful for adding to this article or other Thailand-related articles. howcheng [ t • c • w • e ] 17:13, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Post-Colonialism

One predominant feature of Thai culture is that because it was never colonized, it does not suffer from a historical post-colonial perspective. This results in a marked lack of either xenophobia or the machismo paradigm of gender identity.

This should be reworded to reflect Thailand's natural immunity to Communism instead. According to Marx, the demographics of this nation are ripe for revoltion, but such an event *NEVER* happened. Why? BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER COLONIZED!

Also, how about that traffic? :P ~Ghet 19:22, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

It was crap, I've removed it. Actually there was a substantial communist insurgency, but as in Malaya it was dealt with by a combination of military suppression and social and economic improvements. But that's a matter for cited sources in the history section. Mark1 19:36, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Colonization

I edited history of Thailand to credit our King Rama V to rule the country out of the colonism crisis. It's the history. There is an evidence of country modernization, Europe visits, etc. How can British and French just left Thailand by themselves? Look at Africa. Or some places else. Have they ever done that by themselves? just left a country as a buffer state... Think! 129.82.209.24 05:05, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

What you did was to remove one part of the story, and repeat another part already mentioned. That's not helpful. Markyour words 12:25, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I totally agree! My father is from a long line of Thai Royal Heritage and my mother is American; therefore, I have researched this honorable history of Thailand all my life. Basically, Thailand was extremely intelligent while playing the French against the British. In addition they learned western culture/strategy by inviting foriegn educators into Thailand. If we truely were a, "buffer", state then why would they create the classic historical play,(The King And I)? I was born and live in the US, but visit Thailand on a regular basis. If you visit Thailand then you will see that it is the people's dedication to their King and country which made Thailand truely, "The Land Of The Free." Sean Viryasiri (Nashville, TN USA) 09:41, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Chinese minority does not call Thailand Siam

The article states in the first paragraph "It is also the name of the Thai people - leading some inhabitants, particularly the sizeable Chinese minority, to continue to use the name Siam." As far as I know, this is false. No person of Chinese ethnicity that I know has ever used "Siam" instead of "Thailand" because they resent being lumped up with the ethnic Thais/Thai. In fact, the only situations I have ever heard "Siam" being used are in historical or poetic references. The only situation I have ever heard of people resenting being called "Thais" is by the ethnic Malays of the South. Patiwat 10:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Who is this statue of?

Can anyone identify this statue?
Enlarge
Can anyone identify this statue?

Adam 12:21, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

The statue is of King Naresuan, and it is located in Ayuthaya, near Wat Phu Khao Thong (Golden Mount Chedi). They aren't visible in the photo, but the statue is surrounded by dozens of these little chicken statues - I can't remember the significance (of the chickens). [[1]] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shakakoz (talk • contribs) 05:20, 20 April 2006 (UTC).


Naresuen was a famous 16th century warrior-king of the Ayutthaya kingdom, (all Tai people from Thailand to the Shans in Burma revere him as a national hero). As for the chickens... guess I'll have to find out about that as well, perhaps something to do with his zodiac sign?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Maharaj Devraj (talk • contribs) 17:58, 29 June 2006 (UTC).

Lately what happen to Thailand?

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Hmm, just interested to know what happen to Thailand lately? Especially on the southern part of Thailand. Is there riot? Hope to know full detail on it because my friends and I are interested to go to Phuket island on this June. We are all from Malaysia, therefore, we wish to make full preparation of information before going, well, precaution is better than cure. Thanks in advance for everyone cooperation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.50.9.49 (talk • contribs) 03:41, 30 April 2006 (UTC).

Phuket is safe as far as we know now. So far the southern riot only affects the three muslim provinces at the Malay boundary, i.e. Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. For details see South Thailand insurgency. There is a little concern that the terrorists may seek targets outside that area as well (there had been bombs in Hat Yai once already), but so far nothing else happened. There is also quite some political chaos around PM Taksin Shinawatra, but that remained peaceful so far, and is only affected Bangkok with many demonstrations. To follow that one you can also take a look at Current events in Thailand. andy 09:03, 1 May 2006 (UTC)


It isn't a riot, its more of an ethnic conflict which has now been fueled by Islamic Fundamentalism, you guys in the US should be familiar with it? Well, yeah, its been happening to us in India and Thaialnd for a while now. The root of the problem goes back to the Colonial period and the birth of the Thai nation state in which the Malay Sultanates were incorporated under direct control of Bangkok. However, things were further complicated during the cold war, and now again it is further complicated by various conflicts of interests as well as fundamentalism (as earlier mentioned). The successive governments (particularly the Thaksin government) hasn't exactly been paying full attention to the problem either, and now its kind of too late. Fundamentalism has caught on and terrorists cross over from neighboring countries easily (in small fishing boats),check [2] also [[3]]. However, places popular for Tourism such as Phuket or Samui (or anywhere apart from the 3 southern most provinces being Songkla, Narathiwat, or Yala) remain unaffected as with the rest of the country. Maharaj Devraj 17:54, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Age of consent - 15 or 18?

Is it true that the age of consent for a non-sex worker is 15? If so, then how did rock star Dag of band Big Ass get into trouble for having sex with that 17 year old girl? Could somebody please clarify. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Patiwat (talk • contribs) 21:17, 20 May 2006 (UTC).

I'd always assumed it was 18, but this site says "The minimum age limit for heterosexual, lesbian and gay relations (since 1987: before it was 13) is set at 15 (Art. 279 CC). On 14 October 1996 a new "Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act" came into force which criminalises sexual acts with minors [whether hetero or homo] (under 18) "in the place of prostitution" (Art. 8: 1 to 3 years and a fine)." That's said to be correct as of 1998 or 1999. HenryFlower 21:24, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
Another belated addition: the British Guardian newspaper yesterday (June 17) had a piece stating that "Thai penal code outlaws sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, with or without consent". HenryFlower 08:41, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I believe the Child Protection Act of 2003 practically places the age of consent at 18, but I'm no lawyer. Paul C 10:39, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive

Not on Thailand per se but related, History of Southeast Asia is currently a nominee for Wikipedia:Article Improvement Drive. Please support the nominee by voting for it! __earth (Talk) 03:14, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Concession of Siamese territory

I agree with Henry flower that my edit was incorrect, although I still think that the information would be rather interesting for modern researchers (taken from ML Manich Chumsai's Popular History of Thailand, <1993>). It also reflects the roots of the current unrests in Southern Thailand, in my opinion.

Perhaps it could have been Changed to:

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. Western influence, however, including the threat of force, led to many reforms in the 19th century and major concessions to French expansionaism and British mercantile interests. This included the loss of the area west of the Mekong river which became part of French Indochina(1893) and the loss of the 3 southern provinces, which later became Malaysia's 3 northern states(1909) ?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Maharaj Devraj (talk • contribs) 09:46, 19 June 2006 (UTC).

You might like to redistribute those replies into sections- conversations will be impossible to follow otherwise. When you say 'the area west of the Mekong river', do you mean 'east of the Mekong river'? In either case, 'lost' is misleading: most of that region consisted of statelets with some loyalty to Siam, some to Vietnam, some to China and a fair degree of independence. HenryFlower 19:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC).

Yeah, you got me there. I meant East of the Mekong and many thanks with your suggestions. Maharaj Devraj 17:56, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Tiny nitpick, but I've no time..

"An interesting fact is that although Shinawatra was praised for boosting the economy, his resignation caused the baht-dollar value to rise from 39 to roughly 37."

to rise from 39-37? what's a better way of saying this... --67.171.173.185 02:26, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

This is written in a very biased way and unprofessional manner. It doesn't say who praised Thaksin and it doesn't say why he was praised. It doesn't say why strengthening the currency is good for the economy (it doesn't - it makes Thailand's exports more expensive and thus reduces foreign currency inflows to the economy). The sentence should be deleted. Patiwat 21:36, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/h/a/Talk%7EThailand_Archive_1_923f.html"