foreigner bashing continues even as Thaksin notes that crime rate 'extremely low' among 12 million who visit Thailand each year

By the way, about half of the 12 million 'arrivals' each year are simply foreign residents who must exit and re-enter Thailand every 30 days to renew their 'tourist visas' due to the fact that residency permits are almost unobtainable.

It should also be noted that Karr was not accused of committing any crime while in Thailand.

Nevertheless, many of the Thai government officials quoted in the article below have taken the position that 'something must be done' about these 'evil evil' foreign language teachers, in the wake of the Ramsey suspect arrest.

I guess these so-called leaders have graduated from kicking the dog to kicking the foreigner in order to bolster self-confidence during the present political imbroglio.

What troubles me more is that whenever a foreigner makes the news here in a bad way, a round of foreigner bashing ensues and there is not a single Thai voice to countermand it. That's really disappointing (and cowardly) on the part of our Thai so-called friends.

And what about the foreign community? Not a peep. Probably nervously clutching their non-immigrant 'O' retirement visas in mortal fear that if they speak up the government might be separate them from their fat Issan wives.

I can't imagine any immigrant community in the world putting up with the kind of nonsense foreigners put up with in Thailand.

Imagine how the 300,000 Thais in Los Angeles would react if California government officials waxed xenophobic in the LA Times about the 'criminal background' of 'many' Thais residing in the US? But that would never happen. And that's part of the reason they choose to live where they do.

from The Nation:

Suspect was employed by prestigious schools

Education officials concede that process of checking qualifications has sometimes taken too long

Various authorities yesterday expressed concern that John Mark Karr - a suspect in the 1996 murder of an American child beauty queen - had managed to find teaching jobs in Bangkok.

At the time of his arrest on Wednesday, he had just been given employment by an international school in the Sathorn district.

Before that he was allowed a trial period at two of the country's most prestigious schools - the boys-only Bangkok Christian College and the girls-only St Joseph Convent School.

The Education Ministry's permanent secretary Khunying Kasama Varawarn na Ayutthaya yesterday said she would have a meeting with the International Schools Association of Thailand next week to tighten recruitment of foreign teachers.

She admitted that the ministry had allowed international schools to recruit teachers before an entire check of their qualifications had been completed.

"We relaxed the rules after many international schools complained that the whole process took too long," Kasama said. [ed. so why not speed up the clerks at the Education Ministry rather than relaxing standards?]

She said the Office of Private Education Promotion Commission did general checks on whether applicants have the educational credentials that match the requirements. "The office has contacted foreign universities to verify overseas degrees submitted by applicants." [ed. this takes 5 minutes and a phone call -not a letter, not an email, not a fax- a phone call. There is no need for documents to cross the Pacific like it's 1822.]

The office has also cooperated with special-branch police and the National Intelligence Agency to check the history of applicants.

"Normally we receive a response from the special-branch police within three weeks but the overseas institutions have taken longer to respond."


[ed. Sorry, but I think this is a total fabrication because it makes no sense at all. 'Special branch police'? Never heard of such an entity having any info on the 'history' of foreign teachers, unless it pertains solely to criminal history in Thailand. If that is the case, then it shouldn't take 3 weeks to check. As for 'overseas institutions', it's been noted above that 5 minutes and a phone call to the registrar's office of any Western uni will get you an answer as to someone's degree status.]

"...When international schools started complaining, we relaxed the rule. Recruitment can be completed first, and if there is any problem we can take action later," Kasama said.

So far, she said, there had never been any problems. [ed. so why change the system if you've had only one bad apple out of thousands in so many years?]

"Generally, persons with criminal records won't be able to pass through immigration checkpoints," she said, but in the wake of Karr's arrest, Kasama planned to ask international schools not to hire any foreign teachers before their qualifications check had been completed. [ed. this is just utter nonsense. Immigration has no ability to check foreign criminal records, and does not even check Thai ones, before stamping your passport. Only people specifically placed on blacklist are barred from entry, and this list is very short.]

Anusorn Thaidecha, who heads the Office of Private Education Promotion Commission, added that he would ask immigration police and the Foreign Affairs Ministry to be stricter about granting entries or visas to foreigners. [ed. how does this promote private education? I guess the PEPC is just like the IT Ministry, notorious for blocking websites and doing fuck all else, in that both seem only concerned with prohibiting rather than fostering activity in their respective sectors. A government of cops, but not one leader.]

PM's deputy secretary general Jakrapob Penkair, who is assigned to oversee education matters, said there had in the past been many sexual-abuse accusations against teachers at some international schools.

"They have sex with minors - girls and boys - and they have been arrested," Jakrapob said. [ed. who is 'they'? A couple of cases in the past five years out of maybe 500,000 foreign teachers who've passed through in that time? Should back that libelous shit up, Jakrapob. In the meantime, there have been numerous government officials, senior police, and even senior Thai clergy accused (and in some cases convicted) of the same thing. What's being done about them?]

He said all parties must join in preventing undesirable foreigners from getting close to students in Thailand. [ed. what about undesireable Thais?] He added that he was going to raise the issue with the Education Ministry, teacher organisations, parents and international schools.

In a related development, caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said there were relatively few cases of crimes committed by foreigners in Thailand, given the fact that up to 12 million foreign visitors flocked to the country each year. He added that Thai authorities had worked closely with other countries in watching out for people who had been blacklisted.

[ed. Thaksin, of all people, was the only one who spoke up for foreigners by stating the simple facts. Incredible.]