Unofficial blacklisting

[Guest]

"I have this friend..."

or

"I have it on very good account"

'How good?'

"Absolutely reliable'

Take this story in that light.

A writer once visited Thailand and was told at Bangkok International Airport that he wasn't welcome in the Kingdom because he was such a naughty fellow, drinking and whoring. Never mind that many Thai and foreign men do the latter, and he rarely drinks hard liquor let alone get drunk. He was told that he must leave the airport with six hours (he asks special dispensation to catch a flight onward in SE Asia the next day. Granted). He is told to sign a paper recognizing that he is being being barred for a specific period of time and that he can appeal, but he must do so within 24 hours. He ask for that form and is told 'no'. He asks for a copy of his barring docutment he signed. No. They hold his passport.

He sleeps with the Nigerians and Indians in a special transit lounge. The guards allow him to make phone calls and provide basic food. They keep watch on everybody. The guards aren't brutes and even look the other way about the rule of no sleeping on the ground.

Arriving in another country this person enquires at a Thai Embassy what happened.

"You are not on the blacklist that every embassy has," the lady informs him, and helpfully suggests, "Just get a new pasport?"

She suggests that there is private communications between individuals and organizations and Don Muang Immigration that have nothing to do with offcial channels.

A mystery to me. Does anyone have educated guesses as to what the heck could have happened here? I've never been arrested in Thailand, and never had any unpleasant encounters that would merit a complaint..

[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: winston james ]

[Guest]

I know of a New Zealand man who used to be married to a Thai woman who ran a small bar on what is now Soi Zero. He lived in Bangkok for several years. They split up on unhappy terms, and divorced. He returned to NZ, where he owns/manages a hotel.

He continued to make sanuk trips to Thailand, and took up with a lady friend of my live-in Thai girlfriend. They got very close, and I think he proposed to the new lady.

A couple of months ago, he came in on a routine flight into Don Muang. After presenting his passport at immigration, some special police were summoned, and he was suddenly escorted to a side room where he was informed that entry was denied, and he would be deported on the next flight back to Thailand. He got indignant, discussion got heated, and he made the mistake of roughly pushing one of the policemen. He got beat up moderately. Sure enough, he was deported on the next flight out. He was not even permitted to make a phone call.

This was the work of his ex-wife, who has friends in the police department. It turns out that Romeo still had some sort of relationship (probably shady business) with his ex-wife's brother, and Romeo had let him know of his arrival flight schedule. Brother mentioned this to ex-wife, and she arranged the welcoming committee.

So, the question is - have you ever pissed off anyone who is "connected" in Thailand, and who was aware of your arrival plans?

Cheers!

Bangkok Butterfly

[Flashermac]

On a similar note, a certain long time employee of the Bangkok Post tried to get a permanent resident's visa. He'd been here for decades, was properly married, had an impeccable record etc etc. Still, he was turned down. The story is that his wife's wine importing business did it. It seems that a police colonel's wife also was importing wine and prevailed on her husband to use his influence to stop the visa approval. The fellow is still at the Post, but has to renew his visa every year like everyone else.

As to the new passport bit, it may work though. 20+ years ago there was an American with the morals of a rattlesnake who was mixed up with the Children of God cult. ("Jesus loves you -- and he wants you to shag me to prove it!") The jerkoff actually managed to seduce one of his students, a 15 or 16 year old daughter of a Thai general!!! When daddy heard about it, the fit hit the shan big time. Daddy sent some of his men around to the perp's apartment. They confronted him and told him he had one hour to pack his bags. Then they took him to the airport and put him on a plane, with the advice that if he ever came back he'd wake up dead floating in a klong one morning. About a decade later, the idiot showed up again in Bangkok using his own name! He had come in on a new passport. None of us could believe the fellow was so bold -- or stupid. Some of us felt like informing "dear old dad", but we never did. (And he still thought he was Don Juan too.)

[Stickman]

I've heard of this sort of thing before. One of my colleagues tells the story of a meeting at a language school that got heated, my colleage and the owner/manager going at each other in the meeting.

After everyone had cleared out of the meeting, the owner/manager said to my colleague, "if you ever have any problems in Thailand, you come and see me and I can help you out. I have friend at Immigration who can sort out any problems". What he really meant was "don't fxxx with me because I have friends and will get you thrown out of the country in a second"!

Stick