Help TAT with a new slogan

[buddha]

NotThailand.com

[samak]

instead of

Amazing Thailand - unseen Treasures

Raze and Maze in Thailand - unseen Casualties

 

instead of

Taste of Siam

Taste of Sham

[Damen]

LOS - Land of Suicides

[rookie]

Thailand - The exotic land where both tourists and bargirls come, then go

[Gadfly]

Thailand - Where we change governments more often than some punters change their underwear.

 

This is the best one I have seen and I cannot certainly think of anything better, but I might change "some punters" to "some tourists" just because this is for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

 

Incidentally, in my April travels through the US and UK, I was briefly in LA, and there was a feature story on Thailand, and it did not involve red or yellow colored protestors. Apparantly some Hollywood producer may go on trial and, if convicted, spend the rest of his life in jail for allegedly paying kick-backs to a former Gov of TAT. It wasn't exactly a positive article about Thailand, but interesting since it did not deal with the usual Thai topics and looked at this situation from the perspective of a Farang who lost his way in LOS. A feature rather than front page or even near front page news, but interesting and, unlike what you often see here, well written and well thought out. Now if I can only find the cite.

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

if convicted, spend the rest of his life in jail for allegedly paying kick-backs

 

This guy must be really old or they have drastically increased the penalty for bribery. Wouldn't think it would deserve a life sentence.

[shygye]

... it was an insult because the kick-backs were so small.

[soongmak]

... it was an insult because the kick-backs were so small.

 

A $1.7 million bribe is not an insult imo. More like a good starting point for further negotiations!

[Gadfly]

I probably wasn't clear in my original post, but the guy (and, I think, his wife) are being prosecuted under US law in the US. He is old; I think about 70. But its up to five years per charge, and my (admittedly faulty) memory recalls that there are about 20 charges. The amount of kickbacks posted above, US$1.7 million, sounds right from what I recall of the article.

 

It's apparantly a federal crime for a U.S. citizen to bribe a foreign official (or for a US copmany or a sub of a US company to not take reasonable steps to prevent its employees from foreign bribing officials). Weird thing is, and this was raised in the article quite well, it doesn't matter whether the local officials charge the bribe recipient. And the bribe receipient (a foreign official) isn't subject to any charges under US laws.

 

The article raised this point. Even though the local recipient of the bribe is never convicted or even charged of taking bribes, the US payer of the bribes could pay millions in fines (in another matter (not sure if it involved Thailand), I think Siemens had to pay US$800 million just for US fines - don't know what fines were paid to the German authorities) and individual payer of the bribdes can and do spend serious time in federal prisons. Meanwhile, the official who received (and may have demanded) that bribe, could use the bribe money to visit Disneyland, go on a shop spree on Five Avenue or buy a house in Beverly Hills (the article put this much better, but I remember the point it was making).

 

Interesting that this case is receiving more press in the US than in Thailand.

 

All of that was a bit off subject, but might be fodder for some other new TAT slogans. Ideas....?

[LAX]

Visit Thailand , a friendly country that always has a hand out to greet (grease) your visit