Like a Venetian mask.

This post is a follow up to some of the questions that arose from the “What a F**cked up country” post.

The questions that I had and others gave me forced me to go out and ask some questions.  Now I didn’t go to the police this time for reasons that will become obvious. I instead went to a few Thais that I knew and a few long-time- in-country falangs (foreigners) that I had struck up a friendship of sorts.

The conversations were held one on one and all began quite benign in nature and this is where the similarities end.   I began by talking about the roadblock I had watched and how it struck me as odd how it was that even though it was illegal to ride without a helmet the police had no problem letting people ride away without a helmet once they were given a ticket.

Without getting into great detail here the difference between the Thai and the falang when I then asked what they thought of that and of the police in general was very distinct.

The Thai stiffened up and said very little. Basically, they said, police do what they have to do. They OK but don’t fuck them because they fuck you back real bad. And that was the end of the conversation. Not because the Thai said so directly but their body language and demeanour left no doubt in my mind that the conversation was at an end.

Now the falang not only reiterated those previous feelings but elaborated on them. It is important to note here that these people are off the grid so to speak. They befriended me and invited me into their homes.  What I heard was shocking and I believe truthful.

The police here are paid @4000TB per month or about 130$ Cdn. They have to purchase their own motorcycles and weapons but are given their first uniform. Prostitutes earn an average of 3000TB per night and gasoline is around 38TB per litre. Safe to say that police are poorly paid and that leads to pay offs, kick-backs, graft call it what you will. It is happening here in a big way.  This is the reason the officers don’t chase the motorcyclist that runs the roadblock.  It’s not worth their time. The police here will do that which is most profitable or do that for whom is willing to pay the most. This last sentence is why those Thais I spoke with were so curt with me. They are the working poor and have no resources to purchase their own justice/enforcement and they know to keep their mouths shut. Wise words if you are to believe the story I heard about the drunken Aussie. Seems he was in a very upscale drinking establishment and began bad mouthing the King and Queen. When asked to be quiet he did just the opposite. As the story goes a few minutes later two police came into the bar and one officer placed a burlap sack over the man’s head while the other officer placed a small calibre pistol against his head and proceeded to kill him on the spot.  The next day the papers reported that an Australian tourist had fallen victim to a robbery and had lost his life in the process. Thai police are investigating and hope to make an arrest soon.

As for the roadblock…well it looks good. It’s ordered from up above and everybody gets a little something extra at the end of the month.