News Forum - Police ordered not to name nationalities, arrest Swedish man with gun and meth

[Thaiger]

The Royal Thai police have given foreign troublemakers a bit of a Christmas gift. In an order put out late on Christmas Eve, the RTP told all provincial police bureaus to no longer release to the media the nationality of any foreigner arrested in Thailand. A spokesperson for the Royal Thai Police said that people accused of a crime in Thailand will no longer be identified by their nationality when information is released to the media. Anyone tried and convicted through the Thai legal system in a court of law would not be protected by this new order. It only […]

The story Police ordered not to name nationalities, arrest Swedish man with gun and meth as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Rookiescot]

Too many Chinese getting lifted of late and their nationality reported.

So now they will simply be listed as a foreigner. Which means we all get tared with the same brush.

Sweep, sweep. Nothing to see here.

[Chatogaster]

  On 12/25/2022 at 9:56 AM, Thaiger said:

It only applies to those who are accused but not yet charged.

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The 2nd sub-article is at best an example where the request wasn't known/honored, but if the quoted statement is true, it isn't even that. I doubt the Swede was invited to submit for a questioning, then pointed an accusational finger at and finally be told to get out there for lack of charges.

It is childish of the author to give that "counter"-example, but perhaps so is me pointing out that accusations by police are usually very quickly followed up by charges by the public prosecutor. 

The bigger picture is more interesting: when it comes to news, there is no real value in a statement like "the suspect is a 43 years old female from Krakozhia". It just appeals to human interest (that's all). Unfortunately, all humans like patterns, and they'll find them even if they're not really there. If Krakozhia is mentioned often enough in negative settings, an initial  wariness of Krakozhians results. You can replace Krakozhia(ns) by almost any group you can imagine (all foreign people, all tall people, all green-eyed people, all (non)religious people, …) and nothing changes in that picture.

Sadly, history (even very recent history) shows all too clearly that such feelings can easily be abused and expanded to trigger immoral actions. I don't want to put more effort in this post than was invested in writing the article, so I'll leave the follow-ups hanging. Consider it homework.

[Ramanathan.P]

What is wrong in Naming the country. Let the people know the behaviour of your respective country people and how they behave when out of their home country. It is good to name and shame so that the rest will behave properly. 

[Poolie]

  On 12/25/2022 at 1:20 PM, Ramanathan.P said:

What is wrong in Naming the country. Let the people know the behaviour of your respective country people and how they behave when out of their home country. It is good to name and shame so that the rest will behave properly. 

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I believe someone already adopted that approach by using the phrase 'pour encourager les autres.'

[Soidog]

I have expressed my unease with the total addiction in Thai media to point out the nationality of people in the news. To me, this is at least a first step in the right direction. The nationality of someone in a crime is usually of no significance whatsoever. Equally, pointing out that a “German man” was in a motorbike accident is totally irrelevant. So to are headline like we saw today “Thai man uses fake $100 bills”. The nationality is totally irrelevant.
 

I have many times called for this nationalistic and divisive behaviour to stop in the media. I’m unsure what lies behind this order to the RTP, though I guess it’s political rather than promoting equality and a more global attitude towards people. However, given the nonsense headlines in media outlets, including The Thaiger, I’ll take it as a start and a small step in the right direction. 

[Soidog]

  On 12/25/2022 at 1:20 PM, Ramanathan.P said:

What is wrong in Naming the country. Let the people know the behaviour of your respective country people and how they behave when out of their home country. It is good to name and shame so that the rest will behave properly. 

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It makes little difference other than if they are Thai or foreign. That’s all the locals people need to form a negative opinion of foreigners. The media just need to stop it unless the nationality is relevant. 

[Wackamole]

  On 12/25/2022 at 12:49 PM, Chatogaster said:

It is childish of the author to give that "counter"-example, but perhaps so is me pointing out that accusations by police are usually very quickly followed up by charges by the public prosecutor. 

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I don't find it childish but maybe a funny way to say that nationalities will keep being named, except for those from the country that complained. I really wonder which one that was.

[Smithydog]

Personally, I don't care if they name nationalities or not. But in this case, perhaps there maybe a better reference than nationality to use to describe this character.

Making a statement "When asked about the gun and bullets, he said that he found them in a local go-go bar in a plastic box. When he found them, he decided he would just keep them."

Best descriptive term for this character is "idiot"! 

[HolyCowCm]

Well I really don't care as it shows some of the gene pool mentality of non quality foreigners coming and setting up shop or just going off the hook in many severely bad ways here. Now to date it is the wonderful can do no wrong quality people from China that are constantly in the news, so one has to think it is perhaps the nasty little CCP clucking and squawking to their underling minions as even Rookiescot mentioned. Maybe they should use more discretion of the crime before they release the nationality, but I really think it is the CCP crying foul as they always do to the world stating that they are being abused and wrongully accused as they never do anything wrong and are plainly misunderstood. If it is an american then go ahead and mention his nationality, but onloy if the crime is sever enough. Jay walking or a stupid little motorcyle accident or even getting in a fight should not qualify.

[socal]

I find the nationalities of ppl in the news interesting and relevant. Without it , i wouldn't have known that Scandinavia has its fair share of scum just like everywhere else 

[HolyCowCm]

  On 12/26/2022 at 1:30 AM, Smithydog said:

Best descriptive term for this character is "idiot"! 

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Yep. But this is also Thai 101 as excuses go. borrowed from a dead friend etc.

[Soidog]

  On 12/26/2022 at 5:08 AM, HolyCowCm said:

If it is an american then go ahead and mention his nationality, but onloy if the crime is sever enough. Jay walking or a stupid little motorcyle accident or even getting in a fight should not qualify.

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You’ve nailed it for me there. I feel exactly the same. When the crime is serious enough and likely to result in a lengthy prison sentence, cause some national outcry or a diplomatic issue, then by all means name the nationality. It’s the minor stories, such as those you mention that is wrong as nationality plays no role.
 

While we are on the issue of police and the way they approach the media, can we please stop the childish “selfies” with the accused. I thought Prayut had told them to stop that stupidity a few years ago?  

[socal]

  On 12/26/2022 at 9:20 AM, Soidog said:

You’ve nailed it for me there. I feel exactly the same. When the crime is serious enough and likely to result in a lengthy prison sentence, cause some national outcry or a diplomatic issue, then by all means name the nationality. It’s the minor stories, such as those you mention that is wrong as nationality plays no role.
 

While we are on the issue of police and the way they approach the media, can we please stop the childish “selfies” with the accused. I thought Prayut had told them to stop that stupidity a few years ago?  

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That's an inconsistent take Soi dogger 

[Soidog]

  On 12/26/2022 at 7:39 PM, socal said:

That's an inconsistent take Soi dogger 

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What is? Happy to explain if you can explain the inconsistency? 

[socal]

  On 12/26/2022 at 9:22 PM, Soidog said:

What is? Happy to explain if you can explain the inconsistency? 

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I just don't see how the nationality should be relevant in a big story and not in a small one. Some stories are not a big deal but become big news online. Like this farang idiot fornicating in public for 1/2 hour. "Netizens" probably want to name and shame him.

[Soidog]

  On 12/26/2022 at 10:15 PM, socal said:

I just don't see how the nationality should be relevant in a big story and not in a small one. Some stories are not a big deal but become big news online. Like this farang idiot fornicating in public for 1/2 hour. "Netizens" probably want to name and shame him.

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It’s not the size of the story that justifies naming the nationality, it’s the scale of the crime. Why should some innocent bystander who gets run over by a motorbike have his nationality all over the media? Or some guy who simply crashes his car? His nationality is of no relevance at all. However, a person who robs a gold shop or murders someone who is foreign is likely to result in the embassy getting involved and imprisonment followed by deportation. In this case, the embassy involved and the country he’s deported to are relevant to the story. Similarly I have no issue when the nationality of a person who falls to his death is mentioned. 
 

In developed countries we don’t go around printing articles such as “Turkish man refuses to pay his restaurant bill”. Or “Swedish man found asleep on the beach”. It’s utter nonsense and only serves to drive the divide between locals and foreigners. No wonder many Thais see foreigners literally as aliens and not people.  Once you engender that attitude, you can’t complain when foreigners are ripped off or treated differently. 

[cowslip]

As can be seen by many of the comments on this thread, necessarily revealing the nationality of those arrested can lead to racist responses and a lot of confirmation bias.

I'm also aware of a serious crime where the alleged offender's nationality was misreported - probably intentionally.

But when it really matters the RTP and those responsible for compiling statistics do not take into account whether or not the victims are Thai or foreign. Actually even then we don't really need to know their nationality merely that they are not Thai nationals.

[socal]

  On 12/26/2022 at 11:18 PM, cowslip said:

As can be seen by many of the comments on this thread, necessarily revealing the nationality of those arrested can lead to racist responses and a lot of confirmation bias.

I'm also aware of a serious crime where the alleged offender's nationality was misreported - probably intentionally.

But when it really matters the RTP and those responsible for compiling statistics do not take into account whether or not the victims are Thai or foreign. Actually even then we don't really need to know their nationality merely that they are not Thai nationals.

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But it also waters down racism. As i said , if not for this practice of reporting ppls nationality , i wouldn't know that Scandinavians are just as f'd up as everyone else. I thought they were all clean cut and upstanding.

[Manu]

  On 12/27/2022 at 3:49 AM, socal said:

But it also waters down racism. As i said , if not for this practice of reporting ppls nationality , i wouldn't know that Scandinavians are just as f'd up as everyone else. I thought they were all clean cut and upstanding.

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No offense mate, but what exactly made you believe that? Humans are humans everywhere: bad/good, dishonest/honest, respectable/thugs, etc... How could it be different in Scandinavia? I actually find it amazing and a little scary one needs any media to understand that. And if you had this assumption for Scandinavia, that probably mean that you also have the assumption that there are some other countries' populations somewhere that are in general the opposite of "clean cup and upstanding"??

[socal]

  On 12/27/2022 at 4:31 AM, Manu said:

No offense mate, but what exactly made you believe that? Humans are humans everywhere: bad/good, dishonest/honest, respectable/thugs, etc... How could it be different in Scandinavia? I actually find it amazing and a little scary one needs any media to understand that. And if you had this assumption for Scandinavia, that probably mean that you also have the assumption that there are some other countries' populations somewhere that are in general the opposite of "clean cup and upstanding"??

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Well i didn't expect them to be outdoing the Russians but it seems like they are by my count. For all the bs (racism) going around about Russians , they arent the most misbehaving bunch.

Edited December 27, 2022 by socal

[Soidog]

  On 12/27/2022 at 5:47 AM, socal said:

but it seems like they are by my count

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So that would be a count of how many? One? 
 

In struggling to see what your point is? If you were naive to think all Scandinavians were honest nice people, then it’s amazing how one story seems to have totally changed your views and you now equate them to Russians. 
 

Bottom line is, I don’t think you believe any of this. Your aim here isn’t sensible debate is it? More like borderline trolling I think. 

[Manu]

  On 12/27/2022 at 5:47 AM, socal said:

Well i didn't expect them to be outdoing the Russians but it seems like they are by my count. For all the bs (racism) going around about Russians , they arent the most misbehaving bunch.

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So you do make the assumption that some countries' populations somewhere are in general the opposite of "clean cup and upstanding". It makes sense after reading your illogical assumption on Scandinavian, one does not go without the other.

[TWS60]

Wouldn't be the first time the thin-skinned CCP has flexed over unflattering media coverage.   Recall high profile Western companies, organizations and individuals compelled to issue very public mea culpas in recent years.  I reckon Thailand is a foregone conclusion.  1 quiet call to the right number in Bangkok can change the tune.  Although this internal police directive doesn't include "the media", expect they'll be persuaded to comply.  Or else.

[cowslip]

  On 12/27/2022 at 3:49 AM, socal said:

But it also waters down racism. As i said , if not for this practice of reporting ppls nationality , i wouldn't know that Scandinavians are just as f'd up as everyone else. I thought they were all clean cut and upstanding.

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"i wouldn't know that Scandinavians are just as f'd up as everyone else"

You've just made sweeping judgements based on the medias reporting of nationalities.

people seem totally unable to analyse what they read in the media which allows stereotypes and conformation bias to take over...thy read one article and then think it applies to "all of' 'em"