This is just incredible. Firstly, the major story is that Gerald Green and his wife Patricia were arrested in LA after allegations that they bribed a senior official within Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) “to win a film festival contract and other deals worth more than 10 million dollars”. (AFP)

The festival in question is the Bangkok International Film Festival. I had no idea that such a lot of money was generated by the Bangkok Film Festival.

“Between 2003 and 2007, the Greens allegedly funneled cash to the Thai tourism official who used the money to influence the awarding of the contracts for the film festival, which is run by the TAT.”

Former TAT Governor Juthamas Siriwan currently has a big arrow over her head. Juthamas is well aware of what people have been saying and has come out herself and stated that she will sue the US Justice Department if she is linked to the case.

It’s always fun to see the movers and shakers in Thailand threaten America. Remember when the Thai government went after Abbot Laboratories? How about when Sitthichai took on Youtube?

What’s especially funny in this is that the statement released by the US Department of Justice clearly says, “…the Greens conspired with others to bribe a senior Thai government official who was, at the time, the President of the BKKIFF and the Governor of the TAT.”

Perhaps it was the other governor.

Juthamas Siriwan was appointed head of TAT by Thaksin Shinawatra. She is running in the current election for the Puea Pandin Party. From The Nation:

Juthamas said the case would not have impact on her and her party's election campaign.

At a press conference, she said, “All the procedures involving the case had been done according to the regulations and with fairness and transparence to all agencies concerned. TAT had set up a panel to handle the process.” (The Nation)

That sounds like an admission of guilt. Regulations mean nothing in this context.

Thai Visa has a collection of previous Juthamas clangers. In the past, she:

• Called off searching for bodies of tsunami victims because it looked bad to tourists.
• Was involved in the Thailand Elite Card fiasco that saw millions of baht in unpaid advertising bills after the whole initiative bombed.
• Was quoted as saying that the murder of a British couple in Kanchanburi was bad for tourism.

Clearly, this woman is dedicated to tourism.

Juthamas Siriwan – we salute you. You have done your country proud and we look forward to year’s more dedicated service.

I have a theory that the key to success in the current national elections in Thailand lies in the billboards. The number of billboards candidates murder the scenery with is directly proportional to the number of votes those candidates will receive.

Everywhere you go, there are billboards and posters with images of the various candidates and their numbers. Are people supposed to just choose the person whom they think looks the most worthy? There certainly isn’t much policy to judge the candidates on.

In Phuket, we covered each of the parties running in the election in a two-page spread. Aside from generic policies and wild promises, such as making it high season every day in Phuket, none of the candidates said anything about their parties that made them look different to each other. There is no political ideology to get behind.

When people talk about who they will vote for, it’s usually based on whom their parents voted for or else something to do with Thaksin.

This weekend, 1.5 million people turned up to vote in advance of the main voting day on December 23. This gem came from The Nation today:

Former junta-leader General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was one of those who voted yesterday. At a poll booth in Lop Buri province, Sonthi was heckled by a man shouting: “I won't vote for a dictator, and I won't vote for you!”

Plainclothes security officers muzzled Preecha's mouth with their hands, gave him threatening looks and tried to drag him away before Sonthi fled in a limousine.

Voting appears to have gone smoothly for the most part. It’s unclear whether people being unable to drink alcohol has had anything to do with this. Patong last night was a town full of desperate people. In the end, we had a small gathering at the beach.

Nation Group will launch what looks to be a direct competitor to its own English-language daily in March 2008. Xpress will become Thailand’s biggest newspaper by circulation (100,000 copies). After the cut backs that have taken place at The Nation over the past few months, you’ve got to wonder how they can justify launching a brand new publication that will essentially be the same as the existing one, albeit with a slick new design. Why not just remodel the existing brand?

There is no word as to whether The Nation will be phased out. Xpress will initially be free. The Nation as a standalone newspaper struggles to have its pages filled with the sort of news stories Nation Group wants in Xpress. Will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

I’m in a state of disbelief about this. The next two weekends will see a nationwide alcohol ban enforced. Whether you’re a local, an expat or a tourist, you won’t be able to buy booze at bars, clubs, stores or anywhere else (expect, apparently, large hotels). There was talk of this on a few forums recently, but until today – the day before the ban will take effect – there was no official source. Thai Visa was the first to confirm the rumours.

The first dry days will be 14, 15 and 16 December, pre-election days for a few million Thais who registered to vote early.

Thaivisa has been informed that no alcohol is allowed to be served nationwide between Friday 14th at 6pm until Sunday 16th at midnight.

Elections on the 23rd will mean no alcohol will be sold from 6pm on the 22nd till midnight on the 23rd of December.

Practically this means two or three dry days in the two weekends ahead, although some tourist areas tend to be lenient once it's past 7pm on election day.

Absolute madness. The fact that it’s been so poorly publicized makes it even worse. It kicks in tomorrow and until today, there’s been mass confusion as to what is going on. I understand the importance of the election, but in a country where campaigners give out Viagra to sway votes, would alcohol really make things any worse?

This disastrous regulation has meant that club owners and promoters in Bangkok have been forced to reschedule high-profile events and change the dates that international acts were set to fly into Thailand. I thought nothing could surpass the Flag Bill, but this a whole new level of craziness.

Last night was the final day of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta. The regatta is a big deal down here, but as I have no interest in boats I wasn’t particularly excited. I was told many times that the final party of the regatta is meant to be a bit special. Pretty much everyone I’ve met in Phuket was there last night at Kata Beach Resort and the after party by the beach. The party was a lot of fun, but it served as the cause of my hangover during the weekend’s other boating activity – dragon boat racing.

A dragon boat is a 45-foot long boat that sits 16 people and a drummer. People sit in pairs and paddle away. I had no idea people took dragon boat racing seriously, but apparently they do.

We entered a team from work in the Phuket International Dragon Boat Challenge held at Royal Phuket Marina. We got off to a good start and won our first race, but after minimal sleep we all began suffering.

We lost our second race and came second of three in our final race. Dragon boat racing is something that I’d never done so in that respect I enjoyed it, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day – how unfit I have become. I was surprised to meet a number of people from work whom I had never seen before. How is it possible to work in a job for six months and not know everyone there?

So that was my weekend – nothing but boats. Saturday was spent at work all day printing, folding and putting together 400 newsletters for the regatta. It really has been a boating weekend. I’m hoping someone did something not involving boats that they might like to share.