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An Authoritarian JokeThailandGuru.com > Infrastructure, General > Money, banking > ...If you don't believe what I write below, then go see for yourself. In short, those wishing to send a "Money Order" overseas, and who are accustomed to using post offices in most western countries, are advised to NOT use the Thai post office. This is a service advertised on their website, and in post offices, too. While the civil service in Thai post offices is excellent, an exception is in regard to Money Orders. My shocking experience, a financial bureaucratic nightmare, comes to you thanks to the authoritarian Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT), which maintains authority over the post offices (and too many other services in Thailand, including Internet). I went to the post office to get a simple Money Order for sending overseas. The purpose of a money order is to provide a guaranteed cheque that cannot bounce and will not give any complications to the recipient. You pay cash in advance, plus a commission, and the established vendor (a bank or the post office) issues a Money Order cheque ... in all other countries I've been to. After a lengthy process, and long after I'd handed over all that cash, what did I get? A very basic receipt on super thin paper, plus a photocopy of the receipt. No cheque! Bye, bye now. I was told to give my original receipt to my client overseas and keep the photocopy. Then it would take two weeks for the money to clear, via a government to government agreement. My associates would be left to figure out on their end how to process that odd receipt from the Communications Authority of Thailand, i.e., figure out what the heck it is, explain it to their bank, etc. In my case, I was sending in a copyright application to a government office that receives thousands per day from strangers, and requires a no-hassle "Money Order". In utter disbelief, I had to pinch myself to try to wake up from this nightmare. Further, there were two languages on the original form I had to fill out: Thai and French. No English. No joke. I needed the CAT man to translate it for me. Actually, French is fitting, since France is one of the most socialist ... and most behind in terms of modern Communications ... countries of Western Europe. But besides that, where's the responsiveness to the general public? Who in Thailand knows French, vs. who knows English? This is a typical example of the unresponsiveness of government Authorities to the people and private sector. (By the way, the words Communications Authority of Thailand are in English, so it's not all in French.) There has been a lot spoken and written in the newspapers about problems with the Communications Authority of Thailand, e.g., with Internet licenses and TOT. To better understand some of the remaining authoritarian elements of Thai culture and the communist/socialist past of other countries, here's a touristy opportunity -- go send a Money Order, as a joke to pay off a debt to your worst enemy! I'm sure many readers will laugh so hard reading this that they will roll on the floor, at the incredible authoritarian nature of the Communications Authority of Thailand. Believe it or not, this is the official service put out in the 21st century by that albatross bureaucracy. I wouldn't mind paying the CAT's nonoptimal flat rate currency conversion plus their good commission IF it were for a good service, but not a single satang for this! And what does this tell us about the CAT? To the credit of the post office civil servant who was in sole charge of this service at my post office branch, he gave me my money back immediately with no hassle and in the most civil way, plus dialed up the telephone line to a superior, speaking in Thai that "[farangs have problems with this often!]", before handing the phone to me to dish out the medicine. As an American, I don't "yom" to authorities when I think they're plain wrong. I wish I had a private sector job to offer this civil servant in Thailand. What will be needed to end the authoritarian rule of the CAT? Another asteroid to end this dinosaur-thinking era? Or will they get a clue from the overthrow of other communist and socialist systems? Or will they hold on until the bitter end, when Thailand is even further behind? The dinosaurs will go out, eventually. The only question is when. Better sooner than later for Thailand, and preferably with honor and grace to the overwhelming competition in the decentralizing world. What's really scary is that the CAT dictates terms to Internet service providers, too. How can the CAT keep Thailand current when it's so bad at basic service? Haven't the government "authorities" in Thailand learned that centralized authoritarian governments are a thing of the past, and decentralized, free market competition is the future for successful countries? Or is it the Communist Authority of Thailand? Taksin and Suthep, what do you have to say about this and your alternative futures?
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