With the help of Thailand's Military Bangkok's Elite presented Thailand's voters an even for academics abstruse template and suppressed virtually any public discussion about the proposed charter. Probaly one of the many reasons that instead of the 80% turnout expected by Thailand's Election Commission (surveys even predicted a 90% turnout), only about 55% of Thailand's potential voters went to the poll stations. On August 6th, a day before the poll, The Nation wrote that some people still don't know what the referendum is all about. Moreover, Officials at polling stations were reluctant to explain extra questions to voters and/or polling staff were simply unable to explain additional questions, the newspaper reported. YES votes: 15'562'027, NO votes: 9'784'680
(unofficial result as published by Bangkok Post) YES votes: 16'820'402, NO votes: 10'598'037
(official result as published by Bangkok Post) From 50'071'589 eligible voters, only 29'740'677 exercised their right last Sunday.

• A military government during a transition period of at least five years to civilian rule. It could be many more than five years, that is now up to the military to decide.
• A 250-member appointed Senate that includes the commanders of the army, navy, air forces and other security services.
• A disagreement in the 500-member elected lower house could trigger the appointment of a prime minister who is not an elected member of parliament.
• All laws and emergency decrees issued by the junta, without any parliamentary consent, will remain valid.
• Any future civilian government will influenced by the military and controlled by appointed rather than elected officials.

(Source: Winston Smith, Pattaya one)

Kaanshow is preparing the opening of its D'Luck Cinematic Theatre on Jomtien's Thepprasit Road at the end of the year. According to D-Luck's Website the Cinematic Theatre will have a combined performance area of over 1'000 square meters and is able to accommodate an audience of up to 1'400 people per show. To transport the audience to and from the event it will need 140 miniVans or about 50 China built Tourist Busses. Kaan announced to provide two shows each day, (exept Mondays). Therefore the number of cars could double...

No News so far, please come back in a few days.

Working Girl, the new A Go-Go Club on Soi 6, opened on August 10th with a grand Party.

In addition to the successful Bars on Soi Buakhaow and on Soi LK Metro, there is a Scooter's Bar on Soi 6 too, a few meters from Pattaya Beach Road only.

Wall of Death's Café Racer Music Bar opened opposite of Billabong and Kilkenny.

Rock Street will be the name of the new Live Music venue from Blue Sky Group. As mentioned in June the new venue replaces Blue Sky's Cosnovy A Go-Go Club. It seems that the construction workers working around the clock to make possible an opening before the end of this month.

The Stone's House, just across the street of Blue Sky's new Rock Street, added the rooms of the former Food Court to its obviously successful Rockpalast.

The new Sopar Bar, the successor of Climax Rock House, announces itself now as Reggae, Rock & Soul Bar. It was first introduced as Walking Street's Reggae venue. It's hard to find musicians in Thailand playing authentic Reggae sounds - and playing only Reggae inspired music simply doesn't enjoy the ear(s).

Egicogroup announced a prestigious project on our old fashioned Walking Street. To the left and to the right of the entrance to Soi BJ the company plans to built two modern glass palaces with Coyote Clubs, Bars, Night Clubs, a Hotel as well as a Public Car Park (in a street that is closed during the nightly hours...). The new buildings will replace the already closed Nam Bar and Harem 2 A Go-Go as well as the still open drug store to left and the still noisy Blue Sky III as well as the closed Champion and Spicy Girl (ex Guugle) to the right of the street. The company claims the new buildings will be ready to open during 2017.

A joint study released last month by the Quality Learning Foundation (QLF), Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU) and the World Bank (WB) claims that over the next 20 years about 12 million Thais may lose their jobs to robots and dehumanised smart systems. The study says that administrative and office workers with basic skills are most at risk from the impact of the world's fourth industrial revolution. Complex-problem solving, critical thinking and creativity will then become the top three priorities for skilled workers, requirements Thailand's current education system simply can't satisfy. It is designed to produce workers that are based on mass production. Thailand's education system still creates a workforce that does not match the jobs available - today as well as in the long run. To make their living, Thailand's school leavers have to take jobs matching their abilities. We will greet them in Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin.

Fifteen commercial banks and four specialised financial institutions in Thailand are to begin registration for PromptPay, a mobile P2P service developed by Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Thai Bankers' Association. To transfer money with the new E-payment transfer service the user simply has to link his national ID or mobile phone number(s) to his account(s) for successful transactions. With PromptPay people and private sector can transfer money via electronic channel faster and cheaper, Thailand's Government claims. The estimated service fee will be free for transaction amount less than 5'000 Baht, 2 Baht per transaction from range 5'000 Baht to 30'000 Baht, 5 Baht per transaction from range 30'000-100'000 Baht and 10 Baht per transaction for payment amount 100'000 Baht and more. According to Tongurai Limpiti, the Bank of Thailand's deputy governor overseeing financial institution stability, PromptPay will not impose any charge when transferring money to different banks or to the same bank in a cross-clearing zone. During the PromptPay registration procedure the system will inspect participants' identity, bank account and mobile phone details. Fund transfers via PromptPay will start in late October, 2016. The next phase is aimed at e-payment for public utility services. The new system is part of the government's e-payment initiative. It is estimated the e-payment system, which will transform Thailand into a cashless society, will help save costs of 70 billion Baht a year in printing and transporting banknotes and cheques.

According to Predee Daochai, Chairman of Thai Bankers' Association and President of Kasikornbank, PromptPay will provide a high level of security. However, legal experts have raised concerns about security, privacy, crime and computerisation. They also fear that without society being able to understand the pros and cons of electronic cash, the full benefit of the cashless society may never be realised. More importantly, with Thailand being one of the world's top 25 targets for malware attacks and Bangkok a prime target of hackers in Asia-Pacific, legal experts are worried about the security risks of contactless payment. According to law experts PromptPay is a centralised system. Therefore electronic payments for online transactions will be easier to trace and tax evasion, money laundering, corruption and illegal funding of organised crimes and terrorism would be noticeable if transferred via PromptPay. But the biggest concern for PromptPay is that Thailand still lacks a consolidated personal data protection law in general. The public needs reassurance that every person who illegally accesses and discloses their personal data is to be punishable by law. Moreover, Thailand has laws allowing authorities such as the Revenue Department to access data and documents, particularly if fraud is suspected. That means it will be an easy task for the Revenue Department to catch up all people with an yearly income of more than 150'000 Baht and to send them the lovely and eagerly awaited tax bill. Pattaya's women with generous donors will have a rude awakening... In addition, Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has the power to gather evidence for the purpose of taking legal proceedings under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Similarly, Amlo has the power to gather evidence for the purpose of the seizure, attachment or confiscation of property under the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act or other laws. Happy banking!

Bangkok Post reports that Thailand's Revenue Department has been instructed to seek ways to increase the number of taxpayers. The target number of individual taxpayers is 20 million based on the size of the country's workforce. PromptPay is the perfect tool to reach the goal.

Small-business owner's Bank account cleaned out by cyber thieves Update (August 29th): Cyber-banking gang busted Government Savings Bank (GSB) shuts some ATM machines after 12 million Baht found missing 10'000 ATMs nationwide hack-prone GSB's ATMs hacked, 12 million Baht stolen Manhunt for ATM robbers kicks off Thailand is in critical need of a cybersecurity centre that can immediately tackle a cyberattack Criminals find ATM hacking easy via the net Update (August 28th): Thailand's Police trying to piece together ATM theft jigsaw Update (August 29th): Phang Nga ATM hack linked to criminal gang

On Soi Buakhaow, between the new Pattaya City Hospital and the Sunview Place Hotel, there is work underway to create the first Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Pattaya. On an empty space on Soi Phratamnak, just opposite of the Camelot Hotel, you also can see a sign obviously announcing a Holiday Inn Express Hotel. During 2012 Holiday Inn already announced to build a hotel on this site, but dismissed the idea a few months later and during 2013 the company put the property on sale. It seems the management changed its mind again. Perhaps Holiday Inn learned that this area of Phratamnak Road is very popular among (financially strong) Indian tourists.