Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra talks to a reporter on Jan. 3, 2017.
BANGKOK â The ruling junta filed a criminal charge against a policeman accused of helping former premier Yingluck Shinawatra flee the country in August, an officer said Tuesday.
A junta representative filed a negligence complaint against Col. Chairit Anurit on Monday, despite top police investigator telling reporters in October there was no sufficient evidence for a prosecution.
âThe charge was filed against Col. Chairit on suspicion of helping the former prime minister flee,â Pathumwan police station chief Popathorn Jitman said by phone. âShe was a suspect wanted by the court at the time.â
Yingluck is believed to have left Thailand by land into Cambodia several days before the verdict in her malfeasance trial was to be read. Chairit and two other low-ranking officers later said they aided in her escape by driving her from Bangkok to a town on the border, allowing her to evade security checkpoints.
The court in September found her guilty in absentia of neglecting to prevent corruption in her governmentâs rice subsidy program and sentenced her to five years in prison.
Col. Chairit has been summoned to give testimony Friday, and police will deliberate whether thereâs enough evidence to press charges against him, Popathorn said.
The legal action comes just a month after the deputy police commissioner tasked with investigating Chairit dispelled any chance of prosecution, citing a lack of evidence.
âFor this issue, itâs now over,â Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Oct. 9. âWe cannot press charges or expand the investigation any further.â
Yingluck has not issued any statement since she vanished. Media reports based on sources suggest she has traveled to Dubai and London.
A long, snaking queue for mourners on Oct. 26 in Chonburi province. Image: Change.org
BANGKOK â Two provincial governors criticized for mishandling ceremonies to honor His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol were suspended from their jobs Monday.
Nonthaburi Gov. Panu Yamsri and Chonburi Gov. Pakarathon Tienchai, who originally were to swap places with governors of other provinces, were instead suspended indefinitely while under disciplinary review, the interim cabinet decided at its weekly meeting.
Their deputies will fill in for them, interior affairs minister Anupong Paochinda announced. He said they could get their jobs back if they are cleared by the review.
Anupong denied that the move might embolden protesters in other provinces, saying the government is required to listen to the public.
The move came after junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha reviewed reports about their management of Oct. 26 ceremonies to pay respect to the late monarch.
Panu and Pakarathon were under fire for reportedly forcing mourners to wait for up to eight or even 12 hours in lines to lay down symbolic funeral flowers at the replica crematoriums in their provinces. King Bhumibol was cremated on the same day in elaborate rituals in Bangkok.
Katerina and Daniel Mokshantsev (in orange hospital gowns) receive donation made via Weeboon. Photo: Weeboon
Top:Â Katerina and Daniel Mokshantsev (in orange hospital gowns)Â receive donation made via Weeboon. Photo: Weeboon
BANGKOK âWhen Nguyen Quoc launched the nationâs first open, donation-based crowdfunding platform earlier this year, he didnât have to wait long to see it make a difference.
It was in February, after a bus ran a red light at a busy Pattaya intersection and plowed into a motorcycle, sending both passengers â two Russian teens â into a coma. Â Daniel Mokshantsev and Katerina Mokshantsev were in critical conditions for weeks and needed brain and spine surgeries costing over 1 million baht, a massive fee their family couldnât handle, even with the accident insurance payout.
That was the first time Quocâs just-launched Weeboon came into the spotlight. In less than 10 days, the campaign raised over 230,000 baht (USD$7,000) from 166 donors. Donors were able to revisit the campaign page and get regular updates on the conditions of 16-year-old Daniel and 14-year-old Katerina to see their operations were successes and their process of rehabilitation until the Mokshantsevs returned home safely.
Quoc, 34, had no idea what crowdfunding was until two years ago when he came across two campaigns on social media â both involved foreigners injured on Thai roads. He donated to both, as their stories struck a chord with Quoc, who himself was injured in a road accident.
That inspired the Vietnamese-Belgian man, whoâs made Thailand his adopted home for 11 years, to start Weeboon (âweâ + âboon,â Thai word for making merit) which he didnât foresee a month later would help save the two Russian teens.
âBeing able to help random people instantly via an online platform like this was just awesome,â Quoc said recently at his Sathorn area office.
The site is billed as Thailandâs first donation-based crowdfunding platform. Itâs open to all projects for good causes, regardless of their type or scale, whether itâs to save a cat injured in a hit-and-run accident to fund childrenâs healthcare insurance.
In its first 10 months, Weeboon says it has raised 1 million baht for more than 60 campaigns.
Katerina and Daniel Mokshantsev in July back in Russia, after their operations and rehabilitation process. Photo: Weeboon
Crowdwhating?
Although crowdfunding was introduced to the world in the early 2000s (the term was coined in 2006) by way of Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, ArtistShare and Kiva, funding ventures directly over the internet didnât emerge in Thailand until a decade later.
Taejai and Sinwattanawere among the first domestic crowdfunding platforms. Taejai, founded in 2013, finances NGO projects for social causes, whereas Sinwattana helps fund startups. Dreamaker, founded in 2015 by Aekkasit Diewwanit, is limited only to Thai nationals and domestically registered companies to post projects.
Asiola followed a few months after Dreamaker. The rewards-based platform, now arguably the most well-known of such platforms, is a commercial venture focused on art and creative projects. It offers contributors, aka backers, rewards or equity, and campaigns can target âall-or-nothingâ funding goals or be unconditional.
Quoc said his platform is different from all of those.
There are no deadlines and no goal requirements. Unlike platforms like Asiola, which decide what projects will run, Weeboon does not curate its campaigns.
Two months ago, a representative of Vejthani Hospital launched a campaign to help an Ethiopian woman left blind and disfigured by her husband. The project on Monday was sitting at over 150,000 baht.
âSome crowdfunding platforms exist but they are all curated platforms, which means you cannot submit a campaign and raise funds without your campaign being approved by management â this can takes months,â Quoc said.
Weeboon donors also wonât get goodies like products or equity. Rather, their return-on-investment is a good feeling.
âWe do pure charity. When you come to donate through Weeboon, you shouldnât expect anything except being happy with yourself,â said Quoc, who lived seven years on Koh Samui and four in Bangkok.
One ongoing project is Death by Plastic, in which a Bangkok fashion photographer invites celebrities such as Muay Thai superstar Sombat Banchamek, aka Buakaw, Dandee âMC Dandeeâ Supwattana and model Penny J. Lane to lend their voices against plastic waste. Ten photos of the celebs will be exhibited and sold, with proceeds given to mega-conglomerate CP All to purchase paper bags for its 7-Eleven convenience stores.
âWhat I know is there are a lot of needy people, but there are also a lot of generous people in Thailand,â Quoc said. âI regularly see random people trying to raise funds on Facebook because of unfortunate life events such as road accidents, job losses, disease or just because they cannot afford education costs. There is clearly a need for this kind of a platform.â
A photo for the âDeath by Plasticâ campaign. Photo: Ben Zander / Weeboon
Real Need vs. Real Fraud
Unlike other platforms where campaigns are controlled by the host, Weeboon allows anyone to start do-it-yourself campaigns with a story, picture or video.
Of course that means opportunity for abuse, and services like Weeboon are ripe environments for fraud.
In 2013, more than 3,000 Kickstarter backers were nearly defrauded after raising USD$120,000 for The worldâs first 100% Japanese Beer Fed Kobe Beef Jerky. That was before GoFundMeâs Purchase Private Internet Histories, which pledged to buy and publish the personal browsing data of U.S. politicians, crowdfunded more than USD200,000 â despite being technically and legally impossible.
Quoc said such cases are very rare, and none has yet hit his site.
âEven [GoFundMe] has fraud cases, but itâs only 0.1 percent,â he said. âOur job is to make a background check for every campaign if the story is real.â
Quoc said he or his team visit hospitals and meet campaign authors physically if they are in or near Bangkok. When distance is a hurdle, they make some calls. One campaigner is a boy who suffers from cerebral palsy and an enlarged heart in Khon Kaen province. Quoc said his team, being 450 kilometers away, called the hospital where the boy was being treated to confirm his condition was true.
However, whatever the campaign creators do after they get the money is another story.
âIf the story is real, itâs fine. But when he gets the money and doesnât go to see a doctor, but uses the money to buy an iPhone, we cannot manage this,â Quoc said. âOnce they get the money, we cannot control what theyâre gonna do.â
To ensure that his âWeeboonersâ have a positive and safe experience, Quoc publishes information on how to protect beneficiaries and donors. The section includes securing personal information and cooperating with law enforcement.
âThis is what we do on a daily basis to ensure that there is no fraud on our platform because our credibility is the main thing,â Quoc said. âItâs hard to get credibility. If we lose it, we lose everything. So itâs not our interest to let any fraud happen on our platform.â
Philip J. Brook with a snake poses for a photo for his campaign to relocate snakes and other wildlife from peopleâs residences on Koh Samui. Photo: Philip J. Brook / WeeboonA photo from a campaign supporting healthcare access for the children of migrant workers in Thailand. Photo: Nicolas Durier / Weeboon
A person takes a photo of an Apple logo before an announcement of new products in June at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press
Apple revamped its overseas subsidiaries to take advantage of tax loopholes on the European island of Jersey after a crackdown on Ireland’s loose rules began in 2013, according to The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The news outlet and the nonprofit investigative organization cited confidential records that were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (“ZOOT-doi-cheh DZEYE-tung”) and shared. The cache of 13 million secret documents came from Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm that helps businesses and wealthy individuals find tax shelters.
The moves came after a U.S. Senate subcommittee found in 2013 that Apple had avoided tens of billions of dollars in taxes by using overseas havens. The paper said Apple has USD $128 billion in offshore profits not taxed by the U.S.
By 2015, Apple had moved the tax home of two Irish subsidiaries to Jersey, a self-governing island in the English Channel, and also made Ireland the tax home of a different European subsidiary.
Apple said in response that the reports contained various “inaccuracies.” For instance, the company said its 2015 corporate reorganization was “specially designed to preserve its tax payments to the United States, not to reduce its taxes anywhere else.”
The Cupertino, California-based company said it was the largest taxpayer in the world, paying USD $35 billion in corporate income tax over the last three years, including USD $1.5 billion in Ireland. It said it pays an effective tax rate of 21 percent on foreign earnings.
The company said that it told regulators in the U.S. and European Commission of the reorganization of its Irish subsidiaries in 2015 and said the moves did not reduce its tax payments in any country.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, left, and Nathan Law, right, speak outside the high court before an ruling on a prosecution request for stiffer sentences following a lower court decision that let them avoid prison, in August in Hong Kong. Photo: Vincent Yu / Associated Press
HONG KONG â Hong Kong’s top court on Tuesday granted a bid by young democracy activist Joshua Wong to appeal his prison sentence.
The surprise decision gives Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law one last chance to fight their prison terms for involvement in an unlawful assembly that sparked huge 2014 pro-democracy protests in the Chinese-controlled city. Wong is facing six months in prison and Law eight months if their appeals fail.
They were bailed last month after serving two months so they could apply for an appeal, which the Court of Final Appeal approved.
The court scheduled their appeal hearing for January.
The 21-year-old Wong shot to stardom for his role helping spearhead the protests three years ago against Beijing’s decisions to restrict elections for the city’s top leader.
They were sentenced to prison in August after the justice secretary won a legal request to get the courts to overturn an earlier, more lenient sentence letting them avoid jail time. The move raised concerns that the city’s independent judiciary was being undermined â part of broader tensions over Beijing’s increasingly strained relationship with Hong Kong, which includes calls for independence on college campuses and football fans booing China’s national anthem.
Legal experts and the activists had not expected Tuesday’s decision. Wong said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that there was a good chance he would go back to prison, either for this case or a separate one in which he still faces sentencing.
“There will be more occasions in the future when our group of young people will go to prison, but we will persist in keeping the faith and working together to fight for democracy,” Wong said in the interview.
Under the “one country, two systems” framework, Beijing promised to let Hong Kong maintain wide autonomy and civil liberties following its 1997 handover from Britain. Residents fear China’s communist leaders are backtracking on the pledge.
A young Rohingya Muslim boy from Myanmar carries a child on his back on and walks through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border in 2017 near Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area in Bangladesh. Photo: Bernat Armangue / Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS â The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a statement Monday strongly condemning the violence that has caused more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee from Myanmar to Bangladesh, a significant step that still fell short of a stronger resolution that Western nations wanted but China opposed.
The presidential statement calls on Myanmar’s government “to ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State” and take immediate steps to respect human rights.
It expresses “grave concern” at reports of human rights violations in Rakhine by Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingya. These include “the systematic use of force and intimidation, killing of men, women and children, sexual violence and … the destruction and burning of homes and property,” it says.
Britain initially circulated a Security Council resolution with similar language, backed by the U.S., France and other council members. But resolutions are legally binding and diplomats said China, a neighbor and ally of Myanmar, was strongly opposed. China is one of the five countries that have veto power on the council.
So Britain and France turned the resolution into a presidential statement, which becomes part of the council’s record but does not have the legal clout of a resolution.
Nonetheless, the statement still represents the strongest council pronouncement on Myanmar in nearly 10 years, and reflects widespread international concern at the plight of the Rohingya, who face official and social discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the Security Council sent “a strong and unanimous message to end the ethnic cleansing that is taking place before our eyes in Myanmar and recreate the political momentum in this country.”
Britain’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Jonathan Allen, called it “a first step” and said the council will judge Myanmar “on how they act.”
Both Delattre and Allen decried the desperate humanitarian situation for the Rohingya, with the French ambassador calling it “one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.”
The council statement “expresses alarm at the significantly and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Rakhine state” and demands that the government grant “immediate, safe and unhindered access to United Nations agencies and their partners” and other aid organizations.
On Oct. 27, the U.N. World Food Program said it had gotten a “green light” to resume full operations in northern Rakhine State and was working out the details.
But the agency’s executive director, David Beasley, said in an interview late Monday with The Associated Press that “we’re in the infant stages of negotiating working with the government of Myanmar to re-enter strategically where we need to be to help innocent people.”
“We’re hopeful the Myanmar government will give us the access we need,” said Beasley, who recently visited Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. “That situation is catastrophic. … I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Myanmar’s government doesn’t recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship.
The latest violence began with a series of attacks Aug. 25 by Rohingya insurgents, which the presidential statement also condemns.
Myanmar security forces responded with a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine that the United Nations and human rights groups have criticized as disproportionate and a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The statement adopted Monday calls on Myanmar’s government to protect human rights, “without discrimination and regardless of ethnicity or religion, including by allowing freedom of movement, equal access to basic services and equal access to full citizenship for all individuals.”
It urges the government to work with Bangladesh and the U.N. “to allow the voluntary return of all refugees in conditions of safety and dignity to their homes in Myanmar.”
It also stresses the importance of holding those responsible for human rights violations accountable.
Myanmar’s ambassador, Hau Do Suan, expressed deep concern at the statement, saying it was “based on accusations and falsely claimed evidence.”
“It exerts undue political pressure on Myanmar,” Suan said. “It fails to give sufficient recognition to the government of Myanmar for its efforts to address the challenges in Rakhine State.”
By contrast, Bangladeshi Ambassador Masud Bin Momen thanked the council for the statement, saying: “It will be quite reassuring for the Rohingyas and other communities forcibly displaced from northern Rakhine State since Aug. 25 that the council remains engaged with their prolonged suffering, insecurity and uncertainty.”
Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan points an assault rifle at Cambodian Deputy PM Tea Banh on Monday
BANGKOK â Deputy junta chairman Prawit Wongsuwan was criticized Monday for casually handling a firearm and seeming to forget a universal tenet of military training: trigger discipline.
In a photo that has gone viral, Gen. Prawit is seen pointing an assault rifle playfully at his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Banh, at an international arms trade show in Bangkok, where officials insist Prawit was not shopping for more arms deals.
The photo showed the juntaâs second-in-command and defense minister holding the weapon in an untrained manner.
âDidnât your family ever teach you not to point a weapon at other people like this?â Gunn Yutthapoom Peun wrote in a thread.
âIt can really show the difference between people who went through training and stupid people who became big because of good fortune,â user Pattanachat Boat Puttavong chimed in.
Another user, Krit Yaemthipkul, wrote, âHe doesnât even respect basic rules. What will he do with the rules of law?â
The photo was snapped while Gen. Prawit and other military attaches were touring the Defense & Security fair today in northern Bangkok, where international arms manufacturers touted armored vehicles, rifles and other armaments.
Defense spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich dismissed complaints about the incident.
âThey were just picking up guns and teasing each other,â Maj. Gen. Kongcheep said. âThey werenât loaded. They were just on display; they were show guns. They were like mobile phones for sale â you pick them up.â
The spokesman also suggested those who seize on the photo to attack Prawit should lighten up.
âWas Mr. Tea Banh frightened? No, he was laughing, too,â Kongcheep said. âThe media are all grown-ups. They should know not to blow things out of proportion.â
The fair is held by the Defense Ministry every two years, according to Kongcheep. Military reps who toured Mondayâs exhibition include those from Singapore, Cambodia, South Africa and Ukraine, he said.
Since the 2014 coup, the military government has approved a raft of big-ticket arms buys. The purchases which got the most attention this year â submarines, battle tanks and combat aircraft â added up to nearly 50 billion baht.
The deals angered critics of the junta, who say the unaccountable military government is plundering the public coffers at the expense of social services, such as underfunded public hospitals which are going bankrupt nationwide.
The government maintains that newer equipment is needed to replace aging hardware.
While Prawit was seen beaming at assault rifles, armored vehicles and other advanced weapons systems, defense spokesman Kongcheep said the 72 year old was there to preside over the opening ceremony, escort foreign military attaches and not to seal any further deals.
Kongcheep also criticized the media for speculating on arms deals every time Prawit or other high-ranking official make a trip. Each branch of the armed forces, not the military-led government, proposes weapon purchases through acquisition committees. Officials like Prawit cannot initiate deals on their own, Kongcheep said.
âThey canât simply show up and buy something. The Ministry of Defense has no duty to buy,â Kongcheep said. âThe media always talk about shopping. When the deputy prime minister goes overseas, they say heâs gone shopping. Itâs impossible.â
Part of a boat salvaged from Koh Lanta and on display at the BACC on Saturday
BANGKOK â Art imitates life, but can the afterlife imitate art?
Ridicule ensued after mysterious footprints found around a salvaged boat on display at a downtown cultural venue were blamed on ghosts by a venue staffer Sunday in widely reported comments.
But the artist behind the installation said Monday she was surprised to learn her showcase of a coastal ethnic group known as the Orang Laut had been eclipsed by rumors of the supernatural.
âPeople were connecting the dots on their own. It isnât about a ghost!â Jittima Pholsawek said in an interview Monday with a laugh.
The boat was part of an exhibition at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, or BACC, to honor His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol and his work to improve lives of people across the country.
Jittima was selected as one of the artists, so she chose to display artefacts related to the Orang Laut, an ethnic group whose livelihood has been affected by plans to construct power plants and other coastal developments.
âOur king talked a lot about protecting the environment. In the same way, the lives of ordinary people like the hill tribespeople and sea people directly rely on environment, more so than urban people,â said Jittima, whoâs been an artist for 30 years. âThey rely on the forests and the sea.â
With local residentsâ approval, her team salvaged an old fishing boat half buried in sand on Koh Lanta and brought it to the gallery along with other items in September. She said many have visited her exhibition and given positive feedback.
But trouble began Sunday when several media agencies reported that an unexplained set of footprints were found around the boat. They quoted an unnamed BACC staff member as saying they were likely caused by the ghosts of the sea tribespeople who once owned the boat. The story also included photo of Jittima and other artists praying before the boat.
A set of footprints seen at the exhibition Saturday
The news immediately sparked discussion on post-Halloween social media. One popular Facebook page known for debunking ghost sightings mocked the story.
âWow! Ghosts made it all the way here?â wrote admin of Fuck Ghost. âI didnât know that modern-day Bangkokians would be like this.â
Jittima said sheâs convinced the footprints belong to gallery staff members who often pace around the boat during gallery hours. She also said pictures of her praying to the boat are misleading; Jittima said she was doing it âhalf jokingly,â and her team put a garland on the boat out of respect for its history, not spirits.
âIâm not comfortable with the news. I donât mind it that much, but it affects the BACC a lot. It affects their image,â the artist said before adding that sheâs afraid her installation might inadvertently become a new shrine. âIf more and more people believe this, they might bring their own garlands, and it will be chaos.â
The installation is on the seventh floor and runs through Sunday.
Part of a boat salvaged from Koh Lanta and on display at the BACC on Saturday
BANGKOK â Bangkokâs new-but-not-so-new riverside lifestyle compound packed in huge crowds on its opening weekend.
Nearly two centuries of preserved Chinese way of life updated to contemporary expectations were on display at Lhong 1919, a commercial venue by the Chao Phraya River.
Opening weekend, the first since national mourning ended, saw the Great Outdoor Market event held at several places to promote the outdoor venues popular with post-mall consumers.
Walking around Lhong for the first time, one is reminded of The Jam Factory which is located nearby. Thereâs a bit of the Changchui vibe as well, without the artificial sense of being in someoneâs expensive fantasy.
Take a tour led by some of the people behind the historic Chinese trading hubâs renovation and appreciate this is more than a new hip, photogenic hangout. There is a rich, Sino-Thai history going back 167 years here that can be found in its architecture and culture.
On the 6-rai complex, faded murals portray the Chinese way of life on building walls, doors and windows delicately restored by artists, while other details, such as teak window and door frames, received minor repairs or were left as-is to preserve the traces of history.
Saturdayâs sizzling heat forced crowds to shelter under the U-shape buildingsâ shades. Many stormed into a cafe for cool drinks and Thai desserts such as coconut pancakes. Prayers were offered in front of the Mazu Shrine located next to the central lawn while Chinese opera troupe Meng Por Pla rehearsed nearby.
Late afternoon gave way to a delightfully balmy evening as more visitors poured in, arriving by foot, car, taxi, motorbike or minibus. They were treated to concerts by dream pop act White Collar and indie trio Yellow Fang while shopping, eating and drinking.
As night fell, the Meng Por Pla crew took a stage for their Chinese opera, known locally as Ngiew, performance. The art form, usually confined to shrines and cultural theaters, was given a stage (although not a literal one) for regular audiences to marvel at.
Lhong was built in 1850, during the era of the King Rama IV, at a time when many Chinese immigrants were settling in Thailand, then Siam.
So why âLhong 1919?â
According to guides, that was the year the complex was turned over from the Bisalputra family to the renowned Wang Lee clan. Led by the Rujiraporn Wang Lee, Lhong 1919âs major restoration began in  October 2016.
Lhong 1919, on Chiang Mai Alley in Khlong San area, can be reached by motorbike or taxi from BTS Saphan Taksin or BTS Krung Thonburi. More information can be found on its Facebook page.
Shoppers at Eveandboy on Friday, the first day of its Shocking!! Pink Day sale. Photo: Eveandboy / Facebook
BANGKOK â A downtown makeup store apologized Sunday after it came under fire for false advertising and poor service from some of the hundreds of people who queued for hours over the weekend.
After receiving a barrage of complaints from customers claiming that advertised discounts were unavailable, makeup store Eveandboy also acknowledged selling damaged goods and mismanaging the sale, which drew massive crowds to its Siam Square location starting Friday.
âOur management team is aware of the problems and issues that have arisen and will fix them as quickly as possible,â read the storeâs online apology. It said it had allowed people to cash in on the discounts before the day of the sale which led to item shortages.
Shoppers complained that advertised sales of up to 90 percent discounts were unavailable once they got to the store at Siam Square One. Shoppers, some of whom had camped out overnight in anticipation of the sale, reportedly waited up to 11 hours in line.
After fighting to grab their favorite shades of blush, customers complained online that shopkeepers yelled at them to buy or get out, didnât allow them to pick colors and distributed damaged liquid lipstick.
ââTake it or leave it. Okay? Are we done here? You have no right to pick what color you want,ââ @Vosoofficial tweeted Friday, describing what an Eveandboy employee allegedly said. âDid you guys get your employees from the Department of Livestock Development?â she said.
âI couldnât choose the color and they said, âTake it or leave itâ to me. This was the last one there. I practically fainted when I opened the packaging. I got only one item from the entire sale,â tweeted @Nuob222.
Others complained that allowing social media influencers to cut the line and enter the shop before people who had camped out was unfair.
âAhhh, so you let the bloggers in first so they could share their posts and a lot of people would come, huh? Hmmm! Being a blogger is good, they have all these privileges,â @Wongwisit_Toie sarcastically tweeted.
I took 4hours from Huahin to Bangkok!and take 1hour bus to Siam!8:50pm u worker told me it was close!So rubbish!
Those who had traveled especially far for the sales were especially disappointed.
Netizens flooded the Eveandboy Facebook page with negative reviews. By Monday morning the page had more than 13,000 one-star reviews, most of them bashing the Siam Square One branchâs sale.
The reviews on Eveandboyâs Facebook page as of Monday.
