Is Thailand that Bad a Place for SGs to Retire in As the 154th Tried to Portray?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

STRAITS TIMES’ BIAS REPORT SKEWS INTERVIEWS WITH RETIREES TO PAINT CHIANG MAI IN A BAD LIGHT

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15 Oct 2014 - 1:10pm








The Straits Times on Sunday (12 Oct) published a report about the state of retirement in Chiang Mai, a popular option for Singaporean retirees who want a slower pace of life in retirement.

The reporter had interviewed several foreign retirees in Chiang Mai, asking them about the retirement conditions there and had focused heavily on the negatives there, such as the lack of welfare and support for retirees there as well as well as the many financial problems, visa issues etc.

The report, written by Nirmal Ghosh, the ST Indochina Bureau Chief in Thailand, had highlighted rather extreme examples of retirees left old, alone and helpless there. However, the negative light cast on retiring in Chiang Mai sounded very biased and The Real Singapore got in contact with one of the Singaporean residents in Chiang Mai who was mentioned in the ST article.

According to Mrs June Unland, she had been interviewed by Mr Ghosh but was dismayed to see how negative the article eventually turned out. In a phone conversation with TRS, she shared how she had outlined for Mr Ghosh many positive aspects of living in Chiang Mai but most of these were excluded from the report.






June Unland, 46, has lived in Chiang Mai with her husband and children for almost 13 years now. She shared that it is a suitable destination for Singaporeans in particular, because culturally, the food is similar, it is an Asian country and it is close to Singapore, making travel for families very convenient. It is a very affordable option as one can enjoy a similar standard of living at 1/3 to half of the cost of living in Singapore.

Mrs Unland shared that she wasn’t sure why ST chose to focus on so many negative points in the article.

When we analyse the bias article in relation to the propaganda regularly churned out by our mainstream media, it may be that ST wanted to publish something like this to make Singapore look better.

By putting popular retirement desitnations in a bad light, it makes citizens think twice about going overseas and may make them appreciate Singapore more.
However, as Mrs Unland shared, the report itself had skipped many of the good points about Chiang Mai

What do you think?


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