Maria still the light of many lives

Dear Sir,

On Friday, October 17th 1997 you kindly wrote a feature on our beautiful daughter, Maria. Her dear mother Gae gave Maria to us before she died of the Aids virus at the age of 21.

We have three other children and we all love Maria so very much. She exudes joy and happiness and surely is the light of our lives.

So many people ask about our little girl and I write this letter to tell you of her present position.

In December last year we took Maria for a further test at Sriracha Hospital and regrettably she was found still to be HIV positive.

On the advice of my local doctor, Dr. Sa-Nguangchai Wanachakit of the Loma Clinic in Naklua, we took her again to the Sriracha Hospital for a test of her white blood cell count. They carried out a ratio of T-helper and T-suppressor cells.

I sent a copy of this finding to Prof. Michael Adler of the University College London medical School. Prof. Adler is a world authority on the Aids virus and has been kind enough to help us before.

It seems that Maria has good resistance against infection and everything is fine at the present time.

Of course we do not know what the future holds, but you can be sure that Maria will always have love and care in great abundance, she is so much a big part of our lives.

Yours sincerely
John and Min Hopkins

Not Amazed...

Dear Sir,

...I would like to comment on the newest developments in the case of visas for foreigners in Thailand. Particularly vicious are the visa laws where people married to Thai nationals are concerned.

I have a very good friend back in Germany who has been married to a Thai woman for approx. 18 years. They have 2 children in their teens. Straight after their marriage, the wife was given a 3 year visa for Germany, plus a work permit. After the 3 year visa, she was given permission to stay on in Germany without any limitation of time. In time she gave up working in a small factory and opened a Thai restaurant... They bought a small house a little outside Berlin.

Now they have plans upon the retirement of the husband to stay half of the year in Thailand (in the winter time) and the rest of the year in their house in Germany. I don’t know if he knows it, but he is in for a very bad surprise. Neither the husband nor the wife will be allowed to buy even the smallest house in Thailand. But then, of course, what use is a cottage or house to someone who could only stay in it for a very limited time? 4 months to be exact.

To top this piece of "racial discrimination", their children (Thai nationals?) also are not allowed to own one single wah of land.

My first thought upon hearing about this piece of "Amazing Thai Justice" was that it would only be right to take away everything owned by Thai people in Europe, take away their visas, put them in jail or charge them 100 baht a day for "overstay". And the number of Thai nationals in Europe is mot a small one. I hear that in Berlin, Germany, alone there are approx. 7000 Thai nationals permanently living there. Legally! And with almost the same rights as native born people. And this applies to all the so-called "Schenger States".

Doesn’t the difference in handling the rights of people in Europe and in Thailand give the people in the Thai government something to think about?

As a footnote: A friend and I wanted to visit a certain place of interest in Pattaya. On arrival we found that foreigners are to pay almost double the amount of money that Thais have to pay to gain entrance. Naturally we turned back. In all Europe/USA someone trying this would land in jail or be heavily fined for racial discrimination. In Thailand one is only "slightly amazed". For me, I see no reason to ever return to this, "Amazing Thailand".

Sincerely,
Hoffmann

More on RON

Editor,

I would like to clarify two aspects of Dr. Iain Corness’s article "RON" in last weeks "Mail".

Firstly regarding "super" previously sold here. This was usually ULP (97 RON) petrol with a different additive. The base petrol blend was not made with Tetra Ethyl Lead compound, so in fact there is no difference at all between the old super and current 97 (or 95) RON available from the pump except that it has a different additive. Super sold here in recent years had an additive formulated to provide valve seat protection, as a side effect of true leaded petrol was that lead lubricated valve seats. Modern engines do not need this lubrication - valves/seats have been designed to do without it. Older cars, if you want them to last without extra cylinder head repairs, could still do with a dose of Redex or similar. This is really only a concern if these cars are covering significant mileage; if your classic is just used for an occasional jaunt it is no cause for alarm.

Secondly, speaking of additives, there is a significant difference between the additives used by most companies in their different octane petrol. Whilst some (Caltex have recently advertised this) now use the same additive in the different grades, it has long been the practice in Thailand for use of a cheap additive in the 92 RON. Whether this is significant or not depends on the credibility you place on additives - do they produce the miracle results the advertisers would have us believe or are they snake oils?
Regards,
David

Thanks for publishing Immigration speech

Editor,

Thanks for publishing the full text of the speech by the Deputy Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau at the British Chamber of Commerce recently. I hope you will also post it in its entirety on the web pages! Quite a few of my friends in the US and Canada have been asking me for more and more information on it, and here is their chance to get a pretty thorough review of the whole issue direct from the responsible agency! Thanks for publishing it, and I hope you will post it on the web, so I can advise my friends to check it out there.

Allen Briggs