Freedom to speak

Sir,

The Pattaya mail of 22 October was graced with yet another of those letters, written by a foreigner, urging other foreigners to either desist from complaining about Thailand or go elsewhere/home. Farang of the non-whinging species argues Thailand would not be Thailand without the Thais. While this might seem obvious, it is like many things obvious, to some extent untrue.

Thailand has for centuries been visited by foreigners, some have chosen to stay while others, being refugees had no other choice. It is to the great credit of the Thai that they have allowed foreigners to stay and to a large extent allowed them many of the freedoms enjoyed by Thais themselves.

In return, Thailand received a whole host of benefits from these foreigners. If you doubt this, you need only look at the contribution to Thai society which the Chinese immigrants have made. Thailand is in fact, what ‘the people of Thailand’ have made it to be, not all of ‘the people of Thailand’ are Thais.

That said, it’s not all good news. Thailand has yet to allow foreigners a say in politics of the nation, there are arguments for doing so. Consider Pattaya and the contribution that foreigners have made to the local community, it is by any measure substantial, yet access to the political control of the City is denied to the very people who have contributed so much.

Meanwhile, the Pattaya Mail offers one of the very few forums in which a foreigner can make his voice heard. Letters from foreigners to the editor may be whinging, sometimes silly, occasionally thoughtful, but always the thoughts of people who have no other voice. That alone is reason enough for the advice of Farang of the non-whinging species to be ignored. And who knows, one day someone might say something worth hearing and someone might listen. All things are possible when people make use of the most important right the Thais have allowed foreigners, “Freedom of Speech”.

Odd that one of our own would ask not to use it.

Yours in Free Speech,
Thomas Moore

Feeling abused after road accident

Dear Editor,

On 2nd October around 11 a.m., my husband was thrown off his motorbike into the ditch in the middle of Sukhumvit Road by a young Thai man driving a black jeep. This man, Surin Chande is an employee of Sport Tire which is situated at the intersection of Sukhumvit & South Pattaya Road. It has 3 branches in Pattaya. My husband was hit very badly on the whole left side of his body. His left eye was all swollen, his chest badly bruised, etc., and when he coughed there was blood. He also had an X-ray done and has to go back to the hospital again in a week.

What happened was that the driver lost control of the jeep completely, spun the jeep right around toward him on the opposite side of the road and there was no way to avoid him. Anyway, he was in daze and blacked out for a moment. There were 2 Thai guys in the black jeep & they got into the jeep & wanted to take him to the hospital. Just near where the accident took place is a police station. He said to them to take him there but they insisted on ‘taking care’ of him. So they took him to the shop where they work - right in front of where it happened. He then called me to let me know what happened. A friend went over and brought him home, together with the driver and another employee, who said he was a relative of the owner K. Orapin. They promised to take responsibility for the accident and since the owner was in Bangkok at the moment, promised me that the driver would come by at 3 p.m. with the owner to sort everything out.

Of course, the jeep was no longer at the scene of the accident and they also got the bike out of the ditch.

Come 3 p.m. - nobody showed up. At 3.40 p.m. I called the shop. Finally they sent the driver and another young girl, she tried to plead with us to ‘pity’ the driver since the owner of the shop wouldn’t take responsibility for the accident. The jeep belonged to a customer and they should have insurance for it. But since (my husband) was in pain for the first few days, all we could do was call them and see if we could settle things ourselves. We wanted B10,000 for doctor’s bills and for fixing our bike but they offered me B5,000 which doesn’t cover costs, not forgetting the agony he went through. By the way, they even brought the bike back to our house when they came the 2nd time.

My husband then went to the Pattaya Police Station and the captain in charge called the shop and was told the same thing. I forgot to mention, the driver of course disappeared and the jeep is not there anymore. They say they don’t know the identification number of the driver (their employee) or the registration of the jeep. Now the Police Capt. suggests that if we disagree with them, I will have to get a lawyer and charge them in court but I also have to have evidence. Great help huh?

So! A warning to all farangs - if something like that happens to you - do not hesitate to call the cops and leave the vehicles exactly where they are. That is, if you’re still conscious and alive!

Signed,
Unjust Treatment

Y2K Info on-line

Editor:

Most owners and users of computers are aware that on January 1, 2000 the clocks on many computers will fail to deal with the change to the new century (the Y2K bug). However, many people are not aware that other equipment such as automobiles, television sets, medical equipment, etc. may also contain computer chips and that this equipment is also in danger of failing on January 1. The number and seriousness of failures in computers and other equipment is difficult to predict because it depends on the type of equipment being used and what the equipment is being used for.

In order to make it easier for owners of computers and other equipment containing microchips who live in developing countries to check on the status of their equipment a multilingual web site (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian and Chinese) has been set up at http://www.sustainableworld.com/y2kgps/index.html. The site provides links to information on the likely impact of the Y2K problem; pages dealing with Y2K problems in specific industrial sectors; information on hardware and software with links to the manufacturers of the products; tips on how to test for and solve certain Y2K problems; and other links of general Y2K interest. This site has been developed with financial assistance of the World Bank’s infoDev programme.

Yours sincerely,
John Gordon

Grand River Informatics Inc.
Fergus, Ontario, Canada

Time to upgrade postal service

Dear Editor,

Poor Thailand! She is trying so hard to convince herself and the rest of the world that she is a developed country. Not yet I’m afraid! One measure of development is the swiftness and ease of its international communications.

Here in Pattaya - a city of approaching 250,000 people - there are, to my knowledge, only two general post offices, i.e., places where people can post letters to foreign places. In order to send a letter abroad it must first be weighed and then the appropriate stamp attached. To my knowledge this can only be done at the Post Office in Soi Post Office and the Banglamung Post Office in Naklua. The former, in Soi Post Office, is invariably crowded, especially on a Monday, and after a public holiday, and any available parking spaces are usually taken up by motorcycles, bar stools, flower pots, bags of cement and occasionally other vehicles.

In Naklua the offices there are on the second floor and the incredibly high and steep steps make access easy only for the fittest of people. Sadly this does not apply to everyone in Pattaya as many farangs and locals alike are either aged or in some way infirm. So, where does an arthritic person go to post an important letter to a far-off land?

As a newspaper you have an enviable reputation for campaigning for honest causes. Perhaps by printing this letter you may prick the conscience of someone in authority, thus making something as simple as posting a letter a less arduous chore.

Then perhaps Thailand can be proud .of it development status!

Yours sincerely,
Len Jones

Amazing blunder

Editor,

What happens to us folk who have organised and paid for air tickets to Thailand to attend the (Amazing Millennium) concert? The organisation and promotion of this event is worse than the Olympic ticket scandal in Australia at this moment.

Lawrence T Dargan
Australia

Upon closer inspection...

Dear Sir,

One might suppose that Anne Taylor is perhaps somewhat unobservant.

Thai men have been urinating on roadsides from time immemorial without being arrested for ‘indecent exposure’, which itself is not a very common habit here, unlike in some western countries. Of course if one closed in for a closer look maybe the culprit could technically be accused of exposure, unless he was able to hide his personhood from prying eyes. So how could a tourist be accused of ‘insulting this country’ when the locals are all at it.

A related question is one of the paucity of free public toilets in Thailand. Now perhaps Anne can form SEMFPTIT- the Society for the Erection of More Free Public Toilets in Thailand.

Yours truly,
Michael Brownjohn

Can’t hear the news

Dear Sirs,

After many months of presenting the news on cable TV, you still have not solved the problem of sound quality. Most of the time it is not possible to understand what the newsreader is saying. The sound is distorted, with an echo. Your outside broadcasts are satisfactory (as long as the presenter remembers to pass the microphone around).

Please, for the sake of everyone, improve the sound quality. The Thai news channel on cable TV does not have the same problems.

May I also request that the presenters either tell us their names, or that you show a caption giving their names.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Nick Fisher

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