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LETTERS

  HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 
 
Absolutely disgusted

Mr. Mayor, suggestions and ideas for garbage problems

Age of consent

Beach cleaning doesn’t go far enough

Beyond belief

Absolutely disgusted

Dear Sir,

I am absolutely disgusted & more than somewhat shocked at the goings on of the authorities in Thailand. Last week a farang (and Englishman) was arrested in Sunee Plaza in a bar called Leo’s Palace in the short time room with a an under age boy having sex. Rightly so a policeman arrested the farang & the farang is now in prison awaiting trial.

What is shocking, however, is that just two nights later I was walking past Leo’s Palace and the Thai manager tried to get me to go inside and said he had lots of small boys.

I rebuked the manager and told him it was common knowledge that a farang has been arrested in his bar for having sex with one of the young prostitutes in his bar. I was absolutely astonished when the Thai manger said to me Maypenrai (never mind) everything is OK now.

What on earth does he mean maypenrai? It’s not maypenrai for the poor Farang in the prison. Why is it ‘maypenrai’ for the Thai manager and the Thai run brothel and not for the Farang? Why is it the Thai manger is not in prison and his staff and the owners of this bar? Why is the bar still open & trying to entice other Farang to go with young boys.

Certainly this Farang will have to face the music, but why are the Thais that are involved in these crimes allowed to go free and carry on with their evil trade?

The way things are it is easy for a brothel manager to entice Farang to go with under age boys and girls and call in the police once the Farang is in the short time room and get a share of the spoils.

There are about five bars in Pattaya that rent out under age boys and several girl bars and they all should be closed.

M. Meacher

Major British Army Ret.

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Mr. Mayor, suggestions and ideas for garbage problems

Editor;

The Mayor and Government of Pattaya have acknowledged that Pattaya is no longer a sleepy fishing village but a large city with large city problems. The large number of expats and local Thai applaud his efforts to improve our quality of life.

Several months ago the Bangkok Post ran an article that stated Pattaya produced about 27% of the trash in the Kingdom. Assuming they got the figure from loads to the landfill, the real percentage wold be much greater if you add in the trash in Pattaya deposited in dead end sois and vacant lots and buildings.

The big push seems to be directed for the benefit of the tourists for the high season without consideration of the year round locals that support Pattaya for 12 months. 4 years ago our trash was picked up weekly. Now the cycle can be anywhere between 7 and 18 days. Ok for us as wife and I recycle about 40%, but impossible for larger families to store garbage. Besides the odor, this stored garbage at the curbside gets strewn about by dogs and wind, providing food for the rats, flies, cockroaches increase disease and health problems for all.

As a casual observer, I note throughout Pattaya the serous lack of proper receptacles. For example shop houses, apartment complexes and houses may have 1 small can or plastic barrel. As a result, they fill quickly which leads to overflowing and a mess. Those without containers deposit trash in any lot or vacant building.

Most visitors (tourists) coming to Pattaya arrive by bus, limo, mini van or with a local friend or relative. Additional signs would then appear to be redundant. They are not driving down or up the coast and simply decide to turn in. Therefore the 4 million baht allocated for signs in the 113 billion makeover could be better used for addressing more serous problems such as garbage, law enforcing (24 hours a day), establishing more parks and greenbelt areas, and traffic control.

With the improving of the quality of life for all local citizens, which also affects tourists, I respectfully offer the following suggestions and ideas regarding garbage:

1) Provide or require proper containers sufficient to meet the volume at each pickup site.

2) Require contractor to pickup no later than 7 days. More frequent where large volume exists.

3) Develop and implement an ongoing recycling/trash information for schools and local citizens.

4) Somehow (customer sorting) curtail on truck separation of glass, plastic, etc., to speed up collection.

5) Have regular dump trucks pick up grass, tree cuttings, etc., that could be shredded (need machines) for compost production. Suggest designating same day each week for different parts of the city.

6) Actively enforce trash dumping laws on a regular continuing basis.

7) Provide free areas (with attendants) for the deposit of clean fill from constructions and remodeling. Surely, someone has a lot below grade that would welcome such a gift.

8) Ban burning (day and night) in the city. Educate people on the hazards of burning plastics and rubber.

9) Effectively use the recyclers that wander about the city and establish rules and controls. Possibly assign areas (without fee) and provide trucks on a regular basis (no fee) to pick up unsaleable items at their sorting sites.

10) Restrict recyclers to daylight hours only in residential areas.

Our continuing population growth insures more garbage, more expense as it is world wide. Prompt, efficient collections procedures can help Pattaya to be a model city. Phitsanulok has composting and recycling programs so a discussion with them could be beneficial.

For a cleaner Pattaya.

Sincerely,

Khun Raymond

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Age of consent

Dear Editor,

Recently Grapevine stated that under the 1996 Prostitution Prevention and Suppression act, the age of consent was effectively 18 years. However, the Bangkok Post translated Article 8 of the above Act as follows: Those who rape or have sex in a brothel with children aged over 15, but not yet 18, with or without the consent of the children, are subject to one to three years imprisonment or a fine of 20,000 to 60,000 baht.

Your own legal expert translated Article 8 as: Those who rape or have sex in a “place of prostitution,” etc. Therefore, can your legal experts tell us if it is an offence to have sex with a consenting 17 year old in e.g. a hotel room?

Curious Farang

Editor’s reply: Technically, it is not illegal to have sex with a consenting 17-year-old in a hotel room, provided no money is exchanged and the “consenting” 17-year-old wasn’t coerced into having sexual relations. But to use a worn out cliche, “you are playing with fire” if you do so. If the 17-year-old should decide to go to the police and claim either that you paid her/him or that you forced her/him into having sexual relations, the law is on their side no matter what transpired prior to the 17-year-old going to the police. As Winebibber points out, it’s best to stick with 18-year-olds and up.

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Beach cleaning doesn’t go far enough

Dear Editor,

Pattaya Mail prints so many interesting and also most boring pictures concerning combined beach cleanings, which prompted me to air my thoughts and grievances. I have read 3 issues of Pattaya Mail which were full of praise concerning beach cleaning. Is this a publicity stunt or for real, or could it be Pattaya Beach ends in North Pattaya? If that is so I apologize and rest my case.

On my daily strolls from the end of the Dusit Hotel’s beach right down before Wong Amat beach starts, the garbage problems are enormous, the green belt totally polluted and certainly has nothing to do with a Pattaya Beach clean up and is even less what a tourist wants to see. Many holiday makers walk along this beach; most of them do it only once, they can do well without this sight of piled up garbage near a beach while on holidays.

A nature lover

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Beyond belief

Dear Sir,

I’m a little bit confused. Perhaps you might be able to set the record straight for me. In your issue of July 18 you said an Englishman was arrested at the Leo’s Palace, a go-go bar, for escorting a 14-year-old boy upstairs for sex. The Englishman paid a bar fee of 550 baht for the episode (this is a tidy sum indeed for a bar fee). The article also stated unequivocally that the boy was “working” in the bar.

When Wee, the boy, was taken upstairs, a representative of a “special crime and suppression unit in the Foreign (emphasis on foreign) Center” tagged along behind and arrested the foreigner in a sexually compromising position. Now you say, “What course of action is being taken against the owner(s) of the Leo Palace was not known before going to press.” I find that last statement simply beyond belief. If a crime suppression officer was waiting in the bar and saw Wee, the owner should have been arrested and the boy taken into custody before the Englishman came along and escorted him upstairs. Surely the crime suppressors just weren’t waiting around for a “foreigner” to appear on the scene and take a fancy to Wee. If they were in no position to arrest the bar owner it seems to me the foreign crime suppressors should have called in the Pattaya police.

No arrest like this should ever stand up in a court of law. There are certain civilized rules to be followed in law enforcement. Anybody going into Leo’s with sex in mind would reasonably expect to not encounter a boy under the age of 18. Maybe there was an awful lot of temptation going on. A good lawyer would investigate this case thoroughly and demand fair treatment for their client.

I hope the Pattaya Mail follows through on this sex story and supplies us with all the gory details. A lot of questions remain to be answered. I am only stating what seems obvious to me. Perhaps there is another explanation that I don’t know about for the all these weird goings on. One thing I am happy about is that the boy, at long last, after 14 years in the gutter was finally rescued and will now become a decent, law-abiding member of society. I find it more horrifying than the sex episode that the boy was abandoned by society for all these years.

I understand Leo’s Palace is still open.

I have been told that your “letters to the editor” files are open to the police. Please let your readers know if this is the case. I don’t want to say something against the police and have them by on motorbike and take a pot shot at me.

And,

I’m not a Ped

Editor’s reply: All letters are kept confidential - none are sent to the police for their perusal.

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