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Family Money: Choosing the Right Funds
By Leslie
Wright,
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
There are literally hundreds of
theories you can use to choose individual stocks. Finding the right fund
is a little more straightforward.
Most independent advisers simply look at how funds have
performed in the past, arguing – somewhat spuriously – that if a
manager has outperformed his peers over the past few years, there is no
reason why he or she can’t continue to do so. There is more to it than
this, but you can go a long way just by following some simple guidelines
and avoiding the most common mistakes.
Choosing Your Fund
First, you need to look at your overall portfolio of
assets, not just unit trusts, but stocks, property and any other
investments you hold. This will give you an idea of where any holes exist,
in terms of geographical or sector exposure. It will also give you the
chance to assess your overall levels of risk, which will tell you whether
you can afford to take a punt on a high risk fund, or whether you need a
safer, core holding. You should also check that you are happy with the
level of income generated from your portfolio.
Most funds aim to deliver long-term capital growth, but
a new breed – usually referred to as ‘focus’ funds - aggressively
target out-performance by harnessing the stock-picking skills of
individual managers. These funds usually hold around 30~40 stocks, as
opposed to the usual 100 or more. Focus funds are designed to produce
absolute returns and are not, therefore, preoccupied with matching
benchmark indices.
If you’re more risk-averse, or are starting out in
the investment game, you should look at funds-of-funds which, as the name
suggests, invest in a range of other mutual funds, rather than individual
stocks. But remember that these vehicles are designed to offer
diversification, not out-performance, and they can be expensive because
there are two layers of charges. As a cheap alternative, you should
perhaps be looking at tracker funds.
If you need more income, you could go for a corporate
bond fund. These come in three guises: those that buy investment-grade
bonds, those that buy high-yield bonds, and those that buy both.
Investment-grade bonds tend to be issued by quality, established
companies. Higher-yielding bonds are issued by less financially-secure
companies, and pay out a higher income to compensate for the increased
risk of default. Alternatively, you could go for an equity income fund,
investing in defensive – or ‘value’ – stocks that pay good
dividends.
Assessing The Product
Once you have decided which class of fund you want, you
need to assess individual products. Performance is as good a place to
start as any, but you need to be aware that there are severe limitations
with straight past performance figures. Consistency is what you should be
looking for. Any manager can have a good month – or even year – on the
back of one or two lucky guesses. Producing consistently strong returns is
an indication – although by no means proof – that a manager is not
relying solely on good fortune.
But straight past performance figures alone will not
tell you which managers have achieved strong returns through big bets on a
few lucky stocks. For this, you need to look at risk-adjusted returns. One
good measure is a fund’s Sharpe ratio, which measures its annualised
return in excess of a risk-free rate (usually cash) and adjusts for
volatility. The Sharpe ratio indicates whether a fund only achieved high
returns by making desperate gambles: the higher the ratio, the better the
fund’s historical risk-adjusted performance.
Also look at a fund’s alpha – the amount by which
it has outperformed its benchmark, taking into account its exposure to
market risk – and beta, its sensitivity to market movements. (These,
along with past performance figures, can be found at sites such as
www.funds-sp.com and www.riskgrades.com)
Managers Can Make A
Difference
But don’t just look at performance data. Managers of
65% of funds in the UK have moved jobs in the past three years, so it’s
important you look at the personal record of the individual manager. There
is no point investing in a fund that has outperformed its peers if
somebody else achieved that out-performance.
Buying a fund that has had the same manager in place
for many years is often a good idea. But, equally, a start-up fund run by
an experienced manager who has demonstrated loyalty to previous employers
can be a potent mix. A desire to prove ones’ self, combined with a small
portfolio with holdings that can be changed relatively quickly, often
produces strong returns. By contrast, a manager with a portfolio of many
hundreds of millions of pounds can find it hard to take advantage of
short-term market opportunities.
Some firms impose a rigorous house style on their
managers; others have less stringent risk-control measures in place and
prefer to give individuals more freedom to indulge their stock-picking
skills. Either way, you need to understand what you’re investing in.
Also, remember that some managers’ styles will suit
certain market conditions. For example, a value manager who invests in
more defensive stocks should have outperformed a more aggressive growth
manager over the past three years. If the market rally continues, though,
it is the growth manager that should outperform, regardless of whether he
or she is a better stock-picker. Skill, then, is taken out of the
equation. You want a fund manager who can adapt to prevailing market
conditions, or at least to know how your fund will perform when markets
shift.
This is why you must understand the investment process
of the manager. Only by knowing what the manager is trying to achieve can
you put his or her performance into context. This information can be a
little tricky to extract from a fund management house. All have fund fact
sheets posted on their websites, but invariably the stated investment
objective is generic to the point of being vacuous.
If you cannot find what you are looking for elsewhere
on a manager’s website, don’t be afraid to contact the management
house directly to get a properly defined objective or more specific
performance targets. The overall quality of fund manager websites varies
enormously – although many can be quite slow.
Finally, check that the charges on any potential fund are not unduly
out of line with its competitors. In terms of annual fees, you should not
be paying more than 1~1.5%. Anything less is a bonus.
Snap Shots: Polarize for pictures
with punch!
by Harry Flashman
While many keen photographers have a good stock of
filters, there is one that every photographer should own - and that is the
polarizer. There is no other filter that can make such a difference to
your final pictures, especially in the bright sun of Thailand. Once you
become used to polarized effects, you will want to leave the filter
screwed on the end of your lenses forever!
 These
filters are different from most others in the fact that they are made up
of two distinct elements. There is an outer ring that rotates the outer
“glass” relative to the inner element. This increases or reduces the
degree of polarization to allow the photographer an endless range of
polarized effects from one filter.
The principal behind these filters is to remove
reflections, and funnily enough it is reflections that take the colour out
of colour photography. Look at the surface of a swimming pool, for example
- a shiny white, non-transparent surface. Now look through a polarizing
filter and you can see right down to the tiles on the bottom of the pool.
And the people frolicking in the pool!
What you have to understand now is that these filters
remove reflections from any surface, not just water. The reason you cannot
see through some normally transparent windows is because of reflected
images on the surface of the glass. The reason some tree leaves appear to
lose their colour is through reflected light from the sky above.
One of the traps for young photographers is that
because you know the grass is green, you see it as green when you look
through the camera lens - even though it is not truly green, caused by
reflections. Look again at the scene in the viewfinder. The green grass is
really a mixture of green and silvery reflections, dark shadows and pale
green shoots. Put the polarizing filter on the lens and slowly rotate the
outer ring. Suddenly the silvery reflections disappear and become a deep,
solid green colour. The grass is now made up of green, dark green and pale
green. This green will really leap out at you and smack you fair between
the eyes!
Your next beach scene when taken with a polarizer will
really amaze you. Again, slowly rotate the outer ring on the polarizer.
Look critically through the viewfinder and you will see the sky take on a
much deeper colour to highlight the white clouds. Keep turning that outer
ring and the sea will change to a deep blue to green luminescent hue. The
end result is at your command. Try taking the same shot this weekend, but
with varying degrees of polarization and see the differences in the final
prints.
Another shot to try with or without polarization is
photographing a reflective, shiny object like your family car. Again, by
looking critically through the viewfinder you will see what happens when
you remove the reflections from the paintwork.
So, if the polarizer is such a wonderful bit of gear,
why do we not make it a standard piece of equipment on all cameras? Well,
like everything, there is a downside as well as the upside. In the case of
the polarizer it does its bit of brilliance at the expense of the amount
of light that gets through to the film. With most polarizing filters you
will lose about one and a half stops of light. What this means is that the
shutter speed will be at least twice as long to record the same scene, or
that the aperture will have to be twice the size. This means that you are
more likely to get camera shake effects and suffer from lack of depth of
field when using the polarizer. Another drawback is that the light drop to
the film upsets your flash settings, so compensation has to be made for
night shots.
However, if you haven’t got one - get one this weekend and see the
full-bodied difference a polarizer can make!
Modern Medicine: Kissing - a fatal attraction?
by Dr Iain Corness, Consultant
Eskimos kiss by rubbing noses they tell me, and I have
to accept this as true, as I have never been romantically involved with
anyone in sealskins. Thais kiss by placing the closed lips on the partner
and sniffing. This I do know is true, though initially I was worried that
the reason for the ‘strange’ behaviour was that I might have had bad
breath. Both of the above methods of showing affection are not dangerous,
but the Western version of the kiss can (in rare cases) actually be fatal.
The disease in question was even known once as the
“Kissing Disease”, but these days is known by the more technical name
of Infectious Mononucleosis or the Mononucleosis syndrome. This is another
of those ailments sent to plague us (no pun intended) in which the
infecting agent is a virus, in this case the Epstein-Barr Virus, usually
referred to as EBV, since we medico’s like acronyms.
The EBV is an interesting little fellow and it is
everywhere. The latest figures I have to hand show that it infects more
than 90 percent of the world’s population, but most people do not show
any symptoms from it. Puzzling! The most common presentation of illness
from the EBV was first described in the 1800’s, when it was called
Glandular Fever.
Another puzzling fact is that those people who contact
EBV while children usually have no symptoms, but more than 60 percent of
young adults who meet the virus will go down with it. More puzzling!
However, we are at least smart enough to work out where the virus lives -
and that’s in saliva. Hence the connection between kissing and
Infectious Mononucleosis. (I was tempted to call it the French Connection,
but not everyone is old enough to remember the Gene Hackman movie!)
The clinical symptoms are sore throat, running a fever
and enlarged lymph glands all over. Most sufferers also have fatigue and
muscle aches as well, while about 10 percent have a rash to go with it.
Other more serious symptoms can include enlargement of the spleen and the
liver, and swelling in the throat that can be so severe the patient can
end up in intensive care. The virus can also run rampant and produce an
infection in the heart muscle and attack the lungs, but these are rare,
yet very important, complications.
While your doctor can have clinical suspicions about
it, the final proof comes in the blood tests which show abnormal cells and
these days there is also a specific test for EBV to clinch the diagnosis.
The problem is that the condition can be mimicked by a bacterial infection
in the throat, and sometimes you can get both EBV and the bacterium.
So what is the treatment? Unfortunately, like most
viral conditions there is no specific treatment just for EBV, but the
treatment is directed at getting over the complications of Infectious
Mononucleosis. Amoxycillin, the common antibiotic that you all
self-medicate with, is contraindicated in the treatment as it provokes the
onset of the rash. 90 percent of those with Infectious Mononucleosis who
take Amoxycillin end up with the rash! See your doctor is the answer!
While the condition lasts between four to eight weeks,
the after effects and fatigue can last for some months. The virus is also
still present, so it is also a case of finding an Eskimo or Thai friend to
kiss for a while!
Horsin'Around: Your first ride on a horse
by Willi Netzer
There are plenty of reasons why somebody decides to sit
on a horse for the very first time. The reason is not important. What
matters much more are all that little benefits you will get being a rider.
Frequent riding will keep you physically and mentally
fit. Riding outdoors will make you feel close to nature with all its
calming and healing effects. Nothing can recharge your batteries better if
expertly done. Finally there is the partnership with, but also the
dominance over a powerful animal.
Let us have a closer look at this dominance. How can I
dominate a horse, having 10x my weight and all those tools to get us into
real trouble? I guess even a very experienced rider won’t sit on a horse
unless somebody tells him it is safe. Otherwise he will have to work with
the horse first on the ground to find out about its attitude and degree of
being ride able.
What will the horse do when? We will definitely need a
person that knows the horse and can give us some advice and guidance,
especially when we are a complete beginner. This person not only has to be
reliable, he or she has to be able to judge your riding ability correctly
and match you with the right horse. There are some horses that don’t
mind if the rider up there is giving all kinds of contradictory signals.
These kinds of horses are rare and they have to be made. This can take
years and you can only find them in well established riding stables.
The person that gives you the horse for your first ride
is as important as your first horse. This person has to be able to lead
your horse on a longe. This means you are riding your horse in a circle
around this person. The horse is being held at variable distances by that
person with a rope, the longe. The horse listens and obeys the commands of
that person, like halt, walk, trot or gallop. This person dominates the
horse and will try to pass on this dominance to you, until you can lead
the horse by yourself as a rider. At the same time she will correct your
position on the horse, your seat, your hand and legs.
You should be wary of any instructor advising you that this all could
be done without work on the longe. The correct education of the horse
itself will always start on the longe.
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
I’m in a terrible amount of trouble. You see, I finally succumbed to the
advances of a Thai woman, who I would have described as lovely and nice until
quite recently. We saw each other for a few months, traveled about a bit, and
generally had a comfortable time together. She never asked me to support her
ailing mother or the village buffalo, and I thought she also enjoyed our
relationship. Then I broke it off as it became a little bit tiresome. Well,
Hillary, that’s when it happened. She’s threatening to go to my house and
tell my wife! Can you imagine the nerve? What should I do? What is it with
these women? They make themselves so available and are so charming, then try to
destroy a person’s life!
Desperate and no longer,
Hot in Chiang Mai
Dear No Longer Hot in Chiang Mai,
As you say, the nerve of the little hussy! In this type of situation the only
form of defense is to attack, my Petal. Do not take this lying down - in fact
it has been this lying down routine of yours that brought all this trouble on
your poor innocent head to begin with. Retaliate! Threaten to tell her pimp
that she has been hiding her real income! You will be able to find him by
asking any of the tuk-tuk drivers in your area - they all know each other. Of
course it is difficult to be really sorry for you. You brought all this on your
head by starting the relationship and then sealed your fate by breaking off the
relationship. Silly Boy!
Hillary, ma petite,
A cryptic text message from wee Ying - ‘At sea, where bar?’ I can only
assume that she means ‘where choccy bar?’ Speaking of choccy, it seems to
me that the best way to ensure a safe and refrigerated delivery of your Mars
bar is to entrust the business to hoary old Santa. All you have to do is
suspend a nice clean pair of your fishnets either side of your flue and you
should be orgasmically surprised, come Xmas. Provided, of course, that Santa is
not misdirected to the address of your impersonator or cardboard cutout who is
putting on the agony and putting on the style in the Chiangmai Mail.
Mistersingha, cum Nit.
Dear Mistersingha, cum Nit,
After fixing up your punctuation, so that the letter was not rejected by the
typesetters, I am afraid I have to once again (yet again!) take you to task.
You promised me the chocolate bars (plural - that means more than one, Petal)
many months ago. Now you are trying to tell me that it (singular - that means
one) will be in my Xmas stockings (a pair means two, Turtle Dove). Not good
enough. One into two does not go. Elementary mathematics that even you should
be able to grasp. Finally to try and blame the whole thing on some young sweet
and innocent Thai ladies is just too much. Consider this as my last demand
note. If there are no chocolate bars forthcoming you will hear from my
solicitors. You may send to either of my newspaper columns. Finally, while I am
impressed that you are attempting to show off your prowess in French, I am
neither petite nor yours.
Dear Hillary,
A friend of mine is getting very tired of the ladies he meets in the bars, who
only seem to be interested in money. They stay with him for a few weeks, and
when he hasn’t coughed up the money for whatever they want, they move on to
find another sucker who will. He has asked me where can he go to find a better
class of lady in Thailand, or are they all like this. He has heard about
introduction agencies. Are they worthwhile? I can’t help him because I’m
not that way inclined, if you get my drift.
Helping a Mate
Dear Helping a Mate,
What is wrong with you men these days? Your friend claims the girls he meets
seem only interested in money - but what is the only thing your friend seems
interested in? Why does he have them living with him? To learn how to eat som
tum? How about meeting the girl of his dreams the same way he would in his own
country? Go to places where ‘nice’ girls go. Join groups where ‘nice’
girls go. Meet eligible ladies at parties, social gatherings, art exhibitions.
He will find that these are ladies who appreciate a gentleman, but will also
not race off to bed on the first date. As has been pointed out many times - you
get what you pay for, Petal.
Dear Hillary,
Every month there appears to be some sort of public holiday in Thailand as well
as the western ones. The office girl is forever doing something for another
“Buddha Day” and rolling up late. Have you any suggestions as to how I can
work out when the next holiday is due?
Confused
Dear Confused,
Have you ever thought of looking at a Thai calendar, my Petal? The holidays are
marked on them! I don’t know, you men appear to be getting more dense by the
day. Now send chocolates before I get annoyed!
A Slice of Thai History: Pridi Banomyong: a Life of Controversy
Part Two 1933-1935
by Duncan steam
Prime Minister Phraya Manoprakorn had misread the
extent of his power and on 20 June 1933, he was ousted in an internal coup
and replaced by Colonel Phraya Phahon who recalled Pridi from exile and
brought him back into government.
In October, a revolt led by the King’s cousin Prince
Bowrodet led to almost two weeks of heavy fighting and heavy losses before
it was put down by troops loyal to the government and commanded by Colonel
Pibulsongkram.
In November 1933, Thailand conducted its first national
elections, for 78 seats in the House of Assembly. Less than 10 percent of
the electorate turned out to vote.
In January 1934, King Rama VII left for a tour of
Europe. He never returned to Thailand. Just over a year later, he
abdicated and went to live in England. The National Assembly appointed his
nephew the 10-year-old Ananda Mahidol as his successor. As he was still at
school, the National Assembly put a Council of Regency together.
The American reporter Gareth Jones interviewed the man
he called ‘Luang Pradit’ in May 1935 and asked about the causes of the
1932 revolution. Pridi claimed he had been terrified of “hurting the
King’s feelings”. Jones described Pridi as a boyish looking young man,
with black hair, going brush-like upwards, and a round face like the moon.
“The absolute monarchy had led to favouritism and to
abuse,” Pridi was quoted as saying, claiming it was doing nothing for
the development of the country at a time of economic depression. “The
advantages [of the absolute monarchy] were if they had a good king as
Chulalongkorn, then things went well, but the previous king [Prajadhipok]
was weak and relied on his valet and father-in-law.
“The state must help private enterprise, but we do
not want to go further than co-operatives. I have made a progression of
co-operatives and they accused me of being a communist.
“After the coup d’etat ... the King signed a
provisional constitution and in December 1932, he gave a definite
constitution, and in March 1933, I presented to the council of state my
economic plan. The partisans of the king with the Council of State
profited by this occasion and accused me of being a Communist.
“The king signed a decree dissolving the National
Assembly and suspended the Constitution ... I was exiled to Europe.
“A few months later [24 June 1933], my friends made
another coup d’etat reopening the National Assembly and applied the
conditions and the king consented to them. The new government recalled me
from Europe, but in October of the same year, there was a
counter-revolution led by Prince Bovaradet, cousin of the king and his
former tutor. Before fighting the counter-revolution movement, we asked
the king to return to the capital. [He was in Hua Hin] The king refused
... he escaped by a small boat to the south of Siam and it was said he was
going to Singapore. The father-in-law took part in the counter-revolution.
“After suppressing the revolt we sent a delegate to
ask the king to return to the capital. At first he refused, but on the
insistence of the delegate he returned for a few days for the ceremonial
celebration of the constitution. A few days later he went to Europe on the
pretext of having his eyes seen too. He abdicated and Council of Regency
was set up with Prince Ananta Mahidon (sic) being proclaimed King. People
remain faithful to the monarchy, but only to the constitutional monarchy.
Please do be careful. I do not want to hurt the King.”
In the interview, Pridi also stated, “We’ve
established a censorship. If a paper publishes false news or any article
susceptible of troubling, then we can apply censor. They must send
articles to be censored for a period of time, say the week, the month. We
cannot accord full liberty, because of the level of culture of the
people.” An interesting insight into Pridi’s attitude towards some of
his fellow citizens.
Personal Directions: “All the world’s a stage”
by Christina Dodd
Eleanor Roosevelt was a shy young girl
who was terrified at the thought of speaking in public. But with each
passing year, she grew in confidence and self-esteem. She once said, “No
one can make you feel inferior, unless you agree with it.”
These are valuable words to the ears of those of us who
are always at the front end of the audience, and I don’t mean in the
front row, but standing up there in the spotlight. Well, there may not
always be a spotlight, but there are always hundreds of eyes and hundreds
of ears watching every movement and listening to every word.
Today I am going to include in this article some
pointers for those of you who are “presenters” either in the public
arena or in the office meeting room, or at your local club. Presenting,
for some, can be a daunting task and there are a few key elements to the
art of presentation that we will look at.
First up let’s take a look at The Voice. The voice is
probably the most valuable tool of the presenter. It carries most of the
content that the audience takes away. One of the oddities of speech is
that we can easily tell others what is wrong with their voice, e.g. too
fast, too high, too soft, etc., but we have trouble listening to and
changing our own voices.
There are four main terms used for defining vocal
qualities:
Volume:
How loud the sound is. The goal is to be heard without shouting. Good
speakers lower their voice to draw the audience in, and raise it to make a
point.
Tone: The characteristics of a sound. An
airplane has a different sound than leaves being rustled by the wind. A
voice that carries fear can frighten the audience, while a voice that
carries laughter can get the audience to smile.
Pitch: How high or low a note is.
Pace: This is how long a sound lasts. Talking
too fast causes the words and syllables to be short, while talking slowly
lengthens them. Varying the pace helps to maintain the audience’s interest.
Colour: Both projection and tone variance can be
practiced by taking the line, “This new policy is going to be exciting” and
saying it first with surprise, then with irony, then with grief, and finally
with anger. The key is to over-act. Remember Shakespeare’s words, “All the
world’s a stage”; well, presentations are the opening night on Broadway!
There are two good methods for improving your voice:
1. Listen to it! Practice listening to your voice while at
home, driving, walking, etc. Then when you are at work or in the company of
others, monitor your voice to see if you are using it how you want to.
2. To really listen to your voice, cup your right hand around
your right ear and gently pull the ear forward. Next, cup your left hand around
your mouth and direct the sound straight into your ear. This helps you to really
hear your voice as others hear it ... and it might be completely different from
the voice you thought it was! Now practice moderating your voice.
The Body
Your body communicates different impressions to the
audience. People not only listen to you, they also watch you. Slouching
tells them you are indifferent or you do not care, even though you might
care a great deal! On the other hand, displaying good posture tells your
audience that you know what you are doing and you care deeply about it.
Also, good posture helps you to speak more clearly and effectively.
Throughout your presentation you should display:
Eye contact. This helps to regulate the flow of
communication. It signals interest in others and increase the speaker’s
credibility. Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication
and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.
Facial Expressions. Smiling is a powerful cue that
transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth and liking. Smiling is often
contagious and others will react favourably. They will be more comfortable
round you and will want to listen more.
Gestures. If you fail to gesture while speaking you may
be perceived as boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures
attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates
understanding.
Posture and body orientation. You communicate numerous
messages by the way you talk and move. Standing erect and leaning forward
communicates that you are approachable, receptive and friendly.
Interpersonal closeness results when you and your audience face each other.
Speaking with your back turned communicates disinterest.
Proximity. Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance
for interaction with others. You should look for signals of discomfort
caused by invading other’s space.
Vary your voice. One of the major criticisms of speakers
is that they speak in a monotone voice. Listeners perceive this type of
speaker as boring and dull. People report that they learn less and lose
interest more quickly when listening to those who have not learned to
modulate their voices.
Nerves
The main enemy of a presenter is tension, which ruins
the voice, posture, and spontaneity. The voice becomes higher as the throat
tenses. Shoulders tighten up and limit flexibility while the legs start to
shake and cause unsteadiness. The presentation becomes “canned” as the
speaker locks in on the notes and starts to read directly from them.
Do not fight nerves, welcome them! Then you can get on
with the presentation instead of focusing on being nervous. Actors
recognize the value of nerves ... they add to the value of the performance.
This is because adrenaline starts to kick in. It’s a leftover from our
ancestor’s “fight or flight” syndrome. If you welcome nerves, then
the presentation becomes a challenge and you become better. If you let your
nerves take over, then you go into the flight mode by withdrawing from the
audience. Again welcome your nerves, recognize them, let them help you gain
that needed edge! When you feel tension and anxiety, remember that everyone
gets them, but the winners use them to their advantage, while the losers
get overwhelmed by them.
For more information on our Presentation Skills programs
contact me at Christina.dodd @asiatrainingassociates.com or visit our
website at www .atasiam.com
Until next time, have a great week!
Social Commentary by Khai Khem:
Attacked and robbed by a man in a dress?
It seems some of our ‘women of the
second category’ are adding to our growing crime rate. Becoming bolder
and more aggressive, they are attacking tourists and residents on the
busiest streets in town. Surely the authorities can get these creatures
off our streets if they really try. It’s not like they are invisible,
even though they often lurk in the shadows of the palm trees along Beach
Road.
The promenade along the beach is not that hard to
patrol. A few scraggly palms cannot possibly camouflage these criminals
from police officers who must know this is where they hang out. These
‘lady-boys’ are not ladies. Pattaya bar girls may not be on the top of
the list of upstanding citizens, but compared to this latest plague, they
are at least trying to earn their keep.
Our city is going through a lot of upheaval at the
moment. Rapid growth and increased population has caught us off guard and
we’ve lost control on every front. Boomtowns always attract the criminal
elements because lawbreakers know they will be overlooked in the chaos.
We’ve outgrown our infrastructure, resources and
legal job market. We’ve also overwhelmed our law enforcement personnel
and district management officials. Most people who live in our region are
decent, law-abiding, hard-working citizens who contribute to society and
are just trying to do their jobs and take care of their families. These
are the people who deserve our respect and protection. They are also the
most vulnerable to the criminal element which has invaded our region
because the word is out that our area is in perpetual bedlam and incapable
of restoring order. Whether or not this is an actual fact, it is a
well-established perception!
Pattaya has been through hard times before. Some of our
hardships were brought on by external factors, but the perpetual attacks
on our reputation as a city of corruption, ill repute and crime, poor and
indifferent management and disorder is mostly of our own doing.
No city of our size and stature is free of problems.
Traffic snarls, unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation are a
global dilemma. However, some of our more solvable problems such as street
crime and youth gangs who prey on innocents in broad daylight can be
eradicated in short order. One of the easier tasks for our cops is to get
rid of the aggressive transvestites which have now become an intolerable
scandal.
How can we promote our region as a holiday and
retirement destination around the world if our petty crime rate continues
at its present pace? Who really thinks we can keep this a secret in this
age of instant, global information?
The central government’s recent war on drugs has seen
positive results. Presently Thailand’s drug problem is being addressed
on all fronts. There is now a real movement in our society to pull our
youngsters back from the edge of the precipice of self-annihilation and
redirect our children toward a wholesome lifestyle which will allow them a
chance to fulfill their potential. This came about through not only
political edicts, but from sincere cooperation of citizens who finally
realized the evil threat to the future of the nation.
Pattaya absolutely must rid itself of the pestilence of
petty crime perpetrated by thugs and hoodlums who now have us so
intimidated we feel under seize. Foreign tourists are robbed and beaten
for their mobile phones. Innocent Thai women are set upon by gangs of
motorcycle thieves at gunpoint. Shoppers can no longer stroll through
popular markets without having their jewelry ripped from their throats.
Locals cannot take shortcuts to their homes after work without being
robbed and even shot.
Long-stay residents are now being attacked by men in
dresses who beat them to the ground and rob them of every baht they carry
leaving them without the means to even pay their rent.
We worry so much about Pattaya’s image. Image is a
picture or representation - a reflection of what we want others to see.
Accusations that Thailand is a terrorist haven are unfounded and this is
the last thing savvy visitors take under consideration when booking a
holiday here. However, image and reality here in Fun City are often at
odds with each other. PR and road shows can achieve much and the fact that
Pattaya is still a favorite holiday destination is a tribute to our
massive and successful campaigns. But when reality is not the mirror image
of reflection, but instead a hard slap in the face, something has to give.
Pattaya’s weakest link in the chain is our inability
to live up to our promises. Packaged tourism under strict supervision may
sustain us for a season or two. That market is limited and fickle. Tourism
is a complicated and diversified industry. One size does not fit all. Even
members of tour groups manage to escape the constraints of tyrannical tour
guides and venture out of their limited itinerary. We cannot keep them
safe if our law enforcement officers are ‘asleep at the switch’.
Come on guys! Petty street crime in Pattaya is out of
control. Let’s get with the program. Respectable tourists, Thai or
foreign, can no longer have a drink or a enjoy bowl of noodles anymore
without being robbed, assaulted or threatened.
Pattaya is trying hard to promote a well-heeled group
of visitors to our region - international sporting events and high-powered
convention seminars. This group will check into 5-star hotels and conduct
their business under ideal circumstances. However, Pattaya businesses
expect a spillover of high rollers to venture out into the city to see the
sights. If the city is regarded as dangerous and even lethal, these groups
will confine themselves to what is tantamount to high-priced detention
camps and their money will not be circulated in the community.
Woman's World: There is no death, there are no dead
by Lesley Warner
I wrote last week about my own experience of spiritualist
healing and decided to check out the subject; this type of healing goes way
back to the bible stories. For a subject to be in existence for such a long
time one does feel that there must be some substance for the belief?
 Spiritualists come from every walk of life: bankers,
builders, nurses, teachers, electricians, etc., any and all professions are
attracted to spiritualism. Every place you find thinking men and women
coming together, you will find spiritualists.
A spiritualist healer is a person who can channel the
energies of the spirits, either through his or her own inborn power or
through medium ship; they are able to transmit curative energies to
physical conditions. Spiritualists who are trained for healing will stand
behind the chair and place their hands on or above the shoulders, heads and
upper backs of the person that needs healing. The healer then channels
healing energy of the spirit through their hands. It is important to
understand that a spiritualist healer does not heal. They are merely acting
as a channel for the spirit source.
A spiritualist healer works with the spirit, mind,
emotions, and body of the recipient. A spiritualist healer feels that once
stress is removed from the mind and emotions, the body will respond
naturally. They say that the whole person needs treatment, not just the
illness. Some feel that spiritualist healing only works because the person
being healed wants it to so much.
The results of spiritual healing are produced in several
ways:
Through the application of absent healing treatments
whereby spiritual beings combine their own healing energies with the
energies of the medium and cause them to be absorbed by the system of the
recipient.
By spiritual influences enlightening the mind of the
medium so that the cause, nature and seat of the disease in the recipient
is made known to the medium.
By spiritual influences working through the body of the
medium to transmit curative energies to the diseased parts of the
recipient’s body.
Spiritualists believe that life is continuous and that
when one releases the physical body at the time death, the spirit maintains
its consciousness.
Often the people of the past thought of any strange
phenomena as the work of devils and demons. Some religions today still see
spiritualism in the same way; there will always be those things that are
unexplainable.
Isn’t that what makes life interesting?
Prayer For Spiritual Healing
I ask the great unseen healing force
to remove all obstructions from my mind
and body and to restore me to perfect health.
I ask this in all sincerity and honesty
and I will do my part.
I ask this great unseen healing force
to help both present and absent ones
who are in need of help and to restore
them to perfect health.
Spiritualism is the key that sets humanity free! Free to
live and grow in the physical through love and law, and free because we
know that life is continuous, the spirit never dies. “There is no death,
there are no dead.”
Nice thought!
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