Anti drink and drive rally from Bangkok winds up in Pattaya

Suchada Tupchai

Over 50 vehicles participated in an anti drink and drive rally from Bangkok to Pattaya last weekend. The caravan made its way from Bangkok on Saturday, winding through Chonburi and Sriracha, promoting the “Don’t drink and drive” message to residents along the way.

Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn poses on stage with people who are disabled because of drunk driving incidents. They had just finished a public forum on “What about the innocent victims, who’s responsible?”

The entire route was filled with activities, specific displays on the dangers of drink driving, and photos of horrific accidents caused by this lack of responsibility.

The procession finished at the Bali Hai pier in South Pattaya.

The ‘Mao Mai Kup’ (Drunk, don’t drive, aka Drink smart, drive safe) Foundation and members of the motorcade were greeted by city and provincial officials eager to promote the message of responsible drinking and safety.

Wittaya Khunplome, Chonburi council member and advisor to the minister of tourism and sports was joined by his fellow advisors, Santsak Ngamphichet and Chanyuth Hengtrakul, as well as Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn for the event, which was organized in cooperation with the foundation.

The foundation, founded in 1995, has campaigned for a tougher stance on drink driving in Thailand. Driving under the influence results in thousands of deaths annually.

Damrong Puttatarn, foundation president, reiterated the statistics from 1995 to 2002, revealing that at least 105,998 people have died in traffic accidents resulting from alcohol and a further 2,820,600 have been injured during the same period, mostly in motorcycle accidents. The losses in human life and resources cost the nation over 100 billion baht per year.

Throughout the evening’s activities, special guests who are either victims or perpetrators of drunk driving, many in wheelchairs, relayed how their lives had changed drastically.

The event drew a great deal of interest from residents and visitors alike.

Surasit Silpngarm, foundation manager said in an interview, “I’m happy to see many people interested in our crusade, including the city fathers who see this as an important issue that needs to be addressed, especially here in Pattaya. Apart from today’s activities the foundation intends to distribute leaflets throughout the city to inform everyone about traffic laws and that it is illegal to drink and drive. This will include not only residents but tourists also. It is an important message to relay to everyone.”

The foundation has focused on promoting their message in the provinces where the majority of accidents occur, particularly in the 15 to 29 age group.

Sneaks in a attacks her while she slept

Boonlua Chatree

Sai Monmar, 29, received 20 stitches to her throat after a dessert seller attacked her with a knife as she lay sleeping in her bed at a relative’s Soi Korpai home. Police took the woman’s statement at 4 a.m. on August 11.

Sai Monmar provides police with details of the attack.

Sai told police that she went to buy some Thai sweets from the man, identified only as Rung, at around 11 p.m. She added that she wanted to purchase 10 baht worth of sweets but Rung attempted to force her to buy twenty and an argument ensued. Once the argument was over, she went back to her uncle’s house, not giving a thought about the event until Rung snuck in the back door of the home and cut her throat.

The attack caught her by surprise, but she managed to yell for help and kick her attacker. The commotion woke her uncle, who, after the attacker fled, took her to the hospital for treatment.

Sai said she remembers her attacker’s face and implored officers to arrest the man. She said she feared he would return and attack her again.

At the time of this report, police were still looking for the attacker.

Pair forced young children to beg on city streets

Boonlua Chatree

Following a string of complaints from tourists calling for justice, Pattaya immigration police arrested a couple of Cambodian nationals who forced children into begging on the city’s streets.

This Cambodian couple used someone else’s children, one of them badly scarred, to beg money from tourists.

The most distressing part was that these adults had forced a badly scarred 4-year-old into begging from foreigners. She allegedly would bring in around 1,000 baht per day for the group.

The young girl, identified only as Woaw, had half her face burnt and is blind in one eye. The nefarious group used to her to play on the pity and compassion of foreigners.

Immigration officers caught up with group at a section of beer bars on Pattaya Second Road. A man and woman were seen forcing two children, a boy and a girl, into begging for money. Immigration officers detained them after they had already collected over 1,600 baht during their rounds.

The two adults, Wanna, aka Tee, 36, and Hol, 36, both Cambodians, confessed to bringing the children across the border to collect money. The two children, Woaw and a young boy identified as Jay, 8, were from the border town of Poiphet and were brought to Pattaya on bus from Sakaew. They were not related to the adults.

The adults told police that they collected between 1,000 and 2,000 baht per day from tourists drinking in the bars and had done so for many years.

Immigration police charged them with illegal entry into the kingdom and forcing children into begging. Both were taken to Pattaya police station to face criminal charges.

Dr. Doom speaks at the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard on Friday the 13th

by Martin Brands
President Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard

This was the intriguing title of a presentation held last Friday at the Dusit Resort by Dr. Marc Faber, also known as “Dr. Doom”. Dr. Faber is a well-known and highly respected financial analyst based in Hong Kong where he publishes a monthly investment letter, the “Gloom, Boom & Doom Report”. Like other famous analysts, he travels all over the world in pursuit of his business and is a regular presenter at investment seminars. He is the author of several books, and others have written two books about him!

Dr. Marc Faber kept his audience spell bound throughout his talk.

Sponsored by the newly established Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard, “Dr. Doom” painted a grim, down-to-earth picture of the global economy in a spell-binding presentation. Given its huge impact on the global economy, he highlighted the exposures of the 11 trillion dollar US annual economy, where peak consumer spending is (or rather was) largely fueled by home loan refinancing - as a result of low interest rates - and huge government deficits by printing more greenbacks.

Especially Asia depends on the US market, although trade in & between Asian countries is rapidly expanding, as local average consumer income is fast-growing, especially in countries like China and India, quite similar to the situation in Thailand. Given their population size of around 1 billion each, the developments in China and India have a growing impact on the global economy.

Martin Brands, President of the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard.

With double-digit economic growth, consumer demand in China is growing at a phenomenal rate. Manufacturing and consumer demands made crude oil consumption grow by an astounding 40% last year in China, and similar growth can be quoted for other ‘raw materials’. Like the path followed in past decades by traditional Asian powerhouses, locally produced goods and services are of a steadily improving quality and of increasing degree of sophistication. One of the assets of India is its enormous reservoir of well-educated professionals; for instance, in the field of computer sciences, so that a lot of the world’s software programming and related services are now carried out in India.

Although China’s currency is pegged too low to the US dollar, Dr. Faber does not expect this to change soon, as the current low rate is best for China’s stage of development and its export-oriented economy that earns the cash needed for prosperity.

Guests are engrossed in the fascinating talk by Dr. Doom.

This may well change when local demand becomes the major factor of its economy. However, he does not foresee substantial increases in average labor costs in view of the countless millions of new jobseekers that are added to the labor force each year. Just like in Thailand, this is combined with a population shift from rural areas to cities with blue and white-collar jobs, and - like in the West - with continuous automation in all goods & services areas.

Before going into these details, Dr. Faber showed trends of the last 200 years or so, depicting 40 to 50-year cycles of economic ups & downs, and 10-year cycles of changes in the four main investment options: stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate. Given the current economic climate and expectations, it seems that commodities present the best opportunities for the foreseeable future, but there are always important opportunities in the other three areas as well. Asia will be the main geographic area of economic growth.

The evening marked the first time that the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard presented itself to the general public. President Martin Brands mentioned that the club was admitted to Rotary International last June. As the only “lunch-club” in Pattaya, it has its weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 12:30 at the Dusit Resort. Along with pursuing friendship between its members, it promotes - among others - the advancement of professional knowledge, of which Dr. Faber’s presentation is an example. Marc Faber was invited to come to Pattaya by his long-time friend Ferenc Fricsay of the RC Eastern Seaboard.

This club is focused on community projects, in particular for the benefit of Rotary District 3340 that covers Northeastern Thailand and the Eastern Seaboard. Martin Brands mentioned that the club, with Rotary colleagues in Switzerland, already started two “Rotary Centennial” projects that will provide free reconstructive surgery on cleft lip, cleft palate and other correctable deformities to around 600 children in Thailand. This surgery will forever change the lives of these children, as this not only improves their physical health, but also gives them a life with dignity and without shame. These international projects are called “Centennial” in recognition of Rotary’s first 100 years of existence, an event that will also be celebrated in Pattaya next February. They are a visible demonstration of Rotary’s dedication to the causes of peace, international understanding & good-will.

Rotarians of several clubs and guests attended the informative evening, as did a delegation from the Interact Club of Banglamung School, and by 2 Rotary Youth Exchange Students from Canada and Bermuda, proving even more how much attention Rotary pays to the youth in our society.