HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

A word of warning

The sky is not falling

Fiddling with condo funds

UK visa tips?

Putting the war-making machine out of business

A word of warning

Editor;
I would like to tell the story of how my handbag was stolen by some very professional thieves in Bangkok two weeks ago.
I am a British business woman who has traveled and worked in Bangkok regularly for a number of years now and always felt quite comfortable in this city.
I was finished work for the day and decided to go in to the Starbucks coffee shop for a coffee. I went in to the Starbucks in the Amerin shopping center (the first one when you get off the BTS at Chitlom station) and sat down with a large cafe latte. It was relatively quiet in the coffee shop and a young man asked me if I would help him with his English as he needed to write a letter of application to university. I was a little suspicious, I moved my handbag and briefcase away from him and put them next to my leg where he could not possibly reach or grab them. I looked around when he sat down next to me to see if anyone was with him, he seemed to be alone.
He produced a letter of application to do a masters degree at university and asked if I would check his spelling and grammar. His English both written and spoken was very good. During the time I was talking with him I kept checking my handbag was still next to my foot. He talked to me for more than half an hour and I helped to correct his letter, then he got up to go, thanked me for my help and started to move away. Then he turned back and asked me to give him my email address so that he could let me know if his application was successful. This is the first time I move around (with my back to my handbag and moved off my foot) and I believe that his accomplice took my bag at this point. He then left the shop very quickly. I noticed almost immediately that my handbag was gone but of course he was nowhere to be seen.
None of the Starbucks staff saw anything even though the shop was not very busy, but they were helpful when I explained my handbag had been stolen.
I reported it to the police (who were very unhelpful and did not seem the least bit interested in knowing what had happened) and also the British Embassy who again had little sympathy.
The next morning I went back to the Starbucks coffee shop where the incident had happened with a Thai person (after going to the bank and making sure they could not access my bank account) and spoke with them. They were very apologetic and we also went to the information desk in the Amerin center to ask about the security CCTV camera outside the coffee shop entrance. We were shown to the security office where they have the video cameras and tapes but although they were working perfectly when we were there the previous evening at 6pm they were very conveniently broken and they did not have any video tape (a bit too coincidental for my liking) so no luck with pointing out the guy who had sat and talked to me while someone else stole my handbag.
The guy looked quite respectable, between 25 and 30 I would guess, with blue shirt and black trousers, Thai looking, not very tall and very thin with a thin peeked face, small black framed glasses, crooked teeth, black medium length hair with a side parting.
I am telling you this story (even though I feel pretty stupid for falling for it) to warn you all about being helpful to strangers: beware!
Life goes on and these things happen but I will be more careful about people asking for my help in future.
Best regards,
An avid Pattaya Mail reader

The sky is not falling

Letter to the editor:
We represent a group of prominent real-estate agencies in Pattaya. This (email) is sent to a number of property magazines and related media publishers.
There is a lot of commotion and confusion over the new property regulation (issued this month by Suraart Thoingniramol, deputy permanent secretary of the Interior Ministry) that requires all partly foreign-owned companies to prove the source of their funding before purchasing properties.
We expect quite a bit of media response with readers’ letter and articles of columnists covering and judging this above mentioned event.
Now we strongly recommend being very selective and quality conscious with the content of all related articles and write-ups that you will accept to publish.
Obviously everyone is liberated to express his/hers opinion(s) but none of us is served with information that is incorrect and misleading.
This could lead to an even greater confusion in the market whereby unprofessional parties and bystanders start to panic in response to a “new regulation” which is actually an enforcement of Thailand’s existing laws.
It would sincerely harm our (and your) business if the “want-to-be” section of our small community sees a clear chance to spread a panic response.
Professionals are already aware of perfectly genuine ways to serve its (foreign) clients with no reserve. There is absolutely no need to upset the market as it already is.
We consider your editors’ opinion and professionalism integer enough not publish opinions such as this columnist recently wrote:
“The Party is over … Well, it looks like the property boom is over, at least while they enforce the law to the letter. I feel sorry for the thousands of Thais who will be thrown out of work or lose money by this heavy-handed application of the law. It doesn’t inspire confidence in Thailand as an investment destination for foreigners either. But I wonder how long they will continue to enforce the law after they see the catastrophic consequences? It may be too late by then. I just don’t see foreigners having any confidence in Thailand after this.”
Pattaya Realtors

Fiddling with condo funds

Editor,
We have all heard the joke about many farang, male visitors to Thailand checking in their brains at immigration when they arrive, and it does not only apply where the female of the species concerns. The 19th May ‘letters’ column contained a worthwhile caution regarding condo ownership. A 1.3 million baht theft of a condominium’s common maintenance funds, apparently carried out right under the noses of the apartment owners, puts the usual baht bus moans into perspective.
Condos are required to have a manager, who presumably must be Thai. A supervising committee with farang members is allowed, but this can be a mixed blessing. Said Sir Winston Churchill: “Committees comprise the inept voted in by the incapable”. This is not always so, but the tale told by Tony Crossley supports it. What use is a manager or committee, if neither could pick up on the theft of the cash take on a daily basis for over a year? If this is what happened, the alleged thief did not just steal the money but accepted an invitation to do it. The story stinks of some sort of conspiracy, and for the apartment owners to then re-elect anyone who could have been involved is akin to asking a known burglar to look after one’s home while one goes on holiday.
Thai condos have a bad reputation not because of the deficiency of the law, but often because the apartment owners, and the committee members they elect (if they take the trouble even to do this) lack the business experience to put safety procedures in place. A condominium’s official regulations should detail the manager’s duties, and it is essential to have a simple but efficient book-keeping system set down. This way, no matter what changes occur in staffing or committee membership, the manager has no excuse not to follow the procedure and can be held accountable if things go wrong. The ‘chairman’ referred to by Mr Crossley failed to do this, which is how the theft was able to succeed. If it is true this person regarded himself as the ‘Executive Director’ because he was the committee chairman, it supports another quote. “Joining a committee is a way for people to feel important without doing anything that is important.”
I would be interested to hear what developments, if any, occur in this story. Also to know what this re-elected chairperson now advocates. It should also be noted that allowing one member to deal with maintenance issues has its perils. Kickbacks for the award of contracts are almost the norm, and many such member has, with the compliance of the manager, done very well out being in the position. ‘Nice guys’ often get elected onto the committee, but ‘tameness’ is not what is needed. What is, is someone who is willing to confront abuse when they see it, not turn a blind eye and pretend all is okay. It is also worth remembering that the less members a committee has, the easier it is for ‘fiddling’ to be perpetrated.
T. Tighe

UK visa tips?

Editor;
Thank you for publishing Mr B. Palmer’s letter last week. After my Thai girl friend had spent time in England with me I naturally thought that future trips were a formality and could not understand why she had been refused twice for further visits. I now have a holiday planned for September and would be grateful if other more experienced “visa applicants” would write their experiences (hopefully successful) so that I may beat the system and have my friend with me in England. (It makes a change for your letters to be complaining about the inefficiencies of the British Bureaucracy). Please say what the changes are and what is required so that I can bring whatever is needed out with me, the embassy web sites being rather involved and lacking in the real detail for Thai ladies. Thanking any correspondees in anticipation.
Colin Manvell
Havant England

Putting the war-making machine out of business

Dear Editor.
Even with all the “spin” and pictures of the U.S. military helping orphans, etc., we must remember: the whole concept of any military is to kill people.
Still, with business and politics and the military so tightly bound, and with even countries such as Germany, Japan and Korea finding it difficult to boot out the U.S. military, it will be a while before we can end these “war games” the US takes for granted in Thailand.
However, talking with individual troops (as anti-war activists did with me when I was a “G.I.” in 1970-72) and working with groups like the Rotarians, who are not shy about working for peace, will someday put the war-making machine out of business.
To those who say, “There will always be war” – people used to say “There will always be wife beating.”
Ronald Urbina

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also on our website.