Red shirts nowhere to be found
as ASEAN meeting starts smoothly
Delegates line up for the
opening ceremony photo session.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
What a difference four months makes. This week’s opening of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations parliamentary assembly in Pattaya
went off without a hitch with no signs of anti-government protestors that
mobbed the ASEAN April meeting, forcing its embarrassing cancellation.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva led Thailand’s delegation of public
officials in opening the 30th General Assembly of the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, which began on Aug. 2 and runs through Aug. 8
at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort. Delegations from AIPA’s eight member
countries plus 11 observing nations are participating.
More than 900 police and military personnel enforced strict security around
the resort. Officers lined roadways, closed intersections and blocked
traffic to keep the peace. The cordon was tight enough that Abhisit arrived
by car rather than by helicopter, as originally planned.
The preventative measures apparently discouraged red-shirted United Front of
Democracy Against Dictatorship protestors from even making an appearance.
Nonetheless, security officials were taking nothing for granted. In addition
to officers working traffic and perimeter patrol, another 1,000 guards were
inside the conference center itself, providing internal security and manning
weapons and explosives scanners. Attendees were also scanned for fevers and
provided anti-bacterial gels to prevent any outbreak of influenza A (H1N1).
The opening ceremony saw Abhisit joined by a coterie of government officials
including House Speaker Chai Chidchob, who acted as chairman for the
evening.
Participating in the summit are representatives from Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam. Nine other countries and the European Union will also be observing
the meeting that will see Brunei accepted into the AIPA.
The AIPA General Assembly is ASEAN’s policy-making body and a forum to
discuss laws the organization would like to see enacted in all member
countries. The Pattaya meeting will “create a cornerstone for the
organization’s policy and a forum to exchange ideas and policy guidance,”
according to the AIPA.
Security was tight around the
Royal Cliff Beach Resort.
Today is a special day
If you’re into numerology, or perhaps you enjoy quirky
dates on the calendar, or even just learning about other relatively useless
information, than today is a special day. At 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds
on the 7th of August this year (today), the time and date will be 12:34:56
07/08/09. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9; note it, enjoy it, as it will never happen in
your lifetime again.
City imposes strong measures to prevent H1N1 flu in schools
August 2-8, 2009
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Unlike in Bangkok, where schools served as breeding grounds for that
city’s A(H1N1) flu epidemic, Pattaya’s schools have remained virtually
virus-free and the city is working hard to keep it that way.
At a July 29 school principals’ meeting, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome laid out
measures to prevent the spread of the flu bug and quickly detect any
outbreaks.
For example, if more than three children in one class are absent the same
day, the school must check with each family to see if any have the flu.
Students who come to class with a fever or flu symptoms are sent home or to
the nurse’s office. Likewise, he added, staff with flu symptoms should stay
home and, if they present a doctor’s note, they will not be docked for sick
leave.
The mayor said all schools have also been given face masks and
anti-bacterial gels. School administrators asked for more, however, as their
supplies are running low.
The mayor also stressed that teachers and staff need to reinforce good
hygiene and be sure students aren’t sharing food utensils.
$6.2 billion in deals made at Chinese
summit, despite red shirt protests
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Red-shirted members of a local anti-government group had a message
for the 300 Chinese businessmen meeting last month in Pattaya: More trade
and investment is welcome, but don’t do deals with the man speaking at your
forum.
Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva speaks at last month’s Thai-Chinese Business
Forum at the Dusit Thani Hotel.
The man in question was Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who arrived in
Pattaya July 28 amid a sea of red shirts and heavy security to mark the
signing of $6.2 billion in investment deals at the Thai-Chinese Business
Forum. About 500 members of the “Pattaya People Who Love Democracy” group -
a local offshoot of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship - had
just presented a letter to the summit’s Chinese sponsor when the premier
arrived at the Dusit Thani Hotel to make his closing-ceremony address.
Abhisit was being personally guarded by Deputy Thai National Police
Commissioner Gen. Jongrak Juthanon and backed by nearly 1,000 Pattaya,
Banglamung and Chonburi police officers who were called in to provide
security when it was learned the red shirts planned to petition the Chinese
delegation. In the end, the protesters caused little trouble, other than
hurling abuse through bullhorns at the prime minister.
In a letter presented to Wang Ching Keu, secretary for the World Eminence
Chinese Business Association, the red shirts stated that they were in favor
of the business summit and increased business cooperation between the two
nations. However, they maintained, Abhisit should not be considered a
legitimate representative for the Thai people as, they claim, he was not
rightfully or democratically elected.
Money, however, proved more attractive than democratic principles for the
businessmen from the communist-led country. Chinese business association
Chairman Lu Junqing said 48 letters of intent worth $6.2 billion were signed
on the first day of the July 26-28 summit with another $4 billion in deals
expected to spring from the meeting during which Mainland China, Hong Kong
and Macau business leaders met about 500 Thai counterparts.
In his speech, Abhisit said Thailand places great importance on Sino-Thai
trade and noted the country is already home to many businesses with Chinese
ties. “Thai businessmen are ready and welcome any business cooperation which
would benefits both countries,” the prime minister said.
Abhisit also used the occasion to meet with a delegation from Guangzhou
which has proposed opening a Thai agricultural-products market. He also said
Thailand would set up a “one-stop center” to facilitate Chinese investments.
Red-shirted protestors
converge on the Dusit Thani Pattaya
to present a letter to a representative of the Chinese business association.
Japan to fund new water treatment plant in Pattaya
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Pattaya’s ongoing efforts to improve its water supply have
gotten a boost from an unlikely source: Japan.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has offered the
city 17 million baht to fund a wastewater-treatment project that could
provide the city with 100,000 cubic meters of raw water a day.
Mayor
Itthiphol Kunplome (left) and Wissanu Playanont (right), chairman of the
city’s strategic advisory committee on sustainable development, announce
the Japanese plan.
Wissanu Playanont, chairman of the city’s strategic advisory committee
on sustainable development, said the Japanese foreign aid would be used
to hire consultants to study the project, with results expected in
February. Public hearings will allow the public, generally hesitant to
use recycled water, to offer their feedback.
Pattaya Permanent Secretary Sittiprap Muangkoom said the city has needed
more raw water for years and that recycled wastewater produces raw water
just as good as from other sources.
The Japanese aid was offered as part of a ministry research project into
use of recycled wastewater. Japanese officials want to learn about the
safety measures used to produce water from recycled wastewater, whether
the public accepts it and the cost of recycling vs. other sources. The
results of the Pattaya study will determine if Japanese officials help
fund other projects worldwide.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome said participating in the Japanese project will
be a first for Pattaya, as the city has never embarked on such a
detailed study. However, he said, the benefit of getting a new
wastewater-treatment plant with the foreign funding makes it worthwhile.
Railroad-area residents
protest ‘unfair’ eviction
Residents block the railway to
protest the State Railway of Thailand’s
moves to cancel their lease so the property near the tracks can be auctioned
off to private investors.
Theerarak Suthatiwong
Villagers who signed a 10-year lease on a strip of land near the
Pattaya train station say the government has railroaded them out of their
homes and livelihoods.
The predominantly Muslim residents of a 15,000 sq. m. strip of land along
the railroad tracks halted train service July 24 to protest the State
Railway of Thailand’s moves to rent most their land to Pattaya City then
cancel the lease so the property can be auctioned off to private investors.
The protest, which saw a van used to block the tracks, attracted the
attention of city officials who had rented much of the railway property to
construct the new Pattaya Local Road. After promising to have all sides meet
at Pattaya City Hall July 30, the villages removed the vehicle and allowed
freight and passenger service to resume.
For residents, the city’s intervention was the first positive development in
a long-running crisis.
Village leader Sulaiman Binmusor said locals had signed a 10-year lease with
the railroad in 2000 that allowed them to live and work along the tracks.
However, the state leased most of their land to the city more than a year
ago for the new highway straddling the tracks. That forced about 60 families
onto a one kilometer strip of land only 15 meters wide.
The city didn’t use all the land offered to it, however. So the rail agency
decided to auction off all the remaining property – including the residents’
land – to private investors who plan to construct commercial buildings. That
move set off a wave of civil disobedience with villages ignoring eviction
orders and taking to the streets in protest.
Sulaiman said residents feel their lease was wrongfully terminated and that
they’ve been subjected to threats from thugs hired by potential investors
trying to clear them off the land. Most recently, he said, railway officials
have said residents will be prosecuted as trespassers if they do not vacate
the property.
HM the Queen comes to aid
of baby with mystery illness
Jiranan and her family show
the youngster a photo of Their Majesties the King and Queen, thankful for HM
the Queen’s help in resolving the infant’s malady.
Theerarak Suthatiwong
Parents of an infant afflicted with a mysterious illness are
celebrating after HM the Queen stepped in to arrange treatment for the baby
after several hospitals were unable to help.
“Nong Bee,” the 1-year-old son of construction workers Jiranan Wanmaung, 28,
and Boonthong Janthepa, 27, has suffered a painful red growth on his cheek
since being born. The spot has continued to grow, caused swelling and, at
times, cracking open, leaving the child in obvious pain. The couple had
taken Bee to several hospitals, all of which told them the growth was either
nothing or would go away if cleaned daily.
After spending most of their income on caring for the sick child, the couple
visited another hospital in Bangkok which said the growth could be removed,
but surgery would cost 100,000 baht, a sum far beyond their means.
Hearing their tale of woe through the media, HM Queen Sirikit sent word
through Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem’s office that she wanted to become a
patron for the child so Bee could get proper treatment. The news reduced the
anguished parents to tears of joy.
Senee assigned Banglamung Chief Officer Mongkol Thamakittikhun to their case
and the entire family made plans to travel to Bangkok to meet Her Majesty
the Queen and then check into the hospital for surgery.
Jiranan said she was surprised and grateful her case was heard by HM the
Queen and promised to perform good deeds to repay Her Majesty’s kindness.
She said she’d tell her son, when he grows up, about how HM the Queen
stepped in to help him and believes her son should become a teacher to pass
his goodness onto society.
Locals help Belgian man
recover property snagged
by transvestite pickpockets
Boonlua
An elderly Belgian man who stopped to chat with two transvestites on Beach
Road discovered thievery was the main topic of conversation.
Victim
Jim Howard positively identifies Darun Sudom as the pickpocket in question.
Jim Howard, 65, saw his wallet, mobile phone and some documents lifted by
the light-fingered cross-dressers. Only some fast-acting passersby saved
them from being lost permanently.
Investigating Howard’s call for help, Pol. Lt. Col. Sutham Chowsrithong
found 24-year-old Darun Sudom being held by residents on Soi 12. On him they
found Howard’s possessions.
The Belgian told police he was riding his motorbike in the wee hours of July
31 when he was flagged down by the ladyboys. As he chatted with one, Darun
slid behind him on the motorbike and pick-pocketed him. He didn’t get far,
though, before locals grabbed him. However, the drag queen’s accomplice
managed to escape.
Worrying View Talay 1
fire contained
Damage estimated at 1 million baht
Theerarak Suthatiwong
Residents of Jomtien Beach’s View Talay 1 tower are breathing easier
after firefighters contained a fire that destroyed a ninth-floor apartment
before it spread to other units in the densely populated tower.
Investigators
believe ash from burning incense fell onto this couch, causing the blaze.
The fire broke out around 10 a.m. Aug. 3 with four engines taking 30 minutes
to extinguish the blaze that fully engulfed the two-room condo. Burning
incense sticks are believed responsible with damage estimated at 1 million
baht.
No one was injured in the incident.
Condo owner Porntip Pankhao was alerted to the fire by friends and returned
to find the belongings in the condo, which had been purchased by her English
husband, turned to ash.
Porntip told fire investigators she’d lit joss sticks in one room before
going shopping. Officials assume ash from the usually slow-burning and
flameless incense ignited a sofa, but will continue their investigation.
City promises new buoy, patrols
for Kood shipwreck to protect scuba divers
The sinking of the HTMS Kood, as recorded
by Pattaya Mail photographers in September 2006.
Bob James and Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
City officials are promising better patrols and a new buoy for one
of Pattaya’s most-popular scuba diving sites after markers anchored by the
city and local dive operators to locate an undersea shipwreck repeatedly
have gone missing.
A
scuba diver makes his “giant stride” entrance from the Aquanauts Dive Centre
boat. Divers descend and ascend from shipwrecks using buoys like the one
pictured here. (Photo by Bob James)
The HTMS Kood, a World War II-era landing craft intentionally sunk off Koh
Sak in 2006, has become a thriving artificial reef. But divers keen to do
wreck diving without long commutes to Koh Phai or Samae San increasingly
have been frustrated by the disappearance of buoys marking its location 31
meters below the surface.
Gary Tytler, director and master instructor with Aquanauts Dive Centre, a
PADI 5-Star Career Development Center on Soi 6, said the original buoy
installed by the city went missing long ago and that subsequent markers
installed by Aquanauts and other dive shops continually disappear, some just
a day after being installed.
Dive operators are convinced fishermen and others are stealing many of the
expensive markers and, as a result, now use plastic water or fuel
containers. But even those are disappearing.
While dive operators can use Global Positioning System headings to find the
general vicinity of the ship, the margin of error in GPS readings – combined
with Koh Sak’s often minimal visibility – really requires buoys to pinpoint
its exact location. They’re also a safety feature that allows divers to
reach and ascend from the wreck safely and warn water craft to keep away.
Tytler said Aquanauts, which takes an active role in marine conservation,
would like to install a proper buoy attached to a plastic-sheathed steel
line that can withstand storms and strong currents. But the company is not
going to make such an investment if the line is taken to sell for scrap the
next day, he said.
“The city sunk the wreck to attract tourists but marine police don’t patrol
it enough to protect the wreck and its divers,” Tytler said.
Responding to Aquanauts’ complaint, Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh said
marine officials were dispatched to inspect the wreck and found that buoy
was indeed missing.
Ronakit disagreed that the marker had been stolen, however, as he believes
it is was too heavy and that the legal penalty imposed upon those found
using would be too severe.
The deputy mayor pledged to immediately determine how much a new buoy will
cost then replace it. At the same time, he said, marine police would begin
checking the Kood monthly to be sure it had a proper marker.
Dive operators were pleased the city finally took notice of the problem, but
said monthly patrols are not enough. Police should sweep by Koh Sak daily,
especially after dark, to make sure fishermen are not working the protected
artificial reef and damage buoys and lines with their propellers.
Pramote Channgam also contributed to this story.
Queen Sirikit staff undertake H1N1 flu-prevention training
Patcharapol Panrak
When the A(H1N1) flu swept through Sattahip’s Naval Recruiting
Center last month, it was the naval medical staff at nearby Queen Sirikit
hospital who were put on the front line. Although that outbreak has been
extinguished, the war goes on against the killer bug and hospital officials
are making sure their troops don’t become casualties.
Capt.
Surapol Chatchawanwanit, deputy director for the Naval Medical Department
said, “We have to maintain our ethics and moral principles and cannot shirk
our duties.”
More than 2,000 doctors, nurses and hospital staff attended a July 21
seminar to teach them how to protect themselves against infection and
prevent the disease from spreading to other hospital guests.
During the height of the recruiting center outbreak, H1N1 flu patients
comprised nearly 60 percent of the patients in the Naval Medical Department.
Capt. Surapol Chatchawanwanit, deputy director for the Naval Medical
Department, said hospital staff were worried about contracting the virus at
work, which could have a negative impact on patient care.
“We have to maintain our ethics and moral principles and cannot shirk our
duties,” Surapol said. “We must examine and treat patients at full capacity,
but our physicians, nurses and all personnel should first be safe.”
Rear Adm. Padermpong Rumakom, Naval Medical Department director, said new
policies have been enacted governing examinations, patient diagnosis and
isolation, mask use and hygiene to protect both staff and patients.
Queen’s birthday cake to be world’s longest
Guests of honor gather for a
press conference to announce
the World’s Longest Lychee Cake will be baked in honor
of Her Majesty the Queen’s Royal Birthday celebration.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Really big birthdays require really big cakes and to celebrate HM
the Queen’s 77th birthday, Pattaya and the Amari Orchid Resort and Tower are
cooking up the world’s longest lychee cake.
Slices of the 77-meter cake will go on sale Aug. 9 at Central Festival
Pattaya Beach for 60 baht each or 699 baht per meter. Proceeds will go to
the Baht for Better Life Foundation and the Pheung Ping Yam Yak Red Cross
foundations.
Makhoo Taechasophon, Amari deputy general manager, noted this is actually
the sixth year the hotel has baked a big cake for the queen with each year
seeing it grow a meter longer.
The two charities the Amari chose, he said, help underprivileged children in
rural areas and seasonal flood victims.
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