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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Red shirts nowhere to be found as ASEAN meeting starts smoothly

Today is a special day

City imposes strong measures to prevent H1N1 flu in schools

$6.2 billion in deals made at Chinese summit, despite red shirt protests

Japan to fund new water treatment plant in Pattaya

Railroad-area residents protest ‘unfair’ eviction

HM the Queen comes to aid of baby with mystery illness

Locals help Belgian man recover property snagged by transvestite pickpockets

Worrying View Talay 1 fire contained

City promises new buoy, patrols for Kood shipwreck to protect scuba divers

Queen Sirikit staff undertake H1N1 flu-prevention training

Queen’s birthday cake to be world’s longest


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.