|
Thais turn out en masse to wish ailing HM the King good health
Officials at Siriraj Hospital
sign a get well book for HM the King.
Patcharapol Panrak
With HM the King hospitalized since Sept. 19 with a low fever,
inflamed lungs and fatigue, His subjects are turning out en masse to wish
their beloved monarch a speedy recovery.
Hundreds have come to Siriraj Hospital to sign a well-wishers book and pray
for the 81-year-old King’s health. Many placed flowers in front of the HM
the King’s statue. Hospital administrators, meanwhile, have been working
with the Bureau of Royal Household to assist visitors and greet high-profile
well-wishers.
The bureau also has set up a location at Sala Sahathai Samakhom in the Royal
Palace for citizens to sign felicitations. However, the area is not large
and household bureau officials urged people to not stay there overnight.
Pattaya pounded by tropical storm Ketsana
Typhoon Ketsana took its toll
on Pattaya Bay, sinking nine boats,
including this one, and smashing up several Walking Street restaurants.
Boonlua Chatree
While it unleashed most of its fury on the Philippines, a weakened
Typhoon Ketsana still packed enough punch to do plenty of damage to
Pattaya’s coastline, sinking nine boats and smashing up several Walking
Street restaurants.
The powerful storm, which killed more than 330 people across Southeast Asia,
hit Thailand as a tropical depression, dropping torrential rain and whipping
up huge ocean swells.
Nine two-deck passenger boats moored in Pattaya Bay were sunk by the 2m
waves and several smaller longtail boats were smashed with their wreckage
washing up on the beach.
One larger boat which broke from its mooring drifted and smashed into three
Walking Street restaurants, forcing their evacuation and causing about 1
million baht in damage.
As the storm built up, boat captains and scuba diving shops scrambled to
avoid similar fates and, by nightfall Sept. 30, nearly every remaining
Pattaya-area boat was tied up in a protected bay off Koh Larn. Dive shops
suspended services for two days, dampening some holidaymakers’ deep sea
plans.
Chonburi also felt Ketsana’s wrath with large fishing boats scurrying back
to shore to avoid the storm. The pier in Sriracha was a popular place to
seek shelter for smaller boats. Others that couldn’t make it back to shore
took shelter off nearby islands.
Pattaya, TAT vow change after complaints of anti-Indian bias
Tourist numbers from India are
on the rise, and now city officials have promised to try and eliminate the
racial prejudice problem here in Pattaya.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Even as Indian tourists become the largest group of foreign visitors
to Pattaya, the problem of anti-Indian bias by the city’s bar and restaurant
operators has reached a crisis point with complaints pouring into city hall
and tour groups canceling in favor of other destinations.
Pattaya’s elected officials and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Pattaya
Office have had to issue apologies after formal complaints were forwarded
from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. City leaders acknowledged there has
been a prejudice problem in Pattaya, but that the city is working to
eliminate it.
“What’s happened has happened, but we are going to fix it,” Mayor Itthiphol
Kunplome said. This directly affects the city and we are going to explain
that to entrepreneurs to relieve the tension from the situation. We declare
here and now that Pattaya City welcomes everyone without regard to race or
nationality.”
With world recession and fears about Thailand’s own political turmoil
hammering tourist arrivals from the West and East Asia this year, India has
emerged as the one bright spot for the tourism industry. Speaking at the
Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter’s “Pattaya Marketing 2010” seminar
last month, Niti Kongkrut, director of the TAT Pattaya office, said Indians
now rank No. 1 among tourists to the region and will continue to do so
through next year.
That is if they think Pattaya still wants them. Travel agencies and tour
groups have reported a number of cancellations after earlier groups were
turned away from bars and restaurants who refused to serve Indian customers.
In fact, it’s been a long-standing problem with Pattaya go-go bar owners in
particular being quite vocal on online forums for several years about
refusing service to Indian and Arab customers as well. Only a handful of
Walking Street bars actively advertise that they welcome Indian customers.
When Indian visitor numbers were low, that wasn’t a high-profile problem.
Now that Indians have become a key group in the absence of Western visitors,
the minister of Tourism and Sports was is so concerned he directly ordered
the city to investigate.
“Pattaya and the TAT have been promoting the city to new markets in Russia,
the Middle East and India to increase the number of visitors during the
recession and we’ve received good feedback,” Itthiphol said. “But this
situation really damages the reputation of the city just as we are heading
into high season.”
Niti acknowledged that business owners have the right to select their
customers but urged them to realize India is a large country and visitors
come from all different classes and backgrounds. It’s time, he said, to
change past practices.
Illegal garbage dumping angers, worries Sattahip-area village
Patcharapol Panrak
Sattahip are villagers are irate over illegal late-night garbage
dumping into a hillside reservoir that not only has stunk up the
neighborhood, but threatens to poison the local water supply.
 Illegal
refuse dumping is causing concern in Sattahip.
After complaints from residents of the Khanthamas community, Sattahip’s
mayor and sheriff have warned local municipalities to stop dumping trash
into the Baan Thung reservoir, which supplies water to the neighborhood. But
the owners of the parade of garbage trucks that drive up the hill late each
night remains unknown.
Village Chief Samrueng Duangsamruay said Sept. 28 that Khanthamas has been
dealing with the stench of wet and rotting trash since the rainy season
started, causing reservoir overflow to run down the hill into the village.
He fears the garbage will soon poison the water table.
The reservoir is the remains of an illegal gravel mining operation that was
closed down by the city and fenced off. But security is non-existent and the
fence has been breached easily. It’s now home to small mountains of garbage
dumped there by a fleet of unknown trash trucks.
Once Sattahip Mayor Phairoj Malakul Na Ayudha got a whiff of the stinky
situation he ordered Sheriff Chaichan Iamcharoen to inform neighboring
cities that Baan Thung is not a landfill and to report any trash companies
illegally using it as one.
5,000 in Chonburi sing for national unity
Thousands gather in
Chonburi to sing the National
Anthem Sept. 27 at the King Chulalongkorn statue.
Boonlua Chatree
Whether it makes the Thai people more united or not, there’s no
doubt a lot of people are coming together to sing the national anthem.
Chonburi became the eighth province to partake in Thai Unity project
launched by the government late last month when 5,000 residents
assembled Sept. 27 at the King Chulalongkorn statue in downtown Chonburi
at 6 p.m. to sign the national anthem together.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva unveiled the project Sept. 19 with a
goal to promote patriotism and unity among Thai people and bring peace
to a country wracked by political strife and armed conflict in the
south. The campaign started in Krabi Province and will take place in
other provinces nationwide until Dec. 4 when it concludes in Bangkok.
The Chonburi group sing started with a warm-up at Chonkalayanukul School
and, three minutes before, a short documentary on heroes and bravery.
Following the anthem, the group sang more songs praising Their Majesties
the King and Queen. It was televised by Channel 11 and National Radio.
The Thai Unity project, launched on the third anniversary of the
military coup that toppled premier Thaksin Shinawatra and set off years
of conflicting protests by groups clad in various-colored shirts,
generated plenty of international media attention, but also a fair
amount of skepticism. A Suan Dusit poll of nearly 1,200 Thais Sept.
19-20 found that only a third thought singing the national anthem would
inspire unity while a third thought it wouldn’t and the final third
weren’t sure.
Loy Krathong festivals set
in Pattaya, Naklua for Nov. 2
Community leaders gather to
plan celebrations for this year’s Loy Krathong, which falls on November 2.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya is gearing up to celebrate one of Thailand’s most popular
holidays in a big way this year with Loy Krathong festivals slated for both
Pattaya and Naklua November 2.
Music, contests and a focus on Thai heritage will take center stage at the
Bali Hai Pier and Lan Po Market during the afternoon and evening hours of a
holiday often called Thailand’s version of Valentine’s Day.
Pattaya Deputy Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon said during a planning meeting
late last month that the festivities will include a children’s talent show,
beauty pageant, concerts, Thai cultural exhibitions, cooking show and, of
course, the annual krathong decorating contest. Entertainment begins at 1
p.m. with musicians including Roong Suriya and Lew Ajareeya and comedy
troupes.
The krathong contest will be split into categories for students from
elementary schools, junior high schools and the general public. Winning
floats will be judged on their use of biodegradable materials and must be at
least 38 cm wide. Prizes of 3,000-10,000 baht will be awarded. Those
interested in participating can apply at the Department of Education or call
038-253-227.
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the twelfth month in the
traditional Thai lunar calendar, which usually falls in November. “Loy”
means “to float” and “Krathong” is a raft traditionally made from banana
tree trunk and decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers,
candles and incense sticks. During the night of the full moon, many people -
often couples - will release krathongs into the sea with prayers and wishes
for love and good fortune.
100 students help pack relief
supplies for flood victims
Nittaya Patimasongkroh,
chairwoman of the Y.W.C.A. Bangkok-Pattaya Center, led more than 100
youngsters and volunteer police assistants in helping to pack thousands of
relief bags for the Princess Pa Foundation to support flood victims.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
With the rainy season in full swing, more than 100 students of Pattaya
School #7 joined in to help Pattaya Tourist Police Volunteers and the
Y.W.C.A. Bangkok-Pattaya Center pack emergency provisions for Thailand flood
victims.
The Sept. 30 effort, sponsored by the Princess Pa Foundation, saw 110
children join 10 police assistants at U-Tapao Pattaya International Airport
to pack up more than 3,000 bags of durable food, household items, clothing
and medicine for those in need after recent floods in the north and
northeast and for expected future flood victims.
“These provisions bags will be kept in U-Tapao airport’s storage area. In
the event any province faces flooding, the Red Cross will send the provision
bags to them,” explained Y.W.C.A Chairwoman Nittaya Patimasongkroh.
Princess Pa Foundation President Somthawin Yangyoo said the relief effort is
being supported by the Royal Thai Navy, Red Cross, Sattahip municipality and
more. This is the fourth time bags were prepared this year.
The Princess Pa Foundation was established by HRH Princess Bajarakitiyabha
after major floods in 1995 to help close the gap between victims’ needs and
support from existing charity organizations. The program was such a success
it was continued with donations made tax deductible in 2001.
Once jailed, twice arrested,
ya ba dealer falls into trap
Boonlua Chatree
Police have again arrested an active, but not-so-clever drug dealer
who realized too late he’d fallen into yet another police trap.
 Anan
“Pid” Ritdetchphaisarn (seated right) was caught in a police sting.
Chonburi police nabbed Anan “Pid” Ritdetchphaisarn, 30, outside Rattanakorn
Village 7 on Soi Khao Noi Oct. 2 after undercover officers arranged to
purchase 50 ya ba tablets for 8,300 baht from the previously convicted
methamphetamine dealer.
Anan arrived for the late-night drug deal showing little concern, but
realized just as he was handing over the pills it was a setup. He attempted
to flee and toss the drugs, but police had him cornered.
Searching his home, officers found another 1,016 ya ba tablets and a bank
book showing lots of cash flowing in and out. Anan confessed he was part of
a ya ba-slinging duo who split a couple thousand pills between them to sell.
Police are now tracking down his partner in crime.
Police accidentally shoot bystander during drug bust
Boonlua Chatree
Undercover police pursuing a pair of drug dealers accidentally shot
a woman eating inside a Thepprasit Road noodle shop while trying to stop the
suspects’ car from escaping.
Buriram native Patcharawan Maolee, 23, was struck in the leg by a stray
bullet from one of four Pattaya Police officers who opened fire on the ya ba
dealers’ Honda CRV Sept. 17. She was treated initially at the shop across
from the Siam Commercial Bank by Sawang Boriboon Thamasathan Foundation
medics and transported to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.
Pol. Lt. Col. Patsada Detpakkul said four crime-suppression officers had
gone undercover for a sting operation in which they’d buy ya ba from two
drug peddlers, then arrest them. But the dealers got wise to the plan and
fled before they could be captured.
Patcharawan said the officers, trailing the CRV in a pickup truck, got out
of their vehicle and fired five shots at the CRV. She and others in the
noodle shop ducked for cover, but a stray bullet flew into the diner and hit
her.
The officers filed a report and will question the injured woman once again.
This includes calling the police crime suppression team for questioning,
before further submitting a report to the superior for processing.
Armored-car heist figure,
murder suspect arrested
again for robbery
Boonlua Chatree
One of the men involved in last year’s daring Pattaya armored-car
heist and another out on bail for murder are again behind bars after
attempting to rob a Canadian man and his Thai wife.
 Tanom
Poung-Kratoke and Apichai Sonplai are brought in to the police station for
interrogation.
Tanom Poung-Kratoke, 33, one of five men who allegedly held up a SAMCO truck
for 5 million baht in December, and 27-year-old Apichai Sonplai, arrested
earlier in Petchburi for murder charges, were arrested Sept. 27 at the Beach
Road-Central Road intersection after allegedly snatching a handbag from
31-year-old Sangwan Sodapim and her 51-year-old husband Harley Griffin.
The two men, both Royal Thai Navy personnel, were caught in their red Toyota
fleeing from the Soi 7 robbery moments before. In the car police found a
loaded 11mm pistol, a wooden a mallet and woolen hats they apparently used
to cover their faces.
The men tried to convince the police that because they were members of the
Naval Special Warfare unit, they were well paid and didn’t need to rob
anyone. But after police discovered their criminal history the accounts of
the many witnesses proved more convincing.
Tanom first came to the attention of Pattaya police after the daylight
robbery of the SAMCO truck at a South Pattaya gas station. A gang of six men
staked out the Jet station until the armored car arrived to fill up an
automated teller machine there. Using guns and knives, the robbers forced
the SAMCO drivers to give up a box containing 5 million baht.
Three of the men were caught quickly and the other in the months to come.
Tanom, one of the last to be caught, was out on bail while awaiting his
trial. Apichai was similarly out on bail while awaiting his day in court on
murder charges.
Police Briefs
Boonlua Chatree
Pot-smoking French overstay arrested
A Frenchman is surely thinking he should have gone home on time
after being arrested for both doing drugs and overstaying his visa.
Chonburi Immigration officers arrested Bahi Hassan at his Yensabai Condo
apartment Sept. 24, seizing a small bag of marijuana. Checking his passport
they also discovered he had overstayed his welcome in the Kingdom. He was
jailed and charged with possession of a Class 5 narcotic.
South Korean
arrested for ya ice possession
A South Korean man under police surveillance for some time was
arrested by Pattaya Police Sept. 28 for possession and use of ya ice.
Kim Song Sik, 37, was taken into custody inside his Central Pattaya
apartment. There officers recovered a bag of crystal methamphetamine hidden
in a suit pocket. He was then tested for drugs and found to have consumed
the ya ice.
Fake credit cards buy Russian jail time
A Russian man has discovered that his three counterfeit credit
cards won’t buy him freedom from jail.
Police arrested 21-year-oldl Ivan Azhimov at a Siam Commercial Bank
currency-exchange booth in Naklua Sept. 29 after trying to advance 30,000
baht from a fake card.
Alerted by a teller to the scam, police apprehended the Russian man and
found two additional Unicredit VISA cards on him. Azhimov told officers he’d
been given the cards by a Russian friend and had used the successfully in
Pattaya several times already.
German dies in motorcycle accident
A 44-year-old German made died after crashing his motorcycle into
the back of a pickup truck on Thappraya Road Sept. 29.
Jan Eric Rosner died the day after the accident during which medics said he
sustained a serious head injury. But it was internal bleeding in his abdomen
that ended up killing him, doctors at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya said.
British man slams truck into power pole
A 39-year-old British national was hospitalized after crashing
his pickup truck into a power pole near the Mabprachan Reservoir Sept. 30.
It took rescuers more than 30 minutes to free driver Chris Lake from his
Toyota Vios and transport him to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.
Witnesses said Lake had come at full speed from reservoir to Sukhumvit Road
and lost control on a curve before wrapping the truck around a pole on the
access road at the Sit Yod Thong Boxing Camp. Police suspect the driver was
either sleepy or intoxicated.
Drifter arrested for go-go
dancer’s murder
Boonlua Chatree
Police have arrested a garbage-collecting drifter for robbing and
killing his 39-year-old lover inside her Soi VC apartment last month.
 Prathuang
Kaewlamun reenacts the murder for police and witnesses.
Prathuang Kaewlamun, 39, was apprehended by police while pushing his garbage
cart through Rungland Village in South Pattaya Sept. 24. Officers recovered
from him a mobile phone belonging to go-go dancer Buapan Parpuangpan, who
was found Sept. 18, about two days after police say Prathuang beat her to
death with a somtam grinder.
Her Danish Royal Inn apartment had been ransacked and the woman’s valuables,
including mobile phone and purse, were missing.
Pol. Lt. Col. Chanapat Nawalak said the suspect told police he had come to
Buapan’s room for drinks and had gotten in an argument when he insisted she
stop working as a dancer at the Fun Room go-go bar on Soi 15. He said he
wanted to marry the victim, but she drank too much and used drugs.
During the fight, Buapan allegedly hit the suspect with the somtam grinder.
He took it from her and hit her several times until she collapsed on the bed
where she died.
70 children attend morality camp
Lecturers, guests, sponsors
and some of the children
pose for a group photo during the “Ethics for Life” camp.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
About 70 youngsters from the Fountain of Life children’s center
gained more knowledge and understanding about Buddhism’s guiding moral
principles at a three-day “morality camp” sponsored by Mahamakut Buddhist
University and the Child Protection and Development Center.
The Sept. 25 “Ethics for Life” workshop at the Huay Yai Temple featured
lectures on Buddhist traditions and religious instruction by monks from
temples in Pattaya, Bangkok and Nonthaburi.
Surasak Pinnawuttho of Mahamakut’s Sirindhorn campus said the project was
initiated because of growing concerns about the behavior and manners of
disadvantaged children in Chonburi. Working with the Diana Group, Y.W.C.A.
Bangkok-Pattaya Center and the child protection center, youth from the
Fountain of Life and Ethical Development shelter were brought in to better
understand how to apply Buddhist principles to their daily lives.
Police, Military toss Pattaya Prison for 1st time in 8 years
Prison officials and military
personnel toss one of the cells inside the prison.
Boonlua Chatree
More than 300 police and military officers recovered more than 500
knives and drug paraphernalia in their first major cleanup of Pattaya Remand
Prison in eight years.
Fifty Banglamung police officers, 200 Royal Marines from the Sattahip Naval
Base, a military dog unit, the Naval Ordnance Department and 74 Department
of Corrections officials stormed the overcrowded Nong Plalai facility Sept.
28, looking for weapons, drugs and mobile phones.
 A
prison official holds up some of the weapons found inside the prison.
Banglamung Major General Tanet Pinmuang-Ngahm ordered the crackdown after
prison Warden Sanee Rattanajaroen said that during his first nine months on
the job he saw that rule enforcement at the jail had become lax. Prisoners
have not had to fear their cells getting tossed, en masse, for eight years.
Officers recovered more than 500 homemade knife-like weapons hidden in and
under cells and inside inmates’ personal items. No drugs were found, but
drug paraphernalia was.
Pattaya Remand currently houses 2,100 inmates - 1,832 men and 368 women - in
a facility built to house only 1,084 people. Most of the offenders are there
on drug and theft-related convictions, but are left largely free to wander
the facility.
Sanee said the cleanup showed just how badly the facility had deteriorated
and how understaffed it is. Only 74 guards are employed to oversee all the
inmates, making the ratio about 28 to 1.
That, he said, has led to haphazard enforcement of rules and allowed drugs
and weapons to proliferate.
Two Pattaya neighborhoods hailed for win in war on drugs
Local officials attended the
opening ceremony
for the new learning center in Krathing Lai community.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Two Pattaya neighborhoods are being called role models for the city
as a whole after winning a national award for making their communities drug
free.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn hailed the efforts of North Pattaya’s
Krathing Lai neighborhood and the Soi Gopai area to stamp out drug use and
presided over the opening of a new North Pattaya learning center to help
other neighborhoods do the same.
Both Soi Gopai and Krathing Lai were honored Sept. 21 by HRH Princess
Ubolratana Rajakanya and the Mother’s Foundation at Impact Arena in Bangkok
for their anti-drug work.
The new Krathing Lai learning center, the first of its kind on the Eastern
Seaboard, offers community leaders guidance on how to win the war on drugs.
It opened Sept. 30.
In the case of the two neighborhoods, they followed nine steps recommended
by the Office of Narcotics Control Board Region 2 to enhance community
safety. Efforts focused on peaceful methods of reducing people’s risk and
getting drug users into rehabilitation.
Krathing Lai is located in North Pattaya and is home to 271 households and
1,500 residents. Soi Gopai has a population of about 3,000 people and 730
households.
The Mother’s Foundation, founded by HM Queen Sirikit, has donated money to
the ONCB to assist volunteer programs aimed at reducing drug use.
200 receive training to care
for disabled family members
Parents and their physically
challenged children, along with city administrators and school officials
participated in the training project at the Pramaha Jetsadaratchao camp.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
About 150 families now are better prepared to take care of disabled
family members thanks to training provided by the Chonburi government and
the Redemptorist Vocational School.
The Sept. 24-25 workshop at the Pramaha Jetsadaratchao camp, near Sattahip,
saw nearly 200 people, mostly parents of disabled people, sit through
lectures and participate in activities aimed at improving their care-taking
skills.
Participants, many of them from the Royal Thai Navy, visited the
Redemptorist Foundation, studied culture and nature, cultivated networks of
parents and learned more about the challenges of caring for the disabled.
|
