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Kingdom celebrates Chulalongkorn Day
Fond memories of HM King Chulalongkorn the Great
Today, Friday, October 23, the Kingdom of Thailand
observes Chulalongkorn Day. It is a national holiday, and as such, all banks
and most offices will be closed for the day.
His Majesty King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) was born in 1853, the son
of His Majesty King Mongkut (Rama IV) and Her Majesty Queen Thep Sirinthorn.
In 1868, He was given the title Duke ‘Meun Phikhartnaresueansurasangkas.’
 HM
King Chulalongkorn the Great.
HM King Chulalongkorn ascended the throne in 1868, with the title ‘Phrabat
Somdej Phra Paraminthra Maha Chulalongkorn Bodinthorn Thep Phaya Maha
Mongkut Burutsaya Ratanaraj Rawiwong Warut-tapong Saboripatara Wora
Khatiyaraj Nikarodom Jaturatana Borom Maha Chakarapaddiraj Sangart
Boromtammika Maha Raja Thiraj Boromanat Bopitara Phra Chulachomklao Chao Yoo
Hua’.
His Majesty King Chulalongkorn lived with one purpose in his mind and heart:
the happiness and well-being of the Siamese people. His Majesty would often
dress as a commoner and move among his people with only two or three
advisors. In this way, he could find out how his subjects really felt and
see what was happening in his Kingdom.
There is one famous story of His Majesty and two counselors who, after a
hard day’s travel, stopped at a farmer’s house to ask for a drink of water.
Rural hospitality being a hallmark of Thai people, the family asked the
three strangers to stay and have food with them. Speaking freely, the farmer
and his wife told the strangers of how their life was progressing and what
they would like to see done for their village by the ‘Great King who lives
in the Palace in Bangkok.’ The farmer’s son noticed that one of the
strangers looked familiar. He went and looked at a daguerreotype the family
had of the King. Running back to the group, the family learned that they
were serving food to the ‘Lord of Life’ in Siam. HM King Chulalongkorn the
Great did this often and thus became ‘in touch’ with the needs of the
Siamese people.
Another story of the great love and respect happened in 1893. The territory
hungry French had formulated a plan to take the Siamese territory of Laos
and certain valuable territories on the Eastern Seaboard which produced
precious rubies and sapphires.
In a carefully formulated plan, a French warship entered the Chao Phraya
River. It was required by international law that all foreign ships fly their
colors when entering the waters of another sovereign country. The French
deliberately did not do this. When hailed by the river guard to fly their
colors, the French ignored the guard. The guard fired a warning shot over
the French ship’s bow.
The French Embassy in Bangkok was prepared in advance to carry out the plan.
Bringing a letter sent from France months before the incident, it stated
that Siam had performed an act of aggression on the French and must pay huge
reparations.
The French were not prepared for what happened next. Hearing of the huge
demands, Siamese both wealthy and poor brought cartloads of jewels, precious
metals and every valuable possible to the Royal Palace and offered it to His
Majesty to keep the French out of Siam.
The French had not imagined that Siam was so wealthy and the people so
devoted to their King.
Siam was able to pay the reparations but the French, deciding this was not
enough, took all Siamese territory east of the Mekong River.
His Majesty King Chulalongkorn was wise, knowing that Siam could not resist
the French and British and held the motto of ‘giving up some so as not to
lose all.’
Siam lost over 160,000 sq. kilometers of territory to the French and
British.
His Majesty King Chulalongkorn was the first Siamese monarch to visit the
West. He believed in adopting all things good from the West while Siam kept
its culture. The wise King Chulalongkorn made Russia a strong ally of Siam
to counteract the British and French influence in SE Asia. He followed the
Chinese concept of ‘have strong allies but make sure their borders are far
away.’
Many of the Royal Princes were sent to study in Russia. In His letters to
His sons, HM King Chulalongkorn wisely warned them ‘do not feel that you are
important because you are a prince. In Siam, there are many princes, whereas
in Russia there are few. Do the best you can at your studies and that is
enough.’
HM King Chulalongkorn’s most noteworthy achievement in Siam was the
abolition of slavery. He did not do this in a haphazard manner as it was
done in other countries. He devised a complex method of ‘freeing’ slaves so
that older ones would not be left in poverty with no place to live. Younger
slaves were to be released by ‘stages’, responsibility falling to the owner
to see that they had a way of supporting themselves.
His Majesty King Chulalongkorn the Great is beloved of Thai people and
considered a truly ‘enlightened’ ruler among historians. His Majesty died on
October 23, 1910, after the second longest reign in the history of the Thai
nation.
He is remembered and loved by the Thai people and the date of his death is
commemorated every year. Ceremonies are held, offerings are made to his
memory and the entire student body from the university that bears his name
perform obeisance before his statue.
Locally, city officials, people from the business community, members from
local charitable organizations, the private sector and many local residents
held ceremonies in the morning at the Chulalongkorn monument in front of the
Banglamung district offices to celebrate this Remembrance Day for King Rama
V, all paying homage to one of the greatest and most highly revered Kings of
Thailand. Each organization and institute will present wreaths to the King
Rama V statue.
Would that all countries were so lucky to have one such enlightened ruler in
their collective histories.
Mayor proposes pumping
polluted storm runoff into sea again to solve flooding problem
Workers fight a losing battle
against the floods on the 2nd Road side of the new Central Festival. (Photo
by Theerarak Suthatiwong)
Boonlua Chatree and Theerarak Suthatiwong
With Pattaya severely flooded for the second time in a week, Mayor
Itthiphol Kunplome has proposed digging a new underground storm drain that
would again pipe polluted storm runoff water directly into the ocean, rather
than continue to treat it first.
The mayor deemed the environmental step backward necessary to prevent the
type of flooding that again threw the city into waterlogged gridlock Oct. 16
when more than two hours of torrential rain caused such severe flooding that
Second Road and other areas were still impassable three hours after skies
cleared.
Itthiphol said currently the city relies on the Sanitation Department to
keep storm drains clear of dirt and the multitude of waste products street
vendors and others dump into them. With meter-deep rivers blocking major
thoroughfares, that clearly isn’t working, he said. So the city Engineering
and Health departments will join the effort to combat floods.
Engineers will step up monitoring of road surfaces and protect city
buildings from flooding while the Health Department will attend to
infections and water-borne illness spread by the dirty rainwater.
However, the only true long-term solution, he said, is a new drainpipe to
take the runoff directly into Pattaya Bay, which has taken years to even
partially recover from years of directly pumping sewage and runoff into the
sea.
In a nod to environmental concerns, the mayor said wastewater from
residences and businesses would continue to be pumped first to the city’s
water-treatment plant. But the sheer quantity of rainwater generated by
rainy season downpours overwhelms the current system of pumping all
wastewater and storm runoff to the treatment facility, he said.
That was clearly evident after the latest storm when Second Road drains
between South and Central Roads handled only trickles of water, with the
rest washing over sidewalks and threatening to submerge the first level of
the city’s prized Central Festival Pattaya Beach shopping mall. Security
officers scrambled to block doors with sandbags and diverted what customers
there were to the Beach Road entrance.
Traffic remained in gridlock more than two hours after the rain ended with
tourists simply getting out of taxis in the middle of the street and wading
on foot to their destinations. Motorbikes were unable to proceed further
north than The Avenue galleria and detoured through the mall’s parking lot
up to Soi Buakhao which was practically dry. Likewise, north of Central Road
the street was clear.
Similar flooding also hampered Third Road, with a meter of water pooling in
front of the Mum Aroi restaurant, enraging many drivers and pedestrians.
Navy mobilizes to protect leaders at Oct. 23-25 ASEAN Summit
In a show of force, a Navy
helicopter swoops low over the beach. The Royal Thai Navy has deployed units
from Sattahip to Hua Hin to help keep disruptive demonstrators away from the
upcoming ASEAN summit there.
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy has deployed four marine and one aviation unit
to protect foreign leaders and ensure that the rescheduled Association of
Southeast Nations summit in two Phetchaburi Province districts goes off
without disruption from anti-government protestors.
The government invoked the Internal Security Act on the Cha-am and Hua Hin
districts in Prachuap Khiri Khan from Oct. 12-27. The strict law gives the
government broad powers to put down any violent protests. More than 18,000
police and military personnel have been sent to the seaside towns to ensure
a repeat of April’s failed summit in Pattaya doesn’t occur.
As part of its deployment, the Navy has set up special units for security
operations, maritime security, naval fighting and support. The units will
handle security for events, hotels and dignitaries and guard against
violence and terrorism. Navy units will also help shuttle VIPs to the
meetings.
In preparation for the meetings, fishing boats have been registered and all
vessels in the area have been put into a database with vessels given
stickers to prove they are allowed to be in the area. Patrol units have been
assigned to guard the coastline out to 12 nautical miles. No vessels will be
allowed within three miles of the venues. Anyone found trespassing in the
security zone will be arrested.
Heads of state and governments from around the Asia-Pacific region will
attend the three day meetings that could lead to far-reaching changes in the
economic, social, educational and environmental fabric of the region. The
15th ASEAN Summit will see leaders set in place the legal, financial, and
structural framework for the realization of a single ASEAN Community by
2015, inaugurate the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights,
adopt a declaration on climate change and a declaration on education
cooperation.
Chonburi official calls on Pattaya to fix storm-drainage woes
Revat Phonlookin points to
flood damage sustained at his residence Oct. 12.
Theerarak Suthatiwong
A top Chonburi politician received a first-hand understanding of
Pattaya’s storm-drainage problems when last week’s heavy flooding swamped
his Naklua home, causing 100,000 baht damage.
Revat Phonlookin, deputy chief executive officer for the Chonburi Provincial
Administration Organization, called on Pattaya city leaders to address
issues with the drainage system as many others were also impacted by the
Oct. 12 storm and severe flooding.
Revat said drainage on Soi Nong Yai had worked perfectly before, but those
storms were much smaller than the two hours of torrential rain that led to
his house being flooded with a meter of water.
He had been at a funeral at Wat Pong when the downpour hit and by the time
he got home he had to climb through a window to get in his house as the door
had swollen and would not open. Once inside he scrambled to recover what
home electronics and appliances he could, but some were already ruined. The
house also suffered structural damage.
Pattaya City Council member Farooq Wongborisuthi said drainage on Soi Nong
Yai has been improved twice so if it is not working now, there’s some other
issue at play that needs to be investigated.
Pattaya officers mark Police Day with blessings, promotions
Pol. Col. Sarayut
Sanguanpokai (left), superintendent at the Pattaya Police Station,
promotes a female Police Sergeant Major to Senior Sergeant Major.
Phasakorn Channgam
Pattaya Police marked this year’s National Police Day with
blessings from Buddhist monks and more than two dozen promotions.
Nine monks blessed the Pattaya Police Station and its officers on the
Oct. 13 occasion. Afterward, station Superintendent Pol. Col. Sarayut
Sanguanpokai handed out senior sergeant major titles to 25 officers and
distributed honorary certificates to 23 volunteer officers, boosting
their morale.
“(We) ask all of the officers and volunteer police to perform duties at
their full capabilities, gather to observe and solve all infractions for
creation of trust regarding life and property for the security for
tourists and the local people,” Sarayut said in his blessing speech.
“It’s believed that if all officers are united strictly for operations,
then it will reduce crime in Pattaya city very soon.”
This month marked 60 years since the Patrol Police Department and
Provincial Police Department were merged for “National Police Day,”
which was established during the King Rama VI era when the government
overhauled the police system to mirror its European counterparts.
One-third complete,
Pattaya Hospital construction
ahead of schedule
The new hospital is already
one-third complete, giving officials
the confidence to predict it will be finished on schedule.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Construction of Pattaya Hospital is progressing faster than planned
and building work on the 82-bed state hospital should be finished by October
2010.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay said Oct. 13 that construction is now a third
complete, giving officials confidence work will be finished by the Oct. 9,
2010 target date. The foundation for the 177.1 million baht hospital was
laid in April on a seven-rai plot next to Pattaya Public Health Center and
officials hadn’t anticipated the five-storey structure would be this far
along by now.
Completed construction doesn’t mean the new facility will open next year,
however. Interior design of the building, installation of equipment and
staff training will push its opening back until the end of 2011, Verawat
said. The city has already begun building a staff, sending six physicians to
study abroad.
As a state hospital, it will offer free primary health services for people
with state insurance and the lowest prices for tourists, the deputy mayor
said.
Pattaya pushes for telephone cables to be moved underground by Nov. 1
Phasakorn Channgam
Pattaya officials are still trying to get utility companies to
remove their unsightly tangles of power and telephone wires from poles along
Beach Road.
 Unsightly
cables still abound in most parts of Pattaya Beach Road, despite the city’s
efforts to have them removed.
The project to move the cables underground began years ago with the
months-long digging up of the beachfront, yet only some of the power poles
at the far north end of the Beach Road so far have been removed. At an Oct.
14 meeting with electric and telephone companies, Deputy Mayor Verawat
Khakhay urged the utilities to come up with a plan to work together to
finally finish the job by the end of October.
Leading the latest push is the Provincial Electricity Authority, which is
the only utility to have removed its wires from all poles between the
Dolphin Roundabout and the intersection of South and Second roads. It also
took out power poles from the roundabout to Soi 3, but can’t remove any more
because of telephone and closed-circuit television camera lines still
hanging.
PEA officials told utility executives at the meeting it wants to start
removing its power poles Nov. 1 and urged TT&T Public Co. Ltd., CAT Telecom
Public Co. Ltd. and TOT Public Co. Ltd. to come up with a plan to move their
wires underground at the same time.
PEA Assistant Director Samnao Bunkaewwan said the lack of coordination
between companies is a principle reason why the project has been so hard to
complete. But now that the PEA has created an underground channel for its
cables, he urged the telephone companies to use it as well this month.
City orders 12 buildings demolished for obstructing drainage canal
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Pattaya has ordered the owners of 12 buildings illegally built along
the South Pattaya Canal to tear down their structures within seven days
because they are polluting and obstructing a vital storm-water drainage
channel.
 Deputy
Mayor Verawat Khakhay leads the Engineering Department to inspect the
canal’s edge in South Pattaya.
Just one of several frantic steps officials are taking to ease public anger
over severe flooding this month, the demolition order was actually made more
than a year ago, but not enforced. After the city was thrown into
waterlogged gridlock for the second time in a week Oct. 16, Deputy Mayor
Verawat Khakhay led inspectors and reporters to the 2-meter wide canal off
Pratamnak Road in South Pattaya that directs runoff into the ocean.
Verawat showed off the many private buildings that have been built
immediately adjacent to the canal on cement and wooden foundations. This has
lead to plastic and soil filling up the channel, obstructing the flow of
rainwater.
The city Land Office will inspect the entire area and document where
building owners have exceeded their property lines. They will again then be
ordered to demolish their buildings, just as they were in July 2008. Then,
however, the order was ignored and the city did nothing to enforce it.
Verawat said that would not be the case this time. If within a week building
owners do not comply, the city itself will tear down the structures, as
cleaning all the city’s drainage system is now an urgent priority.
Corpse dressed like tourist
found floating off Samae San
Patcharapol Panrak
Navy authorities have finally recovered the body of a man who likely
fell into the ocean and drown while urinating. An earlier search failed to
locate the corpse.
 Patrol
Boat 11 with five Navy crew and rescuers from Sawang Rojjanathammasathan
search for the floating body.
Patrol Boat 11 with five Navy crew and rescuers from Sawang
Rojjanathammasathan had searched for two hours Oct. 13 in the Hin Lakbed
channel area four nautical miles off Samae San, but despite the report from
29-year-old fisherman Santi Emsiri that he saw a body dressed like a
tourist, nothing was found.
Four more fishing boats discovered the body again the next day just one mile
offshore and surrounded it to be sure it wouldn’t float away again before
the Navy arrived. Along with Sawang Rojanadhamsathan rescuers, they took the
dead man to Sattahip Hospital for examination.
The man was dressed in blue jeans, black t-shirt, and Converse running
shoes. The zipper on his pants was open and his genitals were hanging out.
The body was badly swollen and authorities couldn’t immediately determine is
identity or nationality, but estimated he’d been dead about three days.
Sattahip Police Lt. Pitichon Terdkiatkornkul said the man’s clothes
indicated he likely fell into the sea while urinating and then drowned.
Adm. Achawa Kaewprasertsom, commander of Patrol Boat 11, said the Navy crew
had searched a 1-mile radius after the initial report, but a strong incoming
current had taken it away. The fisherman who initially reported it said he
didn’t retrieve the body himself because he was too scared.
More Russians arrested
on credit card fraud charges
Boonlua Chatree
For the second time in less than a month, police have arrested
Russians for using forged credit cards to withdraw money in Pattaya.
 Oleg
Yanchogl and Vitaly Pavlov were taken into custody Oct. 14 for allegedly
using forged credit cards to withdraw cash.
Oleg Yanchogl, 29, and Vitaly Pavlov, 23, were taken into custody Oct. 14 in
a parking lot opposite Pan Pan Restaurant on Thappraya Road. Officers seized
six fake cards from various Thai banks, two counterfeit passports, 21
cash-advance receipts, card-making equipment and 700,000 baht cash. Police
also confiscated a laptop computer, mobile phone, wallets and their bronze
Toyota Camry.
Pattaya Tourist Police Inspector Lt. Col. Suwan Aoun-Anan said the men were
reported by a teller at a Soi 8 Siam Commercial Bank currency-exchange booth
after the two advanced 40,000 baht and quickly fled. Only once they were
gone did the teller discover the card was forged. She gave police a
description of the car, which they used to track down the culprits.
The arrest is the latest in a Tourist Police crackdown on foreign credit
fraud rings. Late last month a 21-year-old Russian was caught trying to
advance 30,000 baht from two fake credit cards at an SCB booth in Naklua.
Chonburi police seek identity
of foreigner killed, burned
Boonlua Chatree
Chonburi police are trying to identify a foreign man whose body was
found burning on a stack of tires on a sugar plantation.
 An
artist’s sketch of the victim. Anyone recognizing the person depicted here
is asked to contact police at 081-909-8109, or 081-637-4092, or your local
police.
Lt. Col. Chonapat Nawalak gave a sketch of the victim to Pattaya police Oct.
13 and, with Pattaya officers, questioned tourists and workers at many of
the city’s bars, restaurants and hotels. Chonburi investigators are assuming
the man was killed by foreign mafia, and the heinous nature of the killing
prompted Chonburi Police Chief Maj. Gen. Tanet Pin-ngammuang to order
officers to quickly identify the victim and find his killers.
Seeing flames, Tadthong villagers discovered the smoldering corpse Oct. 7.
They extinguished the fire and called police to the sugar plantation on a
gravel road off Soi Tesaban Tadthong 2 near Nernmok-Thabrang Road. There a
dead man, around age 30 and 175 cm tall, was propped up on five tires used
as fuel to incinerate the body. Seven obvious killing blows to the head were
found. He wasn’t carrying any identification.
Anyone recognizing the deceased can contact 081-909-8109, or 081-637-4092 or
local police.
Fire, but no injuries,
after lightning strike
Neighbors rushed to the aid of
the shaken family.
Boonlua Chatree
Lights exploded and a small fire broke out, but no one was injured
when a bolt of lightning zapped a Pattaya home Oct. 6.
Fire extinguishers in hand, neighbors rushed to help the family inside the
Soi Chaiyapruk 2 house when five fluorescent ceiling lamps exploded and
began burning.
When fire fighters arrived they cut the power and checked for other damage,
finding only one more broken lamp.
Resident Pitchayanan Ploedpring said she’d been sitting with her nieces and
nephews on the sofa while sick relative Amporn Ploedpring, 65, was in his
wheelchair in the bedroom. When the lightning hit, the lamps exploded with a
loud bang, showering glass all over the floor.
Luckily, she said, they’d been sitting on the couch with their feet up.
Burmese men sold to
Samae San fishing boat rescued; traffickers arrested
Patcharapol Panrak
Police have arrested a Sattahip couple who sold two Burmese men to a
local fishing boat where conditions were so bad the pair jumped overboard
and floated on a plastic tank until being rescued.
 The
Burmese men, clinging for their lives to plastic drums, were rescued by
workers on the Mermaid Supporter.
The couple, identified only as “Abaka Yaba” and “Kinchoey,” were described
by Sattahip Police as human traffickers from Myanmar. They were taken into
custody from inside their house in Samae San.
Miang Kunai, 21, and “Soleng,” 18, allegedly were hired three months ago to
work in a Thai construction site, but were instead taken to Chokratanapreeda
Pier where they were sold to the captain of an unnamed fishing boat.
The pair told Royal Thai Navy investigators they worked long hours, were not
paid and were locked in a cabin when not working. They were injured on the
job twice and, fearing for their lives, finally jumped overboard with only a
plastic tank to keep them afloat.
Luckily they were spotted by a freighter captain who radioed Choowong
Samanpan, captain of the Mermaid Supporter who plucked the Burmese pair from
the sea about 35 nautical miles from land out in the Gulf of Thailand.
Choowong could not communicate with the men, but gave them food, water and
clothing. They had to stay on board, however, until the ship reached a
squid-rigging platform in the southern Gulf of Thailand where the captain
contacted the Navy, which retrieved the men.
Billboard with Hitler causes diplomatic flap
A billboard showing Adolf
Hitler saluting was erected in the middle
of a highway in Pattaya. The Thai language on the billboard said,
“Hitler is not dead”. The billboard has been covered up after complaints
from the Israeli and German ambassadors, the museum’s manager said.
(Pattaya Mail Photo/ Phasakorn Channgam)
Ambika Ahuja
Bangkok (AP) - A highway billboard using a saluting Adolf
Hitler to advertise a Thai wax museum has been covered up after complaints
from the Israeli and German ambassadors, the museum’s manager said Sunday.
“The idea came from a creative (advertising) agency, and we did not mean to
cause any offense,” said Somporn Naksuetrong, the manager of the Louis
Tussaud’s Waxworks Pattaya.
The billboard, which in Thai language said, “Hitler is not dead,” had been
up for several weeks on the main road from Bangkok to Pattaya and was meant
to promote the museum’s planned opening next month.
“We weren’t showing his image to celebrate him,” Somporn said in a telephone
interview. “We think he is an important historical figure, but in a horrible
way. We apologize for causing any offense which was not at all intended. We
did not realize it would make people so angry.”
The use of Nazi imagery does not stir the same emotional reaction in Asia as
in the West, and Thailand has had past instances where icons of the
genocidal German regime have been used for advertising and entertainment.
The Bangkok Post newspaper quoted German Ambassador Hanns Schumacher as
saying he told officials in Pattaya, “this kind of utterly tasteless
advertisement would hurt the feelings of many people” and asked that the
billboard be taken down.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Shoham also was quoted saying he requested the
same.
“It is totally unacceptable to have such a monster like Adolf Hitler on
public display,” he told the Post. “How this could happen is beyond my
understanding and comprehension.”
Neither diplomat could be reached Sunday for comment.
Two years ago, a Thai school apologized to an international Jewish human
rights organization for its sponsorship of a celebration that involved a
Nazi-themed parade for sports day. Photos from the event showed students
with swastikas on their baseball caps behind a large sign with “NAZI” in
shoulder-high letters.
In 1998, a commercial for potato chips depicted Hitler giving a Nazi salute
and then showed a woman who cast a spell on him as he ate the chips, hoping
to change his evil ways. A Nazi swastika morphed into the product logo as
the transformation was complete.
The ad campaign by the Thai office of the U.S.-based Leo Burnett agency was
ended shortly after it began.
Also, a “Nazi Bar” opened in downtown Bangkok in the late 1980s, featuring
photos of Nazi storm troopers and waiters wearing swastika armbands. The
bar’s manager said the theme had a “powerful, catchy and emotive appeal.”
The bar changed its name to “No Name Bar” after bad publicity in Thailand
and abroad.
The billboard is now covered.
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