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Joss sticks could lead to
cancer, HRH Princess
Chulabhorn tells doctors
HRH Princess Chulabhorn presents the opening speech at the
26th annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians of Thailand.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
HRH Princess Chulabhorn told a meeting of 2,500
physicians that burning joss sticks in temples and shrines could eventually
lead to cancer due to the materials inside the items used by worshipping
Buddhists.
Speaking to the annual meeting of the Royal College of
Physicians of Thailand April 29, the princess said a study by the Chulabhorn
Research Institute, which bears her name, focused on cancer risks from
exposure to air pollution. The study surveyed students, street vendors,
traffic police and even monks. The risks from air pollution even exist
inside temples, she said, due to the burning of the incense sticks, which
can contain carcinogenic substances.
The World Health Organization estimates more than 800,000
people a year die from cancer caused by air pollution. Developing countries,
with fewer controls and more burning of coal and other substances, face
increasing risks.
This year’s theme of the Royal College meeting, which ran
from April 2 to May 2 at the Ambassador City Hotel in Jomtien Beach, was
“harmonization in modern medicine” and was intended not only to allow
doctors to meet and exchange information, but improve relations between
royal college members and families.
It featured a technology lecture, group lecture,
practical application, experts meeting, patient seminar, research
presentation, pharmacology-research contest and a presentation of awards to
the best physicians.
Pattaya residents of all colors unite to celebrate Coronation Day
The grounds near city hall were full of people wearing
shirts
covering all hues of the rainbow, singing the Thai national
anthem as
the flag was lowered at the close of the day.
Staff reporters
Pattaya residents of all colors put aside their political
differences for a day to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the crowing of HM
King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Cognizant of political rallies at Pattaya City Hall by
supporters and opponents of the current government, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
organized a May 5 Coronation Day ceremony that invited people wearing any
color to join in.
At 6 p.m., the grounds were full of people wearing shirts
covering all hues of the rainbow. They stood, at least for this day,
side-by-side, singing the Thai national anthem as a huge Thai flag was
lowered from its mast as is customary at every closing of the day.
Ceremonies to pledge allegiance to the King were
performed by Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh as people lined up to place
offerings of gold and silver ornaments at the foot of a large portrait of HM
the King as a sign of fealty to the ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty.
One could see that even though the people had political
differences, deep in their hearts they had one thing in common: love and
respect for the father of the Thai nation for the past 60 years.
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great was crowned
as the Ninth Rama of the Chakri Dynasty on the 5th of May 1950. In His
speech to the nation on his birthday last year, His Majesty said, “My
happiness and prosperity will happen when the country flourishes and
stabilizes. The progress and stability will come true if everyone in the
nation discharges their duty with all their might and puts the common
interest before their own interest.”
We sincerely hope and pray that His Majesty’s wish comes
true very soon.
Long Live His Majesty the King!
Parents protest secondary class dissolution at Chonburi school
Angry parents gather in front of Chonburi’s Burapha
Wittaya School demanding to know why Mathayom 1 to 3 were suddenly dropped
from the curriculum.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
About 200 parents of students at Chonburi’s well known
Burapha Wittaya School are demanding answers why secondary school classes 1
to 3 were dissolved and the school’s director resigned.
Parents protested May 1, saying they were given no prior
notice that the classes would be canceled and that the reasons for it, as
well as the sudden resignation of school director Kachenthep Hannarong have
not been made clear.
The school is run under a management committee headed by
Boonchai Keeratiyutawong, a.k.a. Puyai Nim, who without reasons or prior
warning decided to completely stop teaching secondary school (Mathayom 1 to
3) in the school. This caused concern amongst parents and more especially
the students who are now left without any secondary classes to go to.
At the same time school director Kachenthep Hannarong
tendered in his resignation citing alleged mismanagement by the committee,
including unclear auditing. He said that the committee refused to make
improvements to the school and all his requests for more educational
enhancement materials were denied. He said that it was impossible to
maintain a proper standard of education for the children under these
circumstances.
Kachenthep has an impeccable record as a teacher and
administrator. He was instrumental in getting the school certified by the
Office of Standard and Quality Assessment (Public Organization) for basic
education in schools, so that they could expand the school by adding new
buildings to accommodate the secondary education classes, known in Thai as
Mathayom 1 to 3, into the educational system.
The school was opened 4 years ago and has enrolment of
over 1800 students. Initially the Chinese government had supported the
school financially, on the condition that the Chinese language is taught in
the school.
But as of last year they stopped their support because
the school now receives over 20 million baht a year from the Ministry of
Education to ensure that every child receives 15 years of free education.
Despite their protest, parents said they still have not
received satisfactory answers from the school management and plan to meet
again.
Homes damaged in Sattahip storm
A resident of one of the damaged homes points to the storm
damage in his roof.
Patcharapol Panrak
Two homes were damaged by strong winds from an April 28
storm that hit coastal villages in Sattahip.
The roofs of two houses in Coastal Community Village 1
were partially ripped away by squalls from the moderate storm. No one was
injured.
Sattahip Mayor Narong Bunbancherdsri and the Department
of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation surveyed the damaged and ordered the
Sattahip Work Division to assist in repairing the houses for fear its
residents would be hurt.
The Chonburi Meteorology Station said the storm actually
was not that strong. The two homes, whose residents feared might actually
collapse, simply may not have been sturdy enough to handle even moderate
winds.
Siam Commercial Bank slashes transfer fees until May 31
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh and SCB Eastern Region
Deputy Manager Preecha Kangwansinghanat, along with management and staff
announce the reduced transfer fees.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Home buyers still have time to take advantage of a
special promotion from Siam Commercial Bank, which all but eliminated
property-transfer fees until the end of the month.
Pattaya Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh joined SCB
Eastern Region Deputy Manager Preecha Kangwansinghanat at the bank’s
Second Road branch May 4 to publicize the promotion, which dropped the
usual 2 percent transfer fee to just 0.01 percent through May 31. The
bank also is offering home loans for 0.9 percent for the first nine
months.
Preecha said the fee cut complies with government
efforts to spur real estate sales. However, he noted, potential buyers
should move quickly as some loans can take two weeks or more to process.
Ronakit said Pattaya remains a good place to invest
in property as the city is continuing to develop and invest in
facilities and amenities.
He said the average price of a one-storey home is
running between 1.8 million and 2.5 million baht while two-storey homes
start at around 2.5 million baht.
Woman beats 2-term incumbent to win Kanthamat village chief post
Patcharapol Panrak
Residents of Sattahip’s Kanthamat community have elected
the sister of the abbot of the local temple as village chief, ousting an
unpopular two-term headsman.
La-Or Chanpen (right) has been elected village chief of
Sattahip’s Kanthamat community.
La-Or Chanpen, 47, beat 48-year-old Samroeng Duangsamruay
by more than 200 of the 2,689 votes cast in the election. The results were
announced May 5 by Sattahip District Chief Chaichan Iamcharoen.
La-Or, sister of Phra Silsarathikhun, abbot at Khao
Kanthamat Temple and the sub-district’s dean of monks, garnered 762 votes in
the contest marred by anti-female ridicule from the incumbent’s supporters,
with some saying the only way the woman would win is if she turned all the
voters to stone.
The attacks only exacerbated growing discontent among
villagers about the two-term chief’s job performance. Unwilling to let him
stay in office until mandatory retirement at age 60, the village voted for a
change in direction and gender.
Baywatch: Dangerous driving
on new Highway No. 7
Phasakorn Channgnam
Since the extension to Highway No. 7 opened in March,
motorists have enjoyed the shorter and more convenient route to the main
highway from Sukhumvit Road via the overpass between Central and North
Pattaya Road. This allowed them straight access to Chonburi or even further
to enter the motorway all the way into Bangkok.
But as drivers using this road will notice, there are
very few exits and entries to and from the nearby roads running through the
neighborhoods along the new extension.
The picture here shows an entry just under the
Chaiyapornvithee Road flyover, which is the road coming off Sukhumvit
Highway at Naklua. Chaiyapornvithee Road encircles Mabprachan reservoir.
Without access from the new extension to their local
roads, it seems that drivers coming from Sukhumvit Highway towards Bangkok
feel that they can just make a u-turn off the highway and drive in the
opposite direction down the one way entry ramp, much to the consternation
and shock of on-coming vehicles.
People in the area have raised fears with the police,
asking them to control this sort of irresponsible and dangerous driving and
say that they would not be surprised if one day someone is going to get hurt
or even killed.
Stopping this behavior is a must. One way to do this, and
probably the best, most viable and longest lasting solution would be to
build off ramps leading to at least a few of the more popular roads in the
area.
Chonburi ‘no color’ continue
their anti-red rallies
with Thaksin ‘funeral’ march
Members of the non-aligned “no-color” group hold
a mock
funeral for ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Chonburi members of the so-called “no color” movement
continued their counter-rallies to red-shirted anti-government
demonstrations by parading a coffin for former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra through the streets.
The April 30 procession at the King Rama V monument in
Chonburi came after false rumors that the fugitive leaders of the “red
shirts” had died of prostate cancer. They carried his supposed coffin and a
funeral wreath through Chonburi market to the city’s Town Hall where they
lit joss sticks in mocking devotion.
In the speeches that followed, members of the supposedly
non-aligned group backed by leaders of the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance
for Democracy railed against the red shirt demonstrations, saying they
violate the rights of Thailand’s citizenry. They urged the government to
disperse the protestors and restore peace.
Actor Ta Sattawat followed in leading a donation drive to
support families of soldiers killed in the Bangkok riots which have claimed
29 lives in total. The “no colors” then sang the national anthem and took a
moment to honor the fallen soldiers before ending their rally.
National leader of the ‘no colors’ rallies anti-red demonstrators in Pattaya
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Area members of the so-called “no color” movement opposed
to continuing “red shirt” protests in Bangkok continued their afternoon
rallies with about 500 people assembling in front of Pattaya City Hall May
7.
Dr. Tul Sithisomwong addresses the no color rally in
Pattaya.
The demonstrators, dressed mostly in pink, carried flags,
sang the national anthem and urged all sides in the two-month protest to
resolve their differences and bring peace to the nation.
The rally by Pattaya and Banglamung residents - the
second since April 22 - was led by Dr. Tul Sithisomwong, the leader of the
“no color” movement in Bangkok.
Dr. Tul’s visit was a surprise, and whilst on stage he
urged all sides to settle their differences peacefully and urged everyone
interested in peace to come out and join the no color rallies.
Tul said future rallies should be held in the afternoons between 4 p.m.
and 6 p.m.
Transvestite nabbed trying to steal from police to pay police
Boonlua Chatree
A Beach Road transvestite learned the hard way that if
you’re going to pick someone’s pocket, it’s probably best the victim is not
a police officer.
Pongsathorn Joomsilp (right) learned the hard way that if
you’re going to pick someone’s pocket, it’s probably best the victim is not
a police officer.
Senior Sgt. Maj. Adirek Chamnanchan, head of Crime
Suppression at the Pattaya Police Station, arrested 23-year-old Pongsathorn
Joomsilp at a Second Road beer bar May 2 after detecting the ladyboy’s hand
in his pocket.
Pongsathorn confessed he needed cash to pay for several
motorbike tickets but was unaware he was trying to take the money he owed
police from the police.
Adirek said he stopped in the bar near Mike Shopping Mall
to chat with a friend who had hailed him while he was on his way to work. At
the time, he was carrying 1,400 baht in his pocket.
Italian tourist drugged,
robbed by streetwalker
Boonlua Chatree
Yet another tourist who thought bringing a prostitute
back to a room full of cash and valuables was a good idea woke up from a
drug-induced nap to find all his belongings gone.
Police were called to an apartment complex in Central
Pattaya around 4:30 a.m. May 4 where Italian doctor Ziad Aian, 48, groggily
recounted how he’d picked up a streetwalker on Second Road and brought her
back to his place. There she gave him a beer and that’s all he remembers.
When he awoke he found that 700 euros, 500 baht, two
mobile phones, a digital camera, watch, and a 1-baht gold bracelet were
gone, a loss of more than 100,000 baht.
The officers checked the security camera recording and
got a good photo of the suspect. She is tall, around 25 years old with long
black hair. She was seen entering the lobby with the victim and then leaving
around 3:05 a.m. holding a plastic bag and acting suspiciously.
The Italian was taken to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya for
treatment and police are searching for the thief in the night.
DSI raids home of senior Pattaya police officer linked to
failed red shirt RPG attack
Boonlua Chatree
More than 20 Department of Special Investigations
officers seized documents and searched for evidence at the home of a senior
Pattaya Police officer linked to a failed rocket attack on the revered
Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok.
A Department of Special Investigations officer inspects
some paperwork outside the Naklua home of Lt. Col. Supachai Puikaewkam.
The raid on the Naklua home of Lt. Col. Supachai
Puikaewkam - whose wife is local “red shirt” anti-government protest leader
Jureeporn Sinthuprai - came early May 1, a day after another Pattaya officer
and a second man were arrested for launching two rocket-propelled grenades
at the temple on the grounds of the Royal Palace March 20 as part of an
alleged “red shirt” plan to incite public panic.
Arriving at the two-storey home with an “Issan Home
Legend” sign out front, investigators found only an elderly relative who’d
arrived just the night before and her two grandchildren. Jureeporn had
already fled. Investigators spent about 30 minutes inside the house, seizing
documents they took back with them to Bangkok.
DSI Director-General Tharit Pengdit told the media the
day before the raid that Supachai is alleged to have paid Pattaya Pol.
Lance-Corporal Bandit Sitthichum, 42, and getaway car driver Supanat Hulawet
500,000 baht to fire two grenades at the temple. One grenade missed and the
other failed to explode.
Both Bandit - said to have been the chauffeur for
Supachai’s wife and a participant in the Bangkok red shirt demonstrations -
and Supanat were still in custody in Bangkok this week on weapons offenses
and may be charged with terrorism, which carries the death penalty. Supachai,
meanwhile, remains free and on the job in Pattaya.
Pattaya Police Superintendent Col. Nantawut Suwanla-Ong
said he has set up an investigative committee to look into Supachai’s role
in the plot, but is waiting for orders from the Chonburi Provincial Police
how to proceed.
Police arrest 1 of 3 Iranians wanted in attack on Irishman
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Police have arrested one of three Iranian men wanted in
the April 26 beating and robbery of a Persian-Irish man who had broken up a
fight between a Thai woman and several Middle Eastern men at a South Pattaya
bar.
Ali Baghi is remanded to custody for his alleged
involvement in the stabbing and robbery of a Persian-Irish tourist.
Ali Baghi, 23, was taken into custody May 3 after police
tracked him down to an apartment on Soi Marine in South Pattaya. Authorities
are still searching for Ramin Rast Gar, 27, and another Iranian in his late
20s identified only as “Moteza.”
Reza Shiraz, 31, suffered stab wounds and other injuries
after being jumped by the Iranian gang members on Pratamnak Soi 6. He was
also robbed of about 1,500 euros and his motorbike.
The crime stemmed from a fight between a Thai woman and
several Middle Eastern men at the Arabian Beer Bar group near Soi Marina
Plaza and Pratamnak Road. Shiraz broke up the fight and offered to take the
woman to the hospital. However, en route, she received a phone call and
asked her rescuer to make a stop on Soi 6.
Pattaya Police are working with immigration officials to block the two
wanted men from leaving the country.
Disabled beggar
robs sympathetic tourist
Police help a Thai tourist find his clothes, wallet and
keys that he lost whilst being robbed by a disabled man and an accomplice.
Boonlua Chatree
A disabled Thai beggar who parlayed sympathy into robbery
stole jewelry from a Thai tourist near a shoreline walkway on Pratamnak
Hill.
The unnamed victim alerted authorities at a Tourist
Police box about 500 meters from the scene of the robbery early May 4. He
said he’d driven his motorbike to the walkway to get a better view of the
ocean. There he encountered a disabled Thai man who asked him for a handout.
When the victim went to give him some money, the beggar
pulled a knife and forced him into a dark area off the footpath where a
second man, around age 20, was waiting. There they took his watch and a gold
ring.
The victim, however, somehow managed to toss his wallet
and motorbike keys into nearby shrubbery where the robbers did not find
them. The thieves took off the victim’s clothes, tied him to a tree and
left.
The victim managed to free himself and report to police, who then help
him recover his clothes, wallet and keys.
Belgian loses 20 hours, 20,000 baht after illicit rendezvous
Boonlua Chatree
A Belgian man looking for a couple hours of fun with a
working girl instead took a 20-hour nap and that cost him 20,000 baht.
Herman Richard Janssens, 48, called police May 5 to
report he’d been robbed by a prostitute he took back to his room the night
before. He said he picked up the woman on Walking Street near a 7-Eleven and
took her and some beers to his apartment.
His new friend offered him a beer which, when he drank
it, knocked him out. Nearly a day later, he woke to find she’d stolen 20,000
baht and his clothes.
The woman’s image was caught on security cameras and,
combined with the victim’s description, the police will try and locate her.
Slithering soothsayer spared death by ‘predicting’
lucky lotto numbers
Boonlua Chatree
Present them with a big snake and Thais generally will
run from it; unless it gives out lucky lottery numbers, apparently.
Villagers converge on a local python, hoping to garner
winning numbers in the next lottery drawing.
Such is the case in Village No. 8 in the Tanman area.
There residents stumbled upon the nest of a large python in a wooded area
near the Saknok Reservoir.
Rather than kill the snake, some in the crowd who went to
see it asked the serpent for lucky numbers to bet on in the lottery. When
everyone who played the number 69 won, the slithering soothsayer was
elevated to god-like status.
Now villagers are going to visit the snake in the
molehill to pray, present it with flowers incense and candles and rub it
with powder from dawn until dusk in hopes they’ll be the next big winners.
Reports that the snake asked for a cut of the winnings in
return for being constantly pestered by superstitious locals remain
unconfirmed.
Lao ambassador leads delegation to inspect U-Tapao airport
Lao ambassador to
Thailand HE Ouan Phommachack (front right)
and his entourage inspect U-Tapao under the guidance
of U-Tapao Director Rear Adm. Surapong Aiyasanon (left).
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Direct air service between Pattaya and Laos took another
step toward reality with an inspection visit by the Lao ambassador to
Thailand, his family and executives from that country’s national airline.
Ambassador Ouan Phommachack arrived at U-Tapao Pattaya
International Airport May 5 with the visiting dignitaries after the first
chartered flight to the ancient Lao capital of Luang Prabang. They were
greeted by U-Tapao Director Rear Adm. Surapong Aiyasanon and Pattaya city
and business leaders.
The Lao delegation toured the small Sattahip airport and
heard a presentation on its planned 900 million baht expansion, which should
see additional routes added to popular tourist destinations, including
Chiang Mai, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Pattaya Business & Tourism Association President Jamroon
Vitsavachaipan said business owners have been pushing for some time for new
air links to Luang Prabang, a popular stop for backpackers and other
tourists, along with Angkor Wat and Chiang Mai. There already is direct air
service from Luang Prabang to the northern Thailand city.
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