Shocked in England

Dear Sir,
I was both shocked and appalled when I heard about the disgraceful fracas in a local greasy spoon cafe on Pattaya 2nd Road. Two grown men (one of them a decrepit old age pensioner) coming to blows over an argument about politics. Surely no sane person in this day and age could possibly feel so strongly about the merits of one government or the other, especially in England.
This type of behaviour only goes to illustrate how much the people of England have been totally brainwashed by the addle headed baboons that pass for MPs nowadays.
I understand that one of the protagonists was un-fortunately from Yorkshire, so it is perhaps more believable that the incident occurred in the first place, as it is a well known fact that many people from this beautiful county, such as the dunderhead mentioned, are notoriously narrow minded.
This unfortunate incident should serve as a reminder to other more sensible people who are under the mistaken impression that people of an advanced age, from such a backward county, can indulge in a sensible discussion. Not so!, as has been so vividly shown; the Neanderthal emerges and cannot see common sense. It has been proved countless times, one can tell a Yorkshireman a mile off, but close up, one can tell him absolutely bugger all.
As a well known saying goes, “Fists are the tools of fools” (as amply demonstrated by this incident), and we can only have sympathy for the poor chap who was so savagely attacked, and learn from this despicable episode.
Please keep up the good work with your splendid publi-cation, and I look forward to reading many more issues upon my return in September of this year.
Yours indignantly,
Major (Rtd) F. Dewhurst

Three cheers for the Thai navy!!!

Dear Sir,
As a participator in the environmental diving at Sattahip I would like to share with others the wonderful time enjoyed and comment on the hospitality and profes-sionalism of the Thai Navy who enabled the trip to be as successful as it was. Starting off early at 8:00 a.m., we set out with all our diving equipment, tools, concrete blocks, cutting shears, and cement mix, as well as loads of wonderful fried rice, chicken and fruit - as our work to be done was going to build up a healthy appetite!
Once at the site, we split up into groups of twos, donned our gear and after much hopping from big boat to small and passing aboard all the gear, we received our instructions of the work to be accomplished. In order to protect our environment of exquisite sea life, we were to assist in moving a coral reef. As an experienced diver, this idea was still a strange one, but the wonderful thing in life is that we learn new things every day, and so my knowledge was about to be expanded. As divers we learn not to rob the sea of it’s richness of nature and leave things in tact as we find them instead of taking home souvenirs and damaging sea growth that takes hundreds of years to grow. Our task had to be completed in a fast, efficient manner in order to ensure the time spent in the air of the coral was as short as possible. Due to an expansion of the navy base, and the desire to save the nature that would have to be destroyed therefore, we had to cut, replant and transport to a new birth place the floral garden of the sea.
Our cutting team, armed with heavy garden shears and scuba equipment, began to cut decent enough size pieces of coral to replant. Diving knives tend to destroy the coral but the heavy shears did the trick and team two, the collectors, using only snorkel, mask & fins, collected the cut coral, carefully arranging it into a basket for team three to transport back to the small boat. That was a job and a half, heaving the basket onto the boat! The coral was then immediately placed into buckets of water for it’s short preservation on the surface whilst 3 teams of two kept busy mixing cement and planting each piece of coral individually into little cement pots and cement blocks which had been pre-prepared by the navy. The freshly mixed cement dried quickly and enabled the speedy return of our replanted coral back to the sea, where the collecting team with much effort carried the lead heavy cement coral gardens off to their new home. After one week, the coral begins to re-grow and in time the cement blocks will be covered by thriving sea life.
After a busy morning, our group of 20 people tucked into that wonderful Thai food, regained our energy and whilst munching away on fruit and basking in the sun, enjoyed our boat trip to our well earned free-dive site. It was a wonderful quiet island, where the clear green water & silky white sand welcomed us. Free of any other boats or jet skis, we completed our drift dive into the current and our understanding of the Thai navy’s wish to protect the environment became very clear as we swam between one of the richest and most colourful active coral reefs, abundant with sea life, that I have seen during my diving time in Thailand.
I think a cheer should go out to the Thai navy who made us feel most welcome on board and treated us with the utmost respect and politeness. Also respect to them for their ideals & concern for protecting the wonderful world we live in. Looking after the environment begins with oneself. If we all individually care, it makes the chain of caring a large one. Let us all take care so that our future generations also have the chance to see and experience what we do. The world is here for us to share and only if we put “it” before ourselves can we ensure that it’s beauty will still be here for our children’s children.
Robyn Goodman

Defending children’s rights

Dear Sir,
Part of the reason for the very existence of organisations such as the Coalition to Fight Against Child Exploitation, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism) and CPCR (Centre of the Protection of Children’s Rights) is that the Thai police historically have not been able to provide satisfactory protection for children and often do not even know the law in relation to child abuse. Police for various reasons have a history of releasing foreigners held for offences against childen for cash payments. Others have been accused of selling children themselves.
If people suspect child sexual abuse is going on they can report it to these organisations. This is not ‘McCarthyism’.
Your correspondent, assuming the title Sir Lance, still does not get it. Quite clearly if he had good grounds to believe a child was being sexually abused by an adult he would consider it an “Orwellian” act to report this matter to the people who care.
The fact that three young girls died trapped in a brothel in Phuket is quite appalling. But it is quite irrelevant to this issue unless ‘Lance’, a farang, is suggesting, “Well they’re getting away with murder, why can’t we?”
As for the young girls selling Chiclets and flowers at night, yes I have heard about them. The member of Phuket Child-Watch, the same person who voiced his concerns about James Fraser-Darling, is currently running schools for these kids in Patong and, yes, the children are in danger of being abused, which is all the more reason for giving them some sort of protection. The majority of them do not have parents. In Phuket few of them are actually Thai.
Finally, I cannot see the connection between Thai litter laws and the Fraser-Darling child abuse case in Phuket, but I sense Lance may be suffering from a persecution complex.
Anyone who believes a child is being abused, and is not sure what to do, should contact FACE, Tel: (02) 5095782 or (01) 4926244.
P.S. With reference to “Media Lies about Pattaya” in your last issue, your correspondent R. Pedersen claimed that a European newspaper made up a story about Pattaya under the odd headline “The biggest brothel in the world”. If he could provide the Pattaya Mail or myself with more details of the report, i.e. the name of the newspaper and country in which it was published and date of publication, or anything to go on, I would be happy to see the matter raised by the Ethics Committe of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Going on Mr. Pedersen’s name only I have checked the Scandinavian newspapers and the Internet but cannot find it.
Yours Sincerely,
Andrew Drummond

Shocked in England

Three cheers for the Thai navy!!!

Defending children’s rights