“Floating Baht” seen as a boost for tourism

On July 2nd, the Ministry of the Treasury announced a break away from the 13 year old system of linking the baht to the US dollar, allowing it to “float” on the international currency exchange market.
The devaluation of the Thai Baht came as a recommendation from the Bank of Thailand with the following conditions:
1. The Thai Baht should be allowed to ‘float’ and its value not be fixed by the Ministry of the Treasury.
2. The Ministry of the Treasury will buy and sell foreign currencies to stabilise the value of the Thai Baht.
3. The Bank of Thailand will regularly post the value of the Thai Baht.
In the past, the Thai Baht has been a stable currency and the Bank of Thailand’s move is to allow the currency to ‘float’ on the world market so as not to create a false economy which could precipitate lack of confidence in the currency and lead to an economic collapse.
A middle level Pattaya businessman talked with the Pattaya Mail about the devaluation and its effects on tourism and the local economy: “I don’t see what all the ‘doom and gloom’ is about. This should benefit Pattaya in many ways. Anyone involved in the tourist trade stands to benefit from the devaluation as it makes Thailand a more attractive tourist destination.
“Of course, air tickets will be more expensive here, but foreign tourist agencies will find fares to Thailand have decreased. Hoteliers should also benefit, as tour companies will encourage clients to visit a less expensive Thailand. In fact, there should be an initial burst of tourist package sales as tour companies will be encouraged to ‘buy now’ at better foreign currency exchange rates, and therefore promote Thailand as an inexpensive tourist destination.”
One hotelier said that “When currency is devalued, the general public, not being economists, usually panic thinking they are ‘losing’ money. Most prices within the country will remain the same and the only things to really be affected are luxury items which are imported from abroad. People will also want to ‘buy Thai’ as food and other products originating in Thailand will be cheaper on the world market.”
One panicked citizen complained, “I hear that gold will cost 500 more per baht weight.” She looked puzzled when a gold shop owner told her that the gold she had was already worth 500 baht more per baht weight.
Although the move is seen as being beneficial for tourism, other repercussions from the move are not exactly promising. Computer companies, for instance, are facing an uncertain future, at least in the short term. Many local retailers have been able to offer high quality computer systems at low prices because they have been able to import quality parts at low prices and assemble the computer systems here. But due to the floating of the baht, the cost of those parts immediately rose, meaning the retailers will be unable to offer the same rates as in the recent past.
Consumers will also see differences at the gas pumps due to Thailand’s heavy reliance on imported oil. As soon as current stocks run out, which is predicted to happen sometime this week, expect a rise in prices which some economists predict to be as much as 10%.

Kingdom’s periodicals ink historic pact

On July 4th, at the Sirikit National Convention Centre, owners and administrators of more than 30 of Thailand’s national and regional newspapers signed a letter of intent to establish a ‘National Press Council’. Representatives from foreign publications in Thailand were also present, including the press sections of the American, Australian and Indian Embassies, along with members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand as witnesses to this historic event.
Mr. Sanam Sutto, President of the Thai Newspaper Association, outlined the purpose of the Council. He said the National Press Council would be a self governing body, which would support increased freedom of the press, also emphasising the responsibility which that incurred.
This would give members of the press added pride in their work and inculcate the need for honest reporting, with His Majesty the King as an example and inspiration of a selfless person who values honesty above all else.
The most important factor was to respond to the public’s desire for a press which controlled and monitored ethical journalism within the country in a democratic and independent fashion.
The National Press Council will also protect and aid citizens who have been damaged by the press and assist them in receiving justice and fair play. The Press Council will expedite this process and see that complaints are processed without the long string of bureaucratic red-tape which is the present situation.
After the signing, Somchet Watanathorn of the Daily News and a respected senior member of Thailand’s journalists, announced the names of the 300 signatories to the letter and confirmed that the media was enthusiastic and eager to begin a new era of journalistic freedom and self monitoring of ethics.
Dr. Somkhuan Kaweeya, one of Thailand’s leading media experts, commented that this was a milestone for world journalism as it had never happened in another country. No other country has a council of newspapers which is an independent self monitoring body.
This plan had been germinating since 1963 and had come to fruition on the day of the signing. There is now no need for laws governing what the press may print or not print as journalists, who act as society’s barometer usually have better knowledge of what is suitable than any law. He emphasised that both criminal and civil laws were not needed any more and that the new Draft Constitution had a clause that provided for a non-governmental agency to monitor the press. Dr. Somkhuan felt this was not acceptable.
Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrung of the Ministry of the Interior, who established the Media Monitoring Centre at Government House, said that the government had been planning an organisation such as the National Press Council for a long time. As the press had a large role in society, reporting must be monitored in a proper manner so that no ‘other’ people are caused problems.
The signatories represented the Bangkok Post, the Nation, Wattachak, Thai Rath, Daily News, Matichon, Ban Muang, Naew Na, Than Sethakij, Khu Kaeng, Manager, Siam Rath, Siam Sports, Thai Post, Thai Financial, Khao Sod, Krunghtep Thurakij, Sue Thurakij, Daily Times, Sai Klang, Thai News, Korat Daily, and Siri Nakorn, as well as Publishers and editors of five Chinese language newspapers, Sin Sien, Tong Hua, Sin Jong Ian, Asia News Time and Universal, who were absent from the signing ceremony.

Amazing Thailand, mysterious Pattaya

The giant Lieb tree on Sukhumvit Road in Bang Saree, believed to possess magical powers.

A strange and mysterious incident occurred on July 1st involving a giant Lieb tree on Sukhumvit Road in Bang Saree. This tree is 14 metres in diameter and over 32 metres high. Its age is estimated to be over 200 years. For many years villagers have believed this tree to be the home of the dryad (tree spirit) Chao Mae Phrae.
Shrines to the spirit have been kept under the tree for many years and the villagers regularly give offerings of water. Magic cloth is wound around the tree’s branches.
A citizen who was having financial problems decided to ask the tree spirit for assistance in obtaining winning lottery numbers. This is done by applying sacred powder and water to the tree’s surface. If it is one’s karma, a lottery number will appear beneath the powder.
On the evening of the ceremony, thousands of people other than the supplicant were at the holy place for the ceremony, as it could have been their karma to receive blessings from the spirit.
A trance medium, Ms. Malai Khonchantra, 35, was also there. Going into trance, the spirit of the Indian Goddess Chao Mae Uma Thewi entered her body. The number 573 appeared on the tree and some of the faithful bought this number. All won and the sum which lottery dealers had to pay out ran in to tens of millions of baht. One reporter from Channel 5 Television won a large sum of money.
On the following draw some days later, others who had been at the tree were big winners.
Not very happy with this, lottery dealers hired an arsonist to burn the tree. The tree was gutted at the bottom of the trunk, but will be able to regenerate itself.
Villagers are now guarding the tree day and night as they believe if any more harm is done to it, the spirit will take dire action against the village. No one is allowed to ask the dryad for lottery numbers.
This news made the first page of many Thai newspapers. Pattaya Mail reporters are not suggesting that people should blindly believe in ‘getting rich quick’ through help from the spirit world. Interfering with unknown things, be they tangible or intangible can cause more trouble than good. In the words of the Buddha ‘Don’t believe anything is true unless you have seen or heard it yourself.’ Even then, don’t believe it’s true until you have experienced it in your soul.’

Alleged British paedophile was “Emperor Nero”, but only interested in boy pearl divers’ culture

Andrew Drummond, Phuket
James Fraser Darling, the son of a famous Scottish naturalist, admitted after his arrest in Phuket over 18 months ago that he had sex with sea gypsy boys who splashed naked in the surf on the holiday resort island, the local court heard last week.
The 47 year old Repton educated public schoolboy who faces up to 40 years in jail on nine charges of indecency and nine charges of separating children from their parents with intent to have sex with them shook his head on the dock as a police appointed interpreter described his alleged confession.
“At the end of his interview with the police, I said to him ‘Did you take children of an age not over 15 from their parents to have sex?’ And he replied, “Yes”’, said interpreter Miss Surirat Saengkaew.
Fraser Darling, who says he is being made a scapegoat in an international campaign against paedophiles, claims he was studying the life of the “chao lae” sea gypsies who inhabit the island.
A colleague at the Prince of Songkla University, Phuket, Mr. Bruce Stanley, has described Fraser Darling as an eccentric and lonely man who often thought he was Emperor Nero re-incarnated, had earlier backed Fraser Darling’s claims.
In court he claimed that Fraser Darling was worried about the affect of tourism on the gypsy communities and that they might be driven from their beach side villages where they earned a living selling shells and diving for pearls.
James Fraser darling has denied being “J. Darling”, the author of an article published in a book found at his house which described Roman orgies with young boys.
Fraser Darling was remanded in custody after the case was adjourned because the defense were unable to find an interpreter. He declined the services of the non government organization “The Coalition to Fight Against Child Exploitation” which is monitoring the case along with Thai government officials who say they are concerned with Thailand’s reputation as a destination for paedophiles and sex tourists.

Sawang Phon Buddhist Society receives huge donation

 Kamol Ratrat and his wife Kaenchan donated 1,112,000 baht to the Sawang Phon Buddhist Society of Nong Mon, Chonburi, to be used for the society’s various charity projects. Seen accepting the money is Somchai Khunpleum, Mayor of Saensukh Municipality and Mr. Chalerm Masmahisak, the Head of the Sawang Phon Society. The money was presented at the society’s annual meeting.

Rayong joins amphetamine campaign

Mr. Suwann Phromna, the Head of the Ministry of Education’s Rayong office, told the public of a campaign to educate young people and schools under the ministry’s jurisdiction about the dangers of amphetamine use. This campaign will be nation-wide and at all levels of society. The program’s purpose is to quell the rise of the use of methamphetamine in schools, which is already at epidemic level.

South Pattaya “Service girl” overdoses on diazepam

On the evening of July 30th, police received an urgent call from a resident of a row of houses in Banglamung. The citizen reported that a woman was lying dead in a communal bathroom of the housing block.
Arriving on the scene, officers cleared the crowd of onlookers away and found the body of a woman known only as ‘A’. The woman had been wearing a gold necklace and a jade ring, which police confiscated as evidence.
In the crook of the body’s right arm, police found evidence of a hypodermic needle puncture. There were no signs of a struggle.
From questioning, police learned that the young woman worked at a bar near the Marine Disco. Residents said she had rented the room on a temporary basis.
Searching the area, police found a syringe and an ampoule of indictible Valium (diazepam). The woman had apparently miscalculated the dosage or had been attempting suicide when she performed the intravenous injection on herself. Neighbours heard her going into convulsions and rushed to help her, but could do nothing.
The woman’s body was sent to the forensic division for autopsy.

Land documents requested

The Royal Land Department of Rayong has announced that many people have been living in protected land and forest areas without permission. As it is very difficult to determine which documents are real and which are not, the Provincial Land Authority has asked all people living in these areas to send all documents and evidence to the department for inspection. This will enable officials to validate true claims to the land and help them deal with those whose documents are false.

Dusit hosts 39th NMLT conference

Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong presided at the opening ceremony and press conference of the 39th Annual National Municipal League of Thailand (NMLT) which was organized by six municipalities in the area of Eastern Region at Napalai Ballroom of the Dusit Resort Pattaya. The participants were over 145 mayors of municipalities.

Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong (front row), Chonburi Governor Sujarit Patchimnun (second row second left), Somchai Khunpluem Mayor of Saensak Municipality (second row third left), and Arjharn Siripool President of NMLT (second row right) were among the participants of the 39th NMLT conference.

Thousands scramble to see new “Walking Street”

Observed by Jay Patterson

The Mayor of Pattaya and administrators, along with the District Chief of Banglamung, presided over the official opening of the ‘walking street’ along the ‘Golden Mile’ in South Pattaya last week.
As a Thai shaman, who had been invited to officially name the ‘walking street’, finished the ceremony at 8 p.m., residents fled in terror as the road reared up and began its first walk.
‘Send it to Tokyo!’, shrieked one woman. ‘Godzilla will take care of the monster!’
Officials and residents dived into go-go bars for shelter, as the beleaguered road shook off its numerous burdens. Cigarette vendors and packets of black market Marlboros went tumbling and the night was illuminated with the blaze of fake jewels cascading from street stalls to the ground.
City officials looked accusingly at the shaman.
‘Do you have to be so literal about everything?’
‘Show Off!’
‘Yeah! Stick to spirit houses.’
‘Aawww!’ exclaimed tourists, as a shimmering shower of fake Rolex watches hit the earth. ‘They kept so much better time than the real ones!’ wailed a young foreigner.
Two unsuspecting visitors, smoking strange looking cigarettes looked on, glassy-eyed. ‘Too high, man! This is better than that movie, Independence Day.’
‘Anything would be better than that movie,’ the other replied.
The serpentine thoroughfare, escaping from South Pattaya, was to have become a ‘night plaza’, where streetwalkers could stroll unmolested. It was hoped that tourists would take in the marvellous view, buy bargain priced goodies or seek pleasure in the various entertainment venues.
People could take evening constitutionals along the street, which began at the South Pattaya Junction and ended at the Nang Nual restaurant. Government enterprises and government business agencies were meticulously ironing out any little glitches which may have occurred during the ‘walking street’s’ infancy. Pickpockets were taking refresher courses and honing their skills, as escape would be much easier. Not having to run in between motor vehicles, they could relieve tourists of their valuables and disappear into the labyrinth of sois and alleys on either side of the street.
Locals ran after the rampaging leviathan, begging it for lottery numbers.
Merchants watched with delight as the road slinked north. The business community was worried, as many people do not enjoy walking and would not enter the street. The lifetime dream of most Thai people is to own a motorcar, and this street would have cut off any opportunities for showing off recently acquired BMWs with red licence tags.
A helpful man, just in from the Bhagwan’s Ashram in India, told locals if they sacrificed a virgin, the road might return. He looked puzzled as residents muttered the words ‘virgin’ and ‘Pattaya’, collapsing into gales of merry laughter.
Even though the city was going to provide space for parking, people were concerned that a large clump of parked cars would have been a fairyland for thieves. The city was trying to allay these fears, announcing that two burly guards would be stationed at the parking area. The moment they saw a robbery in progress, they would drop their comic books and run directly to the police station.
Other worries were that there were no special attractions for tourists, such as atmospheric lighting, special food promotions or shows of any kind, other than the ubiquitous fist fights. Watching pedestrians frantically dodging speeding motorcycles would no longer be a part of the scene.
City administrators countered this, saying that tourists could now sit and watch the groups of locals who are always sitting around watching the tourists.
Business operators spoke with one voice that they have no faith in Pattaya’s administrators.
One Indian tailor gave this highly salient explanation as the haunted road galumphed off toward Sri-Racha like a caterpillar from Jurassic Park. ‘My customers usually reeled off mini-buses and lurched into my shop in the evening and were quite sozzled. They never bargained.’
‘Ordering 2 dozen “Chinese Silk” kimonos with patterns of giant pink Chrysanthemums, they would arrange to pick them up the next evening and stagger out. When they came to collect the things, they were snockered again and no wiser.’
‘Now, they would have to be sober to walk the distance to my shop. What am I to do with a bunch of sober tourists?’ the man asked plaintively.
Many residents of the city complained that they don’t know of projects or events until they have happened or find out about them after they are finished. Locals feel that notice should be given 1 year in advance for any projects such as the ‘walking street.’
‘If we knew this was going to happen, we could have sold tickets to “new-age” freaks’, observed one canny astrologer.
Reporters have noticed sparse numbers of tourists and few customers at the establishments along the former thoroughfare from 21:00 hrs. - 24:00 hrs.
Instead, visitors have all been following the street’s northward progress, believing that it’s headed to the area where the ‘universal resonance’ will occur.
Some psychics say the road has been ‘channelling’ through them.
‘It has been communicating that it wants to become a riverbed in the Himalayas, ’reported one highly respected clairvoyant. Thirty years ago, this powerful medium predicted that Thailand would have a coup d’etat.
The shaman has been transferred to an inactive post.

Destitute teens arrested for stealing shoes

Out of work and food, these two youths were arrested for stealing two pair of flip-flops.

Two young men, “Somboon”, 15, and “Prasit”, 14, out of work and near starvation, were arrested for stealing two pair of flip-flops from the Nophakao Flats in Banglamung.
Arriving on the scene, police saw the two youths vaulting off the second floor balcony. Ordering them to halt, they did when they reached the earth. As police were moving in to apprehend the them, they bolted and ran, but to no avail.
Searching the two, police found they had heisted 2 (two) pairs of ‘flip flops.
After meticulous investigation of the articles, officers found that the teenagers had taken 1 (one) pair of coveted Dr. Scholl’s flip-flops and 1 (one) pair of a no-name brand. The sorry youths confessed to the crime and police took them (and the flip-flops) to the station for further questioning.
The boys told police that they had been discharged from their place of employment due to staff cutbacks and had no place to stay and no food to eat. They decided to steal shoes to buy food, but were arrested first.
The two youths were charged with conspiracy and ‘theft in the night.’ They are now awaiting trial.