Pattaya Mail — News

Swiss President visits Pattaya

Swiss President Arnold Koller last week became the first Swiss president to pay an official visit to Thailand, marking the 100th anniversary of King Chulalongkorn’s (Rama V) visit to Switzerland in May 1897.

At the invitation of Alois X. Fassbind, the President and First Lady took time out from their busy diplomatic schedule to visit Pattaya and celebrate the Loy Krathong holiday at the Royal Cliff beach Resort.

“Just like in Paradise”

Swiss President Arnold Koller took time off from his busy diplomatic schedule for a private visit to Pattaya on the 15th and 16th of November. The President and his wife Erica, guests of Alois X. Fassbind, Executive Vice President of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, enjoyed two extraordinary days at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort.

Photo: Alois X. Fassbind, Executive Vice President of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort (left) greets Swiss President Arnold Koller and First Lady Erica Koller.

President Koller and his wife first visited Pattaya in 1972 when it was still a little fishing village. They came back to Pattaya with their children in 1989 and stayed at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort. During this visit they got to know Alois X. Fassbind, a countryman who is also known as Mr. Pattaya.

On a recent visit to Switzerland, Alois X. Fassbind met Arnold Koller and invited him back to Pattaya. Arnold Koller already planned an official journey to Asia, including Nepal, Vietnam and Thailand, and on 15 November he finally arrived at the seaside resort.

The Swiss President and his wife, along with the Swiss Ambassador to Thailand Bernard Freymond and his wife, the Directors of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and the General Director of Swissair Thailand Peter Wiesner, were the guests of honour at the Loy Krathong celebrations at the Resort last Saturday.

Alois X. Fassbind invited the Swiss guests and correspondents of the Pattaya Mail to an exciting sailboat trip on Sunday, November 16th. At 9:30 a.m. all were on their way to Koh Pai, a few kilometers from Pattaya, where the Swiss guests could jump into the sea.

"Crystal clear water," noted President Koller. "It is extremely wonderful here," his wife added. Erica Koller, a very sportive woman, enjoyed a long swim, far away from the shore. But this didn’t bother her stoical husband who commented, "I’m already used to that".

The Swiss honoury guests were amazed by the beautiful islands dotting Pattaya Bay. "Just like in paradise," the Swiss President told Pattaya Mail.

The President and First Lady related that they thought Pattaya itself had become overbuilt, especially after their memories of a sleeping little fishing village 25 years ago. But nobody will be surprised about that, though the beautiful world of islands around Pattaya was a surprising experience.

Alois X. Fassbind offered a nice aperitif on the island (a deliquesce Chardonnay) as a preamble to sailing back on his sailboat "Hanumarn", named after the mythical Monkey God. An exquisite Barbecue was also served on board.

President Koller was introduced and lectured on Thailand’s Economic and National politics, as he was preparing to meet with Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai on Monday the 17th as part of his official visit to Thailand. Later that same afternoon, President Koller was granted an audience with H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"We were skeptic of coming to Pattaya for such a short period, but it was completely worthwhile," said Erica Koller. "We enjoyed it very much."

The trip came to a conclusion with a trip to Bruno’s Restaurant. Bruno Forrer, proprietor of the famous restaurant, shares a common heritage with Mrs. Koller. Both hail from the same town in Switzerland.

Pattaya Police circumvent city planners

The Pattaya City Council recently cited the Pattaya Police for planning an over three million baht police sub-station without the council’s permission. The building encroached on a tourist beach, and the construction blocked a waste-water treatment plant.

The City Council called a meeting to discuss the matter, feeling that the police had over-stepped the bounds of their authority. Since no permit had been obtained for the building, the City Council ordered the demolition of the building.

Photo: Police sub-station being erected without City Council permission.

But later, an informal meeting of certain members of the city council was held. The result was that the City Council would allow the sub-station and would issue a building permit after the fact. This confused other members of the city council, not present at this ‘special meeting.’

First, an order was made by the whole city council to demolish the building and later, certain members of the City Council decided to allow construction to continue.

Pattaya Mail reporters interviewed city manager, Songsak Yomjinda. Songsak told reporters that Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suthithamrongsawat had called an informal meeting of some members of the council and they had decided to allow construction to continue.

Songsak said that whatever the City Council’s decision was, he would abide by it. He could only make comments after the building was completed and he had inspected it.

He said the building was not a police station, but a rest stop for police and a centre for tourist assistance. The police could use the sub-station as a shelter from broiling sun and pelting rain, adding that the Police Department did not yet have a rain shelter for officers. This would also be a good base of operations for protecting the populace’s life and property.

The Police Department told Songsak that the sub-station would have 6-10 officers on duty at all times.

Examining the construction, Pattaya Mail reporters found that it is on top of a waste-water treatment tank.

The Mayor announced that the solid concrete building was only temporary, so he allowed the construction to continue.

He did not want the lack of a building permit to hamper construction. He said that a fully legal construction permit would be issued after the building was completed.

The Mayor said he sympathised with the City Manager as they had not really talked about the matter. The Mayor said as far as he knew, the building could not be faulted for blocking the view as it was almost completely blocked by other buildings.

“Cleaning up” Mab-Ta-Phut going slowly

Vira Mavichak, Chairperson of the committee to supervise Mab-Ta-Phut factories’ compliance with emission standards, responded to public distress over discouraging developments in their fight against noxious fumes from factories by stating that, ‘Solving these problems takes time.’ He assured residents that the 4 inspection teams are on the job and the factories are making the necessary modifications.

The committee reports that only the Rayong Oil Company’s factory is in violation of standards. The committee extended the company’s deadline to January, 1998. If the necessary modifications are not completed by then, punitive measures will be taken.

The committee allowed the extension due to seasonal wind changes, which blow the fumes out to sea. The wind will change again in February or March of 1998.

A new team of investigators from the Thai Industrial Estates is monitoring the TPI factory, which made the front pages of newspapers when it was learned that the factory was releasing waste water into the sea.

The Industrial Estate’s plan to move the Mab-Ta-Phut Phanphitayakarn School to a new campus at a cost of 83 million baht is being protested by residents, who feel this is an improper solution.

Due to the political changes in the country, the Head of the Ministry of Industry now has no power over these matters. For the time being, any ‘implementation of policy’ orders come from the Ministry’s manager.

Road Safety Group meets to hear action plan

by Suzanne Dooley

On Monday, November 10th, the Rotary Club of Jomtien/Pattaya, chaired by Kees Peperkamp, met at the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel to further their action plan for road safety in Pattaya.

Kurt Russel, a Consultant from the Volvo Safe Driving Centre in Bangkok, was invited to the meeting. He outlined a safety awareness program, which Volvo is interested in supporting. Clayton Wade also spoke about General Motors Holden’s possible involvement in the road safety campaign.

Members of the meeting agreed that having multi national car producers involved in road safety is an excellent idea. These car producers will then be promoted in a very positive way to the Thai public.

The Rotary Club is implementing the wishes of the local Laurant Committee, which has declared a budget of two million baht to be directed towards road safety in this region.

Mr. Russel proposed an educational initiative. Road Safety awareness would begin in primary schools with an educational program which would involve the cooperation of the teachers and a road safety policeman.

This road safety program would include safety awareness, pre-driver training, and later, actual driver training for older students.

The pre-driver training would include competitions within schools to develop road safety skills. It would then lead to inter-school competitions, which would generate much enthusiasm, interest and publicity for road safety.

The proposal of filming a Pattaya Road Safety video received much enthusiasm. This film would be used in the educational program to help children to identify road crossings and safe actions in traffic. It would be professionally produced and could perhaps feature Pattaya businesses that wished to sponsor it.

The meeting concluded with much enthusiasm for the Road Safety initiative and support from all Club members present.

Subsequent to the meeting, the members of The Laurant Committee, Messrs. Gerard Lemmers, Ruud de Vos and Corne Suurhof met. They enthusiastically endorsed this proposal presented by Rotary. The plan will now swing into action.

With road safety, you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. The choice is yours.

Helping to clean up the mess

These two men are not paid garbage collectors from City Hall. They don’t belong to any organization of Pattaya, either. Walter Friedli of Switzerland and Udom Kieaophet or Koh Samet are here for holidays. When they saw the beach at Jomtien after Loy Krathong, they just took a few huge garbage bags and started to clean.

"It’s good exercise for us," Udom told Pattaya Mail. Walter added on that, "It’s so beautiful here in Pattaya, all it takes is a bit of cleaning up."

Both were quit surprised that Pattaya Mail would want to print their picture. "No need to do that," Udom said, "all we are doing is a normal reaction to keep the environment alive."

Funding confusion causes planning headaches for festival organisers

Organisers of the National and International Cultural Festival, last week held for the first time in Pattaya, encountered a spate of unforeseen problems due to promised funds not being delivered on time.

The government had allocated 10 million baht for the festival, half to come from Chonburi and half from the National Cultural Council.

During planning, however, the government floated the baht and the Head of the National Cultural Council retired. The new head had to jump into the festival ‘mid-stream’. The 5,000,000 baht from the central government was not disbursed until 6 days before the festival’s opening.

The late funds caused many problems and delays. The publicity arm of the festival was most affected by this as flyers could not be printed and television and radio airtime could not be purchased.

Other organisations participating in the festival did what they could with public sector money. Chonburi Province ‘made do’ with the limited funds it had on hand, doing an admirable job under these distressing circumstances.

Pattaya received no assistance from any government agency whatsoever. Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suthithamrongsawat stated that the National Cultural Council ‘defrauded’ Pattaya into doing the work. At planning meetings, the Council told Pattaya administrators that advance sums would be paid to the city for expenses. The mayor states that the city has not yet received one baht from the National Cultural Council and has no idea when it will.

The National Cultural Council did no promotion of the event overseas or in the national media. The promotion came from the eastern region’s radio, cable TV stations and newspapers. A brewery provided promotional posters, put up three days before the festival.

National coverage of the opening parade was on TV Channel 11, which has a rather small viewing audience.

Few national newspapers promoted or covered the event. The National Cultural Council invited reporters and the city provided them complimentary food and lodging.

The National Cultural Council received the credit for the National and International Cultural Festival, but Pattaya had to bear the brunt of incurred expenses and lack of promotion.

Laem Chabang residents offered more cash to make way for industrial development

The people of Laem Chabang are rejecting government offers of increased compensation for leaving their land.

Mr. Phanuphan Chaiyarat told officials at a meeting held on October 21 that the compensation offered to residents should include an extra 1,000,000 baht per household, in addition to the compensation already offered.

The one million baht compensation could be offered in three forms. If the residents accepted cash, they were expected to move off the land immediately. Compensation could also be taken in the form of land (in Nong Kla District) and 500,000 baht in cash. The last form would be a house and land, with houses being built by the Port Authority. Those choosing this last option would receive no cash.

Mr. Jamnong Wongsawang, the leader of the group representing the residents, told reporters that he knew of 5 households which had accepted this offer, saying that this was each individual’s right. He told reporters that most of those choosing to move were not long time residents of Laem Chabang.

Jamnong said that families who have lived in the area for generations have very strong cultural, emotional and cultural ties to the area. Ninety percent of the residents are fisherfolk and are not interested in the one million baht, which the government is using as a lure.

Jamnong continued, saying that some people thought that money could buy anything or anyone, and those who wish for the residents to leave are probably quite non-plussed at the non-interest in money.

Jamnong said that residents felt the pressure on them would lesson with the new Chuan Leekphai administration.

After many meetings during the former Chuan administration, government officials agreed to compromise and draw boundaries. But the Banharn government ignored these agreements and began putting pressure on the residents again. He said he blamed neither Banharn nor Chaovalit for this. The reason may have been that they received new ‘reports’ from the Port Authority officials.

Officials of the Port Authority recently revealed that obtaining the extra funds, totalling 230 million baht, would now be difficult, due to massive government budget cuts.

Officials are now negotiating with investors wishing to use the land to see if investors would be willing to pay the money, if the government budget does not approve it.

Amazing Thailand Grand Sale kicks off

Chonburi Governor Sujarit Pajchimanan presided at the official opening of the ‘Amazing Thailand Grand Sale’ on November 14th.

Held at the tourist boat pier in South Pattaya and organised by the Department of Export promotion, the purpose of the sale is to provide Thai products and goods of export quality to the public at bargain prices.

Eleven retail outlets are participating in this shopper’s dream: Forum Plaza, Phoenix Department Store, True Value Shopping Centre in Chonburi City, Laem Thong Shopping Centre Sriracha, Robinson’s Department Store Sriracha, Safeland Shopping Centre Bangsaen, Laem Thong Shopping Centre Laem Chabang, Big C Supermarket, Mike’s Shopping Mall, Royal Garden Plaza Shopping Centre and the Central Festival Centre in Pattaya.

The ‘Amazing Thailand Grand Sale’ is being held throughout the country. The respective cities are Chiang Mai in the Northern region, Nakorn Ratchasima (Khorat) and Khon-Kaen in the North-eastern (Isan) region, Bangkok in the Central region and Phuket and Hat Yai in the South. Eastern Seaboard residents may find super-bargains in Chonburi City, Sriracha and Pattaya.

The sale will last one month, from November 14th to December 14th, 1997.

Products available are those intended for export to foreign countries. Discounts are from 30%-80% at participating stores. Look for the sign of ‘The Hand Holding the Shopping Bag’ which will be prominently displayed in front of the store.

After the governor opened the ceremony, there was a performance of 5 hypnotically graceful Thai dances by performers from the Department of Fine Arts.

Copyright © 1997 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Created by Andy Gombaez