HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Seasoned investors are more tactful

Goodbye good friend

Thank you Town in Town

Thanks from VFW

Clean up your act or world gay community will boycott Thailand

It is indeed difficult for men to find a partner of suitable calibre

The Queen’s correct title

Disagrees with the F1 Doc

Seasoned investors are more tactful

Editor;

Regarding the [email protected] letter from last week, the anonymous letter writer used rather inflammatory language when he cast his net over the entire Thai population. By using words like “corrupt” and “racist”, it shows that “sm” is not a seasoned investor, as seasoned foreign investors would not be using such insensitive remarks. In other words they would be more tactful. They know that doing business in developing countries, not just Thailand, is not easy and one must find ways to overcome many difficulties. As much as these countries need investment, so do the investors need to invest.

Corrupt is fair enough in certain cases but racist is a harsh and unfair accusation covering not just the bad but also the good people. Dishonest people anywhere in the world don’t choose their victims by the colour of skin. There are inestimably more cases of Thais swindling Thais than of Thais swindling foreigners. You said it, “Can I remind you of the IMF fiasco, where the money was squandered by the elite giving no benefit to the ordinary Thai’s?” I ask you, can ordinary Thais then be accused of being corrupt and racist?

One should be more restrained before one casts the net of blame and insults on everyone, including the ordinary people. This includes you who calls himself “a small overseas investor” and signs with a feeble name of [email protected]

Signed,

An ordinary Thai

Goodbye good friend

Dear Sirs,

I have just returned to England after my 20th visit to Thailand, every time being Pattaya. I was unfortunate to be there on my last visit to experience the death of a true friend of mine, Jimmy McNally.

Jimmy introduced me to Thailand some 12 years ago, and since then I have never looked back. Jimmy, who had a bar in Soi 6 (Soi Yodsak), was a true gentleman, well liked by every farang, whether from my home town of Liverpool or not, and was so welcoming to everyone in Thailand, whether for the first time or not.

His wife Nang, and her family were from the same school as Jimmy, in that nothing was ever a problem to them as you were a respected guest to their country.

I hope that I can take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the late Jimmy and all his remaining family for the happiness you have brought to us over the years.

I will be back to Pattaya soon, and look forward to seeing Jimmy’s family and I know they will continue his hospitality. I recommend whoever reads this letter to go to Jimmy Macs and say a hello to the family of a truly great man.

Cheers Jimmy, we will miss you.

Duncan (Liverpool UK)

Thank you Town in Town

Editor;

The Pattaya Sports Club held its Annual General Meeting at the Town in Town Hotel Wednesday, June 19. This year’s AGM showed a good turnout of elective members who debated changes, suggested new policies, and voted in several new executive committee members. The meeting lasted a little over two and a half hours, during which time we were served refreshments by the very attentive staff members of the Town in Town Hotel.

The Pattaya Sports Club and the Town in Town Hotel have shared a long-standing relationship, and we credit this to the wonderful service and enthusiasm that we have always received when working with them. The Pattaya Sports Club would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank the management and staff of the Town in Town Hotel for their organization, collaboration, and professional service.

Pattaya Sports Club

Thanks from VFW

To Pattaya Mail:

Thank you very much for your article on the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States convention in Pattaya in June. Let it be known that the hundred members of the VFW who attended plus their families and guests thoroughly enjoyed their stay in Pattaya and voted overwhelmingly to plan to return in the near future. Indeed, many of these veterans served in Thailand in the 1960s and 70s and have fond memories of that time. For many it was their first time back in over 30 years. As the saying goes: “A good time was had by all”.

One minor correction to your article: the actual number of VFW members in the 28 Posts around the Pacific is almost 10,000; not the 700 you mentioned.

Jerry Karwacki

VFW Officer
Pattaya

Clean up your act or world gay community will boycott Thailand

Editor;

I am reading stories all the time in the Pattaya Mail about one thing or the other about the gay bars in Pattaya, such as “Gay Bar Boys Tested for amphetamines.” Let’s face the facts: the government of Thailand and of Pattaya are in the process of getting rid of the gay tourist.

Little do they know that according to world statistics, gay people travel more and spend more per capita than any other tourist group. I have been coming to Thailand since 1979 and know that many men travel there for sex. But, if they want to change the image of Thailand, here is all they have to do. Clean up the country; I mean physically, treat tourists with respect, not as a target of a means to make money by the police, clean up the water, clean up the beaches, clean up the air pollution, investigate all accidental deaths of tourists and find out the real cause of death, and get rid of the double standard of pricing for tourists as compared to Thais. This should be a good start so they can get all those worldly tourists who travel to see a beautiful country and go home with a very pleasant experience.

Lets face it - too much money is paid in bribes and under the table money to corrupt politicians to ever begin to get one of the above corrections even started. I hate to say it but if this anti-gay attitude continues the only answer is for the world gay community to boycott Thailand so they get an idea of what a mistake they have made with this line of action.

Ralph E. Revill

It is indeed difficult for men to find a partner of suitable calibre

Editor;

First and foremost ... Pattaya Mail has every reason to be proud of itself as in my view and many others with me, on the whole its contents are balanced, informative, interesting and constructive. Although we have a house in Jomtien, my wife and I are mostly in Bangkok and I read the “PM” through the Web.

In the latest edition I thought the “Social Commentary” written by Khun Khai Khem was well written, highly pertinent and totally accurate! However, I wonder why she has avoided a direct answer to the very question that was posed? How do “decent” men meet “decent” women in Thailand let alone Pattaya? The definition of “decent” being open to question and debate of course.

I was fortunate in meeting my wife outside of Thailand (but not far away) almost thirty years ago and that she comes from a “respectable middle class Bangkok family”, but I often wonder how a man not so fortunate and without inside knowledge or contacts could achieve contact with this desirable category of Thai women?

Needless to say once you are here and are into Thai Society the route is relatively straight forward through introductions and similar “safer” approaches. But in fact it is a significant problem for many men seeking a partner of suitable calibre.

Keep up the good work.

Sa wa dee krap,

Gwyn

The Queen’s correct title

Sir,

Her Britannic Majesty’s correct title is: Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Note the United Kingdom part. She is also head of the Commonwealth and Head of State of many other Countries.

Regards,

Jim Hooker, Hampshire

Disagrees with the F1 Doc

Editor;

Whilst your auto man sings the praises about the abilities of his Aussie mate Webber, he complains about the announcers’ respect for Jacques Villeneuve. He seems to forget the fact that our man Jacques continuously out-qualifies Webber. Week in and week out, Webber is barely ahead of his team-mate Alex Yoong in qualifying, and runs a boring race once the red lights go out. Jacques can never be called boring. Steve Slater made a comment after this week’s race, and although he wasn’t talking about Webber and Villeneuve, it’s nonetheless relevant to this situation. He said that it’s much better to have a driver that you have to cool down for being overaggressive than one that you need to try and motivate who is happy to finish second (or in Webber’s case, happy to just finish).

Aside from already proving himself in the North American Indy Racing League, Jacques also has an F1 World Championship title under his belt. Dr. Corness attributes this to Jacques having the best ride at the time, which may be true, but he still had to drive the car and win the title. According to Dr. Corness’ reasoning, “Rooby Baby” then should win at least as many races as Schumacher.

Put Webber and Villeneuve in the same kind of car on the same track, and I’d be willing to bet the house that Jacques would win at least 9 out of 10 races between the two. I hope Dr. Corness has his barf bag ready, because this week Jacques Villeneuve finished a full lap ahead of Webber in Germany, and did a remarkable job avoiding being crashed out of the race by an over enthusiastic Frentzen. Webber, with no one near him, spun out - but did do a good job keeping it together and staying in the race. Yes, he finished another race, but never once was a challenge to anyone out there.

I realise that Dr. Corness is Australian, and it’s understandable that he should be excited about one of his countrymen having made it to the show, but why does he feel he must unleash a barrage of attacks on someone else who has not only earned his seat in F1, but who has already won the big prize? It sounds like he’s throwing up a big smoke screen to divert attention from a mediocre first year performance by Webber, which he doesn’t need to do. I agree that Webber is probably headed for big things in F1, but until he plants his foot on the podium, Dr. Corness should hold off from attacking someone who has already proven himself.

Since hockey season is over, we don’t have many sportsmen competing on the world stage at the moment. Lennox Lewis, maybe, but he ditched us for England. So perhaps the good doctor could go a little easy on us, eh?

Canadian Mark

Vancouver BC

The Doc replies: There, there, Mark! I hope you feel better now. But please, let’s be fair, I have not attempted to compare Webber and your mate JV. To say that JV out-qualifies Webber is comparing apples and oranges. Montoya out-qualified them both for the past few meetings and is equally as irrelevant. You can only compare whether a driver out-qualifies his team mate (after all, they are driving the same cars). Webber has out-qualified Yoong 9 times in 9 meetings at an average of 1.5 seconds each time. Panis has out-qualified JV 4 times in 9 meetings at an average of 0.5 seconds, while JV out-qualified Panis on 5 occasions at an average of 0.3 seconds. Nobody expects JV’s BAR to out-qualify a Ferrari or a BMW Williams and likewise nobody expects a Minardi to out-qualify anything else (however, you may like to note that Webber has out-qualified both Jaguars and an Arrows during the year)! My main gripe is the slavish adulation of JV by the commentators - JV is not doing any better than Panis, who receives zero praise from Messrs Slater and Goodwin. Certainly, JV has been a champion, but I do not believe that his current form is outstanding. These days, he is no better than his team mate.

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