HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Water bugs

Make Soi Diana one-way

Re why all the fuss’

Water management needs improvement

Iraq - oil and child abuse issues

Re: “Inadvertently making the case for peace”

Scared power pole

Thanks for work on Thepprasit Road

Water bugs

Dear Sir,

As a follow-up on the Jomtien water shortage, this morning I checked the water input from the Pattaya Water Works or Bureau, and how surprised was I, when I found out that a lot of air was coming out of the pipe, while at the same time, the meter, on which our bills are based, was running digits at full speed... yet no water at all! So are we paying for air?

Another good one, still on the same topic: when billing comes, and only then does water shows up for a few days until dues are paid... then back to air!

May I suggest to the Pattaya Water Bureau that, for the price we are therefore charged, it dispatches good oxygen for the fish in the tank or just for us?

Water bugs

Make Soi Diana one-way

Editor;

I wish to vent my spleen regarding the lack of traffic safety on Soi Diana Inn. Cars and motorcycles speed up and down with not one iota of consideration for pedestrians. I am often just inches away from certain death as I ‘Run the Gauntlet’ slowly with the trusty aid of my Zimmer frame from the second road towards soi Buakaow.

I suggest that this soi should become a one-way soi and that speed humps be constructed. I contemplate with despair that unless these said improvements are made, I shall end up just another accident fatality statistic.

Ignatius Riley

Re why all the fuss’

To: [email protected];

I would like to respond to the letter ‘why all the fuss’ printed in your paper. I personally don’t know any foreigner who objects to paying 10 baht for the local bus or even cares. However, it is very informative to have knowledge about the more ‘expensive’ scams which occur in the many tourist locations throughout Thailand. Yes, I agree also it is a joy when honest people in restaurants charge you a fair price for Thai food or local merchants charge a fair mark-up for items they are selling and are friendly and fun to barter with.

I know a couple who recently came to Thailand on their holiday and had their rental motorbike mysteriously stolen from the hotel. This is a common scam with very expensive consequences. They were forced to pay a replacement cost for the motorbike of 40,000 baht, not small change for anyone. They were strongly suspicious the motorbike had been stolen by the rental operator who obviously knew their temporary address and had a duplicate key. Unable to prove anything they of course had to ‘pay’ to have their passport returned and be able to leave the country. I think most tourists come to Thailand because the people are generally friendly and hospitable but the unfortunate reality is that people often do take advantage.

When I went to the local University in America there were many Thai people studying there. We never stole from them, cheated them or abused them in any way. They were ‘guests’ and we helped them with their studies, finding apartments and part-time jobs. So when I hear tourists tell me about being charged special prices for everything or having personal things stolen from their hotel I am sorry but I find this offensive.

Sign me,

‘All the fuss, because it’s wrong’

Water management needs improvement

Sir,

Your correspondent John Rowlands does not, I’m afraid, have much idea of the economics of water desalination. Because of the huge amounts of energy required to heat the sea water to boiling point in order to remove the salt and other chemicals it is a very expensive process. In countries with unlimited and cheap sources of energy (e.g. oil producing states and places where solar energy is always available) water desalination is an affordable method of producing drinking water. Thailand, unfortunately, does not fit the bill on either count.

It would be a good idea if water management in Thailand could be improved. There is a tremendous amount of wastage of water in this country. For instance, mains water pipes which leak badly and remain unrepaired for a long time. A minor tap leak can waste gallons of water in a short time. Put a bowl under a dripping tap and you will be surprised at how soon it fills up!

If Thailand really is suffering from a water shortage then I am sure that the government would ban the excesses of Songkran. Millions and millions of gallons of precious water will go to waste in the period 12-19 April, and I think that is criminal.

Yours faithfully,

Oliver Minto

Iraq - oil and child abuse issues

Editor;

I have points to make on the above issues, first on Iraq:

The lobby that wishes to blame everything on the dispositions of the president and the prime minister are really bankrupt. Both could make life easier for themselves by appeasing the Iraq dictator. In the short term it’s not in their interests to promote a military action. Therefore they must have a situational motive and it’s surely about the danger of such weapons getting into the hands of terrorists. They have both been well briefed on this. Much more likely from Iraq than from UK or the USA or even North Korea. So I can support 1441 passed by the UN and it must be seen to be effective.

As far as oil is concerned both the USA and the UK have oil. France does not and it is this country that has benefited to the tune of $3.1 billion in trade with Iraq, particularly but not only, in the oil for food agreement. So, economically those that support appeasement have the most to gain. In any case the oil will be used to benefit the people of Iraq and will be administered by an international body. What we want from this action is not oil, but security. It’s worth far more. Don’t argue it will create instability in the area. The area is already unstable.

Small wonder that France wishes to undermine the authority of the UN and bide for as much time as possible. Appeasement is not the answer if we want to stop terrorism and what better place to start than Iraq. The regime has even terrorised its own people. Used gas on civilians and made hundreds of thousands of its own citizens into refugees. Some people have short memories but many of us remember the plight of the Kurds in the north and the other Iraq citizens in the south who are still waiting for war to improve their lives. The USA and the UK have protected these people for twelve years (no fly zones).

I was ashamed at the end of ‘Desert Storm’ that we left those people without hope. But they will not have to wait much longer, no matter what the UN decides.

As for the outcry in support of Father Ray; it just gives more publicity to the case. Roman Catholic priests are now firmly in the spotlight as far as child abuse is concerned. Recent cases particularly in the USA but also in Europe and the UK involve this ‘celibate’ group. If these people have easy access to children its not surprising that someone is going to ‘cry wolf’. If someone is innocent they don’t need more publicity, even in ‘support’. I live in the UK and I knew nothing of this case until I read these letters of ‘support’. None of which provided any real evidence of innocence. They just provide more ‘smoke’. I know your innocent until proven guilty, but!

Peter

UK

Re: “Inadvertently making the case for peace”

Dear Sir,

I read Eric Bahrt’s letter “Inadvertently making the case for peace” which was supposedly a reply to a letter I wrote to the PM a few weeks ago. I say supposedly because either Mr. Bahrt read a different letter from someone with a similar name or didn’t really read my letter.

He tried to respond to 2 points and he was wrong on both. The first had nothing to do with Dr. Corness’s views on WW2 but rather the appeasement with which peace activists respond to all military actions which Western countries undertake. The idea that peace activists know a just war and an unjust war is silly. Where were the peace activists when Iraq invaded Iran or Kuwait? Where were they when Russia invaded Afghanistan? When have peace activists ever demonstrated for a “just” war and against peace?

If Mr. Bahrt had spent any time listening to the speeches of the “anti-war” demonstrators, he would realize that they are not anti-war at all, they are simply anti-American.

On the second point, he’s wrong again. Where did I say that I see “nothing wrong with going to war and killing thousands of people for the sake of oil”? I said “the free flow of oil is just as good a reason for disarming Saddam Hussein as the dozen or so reasons which Dr. Corness seems to have conveniently forgotten,” and apparently so has Mr. Bahrt. Iraq invaded Iran in 1980, invaded Kuwait in 1990 and would certainly have continued until it controlled the entire Arab oil output had it not been stopped. The similarities between the situation in the Middle East today, and Europe just before WW2 are obvious to anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together.

A clue to Saddam Hussein’s character is his setting 798 Kuwaiti oil wells on fire after he realized he would have to leave Kuwait. The 10 million barrels spilled into the gulf was the biggest oil “spill” in history, as was the 60 million released into the desert. Forty percent of Kuwait’s underground (aquifer) drinking water was polluted. The number of Kuwaitis tortured, kidnapped or killed by the Iraqis is still undetermined. Are these the actions of a sane man?

Perhaps Mr. Bahrt is interested in going to Iraq as a human shield. News reports say that most of the shields have now left Iraq because the Iraqi government told them to stay at military installations rather than at the schools and hospitals where they expected to stay, so there is a need for dedicated peace activists at this time.

Al Ferron

Pattaya

Scared power pole

Editor;

I am coming on holiday to Pattaya in early April but after reading your news I am not so sure. If even the power poles are scared perhaps I should also be.

Regards,

Tom Pinder

Thanks for work on Thepprasit Road

Editor;

Mucho grats to all the government people responsible for the repair/replacement of the storm drain manhole covers and other roadwork recently completed on Thepprasit Road. Kudos also to the contractor that did the work; you hardly notice the manholes are there when you drive over them. Thepprasit Road is now a much safer ride for everyone.

Johnny Aloha

Jomtien Beach

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