HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

A fool to generalise

Letters from students at AUA

Tourists aren’t stupid

Raw sewage

Extreme misunderstanding?

Fed up with “racism”

Cruelty to fellow man

What is the duty of the Vatican?

Pedestrian bridges the best answer

A fool to generalise

Dear Editor:

Al Ferron doesn’t have the guts to stand by what he writes. [PM March 21] Although I no longer have his original letter, I remember he wrote that if we had listened to Dr. Corness, Corness would now be speaking German. So how can he write that his letter “had nothing to do with Dr. Corness’s views on WWII?”

He asks where were the peace activists when Saddam invaded Iran and Kuwait. May I remind him that America supported Saddam when he invaded Iran? As for Kuwait, some of the Americans who fought in the Gulf War are now part of the peace movement. That’s why Ferron is a fool to generalise about the hundreds of millions of people - including former President Carter - who oppose this war; even the director of the American CIA has said Saddam isn’t much of a threat.

Eric Bahrt

Letters from students at AUA

Editor;

One big problem in Pattaya nowadays is traffic jams. There are too many baht buses (song taw) and too many motorcycles that cause lots of accidents everyday. People don’t pay attention while they are driving. Most people don’t have driver licenses so they don’t know the traffic rules and they do not follow the traffic rules.

The problem is caused by the baht buses. They don’t stop at the bus stop, but they stop anywhere they want, and they don’t pay attention to other people on the road. There aren’t enough parking spaces for the tourists that come to visit Pattaya.

One way to solve these problems is for the government to create more parking spaces and make more traffic signs, also police should be stricter and take less bribes. The government should take control at the amount of the baht buses and should set up the public transportation.

We hope this problem will be fixed soon.

From someone who always pays bribes to the police.

(A.U.A student level 10)

Dear Editor,

One of the biggest problems in Pattaya is that there is a lot of garbage on the beach. The tourists and visitors make litter. They’re too lazy to find the bins and they’re inconsiderate. The sea has gotten smelly and dirty, nobody wants to go to Pattaya.

The aquatic animals can’t swim in shallow water areas. Businesses such as convenience stores, rent shops and speedboat services will be in trouble.

The best way to solve these problems is to recycle more garbage or tell the police officers to help clean up the beach and put more bins around the seashore and try to pick them up on time. The most important thing is that everyone should be serious about solving the problem together. Pattaya will be clean and attract tourists for traveling.

Yours truly,

Student from AUA, Level 10

Tourists aren’t stupid

Dear Editor,

News reports around the world are saying that Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam are claiming victims of “killer pneumonia” and many countries are quarantining patients, closing schools, and warning the public of the dangers of this highly infectious virus.

Thailand is still perceived as a very corrupt country and contemptuous of the public trust. Are we to believe that Singapore, for example, which is highly respected in the international community, is willing to come clean about this international health threat, while Thailand denies its existence? Give us a break. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Thailand doesn’t want to scare away tourists and will sacrifice all moral scruples for money. People with money to spend on foreign holidays surely cannot be that stupid.

C.S.

Raw sewage

Dear Sir:

I am writing this in the hopes that you can do something about the raw sewage being dumped on the streets in Jomtien. As I was looking for a place to stay I wandered off Jomtien Beach Road and noticed what I thought would be a reasonably quiet place to stay. While looking at the outside of the guesthouse, the landlady asked me if I wanted a room. As we were talking rates I happened to look down and noticed that raw sewage was coming from a pipe that ran directly out of her septic tank and was emptying right at my feet and into the street. I asked her what this was all about and she replied that since her tank was full and expensive to empty she thought this was a better way to empty the tank! Needless to say I didn’t stay there. I have returned to Finland now and I am not in Thailand anymore but I was hoping that the Pattaya Mail could ensure that City Hall looks into this matter as soon as possible as there were children playing nearby and this was disgusting. Not to mention environmentally unsafe and detracting from the image that Pattaya is trying to present to the world.

Thank you for your time.

Jay Steed,

Disgusted tourist

Extreme misunderstanding?

Editor;

I recently visited Jomtien beach, and on returning to Pattaya, I passed a big road-sign with the message: Welcome to Pattaya - the extreme city. Sometimes charming misunderstandings occur in translation from Thai to English, but this one does not fall into that category. I know a lot of effort is being put into making and presenting Pattaya as a clean, fun and safe city, for all sorts of people, families with children included.

The expression ‘extreme’ in this context draws attention to the opposite, negative sides of the city. What about changing ‘extreme’ to ‘vibrant’ or maybe ‘sanuk’ (Thai for fun, pleasant)?

Regards

Robin, Naklua

Fed up with “racism”

Editor;

I am so ashamed to be a Caucasian. We are such racists. I hear it on the TV every day.

Even though people may come into my country and ask for asylum and be given food, accommodation and medical assistance. I know that any other non-Caucasian country would at laugh at me if I were to ask for asylum and/or assistance.

We are so racist that we even try to offer people food vouchers instead of money, what a cheek we have. We only do this to ensure that people get food instead of fags/booze with taxpayers’ donations but really, we’re no good.

We even have the nerve to show Christmas scenes in Red Cross shops during Xmas. This offends other religions, so we’re told, so we had to stop.

I even heard that some people had the nerve to wave the English flag during the World Cup last summer. This happened in England strangely enough and of course, these people were stopped. You can’t wave an English flag in England, it may offend!

And when we complained about that one-handed, one-eyed man from the Middle East that is wanted for terrorism in Lebanon, is living with his 10 children in council paid accommodation in London and given social hand-outs every week, that he was campaigning against white racist scum and was rallying to kill the aggressors (US and UK troops in Afghanistan), well he really told us didn’t he?

We must be no good because of all those peace rallies around the world com- plaining about the atrocities we are making in Iraq, it must be bad because I didn’t hear these people when Iraq invaded Kuwait or fought against their own brothers in Iran. I certainly wasn’t aware of these people when Saddam murdered his own people, the Kurds. Of course, as the Iraqi ministers keep telling us, the British and US troops are mercenaries and Bush/Blair are criminals because of their unlawful invasion. We must be bad because nobody ever accuses the Iraq government of the same when they invaded Kuwait.

I understand that the British troops captured an Iraqi soldier who laughed at them, told them he came from Manchester and would return to collect his social security benefit payments. What bad people we British are!

We come to Pattaya, have to support ourselves, cannot live here indefinitely, and cannot buy land, get abused at the immigration office but still find time to raise money for the local indigenous people at various charity functions.

However, I just read that a group of Thais residing in England were also raising money at a charity function in England in aid of children. How nice, oops sorry, just re-read the article. They are living in England, presumably permanently, probably get or got NHS assistance, don’t have to report to the Immigration every 2 months and ‘bung’ 10 pounds into the officials’ pocket. Presumably, if they are involved in an accident the blame is put to the people at fault and not laid at the Thais because if they had stayed in Thailand it wouldn’t have happened.

We are so bad and racist aren’t we? Actually, I wasn’t one until I started travelling the world. I’ve had enough, I’m going home.

Regards,

Steve

Cruelty to fellow man

Dear Editor,

I am a heavy man, I am an overweight man, and yes, I admit that I am a fat man. Yet I am also a kind and a pleasant man, and most of the time I am more than happy to enjoy Pattaya and all that it has to offer a retired Irishman.

My chagrin is this; I have observed a growing intolerance to those of us who are overweight. Here are three examples of the kind of hurtful experiences I have suffered recently:

I am unsteady on my feet and rely upon motorcycle taxis and baht-buses. I always opt for a larger motorcycle out of respect for the driver, and when I travel by baht-bus I always try to distribute my weight by sitting on the edge of the seat, with legs out-stretched, so as to aid a low centre of gravity and thus help with the stability of the bus.

Can you imagine my hurt and shame then, when upon completing a journey down the Beach Road, the baht-bus driver emerged from his cabin and demanded an extra forty baht as some sort of compensation? I quote his cruel rebuke; “You fat man: you pay more”. This treatment hurt my feelings, and had it not been for my strict Jesuit schooling I would have broken down completely.

A second experience, no less distressing was when a plastic chair shattered whilst I was enjoying a full fried breakfast one morning in an outdoor eatery. The staff, instead of helping me to my feet and apologising to me for the weak condition of their seating, seemed more concerned with the said plastic chair. I also suffered the indignity of having to pay for the broken chair upon settlement of my breakfast bill.

Thirdly, and this episode did in fact reduce me to tears (although in the privacy of my apartment). I was enjoying a romantic evening drink with my latest lady friend, who is quite charming, when a bunch of hooligans entered the bar and started to abuse me verbally. I shall not repeat their language, but they made cruel jibes about my weight, and comments that suggested I should not be entertaining such a pretty lady and that I should instead be, and I quote; “down at the pie-eating competition”.

I doubt that these scoundrels realise that beneath my cranium there is culture, madrigals, fine art, literature and philosophy. As Confucius said: “Only the shallow ridicule a large man, for through his stomach he will reach the palace of wisdom”.

Ignatius Riley

What is the duty of the Vatican?

Editor;

What is the duty of the Vatican? To pass judgment on the American government? Who is actually immoral, the priests or George Bush? Jesus Christ said “judge not, ye not be judged”. Why these priests are so ready to say Bush is immoral? Are these priests are really students of Jesus Christ or just using his name for other purposes of their uncontrollable urges.

Sincerely,

Fatima

Pedestrian bridges the best answer

Dear Editor;

I have a proposal for improving conditions for pedestrians (also tourists) in the streets of Pattaya. Having spent now 6 years in Pattaya during the months of January and February, my wife and me have a proposal to improve conditions for pedestrians crossing 2 street till Beach Road. We suggest establishing 1 or preferably more crossovers in the air. Every year it has become more and more dangerous to cross the street due to the heavy traffic of cars and especially fast driving motorcycles.

Please send this proposal to the lord Mayor

Yours Sincerely,

Birte and Mogens Wester

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