HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

15 years of Pattaya Mail

Long service leave after 15 years?

At home in the oasis of calm

Congratulations from The Associated Press

Congratulations Pattaya Mail

A big Jesters size thanks

15 years of Pattaya Mail

Graham Macdonald
The Pattaya Mail has become an institution on the Eastern Seaboard. Ever since its first issue on 23rd July 1993, it has long had a tradition of providing quality, honesty and integrity for its readers. It not only represents the people of Chonburi and Rayong but has a worldwide readership with thousands of people logging on to the website to catch up on what has been happening in Pattaya and its environs.
The Pattaya Mail strives for continuous improvement as can be seen by the addition of its own website, television channel, expansion in Chiang Mai and a newspaper dedicated to its German readers. A few years ago, it became a vital partner with The Associated Press so more global news could be brought to the door of provincial readers in Thailand. It is innovative and forward thinking in all it does and wants the Eastern Seaboard to succeed. This can be seen from the fact that Peter Malhotra is regularly invited to go on promotional trips to Europe and beyond so as to attract people and investment to the area.
Many people have come to respect and admire the Pattaya Mail because of its sincerity and impartiality. It is also a highly important voice in the community and works endlessly for those who are less privileged than others. Without doubt, the contribution it has given to Care for Kids and other charities has been outstanding. Peter, along with sterling help from his two eldest sons, Tony and Prince, sacrifices countless hours to ensure the Pattaya Mail helps to look after the well-being of those who are not as fortunate as the rest of us.
The Pattaya Mail also helps and supports the local business community. It has been a member of the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand since 1998 and has helped promote the region to many different industries wishing to set up in the area.
It has always been the intention of the Pattaya Mail to help make the Eastern Seaboard known to whole world as a first-class international destination for tourism, business and a place to live. It does this in many ways, via such obvious vehicles as its own media but also through sponsorship, advertising and direct promotional activities. Two of the great sporting events on the Eastern Seaboard are the Mike Franklin Golf Classic and Pattaya Mail PC Classic Royal Cliff Beach Resort International Regatta - both Pattaya Mail innovations.
The Pattaya Mail goes from strength to strength combining the experience of such seasoned writers as Dr. Iain Corness, Peter Cummins and Mike Franklin with the latest talent both Thai and expat. And all of this has been under the magnificent editorship of Dan Dorothy who has also been at the paper since the beginning. What a fifteen years it has been and, doubtless, with many more to come.
Congratulations to all the team at the Pattaya Mail!
Editor’s note: Graham Macdonald, in his various guises as Vice Chairman of the BCCT, President of Care for Kids and Director of the MBMG Group, is also a long time columnist of Money Matters. He has been on the Eastern Seaboard since 1994.

Long service leave after 15 years?

Dr. Iain Corness
The Pattaya Mail is now 15 years old. As well as being the first English language weekly newspaper on the Eastern Seaboard, it is also the longest running and this week’s edition is the 781st. And there are those still in the organization who remember that fateful first edition, including the founder and these days MD, Peter Malhotra and Executive Editor Dan Dorothy, who began as a stringer for the sports section.
If the Pattaya Mail were a government media outlet, long service leave after 15 years would be commonplace, but as the old saying goes, “If you enjoy the work you’re doing, you don’t consider it to be work at all.” That goes for all the long stayers at Pattaya Mail Publishing. 15 years or 15 months or 15 days - it does not really matter, as the Pattaya Mail is a ‘family’. One joins the family and one works for the common good of the family, and that concept begins right at the top. Peter Malhotra isn’t the ‘boss’ for many employees, he is more like their father. Benevolent as a father, forgiving as a father and yet strict as when a father senses a family member is heading in the wrong direction.
Five, ten, fifteen and soon it will be twenty. The core staff who are here today, will still be here in another five years, and I hope to be one of them!
Congratulations Pattaya Mail. Fifteen years perhaps, but there’s no time for long service leave in a weekly newspaper!

At home in the oasis of calm

Andrew Watson
For many years now, I have on a daily basis, as the sun sinks beyond the last hill on the horizon, taken the time to ruminate on the great pleasures that life in Thailand can bestow. The waves perform an eternal sensory massage, simultaneously, perhaps paradoxically, reminding me of both the ephemeral nature of existence and its utter permanence.
For four and a half years now, it has been a consummate privilege to write and present for the region’s top media company. Whilst all around has often seemed tumultuous, the Mail has been an oasis of calm, a sanctuary of constancy and reassurance. A place, no less, where love and faith are nurtured and where imagination and creativity can thrive.
Whilst I see the team less often now, due to increasing travel commitments (an offshoot of our shared success) I am never more at home than in the welcoming arms of the Patriarch, a benevolent, humorous and caring human being. Of course, we worry that he works too hard; three full time jobs in one. But that’s the Mail for you; if you’ve ever been to the Mail offices, or to the PMTV studios, they are hives of industry. I am simply astonished by the amount of work people get through.
The man I have worked most closely with is a dear friend; one in a thousand is closer than a brother. So dear a friend that he plans his holidays out of Thailand to coincide with my time in Thailand. The “Man with the Sporran” is Paul Strachan, production manager of PMTV and the girded loin behind “Beyond the Beach” which continues to provide me with exotic stimulation and gratuitous travel opportunities disguised as gameful employment. At no expense spent, the road show continues and it’s great to see that whilst I’m away, the beautiful and the brilliant new generation of Naz and Celine - allegedly easier on the eye - are making PMTV increasingly unmissable.
Then of course, there’s Dan, the man at the top of the house, literally and metaphorically, who like a great uncle, is always there; encouraging, supporting and where appropriate pulling rank.
But you know when it really hits home that you’re working for the Mail? I strolled into Mantra the other evening. I’d been away for a while. I was greeted by this extraordinarily beautiful vision called Khun Mind and a lovely girl called Narisa, who used to be a colleague at the Mail. They guided us through an evening of the most incarnate indulgence. I dined with Dr. Iain and his wonderful wife Som and with Naz’s father Tim Neufeld. Tony and Reung Malhotra were there, and Montri and Tom, with the cameras. The evening had melted into morning before I realized what had happened; this night of passionate immoderation would never have been possible without fifteen years of dedicated teamwork and a consistent commitment to excellence. I felt proud to be a part of it all. I was floating on a cloud of happiness. The birthday party had come early.

Congratulations from The Associated Press

On behalf of The Associated Press, I would like to congratulate the Pattaya Mail Media Group on its 15th anniversary, a remarkable achievement in these ever-changing, turbulent times in the world of journalism (and just about everything else). There were doubters at the beginning that a solid, English-language newspaper in a seaside resort could make it. They were wrong. The Pattaya Mail and its other publications did make it, and they are very solid. We are proud to have been associated with the group in recent years and are thankful for the mutual benefit it has brought us. We’d like at this time to thank the Pattaya Mail Media Group and its able staff for giving our articles and photographs such a wonderful display in their publications, and for unstintingly helping us when we request their expertise on news events in their region of coverage. May the group flourish and prosper!
Denis D. Gray,
Chief of Bureau
Associated Press, Bangkok

Congratulations Pattaya Mail

Dear Peter,
I would like to express how I feel to have the privilege of being in Pattaya when you launched your very first issue of Pattaya Mail and how the newspaper has evolved over the years. How proud you must be of your staff, under your direction, that Pattaya Mail has been recognized over and over through the years as the best news provider on the Eastern Seaboard.
Most importantly, I am one of the biggest fan and have read both hard copy and via the internet. I survived homesickness during the time I was away in the US by rushing to my computer every Friday morning to read the new issue each week. What a life saver!
Thank you for giving me the window to the Pattaya world and the joy of knowing what’s going on in Pattaya.
Neera Sirisampan
Business Development & International Affairs Director
Bangkok Hospital - Pattaya

A big Jesters size thanks

Congratulations to all at the Pattaya Mail on your Crystal (15th) Anniversary! Thank you for all the local coverage you have given us over the years about the goings on in our community. And a huge thanks for the massive exposure and PR you have given the Jesters Care for Kids since our inception 11 years ago! We could not have come so far or have been so successful without you. Thank you Pattaya Mail! Thank you PMTV!
Cheers,
Woody

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.