Bitter Lessons From Phuket Recovery

[george]

Bitter lessons from Phuket recovery

PHUKET:-- After facing its worst disaster ever when the Boxing Day tsunami struck last year, Phuket is slowly coming back to life, but not without paying a heavy price.

Three of the island’s business leaders told the American Chamber of Commerce last week that while the initial response from the private

sector and the community to the tragedy brought global applause, many state agencies had blundered, and failed to inject key support needed to revive Thailand’s most important beach resort destination.

James Batt, managing director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels, Nigel Cornick, CEO of Raimon Land, and Stephen O’Brien of Phuket-based Knight Frank real estate agency, were cheered by the rapid deployment of aid, food and money to affected islanders.

However, marketing campaigns for tourism has proved dismal and direct flights from Singapore to the island are yet to resume 10 months after the catastrophe.

Batt was sorely disappointed by the absence of follow-up, saying government bodies like the Tourist Authority of Thailand and national carrier Thai Airways International “could have done better”.

He said TAT had spent money set aside for the island’s recovery in the wrong areas, and failed to respond to the needs of Phuket's tourism industry, which needed to get visitors to return to the island as fast as possible.

Also, Thai Airways has yet to resume direct flights from Singapore, robbing the tourism

industry of a vital route to the island, said the hotelier. This is in sharp contrast to Silk Air, whose flights to Phuket from Bangkok remain fully booked.

While Laguna was able to raise more than Bt40 million for its tsunami fund to help villagers, Batt said state agencies have failed to bring in vital tourist dollars.

“We used the fund to repair 76 boats for fishermen and tour operators,” said Batt, “but that did not help much. Lack of tourists meant the fish they caught or the boats they operated were not finding customers.”

He was dismayed that, months following the disaster, tour operators in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia markets were still not aware that Phuket hotels were functioning normally again.

Cornick, who is launching Raimon Land’s second project, called “The Heights”, in Phuket in December, said he expected recovery to pick up soon.

Recent arrival figures have been impressive, he said. “We have kept our office open throughout the difficult period.

“We were able to sell our condominiums in the worst of times.”

O’Brien said more should be done to dispel negative media coverage of the disaster.

Batt agreed, saying that the first anniversary of the tsunami should not be overplayed, as the media has a tendency to profit from the misery of other people.

He was enraged when, after the tsunami, a Japanese man who had lost his son to the waves, “broke down and cried” after constant questioning by a CNN reporter.

Goading victims for emotional content may be acceptable by some societies, but Batt was livid, and thought that the CNN reporter had gone too far. “###### them,” he said.

On the question of whether unrest in the South would affect Phuket’s recovery, the panel fell silent.

“Nobody wants to take the question,” noted Batt “but to say there is no effect would be crazy.”

He said Phuket was blessed with Buddhist and Muslim islanders who have lived harmoniously for centuries, but unless the growing divide is checked, there could well be another disaster in the making.

Other participants agreed.

Laguna is going ahead with more than a billion baht in new resort homes for sale in the current quarter, said Batt, reflecting the firm’s strong expectations that the bleakest period for the resort-island is over.

--The Nation 2005-10-17

[khall64au]

A dysfunctional article I must say! Is that it? Surely this is a cut and paste from a series of articles? Just doesn't make sense!!!

[Galong]

There is no shortage of moron in the world. Just look at the Thorn Tree (Lonely Planet) forum. People are still asking if it's safe to come here, because they aren't sure if Phuket is back up and running.

Thank the media for putting Phuket on the map so to say. For many, this was the first time they ever heard of Phuket.

And of course, the newspapers are predicting that a bomb will go off in Phuket or Bangkok or Krabi... purely speculative, but that sort of talk does a lot of harm. Look at how they're handling the 'potential' bird flu pandemic. 150,000,000 people across the globe will DIE! Yep, just like they did when SARS got out of control.... f*&^ing media a-holes.

[taxexile]

f*&^ing media a-holes.

but sometimes the media hit the nail right on the head................

No room for the immigrant workers

SANITSUDA EKACHAI  from todays bangkok post.

The December 26 tsunami killed Nai Nai's wife and only daughter. Since he is just a Burmese migrant worker, not a foreign tourist, Nai Nai will never be on the Thaksin administration's guest list for the tsunami commemorative events. Nor will Matoo and her husband. They lost all three of their children to the killer wave. But even 10 months after the tsunami, the couple, like other Burmese migrant workers, are still unable to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones for a proper religious send-off.

Since many are illegal workers, they fear arrest and forced deportation if they turn up at the morgue to reclaim the bodies.

Other lost their documents with the waves, so they too have the same fear.

Matoo and her husband are more fortunate in this regard. TAG, an advocacy group for migrant worker's rights, helped them dig through the piles of registration records to prove they are not illegal so they finally got their registration cards re-issued. But the problem does not end there.

The Thai authorities require the relatives to produce documents from their governments to reclaim the bodies. But the Burmese government views its own people as criminals for crossing the border illegally.

So how on earth can they get the necessary paper to get the bodies of their lost loved ones?

How on earth can Matoo arrange a proper send-off for her children?

As the government is frantically trying to invite the relatives of the foreign tourists killed by the tsunami, offering them free tickets and accommodation, in the hope of using their presence in the commemorative events to shore up the country's tourism image, the Burmese migrant workers remain as invisible as ever.

Remember what happened after the tsunami? While aid was readily forthcoming to foreign tourists, which impressed people the world over with Thai generosity, the Burmese migrant workers were slapped with looting allegations that forced them to flee to the mountains to endure starvation and sickness in hiding.

And although they suffered the same tragedies and needed the same help as the Thais and foreign tourists after the tsunami, they never received state help. Worse, they were arrested and deported on sight.

Frightened, many of them chose to return home to recover from the shock and the losses. Many have since returned. Their explanations are similar; there's no work at home. And despite the fear of deportation and future tsunami threats, at least they can work and be sure to get their next meals here.

They are working as illegal aliens, though, because the authorities stopped re-issuing registration cards to those who survived the tsunami and refuse to register newcomers, or returnees. Consequently, they are subject to constant extortion or slave-like treatment.

For the women, they face greater risks. Last week, for example, a young Burmese woman at Koh Lak was raped by a Thai man who reportedly offered to pay her 2,000 baht in damages. Fearing forced deportation, the girl might have no other choice.

Before the tsunami and since, these ethnic migrant workers still suffer the same oppression, thanks to our ultra-nationalist history that makes us see the Burmese as the atrocious people who burned down our ancient capital of Ayutthaya.

It does not really matter if they are Mons, Karens, Kachins, Shans or of other ethnic groups. As long as they come from Burma, we lump them all together as the cruel, untrustworthy Burmese who deserve to be treated inhumanely.

Of the 120,000 registered workers in the six tsunami-hit provinces, some 7,000 were in the worst hit areas of Takua Pa and Koh Lak in Phangnga.

No one knows how many of them perished, but many believe the final toll to be close to 1,000.

We cannot escape our karma. With time, the bodies of foreign tourists will eventually all be reclaimed. But the bodies of those Burmese migrant workers will remain behind to haunt us with our own cruelty for a long, long time to come.

[khall64au]

Thankyou, Taxexile, for reminding us of our humanity. I agree with the above article wholeheartedly. We do forget the forgotten.

Sad thing is, many Thai communities- citizens of this nation- also were offered little help by their leaders. So should we be surprised that the poor neighbours weren't offered a hand of compassion?