Thailand News

[dr_Pat_Pong]

and vice versa

Let's get back to the topic eh?

We'd appoint you as a mod IF you had any idea how to handle smarties like you Miss Australia.

[Uma~~]

I drove to New Hut today and walked along the beach until I couldn't walk any further.

I was surprised to see no evidence at all of a wreath or at least some sort of memorial marking the spot. I expected to find bunches of wilting flowers and messages of condolence but there's nothing.

[Lisa28]

I've got lots of ideas, where do I apply?

Does anyone know which is the best Thai news website for updates?

[Khun Jean]

Reopen of the thread about a rape in Lamai.

This is not a rumour. Last night this was on the news. Together with some other news about a Taxi driver who returned a lost wallet with over 200.000 baht in it.

Sorry that i don't know the TV Channel it was on. The time was around 02:00.

This thread was just to find confirmation, as i am not on Samui myself at the moment.

edit: This was a THAI tv station.

Edited January 19, 2006 by Khun Jean

[Wes Turner]

a Taxi driver who returned a lost wallet with over 200.000 baht in it.

Jesus H Christ!

[chuchok]

New rape claim on Thai island

January 19, 2006

A Swedish woman told the police she had been raped early yesterday by two Thai men on the same island where a British woman was attacked and killed on New Year's Day. The 44-year-old Swede is on holiday on Koh Samui with her husband and children.

Lt Thiraphon Somsuwanchai said the woman had told the police she had left a karaoke bar alone to go to the beach when two Thai men had put a knife to her and taken turns raping her. Thiraphon added that a medical inspection had shown signs that she had been raped. The police were looking for the suspects.

Two Thai fishermen were sentenced to death yesterday for the rape and murder of British tourist Katherine Horton, 21, who had been on holiday on Koh Samui over New Year.

The defendants in Horton's case - handcuffed, their heads shaved - were told to stand as the judge read the court's verdict in a case that has drawn international attention and calls for stern punishment from Thailand's prime minister.

"The crime they committed has terrified people," Judge Chamnong Sutchaimai told the packed court, which made a rare exception of letting in TV cameras and photographers. "To prevent others from committing similar acts, the court rules that the two defendants be sentenced to death."

The fishermen, Bualoi Posit, 23, and Wichai Somkhaoyai, 24, pleaded guilty last week to the brutal attack on Horton, a student from Wales who had been on holiday on Koh Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Horton's body was buried on Tuesday in Cardiff, Wales. The two men were arrested on January 9. They confessed to the crime but a trial was held on Friday as is customary in Thailand, even when defendants plead guilty. DNA tests linked the two to the crime. Both men kept their heads bowed as the verdict was announced. They made their first public statements of remorse afterwards.

"I accept it. I'm sorry for what I did," an expressionless Bualoi told reporters, before the police led the pair to a waiting van. Defence lawyer Amarin Nuimai called the ruling "extremely harsh". He said the two were considering an appeal, and had a month to decide. Murder charges in Thailand carry a maximum sentence of death, but courts usually reduce such sentences to prison terms in cases where defendants plead guilty. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a public appeal for the killers to receive the "hardest punishment" possible, saying the slaying hurt the country's image and damaged its tourism industry.

Defence attorneys presented no witnesses during the one-day trial, which was speeded through the court system because of international

attention.

- Sapa-AP

[Wes Turner]

I drove to New Hut today and walked along the beach until I couldn't walk any further.

I was surprised to see no evidence at all of a wreath or at least some sort of memorial marking the spot. I expected to find bunches of wilting flowers and messages of condolence but there's nothing.

You are in Samui??? Is that you in the picture?

Edited January 19, 2006 by Wes Turner

[sbk]

I drove to New Hut today and walked along the beach until I couldn't walk any further.

I was surprised to see no evidence at all of a wreath or at least some sort of memorial marking the spot. I expected to find bunches of wilting flowers and messages of condolence but there's nothing.

You are in Samui??? Is that you in the picture?

Down boy, down!

[chonabot]

In the Uk Sun Newspaper today there is an article on the trial/sentence.

I mentioned elsewhere on the website that my Brother , Norman , knew Wichai when he was 15 until a few years ago. He wrote a very good article on the way he thought Wichai and people like him have reacted towards the growth of tourism in the Islands. As per usual the Sun have just sensationalised the story and used bits like " He has mad staring eyes" without bothering with the prologue or hinting at any context. I have published his piece in full below- This time with his permission.

When I first met Wichai Somkhaoyai he would have been about 15.

I had returned to Koh Tao (Smallest in the group of island that include Koh Samui and Koh Phagnan) to reacquaint myself with Ot, the owner of a group of bamboo huts, New Way, and his family after an absence of 18 months. These had been a hard 18mths for me working obscene hours and saving hard to keep alive my dream, to live in paradise. Memories of the simple pleasure taken in walking along deserted beaches, dining with like minded adventurers and learning a way of life which was peaceful and forgiving had fed my dream and made my hardship easier to bear.

Ot introduced me to Wichai whose pet name was Nom, I had a somewhat legendary status having been on the island when there were only five or six places to stay. Now there were a hundred or so resorts with 10 to 70 huts in each. Nom was helping with the Taxi boat and the kitchen, work that I had previously been employed in. We joked about how he had stolen my job!

Nom seemed shy and his English was limited, using hand gestures to explain the words that eluded him. Ot told me that his Thai was no better! He had taken him in as a way of making merit, after finding him stealing food from the dog's bowl. To take in one who had a bad start in life was a holy thing to do. Ot had instilled in me a quasi Buddhist outlook on life, to live and let live but do good when you can. Do not be jealous of others, give them no reason to covet what you have, and you will suffer less.

I was entrusted to make sure that Nom did not overstep the mark with his fiancee, a beautiful 14 yr old girl he was being forced to marry after they had been discovered mid nuptial a few weeks before my arrival.

During the late afternoon, Nom and I would often go fishing, he would ask me about Farang (not thai) girls and confide that he did not wish to marry the girl, having only wanted some fun. Having had that now, he was being embarrassed into a commitment he was not ready for. His view of western girls was that they were more beautiful than Thai girls and wanted sex all the time. Telling him how wrong he was had no effect on him, he had read magazines he told me, knowingly. He didn’t want to throw away his life on a woman who was, in his view prudish, when all around him were scantily clad European and Australian women, seemingly, promising exotic sex.

I asked about his family, he was an orphan and had never known his mother or father “My father Ot now.” he smiled.

Before being taken in by Ot, he had worked for two years on a squid fishing boat where the crew would be at sea for up to a year at a time, only returning to land to empty their foul smelling catch at processing factories miles from habitation. I asked him what he and the crew had done for entertainment, the answer was to "read magazine". Being unable to read even Thai he left me in no doubt that the magazines were pornographic and the models therein were not Thai. How did they manage, being an all male crew I asked? For some time, he explained, he was the youngest, but after some months there was a younger boy on board. His face clouded at the thought and I asked no more.

I gave them some cushions for a wedding gift. He told me afterward he would have preferred money, his normally open and happy face suddenly inscrutable and closed. Within a week he had left the island and Ot would not hear his name mentioned. Money had gone missing. His bride was tearful for a day or so but the Thai way is to concern yourself with the now, not with what has passed. Soon she was working happily with the women of the kitchen again chattering like birds about the rice, the fish and the children.

This was the first time I had met Nom, and my stay this time was a strange one. Previously I had embraced the Thai way of life and those that came to the island were of a similar mind, showing respect for the customs and the quaint ways of a, then, innocent and naïve people. I had helped Ot to translate his menu and myself and others taught him to make some western dishes for the few intrepid travellers willing to suffer the nine hour boat ride to the Island. Most round-the-worlders preferring to visit Samui or Phagnan because of its easy access. New Way offered an honesty system whereby you helped yourself to drinks and cigarettes and noted your consumption in a book. You paid when you left the resort, in my case this was often as long as 18 months after arriving! The trust bestowed by the owners was typical of old school Thailand. Do not suffer distrust and you will be rewarded with honesty.

Toward the end of my sabbatical there were people arriving on the island who brought with them the desire to educate the Thais in the ways of the outside world. Tourists who complained that the eggs were not cooked to their liking. That there were flies near the sugar and even that the sunset was not as good as they had expected. The older Thais accepted that the farang were the same but different from Thais and treated each complaint with a smile as they shook there heads at one another. The younger Thais, already questioning tradition, would attempt to emulate the western ways, some girls would even wear bikinis; attracting disdain from their elders. Lonely Planet warned travellers to cover up, even on the beach for fear of offending the local people. This advice was ignored wholesale by all who visited. Thais pride themselves on there ability to accept without becoming unhappy or angry, to keep a cool heart is to be close to Buddha. They were not outwardly offended, but the elders would tell me that they feared for their children. That this would poison them.

I left after a shorter stay this time having thought the whole situation to be a conundrum. Ot was making money, which was a good thing. The island was becoming a place that was losing itself, a bad thing. To make room for the ever-increasing hordes of gap year students (doing the world in 2 weeks, wow!) palm trees were being uprooted and the smiles becoming sly grins. During the week before I left, the resort 200yds down the beach began to dig up the sand using it to construct a swimming pool because "Farang not like swim with fish, fish dirty.".

I returned a number of years later, unable to keep away from a land that had given me so much inspiration previously, unable to stand at a distance knowing that its goodness was being raped by ignorant “travellers” spreading their disease of unhappiness wherever they went.

It was worse than before, concrete roads spread from the port where once had been a dirt track. Last time I was there some scooters had been brought to the Island. Now Four wheel drive taxis filled the harbour area, hassling for trade. Ot had become a millionaire in Thai terms but he was no longer as happy as before. There was a supermarket selling cheese from France and HP sauce. I remembered how myself and long staying friends would sometimes talk of the things we missed from home which numbered only a few, HP sauce being one!, and the things we did not miss, of which there were many; yobs, drunken ignorance, politics violence and crime. With the brown sauce came all the other imports. Beach parties now had beer-swilling skinheads looking to fight anyone who was not English. Old rich men paraded hookers they had picked up in Bangkok or Pattaya, along the white sands. A speedboat could get you from Phangan to Koh To in 1.5 hours. People arrived with suitcases and the huts had been replaced by air conditioned concrete bungalows. Every resort had television blaring day and night and clubs had sprung up, with them the drug tourists and the corruption of the island was complete.

During this stay I met Nom again. Ot had forgiven him, showing a cool heart, and he was working the water taxis again to the small islands. He offered to sell me Ya Bah, methamphetamine. I tried to tell him that this was wrong, that this was not the Thai way. He told me that this is what Farang wanted. I asked him about the fiance from my last visit and he laughed "She ugly, Farang girl sexy!". I asked then if he had lost Buddha he said "Buddha shit!" with unmasked contempt.

At the local beach club I bumped into him once more, he was wildly drunk. I was with a beautiful German girl I had known on and off for some time. He asked if I would let him sleep with her. He was changed forever, eyes staring the stare of a madman, transparent lust distorting his once innocent features into a disgusting leer. I pushed him away and he fell easily to the ground. His friends helped him to his feet and surrounded me, one brandished a broken bottle. Something inside him remembered who I was and he put his hand out to shake. When we shook it was an unspoken agreement that we would never again be friends.

A few weeks later he had again been banished by Ot. This time for selling drugs to guests. I heard he had been caught by police on Koh Phagnan and beaten to within an inch of his life.

I spoke with Ot at some length on the subject of forgiveness and punishment. When we had spoken, ten or so years before, he had been solid in his Buddhist beliefs. Now he said there too many things from outside and the inside was being crushed. If everyone believed then the ways would work. Buddhism does not dilute well with Godlessness. Farangs were not to be trusted and that now even young Thais were to be treated with caution. You could no longer avoid suffering, the only way to survive was to pass on the suffering to your neighbour. Everything was ######ed.

This was the shortest of my stays on the island and I was relieved to leave it. It was now more similar to Sodom than Eden and the very thing that had made Ot rich had made all of us poorer, including himself.

My heart goes out to all who visit these places expecting the idyllic paradise that was before. You have missed what you have never had. Those before you have taken it from you. There is no innocence left and if you find some then get away from it lest you corrupt it. Do not put any faith in "guide books". These are wildly out of date with revisions only including additional information. The whole book requires total rewriting to address the incredible change that has taken place in these countries over only ten or so years. Take care.

This morning I opened my newspaper to see Nom's "not quite innocent" face looking at me again.

My heart goes out to the family of Katherine Horton.

Copyright 2006 Norman Hall

Edited January 19, 2006 by chonabot

[Khun Jean]

Not really happy that 2 seperate topics about RAPE are merged into one.

I think it even deserves a place in the NEWS forum. So much more people can read about it.

Change the topic title to reflect that there are now 2 cases, not only one as the title now suggests and why leave out the word rape?

Edited January 19, 2006 by Khun Jean

[redrus]

Not really happy that 2 seperate topics about RAPE are merged into one.

I think it even deserves a place in the NEWS forum. So much more people can read about it.

Change the topic title to reflect that there are now 2 cases, not only one as the title now suggests and why leave out the word rape?

redrus

[opothai]

Not really happy that 2 seperate topics about RAPE are merged into one.

I think it even deserves a place in the NEWS forum. So much more people can read about it.

Change the topic title to reflect that there are now 2 cases, not only one as the title now suggests and why leave out the word rape?

redrus

i saw the beginning of a thread about this but it was closed as unsubstatiated and rightly so,

but now it has been substantiated well lets see.

[sriracha john]

I drove to New Hut today and walked along the beach until I couldn't walk any further.

I was surprised to see no evidence at all of a wreath or at least some sort of memorial marking the spot. I expected to find bunches of wilting flowers and messages of condolence but there's nothing.

You are in Samui??? Is that you in the picture?

If she responded with, "No, that's my grand-daughter." , would that change your reason for asking?

As this is a serious topic, can we please stay ON topic?

Edited January 19, 2006 by sriracha john

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I've got lots of ideas, where do I apply?

Does anyone know which is the best Thai news website for updates?

Mods do.

[chonabot]

Back to the very sad topic. Here's a link to the Sun Article , my Brothers bit is the last paragraph.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006030129,00.html

[sonnyJ]

Thats The Sun.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Back to the very sad topic. Here's a link to the Sun Article , my Brothers bit is the last paragraph.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006030129,00.html

Famous family eh Chon ? Does the brother enjoy a drink on a warm day too ?

[chonabot]

Back to the very sad topic. Here's a link to the Sun Article , my Brothers bit is the last paragraph.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006030129,00.html

Famous family eh Chon ? Does the brother enjoy a drink on a warm day too ?

Infamous more like Pat , yes he takes a whisky when the sun is past the yardarm.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Back to the very sad topic. Here's a link to the Sun Article , my Brothers bit is the last paragraph.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006030129,00.html

Famous family eh Chon ? Does the brother enjoy a drink on a warm day too ?

Infamous more like Pat , yes he takes a whisky when the sun is past the yardarm.

He'd fit in here then

[Jai Dee]

For latest developments and continuing news on this topic, please see this thread.

/Closed.