PostBag
For the last three years I have been residing in Koh Samui and recently had an unfortunate experience during a weekend break in Bangkok. I was walking near my apartment early in the evening when a motorcycle driver came up behind me and grabbed my handbag, which contained my apartment keys, identification for travel and my wallet with my credit and ATM cards. Luckily my cell phone was in my pocket.
I was in a great deal of shock, as I have always felt safe walking alone in Bangkok; however, I have heard of similar occurrences.
The events which followed left me feeling happy to call Thailand my home. My building security guard had heard my screams and immediately chased the motorcyclist, but to no avail.
In the meantime a helpful Thai called for the police and remained with me until an officer arrived. Obviously I was upset and due to my little language skills I was struggling to understand what was going on. I was taken to a Silom police station where, even though communication was a problem, a comprehensive list of the stolen items was made, phone calls were made on my behalf cancelling my cards, a 24-hour locksmith was called and it was arranged that I would pay at a later stage due to not having access to money, and I was given a ride back to the apartment where the officer remained until I was safely inside.
I felt so at ease that I was laughing with the police about the situation before I left. I would like to commend the police officers and the building security for their efforts and professionalism; on this occasion the system went above and beyond the call of duty and I am thankful for their assistance.
JEANETTE KELLY
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The PAD is behind it all
Many thanks for Songdej Praditsmanont's mock response (Postbag, July 24) to my letter of July 23. In view of the nationalistic vehemence, I have attentively read and watched CNN, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia, the Bangkok Post and the International Herald Tribune, some of which imply that the current border spat has more to do with the political uproar stoked by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in Thailand. On the contrary, it is business as usual in Cambodia. Please log on to http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/17/asia/AS-Cambodia-Temple-Dispute.php for root causes and http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/20/asia/cambo.php for news analysis.
Bad blood among Thais and Cambodians is boiling unabated. It is about time the two nations struck a deal, with Asean or the UN Security Council as mediator; bilateral talks will, as always, be of no avail. VUTH CHANSEREI PHUON Phnom Penh A little lesson in history The ongoing fury over the listing of the Phra Viharn temple as a World Heritage Site results from domestic politics as much as nationalism. Neither has anything to do with history and, in this case, architecture, which none of the vociferous parties involved has shown any appreciation for.
I can't help but fret over our shortcomings in history and culture as listed below.
1. My father, who spent years in the archives in France back in the 1960s, has the French map, or a microfilm of it, showing the "kink" from the watershed line to exclude Prasat Khao Phra Vihara from Siam. The said map was appendiced to the border agreement between France and Siam. This is something which nobody in Siam knew about when M R Seni Pramoj took the case to the World Court, and my father told me that it was obvious that Siam had to lose the case because of this map.
2. After the Court's deliberation, Field Marshal Sarit refused to cede the temple to Cambodia. A higher authority called him in to say that the country is bound by the said verdict and there the matter rested.
(Of course the approach to the temple is possible only from the Thai side of the border.)
3. Thais have never been good at keeping historical records, and we have to go to the archives in Paris, London, The Hague, Cornell, etc, in order to do our PhD's in Thai history!
4. Without the sense of real history, Thais are vehemently nationalistic, which is dangerous. For example, school textbooks still teach Thais that we came from the Altai Mountains and founded the Nanchao Kingdom, which Chinese scholars dismiss as pure nonsense.
5. Few Thais realise that the Khmer Empire used to cover much of present-day Thailand and Laos, as evidenced by Prasat Muang Sing to the west on the Burmese border, and the Khmer ruins in Sukhothai in central Siam, and Laos. The Thais, having wrested from the Khmers their outpost town of Sukhothai in the 13th century, took over the Khmer language - the Thai script being a simplified form of Khmer - and in the early Ayutthaya period adopted, with variations or aesthetic licence, Khmer architecture, classical dance and other facets of Khmer civilisation which were then unwittingly exported back to Kampuchea by the French in the 19th century. (Witness the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh which is a mediocre copy of our Grand Palace).
6. Kampuchea to Siam (or to history-less Thailand), is like ancient Greece and Rome to the rest of Europe, or 3rd century BC China and the T'ang Dynasty to Japan. That much do we owe to the Khmers!
7. In the end, a great monument like Prasat Khao Phra Vihara doesn't belong to any particular country. It belongs to the world. Only this or that country has the obligation to look after it on behalf of mankind.
8. History is the future. When people refuse to understand this, with a tinge of humour, they have to start from the beginning again and again.
SUMET JUMSAI
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Do without the ICJ
Re: "The win-win way for Cambodia and Thailand," Bangkok Post, July 23. There is neither opportunity nor need for anyone to win in this difficult situation created by the intercession of the International Court of Justice, with an opinion that was in violation of an existing bilateral treaty that was in force at the time the ICJ issued its problematic and ambiguous verdict. The rational way out of a problem created by the incompetence of the ICJ is to remove the ICJ completely from the issue, and to continue to pursue bilateral negotiations with the current government, with the 1904 treaty as the starting point. CHA-AM JAMAL Raise the bridges! What a brilliant suggestion from Upcountry (Postbag, July 24) that Bangkok should buy up London's unworthily cast-off Routemaster double-decker buses! Not only would they represent a great savings over new vehicles, the BMA could make millions setting up suitably protected viewing platforms at all the lower bridges in town!
SIMON JOHNSTONE
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Red registration plates
Would someone kindly explain the purpose of the red registration plate restrictions regarding driving at night? The red plate given to a new car is kept on while the real registration is processed, and a white plate is obtained about a month later. Red-plated cars are not allowed to be driven at night.
I asked a few Thais and was told that maybe when a car is new, we are not too familiar with the controls, so it is safer not to drive at night. That sounds quaint, but it does not explain why one would be better acquainted with the controls by buying a second-hand vehicle, which does not need red plates? Every night I see numerous red plates on the roads, highlighting the uselessness of the rule, except to make a few policemen happy.
Which brings up a second issue: why should we wait several weeks for new plates? It only takes a few hours to register a new owner, so why shouldn't the Department of Land Transport keep readily available licence plates in stock, thereby avoiding this delay?
EDUARDO MUSTAD
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