Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Fisherman jailed for murder of British yachtsman - Thailand

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 29, 2009
in General News
. 0 Comments

 

Link to Sky News today  Sunday Mirror

Background Links: The Times, Daily Mail
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, Saturday November 28 2009

Pictures: Andrew Chant

lindarobertsonmalcolmboat3

Two young Burmese fishermen have been sentenced to 25 years in prison each for the murder of 64-yr-old British yachtsman Malcolm Robertson off the coast of Thailand earlier this year.

At statement from the British Embassy in Bangkok today confirmed that Eksian Warapon, 19, and a shipmate known only as Aow, 18, were sentenced at Satun Provincial court earlier in the week.

A third Burmese, a juvenile known as Ko, aged 17, was sentenced to be held in custody until he reaches the age of 24, said Daniel Painter, Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Bangkok.

The two elder Burmese were initially sentenced to fifty years but their sentence was cut in half because they pleaded guilty and were remorseful.

The Burmese had been stranded on a small island off  Koh Adang in the Tarutao National Marine Park off the south coast of Thailand in March this year after jumping ship from a Thai fishing boat when Malcolm Robertson sailed in and moored offshore.

They were initially referred to as pirates but later it became clear that the young Burmese had been sold as slave labour to a Thai fishing fleet and had been in and out of immigration detention centres in Thailand.

 Before the attack they had spent eight months and sea without being allowed ashore with their Thai colleagues. They swum to the island and hopefully freedom.

But the island had no food and very little water.

Aow and Eksian (right)

Aow and Eksian (right)

Eksian Warapon, 19, told the court that all three were starving when the Robertson’s yacht ‘Mr. Bean’ anchored offshore,

“The boat was our only way of escape. We did not want to harm anyone but the foreigner put up a fight,” said Eksian..

They had swum to the boat and climbed aboard but were surprised by Mr.Robertson who started shouting at them.

Eksian admitted to being the person who bludgeoned Mr. Robertson with a hammer he had found on the 44 ft yacht, after the others tied up Linda Robertson, 57, naked in a cabin.

Later Mrs. Robertson, who with her husband owned a chain of cafes in Sussex,  made a courageous escape by freeing herself, weighing anchor and sailing away while her captors were mucking trying to get Mr. Bean’s ‘troublesome’  dingy to work.

The three men had agreed to leave the boat and had packed a dinghy with stolen property.including computers, mobile phones,

She said afterwards “But they had only got thirty yards when the engine began to splutter as I knew it would,

Linda Robertson in 'Mr. Bean's' dinghy

Linda Robertson in 'Mr. Bean's' dinghy

“They turned and started coming back, so I rushed to pull up the anchor, which was quite easy, because they had only let out thirty yards.  Then I put the boat into full throttle and headed out to see leaving them behind. 

“Then I saw them head to shore and I knew my ordeal was over and I was safe. I cannot believe I survived.”
Linda Robertson said today at her home St. Leonards, Sussex: “The juvenile showed a lot of remorse so I think his light sentence is justified. I am happy with the verdict. I am relieved they did not get the death penalty. Twenty five years in a Thai jail will be hell on earth. I would not wish any more on them. It’s another step towards getting over Malcolm’s death”..

A formal inquest will be held Sussex next month.

‘Clockwork Orange’ and Thailand _Updated 29/09

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 28, 2009
in Others
. 29 Comments

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BRITAIN OBIT KUBRICKIn the ‘Brits subjected to  ’Clockwork Orange’ attack story once again I am the bearer of bad tidings about violent crime in Thailand but in this case it is foreigners doing unspeakable things to foreigners.

This is not an attack on Thailand, although once again, I believe this demonstrates that , no matter how many foreign funded courses they attend, Thai police are still not mentally geared up to properly handle cases involving woman and children, or sex crime in  general.

Once again George’s cowboys at Thaivisa.com have saddled up again on the forum and are on their ’sensational journalism’ gig. But I have to say the story which appeared in today’s ‘Daily Mail’ only touches upon the real horror of what this couple claimed to have happened to them. And this is a story which I suspect has not ended.

I gave the story the ‘Clockwork Orange’ tag, because this incident reminded me of  a scene in that film. The film of course is a bit historical and this may not mean much to someone under thirty!

Anyway despite many well publicised cases in Thailand, rapes of foreigners are more often committed by foreigners here. Tourism breeds contempt and this latest incident will not do anything to dispel that. I feel a certain resignation both among the police and Embassy officials about what foreigners will do next. 

That means I suspect that often genuine victims may not get the full counselling they need.

Anyone who has dealt with victims of date rape drugs will know the absolute agony and torment these people go through. It will be with them for the rest of their lives.

I believe the couple. People on Koh Chang believe the couple. But to ask the couple to go through a court ordeal in Thailand…well that’s a different matter. Police here often do not treat victims with kid gloves. The two Britons have exposed themselves to a certain extent.  That shows considerable bravery. But all they want to do is warn other people.

They had after all just been around the world and the worst thing that happened to them was committed by a sneak thief in Ecuador.

In this case the suspected drug was ‘Dormicum’.  Thats a generic form of ‘midazolam’ which is used in operating theatres by surgeons who want their patients to co-operate during surgery. It is also given to Death Row prisoners in the United States before execution.

So I guess if it makes people feel happy to be executed its going to have a similar affect on a woman who is subjected to unspeakable acts in a bungalow on Koh Chang.

Legal provisons dictate that I cannot tell you much more than what a nice, level head couple these people are. I have to change the names, ages, and be very vague about their occupations.

Whats more there are photographs. Photographs taken by the couple before this happened. And without doubt photographs taken by these low-lifes themselves when it was happening.

Despite their ordeal they were very complimentary about Thailand and feel the country is generally safe certainly a lot safer than some South American countries they have recently had to negotiate.

And why indeed should not they feel safe striking up a conversation with an English girl and a group of Frenchman at a beach bar in Thailand? 

Not suprisingly ‘Richard’ wanted to get ‘Susan’ home as soon as possible. He has told the Embassy he will return to complete his statement and both will give evidence should any arrests be made. They feel concerned about the justice system and want DNA tests on materials conducted separately by the Home Office in the UK. Yesterday (Saturday) they submitted themselves for medical and forensic examination at the BNH in Bangkok. They also liaised with the British Embassy

They are also coming to terms that in due course their identities will have to be revealed if they are to pursue this case through the courts here.

 

 

 


 
 

British couple subjected to vile ‘Clockwork Orange’ style sex attack - Thailand

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 28, 2009
in General News
. 4 Comments

Link to DailyMail Link New York Daily News
By Andrew Drummond
Last updated at 12:38 AM on 28th November 2009
A British couple have become victims of a horrendous Clockwork Orange-style sex attack ordeal while on holiday in Thailand.

The professional couple had chosen the Thai holiday island of Koh Chang to round off a memorable one-year sabbatical from their jobs touring the world.

But last night, the couple, one a government employee, the other a businessman, fled Thailand after they were subjected to a night of terror in which they say they were  drugged and raped by a gang they suspect preys on foreign tourists.

The couple did not wish to be fully identified. But the man, Richard, 42, remembers being forced to watch as his wife Susan, 31, was sexually assaulted by two men.

For the next two days, the couple lay almost motionless in their holiday bungalow as gradually their memories returned.

Koh Chang

Koh Chang

They called the police, but when nobody went to see them, they went to a local hospital to be examined by doctors.

Richard said: ‘The doctor there examined us and listened to our story and seemed to know what had happened straight away.

‘He told us we were showing all the symptoms of having been given the drug Dormicum – a date rape drug.  I do not know the drug, but it seemed of no surprise to the doctor.

‘When I asked the doctor if he could check for any traces, he said no, it would have been cleared out of our systems by now.’

They contacted the police, who they say showed scant  interest and did little in the way of investigation.

They also contacted British authorities, but say the British representative on the island who came to see them was not interested either.

Last night, they were on their way back to Britain, with little prospect of anything being done.  But they wanted to make others aware of the dangers of making contact with strangers in such places.

Richard said: ‘I know many people are not going to believe this and say that we must have been taking drink or drugs through choice. But nothing could be further from the truth.’

Susan said the night of their ordeal began with a pleasant drink at a beach bar, where they met an Englishwoman and some Frenchmen. They stayed in their company at the bar, although at one point she and her partner left for a short time, returning to join them. It was at that point, she believes, the drinks were spiked.

‘

Clockwork Orange

Clockwork Orange

Things became a bit hazy. And then one of the Frenchmen lifted me up and carried me out of the bar.  In a normal situation I would not let anybody do such a thing.  It was bizarre.’

The group all went back to the couple’s bungalow.

‘Then things got hazier and hazier,’ she said.

‘Everything was a blur.’

Richard said he could vaguely remember being outside the bungalow and watching through a window as  Susan was assaulted by the men.

‘The next thing it was light and I was lying on the balcony in a foetal position and the Frenchman were standing above me looking down and laughing and saying what they had done to Susan.’

He realised that at some point he too had been sexually attacked.

The couple said that when they were able to complain to police ‘they did not seem very interested’.

After contacting the British Embassy they were visited by a consular representative, a local Thai woman, who told them the police would not take the case seriously.

‘We have been contacted by the police who have asked us what we are going to do,’ said Richard.

‘We do not want to let the matter drop. But we must get home to our families.’

A Thai Police spokesman strenuously denied they were not taking the couple’s complaint seriously and said an investigation was under way. 

A British Embassy spokesman said: ‘The consular team in Bangkok have been in touch throughout to give help and advice to the British nationals involved and are urgently following up with the Thai police.

‘A member of staff from our consulate in Pattaya visited the British nationals within the first day of the embassy being contacted  to provide face-to-face assistance. Our consular staff in London have also been in touch with the family members in the UK.’

Of monks, mama-sans, sex tourists and balconies

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 26, 2009
in Others
. 8 Comments

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Oh dear, I had a ‘little t(w)itter’ this morning.  No not the internet thingy, but one of those little spasms of laughter enjoyed by the late British camp comedian Frankie Howerd.
giuliano02This morning Geoffrey Giuliano , formerly known as ‘Ronald Macdonald’, sent me a clip with his latest starring role in another foreign made film in Thailand, this one made in Pattaya. He stars as the murdered foreigner but has lots of lines before his corpse is found on the street below a condo.
Now if the Thai Film Board are going to get upset about such documentaries  as ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ which was ‘reality television’, ehem with a few little tweaks, then they won’t be happy with the fictitional ‘Monks and mama-sans’, produced by a chap called Lab Ky Mo.
Well I know Lab sounds more Burmese than British, but this is another British/American made film, and it’s got it all, go-go girls, massage parlours, and sleazy sex tourists  cue ‘Geoffrey’ scripted as ‘Freddie the Farang’ plunging from balconies etc. Top marks to the casting director.
It’s a short film. In fact you can read the entire script by clicking here. First of all I should explain that Geoffrey and I are old sparring partners.  I usually duck when he is around.  His language can be loud, and he does not mediate his vocabulary.
The last time he was at my house his voice boomed across the lake,  sentences liberally sprinkled with four letter words, or rather four letter words somehow linked into sentences,  as I patched him through to a news editor in London.
He was once very famous. He is a former rock author, hobnobbed with the stars, had his own weekly radio  show ‘Geoffrey Guiliano’s Roots of Rock’ syndicated across 60 stations,  and probably still is an authority on everyone from ‘The Beatles’ to the ‘Rolling Stones’.  “I know I am not your cup of tea,” he tells me, a limey.  As a journalist I keep in contact because Geofffrey I believe is a story waiting to happen. It could be messy.

giulianopaint

 

 

 

Anyway several films have been based on his books including ‘his Paint it Black’ - The Murder of Brian Jones.
He has hours and hours of  potentially explosive secret tapes of confessions of well known stars which have never made it to the light of day. Lawyers for Yoko Ono have been giving him a headache.  I am keeping some of the tapes for him. I think a lot of people may have to die before these tapes are released.
Ironically, in an art imitating reality sort of way, much of that has been lost after he came to Thailand, and had a Thai wife, who will not realise what she has run away with. Had they stayed together I supect he would have ended up in the same way as the character Freddie the Farang, who he plays.
This is Freddie the Farang talking in the film to a young male tourist in Pattaya for the first time before Freddy himself takes the balcony plunge. You can watch it here

“Well, lemme tell you
something, - anyone out here who
is not a diplomat or working for
a large multi-national firm, is
in some way broken or running
away from something.

Geoffrey Giuliano in former years

Geoffrey Giuliano in former years

They’re either running away from
themselves, ex-wives, child
support, or the police, IRS, or even running away
from success - me, believe it or
not, I used to be a corporate
millionaire… but I was 320
pounds and very unfulfilled!

And then comes:
“Freddie: Oh I get it, you’re looking for love
here? From a bar girl?
(scoffs)

You can’t buy love here, son.
You can buy a condo. And that’s
what a lot of guys do. They
come over here, fall madly in love
with a beautiful Thai babe in a
bar within 5 days of landing into
giuliano-beatlesthe country. Within a month
they’re married. But do these
fools really think these women
love them? The girls don’t love
them. Most of these women
already have Thai husbands, for
Christsake! But they call
them their brothers! Some of
them even have their ‘brothers’
live with them! Some farangs are
stupid enough to buy them a
$100,000 apartment. And then one
day, their ‘brother’ and maybe an uncle
and a couple of cousins come
around and toss them out the
balcony from the thirty fifth floor,
And the police just write it off
as suicide. It’s just another
ex-pat story. You can’t buy
love here, my friend…


Ouch.  Anyway Geoffrey is not entirely reliable but there is a weird sort of ethic behind his motivation.
Why Ronald Macdonald?  Well he was Ronald MacDonald for over a year playing Ronald in the ‘Ronald MacDonald safety show all across Canada.
After he quit he became a vegatarian and  expressed concerns about companies “who make their millions off the murder of countless animals and the exploitation of children for their own ends”  in a submission on behalf of the plaintiffs in the 1991 famous London McLibel case.
Mind you in between times he seems to have also acquired a job playing ‘Marvelous Magical Burger King in New England for the Burger King empire.
Cracking good training for  his acting role as a large, ugly, sex tourist in Thailand.
Geoffrey - George Harrison

Geoffrey - George Harrison

Seeing me, seeing you! Foreign film crews in Pattaya

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 19, 2009
in General News
. 6 Comments

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The inevitable has happened. Well I guess it had to sometime.

The resort of Pattaya has always been an attraction to foreign film crews. They have to be sneaky. It’s a dangerous occupation down there, and as I think I mentioned before, pointing a camera in a wrong direction, particularly at a foreigner in a sex bar, can result in a severe injury with a telescopic lens.
But that does not stop producers insisting that, thirty seconds of scantily clad, nay even naked, girls in a go-go bar, can’t do any harm to the ratings.
To establish Thailand in their films, producer-directors used to use The Temple of the Emerald Bhudda. Now it seems a bit of totty helps too.
They are everywhere and they have now discovered that it is best not to look like a camera crew but to look like tourists.
Some producers can carry it off. Some cannot.  What has happened now is that one foreign television crew filming in Pattaya has filmed another film crew who have been filming in a go-go bar.
Not intentionally of course. They did not know the young couple in question was a film crew.

Gavin Hill and Dean Palmer of Vera Productions in happier days

Gavin Hill and Dean Palmer of Vera Productions in happier days

Stand up Gavin Hill, producer of ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’.  I mention this now because the man you caught on camera was one ’Olly Lambert’ producer and the director of a ‘Cutting Edge’ programme on British television last night ‘Confessions of a Traffic Warden” .  Now there’s a whipping boy if ever there was one, the traffic warden, that is, not Olly.

Olly and his ‘girlfriend’ were caught secretly filming in a place called  ’BabyDolls A-Go-Go’ in’ Pattaya by the owner who confiscated their gear, which must have been above the value of a US$300 Panasonic.
Olly was outraged but admitted: ”Well, I might have accidentally got shots of girls with their knickers off’.
When the charming, slightly sensitive and definitely indiscreet Howard Miller (He just can’t stop defending himself on the internet) Group Leader of Pattaya Tourist Police Assistants was called in to mediate, Olly Lambert came up with a strange tale.
He was looking for a girl, he said. A friend of his had recently died in the UK and had left something for her in his will.
“What - and film her naked first?  Was he looking for a birthmark or special tattoo?

We can show you to the door

We can show you to the door

Of course, Olly may have a tale to tell. From what I read on the internet Olly seems to have some awards, but awards in TV are perhaps as numerous as available girls in Pattaya.
He had to wait a day for his camera and was an unhappy bunny: “This place (Pattaya) is advertised all over the world as a sex tourist haven, but it is not okay to show it!” he complained indignantly.

I think Olly may have betrayed his bottom line there if you pardon the pun.

 But he has a point I suppose.  Pretty much all of the go-go bars in Pattaya have their own websites promoting their girls etc.  And if you really don’t care,  you can even have a birthday party there and get a picture taken looking exceedingly silly. There are a few up on the Babydolls website

We have a jacuzzi too!

We have a jacuzzi too!

These pictures will inevitably go up on the internet and it won’t be the first time a ‘wife left behind’ has found out what her her husband has been up to.

Now, before I sound totally hyprocritical, some years ago I did the Thai investigation for a programme called, rather unoriginally, ‘The Sex Slave Trade’ which was networked in the UK, and sold on to Australia and New Zealand.

Actually the victims of this trade were not from Soi Cowboy or Soi Thaniya. But the producer/director insisted on secret filming in these area from a blacked out van.

This was not without its comic moments.  First of all in Soi Thaniya the ‘reporter’ was instructed to walk slowly down the street casually talking to the girls outside each establishment.

sex-slave-trade-c4He could not speak Thai.  Few of the girls spoke English, but many spoke Japanese. And not one single one of them would give him a passing glance, let alone open up a dialogue or let him into her bar.

Then came Soi Cowboy. This meant actually driving up the Soi again as all the food vendors had to move their stalls to make away.

We were going far slowler than walking speed, which attracted the attention of the Soi Bobby who kept banging on the sides of the van (above). We of course refused to open the doors and sped off into Soi 23.  I made my escape and managed to get back to have a late drink at ‘Moonshine’ with amiable cricketer Aussie Steve. Like Gavin, who parted company with Dean Palmer, the Executive producer of  ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ I also complained about ‘The Sex Slave Trade’.

Its all here somewhere.

Finally if you want to see Olly defending himself, it’s all here on Episode 5 Part 1 of ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’

Gratuitous pictures: Babydoll.com

British woman raped in Pattaya - Part 2

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 19, 2009
in The Times
. 8 Comments

This is a blog only

Following a report here (written from Thai copy sent by our reporter in Pattaya) also sent to the British newspapers, some people down in Pattaya seem surprised that this event was not reported in the local newspapers, though I believe it has been now.   A thread even went up on Thaivisa.com http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Press-Censorship-Pattaya-t315227.html.

I never seem to be surprised that people down on the eastern seaboard put so much faith in their local press, when an even cursory look at some of the ‘hail fellow well met’ owners, and past owners, and their agendas, should ring massive alarm bells all around.

Censorship in Burma: Courtesy Msf/Bart

Censorship in Burma: Courtesy Msf/Bart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are not in Burma so the censorship in Thailand is mainly self censorship. Of course you could get shot or ruined if you break the rules!

Actually one newspaper’s published agenda is to protect the city’s image against harmful foreign publicity and has been harping on about the ‘family resort’  ever since its conception, though its former chief reporter had a gun, a stun gun,  and interesting sidelines, both as a tourist policeman and an agent running a sort of SOS business for foreigners in the sh*t.

As for the other main English language newpaper, ouch, don’t go there. Never mind the boss, a member of the FCCT when I last looked, one of its TV interviewers is best known for his conviction for possessing child porn in the UK. I could go on…and on.

Ask yourself this. In trouble in Pattaya? Victim of injustice, fraud, or other crime? Need to expose a villain?  Would you go to your local paper for help? The answer is no, which is why many people contact their papers back home.

Want to perpetrate a scam?  Sell a puppy (in all senses of the word) Whitewash your past with a personality write up: Answer: Yes.

Anyway readers of ThaiVisa.com were treated to the  lifted Daily Mail version of my story. The Daily Mail claimed, under my name, that the woman was raped.  My story stated that the woman ‘claimed’ she was raped.  While it may be true she was raped, there is no conviction and two men were already in custody.

This seems to have been leapt on by a couple of posters as a prime example of dishonest or exaggerated reporting.  I was particularly intrigued by a post called ‘Aussiechick’ who asked people if they remembered my World Cup stories………..suggesting another case of maybe exaggeration or whatever.

Aussie Rules? No perhaps she meant the ‘Chelsea Headhunters’,  a bunch of thugs who ended up in Pattaya after being found not guilty on conspiracy to cause affray charges, when police were caught ‘verballing’ them (verballing: essentially inventing quotes).  They have long since diminished, victims to Thai women and the recession, I gather.  I understand also one or two were a little miffed to have been nabbed by Japanese police at Narita airport on the way to the World Cup there, way back when.  They put it down to me, but its much more likely to have been the British NCIS - The National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Stan the Monkey

Stan the Monkey

ThaiVisa even gave a convicted paedophile better known in the UK as ‘Stan the Monkey’ space to rant about me on the same thread.  He claimed I did a story about him without even meeting him etc.  My story was totally false etc.  For those who saw this rant, which has now been removed, here is the link and pictures of the first of two confrontations, working with the Metropolitan Police Women and Juvenile Division in Bangkok and FACE - Fight Against Child Exploitation.  They could have placed charges against him in Thailand by the way, but the Thai authorities found it a lot easier just to deport him for working illegally. Now its apparently my fault he cannot come back.  Or have you Alan?

And there was also this post from some guy calling himself Manarak (Anorak perhaps would be better) which I cannot resist quoting.

He says: “We don’t have any details on what precisely happened to this girl or how it happened. This makes the whole story suspicious.
The papers normally would pay a good price for a story full of disgusting details, but no… no story. Strange?”

What?

A little evidence here courtesy of ThaiVisa reflecting on the level of argument some of their members. :-).  Still,  if the posts keep coming in on mass the webmasters can cash in on more of those ‘Bangkok massage’ adverts.

But  is there likely to be a happy conclusion in the rape case ? No. It is very rare. The ‘raped’ woman asked for no publicity. The Pattaya Police did not want the story published. In low profile cases like this there is no chance of having the case fast tracked.

So if she were to prosecute the case, there would only be her evidence, and perhaps the other evidence of what was stolen. She might have to wait out a year, even if the defendants pleaded guilty, two years or more if otherwise. If she left the country she would have to pay her air fare to come back.   And what was she doing alone in walking street at 12.30 they will ask?  

It would be an absolute nightmare.  So lets face the facts. For a foreign woman sexually abused in Thailand there is little recourse. Do not expect the same justice as you get back home. Don’t lose your friends. Be safe.

Its tragic - but true.

British woman ‘raped’ in Thai beach resort

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 17, 2009
in General News
. 9 Comments

British woman raped in Thailand – two men held

Link to Daily Mail

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, Monday November 17

A British tourist claimed last night that she was dragged off the street by two men in front of Thai police and then taken to a hotel where she was raped and then robbed of her belongings.

The woman, aged 25, said the attack happened early Saturday morning in the Thai resort of Pattaya, twenty metres from a police box. The attack happened after she had been separated from friends. The abduction allegedly took place in Pattaya’s Walking Street.

She said she was unable to resist the two men who after raping her then left taking her Natwest bank and credit cards and 60 pounds in cash and a bracelet worth 100 pounds. Nobody came to her help.

The attack was kept secret at her request but last night police in Pattaya charged two men with rape and theft. They were named as Krajon Senkam, 29, and Surasak Kovekasan, 20, who were described as local ‘maeng da’ – a Thai expression , literally translating as cockroaches, describing men who live off the earnings of local prostitutes.

Police Colonel Wanlop Kangtharatit said the men were arrested quickly as they were known in the area.

 

 

Kidnapped priest wore down his captors with good humour

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 15, 2009
in General News
. 0 Comments

“When you go we will be free at last too!” they said after month long ordeal with troublesome priest

From Andrew Drummond, Manila, Friday, 13 2009

sinnott03Resilient Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott wore down his captors with words of kindness and prayers.

After ten days they gave up their political speeches threw their hands in the air and said: “If you go now we will be free too. We want you to go!”
Instead of a fit young captive who needed little attention they had found themselves nurses to a genial old man who in other circumstances could have been their friend, he said.

Faced with the priest’s refusal to believe in their cause and nonplussed with his gentle manner,  they ended up being his caretakers,  and praying themselves that no harm would come to the 79-year-old Irish Columban missionary.
The kidnap by a break-away faction of the Moro Islamic National Front in the Southern Philippines ended with his armed guards almost begging the authorities to take Father Sinnott back.
“ They had enough. They all wanted to go home too,” Father Sinnott told the Irish Daily Mail today (Friday) in Manila, “ I guess they had their own families to look after.
“We had started off at loggerheads.  They insisted they were freedom fighters and they were original indigenous people, known as Lumad, from Mindanao. They wanted their land back and a state with a constitution which would be the Koran.
“Well, I was having nothing of that blarney. I told them that most of Mindanao was now Christian. And in any case the original indigenous people were neither Christian nor Muslim. Actually Christianity came 200 years to the Philippines after Islam  but the majority are now Catholics.
“Really what they really wanted was $2million in ransom.  But it did not take them long to give up on that idea.
“For the first week ago there was little love lost.  They prayed their way and I prayed mine, staring up to the heavens flat on my back in a hammock as three times a day they faced Mecca.  But by the second week we were all praying for each other.
“Forget about the politics, or their crime.  These were normal people with families with the same aspirations as anyone. We got to know each other quite well.  They were very kind. Beside they may have had trouble on their hands.  I was not troublesome.  But I took a lot of looking after and they were worried for my health. 
“In the end I think they accepted that kidnap was forbidden by the Koran, and they were told that I believe by leaders of the real MILF.  But they argued that they had no other way to get funding.
Father Mick’s captivity came to an end on Thursday after representatives of the real Moro Islamic National Front ordered the breakaway group, to hand him back to the authorities.   No ransom was paid, but a small gratuity is believed to have given to the small group, as a face saving gesture.  It is not thought to have been over $5000.
It was on October 11th Father Sinnott was taking his daily exercise shirtless outside the Columban Mission in Pagadian, southern Mindanao after supper when he heard the sound of rushing feet behind him on the driveway. He was grabbed by three men and a fourth came to face him with a pistol.
The next minute he was bundled into a pick-up truck, known locally as a multi-cab, covered with a blanket and taken down to the shore.
“I know people associate the Southern Philippines with kidnap but I never thought in a million years anyone would come to the Columban Mission and actually do it.
“They put me in a boat and covered me up. Then took me to another and bigger and faster boat and transferred me and put me on the floor of the boat.  They  handled me roughly and blindfolded me but I could still see which side of the boats the lights were on, so I knew in which general direction we were going and it certainly was not in the direction they were telling me.
“When we put ashore again I had to walk with them for about one and a half hours. It was through stagnant muddy swamp water and we were guided by torchlight.
“When we stopped it was about 6am and getting light.  The number of guards had risen now from four to about 8 or 9.  I was stuck on a dry mound in the swamp about one metre by three metres.
“Hammocks were put up and I clambered in mine. If I got out one side I would end up in the swamp. On my other side was the guards’ hammock.
“We did not see eye to eye for the first few days. But I took things as they came. They argued about their cause, giving political sermons every day.  I was not having any of it but I guess I was good natured about it and they were nice people and eventually stopped and they treated me oh so very well.
“I certainly got the feeling they thought they had got the wrong guy.  I’m 79 years old and need taking care of and that’s just what they did.
sinnott-irish-daily-mail“Every little thing from helping me fasten my shoes to getting in and out of the hammock, and even moving in my hammock into a comfortable position, which is not so easy for an old man.
“They sent out men to get the provisions and brought for me things like bread and sandwich spread, which together with some of their rice was my daily intake. They also brought mosquito spray which made the swamp tolerable.  Who has ever heard of terrorists supplying mosquito spray and sandwich spread? 
Father Sinnott had last year been in hospital for a heart operation.
“When I told them I did not have my heart medicine, the medicine arrived at the end of ten days, but I had no trouble in the meantime.
“I even saw their shopping bags which showed they had done their shopping in Cotabato, so I had roughly guessed my location correctly.
“By the end of ten days they had clearly had enough themselves.  There was myself and two guards on one mound. Then on another mound a few yards away were another two guards, and a third dry mound was the cooking mound with another three guards.
“The only exercise I got was to jump up and down beside my hammock.  The boredom was the worst thing;  ten days stuck in a hammock or standing or sitting on a very small dry piece of land.
“I knew my guards by their first names, or nicknames.  There was Keekaye, who had five sons and two daughters. But he wished they he had seven sons so they could all be freedom fighters.
“There was Norking, who was just eighteen. He said he would rather fight by the power of a ballpoint pen than a gun. Then there were others called Alex, Jango, Max and Terry.
“In the end they were all on my side and wishing I would go soon.  Then on the 11th day I was moved.
“I thought I was moving to freedom. Because by now I was pretty sure I was going to be released.
“At no time apart from at the very beginning when I was roughly treated did I think any harm would come to me.  I believe in the power of prayer.  I could feel the power of the prayers from people in the Philippines and from back home at the Church of the Assumption in Clonard (Wexford).
“And of course, I was praying myself but I did not find prayers easy.
“When they moved me they took me on another boat ride about eight hours. Again I was in the bottom of the boat.  This time they marched me into a jungle area, but I know it was not far from civilization, because often during the day we could hear the sound of people in the jungle cutting away.
“One one occasion they got close, so we had to move further away.  But in the jungle life was better. I had a hammock and a tarpaulin, which would protect me from the rain, providing the rain came straight down, which it does not always do.
“They also cut me out a piece of the jungle as an exercise yard.  Even before the beginning of November I was sure I was going to be released.  But there were a couple of false alarms. I thought I was going to be released on November 4th but that attempt was abandoned because I gather the sea was too rough.

Welcome home shrine for Father Mick in Manila

Welcome home shrine for Father Mick in Manila

“I just had to continue the same routine until my release. Up at dawn. Breakfast followed by toiletries. Back to the hammock for prayers. Then onto a wooden log bench, maybe to chat with my captors, as I knew the local dialect.   Then in the afternoon back to the hammock to do a few decades of the Rosary.  There was nothing to read. No radio. We all just wanted to go home.
“When eventually my release came after being taken eight hours by boat to Zamboanga I was surprised at all the attention I received.  I knew lots of people were involved in the negotiations for my release, my fellow fathers, the Philippines Red Cross, the Government and Army, and the MILF themselves, not forgetting all those who prayed from me. I want to thank them all.  God Bless you.”
Father Michael, or Father Mick, as he is known, received a special welcome back home in the Philippines capital of Manila.

Father Mick (right) with Father Pat O'Donaghue in Manila

Father Mick (right) with Father Pat O'Donaghue in Manila

 At the Columban Centre in Ermita, Father Pat Don O’Donaghue, who flew to the southern Philippines to assist in the rescue said: “ Father Mick is dearly loved here.  He looks after over 60 disabled kids in the mission in Pagadian and is a leading member of the local inter-faith forum.
So while he was away not only were prayers being said in the Catholic and Christian churches worldwide, but prayers were being said in the local Catholic churches, the local Mosque and prayers were being said by the local tribal people.
“He is a remarkable and well-loved man.  He was my tutor in fact he has been the tutor to most of the Columban fathers in the Philippines”.

So Richard,Why can’t British public schoolboys rule Thailand?

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 10, 2009
in Others
. 42 Comments

This is a blog

I have been watching with interest the web reaction to ‘The Times’ interview with Thaksin on some of the local forums, and am amazed that few people actually get it……. and that, perhaps,  includes the author.
The interview by Richard Lloyd Parry was indeed a

Thaksin reminisces about his days in London

Thaksin reminisces about his days in London

scoop. It was the first time Thaksin laid his cards on the table to such an extent to the foreign press, and even though nobody else from the foreign press seemed to want to chase this particular scoop, Parry got full access and then a tape recorded interview - the transcripts which were apparently provided by Thaksin’s staff themselves.

So Thaksin went into this interview eyes wide open and obviously expecting some political capital out of it.
Now take a look at the news story and look at the actual transcript of the interview.
Well actually you can’t check the news story now if you are in Thailand, unless its posted somewhere else, because that has been blocked, well, so says the man you cannot gag in ‘The Times’.
Actually the interview has not been blocked which is quite surprising, or it it?  No not really, because it is the news story more than the interview, which has caused the offence.

Enter the conquering hero
Actually the author has missed the bottom line on this story and that it is quite simply: Thailand is going to the dogs but Thaksin says will come back to power in Thailand by hook or by crook with Puea Thai after the next election, his sins will be wiped, he will be found not guilty, and he then can put the country together again and save us all.
If he wants to march in, he will march in from the north, but he wants to avoid bloodshed, he says, thankfully for once.
Richard Lloyd Parry, in the interview labours a lot on, and questions, the role of the Monarchy and or institution thereof.  That is all perfectly valid. But Thaksin Shinawatra is very careful in his answers, whether we believe him or not. He has said nothing against the monarchy, but criticised advisors to the monarchy and even suggested they tried to ‘assasinate him’.  In fact the Times claims that Thaksin wants the monarchy reformed, but that comes from a question by RLP  and Thaksin is answering ‘Yes, Yes’  to reforms of institution around the monarchy.

So actually the interview does not stand up the story but perhaps could have done had he asked the appropriate questions and we have to assume the ‘ Times’ has not censored the interview.

Actually anyone reading the interview might gather that the interviewee thinks he is one step short of canonisation. So blood has already been drawn there intentionally or otherwise.

But in fact what ‘The Times’ has done is to use the interview to convey a certain set of circumstances, and relationships, which have been widely talked about in  journalistic and diplomatic circles in Bangkok, and London, and get them into a news story.
It would be inappropriate  for me to spell out what that conspiracy, real or imagined, is.

That ‘Times’ agenda seems to be confirmed by a follow-up story by Richard Lloyd Parry headed: ‘The interview that dared to break Thai Royal taboo’.

I have always seen, rightly or wrongly,  Richard Lloyd Parry, as a closet supporter of Thaksin, even though he once described him as unsavoury he has painted, the current Prime Minister, as much more of an ogre.  I took ‘The Times’ to task about it about earlier in this year. See this for example ‘The charmer making a mess of his country’.

Richard,  who lives in Tokyo, as a journalist has never had to live under Thaksin and things like the ’War on Drugs’ and media suppression and men with baseball bats at the FCCT.

The possibility that Thaksin could actually be guilty of the crimes brought against him have been given half hearted acceptance in ‘The Times’ if any at all.

The fact that he was democratically elected it seems is enough. This is about a threat to democracy. Of course democratically elected leaders can have their own agenda as Adolf did.

The newspaper was silent about his critics when Thaksin took over Manchester City. If you wanted to see criticism of Thaksin you had to look to the sports pages of the Daily Mail and Guardian.

Anyway I voluntarily  parted company with ‘The Times’ earlier this year to return to my old friends at the ‘Evening Standard’ (or rather  ’Eenie Stannit’ according to comedian Eric Morecombe).

By that time  I was concerned about ‘The Times’ and went public about why, and after 10 years, they were suddenly equally concerned about my byline appearing in ‘numerous other newspapers’.

Though I have since written for them, I do not want to represent them. They would be foolish to disagree.
Anyway, who am I to say Thaksin is not a democract and a man of the people which he described himself in the interview, agreeing he had some similarities to Aung San Suu Gyi?   Well they were both democratically elected and removed from power for example.

Needless to say Thaksin is a lot friendlier with Burma’s ruthless military junta, with whom he does business, so you wont see him chanting in support of democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi. 

(And ‘Man of the people’ ? Well he was not exactly brought up in the fields of Issan. He comes from a long line of Thai Chinese Royal tax collectors (ironically) and muleteers doing something along the Thai Burma border and dealing with whatever used to cross there)

On November 9th Richard also wrote this.”Mr Thaksin is a paradox. While in office, he was feared and loathed by many Thais, especially the educated middle-class, as an opportunist and authoritarian who trampled on human rights, the media and independent institutions in the pursuit of power. For the rest of the population he was — and remains — Thailand’s most adored leader, re-elected repeatedly and forced out by a naked military coup.

“After the generals returned power to elected politicians Thais voted for Mr Thaksin’s supporters and proxies who were subsequently forced out of power not at the ballot box, but through a series of questionable court decisions.”

That’s one way of looking it (though I am not sure what a naked coup is) and clearly Richard thinks the courts were rigged in all the Thaksin cases.  So lets not talk about what his new buddy Hun Sen in Cambodia  is doing to his people and their land and homes, which he is  bulldozing selling to foreigners, Thaksin included.  Thaksin will not be talking about it, as he is now economic advisor to the Cambodian government.

What it means though is that, if and when Thaksin comes back into town on his white charger, and Thai courts become honest again and find him innocent, I’ll be following British public schoolboy Abhisit and paddling my own canoe out of town and heading for retirement like that other ex-British public schoolboy and former excellent but unelected Thai PM, Anand Panyarachun.

So why can’t former British public schoolboys rule Thailand?

I guess we are of touch with the common man.

Short Q & A with Press Gazette for November 2009 issue

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 5, 2009
in General News
. 0 Comments

press-gazette-interview1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The script which ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ found in a teleprompter

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 3, 2009
in The Times
. 5 Comments

Just when you thought this story had gone away now comes the news that Vera Productions have sold the controversial series ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ to Channel 9 in Australia.

This will actually multiply its televion audience twenty fold. Previously it went out on Bravo with a viewership of about 116,000.

Vera Productions in the UK, run by comedian Rory Bremner and comedy producer/writer Geoff Atkinson has received accolades recently for its series ‘Bremner Bird and Fortune’.  However there has been a much publicised internal rift  between the series producer of ‘Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand’ Gavin Hill and the execs back in London, who were responsible for the edit.

There have been complaints of lack of fact checking and even unethically enhancing some scenes.

bird-and-fortuneIn its ‘Bremner, Bird and Fortune’ sketches- the two Johns -  Vera Productions has hilariously sent up the government and banking system. John Bird plays the character of George Parr. Fortune is the interviewer  However one sketch, based on the ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ series appears to have been left behind in a teleprompter.  I re-produce it here below.

But first follow this link for Bravo Television’s quiz  for intellectually challenged British tourists in Thailand. I failed it on the question ‘What do you do when arrested for drugs. Call the Embassy or your mum? I replied: ‘My mum. (Get your mum to call the Embassy!)

———————————————-

JF: George Parr - you are a top TV executive and you seem to have a success on your hands with the reality show Big Trouble In Thailand.

JB:  Yes, we’ve sold it to Virgin Media and they are delighted with the ratings … it’s exceeded all expectations…

JF: So, it was your idea to make a groundbreaking documentary about the British volunteers hired by Thailand’s police force to deal with misbehaving British holidaymakers?

JB: No. The idea was brought to us by a freelance filmmaker called Gavin Hill who realised that he needed a company of the stature of Rory Bremner’s Vera Productions to ensure credibility.

JF: So, he must have earned the riches of Croesus?  Because I understand the budget was 400,000 Pounds ?

JB: Well, not exactly - more like the salary of a provincial bus driver …

JF: Really? How so?

JB: Well, you have to understand how TV today works.  It’s all very well that one person comes up with the idea, produces, directs, films the material themselves … often working like a maniac … seventeen or eighteen hour days aren’t unusual … but that’s only part of the job.

JF: So, what do you mean exactly?

JB: Well, the footage has to be edited …

JF: Yes ….

JB: And then there’s the administration …

JF: Ah yes, of course, the administration.  And what form does that take exactly?

JB: Well, for example we have to ensure that Virgin Media’s money is spent wisely and that cash isn’t simply frittered away.

JF: And, how do you do that?

JB: Well, we sent one of our top men, Dean Palmer, First Class halfway round the world and put him in a luxury hotel to monitor the project … you know, keep his eye on things for two weeks.

JF: And did he?

santhiya02JB: Absolutely, for two weeks,  well, er, when he could get out of his hotel. Of course it was rather isolated and there was just one boat a day. Little bit pricey, eco-chic and set  in 18 acres of lush tropical forests on a crystal bay apparently, but thankfully not too close to the awful people he had to film.
Still the fact that he was on the ground, in situ, so to speak, speaks more than words.

JF: Lush tropical forests, crystal bays, eco-chic, we did not see much of that in the series?

JB: Oh good heavens. No. That would be totally outside the remit, old boy, and financial suicide. We leave that sort of stuff to Judith Chalmers. Is she still around?

JF: But I understand you went to the Thai authorities and said this series would be good for Thai tourism.

JB : Yes absolutely. And it is, it is, let me tell you. My young boys are straining at the leash for some Thai totty, not to mention the old fellows down at the British Legion, chumping at the bit they were. Some of them will be travelling with their nurses, must say it seems a bit superfluous to me, what?
JF: Ah indeed. But but from press reports, especially on the question of sex tourism, many, if not most of the illegal incidents in this area,  which one reads about  making the courts, appear to involve, dare I say it, erm,  man on boy, rather than girls. Why did you not tackle this subject?
JB:  Well obviously you’re not considering a much longer career in broadcasting.  There are things that we really need to keep sacred. In general the public likes a bit of straight old rumpy pumpy.  Going into the area you mention is an absolute minefield.  Well, we’d be hung out by our balls by our own community.   

In any case we had lots of what are described as ‘pre-op’ ladyboys who described in detail what  many Brits want, so we think we have that covered.

JF: I noticed also that you blurred out a lot of British faces but used all the Thai participants full on. Was there a reason for that?

JB: Absolutely. In Britain there are strict laws governning filming without permission. We have to get permission, period. They have to sign waivers.  When they do we have got them though,  can’t change their minds.  Can you imagine how difficult that is with all these people making an ass of themselves in front of our camera?  Quite a few were well tiddly when they signed judging by the signatures.  Now when it comes to ‘Johnny Foreigner’ well that’s a different kettle of fish.  With their one pound fifty a day earnings they are not going to take us on are they. I mean what lawyer is going to open the door for them.

JF:  … I see … but Hill must have been given a decent budget to have been able to achieve the very possibly award-winning footage he obtained in some pretty hairy situations - wasn’t he shooting in maximum security jails and confronting armed mafia men …?

JB: Well, to be honest we’re weren’t too pleased about that …

JF: Really? It seemed to me quite riveting TV …

JB: Ah yes … but there were some health and safety issues …. he should’ve let us know that he would find himself in some rather unsavoury situations.

JF: But surely the working title of this series was ‘Thai Cops’ - isn’t that what police officers do?

JB: Yes, yes … of course … but the safety of our operatives in the field is paramount.

Thai cops from Bravo Promo

Thai cops from Bravo Promo

JF: So, you would’ve preferred him to have filmed officers doling out parking tickets, would you …?

JB: Well, of course not - we would never have sold the show …

JF: So, part of the budget was spent on bodyguards for Mr Hill?

JB: Well … no, but we did send Emma - our twenty-five-year-old assistant producer with a first aid kit, and we have lots of police bar bills.

JF: I gather there were lots of interviews with top policemen, prison governors and other officials. They might have provided an insight into what the Thais, er,  thought about the situations you were filming. What happened to them?

JB: Yes. Yes. Indeed. And of course we took all their thoughts and advice on board, as one does. But you know in a programme with this demographic, and we are trying to reach and educate young people here, we do not want to ruin the flow with all that gibberish in some sort of ying tong language…And we have to think of the budget too you know. We would have had to pay more for translators, voice-overs or put up sub-titles. 

JF: So … basically the budget is split 50/50 is it?  50 per cent in the field, and 50 per cent back in the office?

JB: No … there’s a raft of other payments that have to be made.

JF: Under the banner of administration …

JB: “Quite, quite. For example there’s the payment to Mr Bremner …

JF: “What for exactly …?

JB: Well … er … executive input - naturally.

JF: Ah, ah … yes … yes.

JB: And then there’s Mr Bremner’s assistant.  And Mr Bremner’s assistant’s assistant.  And the assistant’s assistant’s assistant and then of course, we had to find a narrator for the programme.

JF: I see. And are narrators expensive?

JB: Well they can be you know if you hire a celebrity or well known newsman who has an air of authority?

JF: And is that what you did? I can’t say I recognized the voice.

JB: Well, er no. We considered George Michael but he was engaged. In this case we wanted a voice to which our target audience could relate to. Not some old fuddy fuddy out of touch with today’s younger generation. Not to put too fine a point on it somebody who can say, well pardon me here, somebody who can say (lowers voice) bum without feeling uncomfortable, and some other words too.

JF: Oh I see. So where did you get him from?

JB: Hampstead Heath, when we were looking for George Michael.  But then of course we had to educate him in the pronounciation of Thai place names, the same as a typical British chav on holiday in Thailand might say them, like Foo-ket, and this all costs money and time too, not to mention the lagers Vodkas and Red Bull etcetera.

JF: And there’s the executive input TOO?

JB: Exactly.

JF: So, what proportion of the overall budget of 400,000 Pounds would Mr Hill have received to make this series?

JB: Well, approximately one thirteenth.

JF: And was Mr Hill happy about that?

JB: Well, we assumed he would be …. but the blighter went over budget.

JF: So, in the end he spent about half the budget after all …?

JB: No … he spent about one tenth of the budget.

JF: Well, that seems pretty good going to me … you must have welcomed him back a hero?

JB: No, actually we fired him.  And threatened to sue him.

JF: Oh? On what grounds? 

JB: Gosh, where do you want me to start? For example he insisted on using new tape to film rather than re-using old tape.

JF:  Well, aren’t there good technical reasons for that … and tape’s relatively cheap, not like the old days of film and pretty damn vital too isn’t it?

JB: Well, yes … but of course you have to ensure there’s enough money for executive input.  And another thing he upset the Thai Government.

JF: Well, couldn’t you have forseen that in a series that examined the notorious sex industry, drunkenness and violence and was inevitably going to stumble across cases of corruption?

JB: Well, possibly …But then he put some unedited stuff up on the internet which upset our executives, who have been running around trying to get it off all sorts of websites.

JF: Sorry, I’m not with you?

JB: Well on a low budget production like this, often only having one camera, one just has to bring in sound and film from elsewhere for technical reasons. But we were made to look like we were creating well, not strictly true situations?

JF: But isn’t that what you did?

JB: Not at all. Not at all. Look the public don’t understand the intricacies of television making, and we would prefer it remained that way.
Actually I don’t understand them either, which is good because if I could make television programmes then the whole world could, and then where would we be?
Anyway the BBC are doing it all the time… Like the BBC we work on the principal of WYSIWYG. Or ‘What you see is what you get’. Only we then enhance it further to WWGYIWYG.

JF: W-W-G-Y-I-W-Y-G?

JB: ‘What we give you is what you get’, of course. That’s the Executive input. And it costs money.
JF: So, when exactly did the Thais get upset with your programme?

JB: Well, about the time we changed the title … from Thai Cops …

JF: What to?

JB: BIG TROUBLE in TOURIST Thailand.

JF: And Hill went along with this?

JB: Err … no, he protested. Vigorously, in fact.  And that’s another reason why we sacked him.  Because he was quite clearly a troublemaker.

JF: But of course changing the title wouldn’t have caused Hill any problems personally.  He could just come back to Blighty.

JB: Er … well … not quite … the Thais issued a warrant for his arrest and he was forced to flee the country leaving behind his home, his wife and child.

JF: So, you’ve had no choice but to stand by him and stand up for the integrity of the series and free speech?

JB: Well, no … on legal advice we’ve distanced ourselves from Mr Hill and withheld eight thousand pounds from his fee.

JF: Well surely it’s all a storm in a tea cup - it’ll all blow over in due course and Mr Hill can return to Thailand and get back on with his life?

JB: Well, very possibly.  But with the Thais you can never be 100 per cent certain.  Stories of chaps being flung into jail for getting on the wrong side of the rulers there and the key tossed away are not unusual.

Lardyao Prison

JF: So, let me get this straight … Mr Hill filmed in all these prisons and then the Thais threatened to put him in one.  How ironic?

JB: Ironic - yes.

JF: So, presumably you’ve hired a lawyer to defend Mr Hill.

JB. Er … no.  Actually we’ve hired a lawyer to sue Mr Hill.

JF: But of course now the show has aired on British TV you won’t want to inflame the situation further, possibly making life more difficult for Mr Hill, will you?

JB: No, of course not.  But you have to remember we have a commercial investment here.  We’ve already sold the series to Australia and we hope more countries round the world will snap it up.

JF: Australia!?  Isn’t Thailand one of the most popular tourism destinations for Australians?

JB: Yes … and the deadliest as it turns out … in fact we haven’t ruled out selling the format as well to the Australians so they can make their own version of the series.  Plenty of Australians falling foul of the law in Thailand … one Australian woman I gather was banged up for days merely for stealing a beer mat. Actually we have a few Aussie incidents left out of the original the edit. They certainly know how to party our colonial chums.

JF: The Thais won’t be very happy about that. But I assume, like here, the series will air on a little-watched niche cable channel?

JB: No, actually we’ve sold it to Channel 9, one of the biggest TV networks in the country.

JF: So, Virgin Media - isn’t that owned by Richard Branson?  What’s he had to say about it all, given that he has commercial interests in Thailand?

JB: Well, we’re rather hoping he hasn’t noticed.

JF: So, you must rue the day Mr Hill walked through your door with this idea.  Presumably as an independent film company you generate many commercial film ideas.

JB: Well, there’s a lot of competition.  We put our top man Dean Palmer onto it but in two years he found it very challenging.

JF: So, how many films did Mr Palmer get commissioned in two years - apart from Mr Hill’s that is?

JB: Well …. …. …. err …

JF: Ten, five … three …?

JB: Er , well just this one. But if he can do the same in the the Philippines where the Yanks  go, well then we’ve got Hollywood and bob’s your uncle.

JF:  And how much was Mr Palmer paid?

JB: Well too much of course, sixty thousand or so, but we pride ourselves on rewarding talent.

JF: For his executive input?

JB: Precisely.

JF: But it mustn’t have been too much of a worry to you because Vera’s trademark show Bremner Bird and Fortune is a much loved institution on the landscape of British TV.

JB: Well, indeed … but sadly it’s been axed this year.

JF: So, the company needs these sort of ventures?

JB: Yes, of course we’d rather stay with comedy, but like other companies you have to move with the times.

JF: But surely if you sue Mr Hill won’t other filmmaking hopefuls be reluctant to come to you?

JB: Well, we don’t think so and we set the agenda.  We would hope these people would put artistic integrity above financial gain.

JF: You mean you would like them to work for nothing?

JB: Well, in an ideal world yes.  On our website we state we do not pay for ideas. And you can’t put a price on fame.

JF: Nor executive input?

JB: Quite.

JF: George Parr - thank you very much.

———————————————————————-

Credits:

Pictures courtesy of Andrew Chant/Bravo/Fortune and Bird/Santhiya Hotel and Spa, Ko Phangnan:

Apologies for omitting pictures to:

Dream Hotel, Bangkok. “Heavenly slumber within five star accommodation.”

 Punpreeda Hip Resort, Koh Samui, ”designed with love and attention to detail. Splashes of colour ignite the soul”.

 Amari, Pattaya. “Soak in this scenic tropical panorama as you unwind on a shaded beach lounger, or drift into a blissful state of relaxation.”

The BBC and the Gulf of Tonkin

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 1, 2009
in General News
. 4 Comments

This is a blog only
Is Burma softening its stance? The BBC is currently posing this question on its website in a fairly lengthy piece by my Bangkok colleague Alistair Leathead.
The article quotes Derek Tonkin, former British Ambassador to Bangkok  turned Burma watcher as saying: “Given the impasse of the last 20 years, what has happened in the last three months gives us the hope there will be some movement”.
The developments were that Senator Jim Webb was allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi and also met with Than Shwe and who then reported back apparently to Obama that sanctions were not working.
Another reason was apparently a switch in US Foreign Policy to ‘pragmatic engagement’ but I am not sure if I see any change there. The US I believe has always considered itself to be pragmatically engaged everywhere, except the ‘Axis of Evil’.
But more recently Americans have been more vocal about Burma, hence the last Johnny Rambo film, fictionally and dramatically put on celluloid the very real brutality against its citizens. So brutal perhaps that many people may not believe that the situation is actually worse.
Derek Tonkin tells Alistair: “The generals are looking for international recognition for the 2010 election. They are trying to co-opt Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy to take part in the elections without any constitutional change.
“We are still waiting for a really significant movement, but I could see Aung San Suu Kyi being released before the election if they could secure an understanding.”


I do not share Derek Tonkin’s muted enthusiasm.  You could say there is a little gulf between us.  In any case Derek Tonkin, reading between the lines, is quite cautious.  But why would Aung San Suu Kyi come to an understanding about a forthcoming election which has been widely discredited a long time in advance  with fairly firm evidence it is being rigged?
And we already know what happens when the junta lose an election.

The United Nations appeared to accomplished nothing. The Press briefings for journalists after the latest ‘rapporteur’ came out of Rangoon were not even worth attending.  Of course the U.S. of A probably has more clout than the U.N. Aung San Suu Kyi may be released, but the moment they smell trouble the junta will have her back under lock and key in  jiffy.

 

With the Karen National Liberation Army Eastern Burma 1987

With the Karen National Liberation Army Eastern Burma 1987

I have been watching Burma for nearly 25  years making films for the BBC (Burma’s Forgotten War) with the Karen and (Lord of the Golden Triangle) with ‘opium warlord’ Khun Sa and the Shan State Army (of Mong Tai Army) for ITV and also reporting for newspapers.

I have met and interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi, was in Rangoon for the 1988 uprising for the ‘Observer’ and later again in Burma for the last ‘election’.  All my trips to Burma have of course been illegal and when I was working on a BBC commission I was welcomed into villages in the middle of nowhere like a liberating general. Our trip appeared to give them some sort of hope.
I did not think then that the situation would be the same, if not worse, 20 years later.
The Burma’s military would have us believe they are benignly looking after their people. Evidence is that they are daily engaged in the slaughter, rape and torture of innocent civilians.
Much of this is monitored by the excellent ‘Free Burma Rangers’ who penetrate deeply into Burma offering medical and other aid.
The fact is that Britain, and the world has let down Burma. There will be no liberating army. Singapore and China openly supply the regimes weapons. Britain washed its hand of  Burma’s minorities, with whom it ruled Burma, in the Panglong Agreement.
 I even have a ‘friend ‘ who is investing in a tourist boat service near Pagan.  He does not get it. And if I can’t persuade him, then I am not about to persuade any world leaders.  They do what is expedient to themselves.
I am no apologist for the British Empire. But Britain did at least leave Burma with a structure, a justice system, and education system, and a functioning civil service, and did the same wherever its soldiers went…except perhaps Afghanistan!

Young Drummond with Khun Sa 1989

Young Drummond with Khun Sa 1989

The Burma’s junta has demonstrated how they can turn all those safeguards for democracy into weapons against the people.
And the British Empire has merely been replaced by the United States as the world policeman, but its agenda has been much more homeland security and oil, and I am not sure Obama has made such drastic changes in its stance towards Burma.
The fact is in Asia there are few bad guys.  At least few guys are regarded as such in history. In Britain we relish in our mad, stupid, and often ruthless Kings. We squeal with delight when we catch out MPs fiddling with their expenses. If the London Sun were to have free reign to publish in Bangkok every day its most oft used  headline might be ‘Liar. Lair Pants on Fire!’

In Asia it’s different. It’s a ‘face’ thing.  Thai history for example seems to have nothing but heroes. But we have all heard the expression ‘Life is cheap here’.
In Europe and the west we have Hitler as our ogre.  In Cambodia I suppose we have Pol Pot, Saloth Sar and his cronies.  But do we really?   The trials of the Khmer Rouge have been decades in the coming and have turned out all to be rather a damp squib.  There are not many people outside Cambodia who can remember the names of the lesser Khmer Rouge ‘war criminals’ on trial in Phnom Penh.  Ask yourself?  Moreover did not the west in fact indirectly support the Khmer Rouge when the communist Cambodian government was backed by Vietnam?

 And then there are the atrocities committed under the rule of Chairman Mao?

On a smaller scale perhaps Thailand’s ‘War on Drugs’ has left little stigma on its architect Thaksin Shinawatra. In fact it was widely supported even though of the some 2,500 mostly ‘killed injudicially’ ( murdered)  many were totally innocent and there were no ‘big boys’.

And in Thailand a petty foreign thief is going to serve more time than a politician corruptedly pocketing public money.

And while Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Thailand has many commercial interests there. That is why General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh former Prime Minister who is now making a new bid for the spotlight can say: “I am, if you will, a super-prime minister. It’s not an exaggeration. The relations I’ve built with the neighbours are immense, spanning many years. It’s not just a partnership. We’re one family. With the Burmese leaders, we’re practically brothers.”

In both Burma and Cambodia we have to consider Chavalit’s self interests and of course those of Thaksin Shinawatra.

 The Japanese atrocities in World War 11 have never really been accepted back home and now 60 years on the Japanese are already taking a lead in creating a new ‘Greater Asia Prosperity Sphere’, though this now thankfully without the shouts of ‘Banzai’.

Thai camerman begs Thaksin Shinawatra to answer why his mother and father were gunned down by police in his 'War on Drugs'

Thai camerman begs Thaksin Shinawatra to answer why his mother and father were gunned down by police in his 'War on Drugs'

So will the Generals in Burma ever be called to account for the genocide within their own country? Probably not.  There have been so many of them, nobody has been there long enough to specifically be labelled Burma’s ogre, after Ne Win. 
What will happen to Burma? I guess we will all do what’s expedient at the time.
But personally, I cannot exercise pragmatism when it comes to Burma’s military rulers. Anyone who has been amongst the victims of Burmese military justice may have the same problem.