Opinion
samui gazette | aug. 6 - 19, 2010
Letters to the Editor Love us? Hate us?
Send letters to editor@thesamuigazette.com or 124/524 Moo 3 Lamai Centre Unit 6 1/2 Lamai Beach Road, Koh Samui
Gateway to the soul
Kudos from the International School of Samui ternational School of Samui can work closely with you in the coming future. Anyway, one suggestion I did think was the possibility of showing the cinema schedule as I know a
number of people who miss out on movies as they are not aware they are being shown. -- Mr. Michael Cook, Headmaster, International School of Samui, Thailand
Koh Samui organizations Congratulations on the first edition of Samui Gazette. I like the way the different sections of the paper are clearly organised e.g. The World, Police, Opinion, etc. As a newcomer and now a permanent resident of
Samui, I would like to become involved in some of the community activities. Could you list these various organizations with their phone numbers, email addresses and contact person? Also a brief mention of what each group does. Or
it could be a longer article on what the groups do. I am sure there are many other newcomers who would like to volunteer their time, energy, and skills, but we don’t know who to contact. Thank you. -- Heather Reid, Ban Makam
GREEN CORNER Jules Kay
Looking at the long term It’s all too easy to berate local government when things are not perfect. Although in some instances, criticism can be constructive, it is also important to understand and recognise progress when it is being made. In the last two years, Samui’s local government has been working hard to find long term solutions for the island’s main maladies, while at the same time engaging local people in the process of development. When the current Samui administration was elected they faced a serious dilemma. Left with a legacy of fundamental infrastructure problems to deal with, but lacking the necessary budget to carry out major improvements, they had to make considered, long term choices rather than simply patch up the scars of the past. After assessing the mountain of issues facing the island, the Mayor’s Office decided to seek greater autonomy when it came to identifying solutions and finding funds. This meant commissioning detailed studies and preparing reports to be presented to the central government in Bangkok, as well as putting pressure on key
Ministries to recognize Koh Samui’s importance not only as a flagship for Thai tourism, but also as a major contributor to the national economy. After a year’s preparation, various reports were presented and leading members of the government were invited to the island to assess the situation themselves. This approach recently reaped benefits when a special budget of Bt800 million was allocated by Bangkok to deal with issues such as road improvements, drainage and waste disposal. Much of these funds will go towards cleaning up Samui’s existing waterways, particularly in the Chaweng area, as well as creating better drainage channels in key locations to prevent flooding during the rainy season. Further improvements will also be made to the island’s roads to guarantee smooth access for visitors while at the same time improving safety and helping Samui deal with an inevitable increase in traffic to and from popular tourist locations such as the airport and Chaweng. Implementing such projects not only requires funds but also the support of the local community. In order
DON’T GET ME STARTED David Paul Janes
Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
I have had a perusal of the complimnetary copy and thought it was an excellent read. It certainly is nice to read more stories about Samui than everywhere else. I sincerely hope the In-
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to build a better understanding of the issues facing the island, officials have also been working hard to gain the support of Samui people. Plans and ideas are discussed at village level through regular meetings and special events like the recent Coconut Fair on Chaweng Lake brought island residents together for the first time in almost a decade to discuss the issues that affect them most and compare their experiences of today’s Samui from their own perspective. Taking on the future requires time and intelligence. Samui’s somewhat chaotic development is a clear reminder that instant solutions often turn out to be temporary. Communication is key to long term success and the current government is keen to share and learn from the island’s citizens and residents. If you have constructive suggestions, make them heard. We welcome your letters and emails. Jules Kay has lived on the island for 10 years and regularly contributes to a number of publications and websites about Samui. He also volunteers as a media representative for the Samui Mala and Green Island Project. Email Jules at samuieditor@gmail.com.
A few years ago my eye was caught by a photograph in a magazine. It showed an old man from the nineteenth century, and the caption underneath gave the gentleman’s name, but followed that with “The founder of homosexuality.” This seemed rather odd because the old gentleman looked about as gay as Sean Connery, and also because I always thought homosexuality had been around since the dawn of time. My curiosity soon turned to bewilderment as I read the attached article, because it just went on and on about alternative medicine. Only when I reached the end and turned back for a second look at the photograph did I realize my mistake. The old gentleman was in fact the founder of homoeopathy. For some time I had suspected that my eyesight was beginning to fail and that investing in some spectacles might be a good idea, but the thought of letting anybody muck about with my eyes makes me feel physically sick. I can’t watch medical documentaries about eyes, and the thought of a retinal scan brings up the hair on the back of my neck. Contact lenses are not an option because if you can’t see, how are you supposed to find them if they fall out. How many times have you seen some poor soul scrapping around on the floor with their arm in the air shouting, “NOBODY MOVE!”? So given the choice of putting in a pair of contact lenses, or being bitten in the scrotum by a snake, I’d have my shorts off in the blink of an eye. Therefore, not wishing to spend the rest of my life muddling up homosexuals with homoeopaths, with time to kill at Heathrow while travelling back to Thailand, I wandered into a shop and decided to buy some reading glasses. I selected the weakest lenses, and set myself in front of the mirror to see what they looked like. It was hard to say for sure because of all the sales paraphernalia hanging like Christmas decorations in
front of the lenses, and just to make things worse the lenses were covered in stickers. How stupid is that? After I ripped and peeled everything off, I went for a second look. Looking back at me was a face about three miles wide that was covered in huge pulsating spots, they hadn’t been there in the morning when I shaved, and yet now I looked like I had been attacked with a half pint of sulfuric acid. As if that wasn’t enough there was a huge tree growing out of my nose. How come my wife had never mentioned this, I always make a point of telling people when they have loo roll sticking out of their trousers, or their skirt tucked into their knickers, so why had nobody taken me to one side and explained I had a giant coconut tree growing from a puss-filled crater on my nose? I hurriedly removed the spectacles and as if by magic everything went back to normal. Small wonder then why people who wear glasses live in a permanent state of fear. Like vampires they are frightened that they may catch sight of themselves in a mirror. A gentleman might go into town looking for companionship, but for reasons of vanity leave his glasses at home. He thinks he is spending the night with Joan Collins, wakes up, puts on the specs only to discover he has in fact spent the night with Phil. Spectacles, then, make books and menus easier to read, but in the process they also bring into pin sharp focus our own mortality. David was born in Suffolk, England and was a surveyor for a large civil engineering company until the recession in the early eighties. He then had many jobs, sometimes two at once, ranging from cleaning toilets to area sales manager. He came to Thailand in 2004 with his wife. They bought a piece of land and built a house and are now looking to stay full time.