The Phuket News August 16, 2019

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

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TELEVISION PLUG SUSPECTED IN B280MN SUPERYACHT FIRE > PAGE 2

AFTER THE FALL

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NEWS

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All friends after Bangla Patong head stomp

LIFE

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Phuketian takes on 160km ‘Walk of the World’ Rescue workers scour the rubble of the collapsed building in Rawai last Sunday (Aug 11). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

OFFICIALS PUSH MEDICAL, FUNERAL STATE BENEFITS AS THREE WORKERS KILLED IN BUILDING COLLAPSE Eakkapop Thongtub & Tanyaluk Sakoot reporter2@classactmedia.co.th

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fficials this week went into high gear to highlight statefunded workers compensation available to legally-registered migrant workers in the fallout after a building collapse at a condo-style resort in Rawai crushed to death three Myanmar workers and injured eight others.

The still-under-construction twostorey reception building of La Vita Phuket Resort, being built by developer VIP Thailand under its VIP Mercury brand, collapsed at about

2pm last Sunday (Aug 11).

Rescue workers were quickly on site and had eight Myanmar workers rushed to hospital while the search for three more continued.

One body was reclaimed from the rubble within hours, but it wasn’t until 2:30am Monday that rescue workers who laboured all through the night recovered the body of Min Naing, 36.

The third body was finally found at about 9am Monday, but took rescue workers 90 minutes to remove it from under the fallen concrete slabs.

The first and third bodies recovered were identified as Pay Thee, 38, and Tin Tun, 36.

The site was soon sealed off and declared a “danger area”, while Forensic Police began their investigation Chalong Police Deputy Chief Lt Col Somsak Sopakarn vowed that charges will be pressed for the deadly building collapse. “We are waiting for an investigation report by the Forensic Police because our investigation officers lack expert knowledge about construction,” he explained.

“The report is expected to be sent quickly because of the motivation from high-ranking officers and the number of dead and injured,” he added.

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“In the matter of who will be prosecuted, it must be the engineer who was in control of the work being carried out,” Col Somsak assured.

Jak Phanchoopet, Adviser to the Thai Minister of Labour ML Chatumongol Sonakul, and Kyaw Soe Wai, the Labour Attache at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, were both in Phuket on Wednesday (Aug 14) to visit the eight workers injured in the collapse – and to attend the funerals of the three workers who died.

Mr Jak and Mr Kyaw began their visit with an inspection of the building collapse site, then moved to Vachira Phuket Hospital, where they handed...

SPORT

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Thai F1 driver Albon gets a Red Bull shot

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Phuket jet-ski tours blasted

by Governor of Krabi > p4

Officials in collapse scramble Continued from page 1 ...blankets to injured workers Naing Soe, 42, and Win Soe (age not reported), who remained in hospital care.

The pair and their entourage then moved to the sales office for the La Vita project, where they spoke to the six injured workers who have already been discharged from the hospital.

The media was assured that the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare (DLPW) was investigating the incident and working on the legal processes to help the injured workers to receive their legally-entitled state benefits in accordance with the law.

Joining the visit was Marasri Jairangsri from the Phuket branch of the Social Security Office, who explained that Thai government’s Social Security Fund will pay up to B2 million for medical expenses incurred for each

of the workers.

“If they are unable to work while still recovering at home after being discharged from hospital, they will receive 70% of their salary for a maximum of one year,” Ms Marasri said.

“The families of the deceased will receive compensation amounting to 70% of the deceased’s salary for 10 years plus B33,000 for funeral expenses,” she added, adding that the amount to be paid to each family of those killed averaged just over B750,000.

“The employer, Phuket Built Co Ltd, has been legally registered with the fund since 2002. We are ready to make the payments as soon as the final paperwork has been filed,” she said.

The tour then moved to the funerals held today at Wat Sawang-arom in Rawai, where the families of the three killed were each handed the initial payments of B33,000.

Kyaw Soe Wai, Labour Attache at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, was in Phuket on Wednesday. Photo: PR Dept The funerals drew large crowds from the Myanmar community in Phuket, attending to pay their respects.

“For this case, the Minister of Labour wants official to work quickly. He wants all employers to register their employees with the Ministry of Labour so we can provide

the best care for them,” Mr Jak said.

“To all employers, please complete the process of employee registration because if something bad happens, the government can help employers to provide benefits to both the employers themselves and their employees,” he said.

In a statement issued to The Phuket News, developer VIP Thailand expressed their deepest condolences over the incident.

“On behalf of the owner of VIP Mercury, we would like to express our deepest condolences. This accident causing injuries and deaths, as everyone knows. The project and the builder is committed to helping the families of the deceased and the injured as best we can.

“The collapse of the reception building occurred at the front part of the project, which is separate from the main part, which comprises the condominium buildings,” the statement said, adding that construction is continuing on the condo buildings themselves.

“The reception building accident is under investigation. If we receive any official reports from the relevant government

officers, we will announce and inform all concerned parties immediately.

“And the project would like to thank the government and private agencies who quickly provided assistance in this incident,” read the statement.

Kraijitti Jensanpakit, Assistant Managing Director at VIP Thailand, explained to The Phuket News on Wednesday that the company had yet to conclude its discussions to determine how much compensation the company is to pay the injured workers and families of those killed in the collapse.

“We are still coordinating with the contractor and the insurance provider now,” Mr Kraijitti said.

“We will let you know after all this is done. Right now we are taking care of the funeral expenses and the medical treatment for the injured,” he added.

Television plug suspected in yacht fire

POLICE CONDUCTING THE INITIAL investigation into the inferno that gutted the Phuket-based superyacht Lady D last week believe that a television plug in a living area on the yacht may be responsible.

The news was handed down by Col Kitisat Noopeung of the Phuket Provincial Police Scientific Crime Detection Division and Thalang Police Chief Col Theerawat at a meeting held at Provincial Hall last Thursday (Aug 8).

Investigation officers has asked the Philippines-born Myanmar national Sit Ong Somit, who was responsible for taking care of the yacht when the fire broke, to point out where the fire started, and other areas on the yacht, Col Theerawat said.

“From initial investigation, the fire started from the living room where a television plug was plugged in,” Col Theerawat explained.

However, it was not clarified whether Sit Ong Somit was actually on the yacht when the fire started, or why a small electrical fire was not immediately extinguished.

The ensuing fire gutted nearly the entire boat, including two small boats with engines (believed to be the superyachts tenders) as well as a jet-ski, and the onboard gym room, said Chatchet Thongruek, Ship Inspection Officer at the Phuket Marine Office.

However, he added, “After inspecting the damage, we found that the hull is still usable.

But the equipment inside the boat must be replaced completely.”

The value of the superyacht itself and the property inside was valued in total at about B280 million, Mr Chatchet added.

The Phuket Marine Office has transferred the 100,000 litres of fuel that was onboard the yacht for safety reasons, Mr Chatchet said.

A faulty electrical connection where a television was plugged in is believed to have started the fire, said police after inspecting the wreck last Thursday (Aug 8).

R/Adm Withonrat Kotchasenee, Deputy Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, who had personnel assist in the firefighting efforts throughout the night, said that a “curtain” had been placed around the yacht to prevent oil leaks from causing any environmental damage.

The yacht now remains off Koh Thanan, off Phuket’s east coast, while the investigation continues.

The Lady D has used Phuket as a base for years, Mr Chatchet also told the meeting.

“The boat always follows port procedures.

The boat is moved out of Thailand every six months and returns to the same place. Before it was moored at the marina (for its current stay), the yacht had just traveled back from Langkawi in Malaysia. The yacht owner comes to Thailand every six months,” Mr Chatchet said.

“This fire has become a great lesson for us because we have been shown our weaknesses in terms of equipment and human resources,” Phuket Vice Governor Supoj Rotreuang Na Nongkhai said.

Eakkapop Thongtub thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Police await forensic report on condo blaze Tanyaluk Sakoot reporter2@classactmedia.co.th

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ichit Police Chief Col Nikorn Somsuk on Wednesday (Aug 14) declined to give any comment or explain any details of the investigation into the fire that broke out at The Base Central Phuket condominium project under construction on Muang Naka Rd in Wichit last Saturday (Aug 10).

The fire broke out on the ground level of one building at the condo project, located behind Central Phuket Floresta shopping mall, at about 3:30pm.

At least four fire trucks quickly arrived at the scene to douse the blaze.

Firefighters reported at 4:28pm that they had extinguished the fire.

On entering the building to check for any injured persons and for immediate danger to the safety of the building, firefighters found one construction worker on the building’s rooftop.

The 29-year-old worker, whose named was not reported, was safely brought back to the ground level by firefighters and taken to Siriroj International Hospital as a precaution for possible smoke inhalation.

The man was able to walk on his own when rescue workers took him to the ground from the roof.

No other injuries were reported as a result of the fire.

Firefighters continue to douse the blaze at the condo construction site last Saturday (Aug 10). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub “We need to wait for Forensic Police to conclude their investigation before we can release any details about the fire,” Wichit Police Chief Col Nikorn said on Wednesday.

Asked when that report was expected, Col Nikorn declined to comment.

A public statement issued by the condo project developer, Sansiri PLC noted, “The fire was controlled and did not extend to the building or nearby community. All workers at the scene are safe.

“We confirm that the fire occurred in the area where construction equipment

is stored, the statement said.

“There was no fire in the condominium building as other media have reported. It [has] not affected the building. Customers can be confident in the structural integrity of The Base CentralPhuket,” the statement added.

According to the Sansiri website, construction of the project is continuing and expected to be complete by March 2020.

“The environmental impact assessment has been approved. A construction permit has already been issued,” the website notes.

Foreigner, Bangla security guard friends again after head stomp A FOREIGN MAN AND A Bangla Rd security guard who stomped on his head while he was still on the ground during a fight early last Thursday morning (Aug 8) reportedly made friends again later the same day.

The incident happened along Soi Seadragon, a small side street of bars off Bangla Rd, at 1am last Thursday, Patong Police Chief Col Anotai Jindamanee confirmed.

“It was just an argument,” Col Anotai said, though a video recording of the incident provided to The Phuket News clearly showed the security guard knocking the foreign man to the ground then stomping on his head before being separated by bystanders along the soi.

“Af ter wards, the t wo talked together and everything became good. This was confirmed by witnesses along Soi Seadragon,” Col Anotai explained.

“Please don’t misunderstand. This video is very short.

It is not long enough to show the two men talking at the end. It could lead people to misunderstanding and impact @thephuketnews

The foreigner and the Bangla security guard pictured at Patong Police Station. Photo: Patong Police our tourism image,” he added.

Col Anotai said his officers had confirmed that the foreign man was not a tourist.

“He is an expat with a business somewhere here,” he said.

Col Anotai noted that his officers were informed of the incident, and responded.

“Police went there and checked CCTV footage from along the street. It showed the men talking, having an argument and then fighting each other at 1am,” he said.

“The security guard works for a pub in Soi Seadragon,”

Col Anotai confirmed, but declined to name the security guard or the bar or nightclub he works for.

Both men presented themselves at Patong Police Station late last Thursday afternoon, where they admitted that the fight was an argument that got out of control.

Some things a little “too emotional” were spoken, they said.

Regardless, both men were fined B500 each for causing physical injury to another person, Col Anotai confirmed.

The Phuket News

PHUKET NEWS

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One dead, one rescued from rips, strong surf LIFEGUARDS AT PATONG Beach have repeated their warning for swimmers to obey the red “No Swimming” flags posted along the beach marking where it is dangerous to enter the surf after a Chinese tourist was rescued on Monday (Aug 12).

Lifeguards reported that a Chinese tourist entered the water at a section of Patong Beach where red flags had been posted at about 10:20am – after he had already been warned by lifeguards that it was dangerous to swim in that area.

The tourist, who lifeguards did not name, was soon in serious difficulty as he was being dragged away from shore by a rip.

Lifeguards quickly responded and brought the tourist safely back to shore, now exhausted from his struggle against the rip.

“He was tired and had difficulty breathing. Lifeguards administered first aid before he was taken to Patong Hospital.

Now he’s safe under the care of doctors,” lifeguards noted in their report.

The warning follows a Chinese tourist dying after being pulled unconscious

The Chinese tourist rescued on Monday (Aug 12) ignored warnings from lifeguards at Patong Beach. Photo: Patong Surf Life Saving from the strong surf at Nai Harn Beach last Thursday afternoon (Aug 8).

The man, Gong Yu, 40, from Liaoning, China, was pulled from the water at about 4:20pm, confirmed Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos.

Mr Gong had entered the water to play with his son, Mayor Aroon said.

“He was in the water in a red flag ‘No Swimming’ zone. The son was brought safely back to shore but by the time lifeguards got back to Mr Gong he was already unconscious, he said.

Lifeguards performed CPR on the beach, Mayor Aroon explained. “Mr Gong was then rushed to Chalong Hospital, where he was pronounced dead,” he added.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

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Jet-ski tour blasted

Phuket tourists among protected mangroves Marine safety officers cover the dolphin carcass at Kata Beach last Thursday morning (Aug 8). Photo: Karon Marine Safety Center GENERAL MANAGER

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Dolphin carcass had plastic loop binding its mouth A CARCASS OF A DOLphin found washed ashore at Kata Beach on Thursday morning (Aug 8) had a plastic loop around its mouth that would have prevented it from eating, officials have confirmed.

A local resident who found the dolphin notified the Marine Safety Unit, operated under the Third Naval Area Command, and the Karon Marine Safety Center at 7:45am.

The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) has been notified, officials said.

Eakkapop Thongtub

The Phuket News editor@classactmedia.co.th

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he Governor of Krabi Province has called for tougher enforcement of environmental protection laws after tourists from Phuket were seen riding jet-skis among protected mangroves near Ao Luek, on the Krabi mainland.

Krabi Governor Pol Lt Col (Rtd) ML Kitibodee Pravitra explained that he was informed by local officials that a group of five to six foreigners were seen riding jetskis at speed among protected mangroves at Koh Ka Rot, just south of Ao Luek.

The incident, which occurred on Aug 4, was recorded on video and posted on Facebook, stirring angry outbursts online from local residents, he added.

Gov ML Kitibodee blasted the behaviour as irresponsible and illegal. Under environmental laws the mangroves at Koh Ka Rot were a protected area, which meant that all jet-skis, parasail and banana boats were banned from entering the area, he said.

President of Krabi Fisheries Association Manit Dumkul explained that in the area of Khao Ka Rot is an abundant mangrove forest where marine animals

The jet-skis arrived on a tour from Phuket, said the Krabi Marine Office chief. Screengrab: PR Dept come to lay eggs, hatch and grow. Loud noises from jet-skis may shock those marine animals, so they may stop laying in the area.

Krabi Marine Office Director Lt Cdr Chaisiri Khundam said that the foreigners riding the jet-skis were on a tour from Phuket.

“The jet-skis were transported by a big boat and dropped into the water when they reached the area off Koh Ka Rot,” he said.

“But the jet-skis had already left by the time officers had arrived,” he added.

Krabi Fisheries Association President Manit Damkul pointed out that the tourists arrived in the area on tours booked “in nearby provinces”.

“This makes travel operators and villagers in the area not happy because Krabi province focuses on ecotourism,” Mr Manit said.

The impact of loud, fast-moving water vessels arriving in the area would have a vital negative impact on the local ecosystem as the mangroves provide a critical habitat for wildlife in the area, he said.

Woman crushed under dirt lorry Plainclothes officers question Honchao Sae Oun (2nd from left) at his house in Phang Nga about an assault he is accused of committing in 2004. Photo: CSD / Bangkok Post

Accused child molester caught after 14 years A M A N WA NTED FOR an indecent assault on a fiveyear-old girl in Yala has been arrested in Phang Nga province after more than 14 years on the run.

Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police arrested Honchao Sae Oun, 62, at a house in Thai Muang district on Friday (Aug 9), said Col Neti Wongkulap, chief of CSD sub-division 5, last Saturday (Aug 10).

Officers said Mr Honchao was living in Muang district of Yala in December 2004 when he lured a 5-year-old girl to his house, where he molested her. The girl later told her parents what had

happened, and they filed a complaint with local police.

Yala provincial court approved a warrant for the arrest of the suspect on charges of indecent assault, physical assault and depriving a girl aged under 15 of parental care. The suspect subsequently fled and the case went cold.

When CSD officers resumed efforts to locate the suspect, they found that he had been in hiding in his home province of Phang Nga. Mr Honchao confessed to all charges, they said. He was handed over to Yala police for further legal proceedings.

Bangkok Post

A T RU C K D R I V E R H A S BE E N charged with reckless driving causing death after a woman riding a motorbike was crushed under the wheels of the truck he was driving at a busy intersection in Wichit last Thursday (Aug 8).

The accident occurred at the intersection of Thepanusorn Rd and Chao Fa East Rd at 2:20pm.

Truck driver Aphichart Sripan, 32, from Krabi, stopped at the traffic lights, and Supanee Ngakajornkulkit, 57, rode her motorbike in front of the truck to wait for the lights, explained Wichit Police Chief Col Nikorn Somsuk.

As the lights turned green, Ms Supanee rode her motorbike further across the front of the truck, a 10-wheeled earth-moving lorry, which started moving forward, Col Nikorn said.

The truck hit the motorbike from behind, causing Ms Supanee and her motorbike to fall to the ground, with both going under the front left wheel of the truck.

Mr Aphichart stopped the truck as soon as he realised that contact had been made, but by then it was too late.

Ms Supanee was rushed to hospital, but pronounced dead, Col Nikorn explained.

“She suffered critical injuries and was rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital. She

Image: CCTV / supplied was pronounced dead there later,” he said.

“The cause of death is reckless driving by both drivers,” Col Nikorn said.

“Mr Aphichart has been charged with reckless driving causing death,” he confirmed.

Speaking of CCTV footage of the horrific incident being posted on local community was news groups, Col Nikorn added, “I don’t know why this clip is on social media. It is horrific and hurtful. Anyone who shared this please be responsible and take it down.

It should not be online.”

Tanyaluk Sakoot Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

‘Hungry Ghost’ Festival returns with live shows

PHUKET NEWS

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Newborn dwarf sperm whale ‘Hope’ was receiving round-theclock care. Screengrab: DMCR

The Phuket News editor@classactmedia.co.th

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he Hungry Ghost Festival, or Por Tor Festival as it is called in Phuket, got underway on Tuesday (Aug 13) with prayers and offerings to Por Tor Kong, the King of Hell.

Leading the opening ceremony at Phuket Thaihua Museum at 5pm yesterday was Wuttichai Saekam, who serves as an adviser to Phuket Town Mayor Somjai Suwansupana. Joining Mr Wuttichai were Phuket City Municipality staff, local residents and members of Phuket’s Chinese community.

The Por Tor Festival traditionally falls on the 15th day of the seventh waxing moon on the Chinese calendar, and Thai-Chinese people believe that the spirits of ancestors are released from hell to visit their relatives during this period.

Chinese people usually decorate their houses and altars with offerings to appease the spirits of ancestors who may come to visit during the festival.

For “homeless” spirits, those spirits without descendants to visit, devotees arrange a set of food offerings and place them at the back of their houses.

Offerings include a cup of tea, mixed snacks, Ang ku (red turtle cakes), Fa Gao (Chinese cupcakes), triangle-shaped sticky rice, fruit (usually pineapples, bananas and oranges or mandarins), desserts, a

‘Hope’ dies in Phuket

The Hungry Ghost Festival, or Por Tor Festival as it is called in Phuket, got underway yesterday (Aug 13) with prayers and offerings to Por Tor Kong, the King of Hell. Photo: Phuket City Municipality tipple of Chinese whiskey, and most importantly, one big red turtle-shaped cake.

As part of the festivities, to be honoured across Phuket from Aug 13-29, at about midday this Saturday (Aug 17) a parade will be held from Queen Sirikit Park on Thalang Rd, along Phuket Rd and Rassada Rd through to the main festivities along Ranong Rd. A big parade is scheduled to be held on Monday (Aug 19), from Queen Sirikit Park to Bang Neow Shrine on Phuket Rd at around 5:20pm.

The main festivities will be held on

five stages set up along Ranong Rd this Saturday and Sunday (Aug 17-18), with free live performances and entertainment in the evening.

Entertainment includes a live performance by the ‘Star Dance’ band, a turtle cake eating competition, games and contests and a Thai country music (Luk Thung) concert featuring singer Sunaree Ratchasima, as well as a Nang Talung shadow-puppet play performed

by Pratom Piboonsin team of artists On Sunday, popular singer Ko Khai will perform in concert from 8pm-11pm.

Malaysian tourists fell victims to a bag snatcher on Route 4031 in Nai Yang.

Malaysian tourists robbed of valuables in bike bag snatch A MALAYSIAN COUPLE were victims of a bag snatch in Thalang last Thursday (Aug 8), as a teenage thief escaped with the couple’s documents, cash, golden bracelet, mobile phone and other personal belongings.

Sub Lt Sura Lerttai of the Sakoo Police was notified by two Malaysian tourists at 10:30pm that they were robbed by a teenager on Route 4031 in the Nai Yang area a couple of hours earlier.

The victims, Malaysian nationals Mr Sivakumar Patchymuthu, 45, and Ms Shiyamala Navaratnam, @thephuketnews

44, described the incident as a typical snatch-and-run motorcycle robbery.

The couple said that they had had a dinner at a restaurant near Phuket International Airport and were riding back to their hotel in Nai Yang when a teenage man on a motorcycle drove up from behind, snatched Ms Navaratnam’s white handbag and sped away.

The couple followed the culprit and later saw him talking to another person.

Having realised that his victims had found him, the man jumped on his motorbike and fled towards Bang

Ma Lao Market.

According to the statement by the victims, the suspect was dressed in a black jacket and black trousers. The Malaysians also mentioned that the teenager was fair-skinned.

Ms Navaratnam’s stolen handbag contained a golden bracelet, a mobile phone, glasses, personal documents and an equivalent of B20,000 in Malaysian Ringgit and US dollars.

It was specifically mentioned in the police report that the suspect did not assault the tourists.

Eakkapop Thongtub

FOLLOWING REPORTS of newborn dwarf sperm whale ‘Hope’ recovering well at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) over last weekend, the news broke on Tuesday morning (Aug 13) that the infant mammal has died.

“The dwarf sperm whale named ‘Hope’ died at 11:23pm last night (Aug 12) after it looks like he contracted an infection two days ago,” PMBC Chief Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong confirmed to The Phuket News on Tuesday.

Hope had been well on the road to recovery under 24-hour care at the PMBC since he was rescued by villagers in Phang Nga on Aug 4.

Hope was found beached alongside his mother.

Both he and his mother had severe skin abrasions from being beached on the sand.

Hope’s mother also had an infection. She did not survive.

“We had tried as much as we could to help him. We looked after him with constant care, and continuously fed him supplements for nine days,” Dr Kongkiat said on Tuesday.

“However, he still contracted an infection. He suffered severe dehydration, his liver and kidneys were working too hard, and he had muscle strain,” Dr Kongkiat said.

“A n u lt r a sou nd sca n showed that he had a lot of gas in his stomach and intestines, and there was more movement in his intestine than usual,” he added.

“In the end, Hope finally succumbed to pain and septic shock, sepsis and severe dehydration,” the PMBC Chief confirmed.

The Phuket News

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EDITORIAL

The Expendables

he Rawai building collapse last Sunday (Aug 11) has brought home a few hard truths about Phuket and the Myanmar migrant worker community that the island has come to rely on.

The building collapse killed three Myanmar men and left eight others injured in hospital, and shone a light on a long-awaited change in attitude towards how the work done by Myanmar workers in Phuket is being perceived.

We praise the attitude by Deputy Chief Lt Col Somsak Sopakarn vowing that charges will be pressed for the deadly building collapse. His message was clear: Myanmar lives matter. Not so long ago that was easily not the case.

Of course we will need to see how far Col Somsak’s promise goes once the charge has been filed and the issue falls into the hands of the up-

per echelons of bureaucracy, where business comes first.

There is no way high-end officials will want a developer to be held responsible when tradition dictates that it is much more convenient to blame the dead – or a lesser influential yet always unnamed official whose punishment remains hidden behind a veil of obscurity.

According to the latest figures on the Phuket Employment Office website, as of 2016 Phuket was home to 61,275 legally registered migrant workers from Myanmar – 37,259 men and 24,016 women.

Of course there are much more than that, those still not registered and the families who have moved here with their breadwinnner, working for B330 a day as what is laughably called the ‘Thai minimum wage” – laughably because very few Thais will

labour for that money. The minimum wage in Thailand is a more appropriate moniker.

Yet labour our Myanmar migrant worker residents do.

This group of people literally built Phuket over the past two decades, and as last Sunday proved, at times at great cost.

Also, a vast majority of those actually labouring on the fishing boats operating out of Phuket Fishing Post bring home the seafood that is sold on to tourists and gulped up by island residents.

Ask a Thai employer, if they can hire a Myanmar worker to do the job they will.

A quick check of the local residents frequented by Thais – not the tourist traps – will unearth a Myanmar worker in the kitchen and/or serving you your food.

These people literally put food on our plates. We need to respect that.

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PHUKET XTRA: VIDEO: Bangla Road stomp! Truck vs motorbike! New active fault line found?

Heavy weather, 60km/h winds lash Phuket Foreigner also to be charged after head stomped by Bangla security guard Phuket weather warning remains in effect Superyacht gutted by fire at Phuket marina TMD issues weather warning for Phuket, Andaman coast Chinese tourist dies after caught in strong Phuket surf At least one dead, 10 injured as building under construction collapses in Phuket Malaysian couple robbed of documents, valuables, cash in Phuket bag snatch Truck driver charged as woman crushed under wheels in Wichit

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HAVE YOUR SAY Justice for Molly

Re: Heartbroken mother wins case against municipality after four-year fight Really sad story. Glad it finally seems to have come to an end. All the best to the mother and father – they deserve it. stevenl I know this family and the grief and sadness they have experienced is heartbreaking.

Molly was an absolute angel and her parents adored her and are extremely good in so many ways. They have suffered an unbearable loss and I am pleased this process has brought some closure to this beautiful mother.

Catherine Stavrou Such a sad story but glad to hear it has come to a conclusion, albeit so hollow and painful for Molly’s parents.

Hopefully this might set a precedent for future cases of government negligence.

Lee Bow My deepest condolences.

Shame on those officials who neglected the road. I live in the neighbourhood and remember the case. I can only say I

hope the closure of this case can hopefully make [Molly’s parents] both feel they can move forward in life. Sending love and good thoughts.

R.I.P. Molly.

Zabel Solberg Gynther

Treat giants gently

Re: Elephant farm operators defend accusations from foreign media Unfortunately what the group does not seem to understand is that the media is not trying to harm tourism; instead, the media is speaking for the tourists who do not endorse the way elephants are trained, managed and used in Thailand. If Thailand wishes to continue to use elephants to generate revenue, these providers will need to change their ways. If not they will destroy tourism in Thailand. carol Re: The future of conservation is bright, says DNP wildlife veterinarian If there are any changes ahead, it’s because the money is becoming less and less, not because they just woke up one day and are now aware of how badly they are treating these

poor intellectual gigantors.

“The relevant Thai government agencies are planning to remove elephants from the working animal list and give them special protective status in the near future.” But that won’t work, unless there are aggressive repercussions for operating illegal elephant trekking; large fines and possible jail sentences to actually deter people so they start seeing this as too much of a risk for the rewards.

No one believes this until it’s actually a reality, until we see changes where Phuket Zoo and other operators are illegal and are forced to shut down.

Steini Pé Finally, a sensible commentary on animal welfare, instead of the usual hysterical rantings by amateur “elephant experts”.

Thank you Dr Patrapol. ematt

Thief in the night

Re: Malaysian couple robbed of documents, valuables, cash in Phuket bag snatch “It was specifically mentioned that the subject didn’t assault the victims.” What does

he want, a pat on the back for just mugging them?

David Holbourne Don’t worry, they will all be shaking hands soon and a B500 fine for the thief…

Eft Mike Bailey What I think is more surprising is that this type of crime doesn’t happen more often. Punk thieves like this know damn well that there is no effective police force on patrol… or even anywhere visible except at the police station. Thai police don’t “police”, they wait until someone calls after the crime or accident has happened, then they go back, open an “investigation”, then watch CCTV. BenPendejo

Firm forecasts

Re: Phuket weather warning remains in effect The Surat Thani loop gives a much more accurate idea of what’s coming (http://weather. tmd.go.th/srtLoop.php). The Phuket loop has never worked properly since it was updated a few months back.

Geoffrey Morris

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

THAILAND NEWS

7

Milk flights a boost for babies

‘Long-distance mums’ can now provide precious nourishment THAILAND Thana Boonlert

K

ulthida Methanuchit calls herself a “longdistance mum”. Every day, she pumps her breast milk at home and at her office in Khon Kaen, so she can have it delivered by air to her sevenmonth-old baby in Bangkok.

Ms Kulthida, 31, said that she and her husband are committed to feeding their first daughter breast milk despite their domestic situation. “Whenever we have to go back to Khon Kaen to work, she stays in Bangkok with our parents,” she said. To overcome the distance, Ms Kulthida – at the recommendation of her doctor – opted to join a free, breast milk delivery service.

“Each day, I extract my breast milk and store it in the freezer. On pick-up day, I wrap the bottles in newspaper and pack them into a polystyrene box filled with ice packs,” she said.

“My breast milk is then sent from Khon Kaen by air

The breast milk delivery service is provided free of charge for families in some provinces. Photo: Bangkok Post to Bangkok every two or three days. The flight takes about an hour, and my parents in Bangkok collect the milk at the airport.”

Another beneficiary is Mana Nammanee, 35, who uses the courier ser vice to feed his five-month-old daughter with his wife’s breast milk, and the decision was initially opposed by his parents.

“At first they were worried

that the milk would go bad during delivery, plus they were accustomed to supplementing their children’s diet with semi-solid food, such as rice or banana puree,” he said. “ T hey cha nged t hei r minds after seeing how our daughter is growing.”

The breast milk delivery service is provided free of charge for families in Khon Kaen, Roi Et, Mahasakhum and Kalasin. The service,

Old van replacements no longer required BANGKOK TRANSPORT MINISTER Saksayam Chidchob has defended his policy to relax the previous government’s directive for old public vans to be replaced by minibuses, saying it would help prevent fare increases.

Mr Saksayam explained that drivers of vans over 10 years old are no longer required to switch to driving minibuses, but will have the option to do so if they can afford the replacement vehicle. If van owners are not able to absorb the cost of new minibuses, they may continue to use vans, provided they regularly bring their vehicles in to the Department of Land Transport for roadworthiness checks.

“This is a voluntary policy,” he said.

He reasoned that under current economic conditions, not every van owner can invest in new, imported minibuses, which are priced at around B2.2 million per vehicle.

The previous govern@thephuketnews

A public van is seen parked as a minibus leaves a bus stop in Rangsit, Pathum Thani. The Transport Ministry has decided to relax the requirement set by the previous government for old vans to be replaced by minibuses.

Photo: Bangkok Post ment stipulated that after Oct 1, public vans over 10 years old will not be able to renew their licence to carry passengers, although they can continue using the vehicles for other purposes.

If owners want to continue carrying passengers, they must start using minibuses.

Mr Saksayam said mandatory replacement could compromise safety, because drivers would be motivated to drive at higher speeds to make as many shuttle rounds as possible in order to earn money to quickly pay off their investment.

He added that the ministry

has considered offering van owners low-interest loans, estimated at a total of B20 billion, to buy minibuses.

Mr Saksayam said public transportation might be disrupted if several public vans are replaced due to a lack of minibus maintenance centres. Some drivers, however, have already replaced their old vans with minibuses before the Oct 1 deadline.

“The bottom line is it’s not necessary to follow through with the replacement policy if the van operators are capable of raising their safety standards,” he said.

Bangkok Post

which kicked off at the start of this year, is a collaboration between the Regional Health Promotion Centre 7 Khon Kaen, Thai AirAsia, and several local transport service providers.

To help support the cause, The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef ) has also launched a nationwide campaign to promote breast feeding in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

Lack of Awareness Dr Amporn Benjaponpitak, the deputy director-general of the Department of Health, says breast milk is a mother’s greatest gift to her child.

“Unfortunately, a lot of mothers miss out on this opportunity due to distance, and sometimes also ignorance.”

Although the breast milk delivery service can be very helpful to working mothers, Dr Amporn insisted there is no replacement for direct breastfeeding because it helps foster a strong mother-child relationship.

According to a 2016 report

by Unicef Thailand and the National Statistical Office (NSO), about 40% of Thai babies are breastfed within one hour of birth. Around 23% are exclusively breastfed for six months, and 13% are breastfed for two years.

The Public Health Ministry is aiming to double the number of babies that are exclusively breastfed for six months by 2025.

Contributing factors Breastfeeding rates in Thai-

land remain low because of a number of contributing factors, which include hospitals’ postpartum policy and the influence of the baby-formula industry.

Dr Chompoonut Topochai of the Department of Health is concerned about hospitals that do not implement a rooming-in practice – wherein a newborn baby is kept in the same room as the mother.

“This is a serious error, as rooming-in encourages breastfeeding within an hour of birth,” she said. “It helps to stimulate the mother’s instinct to lactate. Separation can effectively switch off this impulse.”

Dr Chompoonut said that both state and private hospitals have been known to ignore the practice.

“Many paediatricians believe that if a baby is kept with the mother right after birth, then the mother won’t have enough time to rest and recuperate,” she said.

“This is made worse by the fact that many baby-formula makers often sponsor hospitals to hand out their products.”

Bangkok Post

8

THAILAND NEWS

Malaysian rams vehicle into workers, five killed SONGKHLA FIVE WORKERS TAKING a rest after cutting grass were killed and another one badly hurt when a car driven by a Malaysian tourist rammed into them in Rattaphum district on Tuesday afternoon (Aug 13).

The fatal crash occurred at around 3pm on Asia Highway in tambon Khuhatai, said Pol Lt Col Thewa Daoruang, investigation chief at Rattaphum Police Station.

A black Proton car with Malaysian license plates was found plunged into a ditch when police arrived at the scene.

A police investigation found that the car, driven by a 31-year-old Malaysian woman, was travelling from Krabi on the way to Hat Yai in Songkhla when it hit something on the road. This caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle, which rammed into a group of six workers sitting along the road and plunged into the roadside ditch.

The force of the crash killed four workers on the spot and seriously hurt two others.

One of the injured workers was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The deceased victims were identified as Iem Chaikaew, 53; Witchaya Thongma, 51; Somporn Sawatdiraksa, 54; Theerawut Mongkhol, 37; and Wirat Semkhai, 34. The injured worker was identified as Bamreur Ketmoon, 56. All worked at the Kamphaeng

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Small parties passed over for political posts THAILAND

Bangkok Post

Rescue workers prepare to take the injured and deceased victims from the scene of a crash after a car driven by a Malaysian woman rammed into a group of workers in Songkhla. Photo: Bangkok Post Phet highway station.

The Malaysian woman of the Kelantan state, who drove the car, and two other Malaysian women were unhurt.

Police were investigating and charges would be pressed against the driver. They have notified the Malaysian consulate attached to Songkhla about the crash.

Pimthada Chansuriya, chief of Rattaphum district, inspected the scene of the crash and ordered concerned agencies to take care of the families of the deceased victims and the injured worker.

She later went to the police station to follow up the police investigation.

Ngamphon Buaphud, driver of the Kamphaeng Phet highway station, said eight workers had cut grass along the road before the crash. Six of them later took a rest at the ditch dividing the road when the car hit them.

Bangkok Post

T

he cabinet on Tuesday (Aug 13) handed 41 political posts to members of the ruling coalition but ignored the bloc’s small parties, one of which announced its withdrawal from the government.

Holders of the posts – including ministry advisers, secretaries to ministers and to deputy ministers, and assistants to ministers – are former MPs of coalition parties. Some of them had missed out on cabinet appointments.

The political posts approved on Tuesday were nominated by the parties which oversee the respective ministries.

Among the appointees are many key members of coalition partners, said government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat.

They include Chaiyos Jiramethakorn, who has been named as deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, and Chamni Sakdiset as adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, who is the Democrat Party leader.

However, members of nine small parties in the coalition were left out of Tuesday’s appointments. The government has been rocked by a reported conflict spurred by dissatisfaction among small coalition parties at not receiving

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow (blue shirt) meets with small parties. The parties later declared their continued support for the government following a reported row over political posts. Photo: Bangkok Post government roles.

Also on Tuesday, the Thai Civilized Party, with one MP, held a press conference to announce it has quit the ruling coalition. With Thai Civilized’s departure, the coalition now features 19 parties.

Party leader Mongkolkit Suksintaranont explained the move was borne of frustration at not being treated “with respect” by the ruling Palang Pracharat Party (PPRP) after it failed to incorporate Thai Civilized’s policies in the government manifesto.

He also vented his displeasure at the government’s intention to increase oil taxes and boost populist “handout programmes”, along with the ongoing legal controversy over Gen Prayut’s incomplete oath-taking during last month’s cabinet swearing-in ceremony.

A separate press conference on Tuesday saw the coalitions’ nine remaining small parties reaffirm their support for the government.

At the same time, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow, assigned by the PPRP to liaise with the small parties, revealed they too were in line to receive political posts, which are likely to be forwarded for cabinet consideration on Aug 20.

Sampan Lertnuwat, leader of the Polamuang Thai Party, one of the nine small parties, said the parties were willing to perform their duties without bargaining for political posts in return.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted the political posts were important to government and were not tokens being swapped for political favours.

CSD ordered to take lead in capital bomb blitz investigation BANGKOK NATIONAL POLICE CHIEF Chakthip Chaijinda has or-

dered the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) to take over probes relating to the Aug 2 bombing and arson attacks in Bangkok and Nonthaburi and

combine them into a single case, a source in the Royal Thai Police said.

Pol Gen Chakthip’s decision to have the CSD take the lead in the investigation is based on findings which suggest the attacks were linked and may have been orchestrated by the same group of people, the source said.

The source also said that Pol Gen Chakthip has also instructed the CSD to work with the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) on the investigation.

According to the source, the OAG is being drafted in because statements from detained suspects and gathered intelligence suggest the attacks were planned at a meeting held near the Thai-Malaysian border.

“The meeting was attended by the masterminds of the attack, as well as some fighters who managed to sneak across the Malaysian border into Thailand,” the source said.

Under Section 29 of the Criminal Procedures Code, a representative from the OAG must be involved in probes relating to offences that happened on foreign soil.

CSD deputy chief, Pol Col Somkhuan Phuengsap, has been assigned as the lead in-

A poster featuring photos and details of suspects in bombing attacks in Bangkok and Nonthaburi early this month is seen at a press conference which presented police’s findings in the case to the public. Photo: Bangkok Post vestigator in the case. A known law specialist, his legal and investigative expertise will be needed to get to the bottom of the case, said the source.

On Aug 2, two suspects were arrested for allegedly planting two bombs in front of the police headquarters in Bangkok. The devices, which were set to go off at 8am on Aug 2, were successfully defused by bomb disposal officers.

In addition to the blasts which injured five people, arson attacks took place in Pratunam as well as in Siam Square. Police initially thought the attacks were linked to the insurgency in the deep South.

Bangkok Post thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

BUSINESS NEWS

9

What makes a condo in Phuket?

A variety of structures all come under the one legal definition These developments do occasionally offer luxury units, and these can resemble a large villa size and feel.

The difference is, the luxury resort condo can be purchased freehold. Very popular as investment properties – expect to pay between B3mn and B15mn.

THE PHUKET PROPERTY GUIDE Thai Residential phuket@thairesidential.com

I

n our previous article we wrote about freehold property ownership, which is mostly limited to condominiums. Here, we go through the basics of what is defined as a condo in Thailand, and what that ownership means.

There is a broad choice of condominiums – both in terms of style and price – but it is possible that our categorisation is subjective, so please accept that the types and prices below are for “guidance purposes only”.

Condominiums come in all shapes and sizes in Phuket. If you are interested in buying a condo, there are two things you must be aware of before you begin your search.

First, only 49% of any given condo development may be offered freehold to foreigners. Be sure the unit you are looking at is a freehold unit, not a leasehold.

Second, while you may be accustomed to using “apartment” and “condo” to mean

The Nai Harn Beach Condominium developed by Thai Business Development Company Group (TBD). Photo: TBD the same thing, they have two very different legal definitions in Thailand. Apartments are only available on a 30-year leasehold basis, regardless of the nationality of the buyer.

Some of the condos described below will be part of developments which offer guaranteed rental returns, which can make them very attractive investments.

Economy Economy condominiums are

ideal for anyone who simply wants to have a “base” in Phuket. These are usually on the smaller side, and are not designed to compete with a family development in a better location.

That said, the beaches and even the shops may still be close at hand, and the designs are generally suited to use as either a rental unit or residence.

If you are a foreigner on a budget, you will find condos

XXXXXX

Krabi International Airport will be expanded to double its passenger througput capacity, reports the Department of Airports. Photo: Maksym Kozlenko

Krabi airport capacity to be doubled TOURISM KRABI INTERNATIONal Airport will be expanded to double its passenger throughout capacity to 8 million passengers a year under a Department of Airports project to develop three provincial airports in the country.

The three airports – in Buriram, Surat Thani and in Krabi – will be upgraded next year under a combined budget of B11.3 billion, reports the Bangkok Post. (See story here.)

A B700-million second passenger terminal will be built at Buriram airport in @thephuketnews

the Northeast to serve more tourists, promote sports tourism and support its international-airport upgrade plan, a source at the Airports Department said.

The province is home to Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob and the Buriram United football team. It has the Chang Arena and imobile football stadiums, Chang International Circuit racing track and e-sport arena, noted the Bangkok Post.

The new terminal will more than double the airport’s capacity to 1.7 million passengers a year from 750,000 now.

Surat Thani airport will

also be upgraded to support booming southern tourism.

The expansion will accommodate 3.6mn passengers a year from 2mn today.

T h e d e p a r t m e nt i s working on a plan to boost commercial revenue at 28 airports under its supervision, aiming to increase its annual income by B143mn, the source added.

Shop and commercial space rentals at the airports will be raised, but not passenger service charges to avoid adding people’s burden.

Land and parking fees are also under review as the department fears raising them would result in higher fares.

Bangkok Post

in this classification offer good value for money – starting at around B2 million.

Resort Style Resort Condominiums probably make up the bulk of all condo units in Phuket bought by foreigners. In addition to being a place to live, they often offer services such as communal swimming pools and gymnasiums, which make them easy to rent to holiday makers.

Luxury Freehold & Penthouse These were created because some savvy developers understood that there was a demand for spacious luxury properties, some actually resembling villas in their layout, but with freehold ownership.

With stunning sea views, a quality developer and good management, these units tend to offer small gardens, terraces and private pools.

And as they are often part of a resort complex, you may also find a gymnasium, restaurant and communal pool – prices can be in excess of B50mn.

Other Possible Foreign Freehold Properties Some townhouse style proper-

ties, including ones in marinas such as Phuket Boat Lagoon, are actually legally structured as condominiums - freehold townhouses start at around B5mn.

Royal Phuket Marina offers an “Aquaminium”. This unique concept is a luxury freehold condominium, offering direct access to a private berth for your boat or yacht. It is the only place on the island where you can roll out of bed and be on the open water in mere minutes.

Both types of properties offer freehold ownership to foreigners – an “Aquaminium” starting price begin at around B15mn.

In addition, there are also resort-managed properties – Condotels and Branded Residences – offering freehold ownership. These will be discussed in depth in a later article.

This article is from the 2018/2019 ThaiResidential Phuket Property Guide. To download the 2019/2020 Guide visit Thairesidential. com/phuket-property-guide/ or call +66 9484 11918.

10 BUSINESS NEWS

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Phuket shines at Property Awards PROPERTY The Phuket News editor@classactmedia.co.th

P

huket’s Kamala-located MGallery Residences, MontAzure Lakeside by MontAzure won three national accolades at the 14th Annual PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards, while several other Phuket projects also picked up major awards.

The annual PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards, the Kingdom’s long-running and most prestigious real estate awards programme, were honoured at an exclusive ceremony at the Athenee Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in Bangkok last Friday (Aug 9).

Among the three awards won by MGallery Residences, MontAzure Lakeside was “Best Hotel Residence”, besting Ramada by Wyndam Mira North Pattaya by Habitat Group and Wyndham Garden Irin Bangsaray Pattaya by Irin Property Co Ltd, which both received “Highly Commended”.

MGallery Residences, MontAzure Lakeside also won “Best Condo Architectural Design (Resort)”, topping The Riviera Jomtien by The Riviera Group and Utopia Karon by Utopia Construction Group Co Ltd. The MGallery Residences project in Phuket also scooped the “Best

In another landmark year for the prestigious annual PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards, a total of 64 honours were presented in 2019.

Condo Landscape Architectural Design (Resort) prize, ahead of Utopia Loft Naiharn by Utopia Construction Group Co Ltd. Also scoring big in the national awards was Avadina Hills by Anantara, a development in Phuket by Minor International and Kajima, claiming the “Best Housing Development (Thailand)” prize.

Avadina Hills by Anantara also won “Best Luxury Housing Development (Phuket)”.

The award for “Best Housing Development (Phuket)” went to Anchan Hills by Pearl Island Property, with Botanica Luxury villas

by Botanica Luxury Phuket Co Ltd, Riverhouse by E Land Development Co Ltd, and Utopia Maikhao by Utopia Construction Group Co Ltd all receiving “Highly Commended” awards.

The Best Condo Development (Phuket) awards went to Utopia Loft

Naiharn, with MGallery Residences, MontAzure Lakeside also picking up a “Highly Commended” prize in the category.

Meanwhile, Phuket projects Anchan Hills by Pearl Island Property and Botanica Luxury villas by Botanica Luxury Phuket Co Ltd both also scored a “Highly Commended” in the “Best Housing Architectural Design (Resort)” national category, won by by The Prospect by Grand Paradise Villa Co Ltd. Outside Phuket, the Aquella Lakeside by Paradise Group won the “In Best Housing Development (Phang-Nga and Krabi)” award.

Earning its first Best Developer (Thailand) title was Siamese Asset Co., Ltd, which collected a total of six golden trophies and three Highly Commended distinctions.

“Its finger firmly on the pulse of Bangkok’s NOW generation, Siamese Asset combines functionality

and smart spaces to keep pace with the fluidity of millennial lifestyles; mixed-use Siamese Rama 9 symbolises a new CBD in the capital, engaging through strategic design and architecture to imagine a sense of place,” said the independent panel of judges.

One of last year’s runners-up in the Best Boutique category finally took the prize in this category; Habitat Group, the developer of Ramada

by Wyndam Mira North Pattaya, and Walden Sukhumvit 39, left the ceremony with seven golden trophies and two commendations, including a gong for the Best Digital Performance Hotel Residence presented by smart solutions company WiseSight.

The firm also honoured the year’s Best Digital Performance Condo Development (Bangkok), Best Digital Performance Housing Development (Bangkok), Best Digital Performance Condo Development (Provincial),

Best Digital Performance Housing Development (Provincial), and Best Digital Performance Commercial Development.

Former Best Developer title holder Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC) won 17 trophies spanning a wide array of properties, including Best Ultra Luxury Condo, Smart Home, Best Senior Living, Best Green, and Best Universal Design Development, as well as the Special Recognition for Design and Construction (shared with Siamese Asset). MQDC was also selected by the programme’s Official Charity Partner to receive the Right To Play for Community Projects award for their outreach efforts outside their development sites.

In another landmark year for the prestigious awards, a total of 64 honours were presented in 2019 including Best Hotel Residence, Best Senior Living Architectural Design, and the Special Recognition for Public Facility for the Deep Excavation and Completion of the Sanam Chai Station Project by Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, and the Suvarnabhumi International Airport Midfield Satellite 1 by Airport of Thailand Public Company Limited.

For the full list of winners and more information about the PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards, visit AsiaPropertyAwards.com

Radisson to open Mai Khao resort HOSPITALITY RADISSON HOTEL GROUP HAS ANnounced the signing of an upscale Radisson property in Phuket in partnership with ThaiChinese Property Holdings.

Scheduled to open in Q1 2023, Radisson Phuket Mai Khao Beach is located on the island’s northwest shore, with direct access to Mai Khao Beach.

Radisson Phuket Mai Khao Beach will feature 222 contemporary rooms and suites, ranging from the 35-square-meter Superior Rooms to the 132sqm Two-bedroom Suites.

A collection of ground-floor rooms will offer direct access to the property’s outdoor pool, and more than 20 of the rooms and suites will feature private pools.

In addition to the large outdoor lagoon pool, which covers 491sqm, the resort will feature a well-equipped fitness center, a kid’s club and dining options, including an all-day dining destination, a specialty restaurant and a lobby lounge, noted the announcement by Radisson.

The property will also be able to host events, with a choice of two meeting rooms, a business center and professional support for corporate retreats.

Under a sale and leaseback arrangement, investors will be able to purchase units, with exclusive resort privileges. The units will be made available through a mandatory rental program, while the operations of the property will be managed by Radisson Hotel Group, enabling investors to benefit from the group’s global distribution reach.

“Phuket is the perfect fit for our upscale

The 222-room Radisson resort at Mai Khao is being developed in partnership with ThaiChinese Property Holdings.

Radisson brand. The signing of this new property reflects our confidence in Thailand’s tourism industry and our strategy of introducing world-class hotels into Asia’s dynamic destinations, including major cities and popular resort destinations. We look forward to working with Thai-Chinese Property Holdings, as we bring this exciting project to life,” said Katerina Giannouka, President, Asia Pacific, Radisson Hotel Group.

“With Radisson Hotel Group’s experience and expertise, along with their world renowned hotel brands, we are confident and delighted to be working with the team. Radisson Phuket Mai Khao Beach is poised to elevate the level of upscale hospitality in Phuket,” said Darren Judges, Managing Director, Thai-Chinese Property Holdings Co Ltd. The signing of Radisson Phuket Mai Khao Beach marks Radisson Hotel Group’s expansion in Thailand. The Group currently operates four hotels in Bangkok: Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok, Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit, Park Plaza Bangkok Soi 18, and Park Plaza Sukhumvit Hotel.

The Phuket News thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Caring for our feline friends on the street

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

13

When the Japanese ruled Southern Siam

14

THE WALK OF THE WORLD

Phuketian only Thai to take on 160k Dutch historical walk

Photo: Four Days Marches / Ger Loeffen Amy Bryant editor1@classactmedia.co.th

T

he Netherlands is the fifth happiest country in the world, according to the United Nations’ 2019 World Happiness Report, sitting behind European cousins Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Now, measuring the happiness of an entire nation might sound about as feasible and worthwhile as conducting a census of the fairy population, but it’s the analysis of these countries that makes the annual report valuable. It seems that what keeps the Dutch grinning from ear to ear, year on year, is their strong sense of community.

And there’s no greater example of this than the country’s Four Days Marches, or Vierdaagse, a long-distance multi-day walking event that has brought the Dutch people together since 1909. Back then it was largely a military affair, with some 306 participants, 296 of them soldiers, who marched with the aim of promoting sport and exercise to the masses. In the proceeding 110 years, popularity grew and the ratio shifted: now the event welcomes 40,000plus participants, largely civilians, from around the world. It’s earned the tag line ‘The Walk of the World’ because of its status as the world’s largest walking event and because of the diversity of its participants. The event attracts friends, families, couples, colleagues, neighbours; children, teenagers, adults, pensioners; Nigerians, Taiwanese, Nepalese, Chileans, Kazakhs and more.

This year saw a Thai participant: 12-year-old Natthaphon “Phum” Sanguannarm from Phuket. Not only was @thephuketnews

Phum the only Thai participant – out of 44,702 – he was also one of two children to walk 40 kilometres each day, while most walked 30. Participants walk 30, 40 or 50km daily depending on their age and (somewhat controversially) gender, but Phum went up a category so he could experience the walk with his father, Steven van Leeuwarden.

The walk is often underestimated and a few thousand participants drop out each year. Sometimes it just takes a little perspective to appreciate the distance. Phum and Steven walked 160km in total, which is close to four marathons and the equivalent of walking from Kata to Phuket International Airport and back twice. Military participants also walk 160km but face the added challenge of wearing full uniform and carrying at least 10 kilograms.

Training began in earnest for Phum and Steven in January with early morning strolls from their home in Rawai to the family business, Phuket-Scuba. com, in Kata and regular laps around Bang Wad reservoir in Kathu. As well as building their fitness and improving their pace, the walks gave Phum the opportunity to decide whether walking was something he enjoyed and whether he was up for the challenge of his first Four Days Marches. Steven had some idea of what was to come, having lived and studied in Nijmegen, where the walk takes place, and taken on the 50km route four times previously.

The Four Days Marches takes a different route each day, through the rural landscape of Gelderland, Brabant and Limburg provinces and through the city of Nijmegen and its outskirts.

Walkers mingle with fellow walkers and onlookers who turn out to show

Phum and his hard-won Cross for the Four Day Marches. their support – whether that’s enthusiastic jeers at 5am from partygoers on their way home as the walkers set off, or locals handing out drinks and snacks in front of their homes. Spirits are high and the community buzz reverberates around the narrow suburban backstreets and the country hills.

Phum and Steven walked hand in hand, distracting themselves from their blistered feet and sore muscles by joining in with the soldiers’ songs as they marched by and spotting supercars.

Wide-eyed, Phum recalls the Porsches and Ferraris he passed en route, and was chuffed to see that his name appeared in the Four Days Marches official programme under the number 33, the number of his racing hero Max Verstappen who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One. Phum is similarly pleased with his Cross for the Four Day Marches, or Vierdaagsekruis, a decoration awarded to participants who complete the walk.

Resemblant of a war medal, Dutch soldiers often add the royally-approved decoration to their military uniform.

Phum and Steven 3km from the end.

And participants are certainly made to feel like returning heroes. As walkers approach the finish line on day four, spectators hand them gladioli, swordshaped flowers that were thrown over victorious gladiators in Roman times and are immortalised in the Dutch saying ‘death or the gladioli’, meaning ‘all or nothing.’ The final stretch, St. Annastraat, is even renamed Via Gladiola every year for the event.

Phum and Steven shed some tears as they walked along the Via Gladiola – tears of exhaustion but mainly of joy and of pride. And who could blame them? I think I would too if my country made me feel like a triumphant gladiator, and perhaps that same country would fare a little better in the happiness stakes…

12 CULTURE

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The merits of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy: Part 1 ALL ABOUT BUDDHISM Jason A. Jellison mitnoy@live.com

M

anaging money is not an easy business in today’s world, and the past 40 years have truly seen a challenge for many middle-class people. Wage growth has been slow. More and more jobs are being automated. Many pensions have been eliminated almost altogether. Higher-education costs have gone up and health insurance benefits have gone down.

While some economies thrive, the message to many Western workers today is “you’re on your own”. Financial planning is now a much more critical facet of a working person’s life than ever before, and anyone starting out today will have to carefully choose their path to riches.

But all that glitters is not gold.

The Great Recession of 2008 clearly demonstrated the dangers of high-risk financial strategy. Many hard workers who relied on the stock market were wiped out and many housing markets around the world still have not fully recovered from the debacle of 2008.

Yet many people still choose to invest in medium or high-risk investment plans because they perceive that higher returns are the only ticket to getting rich or at least remaining financially competitive in a world of ever-increasing prices.

But what if I were to tell you that there is another way? What if I were to tell you that there is a financial theory that could help you reap finaincial rewards without taking any risk? What if you could become a millionaire without ever having to touch a single stock, buy a single bond, borrow a single dollar or lend even a dime at high interest?

Well, there is such a financial theory and it is rooted in Buddhist philosophy.

We call it “Sufficiency Economy” and it is a theory of which many self-made millionaires have used and gone on to become local philanthropists.

When used properly, the Sufficiency Economy philosophy can allow for a com-

Photo: Steve Buissinne / Pixabay plete metamorphosis in financial class.

The theory can be used on an individual basis but it has even been implemented in complete village communities.

Contemporary Buddhist economics has its roots in the writings of E. F. Schumacher’s book Small Is Beautiful but the Sufficiency Economy philosophy in Thailand was created by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). If you’re interested in the theory, many books have been written about it by other writers than the original theorists.

However, many of the newer books lack some key steps that are required to create a maximum outcome.

In this issue of All About Buddhism, we’re going to publish those missing secrets and teach you how to use the theory for yourself. The first secret is simple: managing desire!

Many Sufficiency Economy books teach that the secret to the theory is spending less than you earn or living beneath your means, but this is an oversimplification. The secret first step into making yourself rich is not about reducing spending. Instead, it’s really about altering your desire for physical things and adapting a standard that is based on two key questions: Do I really need this or is there something more practical which would do the same thing?

You see, the world has been gen-

erating increasing amounts of wealth on a global scale for several centuries.

Despite the pains of globalisation and migration, the world actually still is increasing the total amount of wealth amongst its net economies. It is also increasing the number of consumer goods that we spend our money on.

The key to getting ahead is to understand that there is actually ever-more wealth in the world, but we tend to drain off what could be gained because we fail to control our desire for more.

The real secret is to focus on permanency, not productivity or profit.

For example, when I was a child, we were perfectly content with “CRT” (low resolution) colour TV and VHS tape players. Today, a large screen Smart TV and a recording system to accompany it cost about B101,600. But, for those of us who are still content with a 27-inch low-res TV and VHS, the total bill for a brand-new pair would only be about B3,000. That’s a huge saving and, although this choice of technology is a little older and a wee bit slower, it will be just as entertaining and could even be reengineered for more modern times.

This shows the magic of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy. We can do most of the same things that everyone else is doing but at a fraction of the cost.

Hypothetically speaking, if two people had the exact same income and expenses, the Sufficiency Economy philosophy just drew B98,600 ahead with the practitioner’s first purchase versus a non-practitioner.

Examples like this really are all around us. Whether it be clothes, housing, cars or high-tech gadgets, the hidden truth is that “small is beautiful” and “less can be much more”. You make the theory work by strategically altering what you want as a consumer to still have an identical quality of life but at a sharply lower cost.

Small luxuries are fine, though.

Once you start piling up savings, there is no need to live like a pauper. Once the savings are piling up, a person should take an occasional night out to do something luxurious. The Sufficiency Economy philosophy is not about living like a miser but rather about paying yourself first.

The next step is to add some questions to everyday spending decisions.

When confronted with a significant purchase, the Sufficiency Economy philosophy asks three key questions each and every time: Is it reasonable? Is it affordable enough that I am creating shock absorption from my own savings?

And do I really need it?

These are the true keys to the Sufficiency Economy philosophy. The real key to getting ahead in finance is not jumping into risky stocks, but rather in realising that a 20-year-old Cadillac might be every bit as luxurious as a brand-new one. It will do all the same things but at a fraction of the cost. It is sufficient.

When a person lives this way they have what we call “relative sufficiency”.

Relative sufficiency means you are making yourself sufficient and resistant to financial shock while still having an unusually high quality of life that is free of major debt.

Relative sufficiency is maintained by three main ideals. First, every major purchase is given due consideration against pragmatic alternatives which could equally suffice. Second, highly moral values are used to make large gains using one’s own personal resources. Finally, a personal surplus is built up which can be shared with others in times of crisis.

The other major secret of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy regards permanence. In a consumer world, many things are temporary and enough has rarely been enough. But the philosophy does not use a “more is always better” mentality. Instead, we simply ask ourselves the question, “What solution would most practically solve the problem on a permanent basis?”

In other words, the second secret to using the Sufficiency Economy philosophy is simply to understand that focusing on productivity and efficiency really are little more than red herrings. The real key is permanence and contentment because once permanence and contentment are established, productivity and labour sort themselves out naturally.

This return to sustainability and change to pragmatic desire very quickly generates massive gains for a knowledgeable practitioner of Buddhist economics. It also quickly results in a low-stress lifestyle because surpluses make life more stable.

In the next issue of All About Buddhism, we will look beyond relative sufficiency. We will look at how entire communities or nations could live using the Sufficiency Economy philosophy as well as how this can make a financial depression impossible. No recessions. No risky stocks. Nobody goes hungry. Less really can be more.

All About Buddhism is a monthly column in The Phuket News where I take readers on my exotic journey into Thai Buddhism and debunk a number of myths about Buddhism. If you have any specific queries, or ideas for articles, please let us know. Email editor1@classactmedia.co.th, and I will do my best to accommodate your interests. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Kitty corner

COMMUNITY 13

A beginner’s guide to caring for the island’s soi kittens and cats

Amy Bryant editor1@classactmedia.co.th

C

at lovers, assemble, because Regina Telbisz, who works for Soi Dog Foundation’s (SDF) Community Outreach team has shared her top tips for soi cat care. Her team travels around the island to stray animals hotspots and teaches those who care for and feed the animals how to administer basic first aid and identify signs of sickness and injury. In this way, health issues are spotted and treated early, and the pressure is taken off SDF whose rehoming centre is fit to burst with around 700 dogs and 250 cats.

Here’s Regina’s advice for how you can help stray cats in need. This is by no means an exhaustive guide. Remember to always consult a vet if you’re unsure, seek immediate help in an emergency and never put yourself at risk.

Types of cat So you’ve spotted a new furry friend in the area. First things first, establish what kind of cat it is. Is it a free-roaming ‘outdoor’ cat with an owner? Is it a stray cat with no owner? Or is it feral?

Signs of ownership include a clean, well-kept coat, a collar and a friendly, approachable disposition.

You can establish whether there’s an owner by asking around your neighbourhood and posting in local Facebook groups. You’ll be surprised how quickly word can get around. If possible, check for a microchip.

Where you encounter the cat can also be an indication. Sadly, unwanted cats are often abandoned at temples and beaches, and so if you encounter a cat in these locations, there’s a good chance there isn’t an owner in the picture. Fortunately, these cats often have help in the form of local residents who provide food and basic medical care.

Unlike stray and owned cats who are to some extent socialised to people, feral cats are extremely averse to human contact and are likely to be fearful. You can help them from a distance by leaving out food and water, but rest assured that they are often naturally able to fend for themselves.

Keep a safe distance if the feral cat has kittens; the mother may abandon them if she can smell the scent of a human on them.

Chailay and Antero were rescued

by SDF and are up for adoption. @thephuketnews

If you find a kitten or kittens by themselves, feral or otherwise, wait for the mum to return before taking any further action. She might be off hunting. But if there’s no sign of her in four hours, it’s likely she isn’t coming back.

If a feral cat is in need of veterinary attention, do not try to help it yourself.

Contact SDF who can send out professionals to trap it.

Age Once you’ve identified that the cat is stray and needs your help in the absence of an owner, it’s time to establish its age so you can care for and feed it appropriately.

Kittens under one week old will have their eyes shut, ears flat to their head and pinkish skin. Their eyes will start to open when they’re a week to ten days old but their ears will remain flat. By three weeks, their eyes will be fully open, ears standing to attention, teeth visible and they will be walking (albeit a little wobbly). Between four and five weeks old, they will be more steady on their feet, even able to pounce and leap.

Kittens up to four weeks old should be on a solely milk diet. In the absence of their mother’s milk, use powdered kitten milk replacement formula. Do not give them cow’s milk. Almost all cats are lactose intolerant.

Feeding newborn kittens is an around-the-clock task, as they need milk every three hours.

After four weeks, you can introduce solid foods.

Sterilisation The only ethical and truly effective way to manage the cat population is sterilisation (also known as spaying or neutering). Thanks to SDF’s mass sterilisation programme, under which some 324,000 cats and dogs have been sterilised, the stray animal population in Phuket is under control, and an unimaginable number of animals have been saved from a difficult life on the streets.

When a cat comes in to be sterilised, SDF also vaccinates them against rabies and a host of contagious diseases.

You can tell whether a cat has been sterilised by SDF by checking for a small tattoo in their ears. Other foundations, shelters and vets have their own way of marking that the cat has been sterilised, such as clipping the tip of the ear. The cat may also have a scar on its lower stomach.

Cats can be sterilised from the age of four months or when they weigh over two kilograms. You can book an appointment for sterilisation by calling SDF on 076-681-029, emailing frontoffice@ soidog.org or speaking to your local Community Outreach team. Or you can book an appointment with a local vet.

The procedure itself is fairly straightforward and the cat is likely to be discharged on the same day. Keep an eye out for them in the days after. They might feel a little sorry for themselves for the first 24 hours. If after that they

Feline friends: Regina and her colleague Woon helping a cat in need. appear lethargic, dizzy or disinterested in food or you spot any bleeding, seek veterinary help.

Health As you become familiar with the cat, look out for changes in their general coat and appearance, mobility and demeanour. If the cat allows you to do so, run your hands along them from head to tail, including the pads of the paws, and check for lumps, bumps, scratches or missing patches of fur.

There are a number of common health issues that can be treated while the cat is on the streets, but always consult a vet first.

Mange, fleas and ear mites, identifiable by the cat intensely scratching and biting its fur, are surprisingly easy to treat provided they’re not at a chronic stage. A vet will usually prescribe a topical treatment which can be applied without even handling the cat.

Ringworm, a fungal infection that sees bald patches and red circles appear on the body, can also be treated with a topical treatment or tablets/liquid that can be mixed in with food.

Diarrhoea is one to monitor. Mix some water in with the cat’s food to ensure they stay hydrated. If the diarrhoea persists and the cat seems unwell, seek veterinary attention as it could be a sign of a more serious problem.

Serious health issues which require immediate veterinary attention include feline panleukopenia virus (weight loss, lethargy, bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, high fever); feline immunodeficiency virus (weight loss, lethargy, pale gums, vomiting, runny eyes and nose, although not all cats exhibit symptoms); feline leukemia virus (weight loss, lethargy, persistent diarrhoea, poor coat, fever, wobbly gait, enlarged lymph nodes); and cat flu (similar symptoms to human flu and particularly dangerous for kittens).

A cat found with a deep wound should be approached carefully and slowly as they may be in pain and scared. Flush any dirt out with saline solution, apply a pressure bandage if they are bleeding heavily and seek veterinary attention.

Personal hygiene is very important.

Wash your hands thoroughly after handling cats and/or their faeces so you don’t catch anything and so you don’t pass infections to other animals.

What else?

There are a host of other ways you can help: temporarily fostering cats while a permanent owner is found, as organised through local Facebook groups (such as Rawai Animal Lovers); adopting a cat instead of buying from a breeder; donating to SDF’s Care for Cats Club; donating supplies to SDF; visiting SDF and socialising with the cats and dogs; volunteering for SDF; or becoming a flight volunteer and letting an adopted cat fly with you to its new home. Further information can be found at www.soidog.org Soi Dog Foundation is located at 167/9 Moo 4, Soi Mai Khao 10, Mai Khao, Thalang, 83110. Shelter hours are Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. To report a sick or injured street dog or cat during these hours, email clinic@soidog.org or call 076-681-029. However, if you see an animal outside of shelter hours whose life you believe is in danger unless it receives immediate, emergency treatment, call the emergency hotline on 098-927-9698.

14 HISTORY

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Fierce and martial THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket HISTORY OF PHUKET

Colin Mackay

I

n 1629 when King Songtham of Ayutthaya died, his cousin, Okya Kalahom (minister of defence), and his supporters effectively usurped the throne by killing King Songth­am’s designated heir and placing King Songtham’s six-year-old son on the throne as King Chetha, with Okya Kalahom as his overseeing regent, which gave the ambitious defence minister real power over the kingdom.

Okya Kalahom would have preferred to have also killed King Songtham’s son and just taken the throne himself.

But King Songtham had kept a private palace guard of some 600 Japanese mercenaries whose commander, a tough and loyal warrior called Yamada Nagamasa (his Siamese lordly title was Okya Senaphimuk), had given his oath to King Songtham that he would pro­tect his son after his death.

The Japanese were feared all over the East as a fierce and martial people at the time. Many had migrated to Siam as traders, mercenaries and pirates and were known as a “people so desperate and daring that they are feared in all places”. Most peninsular ports, for example, had a policy that no Japanese could come ashore unless they first disarmed.

So, with loyal Yamada and his Japanese praetorian guard in and around the palace, plus an estimated 3,000 other Japanese supporters living in Ayutthaya, Okya Kalahom’s hands were somewhat tied by Yamada’s “authority and the consideration in which the Japanese were held” – but not for long.

The cunning Okya Kalahom soon de­manded that all the provincial Siamese lords must now come to Ayutthaya to pay homage to the new boy king. He antici­pated that the viceroy of Ligor, the king’s first lord in the central peninsula, would refuse because he had been loyal to the old King Songtham and did not like the usur­pation and

“on account of the state of his province, which was threatened with war by the people of Patani and because the in­ habitants were on the point of taking up arms” (in rebellion).

When the viceroy of Ligor did not come to pay homage, Okya Kalahom proposed to Yamada that as the boyking’s guardian, he should take his Japanese warriors south to arrest and kill the disobedient viceroy. If successful, he flatteringly proposed, Yamada, as a great man himself, could become the next viceroy of Ligor and the entire peninsula. Van Vliet, the Dutch East India Company factor in Ayutthaya at the time, tells us that Okya Kalahom “represented [to Yamada] that the government of Ligor was the most important of the whole kingdom, partly by reason of its provinces which have several seaports … and partly by reason of the disobedience of the southern inhabitants who required a vigorous man to inspire their enemies with terror and its subjects with respect”.

Suitably flattered, Yamada left Ayutthaya with his Japanese mercenaries and another 1,500 or so of Ayutthaya’s Japanese, who expected to benefit from the establishment of this new Japaneserun fiefdom in the central peninsula.

Van Vliet also notes, “This greatly pleased everybody, everyone being glad to see the court cleared of this rabble” and that the subsequent arrival of Yamada in Ligor “inspired everyone with such great dread that he dispatched the whole rebellion at once”.

Yamaha’s Japanese troops soon defeated and captured the viceroy of Ligor and his naksat sub-lords in the central peninsula, probably including the rajah of Thalang, and had them “put to death and punished … and in a short space of time, he swept all the provinces … and estab­lished his authority”.

The properties of the Ligor viceroy were reallocated to Yamada and his Japanese of­f icers and he may well have replaced the rajah of Thalang with a Japanese overlord and henchmen, although this cannot be confirmed from other sources. Van Vliet tells us that Yamada “began to take all measures, to

Yamada Nagamasa and his band of unruly Japanese mercenaries ruled over Southern Siam briefly in the early 1630s. distribute considerable presents to his fa­vourites, to make okyas and operas (provincial sub-lords) and to appoint mandarins”. To celebrate his success, Okya Kalahom in Ayutthaya sent more flattering letters and many presents to Yamada including high-born concubines, one of whom was a Siamese girl of royal blood. He ordered Yamada to continue on with his great suc­cesses and to subdue the rebellious kingdom of Patani, and thereby enlarge further his great new fiefdom. The malleable Yamada took his forces further south to attack Patani.

The artful Okya Kalahom used this occasion to complete his coup in Ayutthaya. The young boy-king was arrested, put in a velvet bag and clubbed to death with sandalwood clubs. Okya Kalahom then took the throne as King Prasat Thong (1630-1655) and embarked on a reign of great terror and cruelty. He started by having some 3,000 lords who had opposed him, and their families, attacked, arrested and killed off with the greatest barbarity. Their heads and severed limbs were displayed around the towns and country for all to see. Their slaves and properties were redistributed to the new king’s henchmen and supporters and Van Vliet tells us that, “The great cruelty shown in these executions closed the mouths of all the others.”

Meanwhile, in the peninsula, Yamada’s forces subdued Patani, but Yamada was badly wounded in the leg. He returned to Ligor as the new master of the central peninsula and decided to crown his glory with a combined ceremony of his coronation as viceroy of the south and his wedding to the royal Siamese girl King Prasat Thong had sent him.

However, Yamada’s doctor in Ligor was either a supporter of the previous viceroy, or in the pay of King Prasat Thong.

Whilst tending to Yamada’s wounded leg, Van Vliet tells us that, “Just when [Yamada] believed he was going to enjoy the fruit of his love … at the height of the rejoicings of his wedding … Apra

Marit [the doctor] applied a poisoned plaster to his leg which caused him to die in a few hours”.

With Yamada’s death, some of the Japanese troops wanted Yamada’s son to take over, but another faction wanted his main general. This schism resulted in internecine fight­ing between these two Japanese factions who “did not cease to contend continually for the government, the result was that the Japanese were diminished everyday in these continual encounters”.

With the Japanese now far away, leaderless and infighting, the new King Prasat Thong made his final move to clear out the remaining Japanese from Ayutthaya. In 1632 his troops “set fire to the Japanese quarter in the night … he had cannon fired into their houses with such fury that they were compelled to throw themselves into their junks … [to escape down the river] … fighting all the time as they retreated … Japanese who dwelt in other quarters of the town were then diligently searched for and were put cruelly to death”.

In Ligor, King Prasat Thong’s agents encouraged the locals to rebel against their new Japanese overlords and a large Ayutthayan army was dispatched to assist them. “Seeing how little advantage they were getting from their stay”, the Japanese left on boats for Cambodia.

Soon after this episode the Japanese shogun Tokugawa expelled all the Christians in Japan, closed Japan’s doors to the outside world and decreed that Japanese were no longer allowed to go overseas, on pain of death.

Japanese soldiers would not be seen again in Phuket and the central peninsula for another 300 years.

Adapted with kind permission from the book ‘A History of Phuket and the Surrounding Region’ by Colin Mackay.

Available from good bookshops and Amazon.com. Order the softcover 2nd edition directly at: www.historyofphuket.com thephuketnews

HEALTH 15

Buzz off THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Breakthrough technique eradicates mosquitoes

S

Sara Hussein

ince dengue fever was first recorded in Thailand in 1949, the mosquito-borne viral disease has never been eradicated; it has become even more widespread. Indeed, the number of dengue infections nationwide January through April this year was especially higher than the average during the same period for the past five years. While the rate of infections in Phuket fell in that time, concerns surrounding dengue continue.

Preventative solutions are available, such as the Dengvaxia vaccine at Phuket International Hospital, which decreases the risk of some forms of dengue, but more comprehensive solutions are constantly sought.

According to research published last month, a breakthrough technique harnessing two methods to target diseasecarrying mosquitoes was able to effectively eradicate buzzing biters in two test sites in China.

The mosquitoes targeted are a type that is particularly difficult to control called Aedes albopictus – more popularly known as the Asian tiger mosquito – which are a major vector for diseases including Zika and dengue.

The study “demonstrates the potential of a potent new tool”, wrote Peter Armbruster, a professor at Georgetown University’s department of biology, in a review of the work.

@thephuketnews

Researchers harnessed two population control methods: the use of radiation – which effectively sterilises mosquitoes – and a strain of bacteria called Wolbachia that leaves mosquito eggs dead on arrival. They conducted a two-year trial at two sites on river islands in Guangzhou, where Asian tiger mosquitoes are to blame for the highest dengue transmission rate in China.

The results were “remarkable”, wrote Armbruster: the number of hatched mosquitoes eggs plunged by 94%, with not a single viable egg recorded for up to 13 weeks in some cases. And the average number of female mosquitoes – which transmit disease to humans when they bite – caught by traps fell by between 83% and 94%. In some cases, none were detected at all for up to six weeks.

The results were also borne out by a decline of nearly 97% in bites suffered by locals – which in turn shifted attitudes among residents, who were initially sceptical of the project’s plan to release more mosquitoes into the local area.

Radiation and bacteria The research builds on two existing methods: radiation-based sterile insect technique (SIT) and incompatible insect technique (IIT).

SIT works by releasing radiationsterilised male mosquitoes into an environment to mate with wild female mosquitoes, reducing the size of the

Asian tiger mosquitoes are a major vector for potentially deadly diseases such as Zika and dengue. population over time as females fail to reproduce. But irradiation of male mosquitoes tends to reduce both their mating competitiveness and their survival rates, undermining the technique’s effectiveness.

The IIT method involves a bacteria called Wolbachia. When males infected with it mate with female mosquitoes that aren’t infected, their eggs don’t hatch. The technique doesn’t work if the female mosquitoes are infected with the same Wolbachia strain, and successful mating by mosquitoes that both carry the bacteria undermines the technique by producing more female mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia that are resistant to the process.

Preventing the release of Wolbachiainfected female mosquitoes is difficult, with sex-sorting techniques usually resulting in a “female contamination rate” of about 0.3%. To overcome that, researchers decided to subject their Wolbachia-infected lab-reared mosquitoes to low-level irradiation, which rendered the females sterile but left the males able to reproduce.

This allowed the team to avoid the onerous sex-screening process and meant they could release significantly more mosquitoes at a time: in some cases more than 160,000 male mosquitoes per hectare, per week.

‘Striking results’ Lead researcher Zhiyong Xi, a professor at Michigan State University’s department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, compared the technique to “producing insecticide”.

“Our goal is to use this technique to build a protected area that is disease vector-free,” Xi told AFP. Armbruster, in a review commissioned by the journal Nature that published the research, said the study produced “striking results”.

That the trial “almost eliminated notoriously difficult-to-control vector mosquitoes from the test sites is remarkable,” he wrote.

The results weren’t a universal success – populations in areas with more traffic, near construction or roads, shrank less than those in isolated zones, likely as mosquitoes migrated in from elsewhere.

But Xi said the technique still holds promise if “natural barriers” like highways are used to limit the arrivals of outside mosquitoes. And he said it could be used against mosquitoes that carry disease, including malaria.

The next steps will involve developing a “highly effective and practical release strategy” suited for urban settings,” he said.

AFP

16 ENTERTAINMENT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Croc horror Now showing in Phuket.

Creature feature Crawl packed full of suspense… and killer alligators David Griffiths

W

hen it comes to great horror directors, we always tend to think of masters like John Carpenter, James Wan or Wes Craven. Is it time, though, to start thinking about adding French director Alexandre Aja to that list? As if movies like The Hills Have Eyes and Mirrors weren’t impressive enough, his brand-new film Crawl has some critics calling him one of the best next generation genre directors.

Crawl tells a basic but very believable tale. A hurricane is battering the Florida coastline, and while most people are leaving the area, young collegiate swimmer

Haley (Kaya Scodelario) finds herself driving into the danger zone after a panicked phone call from her sister, Beth (Morfydd Clark). Beth is concerned that she hasn’t heard from their father, Dave (Barry Pepper), who is right in the middle of where the hurricane is predicted to make landfall.

Despite the dangerous conditions, Haley drives to her father’s home and arrives to some baffling circumstances.

His truck is in the yard, his dog is inside and so is his nearly flat phone, but he is nowhere to be seen. When she eventually finds him, injured in a flooding basement, she becomes trapped by circling alligators who have also found their way into the basement.

While Crawl may lack some of the horror tropes that fans have come to know and love from films like Saw or even The Conjuring, Aja creates horror from the suspense of characters being placed in a situation that you could easily imagine happening in real life. Add that to the fact that is very much a creature feature horror that involves one of the most terrifying and vicious animals that walks the Earth and you end up with a film that’s touching on a lot of people’s worst possible nightmare.

The big key to making this work is the claustrophobic suspense that Aja is able to create with the setting of the basement. Even before the introduction of the alligators, Aja has the audience jumping as trees crash through windows and then uses the dark, damp basement to its full advantage. Simple things like Haley crawling through the mud on the basement floor, barely able to move in the confined space, adds to the suspense, but things really move into top gear once it’s established that both she and her father and sharing the basement with fully-grown alligators who are out for a meal. From then on in, whenever one of the characters moves in the basement, everything is heightened. You’re never really sure just how many alligators are coming and going from the basement and where they are hiding.

For all of the great moments of suspense the film does have, there are also some glaring errors that at times grate on its audiences. It feels like neither Aja nor his screenwriters knew how to really use some of the characters in the film. Beth is not used after her initial phone calls, and the introduction of

police officers and petty thieves in the space around the house seems to only occur in order for there to be a little bit of blood and gore as the alligators feed. There’s no character development for any of those characters and they are massively underused in the grand scheme of things.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises, though, is some of the B- or even C-grade CGI that creeps into the film from time to time. The film goes from having some really realistic and menacing alligators to rain effects so bad that even the team that created Sharknado would have rejected them.

It may seem like a small criticism but so bad is the effect that at times it takes the audience right out of the realism created during the film.

On the flipside, the filmmakers did get the casting right. While hardly a big Hollywood name, Kaya Scodelario showed with The Maze Runner franchise that she is a star on the rise and she furthers enhances that title here in a role that would have been at times hell to have filmed. Countless days in a water tank plus a fair amount of gore effects would take its toll on any actor, but Scodelario and Pepper persevere through the trials of the occupation in order to create truly memorable horror performances and are a dynamic onscreen pair.

Crawl is a film that does have its weaknesses but for the most part is the type of horror film that has you on the edge of your seat throughout. And when you close your eyes that night, expect a few nightmares about alligators coming to get you…

David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

TRAVEL 17

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

A visit to Doi Thepnimit temple JAMIE’S PHUKET

I

Jamie Monk

noticed a few photos appearing of a new temple under construction last year on the hillside above Patong Beach and had also seen the access road to this new temple being built next to the Chinese Shrine on top of Patong Hill. I followed that road many years ago when it was a small track, looking for views over Kathu or Patong. I’d not heard any official announcements about the opening of this temple, but I did see some signs up and lots of cars around the entrance to the access road last year, so on a recent sunny Sunday it was time to have a look…

Doi Thepnimit temple is not actually a wat (so it’s not called Wat Doi Thepnimit). The wat is a larger temple that has state or royal endorsement.

The Doi Thepnimit temple is a samnak song which is more like a monastery or meditation centre. These places may not have all the features of a larger wat.

Doi Thepnimit has really just one large chedi with a great view, and on a lower level are buildings that look like accommodation and dining areas for monks or people coming to study or meditate.

The road to reach Doi Thepnimit temple starts right next to the shrine on top of Patong Hill, between Patong and Phuket Town, the shrine where some

@thephuketnews

Impressive views from Doi Thepnimit temple.

A naga snaking around the temple.

Yaks guarding the entrance. people beep for good luck (style of beeping and number of beeps is up to you; I have a habit of four short beeps heading towards Patong and two short beeps heading home). It’s easier to turn left into this small side road if coming from Kathu (towards Patong) otherwise you’ll be turning right across the traffic.

The road is concrete and very steep

in places. The temple is about 100 metres/330 foot higher than the road.

It’s about a kilometre along this road and there are some views on the way looking through the trees across the hills and the Kathu area. Just before the temple there’s a right turn next to a golden Buddha statue and you drop down a little to reach the temple. There

you get the best view. Quite impressive!

And it was very quiet. There were just a few visitors when I arrived. I took a few photos from above and then drove down to park under a tree outside the temple.

The one temple building is a large chedi, not as huge as the chedi at Wat Chalong, but impressive and very bright and colourful as it’s relatively new.

The entrance is guarded by two yaks (mythical giants, often seen at temples) and also by two nagas (seven-headed mythical snakes). Buddhist stories tell of the king of the naga sheltering Buddha from a storm by covering him with his seven heads, so you see the naga in pretty much all Buddhist temples too.

The two nagas at this temple are very large. The heads are at the front of the temple and the bodies undulate around both sides of the chedi and meet at the back where their tails entwine.

The two snakes are each about 40m long. It’s an impressive piece of artwork.

If you want to step inside, shoes off please. I had a quick look inside the chedi. There were two people in silent prayer just inside so I switched my phone to silent mode before snapping a photo. Very glad to have made the effort to visit.

Jamie Monk works at liveaboard dive specialists Sunrise Divers. For more information call: 084 626 4646 or visit: sunrise-divers.com. You can read more about Phuket on Jamie’s Phuket Blog – www.jamiesphuketblog.com/

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

ISLAND SCENE 19

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

The projects align with UWC’s mission to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.

Saving the planet one tree at a time.

Clean-ups are better with friends.

Teamwork in action.

Making a positive impact on the island.

UWCT STUDENTS KICK OFF SCHOOL YEAR WITH COMMUNITY PROJECTS Grade 11 and 12 students alongside staff at UWC Thailand threw themselves into the new school year by wading through mud to plant over 1,000 mangrove trees in Bang Rong on Aug 8 and cleaning Nai Yang beach on Aug 9. These events were part of the students’ week-long orientation which brings teachers, boarding house students and day students together to bond as a cohort and to see the many ways they can have a positive impact on the island.

Aquella and Paradise group.

The Utopia team.

THAILAND PROPERTY AWARDS BUILD ON SUCCESS WITH 14TH EDITION Thailand’s finest developers were honoured at the exclusive PropertyGuru Thailand Property Awards on Aug 9 which celebrated the best projects, design and innovation within the industry in the past year. Congratulations to Anchan Hills by Pearl Island Property who won Best Housing Development (Phuket) and Utopia Loft Naiharn by Utopia Construction Group Co., Ltd who took away the award for Best Condo Development (Phuket).

Front row: Room Division Manager Janet Teo, General Manager Matthias Y. Sutter and Front Office Manager Piyawan Srinuanla-ong with their associates.

JW MARRIOTT PHUKET JOINS THE TRIPADVISOR HALL OF FAME JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa announced on Aug 9 that it has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2019 Hall of Fame. The Certificate of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity and regency of reviews submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period. Organisations that have received a Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years qualify for the Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all involved. @thephuketnews

Harry, Susan and Patrick.

BUSINESS BOOMS AT AUSTCHAM NETWORKING EVENT, BANGKOK The Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) hosted the All Welcome Sundowners at the Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20 on Aug 7. The biggest international business networking event in the Bangkok calendar saw over 350 people, including a few from Phuket, enjoy fine food and beverages and fantastic networking.

20 EVENTS

FRI

16 AUG

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

SAT

17 AUG

SUN

18 AUG

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

MON

19 AUG

Sunday Roast All Day, All Night Mussels night @ Shakers 1.2kg mussels served with French fries, your choice, your style: natural, marnière, Provençale, garlic and cream or Thai style. Reservations recommended B295 P/P. shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

Light and Fresh Buffet

ALL YOU CAN EAT BBQ RIBS

The Watercourt is presenting a line of tasty Italian Cold Cut, Gourmet Salads, Hearty Soup, Flavourful Desserts and Seasonal Fruit. From THB 1,200 net per guest (Choice of Meat & Seafood grilled - Additional). Banyan Tree, The Watercourt,fb-phuket@banyantree.com, 076 372 400.

Come join us for our WEEKLY BBQ EVERY FRIDAY served ALL DAY & ALL NIGHT at Two Chefs Kata Center, Karon, Kata Beach and Patong. Indulge in All You Can Eat BBQ Pork Ribs, Chicken and Sides for ONLY 495 BAHT! Our BBQ is famous at Two Chefs! Come try us out and enjoy our mouthwatering pork ribs, flavor-bursting chicken and more! Join us for Live Music from 8-Late Performed by Our Famous Two Chefs Band! Come for the FOOD Stay for the Fun. www.twochefs.com Kata Beach 076-333-370 Karon 076-286-479 Patong 076-344-914.

Come enjoy a Traditional Sunday Roast EVERY SUNDAY at Two Chefs Kata Center, Karon, Kata Beach and Patong. Indulge in our Traditional Sunday Roast ALL DAY & ALL NIGHT for ONLY 445 Baht! Enjoy a Large ALL YOU CAN EAT selection of your favorites! Featuring: Roast Aussie Beef, Pork Loin and Chicken. Roasted or Mashed Potatoes. Roasted Mixed Vegetables Flavored with Thyme and Garlic.

Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy. Enjoy Live Music from 8-Late Performed by Our Famous Two Chefs Band! Come for the FOOD - Stay for the Fun. RESERVE Your Table Now Online at bit.ly/TwoChefsReservations Check out more details on our website at bit.ly/TwoChefsEvents Reservations, Karon, Kata Beach and Patong., Kata Beach 076-333-370 Karon 076-286479 Patong 076-344-914.

6pm – 11pm: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Burgers, Sausages, Prawns and Squid, Salad buffet, Choice of potatoes and sauces, bread, buns and garlic bread. Reservation recommended.

B395 P/P. shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

XANA BAREFOOT BBQ

The Sunday Brunch Club Come 4, Pay 3

Back to The ’80s We’re going back to the totally awesome times of the ‘80s with Dj Garry and mixology inspired by this groovy era. Every Saturday night at Firefly from 6 pm - late. Reservation, Firefly Pool & Restaurant at Pavilions Hotels, firefly.phuket@pavilionshotels.com, 076 371 600.

Green season special! Enjoy COME 4 PAY 3 The Sunday Brunch Club for a limited time. Book your table for the most vibrant Sunday Brunch on the island now.

Dream Member Price THB 1590++. Adult Brunch THB 1890 ++ Kids under 10 eat free (1 paying adult = 1 child free). ** Toddler area open with designated staff, babysitting service, and kid activities. Reservation, Dream Beach Club, reservations@dreambeachclub.com, 098 048 3500.

Experience barefoot dining with freshest seafood from the Andaman Sea while watching a fire performance and listening music from our DJ. Every Monday and Thursday from 18:00 – 22:00 hrs at XANA Beach Club. Price THB 1,450++ fbreservation-lagunaphuket@angsana.com +66 (0) 7635 8500.

TUE

20 AUG

ANDAMAN CATCH TUESDAY

Phuket Business Networking - Aug 2019 A small entry fee, THB 500 per person, that includes the first 3 drinks and a light buffet. Make sure to bring lots of business cards, as getting to know each other is what PBN is all about. Location - Whisgars Tasting Room Phuket, on the Boardwalk, Phuket Boat Lagoon, Koh Kaew. Register your attendance here - www.facebook. com/events/2372511109705067/ or call Jason - 086 479 7471.

All you can eat BBQ night

All you can eat BBQ Ribs night 6PM – 11PM: All you can eat BBQ Ribs served with salad buffet, potato salad & choice of sauces. Reservation recommended. 295 baht P.P. shakersphuket@ gmail.com, 081 891 4381.

All you can eat Sunday Roast Buffet Beef, Pork and Lamb – Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas, Carrots, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes – Yorkshire pudding – roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes – gravy, mushroom sauce, mint sauce.

Reservations recommended. B350 P/P. shakersphuket@gmail.com 081 891 4381.

Every Tuesday our culinary team prepare a special Andaman Catch menu featuring our fish of the day selection prepared in one of three ways, a special seafood appetiser and a sweet finish dessert. Pair your catch with one of our sommelier selections special offers, available Tuesday only. 950* Baht. 18.30 - 22.00 www.salaphuket.com Advance bookings are recommended - 076 33 8888. *Subject to 10% service charge and 7% value added tax.

Sala Phuket. thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

EVENTS 21

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

TUE

20 AUG

THU

22 AUG

FRI

6 SEP

gourmet experience, complete with delicious food, free-flow beverages and live entertainment – all to support children in Phuket. Register your interest now at just THB18,000 per team of four and help to raise big bucks for children in need.

FRI Thai Night Buffet Experience Authentic Thai Food. Let’s take a tasteful journey through Thai cuisine, Baan Talay is feature a tempting selections of traditional Thai food and local Phuket delicacies. Enjoy with a variety of live station; Thai papaya salad, spicy soup and much more to give a true taste of Thailand. THB 950++ per person. Every Tuesday from 6 pm to 10 pm. Reservation, Angsana Laguna Phuket, fbreservation-lagunaphuket@angsana.com, 076 358 500.

WED

21 AUG

BACK TO THE ’70s & ’80s EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT Don’t miss out on our newest, exciting weekly event at Two Chefs. Come and join us for our special Cajun Grilled Chicken Breast served on a wooden plate with mashed potato, red wine sauce, and bearnaise sauce for ONLY 395 THB. Have a sweet tooth? Treat yourself to the Two Chefs banana flambé served with vanilla ice cream for ONLY 95 THB. Sit back and enjoy one of our drink specials as you listen to the famous Two Chefs band performing all your favorite retro hits and more! Live music starts from 8:30pm and goes late at all of our Two Chefs locations.

Reservations are highly recommended.

You can book on our website at WWW. TWOCHEFS.COM or find us on Facebook at WWW.FACEBOOK/TWOCHEFS THAILAND. Come for the food, stay for the FUN! Reservations, Call us directly at Two Chefs Kata Center 076-330-065, Kata Beach 076-333-370, Karon 076-286479, Patong 076-344-914

FRI

MALAYSIAN FOOD FESTIVAL WITH GUEST CHEFS KALAI AND FAHMI FROM LE MERIDIEN KUALA LUMPUR. 21 AUG – Beach BBQ, THB 1300++ CHILL ON THE BEACH. Beachside buffet dinner with live DJ music and fire show. 22 & 24 AUG – Latest Recipe, A LA CARTE SPECIALS. Selection of signature specials for lunch and dinner. 23 AUG – Pakarang, THB 1300++. MALAY BUFFET DINNER. Buffet dinner with live band music and dance shows. Reservation, LE MERIDIEN PHUKET BEACH RESORT, Restaurant.

Phuketbeach@lemeridien.com, 076 370 100 ext. 5307. @thephuketnews

Grow Boating Networking Evening - September 2019 The Grow Boating Networking Evening for September 2019 will be held at The Speakeasy Yacht Club, at The Royal Phuket Marina on Friday the 6th of September 2019 from 5pm onward. There will be a light buffet sponsored by The Speakeasy Yacht Club and special prices on your favourite beverages. Come and join in the fun, everyone is welcome. There is no entry fee, just drop your business card or register at the bar. We hope to see you there and if you know anyone you think would be interested in coming please invite them along.

FRI

13 SEP

The Exotic Fishing Thailand 1.5 Million Baht Tagged Fish Challenge From Nov 1st to March 1st. Test your fishing skills Phuket and Catch a Monster fish and Monster Prize.

50 tagged fish with 50 prizes valued at over 1.5 Million baht. Anyone can enter for just 1,000 baht in addition to your daily fishing ticket ................. Exotic Fishing Thailand, Phang Nga, exoticfishingthailand@gmail. com, English 088 379 9377 and Thai 081 199 5922.

EVERY DAY

30 AUG

Ribs, beats, brews Wednesday Devour our succulent pork rib set complete with sweet corn chowder, blue cheese salad, moist cornbread and finished off with a bread and butter pudding.

DJ Q will keep the soul flowing and your toes tapping as you wash down those tender ribs with a bucket of craft brews.

Full Rack set 1,400 Baht, Half Rack set 1,100 Baht. Reservations, SALA Phuket, events@salaphuket.com, 076-338-888.

1 NOV

Multi-Chambers Phuket Briefing & Networking Briefing: 5-6pm. Free admission. Networking: 6.30 - 9.00pm (last drinks 8.30pm). THB 500 for members/THB 900 non-members.

Price includes food & selecrted beverages.

Join us to hear from Tareq Bagaeen CEO aQedina, a hotelier with over two decades of extensive experience in international sales, shares his insights how he strives to develop hungry and effective salespeople in today’s markets for today’s consumers. From showing how to be the persuasive negotiator with outstanding technical and interpersonal skills through to constant research, learning, dedication, teamwork and energy, he will explain how it all works! www.bccthai.com

Joint Phuket Sundowners hosted by AustCham Taking advantage of the beautiful surroundings at the Boat Lagoon, the Phuket Sundowners offers a great opportunity to network with like-minded people from the business community. Prior to the Sundowners, we will hold a Panel Discussion on “Asian Regattas – Highlights on Phuket, Towards Sustainability”, with a panel of experts on organising and participating in regattas in Phuket and throughout Asia. Baht 500 for AustCham members, partner Chambers’ members**, and Australian Alumni Members. Baht 900 for non-members.

SAT

Prime at Rock Salt Prime at Rock Salt is the home of smoke and fire at Naiharn Beach. An exclusive eatery, Prime offers a collection of roasted, smoked and chargrilled creations from its custom-designed kitchen. The al fresco dining experience is completed with panoramic ocean views across Naiharn Beach. Open Daily 6.00 – 10.00pm at Naiharn Beach For more information and bookings, please call +66 76 380 200 or rocksalt@thenaiharn.com

21 SEP Kata Rocks Presents Contemporary Art Exhibition

Children First Charity Event A charity journey from day into night under the theme “Swing for Good” where you will enjoy a fun golf tournament throughout the day at Laguna Golf Phuket. As the sun sets, sit back and unwind in a unique “Battle of the Chefs” charity dinner

Kata Rocks will host an exciting contemporary art exhibition, in collaboration with Latitudes Magazine, when prominent Thai artist Narath Boriboonhiranthana showcases her unique style from 20 July to 20 August 2019. Titled ‘The Remembrance’, her work explores the intersection of Art Nouveau and tradition Thai art. Narath creates delicate paper cut art pieces inspired by her personal history and vivid imagination. marketing@infiniteluxury.com

22 TIME OUT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Crossword by Myles Mellor & Sally York 1. What percentage of known species of animal live in Thailand?

2. At an average of just under 90 years, which country has the highest life expectancy in the world?

3. Chad has the lowest life expectancy in the world. What age does the average Chadian live to?

4. What does the term ‘earworm’ mean?

5. What was named ‘orange’ first: the fruit or the colour?

Answers below, centre

SUDOKU

Medium

Seasons’’ Across director 1. Boots wearer?

59. Less inept 5. Ground cover 10. Goes fast, with Go 60. Defense lawyers’ 14. Enthusiastic about adversaries, for 15. Mazda model short 16. Not e’en once 61. Requirement 17. Copy cat 18. Ken Lay’s former 62. Locale for many Stephen King company tales 19. De Gaulle 63. Frobe who alternative played 20. Basic foods Goldfinger 23. Set inside 64. Combines 24. Telegraph code 65. Seeing red 25. “Who ___?”

66. Mini-whirlpool (slangy query) 26. Dunderhead Down 27. Support 1. “Princess” ____, 31. Bacchic young singer attendants from Guam 33. Heart-pumping 2. Lets out exercise 3. Embezzles 35. B&B 4. A bit, colloquially 36. Healthy drink 5. “The X-Files” 39. Luau treat extras 40. Masters 41. Defeatist’s word 6. Drink garnish 7. Modern Maturity 44. Effort org.

45. Lotion letters 8. Showed respect, 48. Mandela’s org. in a way 49. Roll of dough 51. More ready to eat 9. Yule decorations 10. Tie the ___ 53. Fruit found in 11. Type of plane salads 12. Brush up on 58. ‘’The Four

13. Rendezvous 21. Per annum 22. Expression of surprise 28. Watchdog’s warning 29. Very popular star 30. In place 32. Mannerisms 33. Genesis son 34. Ventura County resort 36. Knuckled under 37. Final resting place 38. Foreword 39. Covered, in a way 41. Beach shelter 42. Cries of pain 43. Japanese mats 45. Dug, in a way 46. Kind of firecracker 47. Snowman 50. Prevent 52. Public relations concern 54. In things 55. Et ___ 56. Superman 57. Orchard unit

Solutions to last week’s puzzles:

Answers to this week’s Pop Quiz: 1) 10%; 2) Monaco; 3) 50; 4) A catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person’s mind; 5) The fruit.

GOT YOUR NUMBER

ISLAND VIEW

3

months is how long it takes to complete an episode of The Simpsons, since it is hand-drawn.

20

percent of the world’s freshwater is held in Canada’s lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands.

5,000

percent is how much Disneyland ticket prices have increased by since the park’s opening. In 1955, admission was only $2.50.

216,847

Sunrise at Royal Phuket Marina. Photo by Thanakunwaritsara – MOANA Momo Got an unusual or particularly beautiful picture of Phuket? Email it to execeditor@classactmedia.co.th

litres (or 57,285 gallons) is how much fuel a Boeing 747 airliner holds.

1.3 million Earths could fit into the Sun or 64.3 million Moons or 1,000 Jupiters.

Source: Uberfacts

This week in history August 16, 2008 The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423m), the world’s highest residence at the time.

August 21, 1911 The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee. After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk for two years, Peruggia tries to sell it to a gallery owner who turns him in.

from the University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the Civil Rights Movement.

August 17, 2015 A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.

August 19, 1692 In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

Italian art thief Vincent Peruggia.

August 18, 1963 James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate

August 20, 1940 In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is

fatally wounded with an ice axe

by NKVD agent Ramón Mercader.

He dies the next day.

August 22, 1864 Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention, establishing the rules of protection of the victims of armed conflict.

Source: Wikipedia thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

CLASSIFIEDS 23

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Jobs

Events Operations Manager

Phuket Weddings and Events successful Rental Supplies and Event Support Division is looking for an innovative and articulate Operations Manager to further develop the brand. Hotel experience is preferred within F&B and/or Operations with strong leadership and management skills. The role includes managing client enquiries; corporate inventory; logistics; staffing and on-site installations and support. Applicants should have a good knowledge of local venues and contractors, must have excellent communication skills in English and Thai and be passionate and focused. This is a great opportunity for the right applicant to expand their future prospects in an exciting and rewarding position where everything is possible. Full time position in Cherngtalay; excellent package and bonus scheme. Please contact us on 062 698 2426. Fern Chaiyaporn, fern@phuketweddingsevents.com, 062 698 2426. @thephuketnews

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

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House keeper / maid Nai Harn

Seeking a full time maid / house keeper at a private villa in Nai Harn.

Please text your facebook link along with a message to 099-3985375 for consideration.

Bobby, 099-398-5375.

GE UR

NT

Accountant

Assistant to an entrepreneur.

Managing a variety of new startups as well as personal accounts.

Must be a qualified graduate accountant, speak perfect English.

Will be required to Create/Interrogate management accounts and provide accurate information feed back. +447968753409 simon.phillips@ct-automotive.net

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

CLASSIFIEDS 25

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Trades & Services

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

ADVERTISING SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES

CORPORATE SERVICES

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT

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HOME IMPROVEMENT

MARINE SERVICES

MARINE SERVICES

MARINE SERVICES

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Trades & Services

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

The Phuket News @thephuketnews

classifieds@thephuketnews.com

HOME IMPROVEMENT

MARINE SERVICES

OTHER

PROPERTY SERVICES

TRAINING

ADVERTISE HERE

thephuketnews

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CLASSIFIEDS 27

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Buy & Sell BOATS, YACHTS FOR SALE

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FORD WILDTRAK 2014 FOR SALE

Big A S+S Swan 55

S+S Swan 55, must let her go. Getting too old! In perfect running cond. El winches Yanmar, all sails and more. bigasail@yahoo.com, 0869401860.

2.2L Double Cab 4WD 6 GearAutomatic.

One owner. 50,000km. ARB Crash Bars.

New Tyres. English: 081-958-1055 Thai: 081-606-5772 580,000 baht, pauljames@ expathotel.com, 0819581055

Speedboat for Sale

14.2 m Speedboat, named Rayao DD, is still in a good condition with 3 engines, four-stroke engine, Yamaha manufacture. The boat is owned by 1 owner for 1 year (2018) with well maintenance. 4,400,000, Jane, social@karonseasand.com, 062 842 486.

Mitsubishi Mirage 10/2018

9 months old, 9,000KM, first class insurance. Like new. THB 360,000. Andy, Call 082 281 5976 ENG/098 059 8714 THAI

CARS, TRUCKS FOR RENT

Car for sale

Toyota Fortuner 2007 for sale

Bought 30th Dec 2015 we paid baht 1,500,000 sell for 890,000 or nearest offer. 062 956 5777.

200,000 km. Two owners. Smart TRD 3.0 Good condition! Great deal! Call now!!

590,000 THB, Nony, Kathu, Phuket, Thailand, Nony_ntp@hotmail.com, (Eng/Thai) 099 2650808.

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Car for sale

Chevrolet Trailblazer LTZ 2.8 CC. 4X4 For sale English 095 420 9662 Thai 082 629 1419 janthisa jaikwang, 199/14 หม ู ่ 5 ตำ�บลศร สี นุ ทร อำ�เภอ ถลาง จังหวัดภ เู กต็ , info@lifestyleinthailand.com, B 725,000

Car rental @fair prices

Low season prices Monthly from 10,000 Baht.

Daily from 400 BHT. High Season from 12,000 monthly. All our cars are in very good conditions at affordable prices. From 10,000 BHT monthly, Stig Johansson, 110/78 Moo 2 T Pa­ klok A Thalang 83110 Phuket, stigisaan@gmail. com, 0848474377.

Audi TT 2007, THB 1,150,000, Ph 083 103 1330.

@thephuketnews

PROPERTY WANTED Allamanda 2 Bed Freehold

Hi, Am looking for a 2 Bedroom Freehold Unit at the Allamanda in Laguna.

Budget is 8million baht. Can contact me on wandererthomas1@gmail.com Thanks in advance!

U RG

ENT

3 Bedroom Condo Wanted

Looking for 3 Bed Condo/Apartment any area of Phuket for 3million Thai Baht or thereabouts. Please email mick11468@gmail.com. Thanks! B3,000,000, Mike

Willing to Sell / Rent Property in Laguna?

Willing to sell or rent your property in Laguna area? Please contact me raisa@rl-property.com +66 (081) 737 1687 (Viber, WhatsApp, Line) Raisa Sheludkina, Railand Property International., 46., Lagoon Road.,Cherngtalay., Thalang.,Phuket 83110., raisa@rl-property.com, 0817371687, 076324448.

House Wanted in Chalong

4 Bedroom House Wanted in Chalong for under 10 million baht. Please email me at mick11468@gmail.com

Car For Sale

Ford Fiesta 2012 For sale English 095 420 9662 Thai 082 629 1419 Janthisa Jaikwang, 199/14 หม ู ่ 5 ตำ�บลศร สี นุ ทร อำ�เภอถลาง จังหวัดภ เู กต็ , B 250,000 info@lifestyleinthailand.com, 0826291419

CARS, TRUCKS FOR SALE Car for sale

@thephuketnews

CARS, TRUCKS FOR SALE

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The Phuket News

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

BABY GRAND w/ DISC PLAYER

“Classic” Baby Grand Piano with “Disc Player”. In perfect condition. 7 years old. Original price 428,000 THB. 170,000, Phuket Town, daryldavies9@gmail. com, 080 159 5239

SPORTING GOODS, EXERCISE GYM EQUIPMENT TREADMILL

LIFE FITNESS F1 TREADMILL - FOLDABLE Brand new: THB 35,000+(VAT) from retail price of 188,000 Compact foldable treadmill. 35000, carolinelaleta@gmail.com, +66869504961

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THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

Buy & Sell PERSONAL SERVICES Tom Jones Of Philippines

Has been doing a show in different country here in Asia like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Macau, China, Japan, Canada and here. He is now in Phuket, Thailand. For special occasion please call. Jun Alvarez (AKA), junalvarez331591@gmail. com, 096 592 6297 / 094 947 7712.

@thephuketnews

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Apartment Block in Soi Ta-Eiad

OCEAN FRONT VILLA

Karon 1 Bed Condo for Sale

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Dream Village Phuket house

2bed 2bath 295sqm land 100sqm living + veranda, compl. renovated: new water, electric., tiles, paint in/out, windows, 3A/C, built in kitchen. 0870608400 English/German. Email: picharly@gmail.com, B4.9mill.

Royal Phuket Marina 2 Bed

2-Bedroom Royal Phuket Marina Condo. Seen to be believed. 195m2 Stylish, Tastefully-Decorated Condominium Fully Furnished Overlooking Yacht Marina an absolute bargain @ 13.5 Million BahtTina, phuket@thairesidential.com, 948411918.

1 story building for rent

150m2 Located in Allamanda 1 Laguna Phuket is available for rent. The building has its own drive in, at this time only short term rental available. 096 646 6287

PROPERTY FOR RENT UR

GE

Absolute Beachfront Pool Villa

NT

Absolute Beachfront Pool Villa, 3 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom, fully serviced. Short Term Rental from 35‘000 THB/Week to 195‘000 Month depend on Season. Long Term on Agreement. sunparasol@gmail.com , +66 91 040 8869

4-Bedroom House for rent

4 Bedrooms / 4 Bathrooms furnished house for rent.

7 minutes to BIS. Newly renovated. Swimming Pool and Garage. 65,000, Owner, Baan Suan Loch Plam, heitmann@hlbthai.com, 081-8996557 (Eng)/ 0887602825 (Thai)

Paul MOORHOUSE

‘Frontline’ sea view villa overlooking G Ao Yon Bay and the southern islands.

UR Magnificent property with private elevator, 4 bedroom suites/6 bathrooms as well as 2 living areas, European design kitchen, games room, bar, sauna, steam room and wonderful pool deck with in-ground jacuzzi, infinity pool and waterfall. Fabulous property reduced to 65 million Baht for quick sale. 0898737075.

1 Bed Condo in Kamala

MontAzure Twinpalms Residence-Great condo located in Kamala. The ultimate in luxury.

Has got to be seen to be believed. Fantastic facilities in this resort condo. B15,800,000, Tina, 0872699206.

1 Bedroom Condo Kata Sale

Mandala Condominium - Wonderful spacious condo. Great location near Bangtao beach and Laguna. 184sqm with private pool and tropical gardens. B15,900,000, Andy, 083 800 1888

2bd/2bth furnished house for rent in Kathu near Loch Palm Golf Course. See link for more photos and details. www.kathuhouseforrent.com B13,500, May or Wes, wes@pillarmarketing.com, 0899733276

Karon Butterfly hillside condo for sale just 800m from beach. Amenities close by. Fully furnished and condo facilities. Great investment in great area of Phuket. Shuttle Bus to Beach and Rental Program. A must see!!!! B4,300,000, Dmitry , phuket@thairesidential.com

7 Rai with 185 meter of ocean frontage, 800 meter from Yacht Haven Marina on Phangnga side, water, electricity, concrete road on the back of property, building permission for 12 two storey pool villas. For sale direct by owner for only 6 mln Baht per Rai. + 66 95 0147888.

2 Bed Condo Bangtao Phuket

2-Bed Furnished Kathu House for Rent

Phuket Town 1 Bed Condo

OCEAN FRONT LAND

Lovely condo at Utopia Kata for Sale. Completed in 2017 and close to Kata Beach. Fully furnished. Close to restaurants and amenities. Great views. Rental programme. Full facilities. Dimtry, 082 030 7199. B7,100,000

Saturdays Residence beautiful condo in Rawai. Tastefully decorated with class. Short drive to beach. All condo amenities. Looks so good that you do need to see to believe. You will fall in love at first sight. B6,300,000, Dimitry, phuket@thairesidential.com, 082 030 7199

Wonderful 1 Bedroom Condo near Central Festival area. Just 10 minutes to Panwa Beach. A must see!!! Fully furnished and conveniently located. Amenities close by as well as tourist attractions. Full condo facilities. B2,500,000, Tina, phuket@ thairesidential.com, 0948411918.

44 sqm Condo for sale at THB 5,200,000 – Parking space included – Quiet Unit – email: sale. hd.design@outlook.com - 66937198098.

3 Bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 10 meter infinity swimming pool, maid quarter, fully furnished and ready to move in, usable area of over 330 sqm, very convenient located in a gated community at the south end of Aopor, 50 meter from the ocean, 150 meter from the new Sheraton Grand Bay Resort , 3 minutes from Grand Aopor Marina, 20 minutes from Airport and shopping centers, for sale directly by owner 22.9 mln. + 66 95 0147888.

1 Bed Condo Sale Rawai

1 Bed Condo in Kamala

Super villa for sale

Amazing residential block for sale comprising of 5 x 190sqm fully furnished 3 Bedroom Units. Highest quality fixtures and finishing’s with exceptional build quality. All units have internal surround sound systems and wireless internet routed in the walls. Full Western kitchen in all units. Rooftop Salt Water Swimming Pool with 8 person Jacuzzi and bar. Spectacular panoramic views. Units currently being rented out with almost 100% occupancy, so fantastic investment opportunity. Potential returns of 9% per annum. B61,500,000, Tina, phuket@thairesidential.com

Fantastic seaviews. Fully furnished. Condo facilities including pool and gym. Close to amenities. This 53sqm condo at Babylon Sky Garden is a great buy. B4,297,277, Andy, phuket@ thairesidential.com

Great 1 Bed Condo just 200m fromKamala Beach. Comes with pool and on- site restaurant. Fantastic location and not to be missed. Fully furnished with appliances. Homestay or investment. B5,417,000. Call Andy. 083 800 1888

Super villa for sale. 4 bed, 4 bath, 450 sqm private pool villa, 500 sqm land, Heavily reduced price 14.9M. Call +66 (0) 92-6950329 15.000.000,-, +66 (0) 92-6950329.

CONDO FOR SALE THE DECK PATONG

Rawai 1 Bed Seaview Condo Sale

RPM by owner

Unique luxury condo 2 bed, 2 bath, 155sqm. Foreign FREE HOLD. Architect remodel in tropical white. Jacuzzi. All round beautiful views. Completely furnished to a high standard. Very motivated owner leaving Thailand. Available to agents. Priced just REDUCED to 15MB or offers. Contact Brian (Owner) 089 054 4354, 076 360 943. bggvirgo@gmail.com

7 Bed Boutique Hotel for Sale

UR

PROPERTY FOR SALE

LE

PROPERTY FOR SALE

A unique opportunity to buy a beautiful, fully licensed and 100% legally compliant boutique hotel business in Cherng Talay.

The resort has full restaurant, alcohol and cigarette licenses. B30,000,000, Mike, phuket@thairesidential.com

The Phuket News

PASAK LAND 3.9MB 510 sq.m. Chanote

Condo in Patong for Rent

Full-furnished studio with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchenette, mountain view, and free wifi.

2 Rooms available; 66 sq.m and 88 sq.m. Start from 25,000 THB/month, Jane, social@karonseasand. com, 062 842 4861.

Property for rent YAMU

Very big house. 400sqm, Land 4400sqm. Available 1st May. 4 bedrooms- 4 bathrooms , swimming pool.

Close BIS, UWCT. Must see. Long term lease 110,000 baht/month including pool+ garden service. Khun DIDIER, aouichedidier@hotmail.com, 093 717 9343 (English+French)/ 089 552 9303 (Thai).

PROPERTY FOR RENT

COMMUNITY

PASAK LAND 3.9MB 510 sq.m.

Chanote

Private location in prestige area.

Outstanding Value. Call owner (Alan): 084 0657590.

Villa in Patong prime location

One of the last Villas available in Patong. in top condition. 24 hour security. 3 bed, 3 bath, 160sqm living. Fully furnished, garden.

Ms. Manatchanok, 0800409411

Villa Mission Heights Big Pool

3bed, 3 1/2 bath, 330sqm living, 900 sqm land, very quiet area, 2 km mission hill golf, 6km UWC, 8 km airport. owner finance. 0870608400 engl/ german 12.9MB, picharly@gmail. com

Beach Front Land

* 128 meter of white sand beach frontage * amazing views * 9 Rai , Secure Nor Sor 3 Kor tittle * located on Koh Yao Yai * 20 minutes boat drive from Phuket * public road with water and electricity * ideal for high end development * ready to build * sale direct by owner *ONLY 11.9 Mill. Baht / Rai montha_phuket@yahoo.com, 095 014 7888

Renovated 3bed Home Boat Lagoon

AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY: Beautifully renovated & decorated 3bed+mezzanine, 250 sqm contemporary house featuring: boat berth, rooftop jacuzzi, open kitchen, wine cooler, 2 parkings, storage & laundry area. B 75,000 per month, Henry Cumberlege, hcumberlege@gmail.com

Stunning Ocean Views!

4 bed/bath large pool villa. Privately located in Cape Heights Cape Yamu.

Furnished. Gardens. Fiber WiFi. 80,000/rent long term or 30 million to sell. Richard, Cape Yamu, Phuket, richarddesmondcapeheights@yahoo. co.uk, +66824203270, WhatsApp

thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

SPORT 29

Phuket slaps balls for title Suzie Wong Challenge Cup wrestled back from Jolly Wallabies CRICKET Jason Robertson

W

ith the Suzie Wong Challenge Cup on the line, the touring Jolly Wallabies – comprising players from Singapore and Malaysia – returned to the island to defend their title against the Phuket Cricket Group (PCG) following last year’s inaugural visit.

On Saturday (Aug 10), Wallabies captain Mike Flowers and fellow opener Ned Symons were sent to bowl first, as PCG openers Ravi Naik and Mayur Deuskar got off to a cautious start.

The PCG moved their score onto 51 before Kevin Wu’s first ball had Naik (29) caught by Sandeep. New batsman Sameer Khan (42) came in and hit to the boundary, before falling to Neil King, for the loss of two wickets.

Paddy Ledeboer then joined Deuskar and together upped the scoring. Within a few overs both had to retire, per match day rules. Deuskar with a steady 50 not out and

The two teams shook hands and shared a few drinks in the Clubhouse Bar after the games. Photo: Michael Way Ledeboer with 55 not out in a mere 26 balls. With Sajal Gaur, PCG posted a formidable 235 for 3 in their allotted 30 overs. Setting the tourists 236 to win.

Paul Evans (10) was caught

by Saju Abraham, off the bowling of Shivam Bhat and then Kevin Wu (0) was caught behind off the bowling of Sajal Gaur, leaving the tourists reeling at 30 for 2.

The Wallabies then capitulated for 146 all out. Handing the PCG an emphatic 89-run victory and just one win away from wrestling the cup away.

The pick of the PCG bowlers was undoubtedly Deepak,

returning figures of 4 for 16 in just 2.4 overs.

Sunday’s (Aug 11) T20 match saw Wallabies hit the field first. Paddy Ledeboer (36*) surpassed the forced retirement mark of 35 in a mere 21 balls. The tourists ultimately restricted the PCG to 155 for 9 in their 20 overs.

The Wallabies rode the momentum early in their innings with opener Stuart Hamilton (17) in fine form.

At the other end, Kevin Wu eventually missed a straight one giving Sajal Gaur his wicket.

Matt Kohler alongside Sandeep began to rebuild and

Star Chanathip eager to see Thais through to next stage FOOTBALL MIDFIELDER CH ANathip Songkrasin aims to help Thailand finish top of their World Cup qualifying group and advance to the next round.

Thailand are in the same group as the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia in Asia’s second qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup. Winners of the eight groups and four best second-placed sides will make it to the third and final stage of the Asian zone qualifiers and also earn places in the 2023 Asian Cup finals.

The War Elephants kick off their campaign against Vietnam at home on Sept 5.

“My aim is to help the national team top Group G. I want to win every game in the group,” said Chanathip who is playing for Japanese club Consadole Sapporo.

He is likely to play a long sid e T he e r at hon Bunmathan and Thitiphan @thephuketnews

Chanathip Songkrasin, known as ‘Messi Jay’, looks to lead Thailand to a World Cup finals. Photo: Bangkok Post Puangjan who both are also playing in Japan.

It will be Japanese Akira Nishino’s first competitive game as coach of Thailand.

Earlier, Nishino, who guided his country to the last 16 round at the 2018 World Cup, praised the three Japan-based Thai stars who could be among

the main players in his War Elephants squad.

“No matter who is coach of the national team, we have to learn from him. We have to adapt ourselves to his tactics,” Chanathip said.

Thailand have never qualified for the World Cup finals.

Bangkok Post

PCG bowler Mayur Deusak was in fine form with both bat and ball over the weekend. Photo: Michael Way moved the score to 59 before Kohler (21) was caught on the fence by Ledeboer off the bowling of Deepak.

Jeremy Bootsy joined Sandeep and couldn’t break loose, partly due to Player of the Weekend Paddy Ledeboer, who stopped half a dozen runs on the boundary by himself.

When Sandeep (35*) and Bootsy (35*) ended through forced retirement, the Wallabies again came up short of the required total, this time by 20 runs.

Stand out bowler for the PCG was Shivam Bhat with 3 for 28, enough to win captain of the series, claiming back

PCG captain Shivam Baht looks on intently as Tom Thanasak steers one to third man. Photo: Michael Way the Suzie Wong Challenge Cup, which will be displayed proudly in the ACG bar until the Jolly Wallabies next return to stake their claim.

For more information on Phuket Cricket, please contact them through their Facebook page or alternatively by email at: Mflowerspcg@gmail.com

30 SPORT

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Weightlifting team deflated

Doping scandal puts hault on Thailand Olympic medal machine WEIGHTLIFTING AFP

T

hai weightlifter Sarat Sumpradit eats up to 10 egg whites for breakfast, works out four hours a day, and is banned from his smartphone at night as his training shifts into high gear for the world championships.

However, the muscle-bound 25-year-old has a problem: Thailand is under a self-imposed ban from weightlifting for doping, meaning the hosts may be unrepresented at next month’s world championships on home turf in Pattaya.

After nine Thai lifters were suspended following drug tests, Thailand is facing a crisis in its most successful Olympic sport, less than a year before the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

“I’m fighting for those who have been suspended,” Sarat said defiantly after his afternoon workout, his second of the day.

With five Olympic gold medals since 2004, all won by women,

Weightlifting is Thailand’s most successful Olympic sport. Photo: AFP weightlifting has been a rare sporting success story for Thailand.

The dream turned sour last year, when Thailand was caught in a global doping crackdown by weightlifting authorities that was prompted by a threat to expel the sport from the Olympic Games.

Nine Thais including reigning Olympic champions Sukanya Srisurat

and Sopita Tanasan have returned positive drug tests since the world championships in November, where Thailand finished second in the medals table.

It prompted Thailand to voluntarily ban itself from competition, ruling its lifters out of the world championships in Pattaya and next year’s Olympics.

Stosur, Gauff headline US Open wildcards TENNIS FOR M E R C H A M PION Samantha Stosur and teenage Wimbledon sensation Coco Gauff highlight the list of US Open wildcards announced on Tuesday (Aug 13).

Gauff, 15, reached the Wimbledon main draw through qualifying then upset five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round before falling to eventual champion Simona Halep in the fourth round.

Gauff is joined by four other teenagers among eight wildcard invitees: a trio of 17-year-old Americans in Caty McNally, Whitney Osuigwe and Katie Volynets and 16-year-old French player Diane Parry.

Australia’s Samantha Stosur returns the ball to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko during their tennis match at the 2017 French Open. Photo: AFP Stosur, meanwhile, brings a veteran presence. The 35-yearold Aussie won the title in Flushing Meadows in 2011 and has reached the quarter-finals on two other occasions.

Other women’s wildcards went to former US collegiate

champion Francesca Di Lorenzo and three-time Stanford University All-American and New Jersey native Kristie Ahn. On the men’s side, Americans Bjorn Fratangelo, Marcos Giron, Denis Kudla and Jack Sock join US Open Wild Card Challenge winner Ernesto Escobedo and 2019 US Tennis Association Boys’ 18s National Champion Zachary Svajda as main draw wild card recipients.

Antoine Hoang was awarded a main draw wildcard by the French Tennis Federation as part of its reciprocal agreement with the USTA, and Tennis Australia’s reciprocal agreement main draw wild card will go to a player to be announced.

AFP

However, the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) now wants athletes who did not test positive to compete in the world championships and have a shot at the Olympics.

A final decision will be made next month by the International Weightlifting Federation, which has come under sustained calls to act after a long list of doping incidents.

Nine countries, including powerhouse China, were suspended from competition after re-testing of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics ensnared dozens of cheats.

Thailand says the athletes who tested positive were given a pain relief gel by a former coach that – unbeknown to them – had small traces of an anabolic steroid.

Thai association honorary president Intarat Yodbangtoey suspects the country was singled out, as many of the athletes passed tests before their samples were among others sent for a second, more stringent round of testing.

“We teach them a lot, don’t drink, don’t eat, and don’t inject anything

(illegal),” he said in his Bangkok office. “Where is the justice?”

“It will kill them,” he said, of penalties that could be handed down after the International Testing Agency rules (ITA) rules on the cases.

The International Weightlifting Federation, which handed over testing management to the Switzerlandbased ITA last year, did not respond to requests for comment.

The situation has been demoralising for the Thai team, who started collecting Olympic medals at Sydney in 2000, when women’s weightlifting made its debut at the Games.

The benefits can be lucrative, with Thai athletes receiving financial rewards from sponsors and government funds. Twenty-year-old lifter Jiraporn Nantawong said she has been able to help her family out of debt.

“We are more comfo rtable. I bought my mom a house,” she said.

The diminutive lifter, like Sarat, said her main target now is to “preserve our dignity by performing very well”.

Get Carter: All Blacks legend settles Bledisloe Cup nerves RUGBY THE ALL BLACKS HAVE drafted in legendary fly-half Dan Carter to calm any nerves among the faltering world champions ahead of this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup decider against Australia.

A shock 47-26 loss to the Wallabies has rattled the All Blacks, calling into question their experimental strategy of fielding two playmakers in Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga.

Assistant coach Ian Foster said Carter joined the New Zealanders at training in Auckland on Tuesday (Aug 13) to offer advice to Barrett and Mo’unga.

The 37-year-old, who retired from internationals in 2015, has a wealth of experience after a stellar 112-Test career that included winning two World Cups and three World Rugby player of the year awards.

“He’s got a lot of World Cup experience and I just wanted to really have him around, again to talk to the likes of Beaudy and Richie about what it’s like driving a team through a World Cup campaign where expectations

Dan Carter (far left) has never lost the Bledisloe Cup while with the All Blacks. Photo: AFP are high,” said Foster.

“Who better to tell that story than him.”

Foster has talked up the need for discipline if New Zealand are to retain the Bledisloe Cup for a 17th year and defeat Australia again at an Eden Park venue where the Wallabies have not won since 1986.

Scott Barrett’s red card for a shoulder charge cost the All Blacks any chance of victory in Perth and saw the lock suspended for three weeks.

Despite that setback,

former All Black Ian Jones called for fire and brimstone from the men in black in Auckland, saying they had to prove a point by muscling up to the Wallabies.

“They’ve got to physically go straight and knock these guys around and get into that zone,” Jones told Radio Sport. “(Show them) this is the fortress, this is All Black rugby, this is how we’re going to beat these Wallabies up, and just smack them around in that regard.”

AFP thephuketnews

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

SPORT 31

Three things we learned from the Premier League

English Premier League 2019 - 2020 Team

MP

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

1

Manchester City

1

1

0

0

5

0

+5

3

2

Manchester United

1

1

0

0

4

0

+4

3

3

Liverpool

1

1

0

0

4

1

+3

3

4

Brighton

1

1

0

0

3

0

+3

3

AFP

5

Burnley

1

1

0

0

3

0

+3

3

T

6

Tottenham Hotspur

1

1

0

0

3

1

+2

3

7

Arsenal

1

1

0

0

1

0

+1

3

8

Bournemouth

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

1

9

Sheffield United

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

1

10 Crystal Palace

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

11 Everton

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

12 Leicester City

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

13 Wolverhampton

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

FOOTBALL he Premier League returned with a bang as title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool enjoyed goal sprees, while VAR controversies hogged the headlines.

Here, AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from the opening weekend of the English top-fight season: Man City, Liverpool maintain determination Liverpool were first to throw down a marker in the title race as the European champions crushed Norwich 4-1 in the first game of the season.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, chasing a first English title since 1990, scored four times in the first half at Anfield to show their determination to end City’s reign as champions.

But City responded with an even more emphatic victory as West Ham were swept aside 5-0 at the London Stadium.

Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick for City after Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring and, showing the embarrassment of riches at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, Sergio Aguero came off the bench to score a late penalty.

City finished just one point ahead of Liverpool last season and anyone splitting up their dominance at the top this term will have to produce a campaign for the ages.

Even Tottenham striker Harry Kane, whose side beat Aston Villa thanks to two late goals from the England captain, conceded the Champions League runners-up have a lot of improving to do if they want to catch City and Liverpool.

“Liverpool set the standard, then City so we know it’s going to be a tough, long

@thephuketnews

Manchester United’s French striker Anthony Martial (L) celebrates after scoring their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on Aug 11, 2019. Photo: Oli SCARFF / AFP season. We have got off to a winning start and there are still lots of things to work on,” Kane said.

VAR remains controversial After causing controversy in the Champions League and other major tournaments, VAR has been introduced to the Premier League this season and the early reviews weren’t acclaimed by all.

The Video Assistant Referee system, previously used in England in the FA and League Cups, is supposed to eradicate any doubt that the right decision was taken over goals, penalties and other key moments.

But in City’s 5-0 win at West Ham and Wolves’ 0-0 draw at Leicester, managers and players raised doubts about VAR’s ability to make the correct call.

Wolves captain Conor Coady was furious after Leander Dendoncker’s second-half strike was ruled out when his initial header struck team-mate

Willy Boly on the arm.

“It is a goal. People will say they have VAR and it has hit his hand, but he is not looking at the ball,” Coady said.

“We are going to have to play with our hands chopped off in future.”

City boss Pep Guardiola just wants justice to be served after City’s Gabriel Jesus had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside against Raheem Sterling.

“Only what I wish is that VAR doesn’t make mistakes please. When it’s offside it’s offside, when it’s a penalty it’s a penalty,” Guardiola said.

New season, new Man Utd Manchester United badly needed a fast start to the new campaign to dispell a run of six games without a win to end last season and the pessimism over the arrival of just three new signings in the transfer window.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men duly delivered with a 4-0 victory over Chelsea with

all three debutants, Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James, making an instant impact.

Maguire, who cost a world record £80 million (B297 billion) to sign from Leicester, added leadership and a physical presence to a defence that conceded 54 Premier League goals last season alongside the energetic Wan-Bissaka.

And James came off the bench to round off the scoring after a double from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial’s predatory finish had put United firmly in command.

The final two goals were also created by Paul Pogba, who spent most of the summer being linked with a move to Real Madrid after publicly declaring his wish for a “new challenge”.

While the scoreline flattered the Red Devils as Chelsea had more possession, more shots and more shots on target, there is once again plenty of reason for optimism at Old Trafford.

14 Newcastle United

1

0

0

1

0

1

-1

0

15 Aston Villa

1

0

0

1

1

3

-2

0

16 Norwich City

1

0

0

1

1

4

-3

0

17

1

0

0

1

0

3

-3

0

18 Watford

1

0

0

1

0

3

-3

0

19 Chelsea

1

0

0

1

0

4

-4

0

20 West Ham United

1

0

0

1

0

5

-5

0

Southampton

Live Sports TV Schedule *Times may be subject to change

SPORT

START STOP

EVENT

TEAMS / INFO

Friday 16th Aug Aussie Rules

16:30 19:30

AFL

Melbourne v. Sydney Swans

Rugby Union

22:00 00:00

Currie Cup

Griquas v. Western Province

Cricket

12:00 19:30

1st Test, Galle

Sri Lanka v. New Zealand, Day 3

Cricket

17:00 00:00 Ashes Test - Lords

England v. Australia, Day 3

Saturday 17 Aug th

Rugby Union

14:30 16:30 Rugby Championship

New Zealand v. Australia

22:00 00:00 Rugby Championship

South Africa v. Argentina

Rugby Union

19:00 21:00

Currie Cup

Pumas v. Cheetahs

Rugby League

23:00 01:00

Super League

Catalans v. London

Rugby League

14:30 16:30

NRL

Storm v. Raiders

16:30 18:30

NRL

Rabbitohs v. Bulldogs

Aussie Rules

10:30 13:30

AFL

Carlton v. St Kilda

13:30 16:30

AFL

Adelaide v. Collingwood

16:30 19:30

AFL

N Melbourne v. Port Adelaide

Soccer

Rugby Union

18:30 20:30

EPL

Arsenal v. Burnley

21:00 23:00

EPL

Southampton v. Liverpool

21:00 23:00

EPL

Everton v. Watford

21:00 23:00

EPL

Aston Villa v. Bournemouth

23:30 01:30

EPL

Man City v. Tottenham

20:15 22:15 Friendly, Cardiff

Cricket

12:00 19:30

1st Test, Galle

Cricket

17:00 00:00 Ashes Test - Lords

Wales v. England Sri Lanka v. New Zealand, Day 4 England v. Australia, Day 4

Sunday 18th Aug Soccer

20:00 22:00

EPL

Sheff United v. Crystal Palace

22:30 00:30

EPL

Chelsea v. Leicester

Currie Cup

Lions v. Sharks

Rugby Union

19:00 21:00

Cricket

12:00 19:30

Cricket

17:00 00:00 Ashes Test - Lords

1st Test, Galle Sri Lanka v. New Zealand, Day 5 England v. Australia, Day 5

Sport

THEPHUKETNEWS.COM

editor3@classactmedia.co.th

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2019

Thai lifters feel sting of doping bans >p30

THAI TAKES THE WHEEL Albon gets call-up from Red Bull in Gasly switch Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Alexander Albon will join the main Red Bull team from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards, replacing Pierre Gasly. Photo: AFP

BOX OF NEUTRALS Michael Lamonato michael@boxofneutrals.com

T

hai Formula One driver Alex Albon has been promoted to Red Bull Racing in a sensational switch with the underperforming Pierre Gasly.

Albon, 23 years old and in his first F1 season, will take his seat at the race-winning team alongside Max Verstappen from the Belgian Grand Prix on September 1.

“Surreal to have been given this massive opportunity Red Bull Racing!” Albon tweeted after Monday’s (Aug 13) announcement. “Can’t thank you enough for believing in me and making this possible.

“It’s a big jump into the deep

end, but I’ve got my swimming shorts on!”

The announcement was a surprise, but Gasly’s woeful form has forced his employer’s hand.

The Frenchman has scored just 35% of ex-teammate Verstappen’s haul, and while the Dutchman has recorded five podiums, two victories and a pole position, Gasly is yet to start or finish a race higher than fourth.

But the decisive factor in the unceremonious removal is the team’s position in the constructors championship. Despite fielding the second-quickest car, Red Bull Racing sits third in the standings 44 points behind Ferrari — a substantially smaller margin than the 118-point gap between Verstappen and Gasly.

“We desperately need to see him realising more of the potential of

the car,” Horner said frustratedly in Budapest. “It’s vital for us if we are to stand any chance of catching Ferrari that we have him finishing further ahead.”

But rather than hope for a turnaround that showed no signs of manifestation, Red Bull Racing is gambling on rookie Albon aiding its assault on the Italian team in the nine remaining rounds.

Albon has clearly impressed in the first 12 races of his Formula One career. Despite arriving at preseason testing having never experienced modern F1 machinery, he’s hardly put a foot wrong and has proved more than a match for his more experienced teammate, Daniil Kvyat.

His record isn’t without blemish — two big practice crashes in China and Hungary underline his inexperience — but he has been consistently

fast, and indeed after both crashes he raced into the points, in China notably from a pit-lane start.

His race in the wet in Germany was also remarkable, the Thai starting the saturated race without ever having turned a wheel in an F1 car in the rain. He came home a superb sixth and would have finished ahead of Kvyat were it not for the sister car’s all-or-nothing tyre gamble in the final laps.

But for all his young promise, expecting a driver with 12 races of experience to seamlessly slot into a frontrunning team and immediately raise Gasly’s benchmark tempts the repetition of history.

Both Gasly and Kvyat before him have walked this road before. Both were unexpectedly called up to Red Bull Racing after only a single full season racing at Toro Rosso and both

met with demoralising demotions back to the junior team.

Kvyat was so psychologically devastated that he was sacked the following year, returning only thanks to a paucity in the Red Bull talent pipeline this season, and Gasly is now at risk of the same fate pending the second half of the season.

Throwing Albon into the same situation and expecting a different outcome is therefore a substantial gamble not only for Red Bull Racing’s 2019 result and 2020 driver line-up but also for Albon and his fledgling F1 career. If he floats, both win big; if he loses, Red Bull has three burnt drivers on its books and no-one to partner Verstappen in a title tilt next season.

The stakes are high, but it makes for a fascinating experiment for the rest of the season.

Phuket golf prodigy returns with trophies after mini US tour GOLF A WHIRLWIND THREE weeks in the United States, teeing-off against top-class competition, has helped propel Phuket’s 10-year-old golf prodigy Louise Landgraf into being one of the top golfers in the world in her age category.

With her father Marc Landgraf driving a rental car up and down the US state of California and through to Nevada beginning in early July, Louise spent three weeks competing in three separate

prestigious golfing events.

First up was the FCG International in San Marcos, California, where Louise finished 3rd in the 9-10 age category. A great start to a competition schedule that would test her mettle.

The t r io, along with Louise’s mother, they all packed up the car and made their way to the outskirts of San Diego, where Louise was to compete at the IMG Academy Golf Junior World Championship from July 9-11. The tournament has over 1,200 participants from

56 countries, making it one of the biggest events in the world – Louise had already finished 4th in the competition back in 2015 when she was 5 years old.

Unfortunately, on the last day of the three-day event, she double-bogeyed on the first hole, and finished 4 over to take 12th place.

“It was a bitter shame. We had higher expectations but that’s golf, what can you do?” said her father, Marc. “She’s alright, she understands – it’s never easy.”

Last up was a road trip

to Las Vegas, where Louise was to compete at the IJGA Junior World Stars of Golf event, another massive international competition that attracts over 2,000 players from 50 countries. Despite the scorching temperatures reaching 45°C, Louise was able to finish 5 under in the Girls 9-10 age category, to take 2nd place in the threeday event.

“The heat was challenging for everyone, but she did well, she’s happy about that,” said Marc.

Despite having done a

similar competition circuit in the past, this year’s road trip was eye-opening for Louise, as the family now looks towards her golfing future with fresh eyes following her haul of trophies in such a short span of time.

In the meantime, Louise will be stepping up her competition, moving up to play in the 11-12 age category as she turns 11 in January.

“We’re making sure she competes more in Bangkok and the surrounding areas while in Thailand, since the competition is very tough, so

Louise Landgraf placed 3rd in the FCG International and 2nd in IJGA Junior World Stars of Golf events in the United States last month. it will only help her improve,” said her father.

JP Mestanza thephuketnews