The 2004 News Archive

The 2004 News Archive

December 2004 Why was there no warning?; How much is a life worth?; Killer Tsunami hits Asia; Bertuzzi's plea bargain; predictable and wrong; Christmas Past; A very Faye Christmas; Its raining cranes...but there is no peace; Cutting crew takes on reality tv; Sex and the Singapore City; Air Asia takes flak from the Bangkok Post; Alfred Hitchcock would approve

November 2004 China is hot; Zimbabwe farce; A mickey mouse Disney; China's military ambitions; The rise of China; For China economics comes first; Crane mail in Thailand; The coming war over Taiwan; Thaksin now likely to attend APEC - does he read this!; Hong Kong rolls over but it is not enough; Overdosed on Arafat; One year on Thai PM snubs APEC; In the deep rough at Muang Kaew; How offensive can you get?; Supermarket trolley drivers terrorise Bangkok; Pathetic; the world's self appointed greatest democracy held hostage; fox news and nbc follow rascott.com; rascott.com calls a Bush win; America's most wanted back on video; More from Thailand's wierdest town; Vote Kerry - not a great choice; but the only one available

October 2004 Fears for Thailand's south; Arsenal pay the penalty; Ethiopia - twenty years on; Beijing Notes; Underfed or underpaid; Air Farce One; China's World Cup woes; Afghan democracy - a success story; End the barbaric bullfight; The brutal murder of Ken Bigley; Outsourcing myself; The US are electing the wrong candidates.

September 2004 A new war is needed; '2046' - four reasons to love this film; The West Wing's unlikely fan club; The first Virgin in space; Impotent Blair is at a loss; In any God's name this cannot be justified; Farewell Brian Clough; Weak Kofi; Beijing won the Democrats nil; The problem for Hong Kong's democrats; Your Bangkok subway guide; England should not tour Zimbabwe; Thailand's airport greed; Thai had a dream; Saying sorry for a bad whiff; Bigger, better, brighter, brasher, bolder Beijing; Malaysia gets it right

August 2004 Kiss and Tell: Over 330,000 misguided votes; Is this Howard's end?; A new version of the Nigerian scam; Singapore's political and economic expediency; Hit for six: Bangkok Governor election campaign; The questionable legacy of Deng; Was it Peng or was in Deng?; Making Vietnam an election issue; Bangkok's shut down; Missing the opportunity for change - Singapore's media; Dirty politics or dirty laundry; Early nights in Bangkok; This season's footie forecast; Searching for the Olympic spirit; Searching for inspiration; Split Democrats open way for Pavena; Bitter rivals to contest the Asian cup fina; Bangkok's unsung taxi drivers

July 2004 The President that America really wants;The land of the rising son; Bangkok's scary choices for mayor; Sweet FA....;The world's most unlikely jogger; Why Butler is a warning shot; Weapons of mass deception; the case against Tony Blair; No sense from Arroyo; Sense from the US Senate; A confused agenda at the International Aids Conference; Time Asia reports on Asia's budget airline; s LCC ticket pricing; Naughty NokAir shows its Spirit; The 2004 US Election; Hong Kong's political birth; Bangkok's new subway

June 2004 Canada's chastened Liberals; Canada's election; the safe choice; Publishing Sensation; England's shoot-out curse; Football maths; Vancouver: Midsummer night's dream; Canada's election; a crisis of leadership; England's nightmare - England 1 France 2; Reagan: The consequences of inaction; She said; they said; European Championship predictions; PLA stamps its authority on Hong Kong; Tiananmen's message; Why democracy matters; India's election - a fractured verdict?; Pattaya Today revisited - soap opera at its best

May 2004 Amnesty International - Why Human Rights Matter; Time for seeding the FA Cup; Khun mai kuey doen lenn khon dioew; Casualties of War; truth and decency; Lies about crimes; George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes; Fixing Bangkok airport; Mirror Editor sacked; Misleading people and endangering lives; India's election shock; Our immoral world; Singapore's Happy Loos !; How others see Thailand; The China squeeze; Rumsfeld must go - he would not be missed; Final farewells for Frasier and Friends; The enduring Thai gem scam; Barbarians masquerading as liberators

From 7 April 2004 Beijing's hard line on Hong Kong Britain's sorry isolation; Would you embrace this man?; Bangkok Fire leaves thousands homeless; Losing our edge; the New York Times on US competitiveness; Let freedom ring; three commentaries on the expansion of the European Union on May 1, 2004; India's vibrant democracy; Do not apply for this vacancy; The Wrong War (Op-ed from the New York Times); Over rated, soaking, Songkran; Bonk it like Beckham; The growing divide between the USA and Canada; Budget carriers boost regional tourism

From 20 March 2004 One country - do as we say; Bangkok Motor Show 2004 - Picture Gallery; What next after explosives theft in Thailand; The message from Taiwan's strange election; The new elite - Anthony Sampson on the British Establishment; Silence of the witnesses; Election fever sweeps Asia (oops not in China); Hong Kong patriotism; Unlawful killing; Bloomberg profile of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin; Philip Bobbitt on the Iraq war

From 1 March 2004 Time for a rethink after Madrid; Bertuzzi update; The Madrid bombings; When sport is not sporting and the failure of the sports authorities; A global threat needs a global response; Why what others think about us matters; Hong Kong's Lantau Cable Car

From 21 February 2004: Naked News in Hong Kong; Africa Calling - The Guardian; gbp 10 million boost for Reuters CEO; Why friends fall out; Worrying trends in Bangkok's Media; ; Was I wrong about Iraq - The Guardian

From 1 February 2004: Patriotic Games - Hong Kong; Another plea to free the Guantanamo 600; Economic Conflicts of Interest; Intimate Interns; Chicken Flew - Nok Air; What do Colin Powell and Justin Timberlake have in Common?; America's best friend may be her worst nightmare; Let the People Decide; Pattaya Today !; Why journalists should report the news and not be the news; Ryanair Subsidies QandA

From 20 January 2004: The BBC gets what it deserved; Calling foul on fowl flu denial; Happy Chinese New Year; Singapore's alarming executions; Privatisation of Space Exploration

From 25 December 2003: Singapore expected to legalise oral sex ! Take a number - onboard loo queues; The IHT on Prime Minister Thaksin; Air marshals; a modern day necessity; Raise a finger to finger printing; A new year's plea; Terror should not make us illiberal; Why did so many have to die in Bam (a must read); Time Lapse; Do not feel sorry for Rio Ferdinand; Huge Grant does Bangkok; A Nation mourns; corgi mauled in royal dogfight.

DECEMBER 2004

Why was there no warning?

29 December 2004

This is not a time for recrimination and finger pointing. It is a time for doing as much as possible to rescue, aid, comfort, and support those in need.

But questions are rightly being asked about why the death toll needed to be so high. The following opinion piece from today's Nation newspaper in Bangkok should serve as a wake up call to many. The article needs no further comment.

THAI TALK: Horrendous failure of our national warning system

Published on December 30, 2004

“Why weren’t we warned?” This question has been echoing around the tsunami-wrecked coast in the South ever since Sunday. The answers, none of which is very satisfactory, are at best evasive.

Based on interviews given by senior officials from the Meteorological Department and the Geological Resources Department, though, the official response could be paraphrased thus:

“The public was not warned because we weren’t sure. Tsunamis have rarely been reported in the Indian Ocean. We’re more familiar with tsunamis in the Pacific.”

Not very convincing. The very rationale for a warning system is to expect the unexpected. That’s what forecasters are there for. That’s what monitoring natural disasters is all about.

A much more tell-tale explanation of the massive failure given by another Weather Bureau official would go something like this:

“Since we haven’t had a tsunami in the Indian Ocean for decades, we were reluctant to issue a warning. Six years earlier, the then director-general of the Weather Bureau issued a tsunami warning for off of the coast of Phuket. One never materialised. A lot of people there condemned him for making a prediction that they claimed could scare off tourists. The public outcry there at the time practically banned him from ever visiting Phuket again. Frankly, we had this very bad memory in mind when we were considering whether or not to issue a warning.”

Tragic but true. Absurd and eerily surreal. A lot of lives could have been saved on that day had the country’s main weather warning agency been operating on a strictly professional basis – and not on the subjective judgement of the officials in charge.

It was out of fear of being subjected to social and political pressure that the government agencies concerned decided to resort to negligence of duty – to expose hundreds of thousands of people to grave danger – in order to protect their own social status. This is just one aspect of Thai society’s currently fast-deteriorating professional standards in almost every field of public service. It is a testament to the erosion of courage and commitment to professionalism throughout the entire country.

The standard procedure, as laid down by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in 1965, dictates that any underwater earthquake with a magnitude of greater than 6.5 must automatically trigger the tsunami warning system. That morning, the seismological monitoring section noted an earthquake initially registering 8.6 on the Richter scale. But bureaucratic inertia and timidity – instead of a clear sense of alertness and emergency management – reigned.

Had the officials in charge that morning been working with a clear-cut, well-rehearsed and properly communicated procedure, a tsunami warning would have been sounded. It shouldn’t have mattered to the experts in charge at the bureau on Sunday morning that such a warning might inconvenience hotel owners or tour operators in the South. They shouldn’t have even worried about possible negative feedback from certain quarters that the agency was overreacting or that it was too quick to push the panic button. They have a job to do, and a very important job it is too, one that concerns the safety of every citizen in the country. They are duty bound – professionally and ethically – to perform their task honourably. Potential public misunderstandings and undesirable political pressure are but some of the basic occupational hazards.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has promised to overhaul the entire disaster-protection system. He discovered just how deplorable the whole warning, rescue and emergency systems were when he went down South himself to supervise the rescue mission earlier this week. He said he learned first-hand that the country had no adequate warning system in place, no back-up communications, no emergency power supplies, no contingency plan to coordinate relief measures. What’s worse, he said that local officials hadn’t even gone on alert. The tsunami had already smashed six southern provinces when he discovered that these bureaucrats wouldn’t even start to respond to the crisis “until I ordered them to”. Why were they awaiting orders from the country’s chief executive? The simple answer, drawing from recent examples – bird flu, Sars, even Bangkok’s horrendous traffic jams – is: they just wanted to save their own butts. That’s how they’ve been trained to think and taught to act.

The PM complained that the Meteorology Department did issue a vague warning (about the earthquake) that “hyped up the series of aftershocks, which generated unwarranted fear that further complicated rescue efforts”. Instead of blaming them for “hyping things up”, the chief executive should have asked them: “What do you need to carry out your usually little-appreciated but crucial task in a more independent and professional manner?” Not only have bureaucratic inertia, budgetary constraints and political interference contributed to this unprecedented calamity, but also the very attitudes towards danger inherent in our social fabric.

In the end, the solution lies in making a conscientious effort to turn Thailand into a real knowledge-based society, one in which disaster monitoring and danger warnings are an integral part of daily life. Let it not be said after this catastrophe, which has touched everybody, passes that official responses simply returned to business as usual – immediate interest, instant assistance, but long-term neglect – because we failed to tackle the “epicentre” of this earth-shaking issue.

Suthichai Yoon

The Nation

How much is a life worth?

28 December 2004

With the death toll now close to 60,000 the Australian Foreign Secretary has said that Australia will lead a Tsunami warning system for the Indian ocean.

The Australians are already party to a warning system for the Pacific. But guess what, the Pacific nations are among the wealthiest nations in the world; Japan, Canada, the USA are all a part of the Pacific warning system.

But the Indian Ocean is surrounded by the nations of Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. The technology existed to warn people to get to high ground. And it requires huge investment to implement, educate, monitor and operate such a warning system; which in itself may only be used once a generation.

This is one investment that should have come earlier; and while the Australian initiative may be for the long term good it looks like a belated assessment that the wealthy nations of the region should have done something earlier.

Death toll reaches 23,000

27 December 2004

CNN's coverage of the Tsunami was awful yesterday with Andrew Brown in Hong Kong being roped in to provide local commentary despite the fact that Hong Kong is 1,500 miles away from the Thai and Malaysia crisis points and further form India and Sri Lanka.

Today the coverage is improved although Larry King needs to learn how to pronounce Phuket. Sadly the international media has largely fixed on Thailand as Phuket's dead includes a large number of foreigners. And guess what, there are phone lines and English speaking people in Phuket so they can be summoned to talk with Larry King. Thailand's dead is now estimated at 1,000. The number of dead in the coastal communities of South Asia is far far greater.

I mentioned Phuket Laguna yesterday; apparently the resort complex has been wiped out.

A friend who flies for Air Asia said that Phuket airport was reopened at about 5pm yesterday and that airlines were running extra flights; she had been called for two extra flights finally getting back to Bangkok at 5am.

I am too far away; and have no internet connection here to be able to provide effective updates.

Killer tsunami waves hit Thailand and South Asia

26 December 2004

I woke this morning to messages from Thailand and India telling me of the massive disaster to hit South East and South Asia last night.

The massive earthquake in Sumatra at around 8am drove tidal waves across the Indian Ocean. The first tidal wave hit Phuket just over two hours after the earthquake.

My first shock is that there appears to have been no warning. There seems to be no effective coastguard.

CBC Newsworld has decent coverage of the disaster. The US networks including the domestic CNN service are predictably ignorant.

The west coast beaches on Phuket will have been the most exposed. The main beach area of Patong, together with Kara and Karon beaches all have beachside roads and beachfront hotel blocks. Phuket airport, which is currently closed, is next to the island's northern beaches. Big resort complexes like the Phuket Laguna are on the waterfront. Their are reports of people in their hotels as waves of water swept into their rooms. Others on the beaches saw the waves approaching and ran.....

One friend in Bangkok still cannot contact one of her holidaying friends. She has been able to contact others after hours of trying. Telephone networks are predictably overloaded.

As I write this it is approaching 2am in Thailand; rescue work has slowed down overnight. Tomorrow the extent of the damage will be clearer.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka appears to have been hit hardest; some of the low lying Maldive islands may have been literally washed away.

Putting sport beyond the law

24 December 2004

Bertuzzi's plea bargain is predictable and is wrong

24 December 2004

Back on March 9 I was in Canada and wrote the commentary reprinted here after Todd Bertuzzi's in game NHL attack on Steve Moore. I wrote then about the failure of authority. How right I was.

Over nine months later and back in Canada the Crown Attorney's criminal cases against Bertuzzi has been plea-bargained.

This is how it looks; one law for the NHL and one law for the rest of us. Assume Todd Bertuzzi had made a premeditated attack on a BC judge; floored him from behind; smashed his face into the ground and broken his neck. What would the sentence be?

It surely would not be the plea-bargained one years probation and 80 hours of community service that the BC Crown attorney agreed to yesterday at the end of which Bertuzzi will have no criminal record..

The crown even changed the court date on one day's notice such that Moore was unable to present his own victim statement in court in front of Bertuzzi.

In September 2004 an Alberta man received 30 days in jail and 40 hours of community service for putting a banana cream pie in the face of the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein. Must have been a very unpleasant banana pie.

Moore was treated appallingly on the ice rink; and he was treated equally badly by the courts. He is still the victim. He is still in re-hab. Although he wants to play again, and has been carefully avoiding discussing the NHL administrators, Canucks or other players, he may never be able to play at this level again.

Some of the underlying messages are very disturbing for this sport. Not one person from the Vancouver Canucks has made any effort to call or write to Moore to wish him well. He has had no support from either his own league or his players Union, the latter being more concerned with the current, and possibly season ending, lock-out.

Meanwhile Bertuzzi should be able to play either in Europe or in the NHL if the lock out ends.

It is as though with the NHL in lock-out the leagues hoped that Moore and the memory of the assault on him could be quickly forgotten. The Crown has acquiesced and put hockey beyond the law. The Crown has decided that a court case would be costly for both the Crown and the league and perhaps that a certain amount of violence is an accepted part of this sport.

The Crown is arguing that it got a "good result".

Editorial commentary and letters pages suggest that the Crown got this very wrong indeed. One letter to the Globe and Mail spoke for many - "Dare I say it - I hope the NHL dispute is never resolved."

What do the league and its apologists need to take action to remove the violence form this sport. What if Moore had died from his injuries; what if he was a paraplegic?

When sport is not sporting - and the failure of authority

March 9 2004

Two events in the last week in two great sports played by countries with deep and long sporting traditions make it very clear that these great sports are deeply flawed and that the sports authorities are woefully pathetic when faced by the dollars brought in by media and sponsorship.

Lets start in the great white north, in Canada, where ice hockey is a religion. At its best it is a wonderful, fast, athletic and spectacular sport. At its worst, the NHL, it is like watching a combination of the World Wrestling Federation and the Jerry Springer show on ice.

On Monday night and well away from the game itself, Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi skated behind Colorado's Steve Moore, grabbed Moore's sweater and punched the back of his head. The Avalanche forward was slammed head first to the ice under the weight of the 245-pound Canucks forward, who slammed down on top of him. It was a premeditated assault; it was designed to do damage; it could have ended Moore's career; it could have taken his life. The Colorado player has a fractured neck, concussion and deep facial lacerations. He will be out for the rest of the season.

Unbelievably the Vancouver general manager Brian Burke told an afternoon press conference that Bertuzzi was "very upset about what happened" and added that "in terms of the incident, he's remorseful and relieved that Mr. Moore's injuries at this point appear, that a full recovery should be possible."

A pool of blood formed around Moore's head as he lay motionless. A stretcher was wheeled out and after 10 minutes the 25-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., was taken off for medical attention.

Now what I would like to hear from the coach is that an assault such as that is utterly unacceptable and that Bertuzzi will never play for Vancouver again.

The NHL announced Monday night that Bertuzzi, who served a 10-game suspension during the 2001-02 season for leaving the bench to join a fight, has been suspended indefinitely without pay.

An in-person hearing with NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell will be conducted Wednesday morning at the League's Toronto office.

Sadly the Canucks captain, Markus Naslund, said that "as weird as it seems, I don't think that was Todd's intentions. He obviously gave him a sucker punch, but he feels really awful about it right now."

Give me a break; watch the video. And then explain to the kids watching exactly what Mr. Bertuzzi's intentions were.

The trouble is that Bertuzzi is high profile in Vancouver; sponsors, endorsements, TV and radio fees all generate revenue that the sport needs to cover inflated salary costs.

If the league has balls (pucks??) he will get a one year suspension. I bet he gets 10 to 12 games. And the league will do nothing to stop the fighting because sadly that's why so many of the punters watch. A beautiful and deeply flawed sport.

Christmas Past

18 December 2004

I woke up this morning thinking of Christmas Time when I was a kid. There was always a real tree; we went to church on Christmas morning; we ate too much turkey; there were Christmas crackers, silly hats and bad jokes. I was (still am !) the eldest of three kids; we used to torture our parents by putting on some sort of play or carol service after lunch; even the Queen's speech must have sounded good by comparison.

Indeed I still know most of the words of all the traditional Christmas carols; and the childish rewritten versions; "Good King Wencelas went out in his mini minor; took a double bend too fast and landed up in China!"

My primary school would put on a nativity play; there would be carol concerts. The concerts at my senior school were almost sell out events; the choir would rehearse the whole winter term.

It was a holiday; it was a time for family and friends; it even snowed occasionally.

As a teenager my parents were in Nigeria; the kids would haul out of the English winter to spend 3 weeks in a constant round of days at the pool or beach and partying. My favourite Christmas card read; "Christmas need not always be white; black is beautiful." Hear, hear.

What has happened to the season of peace and goodwill to all men (and women!). Type "Christmas+Warning+2004" onto google and you get : Results 1 - 10 of about 3,560,000 for christmas+warning+2004

Their is a terror alert issued to Australians who may be traveling at Christmas. It wont stop them from traveling; if something does happen the government can say "told you so !"

There are warnings about alcohol, sex, infected turkeys, computer viruses, people are advised to avoid balloons due to latex allergies and be wary of injury from Christmas trees. Office workers are advised not to photocopy bums or breasts (risk of broken glass) at the Christmas Party.

Close circuit TVs have been set up in some Santa grottos to ensure that employed Santa's do not molest children as they make their annual outrageous gift demands!

Councillors in Mottingham, South London, demanded £5m worth of insurance cover before putting Christmas lights up, while in Bury St Edmunds an illuminated Christmas tree was banned in case its low-voltage bulbs electrocuted passers-by.

Many schools no not hold a nativity play, many have no carol service. Instead they will have a winter concert.

A colleague in Canada asked my address the other day so that he could send me a "holiday card"!!! Christmas has been hijacked by the politically correct and by the lawyers.

The UK's Independent newspaper created this wonderful image of Santa:

Picture dear old Santa at home; "The wind caresses the arctic wastes, sneaks under the wood-cabin door and up Santa's robes. He feels every day of his age today. In the mirror his beard looks greyer. The rheumy eyes have lost their sparkle. For the first time ever, he contemplates his deliveries as a duty rather than a delight. The thought of fighting his way through the reindeer-rights protesters and past his little helpers waving placards about their "Scrooge-like" boss dampens his spirits like a layer of sleet. It is hardly his fault the office party was cancelled. Since that incident between two elves on the photocopier, his public liability cover has gone through the roof. No more joggling children on your knee, his lawyer says: too big an insurance risk. And lay off the mince pies and sherry, adds his doctor. Is it just an old man's nostalgia, he wonders, or were Christmases past simpler? When did his presents start to be wrapped with red tape, the sleigh need a licence?" Pulling on his crash helmet, the law forbids him simply wearing a cap' he boldly sets out on his deliveries.

Me; I am going to enjoy the holiday; the tree is up at home; the lights have not fused yet; I will wear a Santa hat on the golf course tomorrow; the caddies always like that ! And I will be on the ski slopes of Whistler on Christmas Day.

Enjoy your holidays wherever you are and whatever your faith. Christmas is a time to hope for peace and goodwill for all people, everywhere.

A very Faye Christmas!

10 December 2004

It is the beginning of the festive season; even in Thailand there are trees, decorations and choruses of "Frosty the Snowman".

Meanwhile in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as part of the preparation for the festive season, my favourite Asian diva, Faye Wong, has graced the covers of Hong Kong and Taiwan's Elle magazine. Christmas Glamour indeed !

Its raining cranes....but there is no peace

8 December 2004

If you had the misfortune to read the Bangkok Post last Monday you might think that all 90 million paper cranes had fallen into the lap of a fifteen year old girl from Narathiwat called Mae-eya Bula.

On page 1 of the Bangkok Post she vows to be sisters with 22 year old Kanittha Srinarak from Udon Thani whose name and mobile number were on a crane found by Ms. Bula.

But on page 2, in a different article, the same reporter tells of a Mae-eya Bula, 15, a Narathiwat resident, who collected a paper carne with the message "I want to kill all militants.

Meanwhile as Ms. Bula was collecting cranes, Arsor Abdul Sorni, the mother of Mauseng Sorni who was shot to death in the Tak Bai protest sat at home. Sorni's body is reported as having a gunshot wound in his back and many bruises. In compensation she had received 100,000 from the government and another 6,000 baht from provincial authorities. A total of US$2,600.

The crane drop, in windy conditions, needed 300 missions in total.

It is certainly a unique approach to appeasement. But it has probably done more to unite the crane-makers than the crane-receivers. The gesture enthralled the Thai public and galvanized them into a crane making frenzy.

But it appears to have done little to give the Muslim south serious political recognition or to redress the Muslim community's long-standing grievances.

Cutting crew takes on reality tv!

8 December 2004

On page 4 of today's Bangkok Post Business Section is a quarter page advertisement under the rather lengthy headline: "BNH Hospital will host the world's first Live Sex Reassignment Surgery ("SRS") performed by Thailand's world-class team of surgeons"

The advert continues to say that the expertise of Thai surgeons will be on display to the world. The event will be held on 9th and 10th of December. The advertisement does not say who the lucky victim (patient?) is or how the surgery will be shown either in the hospital,or to the global audience of whackos who want to see a boy transformed into a girl. This is taking reality tv to new extremes.

While the surgery is in progress there will be supporting music played from Cutting Crew, perhaps including that old SRS favourite, "the first cut is the deepest".

Sex and the Singapore City

8 December 2004

A survey last Sunday in Singapore's Times newspaper revealed (and this is no surprise) that children and sex are low in the priorities of Singapore's married couples.

Which only goes to show that sex and fertility cannot be bought by the government. The Singapore authorities have reacted to all time low birth rates by offering significant housing grants, cash payments, baby-care subsidies, tax rebates for working mothers and longer maternity leave all to encourage an increase in birth rates. There are other priorities in Singapore where the national slogan appears to be "I shop, therefore I am."

But Singaporeans remain focused on career, credit cards, condos, cars and club memberships. Singaporean men appear to be having plenty of sex - in China, Thailand and Indonesia; they are just not having it in Singapore; maybe because they are too tired from their overseas trips or because there is too much pressure at home to conform and perform.

The eight low cost airline flights a day between SIN and BKK have been a bonus for short term travelers to Bangkok and also for Thai girls looking for short term employment in Singapore!

The Singapore government's strategy is simply wrong; people do not use government tax rebates as foreplay. "Dear, isn't it a good time to have sex now as we get a bigger grant." What the government needs to do is create an atmosphere that is conducive to sex!

That means that sex is something people want to do rather than something that the government obliges them to do. Singapore has made only small progress in this direction. You can now see censored editions of Sex and the City; you can read a Singapore version (very tame) of Cosmopolitan. More, much more is needed; liberalise attitudes towards sex; encourage people to enjoy sex at home and just maybe the culture will change.

Among urgent changes needed in Singapore are:

Open up cable tv networks to allow adult channels. Let a couple get into the mood watching some well filmed porn. That must be more of a stimulant than Channel 5 and the local evening news.

License adult shops; let Singaporeans buy adult toys, clothing and accessories; let them liven up their love lives with a little experimentation.

Build new "love hotels" in central and suburban areas. It is hard to make out as a young couple in Singapore in a small condo with the inlaws making dinner outside; the sister playing computer games and the other relatives clacking mah jong tiles. Singaporean couples needs somewhere to go to for fun; themed rooms; clean, nice music, helpful tv channels, and no social stigma attached.

Liberalise web censorship. The best censor is your own judgment and taste.

Stop national service. Two or more years of boot camp does little for male creativity or heterosexuality!

A few thoughts; anyone care to comment !?

Air Asia take flak from the Bangkok Post

2 December 2004

The following is a report in today's travel section of the Bangkok Post; followed by my letter to the editor and travel section (Horizons) editor of the newspaper. It would be equally scurrilous, but quite plausible, that the story and its prominent coverage was a plant from one of the major airlines:

from the Bangkok Post; Horizons: 2 December 2004

Air Asia flight has passengers waiting five hours

Low-cost airlines deliver on fares but they are sadly lacking when it comes to punctuality

"Flight delays are frustrating. Most full-service airlines now cite punctuality to prevent customers from switching their loyalty. We're not sure how well it works but after years of travelling with full-service airline, I've never encountered a flight delay that was unbearable. In most cases airlines inform passengers of flight delays well in advance.

But punctuality is probably not the selling point when it comes to low-cost airlines. You can expect them to be cheap but not necessarily punctual. We haven't heard of a low-cost airlines that guarantees punctuality and cheap airfares.

Recently, a friend of ours was on his way to Ubon Ratchathani. He was booked on Air Asia. The schedule flight time was 1:05 p.m. but passengers only realised when they checked in at Don Muang Airport counter that the flight would be five hours late and would now take off at 5:20 p.m. No other details were given.

As a consolation, each passenger was offered a 70-baht voucher which could be redeemed for a light meal. Of course, 70 baht is nothing considering that most meals at the airport's restaurants are priced higher. It's even worse for passengers who had checked in early by arriving at the airport two hours in advance.

They could have easily taken the bus and arrived in Ubon Ratchathani in that seven hours they were given to kill at the airport."

My letter to the Newspaper:

Sir/Madam,

It is poor journalism and poor judgment to use the pages of the Horizons section of today's Bangkok Post (2 Dec) to air a personal grumble about a 5 hour delay on an Air Asia flight to Ubon Ratchathani.

Flights get delayed on any airline, full service or LCC. Ask the Cathay passengers on CX751 yesterday who turned back to BKK after a piece of the airplane fell off. Air Asia's punctuality is probably as good as any major carrier operating out of BKK; their web site gives the following statistic:

Latest Punctuality for the week ending 28 November 2004

89% of all flights arrived on time

96% of all flights arrived within one hour

You gave prominence to this story through the headline and tag. You allege that LCCs are "sadly lacking when it comes to punctuality". What are your grounds for this allegation? What research have you done. Look at Easyjet: from their website?

ON TIME

Week ending 28 November 2004:

86% of all flights arrived on time

96% arrived within one hour

In the interests of balance reporting did you ask Air Asia to comment on your story. Of course you didn't. Your article damages them and the new LCC industry.

I do not work for AA; I am not in any way involved with AA. But I do believe in fair and balanced reporting. Your article is petty and vindictive.

You were unlucky. Live with it.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Scott

Bangkok

cc: Editor Bangkok Post

Horizons Editor, Bangkok Post

Air Asia

Alfred Hitchcock would approve

1 December 2004

In a scene reminiscent of "The Birds" in Hitchcock's 1963 movie the south of Thailand is about to be dumped on by 80 million origami birds.

Actually the precise number is 80,964,055 origami birds as of last night according to Mr. Yuranant Phamornmontree, the newly-elected Deputy Government Spokesman. How can he be that accurate? The paper birds will be air-dropped on the southern border provinces on 5 December--His Majesty the King's birthday.

In the past week everywhere you look there have been people folding paper cranes. Offices and apartment buildings have collection boxes. Our office has instructions for crane folding on the notice board - in Japanese!

The completed birds are now being collected together at Bangkok’s military airfield, and on 3 December Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will preside over the take-off of 35 military planes, which will take the birds to Surat Thani Province and Hat Yai in Songkhla Province.

On 5 December, the planes will make for the southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where they will begin dropping the birds from 09.00hrs, completing their mission at 16.00hrs.

Some of these paper birds are huge - with a little extra weight they might drop quickly - the best advise to anyone is to stay indoors until the origami bombing has ceased.

People have rallied behind the idea. Whether it makes any difference remains to be seen.

NOVEMBER 2004

China is hot

30 November 2004

Continuing the China them for this month this is a Canadian report on Chinese efforts to secure the natural resources that it needs to support her rapid economic growth. I will put all the China articles into a separate section on this web site. The story of China's economic growth and potential dominance of world trade will be one of the stories of this decade. By 2010 China will be a juggernaut; the issues will be whether she is under control or not; and if she is a friend or a foe not just of Asian nations but globally.

China frantic for energy supplies

Beijing looking to Canada and beyond for sources of oil, gas, electricity and coal

By GEOFFREY YORK - Globe and Mail - Monday, November 29, 2004

BEIJING - At first glance, the events are unconnected. A possible Chinese takeover of a leading Canadian oil company. A secret submarine in Japanese waters. A border deal in Siberia. Trade pacts with obscure African nations. Diplomatic efforts to protect rogue states in the Middle East.

These seemingly random incidents around the world, however, are united by one crucial phenomenon: China's growing obsession with its energy security.

Fearful of its mounting vulnerability to any threat to its oil and gas imports, Beijing has become frantically active in its quest for new energy supplies. The latest example -- its effort to acquire Husky Energy Inc. of Calgary -- is just the most recent of a long series of initiatives to gain fresh energy sources for its booming economy.

China's oil imports leaped by 40 per cent in the first half of this year. It recently surpassed Japan to become the world's second-biggest oil importer. Its own oil production, once large enough to supply its needs, has fallen into steady decline. By the year 2020, China expects to depend on imported oil for 60 per cent of its oil supply, up from 36 per cent today, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to an oil embargo or an unexpected cutoff of supply.

Beijing sees the risk of an energy shortage as one of the biggest potential threats to its national security and social stability. It has become fixated with the goal of diversifying its sources of oil, gas, electricity and coal.

The Chinese government has reportedly drafted a plan to build a 90-day strategic reserve of crude oil -- much bigger than its previous plan for a 30-day stockpile. It is already building 52 massive tanks near the East China Sea, south of Shanghai, to stockpile a month's worth of oil. Each tank would hold more than 25 million gallons.

But this might not be enough. China's economy -- with its emphasis on voracious energy-gobbling industries such as steel, cement, and manufacturing -- is increasingly dependent on heavy energy consumption.

For every dollar of GDP, it consumes three times as much energy as the global average, and almost five times as much as the U.S. average. By 2020, China is projected to have 130 million private cars -- five times as many as today -- and its cars are already consuming far more gasoline per car than the average car in the United States or Japan.

As a result, China is aggressively negotiating trade and investment deals with almost any country that boasts a supply of oil or natural gas, regardless of the cost. It is already co-operating with 27 countries on oil exploration.

In Africa alone, it has reached agreement to buy oil from Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon and Angola. In Latin America, it has signed a trade deal with Brazil to finance a drilling and pipeline program that would provide oil and gas to China, even though the Brazilian deal is estimated to be three times more expensive than simply buying supplies on the open market.

To secure Russian oil, Beijing gave favourable terms to Moscow to settle a long-standing border dispute on a Siberian river. Russia reciprocated last week by promising to deliver as much as 420 million barrels of oil by train to China annually by 2010, up from the present level of 140 million barrels.

China and Japan have been jousting for the right to receive an oil pipeline from Russia, although the latest indications suggest that Japan might win the battle.

China's obsession with energy security has put it on a collision course with the United States, which disapproves of Beijing's eagerness to cut deals with "pariah states" such as Iran and Sudan.

Last month, China signed a $70-billion deal to help develop an Iranian oil field and purchase natural gas from Iran. Within a few days, Beijing signalled that it would oppose any effort to seek UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

In a similar move, China has supported Sudan against allegations of human rights abuses. China has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing oil fields and pipelines in Sudan, its biggest single African energy supplier.

And in another far-reaching consequence of China's energy appetite, China and Japan are jostling for control of the vast natural-gas deposits below the East China Sea. Both countries have laid claim to much of the sea, and China has begun the construction of drilling platforms to tap the gas deposits in disputed waters, provoking sharp protests from Tokyo. When a Chinese nuclear submarine was discovered in Japanese waters this month, a three-day chase by Japanese warships ensued. The incident was widely believed to be linked to China's challenge of the Japanese gas deposit claims.

In this global context, the possible takeover of Husky Energy fits neatly into Beijing's energy strategy. China is interested in importing up to one million barrels of oil a day from Alberta's oil sands projects, including those on the drawing board at Husky. Beijing is also seeking Husky's expertise in offshore oil drilling, primarily because of Chinese drilling plans in the East China Sea.

Zimbabwe farce

26 November 2004

England should not be playing cricket in Zimbabwe - I have said it so often it hardly bares repeating.

But this week has been a farce. Refusing to make a stand against tyranny, torture, oppression and starvation, England's cricketers, led by the shameful ECB have at last found a worthy cause. This week they made a stand because the Zimbabwean government were not giving press accreditation to certain cricket journalists.

At last a worthy cause, and a reason to delay travel to Zimbabwe; denying those chaps from the Telegraph and the Times their press accreditation.

A Mickey Mouse Disney

24 November 2004

Disney has set the opening date as 12 September 2005. They have also crowed that Disney Hong Kong will be cheaper than any other Disney site in the world.

And so it will - on weekdays. Go on a weekend and you can add 20% to the price. Remember that this is the soft opening price only. Initially only some of the rides will be operational.

Also remember that the Hong Kong park is only 1% (yes - one per cent!) the size of DIsneyworld in Florida.

It really is not worth bleating here how Hong Kong was taken to the cleaners by Disney Corp. It is not worth repeating here just how much the clean up of Penny's Bay on Lantau has cost the Hong Kong people.

This was not a good contract for Hong Kong. But it will bring visitors and it will stimulate spending. My little guy (seven years old) is already talking about it. Ocean Park will hurt after DIsney opens. Indeed Ocean Park may well become a prime real estate site.

And there is a multiplier effect. We cannot just look at the revenues and costs related to DIsney directly. Visitors will come and they will spend, not just at Disney.

I just hope the 7 year old is not too disappointed. Its going to be a rather mickey mouse Disney.

China's military ambitions

23 November 2004

The dispatch of a Chinese nuclear submarine into Japanese waters raised the political temperature in East Asia and has set many people thinking where China's military ambitions may start and end.

Clearly they can win hearts and minds through economic strength; relations with Zimbabwe, see below, are testament to that.

But China's vast consumption of natural resources from oil to gas to water to steel to potash may mean that China has to obtain access to resources deep in the heart of other nations. China can but those resources and he held ransom to foreigners controlling the supply and pricing. Or China can acquire those resources, preferably through business and economic acquisition. But there are other means.

China's borders include N Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and the 'Stans (Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan. The latter have significant undeveloped resources.

One provocative article, published today in the Washington Times, follows. The global balance of power is changing. It is a new reality, a new industrial revolution. While the 20th century witnessed the rise of America. The 21st century will witness the rise and dominance of China. Be prepared. And if you choose, embrace the new reality. Being a part of this change may just give people the opportunity to ensure that the checks and balances are in place to safeguard lives and freedoms.

23 November 2004

China's bold displays

By William Hawkins

The scariest ride I ever had was not at an amusement park. It was the ride I took two weeks ago through Shanghai, China, from Hongqiao International Airport to the Bund area along the Huangpu riverfront. It was just after dark, and this mammoth city was lit up in an awe-inspiring display the likes of which I had not seen even in Beijing.

Shanghai has a skyline that puts New York or Chicago to shame, but it also has a larger population than New York and Chicago combined. Mile after mile of new high-rise office buildings, many boosting the names of the world's major corporations, make a stunning proclamation of wealth and power. Unlike the boxy concrete and steel designs I had seen in Tokyo, the Shanghai skyline looks like a "city of the future" as envisioned by science-fiction artists. With these grandiose designs, China is sending a clear message to the world that it is playing for real. That is something to stir nightmares.

American security concerns have focused on terrorism and the Middle East. This is understandable, as Muslim terrorists plot more American deaths. Yet, terrorism is the weapon of the weak. It cannot change the global balance of power. And Islamic fundamentalism is a backward-looking doctrine of social and economic stagnation.

The rise of China challenges the global balance, and is already transforming how the world works. Endowing an empire of 1.3 billion people with modern industry, technology and capital gives the strong Beijing central government immense resources with which to support its ambitions.

China is driven by impassioned nationalism and the limitless energy of capitalism, a combination that will rock the world.

Military threats always loom largest in the public mind, and China is creating such a danger. My visits to Beijing and Shanghai were preludes to the real reason for my trip, which was to attend the fifth Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai. This event is held every two years. It has two purposes: to showcase China's advancements and attract U.S. and other Western companies who want to sell technology and systems to Beijing.

China's space program was highlighted, from the capsule astronaut Yang Liwei used to orbit the Earth in 2003 to animated videos of Chinese plans to land on the moon and exploit its resources. Most of the displays, however, were devoted to Chinese fighters, remotely piloted (unmanned) military aircraft, helicopter gunships and missiles of all types.

The displays clearly showed there is no segregation of civilian and military aviation activities. The Chinese aerospace industry is run by the state. Its largest agency is Aviation Industries of China I (AVIC I). Its displays featured, side by side, a variety of civilian airliners and its numerous military projects for fighters, bombers, military transports and reconnaissance aircraft. Its sister organization, AVIC II, which was split off in 1999 to create competition and improve management, concentrates more on business jets, helicopters and missiles. One display featured a row of cruise and air-to-air missiles under a large poster of a corporate jet, again showing the guiding Chinese principle of "Jun-min jiehe" — combine the military and the civil.

This principle was very evident in the two halls devoted to American and Western firms trying to sell high-tech products to China. These firms are only supposed to be civilian development firms. But that line cannot be drawn, and it is doubtful those marketing their wares in this booming market care.

Italian Deputy Minister of Defense Salvator Cicu was on hand for the signing of a co-production agreement between Agusta Westland and AVIC II for a new helicopter design. Italy, along with France and Germany, have pressed the European Union to lift its arms embargo on China. But the embargo has long been undermined by sale of dual-use equipment and technology to Beijing. Helicopters are a prime example. Why else would a defense official celebrate a putatively civilian project?

Two identical remotely piloted helicopters were displayed — one configured for crop dusting, the other for military reconnaissance. It takes little imagination to see how the crop duster might be used with chemical or biological weapons.

American companies have been just as guilty as European firms in helping China improve its capabilities. Boeing had a large mural at its booth touting not only how many airliners it had sold to China but also how much production work it had outsourced to Chinese industry, how many Chinese engineers and technical workers it had trained, and how much it was investing in Chinese research facilities.

    U.S. officials have lobbied against any lifting of the EU weapons embargo on China. Yet, how can the Europeans take American arguments seriously when the Bush administration (and the Clinton administration before it) have not only turned a blind eye to the role of U.S. firms in advancing Beijing's development, but have encouraged it under the rubric of "commercial engagement?" Which is worse: Europeans selling weapons to China, or Americans teaching the Chinese how to build their own weapons?

    William Hawkins is senior fellow for national security studies at the U.S. Business and Industry Council.

For China economics comes first

23 November 2004

It is rather depressing to witness the cosy relationship that has developed between China and the despotic regime in Zimbabwe. Indeed it may well be that it is only access to Chinese money that preserves the Mugabe government. Neither country has a proud record on human rights and clearly this is of little concern to all consuming China.

The latest trade news between the two countries sees Air Zimbabwe announcing twice weekly flights to Beijing supporting Chinese investment in that country which tops US$600 million.

Chinese advisors trained Zimbabwe's nationalist troops in the liberation struggle of the 1970s. After independence in 1980 China retained an economic interest extending its support as other nations stopped providing aid. Confronted by 700% inflation, 70% unemployment, food shortages, Aids epidemics and world isolation Zimbabwe has increasingly looked to China for support.

There are estimated to be 9,000 Chinese working in Zimbabwe on power, infrastructure and telecoms projects. Zimbabwe also acquire military equipment from China.

In return China gets access to Zimbabwe's mineral wealth, including platinum, gold and diamonds. This is just a part of China's acquisition of Africa; China-Africa trade is expected to exceed US$20 billion in 2004.

Henry Olonga used to play cricket for Zimbabwe. Yes, he is black. He is also in exile after wearing a black armband in a cricket match as a symbol of the death of democracy.

In an interview in London yesterday he said of his homeland "There are human rights abuses, the lack of an impartial judiciary, the collapse of the health system in the face of the HIV Aids epidemic, the collapse of law and order, the targeting of political opponents."

As China acquires what it needs to sustain domestic growth economics takes priority over right and wrong.

Crane mail in Thailand

23 November 2004

The Thai Prime Minister's latest gesture to appease the troubled south is a massive littering exercise involving plane loads of origami peace bombs.

Thaksin Shinawatra has urged all 63 million Thais to make at least one paper bird in the next fortnight so they can be dropped on the three restive provinces on December 5 as a sign of goodwill to mark King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday.

Electronic road signs in Bangkok encourage people to get folding and local television stations show troops and civil servants busily creating huge flocks of doves, cranes and pigeons.

A quick straw poll of my colleagues in Chateau Potash suggests that the idea has wide support and is a way of offering moral support to their southern compatriots. One colleague has made ten, another seven. There are even instructions (in Japanese !!!) on how to fold a paper crane on the office notice board.

Then there are collection points in offices and apartment buildings. And a massive loading exercise to get the cranes to the planes!

And the biggest exercise of all - clearing up the littered fields afterwards!

For the record community leaders in the affected region, which is predominantly Muslim while the rest of Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, believe the stunt will achieve little. They say it is just a gimmick ahead of a general election due by February.

"The key obstacle to solving problems in the south is that the majority of Thais look at Muslims as second-class citizens," one leader was quoted as saying.

The coming war over Taiwan

19 November 2004

It is hard to see where an acceptable compromise can be found in relations between Taiwan and China.

The vitriolic war of words continues and the stakes get higher with the passage of time. It is a simple matter of Chinese nationalism; of Chinese pride, and of a deep seated sense of what right. Taiwan will never be allowed to exist as a separate nation; the best that she can hope for is a certain amount of self determination along the lines of a Hong Kong or Macau. But Taiwan's independent, free-thinking, self-determining and democratic world will not be allowed to continue.

The mainland communists and the remnants of the KMT form unlikely bed fellows but they share the goal of a united China. It is a mess. President Chen in Taiwan is pushing for a referendum and a new constitution by 2008 that would embrace the principles of an independent Taiwanese nation. China will never let this happen.

Do not rule out a Chinese invasion. This depressing scenario was outlined over lunch a few days ago and is a worryingly plausible scenario. Consider the following:

1) China needs air superiority over Taiwan; it is close.

2) Air superiority would allow a massive sea borne invasion (Germany's plan for Britain in 1940). China has the troops and the landing craft.

3) The gamble is that the US would not intervene. It is a fair gamble. The US has two basic problems. Defense spending cuts and Iraq. Both mean that the US has limited force to fight another war in a far off land that frankly most of her people have little interest in.

4) The world's economic dependence on China is such that normal relations would be quickly re-established. Sad; but it is the reality. An invasion of Taiwan would be considered a domestic issue allowing, as soon as it is safe to do so, normal trade and investment to quickly continue, probably led by the perfidious French.

5) China's nuclear submarine did not suddenly get lost in Japanese waters last week. GPS solves that. The consensus is that the sub had a mission to test Japanese and US response times and reaction to an incursion into their territorial waters.

6) The UN will not intervene. A censure or two. Easily managed.

7) The threat of losing or of a major boycott of the 2008 Olympics is far less important that the recovery of Taiwan.

It would be a short and sharp campaign. This would probably lead to Taiwan suing for a peace that allows them to maintain some part of their livelihood and economy.

It is hard to see what the alternative might be. China wants a solution before too many years pass by. The longer Taiwan remains independent the more the people grow accustomed to that independence. It will never happen.

Thaksin likely to attend APEC

18 November 2004

Reversing his earlier decision, and probably causing great uncertainty to his hosts, Thai Prime Minster Thaksin has said that he will now attend the APEC meeting this weekend in Santiago.

He must have been reading my earlier column urging him to attend.

However, his new jet will remain grounded. The specially configured Airbus A319, which the Thai press has dubbed Air Force One, can carry only 36 people - far less than the size of the delegation - and would require multiple refuelling stops to get halfway around the world.

Officials say Thaksin will instead make his trip in a Thai Airways MD-11, which raises the question: why have a prime ministerial jet in the first place?

Hong Kong rolls over but it is not enough

17 November 2004

Here was my 16 October story about China's world cup woes. Only one team qualifies from this group for the second qualifying round of the World Cup. And it is not China; despite beating Hong Kong by a laughable 7-0 China is left with the same goal difference as Kuwait and has scored one goal less after Kuwait's 6-1 win over hapless Malaysia.

China's world cup woes

16 October 2004

It would be a bad day if China fails to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. But they may be about to fall at the first hurdle. On November 17 China play Hong Kong and Kuwait play Malaysia. China and Kuwait both have 12 points; Kuwait has a better goal difference, by two. Malaysia have been beaten in every match that they have played. Only the winning team in this group moves into the next round.

There are already calls from China for Hong Kong to throw the match for the good of the motherland.

Chinese interest in the world cup is critical to the growth of the sport in China and of course is a wonderful marketing money-spinner.

What is clear is that middle eastern football continues to advance and is leaving Asia behind.

China's great sporting dreams lie in footballing tatters in Guangzhou. One more injury time goal would have been enough.

There have been serious scandals in the Chinese football league. And China now has 4 years to clean up and reform its football programme and rebuild for the next qualifying campaign.

Hong Kong were woeful. It was like watching a very poor training game. They were just not quite woeful enough.

Overdosed on Arafat

November 13, 2004

Every time that I have switched on CNN over the last week I have been confronted by Yasser Arafat. In Ramallah. Being sent by helicopter and French government plane to his hospital in France. Being visited in hospital by a self serving French President, and eventually being buried in crazy scenes.

Who was this; was this some great world leader who had brought peace to our times. Was the a man who had somehow changed and bettered our world. Was this the leader of a great and prosperous nation. Was this a Mao or a Gandhi?

No, it was the man who created modern day terrorism.

Let's face it; this guy was hardly a saint. Yet all the fawning coverage of CNN and some other media might mislead you into thinking that Arafat was a great statesman of the world. He was a leader without a state.

Arafat was first and foremost a terrorist. He was also the long time symbol of the Palestinians' hope for an independent state. It is fair to say that the stalemate between Israel and Palestine fuels Muslim anger and gives credence to terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. But peace in the Middle East requires dialogue and trust; and Israel could never trust Arafat. Meanwhile other than giving the Palestinian people a sense of national identity it is hard to actually see what in reality he did for his people other than encouraging them to blame Israel for all that was wrong. It is easy to have a common enemy. Arafat continued to promote the strongest anti-Jewish sentiment since Hitler's Germany.

Arafat did little to start the reforms that successful statehood require; competent governance, public welfare and infrastructure projects; tackling corruption and condemning state sponsored terrorism. He took funds away from the Palestinian people; he hid funds in Swiss bank accounts; and maybe in France. Those funds will be the subject of a long future fight for access and ownership.

What CNN in all their eulogising seem to have forgotten is that Arafat ordered the death of thousands of men, women and children.

Why did he die; the French hospital and authorities have said nothing. Poisoning must be a possibility.

The best thing that can be said for Arafat's passing is that there may now be a greater chance of a reasoned and peacefully negotiated settlement in the Middle East led by people who respect life rather than destroy it.

One year on the Thai PM snubs APEC

November 12, 2004

One year ago Bangkok was brought to a grinding halt by the annual gathering of Asia Pacific leaders known as APEC. One year ago Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra made a huge play of his role as a leader of ASEAN and as the central figure and host for the 2003 meeting.

This year the Thai PM has decided that events in the south are sufficiently important for him to stay as home and send a deputy in his place.

This is a poor decision and is particularly ungrateful after the huge show of support given by APEC leaders to Thailand last year.

Meanwhile President GW Bush is fighting a huge war in Iraq - but he will still be attending. Chinese President Hu Jintao will be there despite unrest in Henan province. He will be looking to seal deals for future energy resources.

It would been a good opportunity for the Thai PM to discuss the southern troubles with Muslim leaders from the region including the Malaysian PM and the new Indonesian President. Thailand could also have pushed a number of free trade discussions with Japan, New Zealand, Peru and the USA.

The meeting is in Chile; yes it is a long way to go. And it is true that Thai Air Force One will need to re-fuel a few times to get there. But Thaksin would devalue the meeting by not being there and is snubbing the same leaders who gave him such a strong endorsement last year. This will not be forgotten.

The meeting is on November 20/21. I hasty reconsideration would be welcome.

In the deep rough at Muang Kaew

November 9, 2004

Muang Kaew is one of the closest golf courses to Central Bangkok. It has been considerably rebuilt over the last three years, The course was redesigned; the greens rebuilt; new memberships sold, the clubhouse, restaurant and locker rooms all redesigned. Even the caddies were properly trained.

All of this work was completed under the supervision of a company owned by two Canadian investors, Siam Golf Properties Co. Ltd.

Siam Golf were apparently operating under a 10 year lease that appears to have had a renewal clasue built into it at the three year point.

Siam Golf appear to have found out the hard way that contract discussions can take many different forms in Thailand.

The owners of Muang Kaew for the last 10 years are a company called Sannan Golf. Before Siam Golf Properties were appointed to manage the course it was it quite poor condition and was suffering financially.

Last month Siam Golf received letter saying that they were being evicted for breach if contract. The alleged breaches included failure to tend to the trees or to remove dead plants. From a personal view these allegations make little sense; the course condition improves all the time despite being heavily played.

On the evening of 31 October police arrived at the course to evict Siam Golf. I have heard, but cannot yet confirm, that all of Siam Golf's property at the club such as pro shop stock was removed. The owners of Siam Golf were barred from entering the property. The next day Siam Golf arrived with their own security personnel and police. The two groups of police each representing a different side in this dispute then stood toe to toe; probably not offering eachother putting tips.

Siam Golf withdrew their militia; they then filed a Baht 220 million breach of contract suit and also approached the Canadian Embassy for assistance. The Canadian Ambassador, who frankly should have more important things to do, then wrote to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing concern that due legal process may not have been followed and that the actions of Sannan Golf may send "a very negative message to foreign investors."

Siam Golf have been granted an audience with representatives of the Thai Prime Minister to try and seek a mediated solution.

There has to be more to this story than is reported in the newspapers. Among obvious questions are who is now managing the club; what happens to existing memberships; and who has the funds from new memberships issued over the last few years.

How offensive can you get?

November 5 2004

The front page of yesterday's UK Daily Mirror was about as offensive as it is possible to be. Accusing 59 million people of being DUMB is arrogant, ill-considered and wholly inappropriate.

The USA is blessed with many many millions of thoughtful, talented, entrepreneurial, and well-educated people who work honestly in the best interests of themselves, their family and their nation.

Like it or not they are a first world country and a first world military power. They are also the world's largest donor of foreign aid and a major force in ensuring at least a degree of personal freedoms and the spread of democracy over the last 20 years.

The USA is the first rate nation that so many in the world still look enviously towards for leadership and for opportunity.

I have sent the following letter to the Daily Mirror:

Sir/Madam,

You are entitled to free speech. You are not entitled to be offensive for the sake of being offensive.

I may not agree with the 59m people who voted for Mr. Bush. But I know many of my friends and colleagues voted for him. And they are not DUMB. They are some of the most thoughtful, international, generous and wise people I know. A better question is why the Democrats could not field a strong enough candidate, backed by a strong team with a clear message, to remove the incumbent.

Your front page is that of the inarticulate bully. It is cheap, tawdry, and thoughtlessly offensive.

A front page apology would be appropriate.

Robert Scott

Bangkok

Supermarket trolley drivers terrorise Bangkok

November 4 2004

You can tell a great deal about how people might behave behind the wheel of a car when you watch them wheeling their shopping trolley around the supermarket. Caprice /PA

The latter is a particularly alarming experience in Bangkok and a good reason why the best advise is to keep off the streets.

My local supermarket is the TOPS market at the Silom Complex. It is a little older than some of the newer stores; the aisles are relatively narrow and the store is busy.

The situation is not helped by a large number of promotional stalls that sit in the centre of the widest aisles encouraging shoppers to stop, park their trolley and have an extended social chat with new friends. The seafood girl dressed as a mermaid looked particularly in need of a new job.

It is also a trolley driver's nightmare. On a recent visit the following arrestable offences were seen:

	Un-signaled u-turns in the middle of the aisle.
	Parking the trolley in the centre of the aisle and wandering off leaving it unattended.
	Parking hand baggage on the floor in the middle of the aisle while walking off chatting on a mobile phone.
	One handed trolley driving while chatting on a phone.
	Side by side parking in the aisle so that no one can pass in either direction.
	Appallingly slow cart pushing in the middle of the aisle so that no one may pass.
	Abrupt stops for no apparent reason.
	Collisions - head on or side wipes - as shoppers try to maneuver their unwieldy beasts.

All of this could be avoided by an effective one way system; wider aisles; effective training programmes for new shoppers or on the spot fines for reckless endangerment with a shopping cart.

You have been warned.

Pathetic; the world's so called greatest democracy held hostage by Ohio

November 3 2004

After a nine month campaign and a US$4 billion bill the USA and the world deserve better than to be held hostage by petty officials in a petty state.

Ohio has 20 votes in the electoral college. The state's top election official has said that those provisional and absentee ballots would not be counted for 11 days, and he urged Americans to "take a deep breath and relax."

What sort of nonsense is this? The USA demands clear leadership. Count the ballots now and let's move on.

Kerry is beginning to look like as good a loser as Arsenal. Time to lose gracefully and move on.

Fox News and NBC now follow rascott.com

November 3, 2004

At 1.30pm EDT Fox and NBC have declared that Bush will win Ohio and will secure enough votes for another four year term. Other political news site such as Slate had declared in favour of the Democrats.

Once more the US media has underestimated Bush and the organisational abilities of the Republicans. Once more the US media is totally out of touch with the US heartlands.

In Washington DC 90% of the vote went to John Kerry. Washington is home to all the media, lobbyists and federal civil servants. No wonder GW Bush looks so ill at ease in Washington. No one likes him there.

Bush is a man of Crawford, Texas. This is where he knows and understands the pulse of the people and their expectations of his leadership.

I dont like him and I wish the Democrats had performed better. But Kerry was a poor candidate at a time when the US and the world deserved someone of stature and credibility.

rascott.com predicts Bush win

November 3 2004

It is 11.20pm in New York. With votes still being counted in key states of Florida, Wisconsin and Ohio rascott.com calls a Bush win in the US Presidential race and depressingly resigns itself to another 4 years of the Bush administration.

Bush appears likely to win 278 of the electoral college votes; comfortable beating the 270 he needs for a majority.

America's most wanted back on video

November 1 2004

Bin Laden lives. I guess that is no surprise; sadly.

Getting the Message

Well before the advent of his video, and pissed off by rumours that he is dead, Osama Bin Laden decides to send a message to George W Bush. After having checked out that there was no explosive attached, anthrax or other bacteria, the President opens the letter and sees a coded message: "370HSSV 0773H".

Bush doesn't understand the message and send it to Colin Powell. Colin and his assistants don't understand it and send it to the FBI and the CIA. All the experts in cryptology can't make it out either. The President is furious because he wants to understand the message. It's obviously a critical communication, if not of national importance.

After much hesitation, he sends the message to his good friend John Howard, to see if the Aussie counter espionage section has another perspective. In no time they work it out. Howard is a bit embarrassed but all the same decides to send the following message to the White House: "Dear Mr. President - the message is upside down".

The Americans are naive if they really think that Bin Laden is not trying to influence Tuesday's US election. Bin Laden wants, in fact needs, a George Bush win. What use is their in waging a jihad if the enemy does not want to play? Al-Qaida needs a Bush win; Bush is reviled throughout the Muslim world. He is the enemy.

So Bin Laden appears on video for the first time since 2001. Conveniently the weekend before the US election. The timing is hardly a coincidence. Scare the people. So what does Mr. Bin Laden do to fill his time each day. You have to assume that he works full time on his next attack on US or western interests. Planning, funding, approving, plotting.

Al-Qaida is fighting a war not for money or lives; but for the hearts and minds of the people. It is fighting from a position of extremis. Their preferred fight is against the opposite extreme; al-Qaida needs the Muslim world to see Bush and his cohorts as being as extreme as they themselves are portrayed.

Bin Laden is al-Qaida's Michael Moore - a man who knows how to manipulate with a video tape.

Vote Kerry; it's not a great choice but it is the only choice

November 1 2004

The Economist rather cruelly describes the US election as a choice between the Incompetent or the Incoherent. Maybe it is a choice between the incompetent and the incapable.

George W Bush has to go. I just wish that his opponent was more decisive; less prone to compromise; less wordy and less opportunistic.

This has been an election campaign fought between two deeply flawed men; neither of whom deserve to lead a great nation. Bush has never seemed up to the job. He simply does not have the grasp of facts and the broadness of thought to lead and to earn respect. To make progress individuals and nations have to admit to mistakes and to learn from them. Bush has never admitted to error over Iraq; even over Abu Ghraib. And mistakes made by this administration have cost America dearly, financially, in lives and in credibility.

Kerry wins because change is necessary. He wins because he is not party to the Christian fundamentalists. He wins because his policy in issues such as abortion, gay marriages and stem cell research are more acceptable. But this election is not likely to be about domestic issues. It is about foreign policy and the safety of Americans. It is a long time since the USA last stood so isolated from the rest of the world.

Kerry voted for the Iraq war; earlier this year he claimed to support it. He now describes it as a mistake. So be it. He is an opportunist who wants to be elected.

Mr. Bush is incapable of change and he lacks the will, international support and credibility to succeed in repairing America's position in the world. He has no moral authority. He has called for accountability, He now needs to be held to account.

Re-defeat Bush on Tuesday.

More real life from Pattaya today

November 1 2004

Pattaya remains Thailand's most bizarre town - a melting pot of weirdness! And Pattaya Today yes it is still every fortnight so should not be Pattaya Today) has all the best stories: here are a few headlines:

British Visitor dies of stroke after coffee. I know it should not make me smile; at least he was not in Starbucks.

Police Impersonator rapes woman. This ought to be a worrying story; But this is a Thai girl allegedly duped by a Thai impersonating the brown uniform of a police officer who took her to a remote area near a rail track and attacked her. She cannot remember what his uniform looked like or check his id. He then apparently returned her to rejoin her boyfriend in South Pattaya. But the boyfriend was not much use because he was "drunk from a lengthy binge." I smell a rat !

Crippled man falls off pier; friend left holding wheelchair. A French national was being pushed along Bali Hai pier by his Thai girlfriend. She was distracted. She looked around and the wheelchair was empty. The man, who had taken a drink or two" might have lent forward to obtain a better view. "He could not swim and proceeded to call out for salvation from a watery end."

Ladyboy bandit chooses victim; don't be cuddled by strangers at night. "The gender bender (named Boy) offered to accompany Mr. Wright back to his hotel for a gay time; an offer which the farang courteously but firmly refused." As the foreigner tried to move away Boy threw both arms around him in a move faking undying affection for strangers. His wallet gone, Mr. Wright reported to the police. "Not surprisingly the thief in high heels had disappeared from view to count his ill gotten gains."

Unlucky farang almost ends up in dump area. "He was unconscious, probably drugged as well as drunk and had no ID description of any kind. It was noted he had black hair but this could describe most men in Pattaya."

OCTOBER 2004

Fears for Thailand's south

26 October 2004

The Thaksin government has continued to take the hardest possible line with alleged bandits, drug runners, separatists and militants in the predominantly Muslim southern Thailand.

We should all be appalled that at least 80 people died an shocking death suffocated in army trucks taking 1,300 protesters to an internment camp, also known as military barracks. The lack of basic respect for human life is alarming.

The first image that came to my mind was of the Germans hoarding the Jewish people onto cattle cart trains in the second world war. In Thailand's heat a long delay and a five hour road trip in overcrowded trucks must have been hell.

The Thai Prime Minster's viewpoint was startling. Referring to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is now under way, he said: "This is typical. It's about bodies made weak from fasting. Nobody hurt them." Surely that is then all the more reason for more humane treatment. After all these people had committed no offence; they had participated in a demonstration, no more, no less.

Press and TV reporters were barred from the area and did not witness the loading of detainees into the trucks. Prisoners were earlier seen lying in rows on the ground, stripped of their shirts, with their hands tied behind their backs. These pictures are carried in Bangkok's media.

The latest trouble started when a crowd estimated at up to 2,000 took to the streets in Narathiwat Province. Their demand was the release from police detention of six men arrested on suspicion of selling weapons to Muslim fighters.

Most of Thailand's Muslims, who make up about 10 percent of its largely Buddhist population of 63 million, live in the southern region, which for years has felt neglected by the central government.

The region was in earlier centuries the Pattani Sultanate, a center of Muslim culture. It was annexed by Thailand in 1902, but there have been only periodic efforts to integrate it into the cultural and economic mainstream of the country. Bangkok and the rest of Thailand feel very remote from this troubled area however anger and revenge add to the potential for further unrest.

The threat to Thailand is that this anger will be brought to the nation's capital. The situation is southern Thailand requires extraordinary sensitivity else it will escalate.

Arsenal pay the penalty at Manchester United

24 October 2004

I am not a great fan of either Manchester United or Arsenal. Arsenal have always been a team with a chip on their shoulder; that has changed over the last year but they can feel more than a little aggrieved over events at Old Trafford today.

Mike Reilly, today's referee, has given Man U eight penalties in his last eight matches refereed at Old Trafford.

Rooney dived; there was minimal if any contact as Campbell was withdrawing his leg. Poor decision.

Van Nistelroy should not have been on the pitch after a truly shocking premeditated challenge on Ashley Cole in the first half. The linesman was feet away and saw nothing. I refuse to call these hopeless officials referee's assistants until they step up and behave like a true aide to the match official. The FA should have a look at the TV pictures of that tackle. Even Andy Gray winced in the commentary box.

Rio Ferdinand's challenge on Lundberg looked like a red card; he was the last defender and he was beaten for pace. But no card or penalty. The sort of decision that can often go against the home team.

So Arsenal are no longer invinc