June 5th, 2006, 08:51
From this week's Stickman Report.
Barry Who?
His name appears more often in the Pattaya press than George Bush, David Beckham and Madonna all put together, but he isn't famous. He has a classic short back and sides haircut, but he has never been in the military. He was born in Liverpool, but he doesn't care for football. He drops by the police station most mornings, but he isn't a criminal out on bail reporting in. As nice a guy as he is, he's probably someone you don't actually want to meet. If you do come to his attention, odds are that you've got yourself into a spot of bother. Just who could I be talking about? Barry Kenyon, of course!
Barry Kenyon is the Honorary Consul (Pattaya) for the British Embassy and yesterday the erudite Brit allowed me an hour of his precious time to talk about his role as the British Embassy's man in Pattaya.
How long have you lived in Thailand?
I came here in 1992. I came over to teach English and also to train Thai teachers of English. I did that for a few years.
I have been connected with the embassy not quite that long, since 1996. I got involved with the embassy when someone I knew quite well died. He died at the bridge club, which I founded, and I called the embassy with whom I had had no previous dealings at all and they said I would have to handle it myself as they had no-one here at all.
Because the deceased was a friend, I handled everything off my own back and that was the beginning of my dealings with the embassy. They asked me to assist them initially for 6 months and I have never heard anything since then about that initial 6 month period. I've been doing it ever since!
How many Brits are there in Pattaya?
We don't know exactly how many Brits are here in Pattaya. There are about 700,000 Brits who come here, that is Thailand, a year. Perhaps 250,000 - 300,000 come to Pattaya every year - that would include expats, people who come just for the day, everyone together.
Do you speak Thai?
No, I am rather poor. I speak some Thai. Rather strange really as I was a linguist when I was young with Greek and Latin. You would think if I had cracked Greek and Latin that I could crack Thai too, but no.
So what is your title and what exactly does your role for the British embassy involve?
I am the Honorary Consul (Pattaya). While it says honorary, one is actually paid, but just a modest amount. I am here to represent the embassy's interests, whatever that may be, as regards individual British citizens in the resort.
Death is the first category I'll tell you about. About one a week die here. About 50 a year. We had three one week and nothing for a month. Mostly natural causes. A lot of publicity is given to the ones who are not as you well know, and there is the odd murder or the unpleasant suicide, but a lot are natural causes, or accidents.
There's no shortage of suspicious deaths.
I have looked into a number of the deaths of those who have fallen from condos, and the opinions of the police, on the whole, I have agreed with, that quite a few have been accidents. Most deaths here are natural causes. Most deaths would be lifestyle disease with older men. The Thai government has encouraged retirement visas and it is easy for older men to live here. Of course they are going to die one day. It is the same for other nationalities. Heart attacks, cancer, strokes etc. There are others that are accidents, riding motorbikes and not wearing a helmet for instance.
When there is a death I have to ascertain the identity of the deceased and I try to inform the Foreign Office of the next of kin. I have to let them know before they read it in the newspaper. I also have to collect documentation, death certificates and try to ascertain if people have a will, as well as deal with the grieving relatives.
What's the story with wills out here?
You must have a will, preferably in Thai. You can get an English translation at the same time, drawn up preferably by a Thai lawyer and that will need to be presented to a Thai court in the situation of your death. A judge will then later be able to accept your will about disposal of condos, cash in the bank etc. This will only applies to assets in Thailand.
If you make a will in Britain and try to cover your assets in Thailand, the Thai courts will not be fond of it. You should have two wills, one for your assets in Thailand and one for your assets in Britain. If the will is not drawn up in Thailand, the Thai judge is unlikely to accept a will drawn up in another country.
Another category of things we deal with are arrests and imprisonments. That is about 2 a week. You can go a month without seeing one. Some never go to court and simply spend a night in the cells before being released.
What's the most common reason for arrest?
Overwhelmingly they are visa overstay. Perhaps as many as 70%. People don't always want to go home. Staying here with insufficient funds and sooner or later they get caught.
What happens to these people?
Some people never get caught. We have had people here 4 or 5 years on overstay and eventually they gave themselves up. They may have slept rough on the beach, for years in some cases. Not many, but some. They got a bit desperate as anyone without money does. Maybe they try to steal from the supermarket, drink a beer and not pay for it, things like that.
The people who get cheated that way usually call the police. And when the police arrive it soon comes out that they are on overstay and often have other problems, nowhere to live, no money etc.
We can not pay their fines. We cannot get people out of prison or pay fines - even though that is what they often want!
We can make them aware of this situation and whether it is serious or not. We can let them know where they are in the system, bail matters if applicable, legal advice, that is if they have money for a lawyer.
It is not always visa overstay. There are others such as working without a work permit, the second most common reason for arrest this. Some people are naive. They do not even know this!
After that, assaulting a Thai person would be another category. Often a Thai woman. Foreigners don't realise that this can be extremely serious. Then there is a clutch of even more serious stuff than that. Possession of drugs. At the top end is the serious stuff like drug trafficking, murder and pedophile offences. They are often big in the media in the Bangkok Post or The Nation.
We can liaise between people in prison and their relatives. Occasionally I will go to court on someone's behalf. We do this occasionally but it would be in extreme circumstances such as when someone is HIV+ and is suffering from AIDS. That would be an example.
If found guilty of a criminal offence, foreigners will nearly always be ordered to be deported. Eventually when they finish their sentence, long or short, they will be deported. They have to pay for their own deportation. Neither the embassy or the Thai government will pay.
But then they can come back, right?
It is at the discretion of Immigration whether people can return or not. There is a blacklist and people can be put on that for any period from 6 months to 99 years. Not many people are on it and most can return. The people who are likely to be on the blacklist for a long time are drug traffickers, pedophiles or repeat offenders. The Thai authorities are quite lenient about small time offenders returning. It is not an automatic entry on the blacklist by any means.
Serious hospitalisations is another issue we deal with frequently. Hospital bills here are getting quite expensive, particularly in the private sector. Sometimes we have people who do not have insurance or the insurer reneges, perhaps on a pre-existing condition or an exclusion clause. We cannot pay people's bills but we can inform people back home that there is a problem. We can try to assist people bringing money over to pay bills, perhaps through Western Union or the Foreign Office. Sometimes we liaise with hospital bursars and insurers. Most people who fall ill here can handle it. But there is a plug hole through which some people fall down. We do not pay people's bills but we are always asked to do this. You can imagine what it would be like if we paid people's bills. You could imagine how many people would be knocking on our door!
General advice would be the last major area we deal with. If you lose your passport you might not know what to do. If you are the victim of a crime, such as belongings stolen, people needing help with things like that, needing legal advice, a civil dispute etc. A lot of them go to the tourist police as a point of contact and if appropriate the tourist police may suggest they ring me or one of my volunteers.
We do not operate a visa section down here for Thais. We cannot advise Thais on a passport to the UK. Visas for Brittan are now dealt with at an outsource centre and not at the embassy itself.
Another group of people we have to help are those who cannot remember what hotel they are staying in!
You're joking!
They check in and deposit their luggage at the hotel, go out, and cannot remember where they were staying! They might remember there were 3 swimming pools, or that the building was purple.
This is a clutch of general inquiries. Altogether the number of cases we handle would be around 700 a year. Don't forget a lot of it is not serious.
Chonburi is not known as the easiest place in Thailand to get a work permit and there are a lot of foreigners working here without the little blue book. Do many foreigners have problems related to this?
They do, not because they cannot get one, but because they have not applied for it in the first place. The work permit is about paying tax and capital investment in a company. The people who get in trouble are often the people who would not be able to apply for a work permit, or because they have not put sufficient capital in, or do not even know about it. Or perhaps they work in a sector where you cannot get a work permit, such as a gogo bar. It is very difficult to get a work permit to work in a gogo bar.
But generally, if your application is in order, it should be ok. A lot of people are married to a Thai and think having a work permit doesn't matter. Just because you are married to a Thai does not excuse you. The Alien Labour Act 1980 applies.
What's the typical penalty?
There is little point pleading not guilty! The penalty will be quite small in the sense that the Thai courts will fine you or 2,000 - 3,000 baht. If you can pay it, which they rarely can, because they are often on overstay, you will not be let out, but rather you will be deported. If not, you have to wait in the jail until someone comes up with the money. There is one jail in Bangkok, the Immigration Detention Centre, where they end up.
What about if you just don't have the money, or the means to raise it?
You can pay it off by spending time in the prison cell. The rate is 200 baht per day. So a 2,000 baht fine would be 10 days.
What rights does a foreign national have if they get in trouble i.e. arrested, in Thailand. Are there any things they specifically should or shouldn't do?
Under the Thai constitution, in most areas, foreigners are entitled to the same rights as Thais. There are exceptions on things like land ownership and elections. But by and large, the Thai constitution does give foreigners and Thais the same rights. You have just the same rights to sue in a court for libel. You have the same rights as a Thai. Sometimes foreigners are treated slightly more leniently. For example, in some prisons foreigners are given a couple of days in an orientation cell where there is a little more privacy so they can get used to incarceration. This doesn't happen to Thais. In some prisons we can take in fresh fruit and vitamins. I do not know of any cases where a foreigner is worse off than a Thai.
The things not to do, if you are arrested. Try not to sign anything early on, unless you have the Thai language skills to read it. All the documents are in Thai. While you can say to a judge you did not know what you were signing, it is still best not to sign what you do not know. Under Thai law, only the Thai language can be used in official papers. You can get translations later. The other thing not to do is to use threatening behaviour or abusive behaviour or be particularly disruptive. This does not help at all and is usually a bad idea. Try and remain calm, cool and collected.
Is it only British nationals you assist or are there other nationalities who you assist?
On request we assist other nationalities sometimes. Either I or a volunteer go to the Pattaya police station practically every morning to check up on new arrivals. Some have disappeared by dinner time. If we feel we can be of assistance to other nationalities we will bring it to the attention of the consulate in Pattaya, if they have a consulate here. It is mainly where this is no presence in Pattaya when we will liaise with the embassy in Bangkok. The Irish for example, I have a very good working relationship with the consulate in Bangkok. They do not have a presence in Pattaya.
For the first time ever, just yesterday actually, we have a man from Iceland. They have no representation in Thailand. I called my bosses in Bangkok. They contacted the authorities in Reykjavik. Quite a lot of countries don't have representation, even in Bangkok, some from South America and Africa. Algeria to give you one off the top of my head. And sometimes the embassies are not necessarily maintaining a presence with their nationals. Maybe they see their role as a trade mission. The bigger American, European and Australian embassies offer a full range of similar services to their citizens.
My feeling, and this is based on what I see with my own eyes, is that Pattaya is not nearly as safe as it used to be. What do you think?
I think that I would be able to quote the local and national police when I say that they have become concerned in recent times about street crime, as an example. People having their bags stolen, or motorbike thefts, this kind of thing. I think Pattaya is still a lot safer than many places in the UK or in America. We mustn't get carried away with the argument, but I think crime is rising and this is a concern to police as they have stated on a number of occasions. The police have now introduced light planes specific to Pattaya and Banglamung. Officers can operate from these light planes. Remember OJ Simpson?!
Another initiative they have introduced is the wider use of police volunteers. Mostly Thais but also a few farang volunteers assisting because they have the language skills. They are not there to arrest people but are there to act as a mediator between the police and the foreigners. There is a van on the Beach Road every night for example. It is partly for information purposes and partly to help with any difficulties. Another initiative being considered is neighbourhood watch, groups of people looking after their own neighbourhoods. I am sure the reason why crime is on the increase is because this is a rich city. Billions of dollars are being poured in by foreigners.
We often hear about the Russian mafia, and occasionally the German Mafia. Do you think there is a real mafia or organised crime syndicate operating down here, or is it simply a bunch of petty criminals who get off in thinking of themselves as some sort of sophisticated crime syndicate?
I personally am not convinced that there are independent foreign mafia here. I can tell you I have never come across them. There are dark influences and forces, but of what I have observed, I have never seen any foreign mafia here.
One of my workmates, himself a Brit, told his family back home that should anything happen to him in Thailand that they should not try and fight the system, irrespective of whether he was innocent or not. What do you make of that?
I don't think it is a fair comment at all. It depends on the circumstances. I have known of a handful of situations where people were innocent and were acquitted by the courts. I don't think if you end up in jail you should just let the waters wash over you. I don't think there is any reason to give up altogether.
I have written a lot over the years about the dangers of getting involved with bargirls.
Yes, I know you have!
Do you get many complaints from guys who have been taken to the cleaners by the girls? What's your take on this?
Yes, I am afraid we do. There isn't too much we can do as a rule. Occasionally legal intervention, or taking a civil action has worked, but by and large if you have voluntarily given money to a Thai lady you met in a bar or if you gave her the pin number to your ATM card, it is up to you. If you scream later there is not likely too much which can be done. I can think of one or two situations where people have got a legal solution. But it is not only Thais. Other foreigners may try to cream off your funds. There have been many cases of farangs ripping of other farangs.
What about the HIV / AIDS situation down here? Does the embassy have anything to do with those who are unfortunate enough to contract it?
Some people are HIV+ in prison. We try to get them retro-viral medication from one of the hospitals or AIDS charities. There are things we can sometimes do. It isn't our job to counsel people, but I do know one or two counsel centres so if we get an inquiry like that we would try to assist. It is not a big area of work. We are not phoned up about it everyday, but we do get a call occasionally.
I love figures and statistics because they can give you a certain background that can help you to understand things better. Do you know any interesting stats about anything concerning farangs down here?
I can give you one or two. There are about 700 Brits a year who need our assistance in Pattaya, be it trivial or serious. There are maybe 650,000 - 700,000 Brits coming to Thailand a year, about 300,000 to Pattaya.
What advice could you give to foreigners in, or coming to Thailand, and perhaps specifically to Pattaya.
Bring medical insurance. The biggest problem that is easily avoidable is those who fall ill and cannot pay for good private sector insurance. We think that maybe one in two Brits who come to Pattaya do not have any medical insurance - and this is a city with a number of traffic accidents.
The other one is to stay away from any form of drugs. Smoking one marijuana cigarette can end up with months in jail. There are undercover police watching you!
Of course the third is sex. There have been a number of people in the press who have been arrested for sex with young children. This can result in long terms of imprisonment for the sex offences. This penalties under the Sexual Offences Act 1996 are very severe. For example if they are under 15, it is no defence to say they consented. It isn't allowed.
Stay away from crime. Don't think you're not being watched because there are plain clothes police looking for people involved in serious crimes. Even for things like marijuana smoking.
What you have to be careful of if you are British and you do not live here is that you don't bring with you a lot of the mental attitude you'd have in Britain. Nobody bothers much about marijuana in Brittan, but they do here. If a relative dies here, the procedures are very different to how they are in Brittan. A cremation urn in Britain doesn't have bones in it, but here they do. People come form Britain with certain expectations that things are the same, but you can be very wrong about that and things can be very different here.
Court cases can take 18 months before the trial begins, maybe even 2 years. Not every time, but sometimes.
So it will be business as usual for you for a long time to come?
We have never had an office in Pattaya but it has now been agreed by the Foreign Office in London that we can have an office and a paid secretariat. I hope that by the end of the year we will have a little better structure than we have at the moment, which is essentially my mobile phone and three volunteers who help. To have a base, it would be rather nice. It is coming.
www.stickmanbangkok.com/Weekly2006/weekly265.htm (http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Weekly2006/weekly265.htm)
Barry Who?
His name appears more often in the Pattaya press than George Bush, David Beckham and Madonna all put together, but he isn't famous. He has a classic short back and sides haircut, but he has never been in the military. He was born in Liverpool, but he doesn't care for football. He drops by the police station most mornings, but he isn't a criminal out on bail reporting in. As nice a guy as he is, he's probably someone you don't actually want to meet. If you do come to his attention, odds are that you've got yourself into a spot of bother. Just who could I be talking about? Barry Kenyon, of course!
Barry Kenyon is the Honorary Consul (Pattaya) for the British Embassy and yesterday the erudite Brit allowed me an hour of his precious time to talk about his role as the British Embassy's man in Pattaya.
How long have you lived in Thailand?
I came here in 1992. I came over to teach English and also to train Thai teachers of English. I did that for a few years.
I have been connected with the embassy not quite that long, since 1996. I got involved with the embassy when someone I knew quite well died. He died at the bridge club, which I founded, and I called the embassy with whom I had had no previous dealings at all and they said I would have to handle it myself as they had no-one here at all.
Because the deceased was a friend, I handled everything off my own back and that was the beginning of my dealings with the embassy. They asked me to assist them initially for 6 months and I have never heard anything since then about that initial 6 month period. I've been doing it ever since!
How many Brits are there in Pattaya?
We don't know exactly how many Brits are here in Pattaya. There are about 700,000 Brits who come here, that is Thailand, a year. Perhaps 250,000 - 300,000 come to Pattaya every year - that would include expats, people who come just for the day, everyone together.
Do you speak Thai?
No, I am rather poor. I speak some Thai. Rather strange really as I was a linguist when I was young with Greek and Latin. You would think if I had cracked Greek and Latin that I could crack Thai too, but no.
So what is your title and what exactly does your role for the British embassy involve?
I am the Honorary Consul (Pattaya). While it says honorary, one is actually paid, but just a modest amount. I am here to represent the embassy's interests, whatever that may be, as regards individual British citizens in the resort.
Death is the first category I'll tell you about. About one a week die here. About 50 a year. We had three one week and nothing for a month. Mostly natural causes. A lot of publicity is given to the ones who are not as you well know, and there is the odd murder or the unpleasant suicide, but a lot are natural causes, or accidents.
There's no shortage of suspicious deaths.
I have looked into a number of the deaths of those who have fallen from condos, and the opinions of the police, on the whole, I have agreed with, that quite a few have been accidents. Most deaths here are natural causes. Most deaths would be lifestyle disease with older men. The Thai government has encouraged retirement visas and it is easy for older men to live here. Of course they are going to die one day. It is the same for other nationalities. Heart attacks, cancer, strokes etc. There are others that are accidents, riding motorbikes and not wearing a helmet for instance.
When there is a death I have to ascertain the identity of the deceased and I try to inform the Foreign Office of the next of kin. I have to let them know before they read it in the newspaper. I also have to collect documentation, death certificates and try to ascertain if people have a will, as well as deal with the grieving relatives.
What's the story with wills out here?
You must have a will, preferably in Thai. You can get an English translation at the same time, drawn up preferably by a Thai lawyer and that will need to be presented to a Thai court in the situation of your death. A judge will then later be able to accept your will about disposal of condos, cash in the bank etc. This will only applies to assets in Thailand.
If you make a will in Britain and try to cover your assets in Thailand, the Thai courts will not be fond of it. You should have two wills, one for your assets in Thailand and one for your assets in Britain. If the will is not drawn up in Thailand, the Thai judge is unlikely to accept a will drawn up in another country.
Another category of things we deal with are arrests and imprisonments. That is about 2 a week. You can go a month without seeing one. Some never go to court and simply spend a night in the cells before being released.
What's the most common reason for arrest?
Overwhelmingly they are visa overstay. Perhaps as many as 70%. People don't always want to go home. Staying here with insufficient funds and sooner or later they get caught.
What happens to these people?
Some people never get caught. We have had people here 4 or 5 years on overstay and eventually they gave themselves up. They may have slept rough on the beach, for years in some cases. Not many, but some. They got a bit desperate as anyone without money does. Maybe they try to steal from the supermarket, drink a beer and not pay for it, things like that.
The people who get cheated that way usually call the police. And when the police arrive it soon comes out that they are on overstay and often have other problems, nowhere to live, no money etc.
We can not pay their fines. We cannot get people out of prison or pay fines - even though that is what they often want!
We can make them aware of this situation and whether it is serious or not. We can let them know where they are in the system, bail matters if applicable, legal advice, that is if they have money for a lawyer.
It is not always visa overstay. There are others such as working without a work permit, the second most common reason for arrest this. Some people are naive. They do not even know this!
After that, assaulting a Thai person would be another category. Often a Thai woman. Foreigners don't realise that this can be extremely serious. Then there is a clutch of even more serious stuff than that. Possession of drugs. At the top end is the serious stuff like drug trafficking, murder and pedophile offences. They are often big in the media in the Bangkok Post or The Nation.
We can liaise between people in prison and their relatives. Occasionally I will go to court on someone's behalf. We do this occasionally but it would be in extreme circumstances such as when someone is HIV+ and is suffering from AIDS. That would be an example.
If found guilty of a criminal offence, foreigners will nearly always be ordered to be deported. Eventually when they finish their sentence, long or short, they will be deported. They have to pay for their own deportation. Neither the embassy or the Thai government will pay.
But then they can come back, right?
It is at the discretion of Immigration whether people can return or not. There is a blacklist and people can be put on that for any period from 6 months to 99 years. Not many people are on it and most can return. The people who are likely to be on the blacklist for a long time are drug traffickers, pedophiles or repeat offenders. The Thai authorities are quite lenient about small time offenders returning. It is not an automatic entry on the blacklist by any means.
Serious hospitalisations is another issue we deal with frequently. Hospital bills here are getting quite expensive, particularly in the private sector. Sometimes we have people who do not have insurance or the insurer reneges, perhaps on a pre-existing condition or an exclusion clause. We cannot pay people's bills but we can inform people back home that there is a problem. We can try to assist people bringing money over to pay bills, perhaps through Western Union or the Foreign Office. Sometimes we liaise with hospital bursars and insurers. Most people who fall ill here can handle it. But there is a plug hole through which some people fall down. We do not pay people's bills but we are always asked to do this. You can imagine what it would be like if we paid people's bills. You could imagine how many people would be knocking on our door!
General advice would be the last major area we deal with. If you lose your passport you might not know what to do. If you are the victim of a crime, such as belongings stolen, people needing help with things like that, needing legal advice, a civil dispute etc. A lot of them go to the tourist police as a point of contact and if appropriate the tourist police may suggest they ring me or one of my volunteers.
We do not operate a visa section down here for Thais. We cannot advise Thais on a passport to the UK. Visas for Brittan are now dealt with at an outsource centre and not at the embassy itself.
Another group of people we have to help are those who cannot remember what hotel they are staying in!
You're joking!
They check in and deposit their luggage at the hotel, go out, and cannot remember where they were staying! They might remember there were 3 swimming pools, or that the building was purple.
This is a clutch of general inquiries. Altogether the number of cases we handle would be around 700 a year. Don't forget a lot of it is not serious.
Chonburi is not known as the easiest place in Thailand to get a work permit and there are a lot of foreigners working here without the little blue book. Do many foreigners have problems related to this?
They do, not because they cannot get one, but because they have not applied for it in the first place. The work permit is about paying tax and capital investment in a company. The people who get in trouble are often the people who would not be able to apply for a work permit, or because they have not put sufficient capital in, or do not even know about it. Or perhaps they work in a sector where you cannot get a work permit, such as a gogo bar. It is very difficult to get a work permit to work in a gogo bar.
But generally, if your application is in order, it should be ok. A lot of people are married to a Thai and think having a work permit doesn't matter. Just because you are married to a Thai does not excuse you. The Alien Labour Act 1980 applies.
What's the typical penalty?
There is little point pleading not guilty! The penalty will be quite small in the sense that the Thai courts will fine you or 2,000 - 3,000 baht. If you can pay it, which they rarely can, because they are often on overstay, you will not be let out, but rather you will be deported. If not, you have to wait in the jail until someone comes up with the money. There is one jail in Bangkok, the Immigration Detention Centre, where they end up.
What about if you just don't have the money, or the means to raise it?
You can pay it off by spending time in the prison cell. The rate is 200 baht per day. So a 2,000 baht fine would be 10 days.
What rights does a foreign national have if they get in trouble i.e. arrested, in Thailand. Are there any things they specifically should or shouldn't do?
Under the Thai constitution, in most areas, foreigners are entitled to the same rights as Thais. There are exceptions on things like land ownership and elections. But by and large, the Thai constitution does give foreigners and Thais the same rights. You have just the same rights to sue in a court for libel. You have the same rights as a Thai. Sometimes foreigners are treated slightly more leniently. For example, in some prisons foreigners are given a couple of days in an orientation cell where there is a little more privacy so they can get used to incarceration. This doesn't happen to Thais. In some prisons we can take in fresh fruit and vitamins. I do not know of any cases where a foreigner is worse off than a Thai.
The things not to do, if you are arrested. Try not to sign anything early on, unless you have the Thai language skills to read it. All the documents are in Thai. While you can say to a judge you did not know what you were signing, it is still best not to sign what you do not know. Under Thai law, only the Thai language can be used in official papers. You can get translations later. The other thing not to do is to use threatening behaviour or abusive behaviour or be particularly disruptive. This does not help at all and is usually a bad idea. Try and remain calm, cool and collected.
Is it only British nationals you assist or are there other nationalities who you assist?
On request we assist other nationalities sometimes. Either I or a volunteer go to the Pattaya police station practically every morning to check up on new arrivals. Some have disappeared by dinner time. If we feel we can be of assistance to other nationalities we will bring it to the attention of the consulate in Pattaya, if they have a consulate here. It is mainly where this is no presence in Pattaya when we will liaise with the embassy in Bangkok. The Irish for example, I have a very good working relationship with the consulate in Bangkok. They do not have a presence in Pattaya.
For the first time ever, just yesterday actually, we have a man from Iceland. They have no representation in Thailand. I called my bosses in Bangkok. They contacted the authorities in Reykjavik. Quite a lot of countries don't have representation, even in Bangkok, some from South America and Africa. Algeria to give you one off the top of my head. And sometimes the embassies are not necessarily maintaining a presence with their nationals. Maybe they see their role as a trade mission. The bigger American, European and Australian embassies offer a full range of similar services to their citizens.
My feeling, and this is based on what I see with my own eyes, is that Pattaya is not nearly as safe as it used to be. What do you think?
I think that I would be able to quote the local and national police when I say that they have become concerned in recent times about street crime, as an example. People having their bags stolen, or motorbike thefts, this kind of thing. I think Pattaya is still a lot safer than many places in the UK or in America. We mustn't get carried away with the argument, but I think crime is rising and this is a concern to police as they have stated on a number of occasions. The police have now introduced light planes specific to Pattaya and Banglamung. Officers can operate from these light planes. Remember OJ Simpson?!
Another initiative they have introduced is the wider use of police volunteers. Mostly Thais but also a few farang volunteers assisting because they have the language skills. They are not there to arrest people but are there to act as a mediator between the police and the foreigners. There is a van on the Beach Road every night for example. It is partly for information purposes and partly to help with any difficulties. Another initiative being considered is neighbourhood watch, groups of people looking after their own neighbourhoods. I am sure the reason why crime is on the increase is because this is a rich city. Billions of dollars are being poured in by foreigners.
We often hear about the Russian mafia, and occasionally the German Mafia. Do you think there is a real mafia or organised crime syndicate operating down here, or is it simply a bunch of petty criminals who get off in thinking of themselves as some sort of sophisticated crime syndicate?
I personally am not convinced that there are independent foreign mafia here. I can tell you I have never come across them. There are dark influences and forces, but of what I have observed, I have never seen any foreign mafia here.
One of my workmates, himself a Brit, told his family back home that should anything happen to him in Thailand that they should not try and fight the system, irrespective of whether he was innocent or not. What do you make of that?
I don't think it is a fair comment at all. It depends on the circumstances. I have known of a handful of situations where people were innocent and were acquitted by the courts. I don't think if you end up in jail you should just let the waters wash over you. I don't think there is any reason to give up altogether.
I have written a lot over the years about the dangers of getting involved with bargirls.
Yes, I know you have!
Do you get many complaints from guys who have been taken to the cleaners by the girls? What's your take on this?
Yes, I am afraid we do. There isn't too much we can do as a rule. Occasionally legal intervention, or taking a civil action has worked, but by and large if you have voluntarily given money to a Thai lady you met in a bar or if you gave her the pin number to your ATM card, it is up to you. If you scream later there is not likely too much which can be done. I can think of one or two situations where people have got a legal solution. But it is not only Thais. Other foreigners may try to cream off your funds. There have been many cases of farangs ripping of other farangs.
What about the HIV / AIDS situation down here? Does the embassy have anything to do with those who are unfortunate enough to contract it?
Some people are HIV+ in prison. We try to get them retro-viral medication from one of the hospitals or AIDS charities. There are things we can sometimes do. It isn't our job to counsel people, but I do know one or two counsel centres so if we get an inquiry like that we would try to assist. It is not a big area of work. We are not phoned up about it everyday, but we do get a call occasionally.
I love figures and statistics because they can give you a certain background that can help you to understand things better. Do you know any interesting stats about anything concerning farangs down here?
I can give you one or two. There are about 700 Brits a year who need our assistance in Pattaya, be it trivial or serious. There are maybe 650,000 - 700,000 Brits coming to Thailand a year, about 300,000 to Pattaya.
What advice could you give to foreigners in, or coming to Thailand, and perhaps specifically to Pattaya.
Bring medical insurance. The biggest problem that is easily avoidable is those who fall ill and cannot pay for good private sector insurance. We think that maybe one in two Brits who come to Pattaya do not have any medical insurance - and this is a city with a number of traffic accidents.
The other one is to stay away from any form of drugs. Smoking one marijuana cigarette can end up with months in jail. There are undercover police watching you!
Of course the third is sex. There have been a number of people in the press who have been arrested for sex with young children. This can result in long terms of imprisonment for the sex offences. This penalties under the Sexual Offences Act 1996 are very severe. For example if they are under 15, it is no defence to say they consented. It isn't allowed.
Stay away from crime. Don't think you're not being watched because there are plain clothes police looking for people involved in serious crimes. Even for things like marijuana smoking.
What you have to be careful of if you are British and you do not live here is that you don't bring with you a lot of the mental attitude you'd have in Britain. Nobody bothers much about marijuana in Brittan, but they do here. If a relative dies here, the procedures are very different to how they are in Brittan. A cremation urn in Britain doesn't have bones in it, but here they do. People come form Britain with certain expectations that things are the same, but you can be very wrong about that and things can be very different here.
Court cases can take 18 months before the trial begins, maybe even 2 years. Not every time, but sometimes.
So it will be business as usual for you for a long time to come?
We have never had an office in Pattaya but it has now been agreed by the Foreign Office in London that we can have an office and a paid secretariat. I hope that by the end of the year we will have a little better structure than we have at the moment, which is essentially my mobile phone and three volunteers who help. To have a base, it would be rather nice. It is coming.
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