A balanced view on recent rapes of Brit girls ?

"Thailand is a safe country
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/vi ... ?id=331606 (http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/viewarticle.aspx?id=331606). Published on 15/02/2006

I WAS interested to read the front page article about a teenage Cumbrian student who was raped on Koh Samoi in Thailand (News & Star, February 13). I have been a regular traveller to Thailand and its islands for many years. It is a paradise, thereтАЩs no doubt about that. However, I think the balance needs to be restored.

There are far more murders of foreign nationals in Britain than there are in Thailand.

What really is shocking is the way that the young British backpackers have no idea of the customs or morality of the country they are visiting. For example Koh Samoi is a place where a lot of backpackers like to go to тАШfull moonтАЩ parties. This is a euphemism for a free-for- all, where anything goes тАУ excessive drugs and excessive drinking. Guidelines are regularly flouted by the young British, German and Australian backpackers. They couldnтАЩt care less. They have no respect for the customs and habits of Thailand, a country in which they are guests and ambassadors for their own nations.

I am not for one minute, suggesting that the girls involved in the recent, dreadful events were behaving badly. I am saying that wandering around on beaches in any country at night is just not safe.

It is plain commonsense and especially dangerous where these тАШfull moonтАЩ parties are taking place involving the drugs and drink culture.

Thailand is a very safe country.

I have been to places in Thailand where you can leave your bag on the beach all afternoon while diving or snorkelling and come back to find that nobody has touched it. It is a country where, regardless of how little the locals have, they will share it with you. The Thais are not greedy people, which is possibly something to do with the fact that they are a Buddhist nation.

The Cumbrian student who was raped warns people not to visit Thailand. Perhaps it would be better if people just did their homework before they travel and took time to learn about the country they wish to visit, its dress code and what sort of behaviour is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

SALLY PENTON, Clementina Terrace, Carlisle, UK"

Anyone who avoided visiting a country simply because a tourist had been raped there would never be able to leave home.

[Aunty]

True. British, German, Swedish and Japanese tourists' have been raped and murdered while on holiday in 'safe little New Zealand'. I'm also aware of two Japanese male tourists' and one Thai male tourist raped by men while holidaying here. I suppose that does make us an equal opportunities kind of a place. Prehaps people should stop coming here as well.

Compare it to the number of Thai women who are raped by foreign men -- or Thai men for that matter -- on any given day, and you'll realize that these Brit girls' sad fate are statistically irrelevent. There's more than a little bit of racism involved in the way the crimes have been played up, if you ask me.

With air travel becoming so easy for the masses places like Samoi are fast becoming alternatives for the Ibiza run. While its unfair to say ,as in the case of the recent murder and rape of a british girl that she was "asking" for it, it would be a fair bet that local custom is being ignored by most. If this puts off the euro trash who's complaining. They can go to Benidorm again.

Can there be such a thing as a balanced view of rape and murder? Statistical insignificance is of little relevance to victims and their families. Travellers cannot help but profoundly affect the social fabrics into which they move. Sorry guys but that doesn't mean anyone should stay at home festering in limmited world views. That'd be to surrender all thought to the Murdoch rags some of whicht seem to revel in fanning the flames of unfortunatee intercommunal incidents. Thank goodness we have the internet where we can all engage in civil discourse - or not.

Rape is a terrible thing and often a complex situation causing great trauma and distress. I have great sympathy for victims.

However I was castigated on another board for trying to put it in perspective. I quoted Germaine Greer who said something like "Well at least it was penetration of an oriface designed for that purpose!" Male rape seems to be more traumatic than female rape. According to a BBC docimentary some years back it's a power thing and conquering soldiers often like to rape the defeated ones?

My thinking was that the media make out that rape is worse than death. It obviously is not and the Brit girl recently raped had no physical damage even though the mental distress must have been terrible. Loss of limbs, repeated torture, a stillborn child, serious disfigurement etc can be much worse. We seem to have moved from ignoring rape to treating it as the worst crime possible.

Erm there was the little matter of rape followed by murder? Wrong time wrong place perhapse but still. There was something odd about one of the criminals involved, I could have sworn I recognized a fellow rainbow type.

I think there is some conflation of two incidents happening here. The recent rape and murder on Samui of a student was not of someone from Cumbria as I recollect. The link above doesn't work for me so I'm not sure whether it's that incident. I think not

A couple of years back I was sat at dinner with the daughters of one of my colleagues who were about to do the gap year thing to Australia via Thailand. I considered giving some warning caveats to their youthful enthusiasm but thought better of it. These were nice young girls but they would do a Moon party. Are moon parties any more an affront to local sensibilities than gogo bars.? I doubt it. Now the Thai Government would like to move the tourist industry to the higher end. Until the rest of the economy starts moving in that direction I can't see it happening except to the extent of the current niche. Meanwhile, how do we get the "Be careful out there" message over without losing the magic.

"Police accused of covering up crime against tourists From The Nation 14/2/06
-------------------------------
SAMUI RAPE
Police accused of covering up crime against tourists

The police have been accused of covering up the rape of another young British woman on Koh Samui within days of the killers of Katherine Horton being sentenced to death. The latest victim is 18-year-old Corrie-Ann Holt, a gap year student from Wigton, Cumbria.

Holt claimed that on January 21 she was drugged in the Green Mango bar in Chaweng, then dragged to a spot known as тАЬSecret BeachтАЭ, where she was raped by two men, believed to be Thai. She alleged police asked her not to press charges because it could harm tourism, and treated her as if she was drunk and available.

The latest allegations, which the British Foreign Office is aware of, were published two days ago in the Mail on Sunday.

Holt alleged that she was left for dead and that police also did not bother to take any of her clothing for DNA testing. Not only did they not keep the allegations under wraps, but yesterday тАУ three weeks after the event тАУ the results of laboratory tests had still had not been received by investigating officers. This is despite the fact it took only six hours for police to establish that two Thai fishermen had raped and murdered Horton, who came from Cardiff.

тАЬI want to say to people going to Koh Samui. DonтАЩt go there. ItтАЩs that simple. The police do not care about you,тАЭ Holt was quoted as saying.

She said that she had had two beers and a tequila at the bar on the night of January 21, when she began to feel very woozy. тАЬI remember being walked out of the club or carried тАУ I think I was saying things like тАШWhere are you taking me?тАЩ It was like being very drunk but having no control. One of the men was Thai, the other black. тАЬI donтАЩt remember anything after that until I came to on a beach. I woke up in the middle of being raped. I screamed blue murder. They tried to cover my mouth and were saying in English тАШshut up.тАЩ I bit one of them on the hand. тАЬI was screaming тАШStop! Stop!тАЩ but realised that wasnтАЩt working. I shouted тАШRape!тАЩ and after a few moments they ran off.тАЭ Holt believes she may have been drugged with Rohypnol. However, because she wasnтАЩt given a blood test until 10 hours after the attack, all traces of the drug would have disappeared by then. тАЬI got up and stood on the rock screaming for help. A Thai woman called down to me in English, asking if I was okay. I couldnтАЩt see her but to know that someone else was there was such a relief.тАЭ After 20 minutes police came and helped her climb up the cliff by the beach to the womanтАЩs house.

тАЬAll of a sudden a whole lot of them arrived, along with the new chief of police. He came over and introduced himself to me and said it was his first day. It was slightly bizarre. I didnтАЩt know what the police were saying as I couldnтАЩt understand them. It had gone from being two police to being about 20. They seemed more interested in impressing the police chief than helping me.тАЭ

At 6am on January 22, she said she was examined by a male doctor at the local hospital. тАЬHe took blood and did an examination. He didnтАЩt speak any English, which was infuriating, as I didnтАЩt know what was going on. тАЬHe gave me pills but didnтАЩt tell me what [they were]. It wasnтАЩt until I was taken to a private hospital by the British Embassy that I found out they were antibiotics and a тАШmorning-afterтАЩ pill. I was also given anti-retrovirals against HIV at the private hospital. тАЬIn the government hospital, when I went in for the examination, the chief of police tried to come in as well. I just shut the door in his face. I felt they were more worried about tourism and the damage to it than what I had been through.

тАЬThey tried to dissuade me from pressing charges and told me it would damage tourism. I sat there with my mouth open ... I couldnтАЩt believe how I was being treated.тАЭ Holt said she was then driven to the police station to make a statement. тАЬI didnтАЩt have an interpreter тАУ they just wrote down what I was saying in Thai but how closely it matched I donтАЩt know. They werenтАЩt taping the interview.

Holt later learnt that police had not informed the British Embassy тАУ officials only learnt of the rape after her father called the Foreign Office emergency line in London.

Koh Samui police chief Colonel Chakkrit Srisuwan, on learning of the allegations, denied that the rape was being covered up. тАЬWhen police interviewed the girl she was not clear about what happened and seemed drunk. She said she had been raped, and mentioned a black man тАУ big, strong. тАЬA medical check was carried out by two doctors at the hospital. The examination could not confirm rape so they sent samples to a police hospital in Bangkok for analysis. We have yet to receive results. тАЬThe girl was confused and uncoordinated, but there were no serious injuries.

тАЬPolice apprehended a Thai man known to have spoken to her and [who] had tried to carry her out of the Green Mango тАУ CCTV cameras show the incident. The manager has made a positive ID тАУ he was taken to Nathon police station. тАЬThe next day the girl was also taken to Nathon to make a report, she still could not remember what happened and said she did not want to continue the investigation. Police advised her to continue and she was asked to identify the man from the club but she said he was not one of her attackers.

тАЬPolice are continuing with the investigation.тАЭ

Andrew Drummond"

Special to The Nation

Some of us complain about rape, others of us pay to be raped. You can't please everyone I guess.

seem to have repeated myself

I believe this should link to the front page story mentioned to in the first post. (http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/unknown/viewarticle.aspx?id=330965)

The pointer there seems to be to a letter that may have been removed unarchived.

I would not like to be thought of as the kind of person who reads the Daily Mail or the Mail on Sunday.

http://steveatbangkwang.bravehost.com/Berty.html

Scroll down the page. Who lives here?