Thai Scouts Camping Fun, Isaan Thailand.

The other week at school our oval turned into a makeshift campsite. Each year this happens for all Thai students at different times.

Thai scouting is part of every Thai school curriculum and part of the curriculum is camping out for a few nights.

A few years ago the older students would always go out to a forested area, it wasn’t too far from Ubon Ratchathani, around 30klms. They had to have cold showers, walk through mud, and cook their own food and so forth. And the majority of the students hated it.

Then they stopped going to the bush, maybe there were too many complaints from parents, but now they are able to camp on the school oval and attend activities in the school or nearby.

I personally would have loved to be out in the scrub. Just a swag, a few cans of food and plenty of water. Away from civilization and your parents with just your mates and some teachers. How could this be bad?

So the tents were being erected on the oval. These were primary 4 to 6 level.

And for safety and no students wandered about in the night, the girls and boys tents were at opposite ends of the oval with a huge gap in between.

This fellow looked pretty pleased with his tent erection ability.

I didn’t see one tent that actually had poles. All tents were dome style with those bendable rods that have elastic running through them. I am sure these kids would have never seen a real cabin tent with awning. My old Kookaburra tent was over $400 dollars and that was a long time ago. These dome tents are fine for this style camping for sure.

And one boy was inside his tent unpacking his bag.

At the other end of the oval, some girls were enjoying their tent.

The girls would be cosy in their tent at night.

This primary girl had a tent all to herself.

There were a few of these camouflaged army styled tents.

This small tent, I am sure is meant to be for one person. It was hosting 4 girls the next two nights. I am not sure how they were all going to fit and also put all their gear inside as well. Right next to them was a massive blue tent. It could have slept 6 kids or 4 adults but there were only two small girls in this tent.

So the students were ready to start their scouting activities and then enjoy two nights of camp fire fun (there were no fires apparently)

Brunty

Merry Christmas from Isaan Style Thailand 2009

Merry Christmas to my readers, if I have any…. And also to any people just by accident and landed at this page.

There will be a few days holiday from the blog, I am relaxing but also have about 2,000 pictures to process.

So to all, enjoy your Christmas and will blog again in a few days.

Brunty

Christmas at a Thai School, Isaan Thailand.

Our school is a Catholic school, so we are very lucky to celebrate Christmas here in Thailand. Most Thais don’t worry about Christmas as New Years Eve is the big event. Thais refer to it as ‘countdown’ and will often ask, ‘where are you going for countdown?’

The great thing about being at my school is the break we get each Christmas, this year it is 10 days. The majority of schools study on the 25th if it falls on a weekday. Miss Noot has to go to university on the 25th as it is just another day to most Buddhists.

We had an opening ceremony a little way back, to start the countdown to Christmas. These small kids were dressed as angels, I think this is correct because of the wings.

This is a primary 1 student of mine and she isn’t shy of the camera.

And she kept popping up in each picture, she is confident like this in the classroom too, a real blessing for a teacher.

Some little angels seemed far away and not ready to perform an amazing dance to some Christmas carols.

And the girls waited for the ceremony to start, as a horde of parents stood just to the side taking pictures and video cameras a ready.

Miss Noot on the other hand, knows it is Christmas and this means presents. I have hidden them well the last few years as Thais do not know how to, wait! Wait until it is actually the 25th of December and Christmas Day.

One year I noticed some presents had been opened under the tree, apparently the suspense of not knowing what was inside the wrapping was just too much. It was actually painful watching the presents picked up every evening, and then they would be squished and shaken. Then the debate between Miss Noot and Benjawan would begin on what they were. Then I would be asked what I had bought. The nights were long at times.

This year I am leaving the shopping until the 25th, I know what I am buying and where. When Miss Noot and Benjawan leave for their schools I will go out and buy the presents and then wrap and put them under our tree.

Every now and then I see Miss Noot looking through a closet or cupboard, just in case I had hidden something when she had glanced away for a split second.

Tomorrow, being Christmas Eve, we have a fun day planned at the school. The students have a day where they can play games and just relax. We are running one game they are bound to love. It is ‘dunk the teacher.’ The good old teacher sits over a tank of water and students take potshots at the small target, when hit will send the teacher plunging into the water. I know there are many students who will want to dunk me and other teachers out of pure revenge.

Also there is a popularity competition, this is contested energetically and some of the outfits are classics, others really beautiful and some just downright wrong. I am hoping to be able to get away from the dunking tank to take pictures.

We are also doing a ‘paint the teacher’, this is where students bid for a teacher and can then put make-up on them and dress them however they like. The teacher then remains like this for the entire day. I hope I can somehow avoid being auctioned. I know I won’t attract a lot of money but what I am scared about is being in the hands of Thai students who can pretty well have their way with my ugly noggin, maybe it will be an improvement and I shouldn’t worry.

Then in the evening the school is putting on a dinner for teachers and their partners. There will be singing, some drinking and gifts given by the school. Each year all teachers, office staff, cooks, cleaners, security guards, well anyone employed by the school will be given a gift of money. It will be around a few thousand baht to help celebrate Christmas and New Years Eve.

So I am sure there should be some interesting pictures to upload over the coming weeks.

Brunty

The Death Penalty Debate, Part 2 Thailand.

Wow, I wrote my thoughts on the death penalty and knew it could open some debate up. I have had some great responses from people and I thank you all very much for your views.

I will address some of the comments in green font here and also add some more stuff as well.

Steve said, ‘I don’t think vigilantism is the answer,’ I agree as well. It would create chaos and things would get out of control. We do have to try and trust the judicial system, but what I detest is a murderer getting 20 years and then walking free after 10, this I cannot accept.

Also he said, ‘I do however agree with you that violent criminals (murderers, rapists and the like) should be eradicated. In my opinion there is no room on this planet for such people and why should law abiding tax paying citizens have to continue to pay for their incarceration for 30, 40 or even 50 years?

As long as we are getting rid of those that harm others though, what about the so called "white collar" criminals whose actions can create financial pain and suffering for millions? What should be done with these criminals who continue to legally steal tens and hundreds of millions of dollars from hard working people?

I have read many articles that state, seeing an execution through costs a lot more than incarcerating them for their entire life. California spends $114,000,000 million dollars a year on the death penalty system. I am sure back when they hung prisoners in Folsom Prison the costs weren’t so out of control.

In 2005 a L.A Times article stated that each individual execution from starting out to the finish, has cost the state 250 million dollars each.

In Florida, since 1976 when capital punishment was resumed, there have been 68 executions. But the following inmate has an interesting record.

Gary E Alvord has been on death row in Florida since 1974 for the murder of 3 people. If you click on the link you can read the summary of the case and all the motions and petitions filed and the case details. It is very interesting. You can only just start to imagine the cost this is on the tax payers. The lawyers are claiming, ‘he isn’t competent to be executed.’

Based on calculations, since 1976 and the 68 executions have cost around 30 million each. The cost of enforcing the death penalty is apparently $51 million dollars more expensive than it would be to commute all first-degree murderers to life sentences.

In the great state of Texas, the average cost of executing a prisoner is only $2.4 million, god bless them for keeping the costs down.

But apparently the cost of housing a prisoner in Texas at the highest security level, this being level 40, would cost a 3rd of $2.4 million and would last the inmate 40 years of his life. Texas has carried out 447 executions, way ahead of 2nd place Virginia at 105.

So saving money by executing prisoners isn’t maybe such a cost saving exercise. Again I don’t care of the costs, but the final outcome being the taking of a life of a murderer.

White collar criminals, they should be locked away to never see the light of day, Steve. I agree that these leeches are the greediest and dirtiest scumbags to walk the earth. They don’t care about ruining people lives by stealing their money on dodgy investments and so forth. Life terms with no parole and hard labour would be the best thing for them.

Smorg, I have never been religious, so never grappled those feeling you have. I like you, if a god is there, then why does so much suffering and needless killing happen under his nose (and for any fucker writing in about satan, you can fuc# off)

Smorg said, ‘I haven't a problem with there being a death penalty (especially to keep those already jailed for life from deciding that they can still do evil things now that they haven't got anything to lose). I think the tricky thing is in making sure that the system really does it best to convict the right person in those death penalty cases. Here in America, that all too often doesn't seem to be the case.’

Yes, sadly there have been cases where people who have been executed have now been found innocent. With new technology and the advances of DNA and other science things, what was supposedly proven years ago would not stand in a court of law today.

You can go to this link and read a summary of some apparent wrongful execution cases. And also this from a Northwestern Law, It has never been proven an innocent prisoner has been executed in the United States since resumption of death sentences in the 1970’s. But they say at least 39 executions have been carried out in the United States in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.

There is so much reading out there on the W.W.W, I could link to 100’s of articles I have read over years and still read new articles all the time. I have watched many documentaries and one I recommend highly is called, 14 Days in May.

It follows, Edward Earl Johnson, a young African-American was put to death in the gas chamber of Mississippi. I watched it a long time ago on BBC, at least 10 years ago. Depending on your country you can watch this for free, and if you run a VPN like me you can still watch it in Thailand through places like VEOH. Or you can chance many torrents as well.

My mate Memok, ‘Whilst I don't agree with personal revenge I do believe in the death penalty IF the judgment of murder can be guaranteed. So many times I read of people being freed after 1/5/10/30 years because it was discovered that the person languishing in jail was actually innocent all along.’

Personal revenge would be so hard for me not to do. I wish I could say I would let justice run its course and so forth, but I know I couldn’t do this.

I agree totally Memok, the death sentence has to be used on cases with no doubt what so ever. I believe that only judges should rule on the death sentence. A 5 judge panel to hear the bare facts of the case.

Thankfully these days with state of the art technology, wrongful incarcerations will hopefully not happen; this was not the case in years gone by when eye witness statements of ex criminals and dodgy drug takers convicted people of murder.

Vern, this is why I love the internet and being a blogger, expressing my views. I remember the legalization of drugs chat we had, and having different input from other angles is excellent as it is an avenue to go down and research.

I see Vern did a post back in February this year on, ‘Why The Death Penalty’ and it is an excellent read and see his views on this subject. Vern suggests we start a worldwide movement as we both agree unanimously on the death penalty. Maybe we should open an execution chamber on a remote island and then put in tenders for executions at different countries.

Lawrence, it is a subject to get angry and passionate about so easily. Especially when the front page stories of newspapers, carry horrid murder stories and to what make the blood run even redder is to see pictures of a murdered child. It is easy to become enraged.

Lawrence wrote, ‘Brunty, I fully understand your anger and despair about these dreadful things. But in a way you answer your own question when you write:

"We do not need any person on this earth who takes the life of another person."
Because that's what you are asking someone to do and even offering to do yourself! I think we have to get beyond revenge. (To take the life of a murderer is not what I consider killing or murdering, but eliminating something that should have never walked on the surface of the earth)

The other thing, though it certainly doesn't apply in the cases you quote, is the known number of times that the wrong person has been executed/sentenced.

(Lawrence I have read so much on capital punishment over the years and in some countries, where the legal system and processing of crimes isn’t anywhere near an acceptable standard, there have been wrongful executions. And any wrongful execution carried out in any first world country in days gone by; though this is terrible we need to move on. Today the chances of wrongful execution would be very hard to do with the technology and forensics used)

For me it has nothing to do with forgiveness, or any god, but that somewhere the violence has to stop, and one place it can be stopped is by the legal authorities.

(The violence is something that just seems to evolve with new generations. It is taken to new levels and what would have been horrifying 15 years ago, now hardly bats an eyelid.)

But as I said, these are terrible things to happen, and symptomatic of a society where mindless violence is deemed acceptable by some people.

(I do believe it is a symptomatic problem and I really do blame parents and the upbringing of many children.)

Leoasia wrote, ‘Great post. Totally, totally agree. My own pet hate is how religious people use their faith as an excuse to kill others who do not share the same beliefs.

(The current murderous campaigns taking place across the world that is according to different so called higher beings (gods) is sickening. A reason I dislike religions and this makes me judge people just for being a follower of a religious faith that I wish would be annihilated)

For example, the Somalian man who had his 13-year old daughter stoned to death by 1,000 people in a stadium because she had been gang-raped.’

(In such countries, law and order is more of a kangaroo court. Old traditional ways are followed and accepted and while we all know this happens many of us turn a blind eye to it. In India last week a brother killed his 12 year old sister for sneaking out to be with a supposed boyfriend, He stoned her to death in an honor killing)

Here in Thailand, I was interested to note that the young man who had an argument with a bus driver a few years ago and decided to drive his Mercedes into a crowd of people, killing three or four and disabling the others for life - has finally been sentenced to 10 years in jail. It took two years just to arrive at this decision because his father is very wealthy. Disgraceful. He should have been given the death sentence immediately after the incident.

(The guy you talk about here in Thailand, I wrote on this in 2007 and followed it closely. I had threatening emails that I passed onto police telling me to remove what I had written about the murderer in his car and his father, who has a very interesting background and reputation. Here are the posts at the following links here and here)

Thaigolfer said, I agree with you that the death penalty should be used for clear cases of murder. But right after murder starts the more difficult part.

You would sentence the guy that killed a boy with his car to 30 years in jail. Well, what if he had double the legal limit? What if he was just under the legal limit? What if he didn't drink any alcohol but was using his mobile or just not being concentrated?

(These are all interesting questions indeed. I wouldn’t care personally if you were way over or just over the limit. Over is over and a mandatory 30 years. If using a mobile phone, a manslaughter charge and a lighter sentence, still should be jailed as the law and a life is taken away. If speeding ridiculously then 30 years if you kill a person.)

Accidents do happen, to me and to you. Usually nobody is killed but if a life is destroyed by an accident that's not really a reason to destroy another life with a sentence like 30 years.

(Accidents do happen, and these should be treated as that and I am sure victim’s families see this. I am talking about people who are blatantly breaking laws. As for destroying the perpetrator’s life, so be it as he has killed and destroyed many others threw his stupidity.)

I know that you prefer a hard line, but for my taste you seem to discern not enough between carelessness, recklessness and intention.

(A guy stops for a few beers at the local club, gets in his car and drives home. He crashes on the way and kills a father and his child. He blows .06 or just over Australia’s legal blood level of .05, he was reckless and careless but this wasn’t intentional. I still have no sympathy for the person as he made choices in drinking the alcohol and also driving. All these could have been preventable.)

I absolutely stand for a much harsher sentencing on anything done on intention, but on anything else things like circumstances, criminal record and character might have to be taken into account.

(I think that we as a society are too forgiving to offenders of all crimes, be they petty or serious. I cannot judge a person of good character if they have made such a mistake to kill a person through a moment of lapse, of stupidity. How could I believe the glowing references presented in courts from pillars of the community stating that so and so is the greatest person and is so remorseful. To me this is too late. The cjicken have flown the coup.)

It really is not always that easy.

Bob said, ‘Hi Brunty. The death sentence can only be carried out if you have a police and judiciary that is 100% accurate and infallible. There have been too many miscarriages of justice in the UK where, had the death sentence been applied, an innocent person would have been killed.

(I agree Bob. The cases have to be airtight, no doubt whatsoever. And a jury shouldn’t sit in judgment but a panel of judges)

Is the death sentence an easy escape for the perpetrator? If, and today this is a big if, the prison regime is harsh I would suggest that a long sentence is the worse option.

(I too have thought about, is it better to keep a murderer alive and locked in his cell 23 hours a day for the rest of his life or execute him. At times I believe this is the best as I hope it would kill him mentally, break him and make him suffer like he deserves. But then I also think that why should he go on breathing air, watching TV, getting an hour in the yard, read books and so forth. The victim doesn’t get this choice. I believe putting their body into the earth in the plainest of pinewood boxes is the best service they deserve.)

To all who have commented, I thank you as this is such an open topic and we all do have some perspective on it. It has been great to get insights from fellow readers, writers and bloggers of the world. Thanks for taking time to comment and leave me your thoughts, they are really appreciated.

I refer to the perpetrators, murderer as ‘he’ as it is easier this way. There are many woman out there in jails that I believe don’t deserve to be drawing breathes of our air.

Brunty

The Death Penalty in all Countries for Me, Thailand.

I am going to open up a can of worms. I am sick of reading in newspapers, not just here in Thailand but Australia and many other so called civilized countries.

Here in Thailand, a young mother was murdered with a meat clever, this is horrifying in itself but the murderer also attacked her 2 year old daughter. The attacker hit the kids head against the tiles on the floor of the bathroom. When rescue workers arrived there the child wasn’t dead, they could see parts of her brain as the injuries were so severe. She died on the way to the hospital.

In Australia a former husband attacked his ex wife and son killing them using a screwdriver with a razorblade attached to it.

In July a 2 year old was bashed by her father and died two weeks later, thankfully this cun# killed himself a few months later.

Just in October a 6 week old was bashed to death by his alcoholic father.

And the list is endless. People murder each other everyday. Now for the can of worms.

I want to know how any person out there in this world, can be against sentencing these people to death. We do not need any person on this earth who takes the life of another person.

I am fucking bewildered by these religious groups that cry and holler for forgiveness, a person committed of rape and murder should never be forgiven by any god, and any god that is supposedly so forgiving isn’t worth one bloody prayer in my book. That’s why I dislike (don’t believe) religions and they realy cheese me off.

Sorry to any readers who are god believers or church goers, I know I have readers who are. Please have your say on the matter. I just cannot believe in any higher being that wants to ask people to forgive the lowest scumbags on this earth.

This person, who has just murdered the little two year old girl here in Thailand a few days ago. I would without a word of a lie, take a gun and put the barrel to their head and pull the trigger without any guilt. I say that truthfully, 100% sure.

Taking a life is not something that can be taken lightly of course and many people could never do this. I honestly have absolutely no qualms about killing a murderer and removing them from society.

And to all you cretins who say, ‘then you are a murderer just like them.’ Well I would be proud to be known as this, ridding the world of these pieces of shit would make me sleep better at night as they could never murder another person again.

All countries should carry death penalties for murder, serious drug offences and other horrid crimes such as pedophilia. I have read the research papers that state that in places where the death penalty is carried out, it doesn’t necessarily reduce or stop people committing these crimes. I don’t give a flying fu#k about this.

If the people committing these crimes don’t take into account that they will be executed if they commit such an offence, then they are incredibly stupid and don’t deserve our precious oxygen.

I want to see more murderers executed, drug manufacturers executed. We are better off without them. I don’t care about their hard luck stories and terrible upbringings, no situation or past happening excuses murder.

Also the laws in Australia regarding people who kill others when behind the wheel of a car are disgraceful.

Just a few days ago, an absolutely stupid asshole, drank 12 beers at a Christmas party, got into his car and some friends have apparently held the back of his car just off the ground while he started doing a burnout. He continues his burnout cheered on by other partying idiots and continues down the road.

Then it all turns to shit. He loses control of his car, crashes through a fence and hits a little boy. The little boy dies in hospital a short time after.

The man, Gary Edward Ryan a father of two boys himself had a blood alcohol reading of .166 or 3 times the legal limit. A moment of stupidity indeed but one that could have been avoided. He is apparently distraught his partner says, (what about the victims family) His lawyer also told the judge that they were ‘worried’ he could inflict self harm if he is remanded in custody. (And this is bad, why?)

This type of death happens too often by drivers drunk, high on drugs, speeding and so forth. In Australia idiotic, brainless, out of touch judges sentences these people to either no jail time at all or a few years behind bars.

These people should be jailed for 30 years, mandatory. They have taken a life, destroyed families, ripped out their hearts. These families have to live each and every other day of existence with this heartache. Why should this person, who caused this heartbreak, be allowed to get on with a normal life after a short time?

Is this a little draconian? Maybe it is to you, but I am sure many of the victim’s families say not.

I have said to people, “What would you do if someone took a person really precious away from you?” (as in murdered, killed drunk driving etc..) And when they answer, “I would forgive them,” I tell them this is horse shit.

I am not being big mouthed, if anyone hurt my parents, or loved ones through such a way, I would hunt them down and kill them, seriously. I would make them suffer and make them wish that I would just put them out of their misery (why I couldn’t join the police force I suppose, but other government agencies didn’t mind)

Is this sadistic? I would take any punishment. Be that life in jail, or being executed myself. I would take this on the chin as long as I got my revenge. It is like that supposed Bible passage ‘an eye for an eye.’ That apparently doesn’t really mean this.

Yes, the world would be in chaos if everybody did this, revenge killings or vigilantes on the hunt, is from the dark ages, I know. But I just cannot understand how a person actual feels in the situation of losing someone close, as it has never happened to me and hopefully never will. I am sure I would be enraged on the point of being a berserker.

Anyway, what do you think? Should the death penalty be used in all countries? Should jail sentences for people killing others through acts of stupidity be harsher?
How do you think you would react if you had a person close to you murdered or killed?

This is one of those topics that we all have opinions on but many don’t express their opinions.

Brunty

Thai School Academic Day, Thailand 2009.

Way back in November, this was such a long time ago. We had our school’s Academic Day. Academic Day is simply a day for students to relax by competing in many different competitions on the day, spelling, speech, maths and science to just name a few.

But aside from the competitions, there are a few stages where singing, dancing and other competitions take place. These are student hosts from secondary 4 or year 10 on one stage. They were hosting an English singing competition.


There was even a ballroom dancing competition this year.

And of course there had to be boys dressed as girls.

Students had stalls set up around the school offering different things to buy. There were small products or food. This was a Japanese style stall and the kids were cooking Japanese food of course.

This was a Chinese stall, games and food on offer.

To entice punters to the Chinese stall they were playing a few games out the front. A crowd was watching some kids trying to pop some balloons.

The kids huffed and puffed and finally one did manage to make the balloon explode, one kid looked like he was going to pass out.

Some students love to have their picture taken and jump in front of the camera, others will hide if they are quick enough.

These student hosts were in charge of the Thai singing competition.

And a special guest on the stage is a former student. She is now in her first year of university and had returned to belt out a tune.

As a student she was pretty lazy and just did what she had to. Her personality, politeness and so forth not a problem in the world. Her family is a showbiz family and she seems destined to go down the same road.

Others in her family are Thai country singers, and she does sing Thai country really well.

She launched into a Kelly Clarkson song, Because of You. She sang this well and with time and training has the potential to be a good singer. Noot and I are attending a function at their house tomorrow night, it is a fund raiser for some less well off kids at a school. I just hope they don’t ask me to sing on the stage there as the crowd could disappear very quickly.

Some of the students use the day to just relax and play with friends. This is a primary 6 girl and was very embarrassed to be caught on the see-saw for some reason.

Other primary 6 students were just sitting and chatting and I am sure very happy that they weren’t studying.

In the sport hall, futsal had started. I like futsal as it is fast and furious and always plenty of action.

Some of the young kid’s skills are amazing. Their hand to eye co-ordination is very good. So many people say to me when they find out I like soccer (football) and that I am an Aussie, ‘Don’t Australians hate soccer?’ Many do, but I don’t care what sport it is, to be at the top of any sport takes skills and determination and I love watching people using their skills. As simple as that.

Here a player takes a shot as the goalkeeper tries to close him down.

But to no avail as the blurry ball is over the line already in the goal as the keeper performs the splits.

These were just a few pictures from a long day.

Brunty

Thai Law Amendments, For Better or Worse, Thailand.

At times I read things that the NLA (National Legislative Assembly) of Thailand do, and I cannot help but to get so angry and want to beat the living shit out of each and every member on the panel. This is mainly the rape laws that pertain to minors aged 13 – 15 years of age. (more on this in a moment, please bare with me)

And then other times I think they are a normal, well educated and completely rationale functioning assembly.

Only 2 years ago, the NLA finally amended rape laws in Thailand. This included:

Finally, forced sex on a wife by a husband would be spousal rape. Before a husband couldn’t be charged with this offence as it was ‘his right’ to have sex even if his wife didn’t want to. This law still needs a lot of fine tuning though as it is a hard slog still for the wife if she wants to press charges.

Also they finally recognised rape by a male on a male, and also males raping transgender “ladyboys, katoeys” people. Before being raped anally was not rape but ‘conduct of sexual obscenity.’

So back in 2007 these were very small baby steps in the right direction for once. But just recently some government agencies have complained the new laws have been proving too hard to prosecute the rapists and want to return to the old laws, male on male sex would again be ‘conduct of sexual obscenity’ but the penalties would be the same as the rape laws.

These people in these agencies, who want to do this, they need to be bent over a barrel and rogered with a stick containing razor blades. It sounds to me like they are complaining as the people who are meant to uphold the law, will actually have to do some real work.

Now the good news pertaining to the rape laws of minors.

A legal amendment has been proposed that would see heavier penalties for gang rapes and other sex crimes committed against young victims. Penalties include life imprisonment in the event of a gang rape or if a weapon is used.

The amendment would also help protect 13 - 15year old victims from forced marriages with their attackers arranged by parents of the latter to avoid criminal penalties - a loophole in the existing Criminal Code.

The amendment proposes the Family and Juvenile Court thoroughly scrutinise such marriages and grant final approval only after it is satisfied victims will be treated as real wives.

The amendment, which was proposed by the Council of State and will be submitted for Cabinet consideration on Tuesday, also suggests another loophole be voided, one that allows an offender to claim ignorance of a victim's age.

The maximum sentence for rape of a boy or girl younger than 15 regardless of consent will also lengthened, to four to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of Bt80,000 to Bt400,000. If the victim is younger than 13, the maximum sentence would be four to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of Bt100,000 to Bt400,000.

Offenders would also be subject to life imprisonment if they gang raped boys or girls under 13 or used a weapon during the individual rape of a young victim.

(I am sorry but I forgot the keep the link for the story and cannot find it. It is from either the Bangkok Post or The Nation Newspaper)

Now this amendment is well over due. As it states, 13 – 15 year olds have been forced into marrying their rapists. Parents will agree to the rapist’s compensation and charges will be dropped. It is sickening that any country in the world would allow this. And parents who take compensation from rapists should be executed; they are worthless pieces of shit.

A foreign cun* has used this law before. He is in Pattaya I still believe now, has been arrested around 6 times in Thailand for things relating to minors, paid ‘fines’ to the people who are meant to protect the children and left on bail. While on bail he was then convicted of rape of an 11 and 12 year old girl, sentenced to jail but has appealed and was again out on bail. And not so long ago, less than a year was again arrested for suspected offences with an 8 year old boy. Again he is out on bail.

This loophole has also been used by Thais, a well to do Thai raped a 12 year old girl, and the mum went to police. An agreement was made, a false village wedding and of course some money and no charges were laid.

What really fucks me off about this amendment is, ‘The Family and Juvenile Court thoroughly scrutinise such marriages and grant final approval only after it is satisfied victims will be treated as real wives.’

Oh please, how in god’s name could a rapist ever be evaluated that he would treat the “victim” as a “wife?” This is still a get out clause for rapists, especially well off assholes. “Oh, yes your honor. I promise you I am going to treat my 13 year old bride with love, respect, dignity,” they cannot be serious, can they? But it is Thailand.

Parents who want to marry kids off to the attackers should be sterilized, be placed in a room and raped so they know the feeling of degradation, humiliation, dirtiness, and god knows what else a rape victim must feel.

Also removing the ‘ignorance claim’ is needed. Most Thai girls look younger than they are. Some Thai girls just don’t look 16 (Thailand’s legal age of consent. From 16-17 you must have permission from the parents of the child if you are having sexual relations) Nearly all Thai girls I know that are 15, 16 or 17 I can truthfully say they all look much younger than they are and in no way could mistake them for being 18 or older. Many times I have had early 20 year olds tell me their age and I refuse to believe them until I see their ID card. I could never believe a person claiming they couldn’t tell the girl was 13 years old.

I am all for this new amendment, but it needs to be airtight, no chance of a loophole. Again this is a small step forward in the right direction.

Kids are the most precious commodity on this great thing we call earth. They need to be nurtured, protected and be able to trust us older generation. Kids are mostly so innocent and at times too trusting, but that is what kids do. They place faith in older people, supposedly wise from years on this earth.

The very people who take this trust, and then commit heinous crimes against these kids, they deserve nothing less than to have their very existence on this earth, stopped. Maybe death is too good for them and a term of their natural life in solitary confinement would be more fitting.

Thailand still has a long way to go in many aspects of being a democratic society. There are still so many human violations that take place, labour laws are disgraceful, children are forced to work in sweat shops and other seedy fields, minimum wages are a joke (150 Baht a day in some provinces.)

People say Thailand is a young democracy, since 1932. To me that is a fair bit of time to try and get things is good order. The coups and all the other shenanigans that have plagued Thai politics over those years to date, haven’t helped obviously.

But to me the biggest thing holding the amazing country of Thailand back, it is simply the corruption that seems to be embedded into society and that Thai people just accept. It is written about constantly; Hi-So Thais are charged and then flee Thailand to Cambodia, Laos and other countries.

A zero tolerance on the blatant corruption (all countries have it, most well hidden) has to be enforced, how this is done when the highest people meant to stop it are maybe at its forefront, is a task I would not even begin to know where to start at.

Okay, I am sorry I am ranting. Anyway. Some small steps in the right direction but there are many more that need to be taken in many other directions. Most of the time I see it as the old adage of, ‘two steps forward, three steps backwards.’

Brunty

The King's Birthday, Father's Day 2009 Thailand.

When you have a camera wrapped around your neck at a Thai school, you will often be asked by mothers, ‘take our picture, please.’

Thai women, so many mothers arrive at our school looking like they have just spent over an hour getting ready to just drop their kids off.

The funny thing was originally there were only 4 mums until two more were badgered into joining.

Back on the 5th of December, we celebrated The King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday, which is also Father’s Day. Brother Sakda then paid respect to the king.


Our Director Brother Sakda addressed the king as if he was at the school in person. A short speech directed to His Majesty.

Then the Royal anthem is played, Sansoen Phra Barami
ข้าวรพุทธเจ้า เอามโนและศิรกราน นบพระภูมิบาล บุญญะดิเรก เอกบรมจักริน พระสยามินทร์ พระยศยิ่งยง

เย็นศิระเพราะพระบริบาล ผลพระคุณ ธ รักษา ปวงประชาเป็นศุขสานต์ ขอบันดาล ธ ประสงค์ใด จงสฤษดิ์

ดังหวังวรหฤทัย ดุจจะถวายชัย ชโย!

An English translation courtesy of the Royal Thai Embassy
THE ROYAL ANTHEM OF THAILAND

We, subjects of Our Excellent Lord,

bend our heads and minds in deepest homage

to Your Majesty whose merits are boundless

Great Descendent of the Celestial Line,

Sovereign Monarch of Siam,

may your greatness extend in time.

Your bounteous care shelters our heads.

Your merits harbour us in happiness.

May every hope in Your Majesty's heart

be realized in every way

as in this loyal wish to our Sovereign King.

Chaiyo (Bravo)

Our student soldiers stand to attention during the anthem.

This is the highest ranked student soldier, I have watched him and he is destined to be officer material going by the way he commands his troops.

It was then time to make a donation, Brother Sakda kicked things off. There are many charities that benefit from royal patronage. We were all given little envelopes a few weeks ago, so we could offer a few hard earned Thai Baht on the day.


A steady stream of teachers then made their way to donate some of their earnings.

So that was the King’s Birthday 2009.

Brunty

Thai School Student, Army Reserve Force Training Thailand

Here in Thailand, teenagers have the option of being toy soldiers (Thai Army reserve Force) in years 10, 11 and 12 at school. If they decide to do this, they then are exempt from Thailand’s National Draft.

(Thai school girls participating in the army reserves, they can do the mundane things but not participate in weapons training or anything deemed where they are too weak)

Thailand drafts all males when the reach the age of 21, if you do not show up when reaching this age, if they catch you, you can be jailed or your military time is doubled.

In Thailand, the National Draft to me, is a bit of a joke. Each year there are 500,000 plus 21 year olds each year facing 2 years in the army. It is the process that makes me a little miffed.

If you live in Thailand, then you know that there have been many Hi-So (rich arrogant, wealthy, think they are better than anyone else) Thais, who have draft dodged through payment (bribery) to agents.

(Army instructor issuing orders)

I directly know people who paid money to these agents to make sure their names were not added to the list of people who have to participate in the draft procedure. A few years ago, one friend made the trip to Bangkok, he paid 14,000 Baht to guarantee he wouldn’t be drafted, and another paid 10,000 Baht.


(This is their officer. He is a captain (3 stars) or called ‘Roi Ek’, he is a 24 year veteran but still has many ranks to go. There are still 8 more ranks till he reaches ‘Field Marshal’ or ‘Chom Phon.’ He was very interesting to talk to. The students were practising for a parade (for an entire week, no classes) and when he caught students slacking off or showing poor form he would dress them down like something out of a movie, it was really good to see.)

If people are not in a position to pay for such a guarantee of not being drafted, they are put through a medical on the day. If they pass they then have to chance of picking a black or red token. More on this in a moment.

Ladyboys or katoeys or Thailand’s third sex are drafted as well, they are excused after the medical on the terms of being, ‘Permanent Mental Disorder’ which is stamped on their Sor Dor 43 conscription certificate. This certificate then usually has to be produced when applying for jobs.

Even ladyboys who have been through gender reassignment surgery, even though they have breasts and no penis are still forced through the medical procedure as their Thai National ID Card still has ‘Mr.’ as their title on it.

Katoeys have told stories about being humiliated in front of other draftees, having to expose their breasts, have them touched by people doing the medicals and so forth, but all this time there is no chance of them being passed.

So the males who are passed, they then do a lucky dip. Not all of the 500,000, 21 year old potential draftees are needed. And to be fair there is a simple system.

A draftee reaches into a box and pulls out a token, there are black or red tokens. If it is black, then you have been lucky and are excused, if red you have just joined the armed forces.

If a teenager is smart and doesn’t want a career in the armed forces, then the Army Reserve road is a very smart choice. For three years, usually one day a week for a semester (20 weeks) they participate in activities under the control of military personnel.

My personal thoughts on the draft or conscription are pretty simple, I don’t agree that everyone ‘has to’ partake in it. Maybe they could use it for troubled teens, and also people a little older to smarten them up. Exhaust them into line, flog them into line, mentally and physically break them. I feel sorry for a 21 year old male who has been studying hard for a career to then have it interrupted by a forced military service period.

I really wish Australia would make it compulsory for all the pain in the ass, ignorant teenagers pilfering Australia, which are sadly growing in numbers to a mandatory two years in the forces.

Any teenager who doesn’t complete school to year 12, undertake an apprenticeship or enroll in TAFE schools and such, they should be dragged kicking, screaming, and crying to an armed service.

No dropping out, getting the dole (government money handouts) for them. If they don’t want to be educated or become skilled in some field, then two years of basic military training would be a great way to shape their lives that were already probably heading down the shitter, toward a road of crime, drugs and who knows what else.

The old style drill instructors, who take absolutely no shit, can pretty well do what they like to soldiers who are disobedient, need to be their instructors. There are many teens in Australia that need to have the biggest flogging of their miserable lives, to wake them up from there current lifestyle. What happens on base, stays on the base and in the regiment.

Anyway, that is just my thoughts on all of this, all from a few pictures from school. I need to get a more active lifestyle…

Brunty