"The Rounds" March 19, 2004

Apologies for the lack of a column last week. It has been one heck of a fortnight, leading me to work anywhere from 9 to 15 hours a day -- every day -- trying to get my laptop computer operational. Even my desktop gave me trouble of precisely the "right" type to prevent me from using it to write last week's column.

With a little luck, my laptop -- my main working computer -- will actually remain operational awhile this time!

The stand-off between the government and the labor union for employees at EGAT (Electrical Generating Authority of Thailand) continues into its 25th day today, Thursday, March 18th.

At issue is the government's announced plans to partially privatize the state utility, something which the union's members -- and numerous other unions' members, NGO's, and private citizens not affiliated with any of those groups -- vehemently oppose.

Numerous media reports have indicated the opposition to the plan is based on at least 2 main points. First, those against the plan claim the issuing of shares won't be done in a fair, transparent manner, but instead be engineered so that the rich and powerful get to buy them all; they have pointed to precedents. Second, they feel it will be against the public interest, as electricity is a public necessity and should, therefore, be owned and operated by the government.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reversed a 3-week stand yesterday (the 17th) and met over a dozen union representatives in a meeting arranged by Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej, but both sides stood fast in their original positions. (You can read the account in The Bangkok Post here; curiously, if there is any coverage in the dead-tree version 0f The Nation, it doesn't appear in this morning's online edition.)

Somsak Kosaisuk, secretary-general of the State Enterprises Labor Relations Confederation, said support for the EGAT union is growing in both Bangkok and the provinces, and says there will be a massive demonstration against the privatization scheme in Bangkok with about 10 days, a demonstration he expects to draw up to 1,000,000 protesters.

Khun Somsak also made the point that P.M. Thaksin had promised not to privatize a number of state utilities, including electricity, in a review of a series of new economic laws passed in the aftermath of the 1997 financial debacle that emanated out from Thailand and engulfed East Asia.

The P.M. did say it is possible to delay privatization, but that it will inevitably occur.

He also agreed with his opponents that the State Enterprises Corporatization Act must be abolished.

The world turned dark the day I learned the reason for the shortage of Carlsberg beer, in both its bottled and draft forms, is that the company in Denmark has pulled the plug after an ongoing battle between the bosses in Denmark and their local partner.

If street intelligence has it right, it seems the local partner began promoting competing products, much to the displeasure of the home office.

Some bars and restaurants have been able to get limited supplies from a second source, a local wholesaler who had some stocks in reserve. One bar owner told me a representative of the wholesaler called him mid-evening late last week and asked him if he was interested in getting any of the 60 kegs they had on hand; the bar owner told him he did, and would call the following morning to say how many kegs he wanted.

When the owner followed up early the following morning, he was stunned that the supply was down to 3 kegs!

A search in the Google search engine brought up a report on a website, http://scandasia.com (which I've never heard of before). That report says the local partner, who worked with the Denmark headquarters as a licensee, failed to pay royalties for 2002, even after being reminded the money was due in the first half of 2003. That report says the bosses terminated the agreement in August, 2003 since they still had not received payment.

At least Carlsberg hasn't ruled out coming back here, though street intelligence suggests it may well turn out that proverbial day in Hades (which will be the same day we have a snow storm in Bangkok!) before they return.

On the bright side, news reports and street intelligence both indicate that San Miguel beer out of the Philippines and Tiger beer

I had occasion a week or two ago to pass by Clinton Plaza on Sukhumvit Road for the first time in a long while, and was rather surprised to see that the western part of it is still standing, though given that I was in a taxi and in a hurry, I didn't have time to stop to explore to see just how deep from the street the remnant goes nor to ask anyone how long the remaining places might be left standing.

Anyone with knowledge of this (preferably confirmed knowledge) -- please feel free to let me know: MekhongKurt@BangkokAtoZ.com.

I can't really complain, of course, given the magnificent cool season we had this year, about the roaring back of the hot season -- but I will, anyway.

Since I last wrote, it has been hotter than blue blazes several days, especially from about midday until later on in the afternoon -- say 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock. As far as I know, no records have been broken (at least not here in The Big Weird), but some days, especially in the mornings, have "offered" us fairly high humidity, which of course makes it seem hotter than it actually is.

The several mornings in the past fortnight or so that I've been up at dawn or soon thereafter (maybe half the days in that time period), the sky was more often nearly overcast than not. I hope that is a harbinger of an early arrival for the annual rainy season. I'd personally prefer to put up with the rains than I do the almost-directly-overhead-sun.

I'll tell any of you still moaning about the ice in your veins and bones, now is a *great* time to come here to defrost!

I didn't actually know Pattaya's well-known icon, "Shaky" Pete, but many other Old Thai Hands did come to know him over his several decades here. I met him only once or twice myself, years ago, and in passing.

He owned a bar in which, according to mutual friends, he liked to hold court with his circle of old friends.

"Shaky" fought a long, hard battle with The Big C, ultimately losing about 2 weeks ago.

Some of his long-time friends suggested I might mention his passing here. His cremation was in Pattaya Sunday, March 14, 2004.

It so happens those who can fill me in on his background have been busy, so I can't offer much than the scant information I have written here.

When the authorities recently stepped back from their plan to restrict bars' and other venues' opening hour seriously, they also mentioned April 1st as their target date. But that mention was apparently made in an almost offhand way, so opinion is sharply divided amongst owners of venues that will be affected regarding what will happen should this actually come to pass.

Interestingly, the T.A.T. (Tourism Authority of Thailand) stand squarely back of the proposal, waxing eloquently about the need for the Kingdom to have what everyone at the moment (everyone in official circles, that is) "quality" tourists visit here. No backpackers, other budget travelers, etc., please. But in recent days T.A.T. officials have started singing a new tune: restricting certain categories of entertainment venues to operating just 6 hours each day, tourism will -- they now say -- be severely affected.

Which makes sense to anyone observing developments with even half a wit. Take soaring numbers of arrivals from places such as mainland China. While the incomes of urban Chinese has soared over the past decade and travel restrictions on them greatly eased, they still aren't the sort of tourists that qualify as "quality" tourists, as they simply don't have the money to come stay in a 5-star hotel, spend thousands upon thousands of baht every day, buy expensive gems, silk, and the like, or any of the other activities a "quality" tourist pursues.

Let me make clear I am not implying the slightest criticism of people with high incomes who choose Thailand as the location of their holiday or business meetings -- not at all. Such visitors contribute disproportionately to the well-being of the Kingdom, and for that they must be appreciated -- and they most certainly are appreciated, especially from those who directly benefit. Neither am I implying any criticism of the T.A.T. (or tourism officials in any country) for courting such visitors; they would have to be crazy not to try to get them to come.

I guess it may have gone to a few official heads when a respected travel report said that last year Thailand was the world's top tourist destination -- i.e., I guess that made some people believe they could rid rid of everyone except rich tourists (or high-end expat businesspeople and the like).

I've written about this before in this column, and the underlying truths remain the same -- truths -- and we don't have to be a bunch of ivory tower economists to understand them: 1 person spending 25,000 baht per day is great, no argument -- but 10 people each spending 8,000 baht a day aren't to be ignored.

Given that only a very tiny percentage of Thailand's population controls a commanding majority of the nation's economy, one would think officials here would see this even more easily than might be the case elsewhere.

Street intelligence holds there is far more to the story behind the government's stepping back in general and the T.A.T.'s reversal than meets the eye. One rumor has it that a powerful owner of numerous Thai-oriented entertainment venues in and near Bangkok was working to organize taxi drivers to blockade Don Muang Airport for some period of time -- a period I don't know, but undoubtedly meant to be long enough to have an attention-getting economic impact. Another rumor has it that a similar plan was set for Phuket. Yet a third one has as its centerpiece reports that many venue owners in Bangkok were prepared to close their respective establishments for a relatively long time; the time period I've heard 2 or 3 times is 3 weeks. And you can bet your last baht that such a move, on a sufficiently wide scale, would have more than a major impact on the Bangkok economy: it would be a shocking body blow. Not one so bad as to bankrupt the economy, I don't guess, but it sure would electrify a lot of folks.

Anyway, back to the headline of this item: some owners feel it'll never happen; others are trembling in their boots, ready to padlock their establishments should the draconian restrictions really come into effect (rather than go bankrupt).

What all with the bird flu crisis, the EGAT controversy, apparently serious rifts in the ruling Thai Rak Thai party, controversies swirling around some senior members of government, the sectarian unrest and violence in the South (just to name a few of the most important problems immediately confronting the government), etc., the argument about reforming the entertainment venues must be just about the last thing officials wish -- now, with 20/20 hindsight -- they had ever dished up onto their own plates in the first place.

This move really drew heavy fire from around the world, as widely reported (and editorialized about) in the entire spectrum of all the news media. In some instances, the attention was downright mocking and sneering in tone.

All any of us can do is stay tuned. Reportedly, even police officers are claiming to be completely in the dark about the issue, having (they assert) received no information from above. Read "no" as in "zero," "zilch," "nothing whatsoever in any way, shape, or form" -- however you conceive of a complete, total, absolute void.

As those of you who had the privilege and pleasure of knowing Dick Vileo, who passed away early last month after a (blessèdly) relatively short battle with cancer, the picture with which I was able to identify him visually for those who may have been uncertain was not a professional one, nice though it was.

A friend here has come up with an old but excellent studio picture of Dick many years ago, and several of his friends think it would be nice to put it here, not just the one I first used. I agree, and am more than happy to oblige.

Incidentally, now that I do have an excellent photo of Dick when he was younger, I will be working on completing a Memorial Page for him, and will announce it here when I have it on the website.

It is fortunate indeed I enjoy considerable ability to persuade my lovely Aom and her friends to share their photographs with me -- as it appears just as fortunate for many of you, considering how many of you visit the photo galleries of not only Aom and her friends, but those of Khun Ae, Khun Ae Number Two, and Khun Tuk!

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