Warning to Phuket Tourists: Don’t swim!

– A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community.

PHUKET: Red flag warnings are in force along Phuket’s west coast beaches, several of which have achieved notoriety in recent years for scores of drownings and near-drownings during the monsoon season (May through October).

Strong West/Southwesterly winds reaching speeds of 50-60kmph with waves rising to 4.5 metres in the waters off Phuket are expected to continue until Thursday.

In neighboring Malaysia, the Meteorology Department yesterday noted that the strong winds and rough sea conditions would pose a danger to all shipping and coastal activities off Phuket, including fishing and ferry services, Bernama reports.

The warning added that the winds and rough seas off Phuket would also prevail in the waters along Malaysia’s west coast – off Perlis, Langkawi, Kedah and Penang – and would as well affect Thailand’s Koh Samui and Malyasia’s Palawan island, until Wednesday.

Bangkok Post
The ACST’s Phuket Junior Cricket Development Fund (PJCDF) has donated 43,000 baht to support Phuket’s Under-15 (U-15) team in its tour and participation in the 4th Kuala Lumpur Cricket Assoc / Royal Selangor Club U-15 ‘Cricket Carnival’. The tournament will be held in Kuala Lumpur from July 30 through August 1.

This is the first donation made by the fund, which was set up earlier this year to support junior cricket development in Phuket with funds donated by participants in the Phuket International Cricket Sixes.

The Phuket U-15 side is made up of young Thai players, many of whom compete in the local Phuket league and played at the Phuket Sixes this year for the first time.

In 2008, the Phuket U-15s made their first venture to this international tournament, winning one match out of three.

The Nation
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched five ecofriendly pilot projects. The projects are being marketed as ‘green route’ ones and are part of the TAT’s “Seven Greens” concept.

Seven Greens is the brainchild of the TAT and the other stakeholders in the Kingdom’s tourism industry, who are working to try to maintain an equitable balance between tourism promotion and environmental conservation.

The concept provides a cooperative framework for implementation of green initiatives, with the Seven Greens being: ‘Green Heart, ‘Green Logistics’, ‘Green Attraction’, ‘Green Activity’, ‘Green Community’, ‘Green Service’ and ‘Green Plus’.

The five new ‘green route’ projects are: Social and Environmental Responsibility for Eco-friendly Transportation; Service and Site Management; Preserving Local Traditions and Environment through Community-based Tourism; Providing Visitors with Culturally Enriching Experiences; and Encouraging Tourism-related Operators to Give Back to the Communities in which they Operate.

The five projects include Phuket and will take account of local traditions and lifestyle as well as natural resources.

Canada.com
A bomb exploded in Bangkok yesterday, wounding at least eight people, as the city voted in a by-election that could signal whether the recent unrest has changed Thailand’s political landscape.

The bomb was hidden in a trash bin at a bus stop in the heart of the commercial district on Ratchadamri Road, an area occupied by thousands of “red shirt” anti-government protesters for several weeks until an army crackdown on May 19.

The by-election for a Bangkok seat in parliament could indicate whether the turmoil that killed at least 89 people in April and May will hurt Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s ruling party in national elections next year.

The BBC reports that the bomb blast killed at least one man and injured ten others who were taken to three hospitals. The 51-year-old man died while hospitalized for his injuries.

The Nation
Leaders of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plan to report to police next month to face charges of seizing and shutting down Bangkok’s two international airports in late-2008, a spokesman for the group said yesterday.

Panthep Puapongpan said after a meeting with core leaders of the PAD that several of them would report to police to hear the charges.

Some of those charged have said the charges are unfair, so they would refuse to report to the police on the basis that their participation in the rallies leading to the airport closures was an act of civil disobedience, Panthep said, without elaborating.
The PAD also planned to file charges of malfeasance against all police involved in what Panthep called the “unfair charging”.

“We unanimously agreed the charges are false. We were not terrorists. The Airports Authority of Thailand ordered the airports’ closure without the board’s approval. We didn’t close the airports. The rallies were at the terminals while the other parts were still available for services,” Panthep said after the meeting.

— Gazette Editors