I could not believe that the following letter has appeared in the Pattaya Mail (or, at least, in the on-line edition).

It should certainly stir up a hornets' nest!

Dear Sir;
Having lived and worked in Thailand for many years prior to my retirement I make an effort to keep up with events by reading the Thai press and the English language Thai press on-line. Also friends keep me informed of the status quo in the country.
I am writing to express my concern about the fact that your journal carries detrimental and negative stories on a nearly weekly basis about a tiny minority of farangs, namely those who love adolescent boys.
As you are no doubt aware, Asian culture and Buddhist culture in particular reveres men who look after the welfare of young people, especially boys. They are seen as putting wayward youth on the path of acceptance and tolerance. A scant knowledge of Thai classical literature, documents these traits. Needless to say, the role of monks in boys’ upbringing is legendary. The fact that this vindictive campaign is only aimed at farangs speaks volumes. As far as I have been able to ascertain no Thai has been in trouble for consensual relationships with a boy.
Until quite recent times there was no such concept in law in Thailand (or elsewhere in South-East Asia, except for laws left over from colonial times), of an age of consent. But we are now in the quite ridiculous situation where the age of consent in Thailand is higher than the average in Western nations.
As we all know it is of course the dominance of Western NGOs in developing countries forcing Judeo-Christian values on foreign cultures which has resulted in this very sad state of affairs. Where there was love and harmony, in the space of a few short years, due to the introduction of Westernisation, there is now exploitation and violence. Young people and their adult friends are now no less than criminals. The mafia and corruption are the name of the game these days.
Boy lovers are now being violently blackmailed, even held hostage until large sums of money are handed over, and their captors safe in the knowledge the farang will not complain to the authorities for fear of prosecution in Thailand or back home. Children and young people are being forced into having relationships with farangs by ruthless gangs in order to satisfy these criminal activities. This complete volte-face in the space of a few short years has been brought about by the busybody do-gooders of the west.
I feel your newspaper along with others really ought to be ashamed of yourselves by giving publicity to these Western pressure groups. Instead you should be highlighting the damage they are causing to the fabric of life in Thailand and how the East has nothing to learn from Westerners on social mores. (One only has to compare the behaviour of Western youth to its counterpart in the East). You should be celebrating the difference of Thai culture vis-à-vis the West and bring out its strengths of tolerance, social harmony and acceptance. That, no doubt, is after all why you like living in Thailand!
Be brave, fight for the truth!
Yours faithfully,
A. Doctor
England

PS On the same page was another letter, reprinted below.  I guess that's what's meant by "balanced coverage"!

Editor;
I have been visiting Thailand (every 6 months) for the last 8 years. It’s a beautiful country and the Thai people are fantastic! I would like to give a “big thank you” to the Thai police and everyone else involved with the arrest of all the foreign pedophiles (Pattaya Mail, 30th May-5 June). That’s the “only problem” I have noticed in Pattaya: too many foreign pedophiles, walking along Beach Road and hanging out in local malls, looking for kids.
Please continue the crackdown on these sick perverts and hopefully all of them will receive a sentence of at least 30, 40 or 50 years in prison.
A very special “thank you” to Ms Mariel Schaltz, keep up the good work.
Thank you,
J. Cole
USA

Good God, my tax dollars at work.  


Well, the effort to "Change Asia" in Puritan America seems to be bipartisan.  Everyone's current hero, Hillary, fired the first shots at Japan, and other Asian countries.

Excuse me while I puke.  There are a lot of good things about America, but Moralizing is not one of them.


Americans would rather moralize than fuck.  That is, at least, the public stance, until they get caught.

By the way, a very well-written note about two ambitious sisters who preyed on the Radical Christian Left -- and anyone else.  They got in with Vanderbilt, then one of the richest men in America.  

"It was a match.  Vanderbilt loved sex, and dripped money. They loved money, and dripped sex."

absolutely amazing !!! and spot on.

But I notice he writes from the safety of the UK and -he's a doctor so trust him.

About time we were able to speak of the extraordinary double standards being foisted upon Thailand by interfering busy bodies from the West. He also points out rightly the extraordinary absence of any comment about the numerous Asians who are involved in illicit child sex.

Capturing the baddies would be OK ..except for one thing. Where do those kids go after they are pictured in the media with the alleged offendor ?..straight out the back door onto the streets. NGO's should be working hell bent on preventing them ever having to hit the streets in the first place ( some very good ones do but the majority don't)

Isn't foisting American homophobia on other countries wrong, period?  (It seems like a single standard to me, but let that pass...)

Of course, it's not JUST American homophobia.  Have you read about the first encounter of Portuguese missionaries with the Isle of Japan? They thought everything was just ducky, except for the HORRIBLE PREVALENCE OF SODOMY.

Well, then, weren't the Japanese justified in giving them the old heave-ho?  And (as I recall) killing the hard-core remnants?

Lunchtime O'Booze wrote:

...and - he's a doctor so trust him.

Well, perhaps... or perhaps not.

After all, he signs himself "A. Doctor" with a full stop after the "A" - so I guess he could just as well be Alan Doctor or Alfred Doctor or whatever!!!

Henry Cate wrote:

Isn't foisting American homophobia on other countries wrong, period?  (It seems like a single standard to me, but let that pass...)

Of course, it's not JUST American homophobia.  Have you read about the first encounter of Portuguese missionaries with the Isle of Japan? They thought everything was just ducky, except for the HORRIBLE PREVALENCE OF SODOMY.

Well, then, weren't the Japanese justified in giving them the old heave-ho?  And (as I recall) killing the hard-core remnants?

homophobia??????? I thought the thread was about paedophilia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

very few gay men molest children

I'm an American, and I'd rather fuck.  But not young boys.  

Of course there's a double standard, they're not looking for Thai men who are molesting little boys (or girls).  They're looking for the tourist dollars and the opportunity to humiliate the farangs.  Can you imagine an older Asian man coming to the States (or Europe) and getting caught in the company of three or four naked young boys?  In Texas?  He'd be on death-row before you could say "But, officer, I was only giving them a bath."

Wherever it happens, it's wrong, wrong, wrong . . . and it's happening somewhere tonight.

Dear Pattaya Mail.

I have just read the letter from a J. Cole from the US.  I am appalled at his/her suggestion that these vile criminals should recieve sentences of 30, 40 or 50 years!  I feel a sentence of 51 years is called for, not some mamby-pamby slap on the wrist as suggested by this obviously ultra-liberal idiot.  

I would be willing to go as high as 52 years, but would draw the line at 53 years.  I am a christian, after all.

Insincerely,

Holier than J. Cole

who the hell is Ms Mariel Schaltz ???

"Editor;
I have been visiting Thailand (every 6 months) for the last 8 years. "

ah yes..another one who comes to play "golf".

Leaving this one for a while, it's getting close to breaking the guidelines.

Be careful or it will disappear without further warning.

Did I imagine it or did  you not ride off into the sunset as a moderator?

Not being smart just asking the question are you back full time?

Back part time, only the parts that are sadly needed :)

I've just read A Doctor's letter and had to reply.

I am certain there are two reasons for the crackdown on ferrangs and teenage boys in Pattaya. The first is the massive amount of money police gain from demanding and usually obtaining money to drop the case.

The second is the intense financial pressure put on the Thais by the EU and the USA to be seen to be doing something.

Thailand has NOTHING to learn from Western culture. Buddha forbid, the West has much to learn from the Thais. The imposition of Western values here is disgusting. Two things the Thais value very highly are: caring for children and friendship.

Thailand is so lucky that Western colonialism never came to Thailand. It seems it has now. And that's everyone's loss.

Marsilius wrote:

After all, he signs himself "A. Doctor" with a full stop after the "A" - so I guess he could just as well be Alan Doctor or Alfred Doctor or whatever!!!

He could be our long-lost poster A Doctor Writes

The ongoing American venture into international age-of-consent laws has some very strange items about it.

For one thing, the actual American age of consent varies a lot, mostly between the ages of 15 and 18.  After some busybodies in the American Congress had finished blowing their noses, the USA was burdened with the idea that child porno was any porno involving anyone under the age of 18.  This was, apparently, connected with two wildly disparate things: first, an amendment to the US Constitution that anyone 18+ could vote (therefore reinforcing the idea that boys who are 18 and over are adult, and all other boys are children) and, second, the legalization of homosexuality which is I think still underway in the US.  The idea of banning laws against "consenting adults" having sex was quite good, but it inflamed the religious right into expanding the concept of "adult" as far as it possibly could.

And of course, we have to add the curious American idea that people who are in love with one another must be close matches in SES (Socio-Economic Status) and age.

You may not care about my opinion, but here it is: "There is no benefit to be had from screwing around with Mother Nature."  It is a matter of common observation that something important happens to boys around the age of 14 to 16.  It's called puberty.  What happens to boys between the ages of 17 and 18?  Nothing at all, in the biological sense.  However, they do tend to become high-school graduates around that time.

It is also a matter of common observation that gay boys begin to find and participate in the gay scene around the age of 16-17.  They're horny.  And a huge number do it earlier, over the Internet.

And one more fact: it is my belief that (in Thailand) the age of consent is fifteen, for boys who are "emancipated."  Boys who are still at home, and being zealously watched by middle-class families, may have to wait a bit longer.  But the Thai 18yo age limit applies to acts of prostitution only.  Of course, if a cute 17yo is making fun-fun with a 60yo man, there is a suspicion of prostitution.  :-0

But frankly, if we look around the world and all the cultures we know, there aren't very many who would criminalize sex with a 16yo boy while permitting it with an 18yo boy.  In America, Mark Foley was hammered by the press and forced to resign, even though all he was doing was trying to have cybersex with a hot Congressional page way over the age of consent.  He had violated that other American taboo, referred to above ("people who are in love with one another must be close matches in SES (Socio-Economic Status) and age").

Hey, if they made me King Of The World, I would require teenage boys to exercise in the nude, and have older male lovers!  :-)

Oh, that's been tried, you say?

Yeah, and it only lasted a thousand years.