Trip to Thai festival ends in
scary attack for 4 S'poreans
April 22,
2007
AN outing to soak up Koh Samui's nightlife ended in terror for
three Singapore men.
Mr Shane S, 28, his brother Derek, 26, and two of their friends
took a short holiday that coincided with the Thai New Year
celebration.
But at the dawn of the Songkran Festival on Apr 13, they found
themselves assaulted by unknown assailants.
The Singaporeans had arrived on the popular Thai island the evening
before and immediately decided to go pub-hopping.
At 6am the next morning, they left the Sound Bar near Chaweng Beach
and walked into a nearby alley in the hope of getting a taxi at the
other end.
Mr Derek S, a civil servant, was walking about 20m behind the
others with a Thai friend. As they walked, they saw some locals
standing at the side of the alley.
A 'kapchai' (a small motorcycle) approached the Singaporeans and
the pillion rider slapped Mr Shane on his back and smiled at
him.
Mr Shane recalled: 'I didn't think anything about it. I thought it
was a friendly gesture.'
But just ahead lay trouble.
A group of 10 Thais in beach attire started to hurl abuse at the
Singaporean men in Thai.
By then, Mr Derek was out of sight, and the three Singaporeans
stayed close together as someone threw empty bottles at them.
One of Mr Shane's friends was then hit on his back with a bamboo
pole so hard that it broke on impact.
Mr Shane, an accounts officer, claimed the four do not know what
provoked the attackers.
'Worst of all, we didn't know what they were saying to us. All we
could do was to repeatedly say sorry.
'I don't recall our group offending any Thais at the pub. Besides,
90 per cent of those in the pub were foreigners. So we're still
puzzled as to why we were attacked.'
Then, as quickly as the confrontation had started, the mob cooled
down.
Mr Shane and his friends continued their walk to get to a
taxi.
SECOND ATTACK
About 10 minutes later, four men from the group of Thais appeared
on motorcycles, each carrying what looked like a parang.
Soon, six other Thais, all armed with similar weapons, appeared on
foot, MrShane said.
'When they started waving the parangs in front of our faces, I
thought, habis (finish in Malay), this time, sure die. Again, they
wouldn't listen to our apologies.'
Mr Shane and his two friends decided to run as fast as they could.
While fleeing, they lost their slippers.
Mr Shane said he was the fastest and managed to out-run two
pursuing Thais.
After about 100m, he slipped and fell. When he looked up, he was
staring at the tip of a rusty parang.
Mr Shane said: 'I knew if I had picked up an object to fight it
would be a battle to the end with me on the losing end. I have
never been so scared before in my life, because I could picture
myself killed in the fight.'
His assailant's first swing of the parang cut Mr Shane's left palm
as he tried to shield the blow.
The second swing missed his head by inches.
BRAVE BYSTANDER
Mr Shane said: 'There were some locals watching, yet nobody wanted
to help us. All I could do was say, 'Sorry, sorry'. I made sure I
looked him in the eye when I said 'sorry', hoping he would leave me
alone.'
Perhaps, it worked. The man then left with the other
attackers.
As for his two friends, the Thais apparently stopped attacking them
after a Caucasian man shouted at them to stop.
'I don't know whether he was brave or stupid,' Mr Shane said, 'but
thanks to him, we survived. We didn't manage to thank him because
we just wanted to get away. We're lucky to be alive.'
By then, Mr Derek had caught up with them and found out what
happened.
One friend was crying in pain from a blow to his head. He also had
cuts on his face.
The other friend was bleeding from a slash on his left arm. He
later went to the Bangkok Samui Hospital to stitch up the wound, Mr
Derek said.
A hospital staff member verified the friend's visit to the
hospital. The outpatient treatment cost 7,000 baht ($325)
In the scuffle, the friend with the arm injury lost his gold chain
and earring. The jewellery could have been snatched by the
attackers during the scuffle, Mr Shane said.
After they picked themselves up, the four of them then took a taxi
to the nearest tourist police station, where they were told to go
to a 'bigger police station' 10 minutes away, MrShane said.
Two policemen took them back to the scene of the attack, where
blood splatter could still be seen.
But the group were surprised when the policemen told them to report
the matter to another police station. They could not communicate
well because none of the victims speaks Thai.
Mr Shane recalled: 'I lost my patience. Two of my friends were hurt
and one of them needed to go to the hospital. So we asked the
police to drop us at our hotel.
'We didn't want to stay in the area, just in case the gang
returned.'
Mr Shane added: 'I feel bad for dragging my friends to Koh Samui. I
wanted them to see the beautiful side of the island. Instead, they
saw something ugly.'
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Try local friends first, then call embassy for help
BE careful when you are out partying.
And call your embassy if you need help.
These were the tips to tourists from a consular officer at The
Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore.
The officer, who declined to be named, said: 'Fights can occur
after drinks and there could be casualties. Sometimes, these risks
can't be avoided. It's better if you have local friends who may be
able to help you when things go wrong.'
The officer said she understood Mr Shane's frustration over the
Thai policemen being 'not conversant in English' when handling
their case. She added that courses are conducted for police
officers to help them deal with foreigners in distress, but in less
developed areas, some officers find it hard to deal with such
cases.
'With training, the situation is getting better, but it's not the
same standard as Bangkok police yet,' she said.
Normally, in cases involving foreigners, the relevant embassy would
be notified.
The embassy would then contact the Thai authorities for help.
The officer advised Mr Shane to report the incident to the
Singapore Embassy in Bangkok
