LET THE CARDS FALL

South Coast, NSW, Australia

There may have been a time when everything worked, but that time was not now. 

Where there were tourists there were scams. Thailand may have appeared in tourist brochures as one of the world's most desirable destinations; but beyond the comfortable ring of smart, over-priced hotels none of the normal protections travellers might expact actually applied. And nor could the local authorities be relied on to protect the visitors to their land. The notoriously dishonest Thai police were as much a part of the feeding frenzy as everybody else. There weren't just over-priced goods or expensive massages in the scattering of shops around the hotels, but pickpockets and thugs and the police themselves, all waiting for money to fall from the sky. The distaste in which foreigners were held was just one of the reasons why tourists were treated like wilderbeast to be hunted and slaughtered. But it was a good enough reason for the thieves to have zero conscience when it came to preying on the weak, or the deluded. Or those who strayed from the herd.

The Royal Thai Tourist Police may have been super-imposed over the local police as a way of avoiding the endemic corruption of the local authorities; but they, too, could not be relied upon by visitors; and had a poor reputation. Most tourists only spent a few days in Bangkok, a few days in the historic northern town of Chiang Mai, a week or two on the islands and were gone. If they tried to protest over being robbed; there was no point. They were long gone before any action could, or would, be taken. 

The Thai government itself had encouraged foreigners to think of the country as a comfortable place for retirement, believing the money, ideas and entrepeneurial spirit that they brought would benefit all. But in a nation of villages there was no solution, no arcing triumph. All it had led to was resentment and misunderstanding. Foreigners had money, and most could not see why it should be in someone else's pocket when it could be in theirs. A communal culture which did not value private property exacerbated the situation. Chaotic governance, from municipal to national levels, meant there was no coherent attempt to clean up  the organised thieving that charcterised places like Pattaya and the island of Phuket. Announcements of crackdowns went nowhere. Everyone with even a passing knowledge of the country knew that only one thing talked, and that was money. Whatever the alleged crime, a greased palm or a share in the proceeds soothed the way.

Thailand had promoted itself as a dream retirement destination, but all they had done was fuel the notorious xenophobia of the ethnic Thais; destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of foreigners who had fallen for the myths, and marched into a dislocated time of further disparagement, dislocation and disconnection. There was always more to come. Every day brought news of another fiasco.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/abc-undermined-the-rudd-apology/story-fn59niix-1226776488708#

THE first indigenous MP of the House of Representatives has hit out at an ABC program that compared Tony Abbott's refusal to apologise over the Indonesian spying allegations with Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations.

Ken Wyatt, who made history when he was elected to the West Australian seat of Hasluck at the 2010 poll, attacked the ABC's Behind The News for undermining the significance of the apology.

BTN, a current affairs show for school students, made the comparison in this week's program.

It showed 2008 footage of Mr Rudd making the apology and cut-aways to crowds gathered to watch the event outside Parliament House in Canberra and in Melbourne's Federation Square.

"This apology to the thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families by the Australian government in the past was a big moment for ex-PM Kevin Rudd," the narration went. It continued: "In fact, when Kevin retired, new PM Tony Abbott said it was the best thing he ever did."

It then cut to the Prime Minister's praise of Mr Rudd -- the prime minister on whose watch the Indonesian spying is alleged to have occurred -- for his historic words when he announced his retirement from politics last month.

"The member for Griffith, Kevin, he had the decency to see that here was something that needed to be done," Mr Abbott said.

The BTN report continued: "So it seems Tony is a fan of people who say sorry too. Well he was."

Mr Wyatt said the apology to the Stolen Generations, along with the 1967 referendum, "represents some of our most significant recent Australian history".

"The apology was a healing process of significant importance to many Australians, both indigenous and non-indigenous," he told The Australian.

"Any comparison of the apology with political or current affairs events undermines the significance of this momentous occasion."

Mr Wyatt's comments came as Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government's commission of audit could impose changes on the ABC.

In a letter to a voter published on the Andrew Bolt blog, Mr Turnbull says: "The government has no plans to either privatise or reduce funding to the ABC."

The letter continues: "However, the government has established a National Commission of Audit to review the scope, efficiency and functions of government. The commission has a broad remit to examine all areas of government expenditure, which would include all government-funded agencies.

"The ABC, along with other government agencies, has been invited to make a submission to the NAOC."

Mr Abbott said on Tuesday the government had "no plans" to change ABC funding but he faces pressure from backbench MPs angered at what they see as institutional bias at the taxpayer-funded broadcaster.