ScandAsia Thailand - January 2016

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From Pattaya to Nashville

Ib Ottesengoes on a musical journey

ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish residents in Thailand. We also publish a ScandAsia magazine in China, Singapore and the rest of South East Asia.

Your FREEScandAsia Magazine in Thailand

Please sign up for your own FREE copy: www.scandasia.comPublisher : 211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29Prasert Manukitch RoadChorakae Bua, Lad PraoBangkok 10230, ThailandTel. +66 2 943 7166-8, Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: [email protected] Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Mø[email protected] Editor :Joakim [email protected] : Finn Balslev [email protected] [email protected] Kalikanon [email protected] [email protected]

Graphic Designer : Peerapol [email protected]

Printing : Inthanon Interprint Co., Ltd.

Daily news and features here:www.scandasia.com

Coming Events

Check it Out...!!

DTCC Networking Event: Launch of the DTCC Yearbook 2016

Grand evening: Seafood under the StarsWhere: The Garden of the Ambassador’s residence on 74 Sukhumvit soi 38, BangkokWhen: Thursday 28 January 18:30 - 22:00

Where: Kvik Thonglor, 992 Soi Sukhumvit 55, Sukhumvit RD.When: 14 January 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Be the first to get your hands on the DTCC 2016 Yearbook!

DTCC invites you to attend the official launch of the Yearbook Thursday 14th of January at KVIK Thonglor. Join us and enjoy Danish Flæskestegssandwich and Hot Dogs from Fyn Bakery as well as free Carlsberg beer.

Fee: FREE for DTCC membersTHB 400 for non-members (incl. yearbook)

**You can also send an E-mail to [email protected] or call 02-354-5220 to book your ticket.

Not only is this a great way to satisfy one’s tastebuds, but also a perfect opportunity to invite your local customers, clients, and associates as well as your colleagues and friends for a grand networking dinner.

Chef Markus Dybwad: With a record of accomplishment from Michelin starred restaurants such as Restaurant Bagatelle in Norway, Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in UK, Iggys and Equinox in Singapore, Norwegian born Chef Markus Dybwad is taking his experience to Asia to give you the best of what can be offered of cold water seafood. Chef Markus has through his curious nature been introduced to the traditional Norwegian cooking, the fine dining cuisine of the Fat Duck, the French style in Paris, and through nearly three years around Asia, the Eastern palette. This has developed into a food philosophy where styles, flavours and traditions are pieces of the puzzle leading to the ultimate moment of the guest satisfaction.

Dresscode: Smar t casual . Sign up to [email protected]

Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce welcomes you to their most beautiful event of the year : The grand evening with Seafood under the Stars, taking place in the garden of H.E. Ambassador Kjetil Paulsen’s residence. Seafood from Norway will be served in beautiful surroundings.

www.scandshop.in.th

4 ScandAsia.Thailand • January 2016

News Brief

On Monday 14 December, the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok organized a traditional Lucia event, showcasing one

of the biggest cultural traditions in Sweden - Saint Lucia Day. 440 guests from the diplomatic community, private sector, alumni network and local authorities attended the reception to watch the candlelit Lucia procession in the beautiful garden of Sukothai Hotel.

Upon arrival the guest were welcomed with traditional Swedish Christmas treats; sweet saffron buns (lussekatter), ginger snap coockies (pepparkakor) and, of course, Swedish mulled wine – a spiced, sugared and hot Christmas drink.

The evening proceeded with a welcome speech by Ambassador Staffan Herrström and a beautiful Lucia procession with 30 girls and boys in long white gowns, as well as little Santas and star boys, singing traditional Christmas songs in Swedish.

Afterwards, writes the embassy, a traditional Swedish Christmas smorgasbord (julbord) was served to the tunes of Christmas carols, The Lucia celebration was without doubt much appreciated by the guests and a memorable evening for everyone involved!Photo credits: Korawut Neeparn

Sweden celebrates Lucia in Bangkok

January 2016 • ScandAsia.Thailand 5


News Brief

EABC launches Thailand Import Export Guide

On 26 November the European Association for Business and Commerce in Thailand held their launch event of

the inaugural edition of the Thailand Impor t Expor t Guide, which aims at equipping Thai - European SMEs with deeper understanding of regulations and processes concerning the import and export of products, in and out of the Kingdom of Thailand.

EABC Executive Director Mr Peter Björk

introduced the audience of Thai and foreign business community representatives to EABC and gave an outline of the guide. It facilitates increased trade and investment between Thailand and the EU, and helps European companies to take advantage of business opportunities in Thailand.

The Thailand Import Export Guide provides an over view of regulations and processes concerning the import and export of products

On 25 November 2015 the Swedish Embassy joined UN Women in support of the HeForShe movement, a campaign

aiming to engage boys and men as agents of change for the achievement of gender equality.Gender equality is often seen as a fight for wom-en by women, but without support from men, it will be impossible to advance women’s rights and end the discrimination as well as violence against women.The #HeForShe campaign is a solidarity move-ment for gender equality, and brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of the humanity, for the benefit of all. Almost 10,000 Swedish men have already joined the movement. The Embassy hopes that in the next few months at least 10,000 Thai men will also have done so.The embassy has also proudly introduced its first HeForShe Ambassador, Mr. Prom, Senior Vice President of Strategy at Asia Plus Group Holdings PCL. Prom earlier spent seven years with Tetra Pak, the world’s largest packaging company and with a Swedish heritage.

Mr. Prom takes every opportunity he can to make a difference in organizations he serves and in society at large. He is lends his full support to this campaign because he strongly believes in gender equality. In addition, his father’s Scandinavian background makes him feel a close connection with the Embassy.

“I believe Thailand can become more competitive on the global scale and operate more effectively as a country when men and women enjoy equal rights,” he said. “The strengths and capabilities of women as human resources tend to be overlooked where gender disparities persist. If gender gaps are narrowed and both men and women enjoy equal opportunities, I think Thailand will become more prosperous.”

Together with Mr. Prom and its colleagues at UN Women, the Embassy of Sweden hopes to contribute to the improvement of gender equality in Thailand, leading up to the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Women.

Anyone can support the HeForShe initiative and the Embassy’s effor t by making one’s commitment on www.heforshe.orgSources: www.soundsoffreedom.com, www.swedenabroad.comPhoto of Mr. Prom Sirisant: Asia Plus Group Holdings PCL.Photo: Thomas Engström

in and out of Thailand. It will be updated and published annually, and is for sale as a printed book for THB 600.

Its five sections are: 1) A snapshot of the Trade relationship between Thailand and the EU. 2) General overview of the Export and Import Process in Thailand. 3) FTAs and tax privileges that companies in the import export business in Thailand may benefit from. 4) Explaining the regulations governing impor t and expor t, to and from Thailand. 5) Information on common mistakes to avoid and useful tips for companies as well as present case studies.

Among the content section three lists duty reduction and exemption and section five include case studies from the food import process as well as non-alcoholic beverage import process.

The launch also offered an interesting keynote address on the topic of “Customs and Trade Facilitation”, supporting Thailand as a regional hub and trading nation, from Mr.Chaiyut Kumkun, who has vast experience from the Thai Customs Department.

Mr. Chaiyut shared his views that there are four keywords for facilitating the customs which are Transparency, Consistency, Accountability, Interconnectivity and Integrity and Dynamics. He outlined the recent changes in the legislative framework and the revisions of customs laws that are in process. In order to streamline all customs laws are being gathered to become the ‘Code of Customs Laws’.

Embassy of Sweden campaigns HeForShe in Thailand


News Brief

Her Excellency, Ambassador of Finland to Thailand, Kirsti Westphalen, hosted the

last TFCC (Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commere) Networking event of the year at her Residence on Wednesday 16 December 2015

The 130 guests included the members and partners of TFCC and top management from international and Thai companies. Dr. Kongkiti from Kasetsart University had also invited many Thai teachers to this event that highlighted the Education project between Thailand and Finland. Naturally the most famous Finnish guest came all the way from Korvatunturi, Finland. Santa Claus has time for TFCC every year!

TFCC is very happy to realise how many new companies want to join in our Chamber as new members and par tners and the new year 2016 looks very promising for us as we thrive to make this Chamber a very strong Nordic Chamber helping our members to prosper in their business in Thailand and in South East Asia.Photos: Benjamin Suomela

TFCC Networking event at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence

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oplysninger om uddannelsen,

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News Brief

‘‘I’m proud to have introduced Norwegian food culture into Thailand,” says Linda Eiksund, owner of Linda’s Restaurant in Pattaya.

On Christmas Eve 2015 her team and guests cheered in the Norwegian schnapps to celebrate their tenth anniversary of the restaurant. Combining two symbolic days required a great celebration.

“As our birthday was on Christmas day we celebrate together with our customers with birthday cake and sparkling wine. And of course, a lot of traditional Norwegian Christmas dishes!”

Linda Eiksund is half Norwegian and half Chinese, and lived 20 years in Norway. She wanted to present her beloved Norwegian cuisine to Asia. On Christmas Eve 2005 she opened her restaurant at Jomtien Beach in Pattaya.

“For me the highest pleasure is to present the Norwegian dishes for others. We were very lucky with the restaurant from the beginning, and we achieved popularity from both the Scandinavian and Thai society here”.

Opening a restaurant was not even on the drawing table when Linda moved to Thailand 11 years ago.

“When I moved to Thailand I told all my friends and family that I was going to retire and be a normal housewife”.

But after one year, Linda established what is now one of the landmark restaurants in Pattaya.

“I realised I was too young to only go shopping and doing house works. Even though the world’s economic future looked quite downhill, I wanted to do something. I wanted to give people the chance to taste Norwegian food”.

Linda’s Restaurant was born, and has since then continued to find pleasure in giving their customers higher standards as they could improve as time went by.

According to Linda it is specially the Thai ladies who love the Norwegian menu at Linda’s Restaurant. The Norwegian salmon is their number one favorite. Linda agrees with them.

“Honestly, no doubt my favorite food is Norwegian food. Nothing beats our Fresh Airborne Norwegian Salmon from the Norwegian Fjords”.

Linda’s in Pattaya celebrated 10 years on Christmas Eve

The menu is based on the mountains and fjords of Norway and consists of every specialty and festive dish from the cold country in the North. Over the years she has established a more modern menu considering the constant development of new recipes, and added both Thai and international dishes. However it is still the Norwegian dishes such as “fårikål”, “lutefisk”, lamb meat and “pinnekjøtt” that are bestsellers.

Also, Linda loves to celebrate all the typical Norwegian holidays and festivals, which makes the restaurant a great place to gather with good friends, family and the marvelous Norwegian cuisine. Linda’s appreciates the many years of making hungry guests happy and satisfied.

“Without the great help from my staff and friends around me it would not have been possible to have achieve where Linda’s Restaurant stands today. Together we will continue to improve the restaurant as we have always done”.

By Maria Andreasdottir


News Brief

This past weekend the Bangkok Street Show took over Lumpini Park in Bangkok. Some 40 acts from around the world

performed some 120 shows a day. There were magicians, jugglers, acrobatics, and much more.One of the talents is Swedish world famous magician Charlie Caper. He has performed in 40 countries in seven languages. It’s the first time he does organised shows in Thailand. Back in 2007 he did freelance shows at backpacker street Khao San Road. He showed his magic once a

week and lived on the tips for the rest of the week. Great memories he recalls.

Charlie Caper was one of the founders of the Stockholm Street Festival a few years back and he won Sweden got talent in 2009.

He says it is great to back and he is excited to do nine shows over three days at the festival.

Swedish magician at the Bangkok Street Show

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From Pattaya to Nashville

Ib Ottesengoes on a musical journey


Peter left for the US in early September, taking a group of 20 people from his fan club ‘VESTHVENNERNE’ on this trip, first stop New York, to retrace the footsteps of a young Bob Dylan. Then on to Nashville, where they toured the famous music strip, Grand Ole Opry, the Nashville Country Hall of Fame, the newly opened Johnny Cash museum etc.

The Peter Vesth fan club group returned to Denmark on 15th September, and I arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn Nashville with butterflies in my stomach late in the afternoon on the 16th, and met up with Peter.

Nashville is the undisputable Capital of Country and western music. Arriving in the airport you are met with guitars hanging from the ceiling and C&W bands playing in the airport restaurants from morning till late. Down at the city center bars with live bands are lining Broadway left and right playing nearly around the clock. Not many are paid a salary, but rely solely on the tips bucket being passed around very frequently. They all have CD recordings for sale to the audience. Most of them are dressed Nashville style in Cowboy hats and Leather boots. Nearly everyone you meet in Nashville, from a bar waitresses to the taxi drivers, introduce themselves as working at least part time in the music industry. One taxi driver showed me pictures of him touring Denmark as a drummer with a well-known heavy metal band called King Diamond. It is kind of like Los Angeles, where everyone is a sort of part time actor while still flipping hamburgers in the local diner.

Next morning after breakfast, a taxi took us to the County Q recording studio, where we met up with the Danish accordion virtuoso Kristian Rusbjerg, who was also going to record an album with mostly Peter Vesth compositions. Eventually Kristian also ended up playing accordion on one of my songs.

I had never been in a recording studio before, and had not much idea what to expect. However, I could not stop myself from spending some time lingering over the decoration in the reception room. Lining the walls were framed gold CD’s and thank you letters from various famous artists like Randy Travis, George Strait among others, who had recorded their hits at the studio. I felt quite small in a huge and new world.

I had in advance mailed demo recordings including lyrics of the songs I had decided to record. However, this first day, I was just there to get acquainted with Paul Scholten, the Studio owner, the musicians and sound engineers, and to observe how Peter’s recording session was progressing.

What you do in Nashville is that you book the studio for one or two sessions. First session is from 10 am till 1 pm. Second session is from 2 pm till 5 pm. The Recording Studio will book the Studio musicians whom are mostly working freelance. Bookings must be done well in advance if you want to book specific musicians.

The A-team, which Peter had booked for us, had played on several of his previous recordings. So he knew each of them well. They were quite old, and they really knew their stuff. They had all been on the road with several famous artists, and could tell many funny stories from their tours with celebrities like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson among others. Maybe too old for the rigorous

Ib Ottesen came to Thailand as a 21 year old trainee to be a merchant

marine officer. But having arrived Bangkok, he took leave and instead

made a living for himself playing guitar and singing songs mostly by

e.g. John Denver and Johnny Cash every night at a bar called Cloud 9

in Patpong.

“For four hours every night, just me. That was hard work, but I was

not the one to be complaining. I was paid 200 baht a night,” Ib Ottesen

told ScandAsia a few years ago.

Since then, Ib Ottesen has come far and is today a major developer

of residential apartments in Pattaya.

Recently, Ib Ottesen’s past as a music performer took a new turn

when he was given the once-in-lifetime opportunity to go on a music

recording trip to the music mecca of Nashville, U.S.A!

It all began when Ib visited Denmark in the summer of 2014 and

there stumbled upon a good old friend from the early 1970’s, the well-

known Danish singer-songwriter Peter Vesth, who had continued on his

musical path and become very successful. Peter has recorded a total of

50 albums, and had numerous Dansktop-hits. In the early days Ib and

Peter had played music together.

Peter invited Ib and his wife Kannikar out for dinner and they played

some of their respective new songs to each other, which immediately

prompted Peter to suggest that Ib should join him for recordings of

those songs in Nashville, where he would go the following year!

Initialy, Ib had turned down the idea thinking that his songs were not

intended for any others than his wife and their little dog (who Ib says hides

under the bed when he starts playing). But eventually he changed his mind.

In the following, Ib Ottesen shares this unique experience with

ScandAsia’s readers:

Recording in Nashville was definitely not something that ever entered my mind. That summer we kept in touch though, and Peter would often bring up the Nashville subject, asking me to

seriously reconsider. However, after returning to Thailand, Kannikar

eventually convinced me to go. ”Why not,” she said. “You should go, you have

written some good songs, and it could be fun.” Back in Denmark for Christmas, I met up with

Peter again. He took it on himself to fix the dates in September, book the studio and the A-team musicians. Peter had by then recorded 11 albums

in Nashville over a 20-year period at the same studio, so arrangements were safe in his hands.

While September still felt a long way off it was soon rapidly approaching, and I was starting to have creeping second thoughts. I had played a very small part in the Danish music scene in the early 70’es. I had even tried to make a name for myself in the Bars in Bangkok’s Patpong road in 1973. That was when you could still park a car in Patpong, before guitar players gave way for go-go dancers, and the audience was mostly American soldiers on R&R from the Vietnam War, and the hostesses wore long black or red evening gowns. However that was now a very long time ago.

By Ib Ottesen


tour schedules, they had now settled in Nashville and made a living out of being studio musicians. They were very professional. They all arrived early at the studio, and had their instruments ready, tuned, with new strings when the session started.

I was scheduled to start the next day. But having seen now how the recording was done, and the laid back attitude of all involved, the butterflies in my stomach had now completely disappeared, and I was ready and eager to get started.

Next morning Peter was at the breakfast table.

“So, how are you doing’ are you ready to give it a go?” was his way of saying good morning.

“Ready and eager,” I said, “I can’t wait, let’s do it!”

At the studio, Paul Sch, who also was to be my drummer and co-producer, gathered everyone in the sound engineers big room equipped with sofas, chairs and coffee. A demo of my song to be recorded would be played while Paul would make what is called the Nashville Number System Char t for each of the musicians. In Nashville they don’t use the chords C-D-E-F-G-A-B etc. Instead they use this customized system, which is a method of transcribing music by denoting the scale degree on which a chord is built. So effectively in the key of C would be.

C=1,D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7. In the key of B♭, the numbers would be B♭=1, C=2, D=3, E♭=4, F=5, G=6, A=7

The musicians, having heard my song only once, and armed with this chart would then each go into a small sound proof room with a big glass window, and I would go into my own little room. We would all be connected through headphones.

Setting it up this way, meant, that if anyone would make a mistake, only this par ticular instrument or song line would need to be tracked again.

Tracking is essentially the process of recording songs. The name comes from the fact that each instrument is recorded individually and given its own “track” in the mix,

I was pretty amazed, that they were able to play my songs just armed with this number chart, and the specific tempo. The solo instruments would do some additional adjusting, Paul would come with some special sound effects, and I would do the singing 2-3 times, and basically that was pretty much how each song was made. The engineer could then mix from 2-3 takes, to get the best result.

On average one song would take close to 1 hour to do. So after two full days of a total of twelve quite exhausting hours, I had completed the thir teen songs that I had chosen for this album.

I had booked another 3-hour session on the third day to add choir and harmony vocals to my album. I was blessed with having two outstanding singer-songwriters in their own right to be my choir. Julie Burton and Jess Leary. I had met Jess Leary in Denmark the previous year, where she toured with Peter on his Grand Christmas tour. Jess had written a Number 1 hit called ‘Where the Green Grass Grows’ for the American country and Western artist Tim McGraw, so I was in really good company.

I had chosen three songs for each of them, which I felt would match each of their distinctive vocals. They had obviously done this kind of work often before, and did not need much guidance. A

few takes, and they had elevated my songs to a whole new level.

My album was finished by now. Nothing more I could do, though I still had to spend a lot of time with the Sound engineers doing the mixing and mastering. Mixing is the process of blending all the individual tracks in a recording to create a version of the song that sounds as good as possible. Mastering is the process of turning a collection of songs into an album and combining them to create a final master for manufacturing. Or – it’s making your music sound the best it can be.

It is quite amazing, sitting next to the sound engineer with your headphones on, listening to how Nashville can transform the simple music you’ve made at home in your bedroom in Pattaya into, in my own humble opinion, quite fantastic soundtracks. It was definitely worth the experience and effort, but also the considerable expense to work with some of the best musicians in the industry!

Two days later I picked up my finished album on a 32 GB memory stick. All of my effort and at times anxiety stashed neatly in this little stick was a little difficult to comprehend.

The whole trip was quite an extraordinary experience, and I am grateful to Peter for being persistent and making this possible and in the end quite easy; to all the brilliant musicians and sound engineers, who did their utmost to make this album sound better than I had imagined; to Paul for all his musical ideas; and to “Ace” for always being there, when we needed a driver.

I will forever be indebted to Jess Leary for arranging the unforgettable Melanie evening, and to my wife Kannikar for her always valuable input and suggestions. Even my little d


When the temper a ture reaches over 30 degrees in Thailand, the song “do they know it’s Christmas time at all?” gets a new meaning.

But for the Danes in Bangkok, on Friday 27 November, the answer was a clear “Yes, we do!”

More than 200 Danes gathered for a traditional Danish Christmas Lunch in the garden of the Danish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. The annual event by Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce awakens the Christmas spirit with live music, Christmas games, loads of Danish Christmas delicacies and not to forget; Aalborg Akvavit!

A Danish Christmas Lunch is all about spending time with loved ones and eating, drinking and having fun. This one was no different, and beside the hot weather, the summer outfits and the fact that a Christmas Lunch was held outdoor, it was almost like being in Denmark.

Especially because of the food; the enormous Christmas buffet contained no less than 33 dishes, with everything from homemade liverpaté, smoked salmon, tar telets, “karrysild”, roasted pork, and ris a la mande. This is one of the only events hosted in Thailand where the table does not offer plain rice.

During the day a Christmas quiz began, and each table was handed a paper of 13 questions, and had to clear their mind off Akvavit and focus on the game. Unfor tunately, a rumour said google was appeared to be the most clear-headed competitor for this game. Therefore Asbjorn Overgaard Christiansen, Head of trade Department, took the job as watchdog and kept an eye on people’s smartphones. It has still not been confirmed if the winner table knew all the answers by themselves, but the Christmas spirit and peace reigned, and there were no hard feelings this day.

The many sponsors of this event had donated many prizes for the Christmas Lottery. Lucky Danes won luxury hotel stays, a weekend getaway, beautiful china from Royal Copenhagen and even a table set among many other lovely gifts!

For the rest of the guests the Christmas lunch was a present itself. The Danish ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther had kindly offered his garden as location for this event, but unfortunately he could not participate himself.

Both Thais and Danes had a blast, and regardless of the tropical surroundings, the Danish Christmas spirit was born on 27 November 2015.

Danish Christmas Lunch in 34 degreesBy Maria Andreasdottir


‘Disaster relief solutions in Asia’ was in focus as Business Sweden and the Embassy of Sweden, Bangkok, arranged a private sector par tnership workshop

and matchmaking event on 1 December 2015.Suppor ted by the UN Office for the

Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) ’Working with business to strengthen disaster preparedness and response in Thailand and Asia-Pacific’ was in focus as a delegation of Swedish SMEs offering a wide range of niche products attended.

The workshop was part of the delegation’s visit to Thailand and the Philippines – countries identified by Sweden in “great need” of such solutions for assistance. Both countries are currently working on improving the level of preparedness and resilience to disasters, contributing to the delegation’s relevance.

Thailand is each year affected by floods of different propor tions and its proximity to ear thquake zones also makes it exposed. Philippines are hit by many storms annually.

The workshop was an opportunity for the business delegation and these agencies to meet and learn from each other how collaborations and procurement opportunities can materialize,

based on where the Swedish products can match with specific needs.

Bangkok is also the Asia Pacific hub and centre for decision-making for many UN Agencies and programmes, enabling-relationship building on a strategic Asian level.

Multilateral development organizations and local relief organizations attended the workshop, which was opened by Sweden’s Ambassador to Thailand, Mr Staffan Herrström.

Sweden is one of the wor ld’s leading humanitarian donors, working to promote an effective and principles-based humanitarian system that is capable of coming to the aid of the world’s most vulnerable, wherever disaster strikes.

Sweden is a deeply engaged, staunch supporter of the UN, so Ambassador Herrström began by highlighting that humanitarian and development assistance is “in our DNA”.

“We care. Also our products and solutions have proven track record,” said the Ambassador and pointed to the participating delegation as Swedish SMEs that reflect the entrepreneurial spirit in Sweden.

He continued to highlight how greatly Thailand had responded to the 2004 tsunami and how this has resulted in the warning system

swedish solutions within disaster relief in thailandBy Joakim Persson

We help them to develop business cases and come

up with a roadmap to strengthen preparedness and create cross-border linkages. A major disaster may strike

in one country but if that country is a transportation

hub it will impact other countries.


that Sweden as a partner contributed to being realized.

“Against this background it is natural to continue within disaster response, where one way is to make use of knowledge, and capacity from the private sector via private sector partnerships.”

He a lso inv i ted the par t ic ipants to opportunities for private sector collaborations within SIDA’s regional cooperation and welcomed ideas for that.

Then Mr Markus Werne, Head of the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific followed, pointing out the critical importance of strong partnerships.

Humanitar ian responses are stretched worldwide and will continue to be so and there is thus a big need to find new resources, he said, as only 20 per cent goes to natural disasters; the rest to conflict zones.

He said that par tnerships rather than sponsorship should be in focus. Both expertise and funds are needed, where the goal is to be able to have a well-coordinated response to disasters.

A r e g i ona l bu s i ne s s con su l t a t i on recommended that there was more to be more to be done to engage with the private sector.

Being self-critical Mr Werne said that OCHA is supply rather than demand-driven; “pushing what the have”.

With the Philippines as example food etc. is only needed in the first month, followed by a transition into a cash program, with a shift towards accountability of receivers.

“And delivery has to go faster than us as humanitarians are able to, using military and the private sector. One of our challenges is to provide the private sector with guidance what we would like to see from them.”

Among those who do contr ibute to disaster relief with speed is Ericsson Response, a volunteer init iat ive that suppor ts UN and humanitarian workers with emergency telecoms suppor t, which was introduced by Rober to Munoz. 140 specially trained employees provide communications expertise, equipment and resources to assist humanitarian relief organizations in responding faster and more effectively when disaster strikes, such as in the aftermath of the 2014 typhoon in the Philippines.

As for making the disaster-prone Asia Pacific more disaster-resilient the Asian Disaster Prepardness Center (ADPC) this NGO’s Thailand Director, Dr. Peeranan Towashiraporn,

highlighted the need to prepare for disasters to come and that history shows that businesses and the private sector often are hit hard. He brought up the latest major flooding in Thailand as example, which resulted in supply chains disruptions and loss of jobs.

“This is one thing one often forgets. The private sector is usually victims but can play an active role in preparedness.”

ADPC started helping businesses to build disaster preparedness and recovery planning after the latest flooding.

“We help them to develop business cases and come up with a roadmap to strengthen preparedness and create cross-border linkages. A major disaster may strike in one country but if that country is a transportation hub it will impact other countries.”

Dr. Peeranan also pointed out that businesses are also there to ultimately help communities.

“These businesses have a deeper reach than anyone else.”

A panel discussion on the strategic approach to pr ivate sector engagement came next, where Mr Brian Kelly from the International Organization for Migration highlighted areas where they can work together with the private sector ; among them tapping into services and products from vendors, such as the Swedish companies.

”Within shelters in this region we do massive procurement, with vendors that are usually in China and India. But we try to focus on how we can do more local procurement and how we can get international standards to be met. We’d like to see more going into local society.”

Middle income countries that do not require the external assistance, he added.

“I am seeing more and more people as recipients, where the private sector is getting more into delivering to their community.”

The private sector has high capacity in terms of speed, and sometimes volume to set up disaster relief and respond. This region holds excellent opportunities for collaboration with the private sector,” thought Markus Werne

“Businesses have expertise. On the other hand you [relief organisations] have expertise to plan and coordinate. This is really where the opportunity is,” Dr. Peeranan filled in.

This was followed by ‘Lessons learned and exper iences gained in pr ivate sector engagements in emergency response’, and a panel discussion on challenges and key successes factors.

A United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction representative brought up that sustainable resilient development is crucial in 2015, with a new framework that reduces disaster risk.

“The impact of those disasters depends on societies and how we build our societies.”

United Nations partners with the private sector because 75 per cent or more of GDP is controlled by it and with disasters being an actual issue!

“Disaster risk management is simply good business; to be exposed but not vulnerable!”

Swedish Ambassador Staffan Herrström Erik Eklund, representing CybAero


Did you know that Lumpini Police Station offers a helping hand when it comes to translation? There is a group of high educated people, from many different countries,

with fluent Thai, who are willing to translate for you when you visit the station for one or another reason.

Most of us non-Thai speaking persons know how hard - almost impossible - it is to report a robbery, stolen belongings or something else’s that needs the help of the police, if you don’t speak Thai. But at Lumpini Police Station you will find Peter Fretten there to help you most days of the week. Peter is a coordinator for a Liaison Translation program and he spends hours at the police station giving both foreigners and the police a helping hand. In almost all cases involving foreigners, either Peter or one of his associates is involved.

This jovial man, with a glint in his eyes, arrived to Thailand in 1988. He came here to set up a company “inlingua”. His background is interesting. He has seen many countries in the world and speaks several languages fluently. Just to mention a few, Indonesian, English (Mother tongue) and Hindi, as I said, just to mention some. He tried to

explain to us, me and photographer Daniel, his way of learning a language. It sounded so easy and logical, but still I think you have to have a real talent and an ear for languages. He explained that he always listen to people very carefully when they speak and then he starts counting and suddenly he adds nouns, verbs, adverbs and so on…

Inlingua, is a successful language school with branches all over in Thailand, 19 altogether, Peter worked 6 years for this company and he had only positive things to say about the company. He has also worked in India, Singapore and Indonesia and of course, Europe. He worked also for the company Q Translation that later on was taken over by 2 Swedes and today is a very successful company named EQHO.

Peter is married to a Thai woman who works as a nursing registrar. She must have an angel’s patience and a lot of understanding I assume, as she sees her husband not very often. Peter seems to be dedicated to his volunteer job at the Lumpini Police Station and sitting listening to his stories, is like reading the most exciting crimes. He is involved in many big cases here in Thailand regarding foreigners and is a frequently working at the court, doing translations. The policemen

at the Lumpini Station seem happy to have him around and they showed him a great deal of respect. Even during our talk, you could notice that Peter followed everything that was going on and listened all the time with an ear and eyes carefully trained.

During our hours at the station, the Swedish volunteer worker Eva was handling a few cases. There was a woman who was disappointed and felt cheated on by a tailor, another woman had had her mobile stolen and some guys were high and just wanted the staff to give them a fork or spoon so they could eat their street food. You see all kind of people and the strangest cases. You really felt the release the foreigners found when they were helped with translation.

To become a member of Peter’s group of translators, you have to be fluent in Thai and showing responsibility and willing to give something to the country. In 2006 a big meeting was organized and 50 persons came, but when they heard they had to be fluently in Thai, many dropped out and they were left with 7 people. Today the group consists of 16 people from different countries and they work one – two days a week, except Peter who is present most days of the week. The shift starts at 9 am and goes to 2

Helping team at Lumpini Police station!By Agneta


Helping team at Lumpini Police station!pm and next 2 pm until 7 pm and the last 7 pm until midnight. In fact the first working day was New Year’s Eve in 2007. During a normal day, they handle about 5 to 7 cases with foreigners involved and that during 365 days a year since 2007. That means, they have helped more than 20.000 people and more are to come.

People, working with Peter, have to understand how the Thai legal system works and he is more than willing to teach them. After all these years and all the cases he has been taken care of, he knows the Thai law and system like a lawyer or even better.

What kind of cases does you face I asked and Peter answered, “Rape cases, death among family members, missing persons, suicides, drug addicted persons etc.” He asked me if I know what the most common drug is that lead in many cases to death?” I guessed maybe Ecstasy, but Peter shook his head and said VIAGRA.”

Many men come to Thailand and buy Viagra, find a women and want to perform to their best, take maybe two Viagra tablets and what happens, one part of the body jumps (read stands) of happiness, but the heart stops and he falls dead…Well, when I think about it, I am sure Peter is 100% right. So men, take it easy, don’t overdo the sex and be careful with the Viagra tablets.

At our visit, my Swedish friend Eva was on duty. Eva was born in Bangkok and has lived almost all her life here, except a couple of years when she was in boarding school in Sweden. She is sometimes more Thai than Swedish in her way of thinking. She does look very Swedish with her blond hair and fair skin. Eva speaks fluently Thai and married into an old settled Thai family.

How come that she works at Lumpini? Well, that’s my fault or merit. I had a Swiss friend who, after a long wine dinner at my home, forgot a packet in a taxi trunk on her way back to the hotel and I later on had to see if I could find this taxi driver and get the packet back - and then Eva offered to help!

First we went to Lumpini police station and there was a guy named Simon, who was working as a translator and when he heard Eva speaking Thai to the police officers, he immediately asked her to start helping them. We were at the wrong police station and had to visit another station, responsible for the area where the taxi had let my friend out. Eva started to explain again and I was so happy to have her next to me as I would never have managed to explain the situation to the police myself. It was a quite special atmosphere in that police station and the officers were almost a bit flirty with us.

The police very soon found the taxi driver who came and returned the packet and my Swiss friend was more than happy. I really encouraged my friend Eva to start as a translator in Peter’s team, as she was a bit hesitating from the beginning. Today I think she really enjoys her job and she has become a much appreciated team member.

Before Daniel and I left, we were curious to find out what Peter does for living, as this job is not a payed one. He explained that he works in business consulting and legal investigations. He assists people in understanding the Thai system and law and he finished by saying, “Money is not all”.

This team of translators only works at the Lumpini Police Station today, but give a hand sometimes if you should contact another station and you are in big need of help. “Where there is a will, there is a way “seems to be Peter’s pro word.

Our meeting was supposed to be about an hour, but we stayed for several hours and had such an interesting time and now we, for sure, know whom to call if we, by accident, should end up needing some assistance. Peter, if someone, who might be your rescuer.

People, working with Peter, have to

understand how the Thai legal system works and he is more than willing to teach them. After all these years and all the

cases he has been taken care of, he knows the

Thai law and system like a lawyer or even better.


By Klavs Johansen ([email protected])

มุมภาษาไทย l mum pha:să: thai l Thai Language Corner

For many people, Thailand i s a p leasant hol iday destination for a couple of weeks or so. The time passes only too fast with

sightseeing, shopping, sampling the food or just relaxing, enjoying the warm climate at the pool or seaside. Others stay on for longer as expats, enjoying the same things, though many have to work, usually quite a lot compared to Northern European standards. Some expats are in Thailand as accompanying spouses or as pensioners, usually, if not necessarily, with more time on their hand.

In any case, whether vising Thailand as a tourist or staying on as an expat, most people will sooner or later feel a need to fill the free time with other activities than those already mentioned. This month’s Thai Language Corner is dedicated to listing vocabulary for a selection of some such activities. Naturally, we shall, in making our selection, focus on activities of special relevance to Thailand. Even so, we cannot cover all.

We have formerly mentioned sports as one of the shortcuts to understanding more of Thai culture. Some easily accessible spor ts in Thailand are:ฟุตบอล / fút bor:n / ~ football, tremendously popular in Thailand and

common ground for understanding, even if the language may not be quite up to it, and we haveเตะฟุตบอล / tè’ fút bor:n / ~ to play football,สนามฟุตบอล / sànă:m fút bor:n / ~ football field, station.การว่ายน้ำา / ka:n wâ:i ná:m / ~ swimming, where ว่ายน้ำา / wâ:i ná:m / ~ to swim, andสระว่ายน้ำา / sà’ wâ:i ná:m / ~ a swimming pool, the nearest of which should never be far in Thailand.การวิ่ง / ka:n wîng / ~ running, jogging, whereวิ่ง / wîng / ~ to run, andสวน / sŭan / ~ a park, which is a good place to run at sunrise.ก า ร ปั่ น จั ก ร ย า น / ka:n pàn jàkkràya:n / ~ bicycling, whereปั่น / pàn / ~ to spin,จักรยาน / jàkkràya:n / ~ a bicycle,ปั่นจักรยาน / pàn jàkkràya:n / ~ to cycle,เส้นทางจักรยาน / sên tha:ng jàkkràya:n / ~ bicycle lane, yes, they are coming and much needed.Large traditional Thai sports are:ตะกร้อ / tàkrôr: / ~ sepak takraw is popular in most of Southeast Asia. It resembles volleyball, two teams and a net, however, in contrast to volleyball, a rattan ball is used and players may not use their hands, instead kicking or heading the ball across the net. You will see it played

all over Thailand, mainly by young men, at schools, at vacant grounds in residential areas and even in the parking lots of factories during lunch hour. As such it not hard to give it a try and the ball, ลูกตะกร้อ / lû:k tàkrôr: /, is sold at markets and in department stores.มวยไทย / muai thai / ~ thai boxing is wor ld-famous and probably requires no fur ther introduction. Foreigners come to Thailand in increasing numbers to study this hard-hitting martial art.นักมวย / nák muai / ~ a boxer,ต่อยมวย / tòri muai / ~ to box,ค่ายมวย / khâ:i muai / ~ boxing gym, boxing school, you will find them in most larger towns and tourist areas, as well as เวทีมวย / we:thi: muai / ~ a boxing arena, boxing ring.Exhausted by sports you may enjoyนวด / nûat / ~ a massage, to massage. Look for the sign in Thai sayingนวดแผ่นโบราณ / nûat phàen bo:ra:n / ~ ancient massage , traditional massage.

You could also learn it yourself and become a realหมอนวด / mŏr: nûat / ~ a masseur, where หมอ / mŏr: / actually means doctor.

Classes are offered several places in Thailand, most famously at the massage school at Wat Pho

in Bangkok.Another popular activity in

recent years has been Thai cooking classes. You may look for โรงเรียนสอนทำาอาหาร / ro:ng rian sŏr:n tham a:hă:n / ~ cooking school. For food related vocabulary, please refer to the Thai Language Corner in the April 2014 issue of ScandAsia Thailand.

Finally, and not surprisingly, we warmly recommend spending some leisure time learning the Thai language. As for massage schools and cooking classes, Thai language teaching is available in major towns and tourist destinations, or you can arrange private lessons from a Thai close to you anywhere in Thailand. สอนภาษาไทยให้ ได้ไหม / sŏr:n pha:să: thai hâi, dâi mái / ~ can you teach me Thai? is the question to ask. As a small, but free, supplement to your Thai teacher, you are cordially invited to join our new group on Facebook, Thai Language Corner, which has been created as a forum for readers of this column and ever yone else interested in the Thai language from a Nordic perspective. Hope to see you there!

sàwàt di: pi: màiHappy new Year!


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ScandAsia Thailand - January 2016

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