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Newsletter January-March 2008 Volume 34 Issue 1 |
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A copy of this Newsletter can be found at websites:
http://users.tpg.com.au/jessie4 and |
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President’s Message
ATA is delighted to acknowledge a grant of $7000 from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a project that meets the objectives of the Association.
With the cooperation of the ACT Department of Education and Training’s Access Asia Program the Association intends to use the funds to promote Thai music and dance among the younger generation of Canberrans.
In this collaborative effort I thank Access Asia’s Executive Officer Kratai Visityuthasart for her help in preparing a proposal that we are implementing. More next newsletter.
ATA is also pleased to acknowledge a $500 newsletter publications grant under the ACT Government’s 2007-2008 Multicultural Grants Program.
Ajarn Chintana Sandilands gave us another insightful presentation, on “Cross Cultural Values” which the 28 members present thoroughly enjoyed.
The Loy Krathong Dinner for 77 at the Sukothai Restaurant was enhanced by having renowned guitarist John Garzoli entertain us during the evening, and the Thai Ambassador and Group Captain Vorachat Tharechat and his wife Khun Chirumporn getting up to sing some of the compositions of His Majesty the King.
Six of us participated in social doubles tennis at the Parliament House courts thanks to Patron Annette Ellis MP obtaining the venue for our use.
On leave from Oxford University, Thai scholar and ACT Rhodes Scholar Nicholas Farrelly gave a fascinating talk on The Golden Triangle to 29 interested members.
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Calendar of Events
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Australian Picnic on a sheep farm at Cooma on Saturday 26 January at 11.30am. Progressive Dinner at Braddon, Chapman and Isaacs. Saturday 9 February at 6.30pm. Family Picnic at Weston Park, off Banks Street, Yarralumla, beside Lake Burley Griffin on Sunday 2 March at 11.30am. Autumn Thai Dinner at Alice Thai Restaurant, Olims Hotel, Braddon on Saturday 15 March at 7.00pm. Bookings essential.
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Interview with Ambassador of Thailand
This interview with H.E. Mr Bandhit Sotipalalit, Ambassador of Thailand in Australia, was conducted by Brisbane-based Thai journalist and ATA member Boom Buchanan, and originally published in the real.time section of the Bangkok Post. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of all three parties concerned.
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Wherever his duty takes him, the sound of Thai music always follows the Ambassador.
For nearly 40 years he has worked for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and has travelled to work in different countries on five continents. He has played a key role in organising and negotiating trade relations, determining conflict resolutions, and networking at high profile social functions. But, when it comes to it, the real life of Ambassador Bandhit Sotipalalit, the head of mission of the Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra, is not always about glitz and glamour.
Known to his colleagues and counterparts as “Joe”, he enjoys playing saw duang, the traditional Thai bowed stringed instrument, to help him find his feet while he is off duty. He also enjoys hunting for antiques at weekend flea markets and has found some extraordinary bargains amongst the ancient items on display – which prompted my first question.
Don’t you care about the image of an ambassador being seen shopping at a flea market?
(Laughs) No, not really. Firstly, it’s a place that is open to everyone and, secondly, they don’t say that ambassadors aren’t allowed. I enjoy browsing around looking for some good things. People call this place a “trash and treasure market” and it is indeed like the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” As far as I am concerned, I go there looking for treasures. It’s the best place to find good antiques, and you can find really good bargains.
Do people at the market know who you are?
I sometimes get to meet Thai people at the market. They recognise me and come to greet me. It is nice that they can see me in a very casual atmosphere and not only at formal functions all the time. I recall one encounter from my very first visit to the market. I drove the Mercedes, thinking we would just browse around and see what was there. I saw some interesting things on this stall and ended up buying a few items, so we had to drive the car to the back of his stall to load the stuff I’d bought. When the vendor saw the car, he looked at me as to say, “What? You bought my junk, and you drive a Mercedes?” Since then I just take the pick-up truck so that they won’t mark up the price because of the car I drive.
(At this point we are joined by the Ambassador’s wife, Saijai Sotipalalit.)
Would you agree that the diplomatic life isn’t always as glitzy as we often presume?
MADAME SAIJAI: It has never been my impression that his work as an ambassador would mean we would have a glamorous life: it was never promised, anyway. I learned that lesson when we were first posted to Burma many years back. The hospital that served most of the expatriates who lived there was just a tiny room in an old building with betel nut stains and tobacco stained spittle everywhere. I was pregnant then and I made a promise to myself that I would not have a baby here ever!
AMBASSADOR: What we see and hear in the social news is only a small part of the work of a diplomat. The hard work behind the scenes is rarely exposed so we don’t get to see how hard or unglamorous it is.
Do you agree with the saying that a diplomat is someone who’s trained to tell someone to go to hell in a way that he’ll look forward to the trip?
It’s quite a powerful remark but I think the perception that a diplomat uses his charm as a tool for his work is an old fashioned one. In today’s world, you are required to have good qualifications which are a mixture of many things: your knowledge, experience, skill, expertise and tact are all equally important. You can’t just look good and speak cleverly, and expect that’s all you need to do.
What about travel warnings? How does the Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra deal with this issue?
As much as we can, we try to present a good and accurate image of our country in the world, and strengthen the relationships with other countries. Some situations that happen in our country inevitably affect our image, and one is the travel warnings issued by other countries. In the case of the travel warnings by the Australian Government, it’s my duty to explain what has really happened in our country on different occasions, so that if possible, the travel warning can be lifted.
Understandably, though, it is the duty of any government to look after its citizens. If no warning were given, the government would risk being sued by its own citizens if something happens that they should have been warned of.
What is the greatest luxury of living the diplomatic life?
The greatest luxury for me is to be able to learn the culture of the country I’m living in and its people. It is also important for my career to understand the host country’s culture and everything it has to offer in order to build a good relationship.
Another luxury is that I like adventures and learning new things, so wherever I am sent, I can explore places and get to know people, especially the Thai communities in that country. It is a privilege to learn from them because they lived there before me, and listening to their experiences helps a lot in terms of it giving me ideas on what else I can do to make Thailand’s relationship with that country stronger.
Is there a downside to the diplomatic life?
Of course! We live here, there, and everywhere. We change homes every few years. This is not only unsettling for the adults, it also affects my children’s education and social life. Even though we speak Thai at home with our children, when they go to school, they have to speak English or the national language of whatever country they are in, so that now my son is having a huge problem in that he can’t understand Thai.
Having been in this career for nearly 40 years, and lived in so many countries, do you ever wake up saying, “Where am I?”
Sometimes, yes. Like this place for example (points at the Thai-style buildings around Royal Thai Embassy). The first couple of days I woke up and couldn’t but feel I was living in a temple compound or something (laughs). Every place is different so it takes some time to adjust, but eventually you will get used to it.
How do you find your feet?
I have my family with me, so at the end of the day, I come home to a Thai cooked meal and, if there is nothing official to do and no functions to attend, we play Thai music. With a family of four, we can have a band: my wife plays the jakhay (traditional Thai zither); I play saw duang; my daughter plays khim (dulcimer) and my son joins in with the ching (small cymbals).
This helps our family a lot in terms of allowing us to do things together at home. It’s also nice for friends who know how to play and come to join in. I proposed a project to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that we have classes to teach Thai musical instruments, so that officers can get to learn an instrument as a leisure activity.
Coming Events
Australian Picnic on a Sheep Farm at Cooma
This is a great opportunity for our Thai members to experience some Australian culture. ATA participation is courtesy of farm owners Pam & Ian Davis who host the annual Australia-Indonesia Association picnic on their property, a highlight of which is a sheep shearing demonstration by Ian, and his dogs rounding up sheep. You are asked to arrive on Saturday 26 January between 11.30am and noon.
To get there drive down the Monaro Highway towards Cooma. Just before Cooma you will see a motor repair business on the left, then Polo Flat Road on the left. Slow down and take the next right turn which is Yalakool Road. Proceed 2 km to a T-junction, turn right and continue 7-8 km, cross the Murrumbidgee River, and another 2 km you will see a gate and a sign “Yarranabbe”. Drive in leaving the gate as you find it and drive up to the house. There will be a red AIA sign to help. It’s a picnic not a BBQ. Wear walking shoes and casual clothes. Bring food (no ham) and drink to share. The travel distance from Canberra is about 120 km.
Progressive Dinner: Braddon, Chapman and Isaacs
The progressive dinner commences at 6.30pm on Saturday 9 February. Pre-dinner drinks will be served at Olim’s Hotel at Braddon, entrée at Dr Tony & Beverley Butterfield’s home at Chapman, the main course at John & Somsong Milne’s place at Chapman, with dessert and coffee/tea at Geoff & Helen Burden’s house at Isaacs.
If you wish to participate please phone 62885487 or e-mail John Milne before Saturday 2 February and you will be given the address details. Cost will be $25 per person payable to Treasurer Attaya Lane at the first venue.
Family Picnic at Weston
A picnic for members and friends will be held on Sunday 2 March starting at 11.30am. The venue is Weston Park, Banks Street, Yarralumla beside Lake Burley Griffin, immediately before, but on the opposite side of, Prescott Lane (which leads down to the mini-train). Look out for the ATA sign at the turn-off into the driveway on the right – which is 1.3 km further on from the junction of Banks and Schlich Streets.
Bring your own food, drink, plates, cups, mats, table cloths, sunscreen, hats, chairs and anything else you may need to make the outing more enjoyable. Two on-site gas barbecues are available. No dogs are allowed. If you can play a musical instrument please bring it along and contribute towards the entertainment.
If the event appears in doubt due to inclement weather please phone Pam Rhemrev on 62881750 before 9.00am to find out if the picnic is proceeding.
Autumn Thai Dinner
The 2008 Autumn Thai Dinner will be held at the Alice Thai Restaurant at Olims Hotel, Corner of Ainslie & Limestone Avenues, Braddon on Saturday 15 March at 7.00pm.
Please make advance bookings by mailing Attaya Lane, 31 Harry Hopman Circuit, Gordon, ACT 2906 a crossed cheque or money order made out to Australia-Thailand Association or leaving cash with John Milne, 113 Perry Drive, Chapman. The cost is $25 for members, $30 for non-members, $12.50 for children 8-14 years and free under-8. The cut-off date for payments is Friday 7 March. No BYO but drinks may be purchased from the bar or hotel bottle shop.
Welcome to New Members
The Association extends a warm welcome to the following new members:
. Calin & Articha Cobzaru
. Lada Ratanabhanu
We look forward to meeting you at forthcoming social functions, and hope you enjoy your participation in the Association’s activities.
Knowing Your Committee Members
So that the membership might better know the 2007-08 ATA Committee Members, each was invited to write three sentences about themselves that they believed would enable members to know them better in the context of the Australia-Thailand Association (Canberra). Below are the responses (changed from first person to third person for ease of compilation).
John Milne retired from DFAT after a total of 22 years on 8 diplomatic postings in Indonesia (4), Philippines (2), Thailand and Malaysia spanning 32 years. Before that he worked in Bangkok as Assistant Editor of the “Bangkok Post,” having first gone to Thailand as the holder of a SEATO Travel Fellowship. He has been an ATA member since 1974 and a Committee Member since 2000.
Since joining ATA in 1982 Brian O’Keeffe has been on the Committee for 20 years, serving as Treasurer for 13 years, Vice President for 4 years, and a Committee Member for 3 years. He was awarded Life Membership in 1996. During 2005 he contributed a chapter in the “History of the Australia-Thailand Association (Canberra) Inc. 1974-2005” which was compiled by Chongchit (Boom) Buchanan and financed by the ACT Government through its 2004-2005 Multicultural Grants Program.
When Pam Rhemrev joined the ATA, what little she knew of Thailand came only from reading, (including a couple of units of Asian Studies, long ago). So, she was happy to make her first visit to Thailand with the 2004 ATA group tour, which gave her a mixture of some of the things she had hoped to see, plus others she had not expected. She likes the idea that ATA activities, such as the talks, offer the opportunity to learn something new.
Attaya Lane is a librarian with a Political Science degree, a graduate in Library and Information Management and currently studying for a Master of Applied Science Library and Information Management. She used to work as an assistant to a Professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and assist in teaching. She has been an ATA Committee member for 6 years including 2 as Treasurer.
Aurea Sethaphanich has been with the Association for about 20 years. She tries to promote the objectives and the activities of the Association as much as she possibly can, and intends to keep on doing so. Being a Committee Member and taking part in the Association’s activities makes her feel that she is in Thailand.
Ransima Atkins is originally from Thailand, and was Banquet Sales Manager at the Mandarin Oriental and Sheraton Royal Orchid Hotels in Bangkok before marrying an Australian diplomat and spending time overseas on postings. Her daughter Aggie lives in Colorado, USA, with her 13 year old grandson Ryan, while her son Jason studies at UC and works part-time as Night Auditor at Olims Hotel Canberra where she is the Conference and Catering Manager.
Pamela Atkinson has travelled widely in Thailand, her Thai connection starting in the early 90’s with the meditation group at the Buddhist Society, that group moving to the Thai Wat at Ainslie. Also her work in transport/trade focused on South-East Asia and Thailand. She has sponsored a child in Kanchanaburi and last year taught English at Chiang Saen.
Fred Cook had responsibility for ASEAN (and specifically Thailand) coal mining matters in the 1990s for the Commonwealth Government and having hosted visiting delegations from Thailand, he naturally became very interested in the country, the culture and the people. He still corresponds by e-mail with his contacts in the Thai Government’s environment department and they have established an itinerary for his holiday visit to Thailand in 2008. He joined the Association some years ago on the occasion of the annual food and cultural festival at the Royal Thai Embassy.
Doug Gordon has a young family that is from a Thai/Scottish/Australian heritage and he feels that it is critical for his daughter to have a full exposure to all elements of her heritage. He fell in love with Thailand in 1988 and he has studied both the language and culture since that time (he has an honours degree in Thai language studies from Monash University and he has studied Thai at AUA in Bangkok). He would like to encourage more families to be involved in the ATA by forging links with Thai and Australian families who have connections with Thailand.
Remembering Our Members
* We extend sincere condolences to Barbara D’Arcy on the sad loss of her husband Peter, an active ATA member, and to Carl Carlsund, Simon Hermes, Jiraporn Prieto, Greg Rimes and Ianon Yusoff on the recent sad loss of their mothers.
* We wish well Mary Ann Bandharangshi, Mavis Cummins, Maggie King and Anne White who are recovering from surgery.
* We appreciate the family of the late Denys Pender, his wife Val and daughter Susan Medlin, for passing on to ATA for appropriate disposal Denys’s extensive range of Thai materials. His books went to the National Thai Studies Centre. Items bought by Rhonda Nobbs-Mohr, John Crocker and Doug Gordon benefited the Thai temple building fund by $200 and the Ayui Foundation by $50.
* We think of Margaret Skewes, rather immobile, now at Mirinjani Village, Weston, who invites friends to drop by (ph. 62875742).
* We congratulate Patron Annette Ellis on her re-election as the Federal MP for Canberra.
* We admire Connie Addison, a survivor of the London Blitz, for being awarded Canberra’s University of the Third Age Life Membership as one of three founding members of the 1987 history group.
* We remember Jodie Trimble, who moved to Port Pirie following her marriage to Rob Hosking.
* We say goodbye as restauranteurs to Adul and Sunida Rattanakosol who on 5 December sold the Sukothai Restaurant to Burmese couple Yodana and Aye.
* We report the lucky 2007 Loy Krathong dinner raffle prize winners were Calmar Annandale, Connie Addison, Jeni Betts, Barbara Edwards, Bunchuay Hermes, Marcus Milne, Pam Rhemrev, Thongbai Sanderson and Chirumporn Tharechat, while the lucky door prize winner was Dr Viopapa Annandale, visiting International President of the Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women’s Association, from Samoa.
* We thank the donors of the Loy Kathong dinner lucky door and raffle prizes, namely Alice Thai Restaurant (2), Annette Ellis MP, Attaya Lane, Somsong Milne, Brian O’Keeffe, Dokmi Quinn (2), Aurea Sethaphanich and Patricia Wu.
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The production and dispatch of this newsletter was made possible with assistance from the ACT Government under the ACT Multicultural Grants Program 2007-2008.
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Australia-Thailand Association (Canberra) Inc |
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2007-2008 Committee Members |
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President |
Mr John Milne |
Ph. (h) 62885487 johnmilne@ozemail.com.au |
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Vice President |
Mr Brian O’Keeffe |
Ph. (h) 62476310 |
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Secretary |
Ms Pam Rhemrev |
Ph. (h) 62881750 (m) 0438881750 rhemrev@pcug.org.au |
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Treasurer |
Ms Attaya Lane |
Ph. (h) 62944801 (m) 0402944982 Attayal@yahoo.com.au |
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Assistant Secretary |
Ms Aurea Sethaphanich |
Ph. (h) 62881761 (m) 0425243518 Aureaseth_2004@hotmail.com |
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Committee Members |
Ms Ransima Atkins |
Ph. (h) 62913258 (m) 0417463166 (w) 62430024 Ratkins@olimshotel.com |
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Ms Pamela Atkinson |
Ph. (h) 62486083 pamela.atkinson@gmail.com |
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Mr Fred Cook |
Ph. (m) 0419571795 earth45econ@hotmail.com |
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Mr Doug Gordon |
Ph. (h) 62999514 (m) 0402131635 (w) 62446533 gordononline@optusnet.com.au |
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