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
