The dive industry is facing
renewed scrutiny and calls by the government for better regulation
after an altercation between a foreign and a Thai diver resulted
in flared tempers and possible legal action. Here Gazette reporter
Semacote Suganya looks at the accusation, the response, and what
the government plans to do.
After hearing about an underwater
fight between a Thai diver and a foreign diver during which a
knife was allegedly used threateningly, Phuket Governor Niran
Kalayanamit on June 12 called a high-level meeting of his three
vice-governors, the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand
(TAT), the Phuket Professional Guide Association, the Thai Diving
Association (TDA), the Phuket Tourist Police, the Phuket Tourist
Association (PTA) and Phuket Immigration Department.
The first priority of the meeting was to uncover what had happened
between the two divers at the popular dive site Richelieu Rock
at the Similan Islands.
The Thai diver was Vinij Rungpheung, who writes the tourism column
for the popular Thai website Manager Online. K. Vinij included
his version of the incident in his column “Don’t let farang rule
the Andaman” posted online May 8.
In his article online, K. Vinij said he was waiting quietly to
take photos of clown fish. “While I was waiting quietly for my
shot, I suddenly felt a jerk on my BCD [buoyancy compensation
device] from behind. At first, I thought it was my friend signaling
me that he had found something nice.
“Instead, I turned to face a farang with an angry face, pointing
his finger at me and then back to his head. It seemed like he
was ordering me to leave clown fish alley right away, and was
telling me ‘use your brain to think about what you’re doing’.
“I looked around myself again to see if I was touching coral,
causing any damage or disturbing the fish too much. I knew exactly
what I was doing. I was kneeling on sand bottom. Both of my hands
on my camera, not touching anything at all…
“After checking that there was nothing wrong, I stared back at
the bullying farang, and waved him off, indicating that I had
to get back to work…
Representing the Phuket Professional Guide Association at
the meeting were Vice-President Supachai Wattanarin (above
left) and President Panomphol Thummachartniyom. |
“Then he threatened to cut my air hose and hurt me if I didn’t
get up. The water was a chilling 25 degrees Celsius, but my rage
was boiling. That shiny blade swerving around my throat was boiled
down to a toothpick by my rage. I tried to control my rushing
anger caused by him looking down at me like that. I give him my
coldest stare, and waved him off with indifference again, like
I was saying, ‘Keep that shoved up your butt, I’m not afraid.’
“When he was unsuccessful in pulling me away, and I wasn’t afraid
by his knife, he couldn’t think of what else to do. He put his
knife back in its sheath. Well, maybe because he didn’t know what
else to do, he swept his hand over my mask (and dislodged it from
its place-translator), then swam away.”
K. Vinij’s report goes on to explain that when he surfaced, he
and his friends went to Mr Hormann’s dive boat to discuss the
matter. “The farang sat with his head hung low, stumbling while
trying to explain that he dove in Thailand five years ago and
it was beautiful. But this time the condition was worse so he
was frustrated, and acted stupidly. He was sorry for his actions.
“Being Thai, with compassion in our hearts, we were calmed because
the culprit had confessed and admitted his guilt. We reprimanded
him and warned him not to do it again to anyone, especially to
Thai divers,” the report said.
“I have not pressed charges, I just want to him to be warned about
his threatening reaction, which is illegal and compromises underwater
safety,” K. Vinij told the Gazette.
“Many foreign dive leaders bring divers and always behave like
this, and want to show off to their group. This happens many times,
it’s not just this time. Many Thai divers have had similar experiences
with foreign dive leaders,” he said.
Guenter Hormann, the foreigner involved in the incident, has over
6,000 dives over 25 years to his record. He explained his version
of events to the Gazette. “I was with a group of registered divers
and we had nearly finished our dive. I saw a diver alone on the
bottom, which was very unusual because normally diving alone is
not allowed, and he looked like he was struggling.
“I pointed him out to my divers, which is normal dive procedure.
I thought the man had a problem, I told my group to wait and I
went down.
“But then I saw he didn’t need any help. He was in the middle
of coral and breaking it. He was paddling to keep still and his
fins were hitting the coral. So I put my hand under his elbow
and tried to lift him up.”
K. Vinij then waved Mr Hormann to leave him alone, which sparked
a reaction. “I overreacted and tried to remove his mask,” Mr Hormann
told the Gazette.
As for the knife, Mr Hormann told the Gazette, “At first I thought
he was caught up in fishing line, but then I saw he wasn’t so
I put it away.”
Pragon Geatgun
Tvice-president of the Thai
Diving Association, also spoke with the officials. |
Mr Hormann confirmed that the dive association PADI had been notified
of the incident and that he had written an apology to K. Vinij.
“I overreacted and what I did was wrong, and that’s why I had
to apologize. PADI didn’t withdraw my license because it’s my
personal behavior. I am not an instructor or divemaster. I tried
to protect the environment. I had no function on the boat. I was
on holiday,” he said.
However, at the time of the incident, Mr Hormann was a shareholder
in Patong-based Water World Asia, which organized the tour that
he was diving with on the day of the incident. Mr Hormann has
confirmed that he is no longer a shareholder in the company.
At the June 12 meeting Gov Niran said that the government had
no matter of recourse in regulating such individual behavior,
which he says can be damaging to Phuket’s dive industry. So now
he is advocating that the TAT call in the Ministry of Education
and set up a system of individually licensing divers working in
Phuket’s dive industry.
As an immediate measure, Gov Niran called on the TAT to sweep
through the dive industry and weed out any operators not complying
with the regulations introduced last year. “The new regulations
might affect business owners, but we need them,” he said.
Whether the TAT will – or can – follow this directive remains
to be seen. Phuket’s dive industry last year succeeded in staving
off the regulations brought into effect October 1 last year.
Under the regulations, all dive operators would register by presenting
the company’s registration documents and tax information, the
work permits of foreign staff, all boat registration documents
including the names of captains and crew members, records of salaries
and wages, details of any related website, the company’s payment
systems, diving courses and students.
Dive businesses that would have been granted permission to operate
from the province would also have to submit monthly reports giving
details of income, current staff and dive trips made.
Businesses that failed to submit reports, or were deemed to have
submitted inadequate reports, would have risked having their permission
to operate withdrawn.
However, whether the provincial government has the power to introduce
such regulations is still being fought in the Administrative Court
in Nakhon Sri Thammarat. The TDA is representing about 60 dive
operators in Phuket who lodged a petition with the court.
On October 30 last year the court ruled that dive operators were
not obliged to comply with the new regulations until the court
had reached a decision, which it has yet to do.
So now focus has turned to trying to introduce compulsory licensing
for each diver working in Thailand. However, diver operators are
issued licenses by organizations outside Thailand. “How can we
regulate those licenses? Most of them are issued abroad,” said
Gov Niran.
TAT officer Rattinan Chanchanakoset said, “We do not have our
own diving standard that is recognized by the international diving
community. The TDA has been offering CMAS [Conf?d?ration Mondiale
des Activit?s Subaquatiques] qualifications for three years now,
but Thai law does not stipulate that all dive company employees
must be members, so any qualifications are acceptable for a dive
business to get a TAT license.”
PTA Vice-President Panu Maswongsa, explained, “The problem is
that one foreigner holding instructor or divemaster qualifications
can register the company and operate the business, but the rest
of the employees we have no control over, such as fellow foreign
divemasters working with the company.
“This is the gap that we have found. And we have no control over
whether or not they are issued a work permit,” he said.
Governor Niran said, “The TAT needs to plan the process for revoking
a license. If we allow just any people to work, problems will
be beyond control. There must be criteria for qualification.”
He suggested that the TAT work closer with Employment Office and
perhaps use the Ministry of Education’s system for checking foreign
teachers.
He also said that a committee should be formed soon to brainstorm
ways to deal with the issue.
“There is no coordination. The Ministry of Education should be
charged with checking whether a person has a valid dive instructor
permit.
“If the qualifications claimed are found to be false, then there
must be a committee to review the claim and revoke the license.
“The TAT must research this and propose a solution to the TAT
executive board, who should seriously consider this issue,” he
said.
