German shot at for 'opposing all-night raves'

[Khun Don]

KOH PANGAN ATTACK
German shot at for 'opposing all-night raves'
By Phoowadon Duangmee
THE NATION

Koh Phangan, once made famous by its fullmoon parties, is becoming an uninviting, if not lawless, island after a German expat was woken up in the middle of the night and shot in the hip.

Flederer Ralf, 39, told The Nation that he had to run for his life on Sunday night when two men attacked him while he was in bed.

"Two masked men, about 20 years of age, entered my house at around 2am on Sunday night," said Ralf, who runs www,kohphangannews.org under the pseudonym Beckmann. "They woke me up and charged at me. I grabbed a baseball bat to defend myself. Then all of a sudden, one of them pulled out a gun and opened fire."

Ralf was hit three times in the hip before being able to escape. He is being treated at Bangkok Hospital in Samui.

The expat, who has been living in Koh Phangan for 17 years now, believes he was attacked by local party organisers upset about his complaints over the late night partying.

Koh Phangan's famous full moon parties have been drawing thousands of young travellers, turning the small, peaceful island into a noisy place.

The sheer variety of moon themed shindigs on Phangan is amazing, each one touted by loud psychedelic flyers posted all over the island. There's the Half Moon, the Black Moon and the Shiva Moon parties among others, and each is a bacchanal of all night techno music and half naked foreigners unabashedly indulging in drugs and alcohol.

The local residents, led by Raft, kept filing complaints with the local police, who were far too slack in taking action. Then Ralf and other residents filed a complaint with a government anti-corruption bureau in Bangkok, which is currently checking to see why local authorities have been allowing this non-stop partying.

"Once the Bureau started investigating, I started getting threats," the victim said. "Ten days before I was shot, a stranger showed up at my front yard in the middle of the night and shot at the coconuts."

According to Ralf, there are at least 16 parties a month around the tiny island, and many if not all of them start at dusk and carry on until the next afternoon. Also, more often than not, these moon themed parties are rife with crime and drugs.

There have been several cases of foreigners being killed or hurt at these parties. Danny Hall, a backpacker, has been missing since last February, while tourist Astrid alAssad Schachmer was found dead shirtless near the party scene in Thongsala village.

[billk]

Khun Ralf deserves a medal for his courage and plain talking.

[InterestedGuy08]

I've read a lot of bad things happening there. Definitely not on one of my 'must see' lists.

[jaibaan]

Maybe someone's cash cow was put in jeopardy, considering the steady flow of party supplies going around.

[paul_au]

I definitely won't be going there, Maybe if this place gets a bad reputation, there local economy will collapse.