The Sandwich Man

A millionaire living his dreams. He used to sell RM1.5m luxury condominium. But in the 1997 Asia crisis, his dream became a nightmare, he was reduced to standing on the roadside selling sandwiches. Now well on the road to recovery, his success story has become a symbol of Thailand's recovery. Come and learn how an ex-millionaire copes with financial failure and bounces with ideas, determination and positive action to prepare his food business for listing on the Bangkok stock exchange market soon! Sirivat Voravetvuthikun had been up for several nights in February 1997, anguishing over how to break the news to his staff. By the time he gathered his 40 employees in the Bangkok boardroom of his company, Tong Gween, he decided to give it to them straight. �I can no longer get financing for our projects,� he said. �By April, I can no longer pay your salaries.� The 48-year-old fund manager, who once had traded nearly $400,000 in a single day during Thailand�s boom years, couldn�t even offer his staff a small severance payment.

Sirivat�s career had followed the same high-flying path as Thailand�s economy a few years after graduating with a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973, he took a job with one Thailand�s largest brokerage houses, Asia Securities Trading. Over the next decade, his trades made million for the company and its client, and he rose to managing director.

Sirivat�s career had followed the same high-flying path as Thailand�s economy a few years after graduating with a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973, he took a job with one Thailand�s largest brokerage houses, Asia Securities Trading. Over the next decade, his trades made million for the company and its client, and he rose to managing director.

By the time, Sirivat started working as a private fund manager and founded the property-development company, Tong Gween, in 1993, he and his wife Vilailuck were living a good life. They owned a high-rise condominium in downtown Bangkok and sent their three children to summer school in England and New Zealand.

In 1993, Sirivat began a project that he hoped would make him truly wealthy: building a $9 million luxury condominium complex, surrounded by a golf course, in Khoa Yai, nearly 200 northeast of Bangkok. Three years later, with Sirivat deeply in debt and the huge complex still under construction, Thailand�s economy started to collapse. Sirivat managed to sell only a few apartments in his condominium complex. By early 1997, Tong Gween was all but bankrupt.

Sirivat and his wife tried to find a way to stay afloat, but there were no demand for fund managers in Thailand�s failing economy and no capital to start business. Vilailuck was a devoted customer of a Japanese company that sold baked goods in Thailand. One morning, as she was making toast with the company�s bread, she had an idea. �We can sell sandwiches,� she said. �It�s a cash business and we can eat the left overs.�

It was a humiliating prospect for the once high-flying tycoon, but Sirivat knew he had no choice. �Even in a bad economy, people still have to eat,� he agreed.

The couple bought bread, ham, cheese, canned tuna and a jar of mayonnaise. In Tong Gween�s boardroom, Vilailuck and the company�s female employees made the sandwiches, which Sirivat and his male staff then sold at a local hospital. On that first day � April 20, 1997 � they earned only $12 for six hours� work.

Two months later, when he could no longer afford the rent, Sirivat moved his company to a cheaper office. Twenty employees stuck with him in the hope that he could make the sandwich business a success. Remembering the roaming popcorn vendors he had seen at football games in America, Sirivat decided they would have better luck selling their sandwiches on the streets. When his former white-collar employees balked at the idea, he told them: �If I can do it, you can do it�

It was hard, humiliating work. Once Sirivat came face to face with a friend, then a bank president. �What are you doing?� asked the banker, aghast. �I�m selling sandwiches,� Sirivat responded quietly as he put his head down and walked away.

Sirivat struggled through the deepening economic crisis. Then, in late 1997, the media picked up his story, dubbing him �Mr. Sandwich.� Sirivat�s determination to keep working touched many Thais� hearts, and sales increased. �You�re helping all of us,� one out-of-work customer told him.

Today Sirivat sells up to 800 sandwiches each week-day and his business, which employs 28 people, is growing rapidly and expanding into new lines, such as sushi. With the economy on the mend, former colleagues have urged him to return to the stock market. �Don�t look down on this small business � this is my future� Sirivat responds proudly. �When I was rich, I was supported by a few bankers. Now, I have thousands of people who support me as long I�m honest and I give them a good product.�

World raises $3b for tsunami-hit countries

NEW YORK - THE world has shown unprecedented compassion and raised nearly US$2 billion (S$3.2 billion) for the countries hit by Sunday's tsunamis, the UN emergency relief coordinator said yesterday, but said logistical bottlenecks are a nightmare. The amount, which includes contributions from 40 countries and the World Bank, is larger than what was pledged in all of the other humanitarian emergencies worldwide in 2004, Mr Jan Egeland said at a press conference.

'It is the biggest outpouring of relief ever in such a short time,' he said. 'The international compassion has never ever been like this.'

Just five days ago, the UN official who is directing the day-to-day operation of what is believed to be the largest international relief effort in history had criticised the relief effort as 'stingy'.
The money pooled was enough for the relief workers to feed, clothe, and provide emergency medical services to 'the clear majority' of those affected for the next few months, he said.
His comments came as Japan said it would increase its funding pledge to US$500 million from US$30 million, making it the single largest contributor in the relief efforts.

On Friday, the United States raised its contribution from US$35 million to US$350 million and Mr Egeland noted that it was doing a 'phenomenal job'.

Still, he said 'much more is needed' in providing health care and water for the long term as well as for the massive rebuilding efforts ahead.

'We will need to feed over one million people in Indonesia alone,' he noted.

He said he could not say exactly how long those affected would need the supplies but that it would be for months and not weeks.

Rattling off a list of the kind of relief equipment and supplies that were needed, he mentioned, in particular, helicopters, cargo planes, boats, trucks and fuel transportation and storage equipment.

'Military assets are as valuable as cash or gold because they let us get there in the race against the clock,' he said.

The wish list for relief was unlike others in previous humanitarian appeals because roads and airstrips had been so badly damaged in so many areas, he said.

Food and medical relief had begun arriving.

But obstacles - including a lack of coordination, fuel shortages, rough weather, airport logjams and impassable roads - prevented the distribution of aid to some of the most devastated areas in the 11 affected Asian and African nations.

Another senior United Nations relief official said the level of destruction in Indonesia's Aceh province and security concerns in an area of political conflict have combined to slow aid deliveries to survivors of the earthquake and tsunami disaster there.

'We haven't even got basic warehouse facilities remaining because of the level of damage,' said Dr David Nabarro, head of crisis operations at the World Health Organisation.

'The issues are logistic. This is what we expected. It will be some days before we can deal with that.'

Mr Nabarro said a further toll of 50,000 from disease and other causes would be in line with that seen in previous humanitarian emergencies. -- AP, AFP

Asian Tsunami Kills 12,600, Many More Homeless

By Chamintha Thilakarathna, Reuters 26 Dec. 04
Soldiers searched for bodies in treetops, families wept over the dead lined up on beaches and rescuers scoured coral isles for missing tourists as Asia counted the cost on Monday of a tsunami that killed at least 12,600. Idyllic palm-fringed beaches across southern Asia were transformed into scenes of death and devastation by the waves unleashed by the world's biggest earthquake in 40 years that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday. "Death came from the sea," Satya Kumari, a construction worker living on the outskirts of the former French enclave of Pondicherry, India, told Reuters. "The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?" The wall of water up to 30 feet tall flattened houses, hurled fishing boats onto coastal roads, sent cars spinning through swirling waters into hotel lobbies and sucked sunbathers and fishermen off beaches and out to sea. "We are not well equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude because we have never known a disaster like this," Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who declared a national disaster and appealed for donor aid, said from holiday in Britain. It was the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka in recorded history. Officials placed the death toll at 4,500 and said that figure could rise substantially as troops recovered bodies dragged out to sea or smashed on golden beaches. Indonesian soldiers searched for bodies in tree tops and in the wreckage of homes smashed by the tsunami, triggered by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of northern Sumatra island killing at least 4,448 people there. Many of the dead were children and elderly who drowned in waters churning with huge rocks, logs and the remains of homes. "It smells so bad, fishy. The human bodies are mixed in with dead animals like dogs, fish, cats and goats," said marine colonel Buyung Lelana, head of an evacuation team in Lhokseumawe in Sumatra's Aceh province. "There are still a lot of bodies under the wreckage of collapsed houses and in rivers and swamps that we have not yet evacuated. Most of them are children and their mothers," he said.

International aid agencies rushed staff, equipment and money to the region, warning that bodies rotting in the water were already beginning to threaten the water supply for survivors. The Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was seeking 7.5 million Swiss francs ($6.5 million) for emergency aid funding.

"Many of the dead bodies were found in houses. Their heads were cracked, probably battered by rocks," said Mustofa, mayor of Bireuen regency on the north coast of Sumatra. Hundreds of thousands left homeless in Sri Lanka and fearing another devastating wave sheltered in temples and schools. In the seaside town of Kalutara, holidaymakers staying at a seafront luxury hotel described a 8-foot wall of water crashing onto the coast. "We were sitting by the water when people started shouting a wave was coming in," said visiting British car salesman Richard Freeman. "We left everything behind and ran inside." The southern coastal town of Galle, a major industrial hub famed for its historic fort, was submerged by a 30-foot wave. Frightened residents spent the night on roofs. Officials said more than 500,000 people were left homeless. On India's southeast coast, thousands of villagers huddled inside emergency shelters, too scared to sleep in case of another tsunami. Up to 3,300 people have been reported dead in the area. "I could see dead bodies all around and the devastation is of colossal proportions," Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa said after touring the worst hit areas of her state. Rows and rows of dead bodies were lined up on the floor inside hospitals, in corridors and in the grounds of government buildings. Distraught mothers checked the bodies of young boys and girls looking for their missing children. "I have been waiting for my husband and brother since yesterday," wept 38-year-old Narasamma as she stood on a beach near Mypadu, a fishing hamlet 375 miles south of Hyderabad, capital of southern Andhra Pradesh state. I am not sure they will come back as I can see wrecked boats floating in the water," she said. On the horizon, the wreckage of wooden fishing boats dotted the sea.

The tourist islands and beaches of southern Thailand were directly in the path of the wave that had killed up to 400. On the main Patong tourist beach in Phuket, plastic chairs lay scattered, hotels and restaurants were wrecked and small speed boats had been rammed into buildings. "I was sitting on the first floor of a bar, not far from the beach, watching cricket," said Australian tourist, Stephen Dicks, 42. "And suddenly all these people came screaming from the beach. "I looked around and saw a massive wall of water rushing down the street. It completely wiped out the ground floor of my bar ... It happened very fast, in a matter of minutes." In Los Angeles, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said U.S. officials who detected the undersea quake tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami. But there was no official alert system in the region, said Charles McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu. "It took an hour and a half for the wave to get from the earthquake to Sri Lanka and an hour for it to get ... to the west coast of Thailand and Malaysia," he said. "We tried to do what we could. We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world," he said.

The earthquake was the world's biggest since 1964 and the fourth-largest since 1900. The tsunami was so powerful it smashed boats and flooded areas along the east African coast, 3,728 miles away. In the Maldives, where thousands of foreign visitors were holidaying in the beach paradise, damage appeared to be limited. With communications cut to remote areas, it was impossible to assess the full scale of the disaster, aid agencies said. The Indian air force was trying to reach the remote Nicobar and Andaman archipelagos near the heart of the quake. The United States said it would offer "all appropriate assistance." The European Union pledged 3 million euros ($4 million). A tsunami, a Japanese word that translates as "harbor wave," is usually caused by a sudden rise or fall of part of the earth's crust under or near the ocean. It is not a single wave, but a series of waves that can travel across the ocean at speeds of more than 500 miles an hour. As the tsunami enters the shallows of coastlines in its path, its velocity slows but its height increases. A tsunami that is just a few centimeters or meters high from trough to crest can rear up to heights of 30 to 50 meters as it hits the shore, striking with devastating force