Storm in a Skal teacup
Cheers & Biz, a new international networking club, based on Samui, held its first social gathering, 10 January, for approximately 75 members.
The group will meet twice a month to facilitate networking between executives in managerial positions. It is not limited to travel, but the majority of its members moved over from the Skal Club that became inactive, earlier this month.
Details are sketchy, but it is understood the board directors of the Skal Club of Samui resigned to form their own club under the leadership of the former Skal president, Horst Hornung.
In what could be described as an overly optimistic declaration, the breakaway group suggested the local Skal Club was defunct, rather than in disarray.
It would have been more accurate to say the club was in a state of inertia without a president, or board, and with very few members out of the 120 who registered last year, when it was tagged the largest club in Thailand.
Thailand’s Skal national committee president, Brian Sinclair-Thompson, acknowledged the rift, but said steps were being taken to reactivate the club. There are six local clubs under Skal Thailand, but none are legally registered under the country’s association laws.
An extra-ordinary annual general meeting will be held, 22 January, at Baan Taling Naam Resort, on Samui Island, in a bid to resolve the issue and elect a new committee.
Mr Sinclair-Thompson confirmed invitations had been sent out and the immediate task was to assess how many people would show up at the meeting out of the 120 registered members, last year.
He explained the unusual turn of events stating “Horst Hornung had completed his term of office as president of Skal Samui and thus an AGM was due to be held to elect a new executive committee, appoint office bearers and chart the future direction of the club.”
Baan Taling Naam Resort’s general manager, Nigel Tovey, a member of 2009 executive committee, is now the sole nominee for the post of president.
As for Mr Hornung’s apparent decision to sideline the Samui Skal, Mr Sinclair-Thompson said: “We understand the gazetting of this intent was his sole action. It has since been established and confirmed by Skal Secretary General, Jim Power, that the only body able to suspend a club is Skal World Executive Committee.”
Mr Hornung had the last word on tactics: “Our intended mission was more than accomplished….Anyway it is all water under the bridge now and we hope to have C&B clubs emerge in other locations.”
Editor: Marco Schmidt is actually Horst. Please dont be fooled. The email of secretary@skalsamui.org is used often by Horst to fool himself that he is not a one-man-band in the decisions he has taken. Marco left the island 4 years ago and is now based in Phang Nga. Needless to say the island folks all know this so Horst just ends up shooting himself in the foot…or mouth?
Signed: A friend of Skal Samui
Skal Bali, Southeat Asia’s largest Skal Club, looks forward to a productive working relationship with the soon to be elected leadership of Skal Samui.
In addition, please kindly note that the statement in above article claiming that “it is understood the board directors of the Skal Club of Samui resigned to form their own club under the leadership of the former Skal president, Horst Hornung”, this is not correct. Truth is that there is only 1 person, the former Skal Samui VP Yves Baccon, who joined C&B. C&B has neither a president nor a BOD nor any other additional unintellectual excess baggage.
C&B has just 6 policy paragraphs to Skals hundreds and hundreds of restrictive statutes.
Fact is that several former board members will join the follow-up effort of Skal Samui – including the President in waiting – Mr. Nigel Tovey – of course an employee. Lord have Mercy.
I cannot see many existing members from the Skal Club of Samui leaving the fold.
After all Cheers & Biz (the spin off club formed by Horst) maybe a great tool in doing business locally….
BUT there is no way that that C;ub can offer the friendship, and business opportunities that Skal International offers to their 23 000 members worldwide.
Am I prejudiced? You bet I am!!
Long Live SKAL.
Bob Lee
President – Skal International Bangkok
Secretary – Skal International Thailand
Director of Membership Development- Asian Area
Gimme a break, Bobby. Jur ze new plesident of Skal Bkk? Since when? Lord have Mercy. Thought u didn’t deserve this.
Anyway – dont forget that c&b exists only two weeks and Skal 75 years.
23.000 skal members is pure fiction. itz rather 17.589 if not less
with quite a number of old f and living legenz amongst them.
But anyway – Skal is certainly not a competition for c&b – god beware.
c&b has as much to do with Skal than a cow with ballet dancing.
All things must pass (even friendship) – thirst is eternal.
Cheers & Skal!
horse
no president of nothing
The involvement of Horse Hornung in the Skal Club of Samui has been a very unfortunate experience. He has no concept of the real purpose of the Skal movement, decides his own rules to follow, and is easily frustrated when others do not agree with the crass behavior is is often prone to assert in the name of “amicale.”
Skal will survive without his behavior. It is not about numbers. It is about people who share genuine friendship, doing business as friends, and most of all, having the mutual and professional respect that is obviously foreign to him.
Rgds, Gerry
Another typical Skal comment. Without me, there wouldn’t be ANY Skal on Samui. The sad thing is that Skal is now here – unfortunately to stay.
asinus ad lyram.
A so-called “president” who can obviously neither walk nor think straight,
should rather play hide & seek before coming out with poetry like this.
The reason why Jesus bowed his head and cried bitterly before passing away was not that he wanted to give his life in order to save human mankind –
no – he just wanted to avoid reading emails like that of Uncle Gerry.
How right he was.
What Mr. Hornung has failed to talk about, and what is not “water under the bridge” are various allegations that the SKAL Samui club’s financial accounting, or auditing, was not accomplished or made public, for the past year (and possibly longer). Are we to underestand that the former executive committee, led by Mr Hornung, was asked a number of times to provide this accounting to SKAL International Thailand, per SKAL International statutes and has so far failed to do so? Allegations, yet to be investigated or substantiated, claim there is a lack of transparency in financial matters that the former executive committee should address.
I’m sure that Mr. Hornung would like all of the water to be under the bridge but until the former president provides a clear picture of what really happened with the SKAL Samui finances a cloud of allegations is likely to remain.
Also it is an interesting fact that all SKAL clubs are non-profit and it is understood that all clubs in Thailand follow strict and transparent accounting procedures. Is Cheers & Biz a non-profit organization, too, and it would be interesting to know how the annual membership fee of 5,000 baht will be dispersed?
I don’t know this guy at all. Who is he to talk about things which are not his business? Another case of Skal arrogance.
I completely concur with Graham and Liz and the actions in Samui by the former leaders of Skal International Koh Samui were not only sad but premature and appear on the surface to be brought about solely to feed a new club whose main emphasis is a focus on social drinking. (If I understand the name of the new club correctly). Hardly sustainable and what is equally sad is that the club had international exposure to over 20,000 Skal members in 500 clubs in 48 countries around the world. The good news is that the AGM will elect a new Executive Committee to lead the club into the next decade and beyond. After all Skal has been around for a long time, we have just celebrated our 75th Anniversary and Skal is the world’s strongest, oldest and largest Association of travel and tourism professionals and Samui is a sparkling gem amongst the jewels of Thailand’s most loved island resorts.
Andrew J Wood
Skal Intl Asia – VP South East Asia
bla bla bla as always.
This whole matter is one of great sadnes. My wife and I are both members of Skal International in Macau. Horst, we met at the foundation of Skal International Koh Samui and enjoyed his company.We helped him in Macau with the presentation on behalf Skal Koh Samui for their area assembly. Somehow he has lost his way and his vitriolic statements concering our members is unforgivable.
Skal is an association of tourism professionals and not a glee club. I look forward to the tourism professionals re-establishing what has been lost and to greeting old and new members of our association once again in Koh Samui
Graham Blakey
Asian Area International Councillor
Past President Skal International Macau
Liz Thomas
Active member
This is typical Skal: wanna-be wanna-be’s who are trapped in their own vanity – the most exciting group since mother teresa & the 999 rocking virgins.