Felix Qui in his Sept 16 letter, "Sin (taxes) of poor," has chosen to support his argument with some ill-chosen examples.
As far as I am aware, reading classical literature is not detrimental to health. Smoking is, and in the UK the cost of treating smoking-related diseases is enormous. It is only fair that smokers should contribute to those costs since the dangers of their pursuit have been documented for years. By what mechanism should state health services be withheld from such people?
A heavy tax on cigarettes seems to me to be rather more sensible than an impractical, and possibly arbitrary system of medical discrimination. The alternative is to raise taxes generally, but then those who live healthy lifestyles will complain they are subsidising those who do not. If Felix Qui's answer is the same as that of some American Republicans on the extreme Right, who advocate that people go without any state-funded health service, the poor would be the first to suffer, whether they are smokers or not.
Andrew Stewart
Grin and beer it
A cold beer after a hot afternoon doing the garden is the one treat I allow myself on a very small pension. To be considered a "sinner" who needs to pay more tax to the government for that indulgence is to my mind a stretch of the imagination. If the government is really looking for sinners then I suggest they need look no further than the two men who appear in the list of 10 richest people in Thailand who have made massive fortunes from the production and sale of millions of litres of alcohol.
Lungstib
Blind in own cause
Re: "Undemocratic merit", (PostBag, Sept 16).
Clara Holzer cites two recent court cases to imply that military rule works better for Thailand than Western-style democracy. However, such an assertion controversially links the government to the outcome of these cases, surely something the military junta would reject, based on their oft-repeated claims that they neither interfere with nor seek to influence the judicial process.
Furthermore, court verdicts are but the final act in what is often a long process involving investigation, the bringing of charges and a trial. Ms Holzer should read the Sept 16 editorial concerning the lack of any action so far following the death of a young Lahu man at a military checkpoint six months ago.
She might also want to reflect upon the case of a well-connected army general accused of nepotism involving his sons, against whom no action has been taken.
Finally, Ms Holzer quite rightly doesn't want to see a return of "the old crooks whose only business in politics was to enrich themselves" but chooses to ignore the deployment of many generals (how can the army continue to function without them?) into lucrative employment in the administration and in almost all state agencies.
Ultimately, the decision as to what sort of government bests suits Thailand should be left to the Thai people, and I just hope that one day they will have the opportunity to make that decision on a free and fair basis.
Robin Grant
Fools seldom differ
What on earth could Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have in common? The answer is: Public adulation. They both lap it up.
Mr Kim does it via state control, with any non-participation having dire consequences. Mr Trump does it with tightly controlled campaign-style rallies involving selected supporters in attendance.
Both scenarios have the same visual appearance to broadcast outlets -- a crowd of cheering, backslapping, emotional people indulging in a form of hero worship, with the recipients sporting self-satisfied facial expressions.
Is this populism, democracy, narcissism, or some other "ism"? Hitler elicited the same responses from his public at that time!
Bernie Hodges
No walk through park
For those moaning about the loss of street food (and I'm not one) they should look at the photograph "Turning up the heat" in the Post on Sept 15 where the food vendors have taken over the full width of the sidewalk right up to its limit.
And where, one may ask, do pedestrians have to walk?
Yes, on the road where they risk life and limb because, as is their wont, the food vendors have occupied the area built for pedestrians.
Martin R
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