Re: "Crackdown on alcohol, cigarette hoarders", (BP, Sept 14)
Whilst the do-gooding excuses for increasing "sin taxes" are admittedly all very communist, that does not make these taxes just. Just because something is unhealthy does not justify the Big Nanny state interfering to control the choices of adults, however foolish those choices might be.
In particular, these taxes hit hardest the poorest in society, which does at least comport with the anti-democratic notion so popular with the PDRC and those colluding with them that self-deemed "good" people must control the poor, uneducated peasants who can't be trusted to be responsible.
It is as acceptable to inflict additional costs on those whose pleasures come in part from cigarettes, alcohol or gambling as it would be to impose similar extra costs on those whose pleasures come from reading classical literature (one of my own favourites) or enjoying the greenery in Lumpini Park.
Of course, if people's bad decisions result in self-harm, the state is also under no obligation to bail them out.
The only acceptable level of taxes on anything is to offset, and nothing more, the harm to innocent bystanders, and that is much less than what is already raked in by the current exorbitant "sin taxes" about to be worsened still more to control the personal choices of adults, especially of the poor, who are thus punished for the "sin" of being poor by rule of law made up by self-adulating nannies of conspicuous affluence.
Felix Qui
Hopeless on economics
Re: "Hopeless wages", (BP, Sept 13).
Darius Hober may have his heart in the right place when he puts the case for doubling the current minimum wage, but his knowledge of economics is hopeless.
The effect of a 100% increase would, in my opinion, be immediate and catastrophic. Does he really think that such a move would not spell disaster for Thailand's manufacturing industry whose success and competitiveness is, to a large extent, based on minimum wages.
And who pays for the said increase? Well, obviously the consumer who in turn will want their salaries raised accordingly.
It's certain that the 100% increase would cause the manufacturers to move their bases out of Thailand to our neighbouring countries.
And then, who of the possibly hundreds of thousand, if not millions, of the lower paid find themselves unemployed? Yes, the Thai workers!
Except perhaps in communist countries, like it or not there will always be a disparity in workers' wages.
Martin R
A load of drivel
Another great laugh for the day. "No sign of Yingluck in Cambodia", (Online, Sept 14).
This is followed by the statement "Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said officials had already confirmed that Ms Yingluck [Shinawatra] did not cross the Cambodian border.
If the authorities had come across her, she would have been sent back to Thailand immediately," he added.
Thaksin Shinawatra and Hun Sen are golfing pals. Mr Thaksin has pumped more private money into Cambodia than he ever did in Thailand.
Do the Cambodians, or the Thais for that matter, believe a word of the Cambodian drivel?
Gullible Mango
Undemocratic merit
This government has many detractors, calling it names such as undemocratic, dictatorship, etc.
If undemocratic brings positive results such as we read on a daily basis in the news then maybe democracy, especially the Western style of democracy, is not what Thailand needs.
In a recent short time span I read about the Klity Creek victory, and today, the Central Administrative Court's ruling against the Office of the Privy Purse on a development in Ratchadamri Soi Mahatlek 2. Please keep the good work and don't bring us the old crooks whose only business in politics is to enrich themselves.
Clara Holzer
Blimp responsibility
Re: "Military finally dumps B350m airship", (BP, Sept 15).
Now they have admitted that airship was a total failure. This was waste of tax money as same as the loss from the previous government's rice scheme.
Someone in the Ministry of Defence should be held responsible.
RH Suga
Asian brain drain
I read that Asians are now migrating to the US in such numbers that by 2055 there will be more Asian Americans than Spanish-speaking Americans.
Although I am sure that many or most of these people are migrating for economic reasons, I wonder how many of them are going because they are just sick and tired of not being able to express themselves without the fear of ending up in jail.
It seems to me that Asian leaders had better wake up and start giving their people more opportunities to make a decent living and freedom to express themselves or they are going to wake up one of these days and realise their populations are just a bunch of uneducated, cowed and mute peasants.
Or maybe that is the idea?
A Reader
Checkpoint madness
When will someone stop these stupid checkpoints which do nothing for road safety and are simply money makers? People can speed all around town, can operate unsafe vehicles or vehicles belching smoke, drive while drunk and they have no chance of being pulled over by police.
Instead police lazily set up checkpoints and decide who will be stopped based on the potential money to be earned. This means stop any farang and some Thais on a scooter.
Perhaps someone somewhere might also consider the impact on tourists who are a prime target. Some cop may make a few hundred baht but at what cost to Thailand's reputation and money earning potential?
Farang
Chiang Mai
Voluntary bothers
Re: "Lesson well learnt", (PostBag, Sept 14).
If we remove Bangkok and major cities from the equation where money can afford to buy the best, then retired teachers, or anyone else who is a native English language speaker, is usually welcomed and well received in upcountry schools for conversation and experience sharing.
Upcountry kids are usually fascinated with foreigners from most English speaking (and other) countries. One does not have to be up-to-date on teaching techniques to have a conversation with a student.
In fact, it is well to follow the old axiom that a degree does not imply a good or qualified teacher. It simply indicates a person graduated from an education curriculum.
I have many friends with degrees in teaching who cannot really teach, and I've run into backpackers with no degrees who are natural teachers. I go jogging at the local military airstrip daily, and at the end of my "run", I usually sit on the grass with a bunch of local Thai students of all ages who come especially to talk to me, because I'm probably the only one who can talk to them in "real" English, and they are delighted to talk with me. I also share experiences and descriptions of the countries I've visited prior to retirement and the different school systems I taught for.
If an older or elder volunteer does not appear for illness reasons for a day or two, most people understand and expect this. Most upcountry kids understand the problems associated with "seniors" as most upcountry Thais live in extended families.
I still attract a few kids and adults in the local Big C, Tesco Lotus, and in the Robinson Plaza in Prachin Buri who stop to engage me in simple conversation, for fun and curiosity.
As far as I know, the Immigration Bureau still issues permits for volunteers, but fewer people bother, because it is in itself a bother to obtain this permit.
Jack Gilead
Get facts straight
Re: "Lesson well learnt", (PostBag, Sept 14).
There are good and bad teachers everywhere, whether they are Thai English speaking teachers, native English speaking teachers or non-native English speaking teachers, the same as there are good and bad maths, history, science, and geography teachers.
The writer should provide supporting facts when he says: "… the result was mainly bad headlines and failed tests, not success" … "when the going got tough, they often just quit because they had other sources of income" and "were not in tune with modern teaching techniques".
The writer's information about the Immigration Department and visa is not correct. To be a foreigner in Thailand you do require a visa, but to be employed as a teacher you require a work permit, which is issued by a totally different department.
David Brown
Don't make pig's ear
The government should think twice, and listen to pig farmers in resisting the import of pork from the United States, (Business, Sept 12). Thai-raised pigs I am told, do not have trichinosis. American pigs do. Why look for trouble?
Charcoal Ridgeback
Where's the baggage?
Following the brouhaha over the delays at immigration, my students and I engaged in research from passengers exiting Suvarnabhumi airport. Over 1,200 passengers were surveyed from 6am in the morning to 8pm; Chinese travellers were asked by Chinese-speaking students and the others from over 20 nationalities in English, in order to validate the results.
Gladly, the average mean time reported was around 14 minutes, a great change after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha took an interest and intervened!
The shortest was four minutes by about 60 people and the longest was 30 minutes by about 90 people.
Sadly, the research has thrown to light that in many cases they had to wait for their baggage to arrive, which in some cases took up to one hour! Now do we have a new problem here?
R Srinath
War on Duterte?
In a news report last year, President Duterte admitted that he used the addictive drug fentanyl and we have to take his word that he has followed his doctor's advice to stop taking the drug after he used more than the prescribed dosage.
Does this mean that he will use the same justice on himself that he has given to other drug users?
J Larson
Bangkok
Seniority problems
Poor Thai people having to fill out an immigration card then move on to their scanners which are usually empty whilst all the other tourists endure lines for up to 50 minutes as I did last week. How is the new proposal going to help the others?
A month or so ago I came in and there was a glimmer of hope, with "senior citizens" having a line. I was challenged by some little official, "How old are you?" I replied that I was 67. He told me you are not a senior citizen until you are 70! I don't know anywhere in the world you have to wait that late in life for that privilege. Now they have put the age on the signs. Ridiculous.
Come on Thailand, your airport and immigration precedes you and not in a good light.
John Guest
Fade away, Hillary
Having just read several online book reviews of Hillary Clinton's new book, What Happened, I could only wish Hillary Clinton would follow General MacArthur's advice and just fade away. A litany of who was at fault, excluding herself of course, don't we all know it, makes it sound like something that could have been written by Yingluck Shinawatra.
Ho-Hum Mango
Pride before a fall
North Korea has pledged to redouble its efforts in strengthening its weapons programme and protecting its sovereignty as the country rejected the latest round of economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council. The reclusive nation also warned the US would suffer the "greatest pain" for engineering harsh sanctions against Pyongyang. In reply, the US president has responded, as before, with even more rhetorical counter measures. Such boyish and dangerous verbal attacks can only endanger all of the human species.
It reminds me of that great novel (and subsequent dramatisation) by Nevil Shute On The Beach in which all living things were totally annihilated by various nuclear devices. Are we headed in the same direction? For me, I'm actually very scared seeing two powerful men face off for the sake of supposed manly pride.
Colin Rose
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