Re: "Regime push for 'Thainess' turns sinister", (Opinion, Jan 26).
"Thainess", or "Thai niyom", somehow reminds me of a thought as I stepped off the plane at Don Mueang for the first time so long ago. I expected to see people dressed in ethnic Thai outfits, expected to see a few water buffalo on the field, and expected to see children in sarongs with necklaces running about barefooted. The effect of the movie, The King and I, had taken root. It was all such a fantasy, and the balloon burst the moment I stepped into the terminal which was hot, humid, semi-dirty and crowded. However, with a new emphasis on Thainess, Thai niyom, it yet may happen, and my fantasy will come true.
Vasserbuflox
Gaga over Prawit
Poor Prawit's in a pickle. Tick tock, tick tock. His time may be up. They say a man with two watches is never sure what time it is. He must really be confused. But at least he has generous friends. His handlers should have taken a page from Lady Gaga's playbook. We shall recall that a few years back she tweeted prior to a concert in Bangkok that she was looking forward to buying a few fake Rolexes in the Big Mango.
The Thai public erupted in condemnation of her, saying there were no such things in Thailand. Big P should have just said all the timepieces spotted on his arm are really ersatz. His watches are fake and we know fakes don't exist in Thailand. Poof! Problem solved.
The Klongurchin
Maybe they're fakes?
As an aficionado of elegant, expensive timepieces myself, but unfortunately in no position to acquire such luxuries on a medical specialist's income, I am surprised that no one has come up with the explanation that the deputy prime minister's watches may be fake and worth no more than US$200. If this is the case it would seem prudent in the national interest that this is not publicly divulged since it might get the International Trade Organisation down Thailand's throat.
So I suggest the deputy prime minister keeps his US$200 watch collection and no further explanations are pursued in this matter so everyone can save face.
George Redelinghuys
Elites are not Thailand
In a global world it is quite normal to be criticised for wrongs. It has nothing to do with sovereignty. The US gets flak daily worldwide for having elected a person like Donald Trump.
That does not make the US the colony of anybody. In Thailand the elites are highly authoritarian, undemocratic and unjust. Critising them is actually a service to the people of Thailand.
Why do the elites always think that they are Thailand?
Karl Reichstetter
Too many BKs in BKK?
Re: "Fast-food track to obesity", (BP, Jan 29).
I'm not sure how PostBag contributor Eva Redelinghuys has managed to come up with her unsupported observation that "since about 2010 the number of fat people -- especially in Bangkok -- has increased yearly", which she attributes to fast food outlets here.
She then suggests Laos has acted better in never allowing fast food joints into that country, resulting in "hardly a fat person in the street".
Perhaps dear Eva is unaware that Laos is a communist state with its poverty-stricken people unlikely to be able to afford fast food, or fattening food for that matter.
Is that the price she would want for slim people?
Martin R
A round of Robins
Regarding the "missing Clampton" in the Jan 27 column, there seems to be a round of robins in your column, that is Robin Grant, Robin Leslie and the iconoclastic "Robin".
Given the somewhat antipodean vernacular in the letter, this would suggest there is another one out there and as "Robin" is a fairly generic name for either gender this seems likely, although Bangkok Post's editorial staffers could have been more circumspect in identifying this particular correspondent's natural habitat more precisely.
Ellis O'Brien
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