Published on July 25, 2005
Beer protesters would do better taking to the streets against real social evils
Re: “Why single out beer as being immoral?” Editorial, July 22.
Your editorial was right on the mark. I fail to see how these folks can get so upset over of the listing of a beer company, and I can only wonder where their priorities are. From a social (not an economic) standpoint, this is virtually a non-event that pales in comparison with some of the social ills regularly reported in the news. In seeking its listing, Thai Beverages is operating entirely within the law and will likely use the capital to increase investment and employment. Regardless of whether they list or not, alcohol consumption in this country will remain unchanged. Kurt Heck Bangkok ----------------------------------- THAI shareholders should resent high-flying MPs Re: “THAI yields to MPs’ demands”, News, July 22. Thai International Airways (THAI) has yielded to the House committee on MP affairs and will allow MPs to accumulate frequent-flyer miles after they fly on THAI for free. They also want to fly business, not economy class. THAI shareholders should vigorously protest. If the government or the Finance Ministry wants to give free flights to MPs, it can reimburse the fares to THAI. Flying MPs can then collect mileage as revenue passengers. Remember that THAI is listed on the SET. It is now partially privatised, no longer wholly owned by the Finance Ministry. Next, these MPs, most of whom do not have anything of substance or value to offer, will demand that THAI should pay them in the weeks or months they do not fly, because they are doing THAI a favour by not flying. Netirat Intira Bangkok ----------------------------------- Aren’t perks like exclusive check-in counters enough? Re: “THAI yields to MPs’ demands”, News, July 22. MPs can travel by any other airline, not just THAI. At present, they can sit in business class if space is available. They argue that they have money left over from their travel budgets, and as a result this would not cost taxpayers any more money. In my opinion, I think the idea of travelling by other airlines might be a good idea. But it is not necessary to give them any more privileges, since they are already a bunch of privileged people. In any case, they almost always get to sit in business class. If I am not mistaken, Thailand is the only country in the world where there is a domestic check-in counter exclusively for senators and MPs. Would you not call that a privilege? THAI Butterfly Bangkok ----------------------------------- Western stance becoming even more Orwellian With more acts designed to terrorise the population occurring in London on the very day that Congress voted in the US on renewing the sunset clauses in the Patriot Act, due to expire at the end of this year, the immediate result was the Republicans argued that the recent bombings in Britain emphasised the need to renew the relevant clauses. President Bush has long lobbied to make the bill permanent. In addition to this, the London bombings come at a time when the Blair government faces massive public opposition to the proposed introduction of ID cards. All this adds extreme weight to the childishly simplistic argument often posited by Bush and Blair that the perpetrators aim to destroy “civilisation” (a “civilisation” that brutalises people in far-away countries, either directly or by proxy, on an almost daily basis, that is) because they are “evil”. It would appear, however, that it is not the alleged perpetrators of these attacks that are stripping away the fabric and values of Western societies, but the UK and US governments themselves, with their (hastily enacted while the public is still frightened and outraged) sweeping new powers. It seems everyone is having their own Reichstag these days. James Martin Bangkok ----------------------------------- Pouring money into the economy will be beneficial I think the government is doing the right thing by injecting money into the economy, raising the minimum wage and the salaries of government workers and continuing to spend on the massive public-works projects. That was what the US government did during the Great Depression. Government is the last resource for keeping the economy rolling and raising public confidence. Don’t count on private companies to help inject money, they keep their profits in their pocket. We are in the process of recovering from the tsunami, but the terrorists in the deep South keep pounding us non-stop. This will make it very difficult for the economy down there to recover. Tourists will probably stay away, too. I feel sorry for the innocent people who are killed or have to suffer. Thai in LA Los Angeles ----------------------------------- Powers that be uninterested in an informed public Education and public awareness are the keys to sustainable growth. I can see no sincere attempt to improve these fields. My conclusion is that they are considered a threat to the minority of the very rich who run this country. Personally, I believe that focusing on GDP is wrong for a developing country like Thailand. It should instead be focusing on improving the lives of those not so fortunate. Unfortunately, this is difficult to measure. Hey, the government will give you a mobile phone for free, but there is a catch: you must use AIS to make your calls. Corruption in Thailand is so widespread, and even worse, so accepted, that I can see no end of it. Anyone getting big enough to be a threat to this just gets a piece of the cake and stays quite. Twenty years from now, when the old guard is long gone, when a new generation takes over, I think we will see small improvements, but not before. I am sad and tired of seeing how the rich of this country exploit its citizens. Clearly we see people on a regular basis who seem very concerned about Thailand. Why is it so difficult for these people to create a political party and get some action? Consumption expenditure is not a solution. However, poor management or not, global conditions have played an important role in the downturn of Thailand’s economic forecast. Thailand as a developing country prior to 1997 had a projected path towards obtaining NIC status. I feel this was due to positive market momentum and strong global conditions. The failure to defend Thailand’s currency was incompetence by ill-prepared individuals who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The indexes of Thailand’s market – although the market is new compared with other Pacific-rim markets – are a good gauge of economic conditions in regard to standard measurement cycles. The true issues that should cause concern are the inconsistent plans that sound good but lack substance and longevity. We can give a new name to recession and call it a slump, a downturn or whatever, but the fact remains: public lives are affected in a negative way. As long as That Rak Thai continues to be reactive as opposed to proactive in dealing with economic problems, the situation will not change. “Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution.” – Stanley Arnold. Danuj Kamolvathin Bangkok ----------------------------------- Anand would be smart to bide his time for now Looking objectively, we can see that former Prime Minister Anand’s Commission for National Reconciliation and PM Thaksin’s Draconian emergency powers are like oil and water. They are incompatible, and they cannot coexist. Anand was courageous and selfless when he agreed to serve. Anand should preserve his time and energy for other worthwhile causes. The nation will be calling. For now, it is abundantly clear that he should resign and let Thaksin dig his own grave. Veharachan Bangkok ----------------------------------- Let’s see what Thaksin does with his new powers How can we possibly say that the PM will be at his worst with the approval of the executive decree without seeing any results yet? The media are always good at exaggerating things just to print an article – scaring, poisoning and convincing readers with 70 per cent lies. We just have to accept the fact that Thaksin has the power. Edgecrosser Bangkok ----------------------------------- Thailand is embarking down the wrong path Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. Are we seeing this happening here? JD Bangkok
Post your comment to this story here