It is interesting to see that there are so few females complaining, only men. They express their worries about Thailand's economy and what a huge impact the changes will have. However, it seems clear to me that the new rules will be a huge benefit to Thailand's economy.

In many hot spots in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Samui one can find foreigners who "own" beer bars or go-go bars. I have nothing against this, but these foreigners cheat the country because they don't pay regular taxes. I know bars that earn more than Bt300,000 per month, and the owners are proud to pay only Bt10,000 a year on taxes. Is this a rip-off or just the result of bribing the right person?

These "owners" make a cheap living off of their staff and the people in their communities. I ask myself why no government officials ask how such people buy new cars, do the monthly visa runs and maintain big bank accounts while their businesses are doing so poorly that they yield negligible taxes?

What kind of people are these, and how can they get an early retirement at the age of 45? Rob a bank? Win the lottery? If such people are now crying foul, they should get their status legalised. Hanging out in bars is no solution.

In the time that I have been following this debate over the years, I have come to the opinion that no country could be proud of such people. Well, that's not entirely true.

I imagine that some of these guys would be warmly welcomed in their home countries by prosecutors who would be interested in discussing several issues, including unpaid taxes.

Can Thailand afford all these crooks? I don't know any country that would allow such people to be citizens. Of course, there are also a lot of foreigners who are here legally and have nothing to hide.

I welcome this new visa rules because they will allow the country to be more selective about the sort of people it allows to stay here.

Concerned about Thailand

Bangkok

--------------------------------------

NGO sector will feel the effects of the new rules

I am a volunteer with an NGO in the south of Thailand. There is growing fear here over the new 90-days-in-90-days-out visa law. Like many we put this down as a rumour.

If it were to go ahead it would affect a huge number of lives, businesses and (closer to home for myself) the work of many aid organisations in Thailand. The financial loss to Thailand would surely prevent it from happening.

However, we have today had contact with officials at the Ranong border (with Burma) who have confirmed they are no longer allowing any visa runs. This is quite a significant development as many NGO workers use this crossing for visa runs.

Robert

Bangkok

------------------------------------

There is nothing fraudulent about caring for children

Bob Kimmins made the point in his "Northern Eye" column ["The issues of trust", Explore, September 16] that "there are women on the make and fraudsters everywhere" and then used the example of a couple who divorced and "today, the new husband lives with the woman and kids in the first husband's house and ... hubby No-1 still pays child support and the mortgage."

Is Kimmins' point either 1) that men should not be required to financially provide for their children (including putting a roof over their heads) after divorce or that 2) that financial burden should be the responsibility of any subsequent husbands should the ex-wife remarry?

Whether divorced or not, financial support of minor children is the responsibility of that child's parent. Requiring financial support for minor children is neither "fraud" nor an example of a "woman on the make" and I am very disappointed that The Nation would print a column that supports such a notion.

Robin Jackalone

Bangkok

-------------------------------------

Taxi fees at Suvarnabhumi are a double airport tax

Increasing the surcharge to take a taxi from the new airport will mean that the Airports of Thailand Plc will get an additional Bt100 in their pockets from each passenger who hails a cab.

This was the rule at Phuket's airport for years. It amounts to a double airport tax - first on the ticket then on the taxi. In Phuket, this worked out to about Bt650 for a trip of around 38 kilometres. To put this in perspective, the same cab ride would have cost Bt180-Bt200 in a Bangkok taxi.

The reason that Phuket relies on such a system is that there are no meter taxis at Phuket airport, and the limousine company had to pay a hefty fee to ensure that it had the exclusive right to ferry passengers back and forth to the airport.

So now it seems that Bangkok will resort to a similar scheme to get more money off of tourists. At the old airport the Bt50 surcharge at least went to the taxi driver and not to the airport.

I think the signs "Amazing Thailand" had to be put up at the new airport because it is the best way to describe the situation without sounding negative.

Karsten Bo Andersen

Phuket

-----------------------------------------

New number scheme could be bad in the wrong hands

I dutifully had my mobile phone changed to reflect the new ten-digit number system and was delighted to find the computer had also updated my phone book, a task I wasn't looking forward to. Obviously a sophisticated computer program, I thought.

Then it occurred to me that the same program could easily have recorded all my contacts, and since everybody in the country is similarly updating, a network of who knows who could easily be established, which would be a great boon to the police, or the security services or ... politicians. The police could arrest a drug dealer and his contacts could quickly be established, likewise terrorist suspects.

Unfortunately a great many innocent people would be enmeshed in this catch-all net, with predictable consequences.

I thought that perhaps I was just being a little paranoid, although I am not, in fact, an American, until I realised that adding an eight in front of all of the numbers does not increase the numbers available by even one.

Martin

Jomtien

---------------------------------

Quiet spots in Bangkok are going the way of the dodo

I suppose it was inevitable that the powers that be at Paragon would decide that the peaceful environment they had created on the terrace, with its fascinating fountains and benches for parents to sit on and watch whilst their children played, should make way for an ear-splitting cacophony of noise.

It seems the temptation to increase their profits by subjecting the public to the surround sound of the coming attractions at their movie multiplex was too much to resist.

Let's all mourn the loss of another quiet area in Bangkok and comfort ourselves with the thought that we'll all be too deaf to be worried about it soon.

Rapidly going deaf

Bangkok

-----------------------------------

Having hypermarkets in the city just doesn't make sense

Re: "Streetwise: Mom and pop rejoice, we cry", Business, September 13.

I do agree that, in a free market, it is not right for the government to dictate the natural growth of modern retailers, transnational or otherwise.

However, I do strongly feel that, setting up shops (like many 7-Eleven stores) on the main road of the central business district without setting aside room for parking spaces is not doing anybody any good and should not be allowed . . . if only for the sake of the general driving public.

Dr Vichit Phanumphai

Bangkok

---------------------------------

Despite his faults, the Pope may have had a point

Permitting that I personally do not like seeing a WWII-era German as Pope and would prefer that the post be filled by someone with a much, much more humane background, there is no doubt that the Pope's comments bring out questions that everyone has been thinking.

Why does Islam as a faith inspire such homicidal violence? And, why have Islamic clerics and writers avoided tackling and condemning such violence, which not only affects non-Muslims, but also, and more ferociously, Muslims themselves

A Pakistani father recently cut his daughter's throat in Italy. Her sins were that she had an Italian fiance and behaved with the freedom of a Western girl. In Chechnya, a pregnant young Muslim wife was arrested by the presidential police, tortured, shaved, daubed in green and kicked and beaten again in front of the neighbours at her husband's request.

In the Middle East, Islamist terrorists and intra-faith violence need no comment. Nor do Muslim attacks on Christians, the Bali bombing included, in Indonesia and the sectarian strife in Pakistan and elsewhere. But, if one waits for a comment from Muslim clerics and writers, the only thing one encounters is a stone wall and evasions.

Most of the Christian world has become more ecumenical and is open to other faiths. Islam stands alone, locked into a 1,500-year-old framework.

Dr Massimo F Buonaiuto

Nonthaburi