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Published on October 31, 2007

(Intriguingly, the list of countries also includes Vienna.) Anyone choosing to pay the entrance fee, which works out to slightly less than double the minimum daily wage in Bangkok, will be able to marvel at treats such as the world's most expensive computer mouse.

Amidst the laudable promotion of the principles and practices of the Sufficiency Economy, isn't it heartening to see that there is still room for a paean to conspicuous consumption.

David Tuck

Bangkok

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Internet entrepreneurs are getting a raw deal

I am running a business in Thailand. Currently my web presence is a .com domain. I wanted to register a ".th" domain that would let people know that I am proud and happy to be based in Thailand, something I am sure would help Thailand in terms of a world presence and the resultant benefits of being more visible. I was astonished when my webmaster came back to me with the costs for doing so. A "dotcom" registration would cost around Bt500 per year but ".th" registration would cost Bt2,000 for the first year and then Bt1,000 a year from then on. This is much cheaper than advertised rates of Bt7,000 to Bt10,000 a year I have seen advertised elsewhere, but I have a good webmaster.

This kind of cost for the average Thai entrepreneur would not be far off that of a basic website to promote their business. No wonder so many do not bother. In the end Thailand and its people lose out on a world business identity.

Can anyone justify or explain this situation? Is this an example of, say, someone in a privileged position being given the rights and abusing that position? Is there some agenda or cultural issue I am not aware of? I would really appreciate being informed. I am sure there has to be reasonable justification for this situation and I really want to know what it is.

I am becoming more aware of scenarios like this in many areas in terms of holding people back due to avarice or a lack of understanding of the consequences of actions. Though this issue will not affect me in the slightest, as I will not bother with a ".th" suffix out of principle, it upsets me that in this wonderful country many of its people are consistently getting a raw deal.

Anonymous

Bangkok

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Democrats need to get out and meet the people

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva says his party will have to earn each vote in the upcoming election the hard way, unlike "someone who can buy his way into power". Say what? Deputy party leader Jurin Laksanavisit is willing to do the same as Thaksin did with the Bt77-billion village fund. What will Abhisit do when his deputies are willing to buy votes by giving away public resources so that the Democrat can get votes in the Northeast?

What about the people up North and in the Central region and the South? What will you give them? The Democrats are thinking like "Thai Rob Thai", after all.

I would like to suggest that Abhisit gets together with his multi-millionaire party members, with matching funds from donors and businesses, to buy supplies, medicines and clothes and take them to those who have been flooded out of their homes, instead of just talking in fancy hotels. Go out to the farms and don't be afraid of getting a suntan. Abhisit should listen to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". Because if the less fortunate elect him, he won't want to give them the opportunity of saying, "meet the new boss, the same as the old boss".

Manas Thananant

Folsom, California

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Whistle-blowers do a public service

If an insider reveals unlawful activity to the public and/or the authorities, the whistle-blower should be rewarded, not hunted down and punished. This holds true especially if the illegal acts are conducted by the authorities themselves.

Thus, Army chief General Anupong Paochinda should not have sought to find out who leaked the classified documents allegedly outlining ways to prevent former TRT party members from returning to power. The Army has no right to prevent them - or any other Thai - from seeking political power through legal means, for the armed forces must remain apolitical. Thus, such preventative steps, and documents related thereto, would be illegal.

If an officer revealed the plans for, say, a coup d'etat to overthrow a democratically elected government, he should be a national hero for preventing such highly illegal actions from taking place. Likewise, but to a lesser scale, the whistle-blower here should be lauded.

General Anupong fears TRT because of its alleged crimes. The way to deal with that is to educate the people so that they can recognise the hidden agenda and ulterior motives that any politician might have - rather than break the law. The general should learn that the end does not justify the means.

Now, General Anupong should punish the officer who classified the documents as being confidential. They are a threat to the lawbreakers in uniform - but not to national security.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Correction re Thailand's Youth Olympics bid

Re: "Firms support Youth Olympics bid", News, October 30.

One line in this report said Bangkok was competing against ten cities to host the Youth Olympics in 2010: Algiers, Athens, Belgrade, Debrecen, Guatemala City, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Poznan, Singapore and Turin. The information is actually incorrect as there are only nine cities bidding. Belgrade and Algiers have dropped out of the bid. Regarding the line: "The candidate cities will be reduced to five on November 12 and the winner will be announced in February" - finalists will be announced on November 19, not November 12. Warm regards.

Kylie Chin

Bangkok

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Spammers lose all sense of reality

I have friends who start coughing as if they're going to throw up a hair ball whenever they hear the name of the American president. They also send me cut-and-pasted e-mails in the hope, I guess, of infecting me or proving beyond all doubt that their name-inspired retching is normal. I don't think it is. I open these e-mails because the sender is a friend of mine, but I find out I am just one of fifty people being copied with this "must read" information and that it has been passed on by three or four other copied groups as well. Politics aside, I am as disinclined to read these e-mails as I am in joining chain letters or sending money to Nigerian scams.

Curiously enough, the sender is often apolitical and doesn't take the time to vote through absentee ballots as I do in US municipal, State and Federal elections. Nor does the sender try to write down his own reasoning, but simply passes on op-ed pieces which are often unsigned or from suspect sources. I think this behaviour, by otherwise intelligent and discerning people, is irrational and deserves its own name: the "op-Oedipus" complex.

Forrest Greenwood

Nakhon Sawan

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