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Published on November 9, 2007

I fully agree with Burin Kantabutra's views Most rational people would agree that insurance companies are entitled to discriminate against minority groups on the basis of relative risk. It is not arguable, however, whether any group should be barred from entrance to centres of entertainment on the basis of experiences the owners have had with similar people in the past.

The crux of the debate is really about whether the basis of any discrimination is transparent or not. Life insurers should have no problem with producing statistics that show why gays should be discriminated against. If they can't, then why discriminate? Clubs could equally exhibit notices clearly showing their policies. That way the basis of the discrimination can be challenged, which is what bigots fear most, and this can actually improve business practices.

The problem is that the discrimination allegedly practised in both recent cases was only revealed by accident, and it is that which has led to an understandable furore. The days when cowards discriminated quietly whilst their victims suffered in silence are drawing to a close.

Peter Moseley

Bangkok

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Bureaucrats should be ashamed of bigoted views

Re: "Controlling and monitoring of foreign workers", Letters, November 7.

Governor Veerayuth Yeamampar, I would suspect, is acting on behalf of a minority of xenophobic members of his province. In the eyes of such citizens, foreigners, especially Burmese, are dirty, live in ghettos, have no control over their children, are disease ridden, are a threat to law and order, are violent toward women of the community, and so on. So, what else is new?

Two things the governor describes:

They are trying to organise cultural performances at social gatherings and fairs, which are unsuitable for the Thai communities because they use their own language and disrupt local citizens. Why would one want to learn anything about another culture, anyway?

And we are forgetting they are merely transient workers - not real people with a conscience, sense of morals or of the dharma - who have no place in the Kingdom. So the employers must be held accountable for controlling and ensuring these creatures work and behave like the slave labour they really are, and if they don't - intimidate them with severe punishment.

To say the Labour Rights and Migrants Working Group were disturbed about the governor's missive must be an understatement. I sincerely hope Sompong Sakew at the Labour Rights Promotion Network sheds his Thai politeness and gives the same Office of Employment a real "earful" in regard to such racist ranting from a man in such authority.

Fear of having Thai culture diluted or foreigners being "owners" of the community by allowing cultural activities and ceremonies is the height of bigotry, but the distancing of the director-general of the Employment Department by passing the buck back to the governor is unpardonable. Shame on both of these bureaucrats.

Mr Bill

Bangkok

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Rail solutions require radical thinking

Narrow-gauge railway can't cope with fast locos", Letters, November 2.

David Hardcastle seems to be indirectly advocating that Thailand convert its railways to a wider (standard?) gauge in order to speed up the land transport of goods around the country and increase safety and stability. I have some questions on these issues. If we go to standard gauge so trains can run faster, how much would it reduce the travel time, say between Chiang Mai and Bangkok? How much time could be saved by making sure that trains ran on schedule and did not waste time hanging around the outskirts of Bangkok waiting, presumably, for free station space at Hua Lamphong. A double track system would also save a lot of waiting time in sidings.

Whether the system is narrow or standard gauge would have very little effect on the problem of erosion caused by floodwater, though it might well affect the width of the easement for the railway. This would also be the case for the second track, of course.

If the power of the engines is a problem on some particularly steep section of track when pulling a heavy load, I have a rather radical suggestion: on those routes when very heavily laden trains are travelling, supply a second engine. This could be available for the whole trip or just for the section where the problem occurs, depending on other logistic considerations.

As David rightly points out, rail has an inherent disadvantage that it cannot provide door-to-door service. There has to be a transfer of passengers and goods between road and rail at both ends of the rail trip. If speed is drawing traffic away from the rail system, then the SRT should be looking at the logistics of the interchange. How could the transfer procedures be streamlined to provide faster transfer? The need to improve the efficiency of road /ship transfer many years ago led to the radical idea of containers. This has revolutionised the marine transport industry to the extent that ship containers are an everyday sight in cities throughout the world. I suspect that a bit of radical thinking is needed within the SRT to increase efficiency and competitiveness.

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok

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Old hand may wield balance of power

Re: "I'm with Abhisit: Banharn", News, November 8.

So Banharn Silapa-archa has declared his party will not team up with the People Power Party to form the next government, even if the latter wins most seats in the next general election. Can this be interpreted as a good sign for Thai politics? Is this move by the Chart Thai leader going to end Thaksin Shinawatra's dream of staging a political comeback after the polls?

Let's hope the answers to the above questions are positive. Banharn has shown many times in the recent past that he was tired of seeing huge amounts of money being used to buy not only votes, but election candidates from his party as well, by a "big political spender". Banharn, an old-time politician with more than 30 years' experience, may have realised money cannot bring eternal solutions to our national problems after all.

Banharn himself was accused of being "the king of money politics" in the past - then Thaksin Shinawatra emerged, who was accused of investing tens of billions of baht to gain the most votes in the 2001 general election, and succeeded in winning himself the premiership. Thaksin even pulled Banharn's Chart Thai Party in to join his government for safety's sake, then kicked it out later when he felt no use for it.

Now it seems the power is in Banharn's hands to change the rules of Thailand's political game for the better - if, that is, he is serious about his decision vis-a-vis the People Power Party, which is the reincarnation of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party. Let's hope he doesn't go back on his word this time.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

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Coups are sometimes necessary for democracy

I just wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for all of the hard and excellent work done by The Nation on a regular basis.

I personally think that The Nation can be proud of the stance it took in favour of the military coup that ousted Thaksin, who was democratic only in the very loosest sense. Everyone knows that if you took out all the paid votes cast in his favour, his majority would have been nowhere near as strong.

His government was corrupt and divisive, as you have continually and masterfully proven in your newspaper, and it needed to go. "Hooray!" I say to the wonderful job done by the military government that replaced him. I have sided totally with The Nation on this one from day one and completely respect the fact that your newspaper supports democracy even when it knows that this country's democracy is growing, and here, a military coup is not the worst thing that can happen.

I personally have my newspaper of choice going into this election. Please keep us all informed, as all you always do, of the real issues affecting this country and its politics.

Fonzi

Bangkok

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