• 
• 

Published on December 20, 2007

 This kind of corruption scandal completely undermines the Thai government's entire effort to encourage filmmakers to come here and will only further distance inward investment from foreigners for the film industry here.

I hope that the Foreign Ministry gets to the bottom of this and that those found guilty of bribe-taking will be exposed for their crimes and severely punished for the damage they have done to Thailand's reputation by their selfish actions.

I anticipate that this news might signal a nail in the coffin for the Bangkok International Film Festival.

Tom Waller

Bangkok

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

Murder and abuse at camps goes unreported

I am very concerned about the unfolding situation in Mae Hong Son province. I have recently become aware of massive protests that are taking place in the Thai-managed refugee camps along the Burmese border. There are apparently upwards of 4,000 Karenni taking part in these protests against long-standing mistreatment by the Thai authorities.

While the Thai government apparently looks at the Mae Hong Son Burmese refugee camps as models of "good" (read strict and heavy-handed) management, as opposed to the greater leniency allowed at the Karen camps near Mae Sot, for the refugees and those who take an interest in their plight, the management of the Mae Hong Son camps has been a travesty.

Basic human rights are systematically trampled upon and individuals are denied resettlement on the basis of their utility to provincial authorities. This has predictably come to a boiling point, and when a number of Karenni youths were severely beaten by Thai authorities following a football match this past weekend (resulting in the hospitalisation of the youths), protests by the Karenni refugees ensued.

The response by the Thai officials was to fire live rounds of ammunition into the air, and in the case of one police officer, point blank at one 20-year-old Karenni - killing him instantly. The protests by the Karenni continue and have intensified.

The fact that these events, and the dramatic mobilisation of thousands of people has, to my knowledge, not made the slightest ripple in the Thai English-language media concerns me very much. Burmese refugees and illegal migrants in Thailand number in the millions and as a rule are treated shamefully. The fact that these events fail even to register in the Thai media give little hope that those officials responsible for the beatings and murder will be held accountable for their actions.

Susan Reader

Bangkok

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

Poor sound quality

ruins jazz festival

As a jazz enthusiast, I bought a three-day ticket for the 5th Bangkok Jazz Festival, fully convinced it would be as good as every year. However, I would like to express my deep disappointment with this 5th festival.

In contrast to previous years, this festival was a pain for my ears and for every real jazz-loving listener. And I am not referring to the performing artists (although this could be discussed) but to the absolutely unnatural sound created by using subwoofers worse than in a techno discotheque. This extreme amplification of basses reminded me of the sound quality of outdoor wedding parties in the countryside, where the well-known "Thai equaliser" distorts the music. Particularly listening to the Japanese artist Kitaro on Saturday night, or to Jack Lee on Monday, was a real pain, not only for the ears, as the dynamic of the music was lost.

With this quality of sound, I am afraid that no renowned jazz artist will be prepared to perform at future festivals in Thailand. I cannot see Lee Ritenour or Earl Klugh playing under such conditions. And for my part, I will check the sound quality before I buy a ticket for the 6th festival - if it takes place at all.

Herbert Lauber

Bangkok

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

Low-cost homes become low-quality homes

I'm glad that the Cabinet has set up a national committee to issue policies and guidelines for every agency responsible for the country's housing projects, which will help coordinate the many related agencies involved.

However, I suggest that our goal is to have housing for the poor - which may or may not be in the form of housing projects. This differentiation is especially important since such projects have often turned out to be corruption-ridden (as in the Ua Arthorn projects) or just replaced horizontal slums with vertical ones.

We should explore alternative ways to achieve our objective. For example, instead of forcing our poor to live together in projects, we might give them a one-time housing coupon which each household could use towards the price of any home built by a participating developer, anywhere in Thailand. Or combine with the coupons of, say, relatives, if they wished to live together. Or, we could give this segment a one-time housing subsidy on their income-tax returns, even reducing the cost of the principal on their mortgages, if we wished. Families would be free to buy from whomever they wish and live where they wish.

Either step would change the low-income segment into one worth courting by many developers, who would vie to give their clients real value for money, and reduce the chances for corruption.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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

Angkor's gloss hides grim reality outside Siem Reap

Re: "Angkor's legend rises," Life, December 8:

Tourists can easily return home with a happy memory of a visit to Cambodia after seeing the splendid night performance that revives the scene at the temple centuries ago. They may laud the rapid development that has swept through Siem Reap, which is being renamed "Angkor City".

However, if visitors happen to travel just a few kilometres out of town, they may feel that things have turned upside down, like heaven and earth. The illuminating temples, beautiful hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, night markets and other concrete buildings disappear into the darkness. This exciting scene is replaced by gloomy, wrecked huts that can only be noticed by the feeble light from kerosene lamps that spread throughout the rural area.

Like elsewhere in Cambodia, the rapid development in Siem Reap seems to have taken its toll. Many of the inhabitants in the huts outside the town, and some of those buried in the graveyards, might be former dwellers who were forced to move out as the town developed and Chinese and Vietnamese-Cambodians moved in.

Despite the booming multi-million-dollar tourism industry, Siem Reap is still among the poorest provinces in Cambodia, where people can hardly make ends meet.

The spectacular stage show in front of the famed Angkor Wat has betrayed many people, including the temple itself, where ancient artifacts have been looted and the faces of many apsara dancers on the walls have been removed.

For poor Cambodians, they can still recall the warning by the late renowned Khmer poet, Krom Ngoy, who described a developed town as "an extraordinarily glorious city that is only pleasant to the eyes but inside the heart is suffering".

Moeun Chhean Nariddh

Phnom Penh