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Published on April 2, 2008

David Barkdull and Burin Kantabutra disagree with me about the building of an Indian auto plant in Thailand. That's okay, but I take exception to being accused of a "knee-jerk reaction". My reaction was based on 15 years of travel to Hawaii, where manufacturing was vigorously restricted to preserve the environment for the robust tourism trade. It has worked, as Hawaii is still a world leader in tourism.

Not every country should be a manufacturing hub, nor should they want to be. Tourism and agriculture are also profitable industries. I would suggest that when a country is blessed with the proper soil, weather and scenery to be such an entity, that it is tantamount to sacrilege to try and make it otherwise. There appear to be two mindsets in Thailand at this time. One is that Thailand should open itself to foreign investment and manufacturing, and the other is that Thailand should do what it does best and what it was created for. If my reaction was a knee-jerk one, then so are the reactions of people who would declare that if it comes from anywhere else, it has to be good. As far as the logic that one more plant can't possibly hurt, I would suggest that that mindset is where it all begins.

John Arnone

Yasothon

It's easy for them to say

'Just forget about it'.

With his PPP in danger of dissolution, Foreign Minister Noppadon is preaching that we should "let bygones be bygones, in the name of national reconciliation. Don't even talk about the past, only the future." In other words, don't investigate my party or me. That makes as much sense as going to Bang Kwang Jail, throwing open the cells, and proclaiming, "All is forgiven. Go and reconcile with the relatives of those you've killed, raped, and assaulted."

I suggest that we follow Peru, Chile or South Africa, whose governments set up National Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, both to uncover the full depth of the sorrows to which their people had been subjected. In some cases, the perpetrators could ask for amnesty from persecution. The commission would also recommend measures to prevent history from repeating itself.

Thus, we would hear from the widow of lawyer Somjai Neelapaijit, the relatives of those killed at Tai Bai and Krue Se, victims of police torture, etc. Given that corruption is so rampant, we should extend the commission's mandate to cover that plague as well. Our leaders could ask for amnesty after admitting to their crimes, so we can find out how we became known as the second-most corrupt country in Asia, and how to cleanse ourselves of this evil.

Yes, let's have reconciliation. Let us know the truth, including who did what, and how to prevent it.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

Suvarnabhumi's opening was smooth by comparison

I was surprised you failed to cover the disastrous opening last Thursday of London Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5. It was surely an opportunity to celebrate how smooth was the opening of Suvarnabhumi in comparison.

On the first day at T5 Heathrow, the baggage handlers discovered there weren't enough spaces for them in the new car park, so many arrived late. Then the security check-ins were clogged with other workers coming early to orient themselves, which made the baggage handlers even later. Then the state-of-the-art computer system failed to recognise some handlers or allow them to log on.

By this time several flights had already left without bags, which were sitting in the system, clogging it up. Handlers' electronic devices, unable to keep up with fast-moving reality, instructed the staff to load flights that had been cancelled, rather than flights that were still waiting for luggage. The bags piled up in the system until, at 4pm, it stopped working completely. At this point, no departing passengers were allowed to check in any luggage at all.

As of Tuesday, with continuing chaos, 407 flights had been cancelled and there was a backlog of 28,000 bags to clear.

Well done, Suvarnabhumi; it was really not that bad after all.

Richard Sproat

Bangkok

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