PostBag
]You can always leave it to staunch nationalism to shoot a country in the foot and in this, Thailand is especially good. Without disrespect to national pride, the Preah Vihear temple row seems like a storm in a teacup to non-Thais and threatens to be a lose-lose situation for both countries.
Given the bickering, the World Heritage Committee is likely to defer its decision on this site's status, which will be a shame since a country as poor as Cambodia could use the advantage.
Even more of a shame is that Thailand would stand to benefit the most since it controls entry, transport routes and tourists visiting the site. Both countries should have had the foresight to realise that a joint bid was the only realistic one.
If the PAD and the "invisible hand of Thaksin" were not using it for their own personal or political gain, I doubt it would have become an issue at all.
J WILLIAMS
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Feeling slighted
Bumrungrad Hospital recently opened a building with many new facilities, including a food court. Unfortunately, the food court is only conveniently accessible to able-bodied people, while the disabled are forced to wait for attendants to take them through some back halls to the service elevator.
There usually is a long wait before they are able to share the elevator with garbage and other good things that service elevators are used for, in order to reach the food court floor. This is not only inconvenient but it also makes one feel like an undesirable person who is told to use the servants' entrance to go into the house. For a supposedly "world class" hospital to ignore the needs of the disabled is unimaginable.
DISABLED & DISAPPOINTED
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Voters chose the PPP
Mr Mildew in Postbag, July 1, states that "everyone knows the elections were bought". Sorry, not everyone. The international monitors, the defeated Democrat party, even the PAD rabble-rousers are not campaigning against the election result. In fact what "everyone" knows is that the Thai electorate wanted the PPP to win.
There is a secret ballot in Thailand, and any voter who was offered money probably took it and voted for the party of their choice anyway.
PHIL MEADS
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Look smart, Samak
On July 1, the Post showed a picture of PM Samak together with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao inspecting the Chinese guard of honour on his arrival at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
PM Samak's general deportment was rather down-trodden: shoulders down, chest down, head down - a posture similar to that of past East European leaders when visiting the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev years and inspecting the guards of honour on their arrival in Moscow, when they were afraid to make a wrong move or say a wrong word that might upset the host and result in massive Soviet tank columns rolling through their capital.
Surely, this cannot be the case with China; therefore, PM Samak, when representing Thailand abroad, should take on a more vigorous posture when inspecting foreign troops in his honour, so that this honour can be passed on to the Thai nation in a positive manner.
C CROFT
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Starting young
I refer to the photograph and caption on page 2 of the June 29, Sunday edition where Crime Suppression Division officers are teaching a 14-year-old girl how to shoot a pistol in self-defence.
Has everyone in this country gone completely mad? Have we regressed so irretrievably far that we are teaching our children that the best course of action in the defence of ourselves and our property is to fire a weapon?
BOB VAN ES
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The wrong capital
The front-page headline news of your Sunday June 29 edition states: "...it remains unclear how the order will affect the heritage push by Vientiane" - in reference to an injunction against Thailand's support for Cambodia's plan to unilaterally apply for the Preah Vihear ruins to be included in the World Heritage Site list.
It alarmed me that the Bangkok Post could allow such a glaring error to slip through.
L E
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Gifts for favours
I agree with the opinion of "The Judge" (Postbag, July 1) that a court official should not accept any snack or gift from an outsider at all. This occurs when one needs favours from officials. This common practice of the Thai people must change.
SURASAK PIPUTTANA
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