PostBag
The current hoohah over the border temple of Khao Phra Viharn is an unnecessary disaster and by far the biggest loser is Thailand.
Virtually all tourist arrivals are from Thailand and they pay the same to pass through the national park on the Thai side as the Cambodians charge for entry.
Thailand should accept that the temple is irrevocably part of Cambodia and co-operate in developing the temple as a World Heritage Site.
A few disputed square kilometres are unimportant and developing tourism in Si Sa Ket, a poor province, and promoting good relations with Cambodia are far more important.
There is everything to lose from making the issue a political football and stirring up hysterical nationalistic fervour, and nothing to gain. The temple should become a symbol of a history and culture that can be equally shared between the two nations.
ANDREW HICKS
Surin
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Pointless conflict
It is sad to read about the unrest in Thailand that has caused more harm to the economy and credibility of the country. It seems the country is "heading back to the klong" instead of going forward. As for the Preah Vihear temple, some hot-headed people are taking reckless actions that could spark an unnecessary war between Thailand and Cambodia. I hope the situation will be resolved peacefully without military involvement.
SRILADA MARTIN NOVATO
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Real news on real
estate Could we please have some objective reporting on the real estate market in Thailand? It seems most of the articles about the property market in this country are upbeat "puff" pieces written from a developer's or real estate agency's perspective.
Many of us foreigners interested in the property market here are accustomed to having access to more information about property transactions. How about publishing a sampling of actual condominium sales transactions now and then, as well as other indicators of real market trends?
The Thai real estate industry would have us believe that all is rosy here while the rest of the world sees housing values falling off precipitously. One example of bad news being suppressed: there is a huge condo project on Sukhumvit Soi 13, where construction has stopped for nearly a year now; yet not a word in the press about it.
KURT HECK
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Diesel plan 'illegal'
The diesel import scheme as announced by PM Samak is tantamount to the government allowing an oil trading company to sell off-spec oil. The Russian diesel has a sulphur content of 5,000 parts per million (ppm). The legal specification currently in force is 350ppm for sulphur.
To say that upcountry people can use this diesel is wrong. They are just as entitled to clean fuel and clean air as are the people in Bangkok. If this government wants to go back to using dirty fuel, refineries in Thailand should be given the opportunity to quote a price for 5,000ppm sulphur diesel.
Refiners have invested a lot in equipment to be able to make 350ppm sulphur diesel. I understand that 300,000 metric tonnes per month will be imported. That is 360 million litres per month, which is more than 20% of total demand. Refiners will either have to lower crude runs, which will result in more deficits in LPG and gasoline. Or they could maintain their crude runs and export the 350ppm sulphur diesel at a loss.
In short, 8 baht per litre does not justify allowing an oil company to sell off-spec oil, let alone throw the demand/supply balance into chaos, not to mention air quality issues. If this is allowed to go through, other oil companies should be given the opportunity to sell off-spec diesel also.
COLDCRAB
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An arrogant airline
I read with interest Mr Boonsong's commentary "Not at all smooth as silk" (BP, July 16) as I have just closed my membership with Royal Orchid Plus at Thai Airways International.
Once a gold card member, I was one of the first members of the ROP scheme in the early 1990s and have seen a steady deterioration in THAI's service and attitude to its customers.
Complaints are many and varied, and range from poor service to what my wife describes as staff looking down on Thai people. When complaints are made, they are usually ignored.
Fares posted on the internet are so far above those of their competitors that they are laughable. At one point, they were twice the cost of a similar BA flight from London!
The final straw for me was receiving an e-mail from the TAT, a government body, after THAI had given them my e-mail address. If I had to choose a word that best describes Thai Airways, it would be "arrogant".
ANDY HOFFMAN
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