Post Bag
Regarding the article by Nareerat Wiriyapong, "CP unit to expand bioplastics" (BP, Business, June 20), we wish to correct the following inaccuracies in the report:
- "The Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group is studying the possibility of jointly investing almost 2 billion baht with its US partner Nature Works to upgrade its bioplastics business in Thailand. Chaipong Chainapakorn, senior vice-president of CPPC Public Co, said the joint venture would produce a minimum 24,000 tonnes annually of polylactic acid (PLA), now purely imported for domestic use."
NatureWorks LLC is not in partnership with the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group.
- "CPPC, the petrochemical arm of the CP Group, currently buys PLA polymers from Nature Works and Metabolix, also from the US, to serve its packaging business that includes petroleum-based and bioplastic production."
CPPC purchases PLA polymers from an agent of NatureWorks.
- "Nature Works, the world's top PLA supplier, would provide technology to produce corn-based PLA while CP has expertise in farm crops that would be used as raw materials."
NatureWorks is the top producer of Ingeo polylactic acid but is not supplying technology to CP to produce PLA.
Thank you for your attention.
CHAIPONG CHAINAPAPORN
Senior Vice President, CPPC Public Co
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Angry old man, our PM
I don't know whether PM Samak is mentally ill or not, but I think it is clear that he has a major problem controlling his anger and, when angry, is apt to say and do just about anything.
For example, I think he was quite serious when he threatened to use force to quash the PAD protest, but was blocked by more mature people with wiser heads.
I do agree that he is very immature in that his inability to control his anger is very similar to what we see in spoiled children.
To me, the saddest thing about PM Samak is that he has had a long time to learn to adjust and control his anger which has alienated so many people over the years, but instead he seems quite happy and even proud to go on acting just exactly like the arrogant, spoiled child that he so much resembles.
PSYCHOLOGIST
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The World Court erred
The essence of the agreement between Thailand and the French in the early 1900s with respect to the border between them in the region of Preah Vihear temple, is that the border corresponds with the watershed line.
The opinion of the World Court in 1962 that Preah Vihear falls on the Cambodian side is based on the logic that the French had drawn the map that way, and that the Thais had seen it but had been silent on the issue of Preah Vihear.
In so doing, the court took it upon itself to interpret Thailand's silence and concluded that their silence could only mean that Thailand had accepted the map as drawn.
This interpretation is logically flawed because the silence of the Thais may also be interpreted to mean that they were waiting for positive verification that the French line corresponded with the watershed.
It is very clear that Thailand had never accepted anything but the watershed line as the limit of their territory. Now that we know that the French map does not correspond with the watershed; and since the watershed still stands as the only agreement that both Thailand and the French had explicitly accepted, it is clear that the World Court erred in its opinion and that the matter should be reviewed in its entirety.
CHA-AM JAMAL
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Unesco does not decide
The Unesco Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, in Bangkok, is concerned that the general public, media and elected officials have misunderstood Unesco's role in the approval of World Heritage sites. The independent body which implements the 1972 World Heritage Convention and takes decisions on inscribing sites onto the World Heritage List, is the World Heritage Committee. This committee is a 21-member inter-governmental body elected by the 184 State Parties who have ratified the 1972 World Heritage Convention. The 21 members serve for a period of 4-6 years.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is not a member of the World Heritage Committee and takes no part in deciding which sites are rejected or accepted for World Heritage status. Unesco merely serves as the neutral secretariat to the World Heritage Committee, hosting its website and helping with day-to-day administration. The members of the current World Heritage Committee, under the chairmanship of Canada, are: Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia and the United States of America.
Although the Unesco office in Bangkok was happy to receive the recent delegation of senators, national artists and academics concerned with Preah Vihear and to transmit to the World Heritage Committee, via our headquarters in Paris, the petition presented to us, it is not accurate to imply, as has appeared in the media and on the floor of Parliament, that Unesco will consider or decide on the nomination of Preah Vihear, or indeed any site nominated by any country. That is exclusively the preserve of the World Heritage Committee.
Unesco's involvement with World Heritage sites occurs, for example, in providing technical assistance in the development of management plans for the site once inscribed onto the World Heritage List and in monitoring the implementation of these plans.
SHELDON SHAEFFER
Director, Unesco, Bangkok
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