Bangkok Post: The world windows to Thailand

It is not PM Abhisit playing down the "Rohingya terror link," it is the Bangkok Post fuelling resentment for no valid reason.

The story of the Rohingya people is one of the saddest in sad Burma. They are hated where they live, deprived of cultural and human rights for being different from the locals in the area they inhabit. Although being present for up to 1,400 years, even some otherwise liberal forces would rather have them ''return'' to Bangladesh.

Coming to Thailand in search of a better future - or any future at all - they are incarcerated, sent back, hated for taking away jobs nobody wants to do, and for trying to give the armed forces a bad name.

On top of it all, a totally unproven link of two individuals to separatist or terrorist groups - which they're not even being charged with - heads the Bangkok Post's front page for two days in a row, trying to make even the last person realise that Rohingyas must be an inherently bad people.

The entire article mixes up local and international terrorism and the problem of humans(!) running for their lives.

DAVID G

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Perpetuating fear and mindless killing of sharks

I take my hat off to David Canavan for his contribution to the plight of sharks, in ''Sharks and shark fin soup'' which appeared in the Education section (Bangkok Post, June 16).

Sadly though, whoever selected the pictures to accompany the article opted to totally undo David's good work and, in the process, further stigmatise and penalise this wonderful species in the eyes of the reader by publishing a fabricated, disturbing, blood-thirsty image of a Great White seemingly wanting to chew to pieces anything or anyone willing to sympathise with the cause!

First, it is important for the average reader to know that while all that David says in the article - including the very low human fatalities attributable to sharks - is absolutely true (more people die each year due to bee stings or falling coconuts!), the Great White shark represented in the article has been coaxed to display such aggressive behaviour by the pouring of plenty of fish blood in the water first and then by dragging and pulling away from it a bait (normally half a tuna fish) to induce surfacing and the ''trademark'' all-teeth display.

By perpetuating this false and terrifying image, which was originally started by the creators of the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws, the media is not doing any favours to the plight of sharks.

While the eye-catching picture may surely serve the media's purpose of attracting viewers, it perpetuates the deep fear and mistrust that humans have of sharks and promotes lack of interest and support to putting an end to commercial finning and the mindless extermination of sharks.

Prominent individuals in the field in the region like Michael Aw, director of Ocean Geographics, have started getting deeply involved in interacting with these formidable creatures at very close range, and have captured amazing pictures which portray them as they should have been seen: creatures that we should not fear and exterminate but respect and treasure.

Second and finally, David's article perhaps misses the most important point which is about why the systematic extermination and extinction of sharks is wrong and, most importantly, very dangerous for humankind.

The dramatic decrease in shark populations is creating catastrophic results in marine ecosystems across the globe. The loss of this apex predator is travelling down the food chain and is set to devastate the marine ecosystem; this will have dire consequences for us on dry land.

Traditionally, sharks have been feeding on the sick and the old fish, playing their part in nature's plan for furthering an evolution of the strongest species and individual specimen.

The disappearance of sharks means that sick, unhealthy fish are allowed to reproduce, thus compromising the quality of stock and contributing to both the loss of fish stocks due to disease and also poisoning one of the major sources of nourishment of humankind.

Starting with members of the media, we have the power and the obligation to get involved, change the perception the masses have of these wonderful predators and stop the mindless killing for their and our own good.

MARCO GORIN

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Asia not to blame

Re: ''Asia emissions to rise by 40%,'' Bangkok Post, June 17. The headline notwithstanding, the article says that Asia now emits 40% of the world's carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels. The charge, even if it is true, is not an indictment of the Asian way of life, for Asians comprise 60% of the world's population.

The question the media should pursue is why and how it is that the other 40% of the population emits 60% of the offensive form of carbon dioxide and still has the temerity to point fingers at Asia.

As a footnote, we might also consider that dire predictions of the effect of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in terms of extreme weather have been fed to us for two decades now and no sign of any of it has yet emerged.

Nature is not cooperating with the global warmists and it just keeps right on generating data that are a little too inconvenient for those pushing the Armageddon scenario in terms of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.

CHA-AM JAMAL

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On corrupt government

Re: ''Corruption eats the land,'' Postbag, June 17. Michael Setter states: ''If the government wishes to protect both public and private land for the benefit of the Thai people, I suggest a comprehensive effort be undertaken to establish the rule of law.''

But, Mr Setter, the government does not wish to protect both public and private land for the benefit of the Thai people.

That's the whole point of government in Thailand: to protect the criminal crony class from the Thai people and to exploit the Thai land and people for the benefit of the military, the bureaucracy and the elite. The real trairat (three gems) in Thailand. Corrupt government eats the land and the people.

JOHN FRANCIS LEE