POST BAG
Resolving milk problem
- Published: 28/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
It's clear that the system whereby the tambon administration organisations (TAOs) choose milk suppliers from the Interior Ministry's list is rotten through and through, putting an entire generation of students at risk from substandard milk. At the same time, dairy farmers are dumping their milk in protest against low prices.
I propose that parent-teacher associations at neighbouring schools join hands to choose a supplier for their schools, using a transparent process posted on the internet, open to farms and vendors of pasteurised milk.
The parents and teachers certainly care more for the kids than the TAOs and the far-away Interior Ministry mandarins, and can arrange for the necessary quality testing.
While we're at it, do the same thing for school uniforms. And give students the new version of textbooks, not use them to get rid of old stock.
Regime after regime gives lip service to our children, then proceeds to milk them dry.
As Abraham Joshua Heschel noted, ''As a rule, those who know how to exploit are endowed with the skill to justify their acts, while those who are easily exploited possess no skill in pleading their own cause.'' That, PM Abhisit, is why Thaksin is so popular with the masses, and why you must show that your government is better than his at pleading the cause of the poor.
BURIN KANTABUTRA
-----
More than gay pride,
a matter of civil rights / Several writers to Postbag have expressed their outrage at the recent actions of the UDD thugs who shut down a Gay Pride parade Chiang Mai. A writer named Bill, on the other hand, while gay himself, wondered: ''Why do gay people have to draw attention to themselves, why can they not live normal lives like everyone else?''
Well, Bill, let me answer your question. It has to do with a concept essential to any modern, pluralistic and democratic society: civil rights.
Gay men and women, as well as trans-gendered people, are, have been, and always will be, a minority in any society. As a minority, they have been, in many countries and cultures, ridiculed, oppressed, attacked, discriminated against and even tortured and killed simply for being who they are.
And while gays may have an easier time in the generally tolerant cultural environment of Thailand, that does not mean intolerance here does not exist. The UDD assault was ample proof that narrow-minded bigotry is alive and well in Thailand and it's got teeth.
Gay Pride parades have become a way for gay people to assert their rights as a minority and express their aspiration for equality _ equality that does not yet exist in most societies. It's not just about a bunch of silly queens prancing around in drag and being loud and flamboyant, it's also about the right of any minority to peacefully express itself in an atmosphere of tolerance.
You, Bill, may not want to associate yourself with these prancing queens, but people like them is what stands between people like you living a ''quiet, normal'' life and violent bigots like the UDD deciding that you and your boyfriend should be run out of town.
If they can stop a gay rights parade today because it ''sullies the purity of Thai culture'' and no one dares to oppose their bullying, why not shut down a movie theatre that shows films ''offensive'' to Thai sensibilities? Why not burn books, attack cultural events, close down newspapers? Why not become the final arbiter of all that is good and evil in society?
Because, Bill, free societies don't work that way. The UDD attacked not only some stupid gay parade, they attacked your and everyone else's freedom and basic civil rights.
You say that those who want to have a Gay Pride parade have selfish needs. No, Bill, it is you who is selfish, wanting to enjoy your freedoms without acknowledging others who made sacrifices for it.
BANGKOK DAVE
-----
Trolleys at B55,000 each!
Re: ''Trolley controversy gains momentum,'' Bangkok Post, Feb 26. The contract for the trolleys from the Thai Airports Ground Services Co (Tags) is worth 498,000,000 baht for 34 large, 7,000 medium and 2,000 small trolleys for seven years. That works out to roughly 55,000 baht for trolleys that can be made for less than 5,000 baht.
As a matter of fact, the Airports Authority of Thailand (AoT) could have had trolleys from a reputable German maker for free, in exchange for the right to collect advertising revenues.
1) Is the Bangkok Post's math correct? 2) A 1,000% mark-up seems outrageous even in corruption-ridden Thailand. 3) Was the German maker not chosen owing to the ancient and backward Private Participation in Government Undertakings Act of 1992?
Here be things that make you go ''hmmm''
SUKIT BEJRSUWANA
