Make noise a city poll issue

EDITORIAL

Published: 2 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Rarely does a day pass without the emergence of some new poll revealing how candidates in the race for Bangkok governor are doing. The value of these opinion surveys is debatable given the relatively low sampling factor, the month still to go before the election and the astonishingly high proportion of respondents who claim to be "undecided". This figure is often as large as 48%.

Quality of life issues determine the outcome of most campaigns and this one will be no exception. Visiting a market and cooking stir-fried noodles for a few carefully chosen bystanders will make for a quickly-forgotten photo op. But brandishing a cabbage priced at 31 baht and berating vegetable vendors for charging so much will grab headlines and win public acclaim from those annoyed by unreasonable increases in the cost of living. Many of these will suspect profiteering in the wake of the minimum wage increase and think they have a champion. Experienced politicians know this.

This is the stage in the campaign when voters should begin to look at what some of the candidates for governor are doing, not just at what they are saying. Deserving of particular attention are those candidates who publicly vow to get rid of irritants plaguing the life of those living in the capital and then contradict themselves by sending out painfully noisy sound trucks to roam the streets and tell them so. They appear oblivious to the fact that noise pollution is endemic in Bangkok and getting worse. It has its roots in decades of selfish neglect, weak municipal ordinances and poor enforcement.

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OldThaiHand
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Discussion 3 : 02 Feb 2013 at 15.343
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Everyone has there own story. It's mostly Farang who complain, because they come from civilized countries that have noise laws that are actually enforced. Thais are oblivious or deaf or both.

I'd like to start with the loudspeaker at the temple school below my window. Why do Thai teachers feel compelled to deafen their students with their endless and meaningless droning together with the singing of countless mind-numbing jingoistic, nationalist songs OFF-KEY, for over an hour early every single morning?
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opiner
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Discussion 2 : 02 Feb 2013 at 14.132
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Congratulations for raising the issue. It's a fact that Bangkokians seem to have a very high tolerance for noise, but one thing in particular absolutely amazes me. Frequently you can go in a shopping mall and find some saleswoman barking into a microphone and pushing her products at top volume throughout the common space and into the private spaces of every business in the mall. Why do these other businesses tolerate this domination of the mall by another business and especially this gross intrusion into their own spaces? I can understand the public not complaining - that's the Thai way - but the other businesses allowing it is truly weird.
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jck
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Discussion 1 : 02 Feb 2013 at 09.321
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A countrywide ban on loudspeaker trucks that slowly tour the streets fouling up traffic and sending people deaf would be a huge benefit the the entire country and not just Bangkok.
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Make noise a city poll issue | Bangkok Post: opinion