Re: "Sukumpol frets over too much press liberty" (BP, March 28). Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat worries about press freedom. Why? Isn't Thailand a democracy?
ACM Sukumpol says foreign media outlets including CNN, which is based in the US, rarely attack the US government. He could have added NBC, CBS, The New York Times and many other news outlets to his list. They are all left-wing, and in the hip-pocket of the current left-wing White House.
If ACM Sukumpol would check a little closer, he would find Fox News does in fact take the US government to task on a daily basis, and rightfully so.
Apparently, ACM Sukumpol still has it in his mind that the military should be ruling Thailand, and not the public or the free press.
FARANG OBSERVER
Cramped and crowded
The immigration facilities in Chiang Mai are an absolute disgrace. Nowhere else in Thailand have I seen such a ridiculous small office in charge of such a large city.
There are thousands of foreign tourists, workers and retirees living in Chiang Mai, but the immigration office is the size of a large living room. This results in catastrophic overcrowding, a chaotic queueing system and long waiting periods for even the most simple tasks.
With all the high-budget infrastructure projects planned everywhere in Thailand at the moment, can't the authorities perhaps spare a tiny amount to end the Chiang Mai immigration office's misery?
ROB GOLDPALM
Beauty destroyed
Some of the roads in Thailand have wide central median strips that are - or, rather, were - a wonderful sight as the Ratchapreuk flower, or Indian laburnum, comes into full flower and the soft yellow makes a welcome contrast to the arid countryside around.
Driving south along Mittraphap Road Sunday just south of Talat Khae, some 50km north of Nakhon Ratchasima, I was dismayed to see large stretches of the median strip being burned by roadside maintenance teams, presumably because cutting the grass is too time-consuming, while burning is less labour intensive and therefore cheaper.
Now, these beautiful trees are a drooping mass of brown, with their blackened trunks standing in a filthy sea of ash. It is no longer an uplifting sight, but depressing.
The government talks about reducing the incidence of burning, but seems to confine its interest to the North and the hapless hill-tribes, who usually get the blame. They would do well to look closer to home and suggest to the Isan regional authorities (and probably others) that burning off median strips is not only destroying the Ratchapreuk, the national flower of Thailand, but is contributing to the already bad air pollution.
COL JOHNNY THOYTS
Pranburi
Songkran danger
A few years ago I was driving my pickup truck in rural Thailand. Three young girls were in the seat next to me. It was a lovely balmy day, and all windows were open.
We passed some big boys who were on the sidewalk, I didn't pay them any mind until a moment later. The biggest boy took a large bucket of water and slammed it full force in through the passenger window. The girls saw it coming, and ducked. I didn't, and 30 pounds of water pounded into the left side of my face. I swerved on to the approaching lane. Luckily for the four of us, no cars were coming the other way. When I swerved back to the curb, I stopped the truck and it took five minutes for me to recover, though my left eardrum hurt for the rest of the day.
We were lucky that day, but hundreds of other drivers aren't so lucky, when each Songkran, they get assaulted by thrown water. Will you or your kids be part of those statistics in the next few weeks? Unless you stay in your dwelling, you don't know for sure.
KEN ALBERTSEN
Chiang Rai
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