Once again, some government officials used the car-free day to discuss solutions to urban congestion, which is certainly a good thing. But we need to be more realistic than idealistic.
Walking or cycling is fine in many other countries, but maybe not in Thailand where the hot and humid climate is a deterrent for most. Cycling seems more suitable as a hobby or a form of exercise.
The best alternative so far still seems to be mass-transit revolving around an electric train system covering all parts of Bangkok. We still have only a few lines running.
If the government really wants motorists to leave their cars at home — and collect more road tax, similar to how the UK has implemented a congestion charge in London — there must be a comprehensive coverage of mass-transit lines in place first.
Only then can Bangkok start talking about car-free days. A genuine alternative for motorists all over the capital must exist first, not just on Sukhumvit or Phahon Yothin roads.
Krit
Dig deep on graft
Re: “Leaders shouldn’t shoot from the lip”, (BP, Sept 21).
No matter how sincere the military regime is about wiping out corruption, it is not going to be an easy task. Corruption can’t be fought like a war. There are always casualties and bloodbaths in a war.
Talking big about political corruption is as bad as thinking big. Thinking big is, by definition, an exercise in imprecision or even speculation. Big problems are usually a dense mass of intertwined small problems. And many of them are intractable, hopelessly complex and brimming with entrenched and misaligned incentives.
Corruption is a symptom of the absence of a workable economy built on credible political, social and legal institutions. Wiping out corruption will require strengthening these three institutions, not diluting them.
Every big problem has been thought about endlessly by people much smarter than we are.
The fact corruption remains a serious problem in most countries means it is too dammed hard to be cracked in full.
Since becoming a constitutional monarchy, Thailand’s political, social and economic institutions have been built to serve the appetites of a corrupt few rather than the multitudes; power is routinely snatched or withheld from the people who need it most.
Empowering people is the only way forward, not controlling them by force.
Kuldeep Nagi
A canny choice
I rejoiced at the vote against independence in Scotland. It proves that there are enough smart Scots to make the right choice.
A "yes" vote would have terrible consequences for the region: no access to the Euro zone, no membership in the EU, considerable loss of value to local currency and no possible return to the UK.
It took ambitious politicians like Alex Salmond, or an ageing ex-James Bond to believe that Scotland would have been better off as an independent country.
Its oil? What about it? The US is already totally ready, as are European countries, to sell oil to the UK at bargain prices.
To people of my generation, the unity of the UK has an extra meaning — when Great Britain alone was resisting the Nazis.
Jacques Bekaert
Don't blame victims
I’m not going to jump into the bikini-wearing debate about whether it’s right or wrong (as Sir Lance asserts in Saturday’s PostBag, agreeing with the PM’s comments on the matter) for scantily clad tourists to parade around in public.
Call it poor judgment, naivete, disrespect, but let’s not confuse the issue here. No woman is asking for, or deserves, to be raped and/or murdered because she wears a bikini to the supermarket.
This is a perfect example of blaming the victim for the crime.
Jerry Feldman
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