Re: “Petroleum concessions up for bidding” (Business, Oct 23). I was severely disappointed and shocked to read that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has approved bidding for onshore and offshore petroleum leases in an attempt to fulfill the shortfall in future fossil fuel production. This is not energy reform — it’s the furthest thing from it!
He says this will generate up to five billion baht in investment and create more than 20,000 jobs. That is totally ludicrous, if not an outright lie. He has obviously been brainwashed or seduced by major oil companies like PTT and Chevron.
For starters, it can take one to two years to acquire, evaluate and extrapolate seismic acquisitions for new drilling leases. Add another one to two years to prepare and get an environmental impact statement drafted and approved. The contractual process of leasing drilling rigs could take another one to two years, not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting this equipment in place.
Add a few years to drill these prospects, and then the multi-billion baht construction of gas and oil pipe lines, which must meet the approval of the local people and several government agencies. We’re looking at six to eight years before we see the first litre of commercially produced oil.
In that time period there will be at least 450 to 600 foreign expats here in Thailand drawing salaries of between 8 and 15 million baht a year to supervise this undertaking. That’s where Gen Prayut’s 5-billion-baht "investment" comes in. What he hasn’t mentioned is that the hydrocarbon reserves of Thailand are minimal at best, under low pressure and deplete rapidly.
A suitably informed premier would have been open to the new existing technologies that could capture clean renewable energy from the production of green algae.
This information is freely available from the US Department of Energy (which has conducted a multi-million dollar study on the technology) and it is already being implemented by the People’s Republic of China.
This would be a godsend to marginal rice farmers mired in poverty and held captive to nefarious political parties proposing populist policies to buy their rice at above market prices, plus the uber-rich fertiliser companies.
Scotland is producing megawatts of electrical power by capturing the energy of offshore sea currents, which, by the way, are abundant in the Gulf of Thailand. That’s something that Thailand could easily do instead of approving Egat’s polluting coal-fired power plants.
PM Prayut obviously intends to do the right things for Thailand, but he is receiving bad advice from "highly respected" but vested-interest groups who are only concerned about making a quick profit.
Johnny Waters
Goodbye democracy
Re: “It’s time for Democrats to seize the day” (Opinion, Oct 23).
It is quite evident that Thailand’s oldest political party wants little to do with democratic reform. The Democrats lost their relevance during the People's Democratic Reform Committee protests.
Instead of leading efforts to build democracy, the Democrats shunned elections and promoted gridlock. Their destructive partisanship ultimately led to the coup and they were hopeful of benefiting from the fallout.
But this time the military played its cards wisely. They barred all parties and politicians from participating in the National Legislative Assembly and National Reform Council. What happens after two years is anybody’s guess. But one thing is certain. The Democrats and other political parties will become more and more irrelevant.
Thailand is getting very close to following the Chinese model of governance. Goodbye democracy and welcome to a new era of a Thai politburo. Once again we will have a system where personal relations count more than job titles or merit.
We are about to see a form of government where a leader’s influence will rest on the loyalties he builds with superiors and proteges in coming years. This military-sponsored regime will succeed because political parties failed to lead and perform.
Kuldeep Nagi
Rotten rice legacy
Re: “Citizens pay for govt errors” (Opinion, Oct 23).
Bravo, bravo, bravo. The actions of Yingluck, Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party are summed up in the editorial’s final paragraph that says taxpayers “have every right to demand accountability from those who stole or profited” from the rice scheme and from those who “deliberately or not, failed to stop the scheme’s massive corruption”.
Until everyone fully comprehends this, especially Pheu Thai, which initiated and foisted the rice scheme scam upon us (implying it was the best thing that happened to Thailand since the invention of the wheel), there is little to hope for.
Perhaps their children might understand when they grow up to be part of the generation shouldering the debt.
But then, most Pheu Thai children are quite well-off and will never be worried by debt payments.
But I bet children born to rice farmers and middle-class families will feel it for the next 25 years or more.
Golani
Cheers to Gen Prayut
Re: “Reform starts at the top, with Prayut” (Opinion, Oct 21).
The writer said: “Gen Prayut must reinvent himself quickly or he could be remembered as a grumpy leader who loves to remind people in the country they owe everything to him.”
Please remember that Thaksin Shinawatra also liked to remind the country that they owed everything to him.
The difference between the two is that Gen Prayut is trying, while Thaksin didn’t give a damn about either the people or the country. It was all about power and financial gains. Thaksin may well be able to afford 12 cases of Petrus wine, but Gen Prayut seems more like our man, who would probably drink a bottle of beer.
Ohpchoi
Money grubbing clan
Re: “Yingluck in Japan to see Thaksin” (BP, Oct 21).
While Yingluck Shinawatra is off swanning around on the puppeteer’s private jet, struggling rice farmers are queuing for handouts from government due, primarily, to the debacle of her rice-pledging scheme and other mismanaged programmes.
The family are all self-interested money grubbers, yet Thais still give them so much support for so little in return.
Why don't they see through the facade?
Ray Gregory
AEC enigma goes on
Not a week goes by without some political or business leader in Thailand saying they must “be ready for the Asean Economic Community” by the end of 2015. All very good, but hype aside, I am still struggling to find out what that means precisely.
Lower import taxes, or none at all? On what products, and at what rates? Free movement of people? Fiscal harmonisation? Regulatory simplification?
I ask my staff at the office and they chuckle. I have not been in Thailand that long, but long enough to know it probably means that they don’t know and are wondering why I care. So is it fair to consider that on Dec 31, 2015, nothing will happen? Could the Bangkok Post enlighten us on this?
Pierre Jammes
Murder most foul
Are you filling your entire front page with grizzly murders and killings because you have run out of news? Or are you resorting to such gory stories because of curbs on political reporting?
The last two days the front page was filled with details of the hacking of a Japanese teacher’s body and the murder of the two Britons.
You know this kind of negative reportage will totally kill tourism in the country.
Leka
Comedy of errors
“Traffic accidents under the eyeglass” (BP, Oct 20).
“Pol Maj Gen Kosin Hintao said he believed police investigations could help cut the traffic accident rate and they should investigate road accidents in the same scrupulous way they do criminal cases.” Thanks for the laugh.
Boon Mingmitmee
'Free for all' mindset
The army is once again distributing blankets to many people in the North due to the intense cold. This is a wonderful gesture. I know of many people who receive these blankets and sell them after the cold season is over, only to ask for and receive more blankets every year.
It is time the army asked for the IDs of recipients and obtained signatures of receipt. A blanket should last a few years, not wind up in a flea market for a few baht. It is this lack of responsibility and the expectation that more freebies are always forthcoming that causes an increased financial burden on the treasury and continues to foster the idea that freebies are a right and to be expected annually.
Charcoal Ridgeback
Benevolent Buddhists
There are frequently lurid reports about Buddhist monks who have murdered, had sexual relations, amassed huge amounts of money, been involved in land scams or used drugs and alcohol.
Such acts are indeed shocking and damaging, but the reporting of them has hugely damaging effects. People start to, or completely, lose their faith in Buddhism. Those that are taking an interest in the religion may become disillusioned.
There are thousands of monks in Thailand who are doing their very best to follow the teachings of the Buddha. They meditate and study dhamma; help build and teach in schools for the poor or disabled; offer medical help and do various types of voluntary work; help Aids victims and educate their families and friends about the disease; work with drug addicts and alcoholics; work in prisons and hospices; engage in inter-faith dialogue; go to other countries to propagate the dhamma and much more.
This kind of work never seems to make headline news or offer a balance to the behaviour of a minority of bad monks. Thailand is a Buddhist country.
As Buddhists we should extol the teachings of the Buddha and those that are helping enormously to do this. I consider it a moral duty of such a widely read newspaper to help with this.
Pannavuddho Bhikkhu
Wat Tamaoh, Lampang
Crooks in holy robes
Re: “Pope sets example for our monks” (Opinion, Oct 22).
I am a conscientious Buddhist who also admires Pope Francis for his actions and words and comments. I once asked a senior clergy representative, who is a member of the Maha Thera, why it took no action against misbehaving monks?
A short and simple answer enlightened me: the Maha Thera does not discuss those matters at meetings. I was told: “The main issue is whether the Sangha should ‘create’ rules that the Lord Bhudda did not make. If yes, what should be the boundary of doing so?”
I attended a Catholic school and have educated myself about both Christianity and Islam. Lord Buddha set only 227 rules for male monks and many more for female clergy members. Lord Buddha also set certain rules to ordain a male monk and a set of rules to ordain females. These are sacred regulations that neither Buddhists nor monks should ignore.
Any layperson who is a true believer can live like a monk without going through ordination. That person can attain nirvana. He or she doesn’t have to wear monk's robes. Likewise, a crook disguised as a monk is not a monk.
Amorn Asvanunt
Rules of the road
At zebra crossings in America, pedestrians have the priority, meaning that oncoming vehicles have to stop if they see someone waiting to cross the road. It is considered a traffic offence if drivers do not stop and they are penalised accordingly.
This kind of law does not seem to apply in Thailand, because I sometimes have to wait up to 10 minutes at the crossing on Phahon Yothin Road. Can someone tell me what the rules are on this in Thailand?
The crossing I refer to is labelled as such and has a yellow sign stating that it is a "school zone". However, drivers seem to have no clue about the signs. It just seems the zebra crossing marking and signs have been put there to improve the aesthetic look of the road.
Ridwan Quaium
The late edition
Thank you Bangkok Post, but not Thai Post.
Recently my copy of the newspaper was missing pages eight and nine. I contacted the editor by e-mail explaining my problem, received an immediate reply and a fresh copy was sent out to me that day.
One month and one day later, Thai Post delivered it to my house. Bangkok to Pattaya in only 31 days. Not bad, huh?
Charlie Brown