“Tanaka ‘fall’ witness unlikely to face charges” (BP, Oct 28) contains an interesting quote. “Pol Lt Col Chaiwat Thapanaphongphaibul, the investigator with Bang Phli district police station in charge of the original probe into Tanaka’s death, would face an investigation to determine whether he distorted evidence so Tanaka’s death was recorded as an accident.”
It’s about time a police officer was investigated for his unprofessional conduct. What was written about Thailand tidying its own back yard?
Should the yard be plowed and replanted, the stench of police corruption would still emanate, no matter how deep it was buried.
Feh!
End graft forever
In other countries with a more functional democracy, politicians prosecuted for corruption or other wrongdoings are squeezed out of their party because they have become a burden. There are no laws needed to get rid of rotten politicians; the parties themselves do the job.
But not here. Corrupt politicians seem not to be a burden to their party and pop up again after a few years, fresh as new. This is one of the root causes of never-ending corruption.
In Thailand there is only one way to go: ban corrupt politicians from politics for life by law! It shouldn’t be that difficult to find new politicians.
After a long cleaning process, we would be rid of our biggest corruption burden — politicians — but only through strict execution of the law.
A Johnsen
Learn from UK unis
In reply to Lamphai Intathep’s report on the graduate jobs rate in Thailand (BP, Oct 27), I wish to point out that one of the most important criteria for choosing a university in the UK is the prospect of finding and securing employment after graduation.
Every university worth its salt advertises the ratio of actual employment of graduates immediately, or very soon after graduation.
It also lists the type of jobs, salaries achieved, and advancement and promotional prospects of those graduates.
It is an essential part of universities' recruitment drives.
That is why there is also a parallel initiative, the so-called annual “milk round” where top companies “cream off” the best graduates even before they obtain their degrees.
The companies physically come to good universities and offer jobs, on strict condition the undergraduate achieves the desired high class of degree in a discipline required by the company.
This well-established system encourages students to strive for a good degree and further enhances the reputation of the university. Mickey Mouse degree graduates need not apply.
Isan Proofreader
Not for nuclear
The costs estimated for electricity generation provided by the Egat once again appear to show the advantages of nuclear power against the alternatives.
Calculations of the real cost of nuclear usually rely on optimistic assumptions, both regarding the financing rate for the upfront capital cost and uranium fuel costs in future.
They also minimise the true costs of handling waste storage for 10,000 years, the potential negative marketing impact on Thai produce and possibility for plant failure as seen already in Russia, the US, France and Japan.
Politicians and civil servants claiming that nuclear power is completely safe invariably are not the ones paying for it nor will they end up living in its shadow.
This reflects the reality of power generation in Thailand: decisions are top-down, centred in Bangkok and forced onto rural Thailand, with neither the public nor consumers given a role in deciding the future of the power industry.
Discussion centres on growing the energy supply, not becoming more frugal in using our energy resources.
Simple steps of deregulating the energy market and introducing competition with cost-reflective pricing without subsidies plus a simple carbon tax levy would focus generators, the supply chain and end users on greater energy efficiency.
Treating end users as knowledgeable consumers with competition delivering choices of cheaper dirty energy or higher-priced renewable energy would let the market, rather than the government, generate the best course for Thailand’s future energy requirements.
Van Nostrin
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