The taxi mafia has long been a problem on Koh Samui, with aggressive drivers intimidating tourists, refusing to use the meter and demanding outrageous fares for short journeys.
Attempts by officials to clamp down on taxis have failed over the years but hopes were raised last August when the National Council for Peace and Order issued an order for Samui taxis to use their meters while giving them a concession by allowing a service charge of 50 baht and the meter to start at 50 baht (see picture, above).
So passengers faced a charge of 100 baht before going anywhere, but at least that seemed an improvement on demands for 500 baht to travel a couple of kilometres.
What has been the result of this so-called crackdown by the junta?
Absolutely zilch.
Drivers still refuse to use the meter and any requests for them to do so are usually met with hostility, which is particularly upsetting for tourists arriving at the airport or ferry ports.
It seems the junta cannot even control a few taxi drivers.
If that's the case, I hold out little hope that it can achieve the wholesale reforms needed in this beautiful but endemically corrupt country.
Margo Ianson Lamai
Koh Samui
The farce of 'freedom'
The word freedom has been posted a lot lately. But here is the rub, what is freedom? Freedom is simply being allowed to ask why.
At least 1.4 billion people in this world are not allowed to ask why. Indeed they don’t even know why they should ask why. After all they have all the answers they will ever need in life written down 1,400 years ago by people who, if alive today, would probably laugh at such scribbling.
The Lord Buddha told us to question everything he said; can you imagine Moses, Jesus Christ or Mohammed saying that? “Why” is probably the most important word in any language except one: Courage.
If we lose that, we lose everything. It’s all well and good stamping our feet when we are disgusted, but having the courage to do something about it when we can is something few of us alone can do. Writing these words is easy, but walking down the road in a T-shirt with the words "Je suis Charlie", can I do it? Maybe, but it would be easier if we all did it.
Nick Nicholson
View Talay Villas
Jomtien
Let’s not get off the rails
I’m shuddering already. After having read, “Standard-gauge rails due by 2017”, the following sentence is what caused the shuddering. “The rails and trains would be Chinese technology, ACM Prajin said.”
Chinese quality is so poor that Chinese garment makers have removed “Made in China”, from the labels of most Chinese-made garments in an effort to fool consumers. Perhaps they’ll re-label Chinese-made trains with some other logo so passengers and commuters will not feel they are taking their lives into their hands when boarding these flawed pieces of technology, so easily sold to Thailand, because they are not only low quality but cheap, cheaper, cheapest, what the Thai government always looks for.
Remember guys, cheap in the long run can be very expensive. Once Thailand is dependent on Chinese rail technology it gives the Chinese just another stronger foothold here.
Jack Gilead
Chon Buri
Any grains of truth here?
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s testimony to the National Legislative Assembly on Friday was revealing.
First, for Yingluck to say her government’s rice price-pledging scheme should be continued by future governments was unrepentant after its flaws have been revealed, and much damage has been done to the country.
Our country has lost 700 billion baht, suffered from widespread corruption, and the exploitation of farmers by loan sharks that has forced 20 farmers to commit suicide — when the government suddenly stopped payments to them for lack of cash last year.
Although richer farmers were better off as a result of the scheme, the poorer ones who live in remote areas suffered the most.
Household debt among the rural poor also doubled during the past decade. It was worse during Ms Yingluck’s reign.
Second, it showed Ms Yingluck’s questionable character and suitability as our prime minister during that time.
Ms Yingluck’s testimony demonstrated that as prime minister, she did not do sensible things even though she should have done them, because she did not know what they were.
Finally, Ms Yingluck asked all of us to be fair to her. What about fairness for the country?
Vint Chavala
Bangkok
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