British ambassador, Mark Kent, is said to have conveyed Britain’s interest in investing in large-scale infrastructure projects in Thailand (BP, Jan 9). Other news from Britain (Re: “Brits drop Koh Tao ball”, PostBag, Jan 10), is that the official British inquest to be released in September, regarding the two tourists murdered on Koh Tao, may now be released in October, or possibly later. Does this delay make perfect sense, Mr Kent?
Watson
No room to jail drivers
Re: “Not ‘fine’ at all” (PostBag, Jan 12).
The suggestion that all traffic violators, however minor their crimes, should face immediate jail time, poses certain logistical difficulties here in Pattaya where I recently paid a 400-baht fine at the police station for turning left at the wrong time.
The duty officer displayed a huge pile of driving licences waiting to be collected by fine-payers and told me that traffic police and their foreign volunteers were now taking action against around 200 drivers daily, mainly for illegal parking on main roads, non-wearing of crash helmets and turning left at the wrong time.
At a conservative estimate, the total monthly income is two million baht.
If all these drivers were incarcerated, city authorities would need to open huge encampments to house them. The most likely place for the erection of watchtowers and search lights would be the Bali Hai pier or the Fitness Park, which would dramatically reduce the leisure opportunities for the few tourists who hadn’t already left the country.
Barry Kenyon
Men not all to blame
Re: “Troubled masculinity drives serial killers, terrorists” (Opinion, Jan 12).
Joan Smith puts forward a flawed and biased case that serial killers and terrorists are almost always men. In the most recent example she cites the Charlie Hebdo killers as being men, but conveniently forgets to mention that the related terrorist act at the supermarket in Paris involved a woman who is alleged to have murdered a policeman there.
Whilst, statistically, Ms Smith may be correct, in her apparent rush to blame men for various killings, she obviously has not properly researched the subject of women responsible for heinous crimes. Had she done so, she would come up with female serial killers such as Myra Hindley, Rosemary West and Aileen Wuornos.
She might also have discovered that women such as Dorothea Binz and Ruth Neudick, to name just two, were reviled Nazi female war criminals who committed murders and other acts of gross savagery on a large scale.
By all means blame men if you must, but at least have a balanced article in which female counterparts are referred to.
Martin R
Absent from France
Peace-loving people all over the world have rejected the brutal terrorist assault on the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, as well as on the Jewish supermarket and the killing of the unarmed Paris policewoman who was innocently directing traffic. The attacks were primarily against the Western tradition of free speech, even speech which most of a population find offensive. Free speech is one of the key principles of democracy. In fact, true democracy is impossible without free speech.
On Sunday, leaders of 40 countries were to attend the mass unity rally in Paris which was expected to draw over one million people. Thailand recently applied to become a member of the UN Human Rights Council, so it seems important that a high-level Thai government official or delegation should attend this important rally to represent Thailand.
I have not seen any reports of who Thailand is sending — could someone please enlighten me or explain why Thailand would fail to support this important international demonstration?
Donald Watson
A peaceful message
Here’s a suggestion from John Lennon:
"Imagine there’s no countries.
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for
and no religion, too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace."
To quote a Beach Boys’ song title — Wouldn’t It Be Nice.
Bernie Hodges
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