How to be a hypocrite

Re: "A sorry situation", (PostBag, May 26).

Eric Bahrt has got it back to front. Apart from the United States bleeding heart brigade, it is largely activist Japanese who are calling on America to apologise for the atomic bombs.

The thrust of my letter was to point out that Japan can hardly expect an apology when it has consistently failed to offer real apologies for its own actions.

Drawing attention to this obvious fact is hardly "always picking on Japan".

David Brown
Policing priorities

Re: "Top cop vows 'thorough' probe of fire" and "'Boss' fails to show again" (BP, May 26).

The loss of 17 young girls' lives is definitely a tragedy and the police are adamant about finding a culprit for the fire. Sometimes these are handled as routine accidents. On the other hand, the case of Vorayudh "Boss" Yoovidhaya, the hit-and-run case, has seen no significant progress after four years and we have not seen much effort being made for indictment.

These two headline articles show a good comparison of the cops' behaviour toward different issues.

RH SugaLamphun
Yourself in their shoes

Your recent coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima stimulates me to submit the following for PostBag.

It is obvious that the recent visit of President Obama to Hiroshima has stimulated a familiar outburst of arguments as to whether or not the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified. Most of these reflect modern American points of view. What the protagonists do not do, however, is put it in the historical perspective of attitudes to, and policies of, bombing civilians during World War II.

Those of us who lived through it remember very well the competitive urge to drop ever more and more bombs on enemy civilian targets. The two Allied names associated with propagating this policy were Harris (British) and Doolittle (American).

The figures for civilian deaths in any single raid, or programme of raids, are still being debated and the variations can be large. However in terms of acceptable values the history of rising casualties is as follows.

It all started at the beginning of the war with the Nazi blitz of Coventry, causing more than 600 deaths. This was followed by the prolonged blitz of London causing 23,000 deaths. In retaliation there was the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden causing more than 25,000 deaths. Then there was the American fire-bombing of Tokyo causing more than 128,000 deaths. Against these figures the death toll from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, cited as combining to more than 129,000, is not in a totally different ball park.

Quoting these figures does not mean I support them or the use of weapons of mass destruction, but it is important to understand what, and why, people were thinking and feeling in 1945.

Alastair M North
Help the industry fly

The time has come to give serious thought to the aviation industry.

Right now, the industry is in the grip of many big challenges that must be handled carefully. For starters, the performance of Air Traffic Control (ATC) in airports is not up to the mark. Countries should learn techniques from Dubai and Singapore whose ATC performance levels are over 55 flights per hour.

Secondly, ever-increasing costs of airport infrastructure have led to increased cost of air travel. While privatisation is needed, airports and air travel should be cost-effective and passenger-friendly.

The home truth is that many airports in the world are crying out for attention. With a background of the dismal state of airports, airlines will really find it difficult to attract passengers.

So, the bail-out measures for the aviation sector should start with renovating and remodelling the airports. In this regard, it is important to have a clear blueprint for the existing airports. On the whole, new business models are the need of the hour in the aviation industry.

P SENTHIL SARAVANA DURAI
Abusing the law

John Kane and Thumper (PostBag, May 25) -- my earlier comments had almost nothing to do with censorship or exceptionalism and your two replies ignored my point.

The ambassador cannot say anything he wants in the form of an opinion, and does not (nor does the State Department). Neither does the Thai ambassador in Washington. American exceptionalism and censorship are practiced as is Thai exceptionalism, but I daresay the latter is far, far more widely applied and used.

As to what you say and how you say it, both are often important, often not. People can freely choose to ignore the obvious. Worse, they get excited and unpredictable when truth is let out of the gate.

Vint Chavala asks (PostBag, May 21): "Why is there always the same group of lawyers emerging to arrange bail and encouragement for the accused every time there is an arrest for lese majeste in Thailand?"

Well, some time back I was accused of lese majeste by an (expletive deleted) and of course there was no evidence. But that did not bar the (expletive deleted) from lodging a false accusation and blabbering false charges over community radio that authorities just let go on and on for months without action that I requested.

I had recommended that the police amend all subsequent lese majeste accusations with a proviso that the accuser, if shown to have exaggerated or lied, would be liable to criminal and civil charges brought automatically by the police for providing false information on an important national issue to authorities -- which is a crime. But Thai police almost never follow up on matters like this and likely never will.

As for lawyers and why only a specific group is emerging to arrange bail, etc … do you not admit to the intimidation, social condemnation, family pressure and state-friendly irrational and inculcated hatred associated even with flimsy charges or allegations of lese majeste?

This group of lawyers and its close associates, in my observation, are taking a stand. The fact that perhaps red shirts and other people Vint may not agree with are usually the ones represented by them has nothing to do with their mission of fighting a terrible and frequently repeated wrong.

Brian Knight
Make friends wisely

Thailand does not need a military cooperation agreement with China. China definitely wants the agreement with Thailand.

Why? Because, when China has Thailand in its back pocket, Thailand will be reluctant to take a stand against China on the South China Sea sovereignty issue. Thailand will then be the outcast in the Asean community, especially for not supporting Vietnam and the Philippines who have valid claims over islands in the sea, and certainly have the most to lose from Chinese tactics therein.

HC McCaffrey
Too big a sacrifice

The banning of UberMoto is a selfish decision.

The move is likely a result of a crony lobby rather than the government's policy. The reasons given are disingenuous. But that's not surprising. Read between the lines -- the "threat to national security" and "foreigners stealing Thais' jobs" are euphemisms for an encroachment on an officially-sanctioned mafia turf.

Everyone knows these motorcycle taxis are controlled by dark forces with men in green uniforms enjoying lucrative "guardianship". So, once again millions of average people are unable to access better services so that a few can maintain their quasi-legal monopoly.

Andrew
Better help yourselves

Re: "Dhammakaya backer seeks to petition White House", (Online, May 21)

It requires some brain wracking to figure out why the followers of the embattled Phra Dhammajayo of Wat Dhammakaya would choose to seek help from the White House for alleged corruption charges against their beloved abbot.

Were they so confused by the Buddhist doctrine of seeking the Western Paradise as a destination that they mistook the US, the most powerful nation in the West, as a paradise?

Or were they thinking the White House was a far away home after many long hours of meditation inside their temple's grand white dome, with all the white kits surrounding them?

Instead of seeking a hundred thousand signatures to petition the White House, would it not be better to demonstrate their faith and confidence in Phra Dhammajayo's innocence by queueing up to escort the abbot to the DSI, with each supporter spreading (white) petals on the ground for the abbot to walk past, and let him gracefully acknowledge his charges in his trademark benign posture in front of the press?

These days, there is no need to go all the way to the White House for help either. His Excellency the US Ambassador is ready to jump in to denounce (or express his concern over) any acts which are undemocratic and inhuman, as he has demonstrated in the past.

With these in place, why do Phra Dhammajayo and his followers still want to play hide and seek and not prove their innocence in public?

Yingwai Suchaovanich

Damn the environment  

 

Re: "Cyclists being led down the garden path", (BP, Opinion, May 24)

Putting a non-bicycling general in charge of deciding the fate of cycling paths is like having a smoker make decisions about a smoking lounge.

Cycling paths and free bicycles are a couple of the few decent things Bangkok's city fathers are doing to improve the city. Another is the plan to extend the promenade along parts of the river.

What does Bangkok have regarding large natural parks? Essentially nothing. If Bangkok's largest park is considered the lungs of the city, then Bangkok has lungs the size of a thumbnail. The best plan would be to relocate the city to higher ground because it's heading for year round standing water. The next best thing would be to try to make Bangkok greener.

In parts of the US, there's a system whereby small businesses and/or individuals can volunteer to maintain stretches of road, doing such things as picking up litter.

If maintenance is an issue for Bangkok's bike paths (which I think is a canard), then surely some businesses or groups or individuals wouldn't mind devoting an hour per week to maintain a section, let's say one kilometre. If you want a nice environment, sometimes you have to put in some effort.

In my adopted town of Chiang Rai, there are ideal places along the river for bike and jogging paths. Unfortunately, the city fathers here either don't know about it (they're too busy thinking of economic issues), or they don't care about improving the city. For a relatively low cost (compared to building a factory, for example), some lovely parks could be developed here. Note: I, as a farang, sometimes walk along Thai roads with a trash bag and pick up litter. It takes about 15 minutes to fill up a medium-sized bag.

Maybe it's just not an Asian thing: to care about the natural environment. Asians are too seized on the idea of businesses everywhere, and making as much money as possible. Their attitude: the environment be damned. If you want to see some nice trees and hear birds sing, just look on the internet, there are plenty of pretty pictures.

Ken AlbertsenChiang Rai
Look in the mirror

Re: "US criticism nothing new", (PostBag, May 22).

DK from Surat should realise the whole point of these US envoys trying to tell Thailand how the country should be run. The US has many more problems than Thailand, but you don't see Thailand sending anyone there to tell the US government how to run its country.

The US should clean up its own backyard before critisising any other country.

BJ from Ubon
Bully for you

Re: "School bullies draw ire", (Thai Pulse, May 24).

Amazing Thai society. So a group of boys and some local big shots went to apologise and give the autistic boy a hug and this would make things right?

Where were the parents of those boys who bullied their classmate? Why were these boys not expelled?

The disabled boy was told by the principal to say that it was just play. Why not file a lawsuit against the school, the district, the principal and the parents of the boys?

But wait. This is amazing Thailand and those who bully others are already in a wat and nothing will ever happen to them.

MR K
Nation of children?

It is not surprising that the latest NIDA poll shows the government has not "returned" happiness to the people.

Why does the government presume to be in the happiness business? The government's business is governance, no more, no less. The people's happiness is their own responsibility. This is not a nation of children, is it?

Michael SetterBang Saray
27 May 2016 27 May 2016
29 May 2016 29 May 2016

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