I was sitting in a North Beach coffee shop in San Francisco this afternoon with some Thai nationals and American-Thai friends, and the conversation inevitably turned to Thai politics. It always does.
The big discussion was how Thailand could be governed effectively when 99.99% of the time politicians are at each other’s throats, hurling accusations, accusing each other of slander, corruption, malfeasance and more. (Most of what they accuse each other of is actually quite true, especially the corruption part).
The amount of time spent on grooming one’s personal vanity and public image far surpasses anything imaginable in Western culture. If all that time and energy would be devoted to serving the electorate instead of themselves, perhaps Thailand might be governable.
But, who knows. Thai politics are an enigma. The country seems to get by from day to day and manage to run itself, while politicians continue to bicker as if they are totally unaware of anything but themselves. Thais who become naturalised American citizens really are happy to be away from it all.
David James Wong
Having the last laugh
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Academy of Government Performance will now bestow an award for the winner in the category of 'Who Benefited the Most’ under the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s most illustrious leadership.
"The contenders of this category are: the Rice Millers' Association of Thailand, the recipients of untold billions of baht under the corruption ridden, highly secretive, non-transparent and scandalously unmonitored rice-pledging scheme; the Japanese Car Assemblers of Thailand, which raked in massive windfall profits under the first-car buyer subsidy scheme; the Chinese Tablet Exporters' Association, which provided millions of cheaply made tablets to our youngest generation, most of which are being hidden in closets to extend their working lives.
"Also in contention are the Association of Upcountry Loan Sharks, who in the rice farmers’ greatest hour of need, unselfishly met the financial needs of over a million unpaid rice farmers, with extortionate interest rates of course; and lastly, the Unknown Recipients of PM Yingluck’s Women’s Empowerment Fund, who received billions of baht to accomplish … ahem … Lord Buddha knows what! Hey, is there any more of that money left? I’d like to 'empower' my mia noi.” (Laughter from the audience.)
“The envelope please.” (The moderator tears open a white envelope and pulls out a white card.) “The Rice Millers' Association of Thailand! Gentlemen — all 300 of you — come up here to receive your award.”
Sometimes applying a little humour to our situation can help blunt the intense seriousness of it. It certainly doesn’t hurt, does it?
Johnny Waters
All hands on deck
Re: "Thai bus safety and infrastructure" (Life, April 8).
The safety of double-decker buses has been in the limelight since the accident in Tak last month. This article showed only four recent accidents with a total of 93 deaths, but the number of deaths in double-decker bus accidents is certainly much higher.
There are very few safety rules for both mechanical and operational aspects, while more than 5,000 double-deckers are officially registered and travelling on the roads. Until now, there has been no action on this issue. I wonder who is supposed to issue concrete prevention measures before the coming Songkran holidays.
R H Suga
Wild about Wiek
Re: "Into the wild" (Life, April 9).
Even if the Netherlands become world soccer champs, I would not be so proud of being Dutch as I am now of Dutch conservationist Edwin Wiek, who challenges all Thai (and other) people to support him in his quest for the proper treatment of all wildlife.
Arend Hart
Car scheme stalls
Not being familiar with Thai law, I ask the following question: Can the thousands of people who bought cars under the new-car buyer scheme, which promised a refund of excise taxes on the cars, sue the Thai government for breach of contract since it now seems that the government has run out of money to pay these folks?
Steve
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