OPINION

Missing the point

Re: “Abbot faces B6.2m car bill” (BP, Aug 3).

I’m surprised at the hullabaloo over the unpaid excise tax for the classic car owned by the Acting Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn.

I don’t pretend to understand all the intricacies of Buddhism, but shouldn’t the real question be why a major Buddhist leader has possession of such an extravagant luxury item as a multimillion-baht automobile in the first place? What kind of example of moderation and simple living does this present to Thais trying to follow the basic tenets of Buddhism?

Samanea Saman

As always, the recent Bangkok cinema fire has conjured up more questions than answers.

For example, who is the official regulator of such buildings and why were the laws not enforced? Thaiwut Khankaew of the Public Works Department has stated the authorities are considering a lawsuit against the cinema owners, but who will prosecute City Hall for dereliction of duty? Why are the punishments for such misconduct so minimal? Can we be sure that local authorities are correctly implementing the amended 2007 building control measures?

Although operating under the guise of being safe, are all public service buildings (including hotels) as unregulated as this one? How safe are we, how do we find out and do we even have a right to know (before getting killed)?

In Thailand, profit overrides safety. In fact, there is no safety because the criminal fat cats openly ridicule the law. It doesn’t matter which law — traffic, fire, insurance or construction — they simply couldn’t care less and the police and other authorities are generally available to offer an illicit helping hand.

The people that bear the brunt of this are you and me while the wealthy corporates (and those receiving the brown envelopes) simper all the way to the bank. What does the future actually hold? More fires and accidents? More dirty brown envelopes? More finger-crossing? More knee-jerk reactions when disaster strikes? More passing the buck? The answers are simple: “yes, yes, yes, yes and yes”!

John Shepherd

To follow up on several contributions by readers on Muslim issues, I would like to make two significant points.

One is that regarding the status of Muslim women, ironically they enjoy most freedoms in a place that would surprise many: Israel. Possibly because it is harder to impose absurd rules and regulations on them in a place where all women have the same status as in a Western country, thus all their freedoms are state-sanctioned.

This causes, among other benefits, probably the highest employment rate anywhere for Muslim women, including the dozens of Islamic states, and a hefty representation in Israeli universities.

The second point is the way the oil-rich Islamic states relate to their brethren fleeing the bloody conflicts in Syria and Iraq, or economic hardship in Yemen, Afghanistan and beyond. There is almost no international outcry over the preposterous fact that these refugees knock on the gates of a weary Europe, while at the same time the countries that could afford to take them in — indeed, should take them in — simply show criminal indifference to their plight.

By these countries I mean the Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE or Kuwait, all awash in gas and petrodollars. Yet Muslims trying to rebuild shattered lives find these Eldorados shut to them.

May the world ask you gentlemen why? Why won’t you help your own?

Andy Leitner

It’s absolutely disgusting for JC Wilcox to viciously accuse the FBI, the attorney-general and the former president of the United States of rigging the presidential election (Postbag, Aug 6).

There is not a single respectable Republican who ever accused FBI director James Comey (who is a Republican himself!) of being dishonest. I doubt very much that Wilcox has some legal knowledge or information about the email scandal that makes him more qualified than Mr Comey to determine if Ms Clinton should have been indicted.

Donald Trump is going to lose because he has alienated immigrants, Muslims, women, racial minorities, the physically handicapped, veterans and even his fellow Republicans. He’s a horrible human being and completely unqualified to hold any political office.

Eric BahrtChiang Mai

I wonder why court officials do not set up barricades to provide wider and clear walking space from the vehicle parking spot to the entrance of the court building for former PM Yingluck so as to prevent her followers from swarming and straggling around her to give moral support with flowers, etc.

Or, is there any hidden agenda to allow this show for media to take photos and video footage?

RH SugaLamphun