OPINION

Graft always wins

At a feisty public hearing the representative of a high-profile Thai institution informed his audience that a much-disputed new construction under discussion must go ahead. Failure to award this condominium EIA certification and a construction permit, he reasoned, would render illegal all other buildings in the soi.

Despite enormous public dissent and legal challenges the BMA has now allowed construction to proceed, the machinery has moved in and mature trees have been chopped down. The infrastructure of the narrow soi in question (a cul-de-sac) is already unable to cope with a surfeit of hotels and condominiums but no provision has been made to cater for even further expansion. This is a text-book example of urban unsustainability and corruption of the rule of law, all motivated by the ethics of profit before safety and people and fuelled by dirty brown envelopes.

The equation is unlikely to change and one cannot avoid a sinking feeling that Bangkok will continue to be flooded with illegal constructions for a long time yet.

It is said that if the American public likes a president, a lot will be intentionally overlooked. The great FDR had his flings. JFK had his moments too. Yet both these former presidents were loved. It is said that if the American public does not like a president, they'd demand he be arrested for jaywalking. Who was disliked more than Tricky Dicky Nixon?

Now, let's look at this scenario. While president, Bill Clinton had affairs, he hushed them up. The former First Lady is said to have had her illicit flings as well. Mr Trump on the other hand is open about it all, with a dirty mind coupled to a dirty mouth. What's the difference between either a Clinton and a Trump? The glass is, either half empty, or, half full, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Barry Kenyon's branding of the US election as similar to a boxing match ("Sleaze never ends", PostBag, Sept 13) is indisputable but needs certain qualifications. It has been a game and very much sportsmanlike. The examples are previous rivals of Ms Clinton and Mr Trump, like Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson who used to lambaste Ms Clinton and Mr Trump to a pulp and are now declared as the candidates' supporters. There is no sincerity in the US election but the system works in trying to have the best man or woman as their president. Mr Kenyon's observation of the intelligence of the US electorate is most revealing and frightening. Prior to last week, I was rather frightened of the prospect of having Donald Trump as the leader of America and the world.

That was due to the likelihood of his winning because of his then repeated attack on Ms Clinton as a representative of the establishment that the majority has the innate dislike for, especially those in Wall Street after the financial crisis stirred up by the US financial market in 2008. Mr Trump's attack was centred on Ms Clinton's longevity in the establishment and not having done anything.

Fortunately for the rest of the world -- due to the indecency and crudeness of Mr Trump which were previously bearable but last week went to extremes -- the world is now saved.

There are two major differences between the Donald Trump and Bill Clinton sex scandals. First Bill Clinton never admitted to sexual assault and his accusers were lacking in credibility. For example, his so-called "rape victim" said she never even went to a doctor after the alleged rape despite her claim that Mr Clinton savagely bit her. On the other hand, Mr Trump is caught on tape bragging about the women he sexually assaulted.

Second, Bill Clinton is not currently running for president and Donald Trump is. And that's all the difference in the world.

postbag@bangkokpost.co.th