OPINION

BMA's Mahakan mess

It is with deep disappointment that we have read Peerawat Jariyasombat's strangely ill-informed article, "A lesson in development" (BP, Jan 16, 2017). In a move that seems calculated to pander to the greed of developers rather than nurture the human resources represented by local populations, Khun Peerawat hails the efforts of Korean authorities to replace an existing population with an artist colony, but says nothing about the fate of the original residents.

What he so generously praises is a phenomenon social scientists the world over have denounced as "gentrification" -- the expropriation, usually achieved through a calculated inflation of the financial value of "heritage" of the neighbourhoods inhabited and loved by generations of the urban poor. He then writes about Bangkok's Mahakan community as though the community rather than the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration were to blame for the quarter-century of impasse. In so doing, he ignores what really happened and contradicts the strong, consistent, and ethical stand taken by the Bangkok Post, in its editorial and reports by his colleagues for more than a decade and especially over the past year, in favour of the community's long-standing efforts to negotiate a settlement.

The BMA refused to heed the opinions of many international and Thai experts, including officials of the Fine Arts Department. A cooperative agreement, which did gain the support of one governor (Apirak Kosayodhin) but was deliberately undone by myopically legalistic BMA bureaucrats, would have recognised the BMA's ownership of the land but awarded the residents the stewardship of the historic site -- a stewardship of which they have shown themselves eminently capable -- and the right to remain in their homes. One glance at the appalling mess the BMA has created where it has taken over part of the site is sufficient evidence for the wisdom of the residents' plan; we invite readers to visit the area between the fortress and the remaining houses to see for themselves.

What the BMA has wrought is an insult to the history and culture of Bangkok. What the residents offer could instead be a lesson in urban management for the entire world and the kind of tourist mecca that would far outshine the morally shabby, socially irresponsible, and culturally blind "development" that Khun Peerawat so ardently wishes on an already long-suffering city.

I suggest that in seeking reconciliation, we follow the approach that our beloved national father, the late King Rama IX, used in designing his royal projects to solve national problems, for example, to wean hill tribes away from growing opium.

Rama IX was legendary for collecting information first-hand from the grassroots and officials dealing directly with the locals -- ensuring buy-in from the grassroots. His solutions were based on local culture, local wisdom, and local conditions, and were aimed at sustainability -- again helping to ensure grassroots buy-in. Rama IX relied on demonstrations that the proposed solutions worked, and never used coercion. In short, the hill tribes accepted our beloved father's suggestions because they were based on the grassroots' inputs and ideas, suited to each locality's conditions and culture, and had been shown to work in the long run.

Thus, in the case of the hill tribes, Rama IX didn't charge in with a heavy hand, ordering the arrest of growers left and right. Instead, he interviewed tribes people and government officials with direct contact with locals, collecting information and ideas. Then Rama IX consulted experts as to what could replace the income the tribes people got from opium, before deciding on growing a new species of vegetables and fruit. He tested his ideas on pilot farms, showing locals that his solutions were adapted to their cultural and agricultural environment, and were sustainable, so they voluntarily followed his lead... the rest is history.

In achieving reconciliation, a neutral, respected party -- perhaps academics -- first needs to identify the key issues by talking to the locals and officials directly in contact with them -- following HM's time-proven approach. We might find that we must close our income gap and improve our education system. Working with locals and outside experts, this third party can design solutions to alleviate these local issues and implement sustainable, scalable pilot projects. These projects can gradually be expanded as localities voluntarily implement these solutions with state assistance, for example with funding or training.

We rightfully praise our beloved King Rama IX, and delight that King Rama X will follow in his father's footsteps. Shouldn't we do likewise?

"Our ancient monarchy renders inestimable services to our country... above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion and fortunes, the monarchy presides ancient, calm and supreme within its functions, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories that we write in the annals of our country."

Thailand? It could be, but was, in fact, written by Winston Churchill in 1948 about the British monarchy.

Nearly all media around the world regard the upcoming presidency of Mr Trump as "unpredictable". His presidency is not unpredictable, the problem is, that the mainstream media and politicians don't want to understand what he will do.

Like many other people around the world, I went from ignoring him to laughing about him and being shocked and concerned, when the results came out.

Then I did my research about Donald Trump and read about and listened to him, going back to the 1980s.

He actually does exactly what he announced before, therefore I regard him as highly predicable. This is "new" as most politicians promise a lot and afterward become a disappointment for the voters.

He warned Iraq, Libya and Syria would be destabilised. So I think we can predict, that under his presidency that US foreign policy will not repeat these mistakes.

He has been complaining for decades that the US increases its public and private deficits because production went abroad and people have to buy imported stuff, from clothes to TVs and cars.

He has already started negotiations with a view to keeping jobs in the US, otherwise there will be import taxes.

He warned about uncontrolled immigration and Islamic terror. It is possible this will destroy the EU this year as there are several key elections to be held. By the way, the media branded him as "racist" for this. Twenty years ago another American president told the Senate and the House in a joint session that he wanted to deport illegal immigrants: His name was Bill Clinton!

There will be a "steep learning curve", as former president Obama said, but not for Mr Trump -- for us!

The censors have been active again: This time their attention has been drawn to a report on the BBC World news channel regarding the carnage on Thailand's roads. A recent report by another international news channel on the floods in southern Thailand suffered the same fate. It is difficult to comprehend the mentality of those who authorise such actions -- what do they hope to achieve? Particularly so in this latest case, as the report can be viewed in its entirety on the BBC's website.

The international media have previously been accused by the prime minister and others of spreading incorrect news relating to Thailand, but that questionable allegation cannot be made in this instance. The official "plug pullers" were dilatory in the discharge of their duties, and the report had been running for about 30 seconds before the connection was cut, long enough for the gist of the report to be clear, based as it was upon the government's own road accident statistics.

It would seem that any report in the international media relating to Thailand is now automatically blocked, no matter what the content. This is just plain stupid, pointless, and counter-productive -- it makes Thailand even more of an international laughing stock.

Thank you for your continuing coverage on the plight of the Rohingya. It's an utter and disgusting shame that humanity can bring that kind of undeserved pain upon so many innocent people's homes. Many of the Rohingya that have fled Rakhine in the past months will most likely end up in one of two undocumented and unregistered refugee camps on the Teknaf peninsula: Leda Camp or Kutupalong Camp.

I have put together a series of photos and writings from that area and produced a video from Leda Camp that gives an idea of what life is like for the Rohingya (key blakenoyes rohingya to see those photos). Please share and continue to expose this atrocity.

After my earlier letter detailing how Air Asia never managed to perform the straightforward task of confirming an online booking by email -- as their system told me they would -- I have just come across another very niggling point, that as a customer I feel is very "sharp practice".

While some larger companies do not levy a service charge when paying by a debit or credit card, those who do usually charge in the region of 30 baht.

When booking online, Air Asia, however, charges 70 baht -- and that's not per transaction. Oh no, it's 70 baht per passenger.

So a single payment transaction covering three passengers will cost you a whopping 210 baht.

This was explained to me by the Air Asia call centre, when I queried the charge.

By the way, for the second time, despite telling me a confirmation email had been sent for my online booking, it still didn't arrive. Air Asia has my correct email address, sending me other emails detailing their alleged special offers.