OPINION

Rules of the road

I read with interest the article in last week's Spectrum about the plight of motorbike taxi drivers.

It seems that every street corner here in Pattaya has a congregation of drivers, all waiting for their next customer, in all types of weather. Most drivers I know have little education, and I often wonder where they would be if they ever got rid of the taxi stands.

But my sympathy wanes when friends tell me how much they have been charged to get around Pattaya. Thai customers often pay only 10% of what a foreigner is expected to pay.

My sympathy is almost non-existent when I hear stories of the same motorbike taxi drivers acting like the local mafia, refusing to let anyone park outside a convenience store or anywhere where they have decided to take up residence.

Most are hard-working but many are ruthless in their attitude to their customers and have the thought in their heads that they own the road.

Don't get me started on the bus drivers and the taxis of Pattaya!

Re: "Cops hand over Supoj assets" (BP, July 22).

Huge amounts of cash and gold accessories belonging to a former transport permanent secretary were handed over to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) by the police. These assets relate to a robbery at his house nearly six years ago.

The robbers, I recall, got hefty jail sentences, but what of Mr Supoj himself? Not a word has been stated about any effort to prosecute him despite a probe by the NACC which found he was unable to clarify how he had amassed such wealth. The simple question is: why was he not tried?

I always wonder how delusional and easily led many "poor" upcountry Thais can be. Many love former PM Thaksin, now a fugitive from justice, because he gave money to the poor. What was never mentioned is that government money given to the local tambons was not really free but was expected to be repaid within a specified time.

Many people also took the "free" money and bought cars, pickups, large TVs and other things. These unfortunate people went into debt sooner than if they had refused the "free" money, and lost all or nearly everything. People cannot understand that nothing is free in life.

The old proverb, "There is no such thing as a free lunch", has never been a strong point. We pay for everything to the smallest grain of salt, either directly or indirectly.

I wonder how much debt the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives has written off because of Thaksin's generosity, (taxpayers' money, not his money, of course) and the "here is free money" offer. Wake up out there.

I think the Bangkok Post editors made an error with the headline "Police in Red Bull scion case face probe", dated July 20, 2017. I think the headline was probably meant to appear in 20 to 50 years from today when all those involved will likely be dead.

While Obamacare no doubt has its flaws, it is equally obvious that the Republicans have no real alternatives.

When Republican Ronald Reagan was president, I was in Hawaii and a woman there needed US$200,000 for an operation to save her life, but she couldn't pay for it. Although the operation had a 70% chance of success, they just let that poor woman die.

Even now when the Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the Congress, they can't pass a bill that would have saved that woman's life.

The root cause of this healthcare mess is that the Republicans just don't care about the lives and health of poor people, especially if they're not white.

Your July 21 article, "The cost of N Korea's nukes", was, I noticed, by The Associated Press. Why is all the information regarding North Korea invariably only from US sources? Are there no sources other than American propaganda? Perhaps you should invite Colin Powell to divulge the latest on the North Korean threat?

One would think that the Bangkok Post would have the resources and the mettle to investigate the matter independently. After all, Thailand is relatively independent in the major geopolitical disputes.

There are direct contacts between Thailand and North Korea (for example, there was a recent football match between the national teams of both countries, there are North Korean restaurants in Bangkok, etc), and North Korea is not that very far away. I am sure that the matter of North Korea (not only its weapons programme), particularly the real lives of the inhabitants of that country, is of serious interest to many, including readers of the Bangkok Post.