Backpackers pay their way

Re: "Tourist figures dubious" (Postbag, Sept 23).

RH Suga writes very interesting letters that I enjoy reading and mostly agree with. However, I would like to question what a quality tourist really is.

Is a quality tourist one who comes loaded with money, spends nights in five-star hotels, stays an average of two weeks in the kingdom and travels to tourist spots in air-conditioned tour buses while hardly stepping outside? Or is a quality tourist a backpacker who spends a month or many months here, staying in smaller establishments that would never get high-end tourist income, trekking into the less accessible parts of Thailand, spending time with locals, villagers, spending money among them, and, better yet, braving travel on the train instead of flying to destinations?

A member of the Thai Hoteliers Association endorsed those backpackers and others like them as being a valuable and vital link in the tourist industry who should be encouraged, not frowned on.

The same association mentioned an interesting fact. Income earned here by foreign hotel chains does not remain in Thailand but is remitted to headquarters, mostly outside Thailand.

I guess we need both the high-end and low-end tourists without discrimination. In for a dime, in for a dollar, as we say.

Jack Gilead
Defending indefensible

Re: "Media conned again" (Postbag, Sept 23).

Aung Maung, the arch apologist for Myanmar's brutal regime, is at it again with another pitifully self-defeating defence of the indefensible.

In his view, all the world has it wrong: the media, world leaders, governments, human rights organisations. Sorry, but you are in a serious state of denial.

This and his previous letters spit hate and venom at the Rohingya, stripping them of dignity and even humanity. How does that sit with Buddhist concepts of compassion? I ask this as I know Aung Maung claims to be a devoted and practising Buddhist.

If you believe Aung Maung's letters, Myanmar would be an oasis of peace, harmony, love and compassion were it not for those verminous Rohingya. Again this ignores a long list of violence, atrocities and war crimes again other ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

The Women's League of Burma once released a detailed report of incidences of rape and sexual assault against women in both ceasefire and non-ceasefire areas at the hands of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces) and concluded that the Tatmadaw used this as a deliberate tactic to intimidate and subdue ethnic minorities. Amnesty International reported in June minority ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan states suffering appalling violations and abuses, including sexual assault, torture, executions and indiscriminate shelling of villages.

Then there is the forced recruitment of children as young as 10 into the army, who are often used to spearhead operations through minefields, taking the brunt of the casualties, so that the Tatmadaw can follow through safe lanes.

I could go on and on, for the list of atrocities committed by this and previous regimes in this tragic country is sickening.

David Brown
Genocide no answer

Aung Maung explains to us that the reason his demented government is murdering the Rohingya is because they don't practise family planning. Who can deny that genocide is the most effective form of birth control?

Eric Bahrt
China sets bad example

Re: "Cambodia leads regional authoritarianism" (Opinion, Sept 22).

Unfortunately all this is a direct cause of the financial crisis. The ascent of China has now made many countries in the world, including Thailand, question the values of democracy. For years democracy was perceived as the path to prosperity, but a slew of wars and crashes has caused the West to lose the argument.

China couldn't care less what Cambodia does. In much the same way, it couldn't care less about any African countries or humanitarian issues. Its only concern is to increase its own wealth.

Bump
Plastic conundrum

Re: "Lessons from Kenya's war against plastic" (Opinion, Sept 20).

I have a question for all who are giving thought to a world without plastic. If you are working long hours and late coming home at night and wish to stop for a simple meal from a vendor, how will you carry it?

A simple khao man gai often has enough plastic bags to fill a bin, but how will they serve all those separate items and various sauces without the bags?

Lungstib
Land of farces

Thanks to GMT for his Sept 23 letter, "Booze laws a farce". Traffic laws are also a farce, police enforcement is a farce, public transit is a farce, bank fees for non-Thai ATM cards (220 baht) are a farce, permitting alcohol sales from 11am to 2pm when school kids have their lunch breaks is a farce.

Somehow, the Land of Smiles logo needs to be replaced by Land of Farces. But despite all the farces, I don't think you, I or many others would want to live anywhere else. So we put up with these farces and, as the old cartoon used to say, grin and bear it with a shrug of the shoulder and palms held up and out in surrender. Why fight what you can't expect to win?

Farcical Mango
Don't let buses rust

Re: "B4bn budget for 489 NGV city buses" (BP, Sept 20).

This is a silly game that is a waste of time with additional administrative costs for new bidding and a longer wait for new buses. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should issue a Section 44 order to override all rules and let the BMTA buy those seized buses that are waiting to rust.

RH Suga
Quick to complain

I couldn't agree more with Marigold in his Sept 23 letter, "Don't like it, go home", regarding disgruntled consumers who live and breathe by complaining. No matter where they live, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Clara Holzer
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