OPINION

Vietnam shows way

Soonruth Bunyamanee in his Nov 15 column, "To learn English we must think outside box", identifies one of the key reasons for the low standards of English among Thai students, namely their reluctance to practise speaking.

He says: "Students themselves are also part of the problem ... Most students are shy and try to avoid speaking in English for fear of making mistakes". Having spent years teaching English at Thai universities and at a technical college, I could not agree more.

But we must ask why is this so?

The recent English Proficiency Index ranked Thailand 56th out of 72 countries. Our near neighbour, Vietnam, ranked 34th.

I am a frequent visitor to Vietnam and I know that it is almost impossible for an English-looking foreigner to walk through any of the public parks or plazas in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or any other Vietnamese city or large town without being ambushed by groups of students keen to practise their English.

As a former English teacher, I take delight in sitting down with them and spending an hour or so chatting with them about their studies, about Vietnam and about my own background. In fact, I sometimes deliberately take a walk through Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake area or the park near Ho Chi Minh City's Ben Thanh Market to do just that.

So we must ask why are the Vietnamese students so keen to practise and Thai students so reticent? Both are from Asian cultures with many similar values and beliefs. As Khun Soonruth points out, neither country was a British colony -- in fact Vietnam was a French colony, and now only the oldest of Vietnamese speak any French.

Is there a Vietnamese cultural differential that gives its students the incentive to practise speaking? Are Vietnamese parents more fostering of English language learning than Thai parents? How do Vietnam's English teaching methodologies differ from Thailand's?

I do not know the answers to these questions -- and many more that we should ask -- but if we could answer them, we might find some clues on how to tackle the problem here.

May I congratulate Khun Soonruth ­Bunyamanee for his excellent article on the current state of English in the Thai education system, as per the latest English ­Proficiency Index.

Again, I can only say, that there are hundreds of English speaking farang living permanently in your country who would willingly assist any Thai/s with speaking and listening in our lingua franca, but the authorities continue to place our offers in the "too hard basket!" Such a waste!

Your Nov 16 report, "Free internet access for poor", which says the Finance Ministry plans to give internet SIM cards to the welfare recipients to allow them to access free internet baffles me. Each SIM card has fixed megabytes available to users.

In Malaysia if you visit any coffee shop in a small village, you are provided with free WiFi where you can access directly the internet.

In Singapore if you visit the Starbucks Coffee shop, you are given free access to internet. Also on MRT trains, you can have free access to internet. Even on public buses you are provided with power points to charge your cell phone so that you can access the internet.

I hope the Thai government will make the internet more easily accessible to all its citizens and tourists so that the tourist industry can make a quantum leap.

Cambodia's Hun Sen has abolished the political opposition. He should look to Zimbabwe. People will tolerate being pushed so far, and no more. Hun Sen's time will come, same as it did for Mr Mugabe. It is not if, but when.

Re: "Time to drop Sulak charges", (Editorial, Nov 15).

The two retired army generals who filed a complaint against Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa should realise that it is possible that they have no case against the revered teacher -- since commenting on the event that happened 400 years ago has nothing to do with violating the lese majeste law.

Suffice it to say that Ajarn Sulak, in this particular case, is clearly a prisoner of conscience. Release him, please.

Clara Holzer's Nov 15 letter, "Some expats like NCPO", impresses me. She is definitely an exceptional expat to like this military government but not exceptional among many of my expat friends.

Her view also coincides with many Thais who believe that, among many faults, this government has done well on matters that previous democratic governments could not achieve.

The World Bank's regional director Ulrich Zachau recently stated that: "Thailand has made immense progress in doing business reforms this past year with strong government leadership." Mainly because Thailand has improved its overall ranking in the World Bank's study on 190 countries for Ease of Doing Business from 46th to 26th, an unprecedented jump of 20 places and also as one of the top 10 improvers.

Clara Holzer reckons that she and other expat junta admirers are in a minority, but I'm not so sure. Many of my foreigner acquaintances are very happy with the status quo. Their priority is a peaceful environment in which to enjoy their retirement. Local political and social issues do not weigh heavily on their minds.

I have reservations about Ms Holzer's claims that the junta is doing a lot for the less well-off in Thailand. Of course there have been some worthwhile initiatives in this direction, but I can cite just two examples of where the opposite may be true.

The plans to force farmers to purchase all their seeds from the agribusiness giants, instead of sourcing some of their own, seems likely to result in the former being even more in thrall to the latter than they already are, and a proposal for some slightly better-off pensioners to forego part of their pensions in exchange for a medal could only have originated in a military mind.

I do think however that the junta should consider awarding a medal to Clara Holzer in recognition of her loyalty and relentless support for their cause.

Swift action against foreigners for overstaying their visas, many for 10 years, shows that the 90-day address reporting system is completely useless. So why bother keeping such an inefficient tracking system around if the Immigration Bureau is unable to find illegals after such a long time? It's a waste of time for both legal residents and also the immigration officers assigned to collect and endorse these declarations, while the illegals produce fake addresses or skip the process entirely.

It is time to modify or repeal this regulation, especially with the advance of internet technology that renders the whole current process at best antiquated and at worst completely useless. The so-called online reporting system that was implemented a while ago has been working on-and-off since it was launched and no one can expect its current implementation to be reliable enough to replace a forced visit to the immigration office. Not too many countries maintain similar requirements for their foreign residents, but Thailand does.

This regulation is completely ridiculous for foreigners with a yellow tabian baan book like myself (in my case for more than 25 years). If we move, we need to visit both our original district office and the one at our new location to re-register the yellow book showing the correct address; this document proves once and for all where we live. Is it not really stupid to have to tell the Immigration Bureau every three months that we are still living on our own property (I am legally the owner of the house while my wife is the owner of the land)?

Adding insult to injury we are forced to visit our own provincial immigration office every time as it is impossible to do so while traveling in the country in another province. This requirement is completely unreasonable.

Also unreasonable is the wide variety of rules regarding what is the documentation required to accompany the report (lease agreement, tabian baan, house registration, passport copies, current copies of visa and entry card, etc) which seems to depend more on the mood of the officer in charge than on standardised regulations.

Either the government demonstrates that this 90-day reporting system is really useful, something that has never happened in all these years, or it repeals the entire process once and for all.

The news that Thai people are getting so fat is long overdue to be presented for public awareness.

When I first visited here in 1973 I noticed the Thais had some of the best light meals and dietary attitudes in the world. Soup -- light broth with some vegetables and perhaps a small piece of chicken or pork -- with a little rice for content was was all. Fruit was in abundance and cheap as a sweet or dessert. Everyone looked well, especially the Thai ladies being slim.

Now the vendors are soaking all foods with sugars to get the customers to become regulars as it "tastes good". Fast food and convenience stores have ruined the lifestyles of the locals.

No wonder, everyone is getting big and "Westernised" -- couple that with unknown diabetes. It's a veritable time bomb. I hope the Thai nation can act and stop this obesity.

Start with the children please!

Having read in Nov 16 Postbag the ­quotation from George Orwell's Animal Farm, ­alongside the remarks on life in Thailand from Clara Holzer's "Some expats like NCPO", I feel this wise sentence from ­Burmese Days (also by George Orwell, of course) is worth noting: "He had forgotten that most people can be at ease in a foreign country only when they are disparaging the inhabitants."

As one who feels very comfortable here, I am sorry for those whose circumstances prevent them from leaving -- and living in the country of their choice.

John Lloyd's Nov 13 article criticising British democracy and the British government may be summed up in one simple sentence using his words: If you disagree with or don't do as the political elite instruct you are a ­"barbarian".

So "barbarian" can now be added to "xenophobic, racist, fascist, ignorant pigs" in the abusive descriptions of the majority who dare hold contrary views to the elite.

Mr Lloyd quotes the critical headlines and views of anti-Brexit media as if these are prima facie evidence in themselves, when they are clearly nothing more than opinion. He quotes the European Union's diatribes against the British government as if these, too, are self-evident truths. What? Does he expect the EU to applaud the British during Brexit negotiations as the EU loses its second biggest money tree?

Mr Lloyd has still to learn the truth of modern democracy. We voters no longer trust or believe what we are told by the self-serving political elite.

Re: "Doctor who crashed into guard hit with attempted murder rap", (BP, Nov 14).

How many more drunken doctors are out there? Imagine being scheduled for cardiac or other surgery, from low to high risk, and having the doctor come in while either inebriated or suffering from a hangover from the night before.

So much for trying to establish Thailand as a medical hub. The incident probably reveals only the tip of the iceberg.