OPINION

The gravity of the matter

Re: "Don't only blame drivers for road tragedies" (Opinion, Nov 18).

Concerning the road tragedies discussion, the column states: "The section of road on which the coach was travelling was downhill, so the momentum of the speeding vehicle increased the gravity." Nope, nope, nope! If the speed of the coach increased on the downhill, then the kinetic energy of the coach increased.

This has nothing to do with gravity. No matter how fast the coach was travelling, the gravitational force between the mass of the coach and the earth would be the same.

Re: "End 90-day reporting" (Postbag, Nov 18).

Michel Barre argues convincingly that 90-day reporting serves no useful purpose. However, the burden pales into insignificance compared with the residency report known as form TM30.

By the way, if you have never heard of TM30, stand by for a large fine the next time you visit the immigration department.

This form is supposed to be filled in by the hotel or condo or private house owner, within one working day, every time a foreigner sets foot in the kingdom.

It doesn't matter how many times he or she has visited in the past.

Each immigration bureau throughout the kingdom has its own set of rules for enforcement -- if there really are any -- and there is even disagreement about implementation among different sections in the same office.

Thai authorities in general are still suspicious of computerisation. It seems safer to require individuals to keep turning up at checkpoints of one sort and another with bundles of paperwork. At the moment we are seeing more forms and not less.

Last year there was even a lengthy one asking aliens where they spent their free time and what they watched on the internet, although that particular one seems to have bitten the dust nationwide. Immigration officials do a good job coping with constantly changing requirements from on high, but what is required is a comprehensive audit and review. Abolishing the 90-day reporting is about 1% of the problem.

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe dictator, and his Un-Grace-ful wife Grace, are lucky not to have met the same fate as Romania's Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu in 1989. Times have become more merciful. Pity.

I stated that corruption in Thailand has existed for a long time and that it did not start with politicians. In this context I do not see what it means that some expats are supportive of the National Council for Peace and Order. Some people are supportive of Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte and right-wing parties in Europe. It has no relation to an actual statement and it does not make their world views and policies any better.

It might be that I have been longer in the country than the readers of this letter and have seen governments which did some good things here and there and brought the country forward. That this government is "much better" than any government before is quite a statement.

A big majority of people in the country have absolutely no say in formulating basic political, social and economic policies. Go and talk with some low-income people.

We hear on a daily basis of Muslims being killed in many parts of the world. The arcane Islamic tradition is to bury the dead as soon as possible, presumably for hygienic reasons, as the religion originated in the Middle East. Also, as I understand the process, all the body parts should be interred together.

With many of the victims succumbing to violent explosions, this obviously presents a dilemma if there are multiple victims who have been dismembered -- that is, whose arm or leg belongs to which torso?

Of more mundane and important concern is the fact that this haste to plant the deceased means that any forensic examination of the crime scene can only be cursory at most, thus hampering a thorough investigation and bringing the perpetrators to justice based on comprehensive evidence.

Thus, with modern mortuary and refrigeration facilities available in most urban centres, this haste to dispose of potentially vital evidence is self-defeating and will lead to fewer convictions of those responsible, and the authorities relying on coercion, torture or other extrajudicial methods in order to achieve a prosecution of the miscreants.

If the situation of Thailand's education is half as bad as you reported it, then Thailand's future is doomed. Because what is poor now will only breed more poor, non-educated people.

Re: "Chip on Thai shoulders" (Postbag, Nov 16).

Writers of Nov 16 letters on English language usage gave solid comments. But you know the old story. Remember asking yourself at one time or another, what do you get for a friend who has everything?

In Thailand it is a question of, how do you correct a person who knows everything? I'm sure "egg" will remain "egg" in a Prachin Buri Tops supermarket forever. In the Prachin Buri Tesco Lotus, "bath" will remain "bath" instead of "baht" forever, and "taarain" will remain "taarain" forever.

I took a taarain once. It looked like a train to me. It reminded me of a visit to a zoo in China where I saw a sign pointing "To camelopard". I couldn't wait to see this exotic animal. I got to the cage with great anticipation, only to find a bored giraffe munching away on its lunch. I was, needless to say, disappointed. I took the taarain back to my hotel.

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