OPINION

Agro-giants to blame

Your editorial, "Murky answer to haze woes", on Dec 11 points the finger for the problem quite accurately at the right people, but those of who live upcountry long to see some positive action rather than simply read the same old platitudes.

There will be more complaints in this forum about the black ash that falls from the sky and covers people and property, about an increase in respiratory problems and about hospitals that try to cope with them. Every year the problem is the same, as is the effort to control it; namely zero. As you rightly point out, the slash-and-burn hill farmers will be blamed once again and the main culprits, the big agro-giants, are unlikely to get a slap on the wrist.

Leaving aside the agro-giants, who could do with a Section 44 rein in, the reasons for the farmers' contribution to the January, February air pollution are easy to understand: too much rice straw/sugar cane/potato/corn stalks after the harvest. What to do with it all?

There is too much to plough back in without mulching it -- and there are no mulching machines. Baling the straw is okay if you need the straw and can find a baler. Burning is easy and costs nothing and the average farmer is unlikely to lose much sleep over the resulting air pollution. His choice is an easy one to make.

Those in the government who live in Bangkok are, for the most part, unaffected by the problem so are also unlikely to lose much sleep over it. Their choice therefore as to whether or not to do something is equally easy: in time-honoured fashion, ignore the problem and it will go away -- until this time next year. But it won't, and one can't help thinking that a fraction of the money spent on one Chinese submarine could provide sufficient mulchers and balers to go a long way towards seriously reducing the smog. But then I always was a dreamer!

Re: "PM rips media over Prawit bling furore", (BP, Dec 14).

It behoves both the prime minister and his deputy, Prawit Wongsuwon, to remember that no one, and nothing lasts forever. One day both these gentlemen will be forced to step down. When that happens, public memory might surface to demand answers. Retribution might be swift and harsh.

A temple close to my home in Prachin Buri's Muang district erected a gigantic statue of a long deceased monk. The platform itself is quite impressive, and the construction must have cost millions of baht. The same money could have been spent to feed the poor, help local hospitals, contribute to the southern flood victims, and more. A newscast reports that the Supreme Patriarch visited a temple to celebrate the 111th anniversary of the death of a Vietnamese monk who was known for his compassion to the poor, helping the sick, and living a virtuous life. I wonder if the monks in my neighbourhood have ever had the same thoughts.

Many people ask why with all the sex scandals Bill Clinton got a "free ride". Let's put things in perspective. Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of rape, is as phoney as a three dollar bill. Clinton did, however, have a voluntary adulterous affair with a consenting adult. So what? John Kennedy had a love life that would have made Clinton look gay by contrast! And I imagine the children in Thomas Jefferson's slave den probably called him "dad"!

What has changed is that we now have credible charges of blatant sexual abuse and child molestation. (Incidentally, I wonder if the Republicans who called Juanita Broaddrick "credible" feel the same way about the three woman who have accused Donald Trump of raping them.) Clearly we need to find a middle ground between expecting our leaders to be boy scouts while letting them know that we draw the line when it comes to sexual abuse.

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