OPINION

Pros at probes

Re: "BMA officials feel market heat," (BP, March 6).

Well, that is obvious. The big question now is, what will the prime minister or the governor of Bangkok do about it, other than assign another committee to "investigate", till the cows come home, with no results, stretching a few years, till we are all sick of the issue and it fades away. Thai government committees seem to run on forever, producing no results, no recommendations, no nothing, a waste of taxpayers' money, but certainly well funded, paying high salaries to its appointed members who might meet once a week, once a month, once a … you get the point.

Bangkok has its first theatre hotel in a heritage site in Silom. The developer has improved and modernised the whole area which was previously untidy back streets. Each evening a gang of unsavoury criminals meet in a side street next to the hotel and conduct illegal activities like gambling and drug dealing.

The locals complain to the police but their complaints gather dust and are ignored with the ubiquitous "we are looking into it".

It's a shame that such an attractive hotel and heritage site has become an unsightly den for criminals and complaints fall on deaf ears.

A picture showing the police academy entrance exam in the Post's March 6 edition says the applicants were subject to strict screening to prevent cheating, including having to take off their shoes and being banned from bringing phones into the exam hall.

If this is how our potential police officers are viewed, it is little wonder why the guardians of the law are thought of once they get appointed. A sad story.

Andy Phillips in his March 6 letter, "Senseless slaughter", is correct. It's utterly preposterous to suggest that Thailand wouldn't have any coups if the Thai population was armed. Is there any Thai person reading this letter who would have been willing to take on the Thai army even if he had a semi-automatic assault rifle?

The reason America doesn't have coups is because we Americans realise that you can't have a democracy if every time you're not happy with the government you overthrow it.

The long and growing list of state officials being removed for malfeasance and incompetence, or arrested for crimes against the nation reminds me of a story of a farmer and his buffalo.

Once upon a time there was a lady prime minister who wanted to go fishing. She called her personal weather forecaster and inquired about the weather forecast for the next few hours. The weatherman assured her that there was no chance of rain in the coming days. So she went fishing with her husband.

On the way she met a farmer on his buffalo. Upon seeing the prime minister the farmer said: "Your Excellency, you should return to your residence at once because in just a short time I expect a huge amount of rain to fall in this area.

The prime minister was polite and considerate, she replied " I hold my personal meteorologist in high regard. He is an extensively educated and experienced professional, and I pay him very high wages. He gave me a different forecast. I trust him and I will continue on my way.

A short time later torrential rain fell from the sky. The prime minister and her husband were totally soaked and her entourage chuckled upon seeing them in such a shameful condition.

Furious, the prime minister issued an order to fire the weatherman and offered him a prestigious and high-paying role of official government forecaster.

The farmer said: "Your Excellency, I do not know anything about forecasting. I rely on information from my buffalo. If I see my buffalo ears drooping, it means with certainty that it will rain." The PM hired the buffalo on the spot.

And thus began the ancient-old tradition of hiring buffaloes to work in the government and occupy its highest positions.

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