Election dreams

Re: “Prawit vows February election”, (BP, June 1).

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon was being at best ambiguous when he pretended it would be “a huge relief for the National Council for Peace and Order if the election roadmap goes as planned”. It has been going as planned for more than four years now, which tells you a lot about exactly what the road map is. An election in February remains as credible as the unverified excuses offered for his amazing watch collection.

More to the point, if the great watchman and his allies really wanted an early election as they now pretend, there is an obvious way to cut a good 90 days and more from the current schedule. Will that be done? “Within 150 days” does not mean “after at least 150 days” and it is not obvious that 90 days is needed for a signature. In fact, if the PM general and his watchers wanted something that would be such “a huge relief”, the law definitely allows an election this year, certainly by November if not earlier. The reality again contradicts the pious pretences of the politicians clinging desperately to the power they stole from the Thai nation. But after four years of mounting evidence, this is no surprise.

Felix Qui

Word games

Re: “Govt vows fresh election”, (BP, June 1).

I’m probably not the only one who picked up on Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit’s assurances that a general election will be held in February next year.

Using such phrases as “all involved will try to make sure the poll takes place in February”, “if the election roadmap goes as planned” and “he hoped the election will go smoothly” does not exactly sound too reassuring and leaves possible loopholes to retract the statements later. I hope I am wrong.

Martin R

New kid on the block

Re: “Thanathorn sets eye on premier’s job”, (BP, 28 May).

Let’s welcome this new kid on the chopping block. He aspires to be Thailand’s next premier. He intends to scrap the 2017 constitution and revoke all of the regime’s orders at the first opportunity should he be elected to run the country.

Thanathorn reminds me of William Henry McCarthy Jr a.k.a. William H Bonney, infamously known unto this day as Billy the Kid, a Wild West outlaw. The difference: While Thanathorn has a clean look and is of Chinese descent; Billy the Kid was Irish and had buck teeth. Thanathorn is sharp and fast with his tongue. Billy was one of the period’s fastest six-shooters. His hand was faster than his tongue and let it do all the talking. He never shot himself in the foot, or even the mouth. He was deadly accurate and would shoot in self-defence or when provoked. Legend has it that he drilled a hole in a dime on the fly.

BP on 29 May: “Regime takes aim at Future Forward”. Seems we have a new Sheriff Pat Garrett in the guise of Prayut Chan-o-cha. Garrett gunned down Billy the Kid at the tender age of 21.

Norman Sr

Future gamble

Re: “Leadership failures”, (PostBag, May 31).

The writer suggested that Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit should return to his family’s business, never dabble in politics, the same as Justin Trudeau should return to teaching.

I say let’s give Thanathorn a shot at the PM’s office. If he doesn’t live up to expectations, the military can always boot him out and instal a new PM at will. Canadians, however, don’t have that kind of luxury; they have to grin and bear with Junior for at least four years.

Somsak Pola

Cheers, Andy!

If the lives of the workers in the canning factories improve, they owe a debt of gratitude to Andy Hall. What I don’t understand is that there are plenty of people the newspapers call “activists”. Aren’t they the ones who should do Hall’s work instead of raising three fingers to please foreign governments who desperately want a corrupt government in charge so they can exploit Thailand and further the suffering of the farmers by imposing seedless crops or force poor people to buy imported medicine at exorbitant prices under the pretext of royalties owed to them?

Clara Holzer

Lese-majeste riddle

Isn’t the use of a lese-majeste charge and the ongoing detention of those faced with the Section 112 against the wishes of His Majesty the late King? Does this ignorance not indicate disrespect for His Majesty’s wishes and smack of lese majeste in itself?

Ron Martin

Whale of a time

Re: “Annual whale hunt killed 333 minkes, 122 pregnant”, (BP, June 1).

This shocking news has never been reported by the Japanese media, not even online. The tradition of putting whale on the Japanese family table is very limited nowadays. Why does the Japanese government stick to this tradition? Scientific research is not required anymore.

Durian Ninja

Legalise meth

After reading about the 11 factories in the north where 20 million methamphetamines are being or capable of being produced daily and your recent interview with Viroj Sumyai (member of the UN Narcotics Control Board) who seems to have zero idea of how to solve the meth problem, I must reluctantly stand with those who say the only answer is to legalise them.

At least that would stop the Myanmar drug lords and their cronies from getting any richer and may add a little income to our national treasury. And it is not without precedent for the government to be selling stuff that will kill us — we have the Thai Tobacco Monopoly selling us with cigarettes, which has no doubt shortened the lives of many millions of us over the years. Our government also allows the selling of cheap rotgut whiskeys, the drinking of which leads to some horrific traffic accidents, not to mention the abuse of women and children, and which allows the liquor barons to get immensely rich and provides some tax money. And then there is the government’s failure to stop the sales of certain insecticides, which no doubt will shorten the lives of many.

So you see, the government is already in the business of selling stuff to kill us. Why hesitate to legalise methamphetamines?

Of course, I realise that Gen Prayut lacks the political courage to do this, so if you don’t agree with me, don’t worry, because it will never happen while Gen Prayut is prime minister.

Observer

Judge Prayut

As a casual observer, there is an interesting development in the persona of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Not only is he the ultimate arbiter of what is legal and what is illegal in Thailand, he is now the ultimate arbiter of what is true and what is untrue. Put simply, if you express an opinion contrary to that held by the PM, it is untrue and you had better watch out.

David Brown

Monster Trump

Donald Trump has declared war on animals! Since coming to office he has gotten the USDA to remove reports of animal abuse from their website, lifted the ban on importing elephant parts into the United States, supported legislation to make it easier to slaughter baby bears. The list goes on.

We in the animal rights movement have to organise behind political candidates who stand up for the animals and expose the monsters who care nothing about them. In America, animal rights organisations know if they support a candidate they could lose their tax exempt status. So let’s form a non-tax-exempt organisation whose only function is to fight for pro-animal candidates.

There are millions of Americans who in one form or another are involved in animal rights. We have the votes to keep sociopaths like Trump out of office. We have to start using them now.

Eric Bahrt

Industrial defence

With reference to the article in the PostBag section regarding IRPC, which you published on May 28, 2018, we are sorry for hearing that unhappy voice and please let us clarify the situation.

IRPC’s business is refining and petrochemicals. The IRPC Eco Industrial Complex is situated in Rayong province. Over the past several years we have tried our best to minimise the uncontrolled flaring and smoking that goes up into the atmosphere. Actually, it costs us a lot of money to burn and waste hydrocarbon by flaring. However, it is a must because it is the safest way to burn it during emergencies, especially during the unplanned shutdowns of the processing units.

Over the last few years we have commissioned several new processing units and during those trial periods there could be more unplanned shutdowns than normal. It should be better by now. Unfortunately, last week we had unplanned shutdowns of several units due to power failures, which can happen especially during the rainy season.

Most of our employees live in Rayong. Their safety and wellness is our prime concern. That’s why we have installed various ambient air-monitoring stations around our plants to ensure the air quality at ground level meets legal standards and is safe for our families. Our flare is designed to reach a height of 140m to ensure the emissions from burnt hydrocarbon and smoke spreads to wider areas and the ambient air quality at ground level is still safe.

We can assure you that we shall try our best to minimise the unplanned shutdown and consequently the flaring and smoking. This is to keep our promise to do business with the greatest care for society, the public and the environment. Sorry again for any misunderstanding. Should you need more information please do not hesitate to contact me by calling 085-4806098.

Chanida SanhakornCorporate Communications Manager, IRPC Plc

Easy riders

Security checkpoints by soldiers on provincial streets, such as in many southern provinces, as we saw on the TV news, show that they allow bike riders who don’t wear helmets to go on with their trips. Of course, it’s not a duty of soldiers. I recommend policemen join the checkpoints so they can collect fines from those careless bike riders. The law regarding crash helmets should be enforced also on rural roads.

RH Suga

Demonising Airbnb

Re: “Who to blame for Airbnb ‘nightmares?’”, (Opinion, May 31).

The problems experienced by Chaley are not the fault of Airbnb but as pointed out by others, due to the total ineffectiveness of the RTP. Chaley could also have contacted Airbnb directly via their website and may well have got satisfaction from the approach.

BARMAN

Autonomous alarm

Re: “Autonomous cars and taxis”, (PostBag, May 30).

I admire the confidence expressed by Mr Setter concerning his faith in autonomous vehicles.

Unfortunately, my own experience of sat-navs, the internet, streaming, work computers and home laptops, etc, does not fill me with glee at the prospect of being driven by a self-driving car with self-driving 40-tonne-plus trucks coming the other way.

I hope these vehicles come with good medical insurance and a lifetime supply of Valium for their passengers.

Peter Fairless

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