OPINION

Peasants, behave!

Re: "Enough of the iron grip", (Editorial, Dec 7).

The trouble from the dictators' point of view is that ungrateful Thai citizens, despite an amazing Gini index of 90.2 courtesy of those same self-made old boys, cannot be relied upon to mindlessly obey unless a little fatherly coercion is used, hence the urgent need for morally corrupt laws to be strictly enforced by the morally challenged politicians who stole the Thai nation by overthrowing the civilian government.

As the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2018 shows, the economy is much happier now, with the 1% owning a more respectable 66.9% of everything Thai. And those upstart peasants are firmly back under heel.

Why risk what is so obviously returning happiness to all save the 99% of low-worth ingrates?

Only in Thailand can there be a measurement of the groups most likely to be corrupt and put into categories. Most likely, possibly, and unlikely corrupt. My question is who makes the decision? Based on the reported fact that around 70% of Thais think that a little corruption is okay, if they benefit from it, does it follow that they would fall into grouping of most likely?

Re "Report: Thailand most unequal country in 2018", (Online, Dec 7).

Credit to Banyong Pongpanich for bringing this to the public's attention. Unfortunately he then suggests neoliberalism and welfare are the solutions to this extremely disturbing state of affairs.

Neoliberalism combined with the patronage system, a military dictatorship, stifled public education, limited credit facilities, farm price controls, a state enterprise system, massive corruption, and a failing justice system will not make any difference at all. Welfare is a short-term bandaid that only exacerbates income disparity.

Thailand desperately needs reform from the ground up -- literally. The poorest 10% of Thais have less than zero money. And most of these are rural farmers, yet successive governments enact the exact policies over and over again that confines the poor to their destitution for generation after generation. Debt absolution programmes, farm subsidies, handouts, a soul-crushing education system and dreadful healthcare are the cage that confines poor Thais to a marginalised life of little hope and much despair.

The current government, whose promise of reform was their cause celebre, has only made things worse while enriching themselves in public view. Thailand urgently needs new, young, courageous leadership with a different vision for this great country. The junta should simply step aside and let it happen.

Re: "Half-baked effort", (PostBag, Dec 6).

I fully agree with the critical assessment of Fireman Sam about the feeble efforts of Thailand in reducing or eliminating the use of plastic shopping bags. These "one-day-a-month" or "one-day-a-week" token efforts to break people's addiction to plastic bags are doomed to fail.

The only way to successfully break people's extravagant use of plastic bags is to stop providing them. And don't tell me it can't be done. At least 40 countries around the world have banned single-use plastic bags. Here at home, note that Makro does not provide plastic bags for carrying purchases, and I see plenty of customers who are able to cope just fine.

A "cold-turkey" transition requiring shoppers to bring their own reusable bags and containers to stores would surely entail a bit of grumbling and inconvenience at first. But, such a complete and immediate shift is the only path to success in eliminating the scourge of plastic bags that is inflicting so much damage on the environment.

Re: "New law strips Shinawatras of right to sue", (BP, Dec 5).

How absolutely marvelous, this new law prohibiting fugitive criminals from filing lawsuits against the legal system and their accusers. Maybe this will finally be the last we hear from, or about Thaksin for a long while.

Re: "New law strips Shinawatras of right to sue", (BP, Dec 5).

This is probably one of the best laws to come out during this government's four-year (so far) term. Bravo, bravo, bravo. I would like to see other countries follow suit and enact similar legislations.

All comments and suggestions published in PostBag are valuable assets, and the government should listen to and use them to correct their flaws.

The only problem is, people working for the government never touch English-language newspapers. As a result, PostBag merely serves as a forum for expats to gripe at everything in Thailand and for Thais to gripe at the expats for griping too much.

But then again, if the bureaucrats and the junta start reading PostBag, the Post would have been in hot water because of unflattering comments on PM Prayut and the junta. I said "in hot water" because I assume the Post will never reveal their sources.

Or... will it?

Re: "AlAraibi detention 'in line with protocol'", (BP, Dec 4).

Thai authorities state that they do not have an extradition treaty with Bahrain. However, requests can be considered on a case-by-case basis. This is a case where the person has not been convicted of anything and who rights group say is being persecuted. So the question comes to mind for the same Thai authorities. Have you ever made a request to other countries that Thailand does not have extradition treaties with to consider returning those Thai criminals known to be residing in your midst on a case to case basis?

I refer possibly to Dubai or even when these jet-setters holiday in other places like Singapore. Surely though, all Asean members have agreements already. If not then maybe Thailand as the current head can push for this. I am 100% sure Britain would also consider an extradition request for already convicted felons. Seems to be a total lack of transparency to me when it comes to convicted pu yai.

Chiang Mai immigration has found another way to harass retirees applying for visa extensions. It affects aliens who have recently returned from another country and completed a TM 6 card on arrival. A neighbour has recently been scolded for not reporting his address within seven days of the TM card, despite his address being unchanged from that entered on the TM 6 and already known to the department for years.

It's bad enough queuing at 6am for an interview before being treated this way.

I tried to make an afternoon appointment at the US consulate. It's impossible. Why? They close at 1pm. Only a government monopoly can get away with that. They should use a private company instead. That would cost less and they would get people that want to work.

For those who consider the UK has benefitted from its membership of the EU, here is some interesting reading.

This shortlist of financial and industrial developments has been duly sanctioned and supported by the EU, using the UK's money, despite a negative impact on the UK as a whole. Here are some examples:

Cadbury moved factory to Poland 2011 with an EU grant.

Ford Transit moved to Turkey 2013 with an EU grant.

Jaguar Land Rover recently agreed to build a new plant in Slovakia with an EU grant. It is owned by Tata, the same company that has trashed our steelworks and emptied the workers' pension funds.

Peugeot closed its Ryton (was Rootes Group) plant and moved production to Slovakia with an EU grant.

The British Army's new Ajax fighting vehicles to be built in Spain using Swedish steel at the request of the EU to support jobs in Spain with an EU grant, rather than Wales.

Dyson gone to Malaysia, with an EU loan.

Crown Closures, Bournemouth (formerly Metal Box), gone to Poland with an EU grant. It once employed 1,200.

M&S manufacturing gone to the Far East with an EU loan.

Hornby models gone. In fact all toys and models now gone from UK along with the patents, all with EU grants.

Gillette gone to Eastern Europe with an EU grant.

Most London buses are run by Spanish and German companies.

The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to be built by French company EDF, part owned by the French government, using cheap Chinese steel that has catastrophically failed in other nuclear installations. Now EDF says the cost will be double or higher and it will be very late even if it does come online.

Around 39% of British invention patents have been passed to foreign companies, many in the EU.

The Minis that ex-PM Cameron stood in front of as an example of British engineering, are built by BMW mostly in Holland and Austria. His campaign bus was made in Germany, even though we have Plaxton, Optare, Bluebird, Dennis, etc, in the UK.

The bicycle for the Greens was made in the Far East, not by Raleigh UK, but then they are probably going to move to the Netherlands, too, as they have said recently.

Anyone who thinks the EU is good for British industry or any other business simply hasn't paid attention to what has been systematically asset-stripped from the UK. Name me one major technology company still running in the UK. I used to contract out to many, then the work just dried up as they were sold off to companies from France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and so forth. And now we don't even teach electronic technology to technicians any more, due to EU regulations.

I haven't detailed our non-existent fishing industry the EU paid to destroy, nor the farmers being paid not to produce food they could sell for more than they get paid to do nothing. Don't even go there.

I haven't mentioned what it costs us to be asset-stripped like this, nor have I mentioned immigration, nor the risk to our security if control of our armed forces is passed to Brussels or Germany. All the above information is easily and readily available online.

Christmas turkey, drawing near,

Saudi screw-up, oil price fear. Ukraine knackered, Britain stuffed, Sanctions growing, Russians huffed. China stumbles, markets low, Lawsuits looming, Trump must go! US angry, getting hot, Take the money, dump the lot.

Prayut ponders, should I run? Prawit watchful, tidy sum. Burma hopeless, Thais on speed, Suu Kyi friendless, broken reed. Najib neutered, tried to flee, Prison coming, Anwar free. Hun Sen happy, top in town, Smoke and mirrors; crafty clown.

Aussies sleepy, not a clue, Change the leader, don't know who. Rising, falling, interest rate, Not a worry, welfare state. Spare a thought for Chairman Kim, Growing waistline, prospects dim. VX nerve gas, Adam's curse, Fatty liver, gout, and worse.

I see the crackdown on motorbikes riding on the pavements is working as planned. Yesterday, only two cyclists shared the pavement with me. Today, three cyclists, four motorcyclists, including a policeman who was not wearing a helmet! And a partridge in a pear tree. That's what I like. Lead by example.