Picture ban is telling
Re: "Campaign poster rules ban familiar faces", (BP, Dec 16).
Here we go again! After trying to ban party's logo and party's name on ballot cards, now this: "The Election Commission has drafted a regulation banning the use of photos of anyone else in campaign posters other than MP candidates, their party leaders or prime ministerial candidates."
The news should read: "The EC bans pictures of Thaksin and Yingluck in election campaign." It is succinct and straight to the point. C'mon, EC, don't be coy.
This reminds me of Myanmar's constitution which bans a presidential candidate who has children to foreigners. The generals insist it's about national security and has nothing to do with the formidable Aung San Suu Kyi, whose two sons happen to be British citizens. Unlucky for her -- dang!
Anyway, I'm glad that our constitution does not ban a PM candidate who is a parent of twin daughters.
Somsak Pola
VAT hike hurts poor
Re: "TDRI urges higher VAT to solve disparity", (Business, Dec 15).
The recent suggestion of the Thailand Development Research Institute to cover up and hide the greed of the Thai elite by increasing the value-added tax to improve underfunded poverty schemes is brazen hubris which does nothing to resolve the issue of wage slavery and economic disparity. According to an economic expert's interpretation of the latest Credit Suisse Report, Thailand has claimed the No.1 place of economic disparity worldwide during the latest junta regime.
Those responsible for this downturn in economic viability are also the masterminds behind the "20-Year Thailand 4.0 Plan". Making those that are able to afford things beyond the basics pay more in taxes to offset corporate greed does not serve the people! Rather than admitting that the pay scale in Thailand is too low to allow people to thrive, and adjusting to a living wage like other sound economies and societies, Thailand chooses to put the financial burden of survival on those barely surviving.
Those that have far more than they "need" due to profiteering are exempt from responsibility for the situation that their greed has created. This scenario is doomed to failure and will result in a backlash that will further erode social stability and cohesiveness.
Pinning the future prosperity of Thailand on projects such as the recently-launched super mall and luxury condo offering are the result of the elite being allowed to exert their hubris on the masses. I have talked to many people that have visited the super mall, yet none of them bought anything. Even the people that work there cannot afford to shop or support their place of employment.
Maybe a good litmus test to determine if a financial project is truly needed is to ensure that the people working there can afford to benefit or use it. This simple idea might reduce the desire of the government to further pillage a working family's budget with a VAT increase.
Little tokens of few baht here and there are not solutions! These are just methods of placation to stave off social unrest. When the paper reports that the average salary of university graduates is only 14,000-16,000 baht a month there is a serious issue about wages that can only be resolved through raising wages. Nothing less will suffice.
Darius Hober
When reality bites
Re: "Time for Prayut to show his integrity", (Editorial, Dec 16).
The Bangkok Post might feel that former general Prayut Chan-o-cha, long reborn as prime minister, "is obliged to observe political etiquette and ensure fairness".
The reality is manifestly otherwise: the only thing that the self-made politician feels obliged to do is whatever he wants to do. That is, after all, why he joined that long line of self-promoting Thai political animals who jumped from being members of Thailand's costly army of politicking army generals to self-elected supremo politicians without the inconvenience of civil election or other such respect for political decency.
As the Bible's Jeremiah (13:23) long ago realised, the leopard cannot change his spots.
Felix Qui
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