OPINION

Media gatekeepers

I totally agree with Darius Hober's assertions, "Stop blaming others", (PostBag, Sept 19) and as many others I believe I can spot fake news when I see it in contrast to Samanea Saman, "Fake news is out there", (PostBag, Sept 22).

Recently we have had a couple of those in the media. One is about a politician 18 years ago turning up to Arabian nights party with a blackface. The other one is about a drunk high school student showing the unmentionable some 40 years ago, which was brought to light not at that time, but recently. As a side note, if you have not been drunk during your high school or university years and done something stupid you probably have missed out on something.

Ordinary people should be able to raise their concerns and opinions about relevant issues through news outlets' comment sections, which are long gone on the websites of outlets based in western democracies. It is substantially easier to push the established narrative by media without the involvement of the electorate.

Suppressing news and discussions with gatekeepers is not the way to go. It is better to find as many sources as you can before making up your mind, and if you do not agree, then you should have a go at their argument, not their identity. Google and Facebook's presence as privatised "ministries of truth" is the end of the short-lived era of freedom of speech that the internet gave us.

After returning from a trip to Australia on Sept 8, on Sept 9 I assisted my house master in the preparation of the TM30 documents, which we forwarded to the local immigration office by registered mail, with a self-addressed envelope inside for the return of the registration receipt.

The entire package consisted of the TM30, the accompanying "name of alien resident" form and photocopies of the front page of my passport, the visa page and the TM6 arrival form. This totalled five pages of documents.

The package was returned today with the notation that we also had to provide a photocopy of the landlord's Thai ID card, a photocopy of the lease, and a photocopy of the deeds of purchase of the property, another six pages of documents on top of those originally provided.

Oh, it also required the landlord's telephone number, although no provision was made for this on the TM30.

I have already been out and back to Thailand three times this year and have at least one more overseas visit planned before it is time to renew my retirement visa. That will make a total of 44 unnecessary pages of repetitive information -- information that has remained unchanged for the 12 years I have lived in this house and which by now must have been recorded hundreds of times by Thai immigration.

I am left wondering how big the warehouse is to store all this garbage.

Re: "Appraising China's stance on the AOIP", (Opinion, Sept 24).

China's lack of enthusiasm for any activity that might enhance Asean's prestige and authority makes perfect sense if you assume that China views Asean as a cluster of countries that it wishes to absorb into a Greater China.