OPINION

Activist scapegoats?

Five activists were indicted this week on charges of attempted violence against HM the Queen during a demonstration last year, when a royal motorcade encountered dozens of protesters. The charges are very serious and if guilty, the protesters would be jailed for at least 16 years (BP, April 1).

But royal motorcade routes are planned weeks in advance, with roads cleared close to the event time and outriders in front to ensure safety. How could the police have allowed royalty to come even near a protest site, which was widely publicised in advance? Why weren’t there ranks of police between the protesters and HM the Queen? Why hasn’t the general in charge of royal security been court-martialed for dereliction of duty?

Are the activists scapegoats to divert attention from very lax palace security? Or victims of a setup to crush opposition to the government?

Burin Kantabutra

No place to invest

Re: “Govt lures wealthy foreigners,” (BP, April 1).

Well, this headline does read like an April Fool’s day joke. I am not sure why foreigners will be lured to invest in Thailand? Where are the incentives?

Most banks in Thailand provide 0.5%-0.75% interest rates on deposits. While earning interest on deposits, the banks also charge a 20 baht processing fee for withdrawing your own money from their ATMs. And of course, they also impose hefty charges for interbank transfers. In addition, you must deal with the paper pollution and all the hassle of carrying your passport to get anything done in the banks and the immigration offices?

Real estate or starting a business is a no-no for any foreigner as it mandates a Thai partner. And of course, the bribes and rampant corruption.

Knowing what we know about the arcane immigration laws, 90-day reporting, restriction on buying land, and other handicaps of investing in Thai real estate, the government must first reform the bureaucracy. Immigration reform has been on the table for years but it remains rotting there.

In a nutshell, proper incentives for investing in Thailand are missing. The result is that all kinds of illegal activity are thriving. You read about all sorts of business scandals in the Bangkok Post day after day. If banking, investment, immigration and land ownership laws are reformed, Thailand can surely attract wealthy foreigners.

Kuldeep Nagi

Still a feudal society

Re: “Restaurant employee fired after alleged abuse of job applicant”, (BP, April 1).

Some readers thought this was not an important story.

This is not a non-story. It very well demonstrates the underlying fundamental problem with Thai society, a problem which the elite and those in power wish to preserve, apparently at any cost.

Even at the level between restaurant service staff and a job applicant the prevailing feudal social order is to be maintained.

This archaic social structure of undeserved power and privilege, wrongly excused as Thainess or kreng jai, should be at the top of the students’ list to overturn, for it is this more than anything else which oppresses them and limits their freedoms and opportunities.

Sibeymai

Jabless foreigners

Re: “New app lets people book Covid shots”, (BP, April 2).

The announcement that the Ministry of Public Health will launch “Mor Prom”, a phone app for Thais to book Covid-19 vaccination at their local hospitals is good news, assuming of course that the minister carries through with its promise and that the app works.

But once again in Thai government announcements about Covid there is no mention of vaccinations for foreigners.

Accurate figures are hard to come by, but according to some sources there are at least 2.2 million foreigners working in Thailand. Some 80,000 to 90,000 of these are professional work permit holders working in Bangkok and there are tens of thousands of the same class throughout Thailand.

On top of this there are at least 200,000 expatriates who live in Thailand under various visa applications.

The ministry states: “We need to create herd immunity to prevent another outbreak and revive our economy. To do so, we do need to get the vaccine to at least half our population.”

Putting aside that many reputed health organisations and medical professionals would dispute that vaccination of half the population will achieve the desired result of herd immunity, the figures are going to be thrown out right at the outset if the huge number of foreign workers and resident expatriates are not included in the calculation.

So don’t blame us if we contract Covid-19 and hand it back to Thais as a new wave.

Incidentally, as an expatriate, I am quite willing to pay for the vaccine so that I am not a burden on the Thai health system.

David Brown

Qatar gender equality

Re: “HRW urges Doha to scrap male guardianship policies”, (BP, March 30).

Gender equality and female empowerment are central to Qatar’s success and vision. Qatar is an outspoken advocate for women’s rights at home and abroad.

The Human Rights Watch report inaccurately portrays Qatar’s laws, policies and practices related to women. The accounts mentioned in the report are not aligned with our constitution, laws or policies. The government will investigate these cases and prosecute anyone who has broken the law.

In Qatar, women hold prominent roles in all aspects of life, including economic and political decision making. Qatar leads the region in nearly every gender equality indicator. This includes the highest labour force participation rate for women, equal pay in the government sector and the highest percentage of women enrolled in university courses.

Education is the basis for equal opportunity and development. Qatar has invested heavily to ensure all women have access to quality education and opportunities in all sectors, especially STEM industries. Women hold some of the most influential and highest-paid jobs in Qatar. They also hold business leadership positions across multiple sectors. Around 20% of business records in Qatar are registered by Qatari businesswomen — an increase from 1,400 business records in 2015 to nearly 4,000 in 2020.

Enshrined in Qatar’s Constitution is a prohibition on discrimination against women. The government continues to enforce, introduce, and expand policies that provide women with freedom and agency to make their own decisions. There is zero tolerance in Qatar for gender-based violence or domestic abuse.

Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al ThaniDirector of the Government Communications Office (GCO) of the State of Qatar

CPF talks corn

Since 2016, Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl (CPF) has enforced the Corn Traceability system, to ensure that the corn for its feed mill plants comes from the fields that are not located in forest areas or burnt for subsequent plantation activities. The latest move concerns the GPS tracking system that allows 100% real time tracking of corn from farms to all CPF’s feed mills in Thailand.

On another front, CPF has proceeded with its efforts to bolster farmers’ strength for sustainable and mutual growth. The “self-sustaining farmers, sustainable corn” project was launched in 2015, to enhance corn plantation efficiency through close consultation with CPF’s experts. For resource optimisation and a cut in production costs, large plantation fields and modern technology like Chat Bot have been promoted, to allow farmers access to daily ex-factory maize prices and the data of harvest and transportation trucks in their community.

During the harvest months of October to December, CPF has increased the number of standard maize buying spots in communities near plantation fields as an alternative to farmers. Able to save on transportation cost, farmers enjoy an increase in income as CPF covers partial harvest and transportation expenses for the farmers who sell their produce at the spots.

Since the “self-sustaining farmers, sustainable corn” project was launched five years ago, the project has covered 9,554 farmers and 241,220 rai of plantation fields. The average yield per rai in 2020 was 1,200kg, compared to 909kg produced by the fields not covered by the project. The increasing yield generated extra income for farmers by Bt29,628 per household on average.

Under the Sustainable Sourcing Policy, CPF strives to buy main raw materials like maize, palm oil, tapioca, soybean meal and fish meal only from fully-traceable sources, to ensure natural resource sustainability and raise farmers’ living standard.

BKP has recently extended the Corn Traceability system to cover the fields in neighbouring countries. Since 1 April 2020, Myanmar CP Livestock Co Ltd, a business unit of Charoen Pokphand Group, has bought maize only from those fields in Myanmar that can present legal land deeds. Farmers with proper land deeds in Myanmar have taken part in conserving Southeast Asia’s fertile forests and preventing forest fire smoke.

Punninee NuntapanichCPF Corporate Communication & PR Office

Don’t get cocky

Regarding the Covid-19 lull, vaccine hype, and approaching Songkran mayhem, consider the words of the first man on the moon. “Well I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.”

Ellis O’Brien

Covid name game

Re: “Is this the best that Covid can do?” (Opinion, April 1).

My eyes glazed over as I beheld some of the names scientists have devised for the Covid variants: E484K, N5017, K417N, etc.

Such names may be intelligible to scientists, who are generally reputed to be a very smart lot, but they are meaningless and confusing to the rest of us.

Would it not be more human-friendly to give these variants actual names, as we do for hurricanes?

I’m not thinking of innocuous names like Alice, Ben, and Calvin. I’m thinking of names that suggest the evil these viruses represent, names that strike terror into every human heart: names like Satan and Dracula, Kong and Godzilla, Hitler and Stalin, Assad and Putin.

I’m also thinking of generic names, like Killer, Vampire, Werewolf, Cannibal, Monster, Bloodsucker, and Junta.

Let’s use a little imagination in this business of naming viruses.

The Name Guy