OPINION

'Racist' headline irks

Re: "Thais tested for 'Indian strain'", (BP, May 1).

It was highly irresponsible of the Bangkok Post to use the term "Indian strain" in this article. There have already been false rumours of people coming here from India and spreading the virus during irresponsible mall visits. Most of us know that Indians are not a particularly liked community in Thailand and are called "khaeks".

Despite helping the whole world, especially the most vulnerable and poor countries with the supply of medicine and vaccines during the previous waves of the pandemic, this is how India is being treated? Thais, and especially journalists at the Bangkok Post, should understand what race-inspired hate crimes mean. Thais have themselves faced such crimes in the West recently.

I sincerely hope the Bangkok Post will apologise for this highly irresponsible and racist headline.

Re: "Kissinger warns of 'colossal' dangers in US-China tensions", (BP, May 1)

Yes, engagement with China is necessary. American politics and policies are partly responsible for the current situation. For most of the last century, American politicians have referred to "communism" as an eternal threat to their country. Even in 2021, Cuba, a small island nation, is being punished for its ideology. More recently, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic State, and ordinary Muslims and Mexicans have been used as scapegoats and blamed for its social problems and declining power. As long as US elections are fought by creating external enemies, it will remain embroiled in its own quagmire.

Sadly, Mr Kissinger's thinking is still rooted in the past. One thing is for sure, the era of being a superpower based on nuclear arsenal is over. The nuclear weapons laced with AI are not a big threat.

Hence turning China into another enemy will not go very far. The "colossal" dangers are now beyond America and China. Bigger dangers are already here -- environmental degradation and the Covid pandemic.

These intertwined dangers require a new approach in diplomacy. The process of human extinction has already started. More than one-fifth of the global population is infected with the Covid virus and more than three million people have already died. The pace of environmental degradation is also taking its toll.

Hence all nations should be spending more money and efforts on education, medical research, infrastructure, waste management, water and food security, emergency response systems, and healthcare. More than ever, diplomacy should be focused on global collaboration and cooperation.

Re: "Vaccine bond answer?" (BP, May 1).

I commend Pony Issacsohn for an intriguing and innovative economic initiative which could boost Thailand's prospects in fighting Covid-19 and reopening the economy.

Alas, even if such a grandiose plan were successful, history shows that the after-effects from Covid-19 in Thailand will probably haunt the nation for years.

Looking back to 1918, medical after-effects from the Spanish Flu carried on for decades and probably contributed to a premature end to WWI.

The Great Depression in 1929 and the 30s elicited massively accelerated social change and policy changes which really only started to ebb in the 1990s and early 2000s. Clearly, such social effects shall occur again now.

Moreover, the entire world (including Thailand) is soon to contend with a "lost generation" of young people whose education is probably damaged beyond repair; thus it will handicap their future university and corporate opportunities, led to mountains of bad debt, decimated businesses and lives already shattered.

Alas, while I commend the writer for a lovely dream, our reality shall simply be an inevitable 100-year nightmare.