Re: "Govt to entice rich expats," (BP, Sept 15).
The 21-day rule in my home countries (yes many) excludes hundreds or thousands of T.I.R. truck drivers across Europe. My four friends who work on schedule have been Thailand visitors for the last 20-30 years, but now they have no opportunity to spend their well-deserved money in Thailand but stay in the EU because of this extremely stupid rule. Wondering who could come up with that at all and why?
Re: "Govt to entice rich expats," (BP, Sept 15).
Once again it shows how misplaced the Thai government's notions are? If you have to invest $500,000, have a yearly income of $80,000, buy $100,000 insurance, and have few thousand dollars of loose change to enjoy yourself, why in the world would you relocate to Thailand? Why not Portugal, Italy, Istanbul, or Mexico? I must say that Thai officials do live in some La-La Land thinking that rich people around the world are ready to flock to Thailand with a load of money to rescue the Thai economy! The Thai Elite Card programme touted to attract rich foreigners has proved to be a boondoggle.
The Covid crisis has already hammered the Thai travel sector. Sandbox and other novel experiments are not working. So why come up with more of the same ideas? Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."
Instead, the government must pay more attention to expats who are already inside. The retired foreigners who live here and own condos, and are married to Thai women, and spending lots of money supporting the Thai economy are subjected to 90-day reporting and the annual pilgrimage to immigration offices. Why not allow these insiders to own land and provide them work permits and a 10-year visa? The Thai government should entice this group to invest more, rather than coming up with exotic ideas to attract new expats during this pandemic?
Re: "Orders to be placed for 9m doses of Moderna," (BP, Sept 14).
I commend every Thai agency involved with importing as many Covid vaccines as possible, but there is mounting evidence which should warn people not to pin too many hopes on our current so-called vaccines.
In America, seven members of the New Orleans Saints just tested positive for Covid, and the news reports they are already vaccinated. Similar incidents have occurred on many private airplanes, and are now happening in American schools, including one where my colleague teaches at right now. Israel also has a very high vaccination rate, but their cases are going up anyway, and many patients were recently vaccinated.
The truth coming out of Israel and America suggests that the data on "unvaccinated' patients was largely recorded before they were recently vaccinated and may be out of date. We are now seeing lots of vaccinated people getting Covid-19, and the reality simply seems to be the current vaccines don't stop the disease, and if that is so, society must accept that a 1% mortality rate is inevitable and will happen until we either reach natural immunity, or invent a cure. This is a crisis for the vaccinated, too.
Re: "The Zeronomics Challenge," (BP, Sept 13).
It is disheartening to read of the slow pace of corporate action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a majority of surveyed companies deferring action for various reasons.
I'm afraid that corporate leaders, government officials, and investors are behaving too much like many anti-vaxxers and Covid deniers, who -- on their Covid deathbeds -- acknowledge too late that the coronavirus threat is real and that they should have gotten vaccinated. It looks like the world will soon be experiencing the irreversible adverse impacts of climate change and collectively saying, "We should have done something earlier."
I have been a regular visitor to Thailand for some 16 years normally spending what I call the UK winter months in your lovely country. I normally arrive around September and leave around April each year during which time I spend quite a lot of money. Am I a typical tourist? Perhaps not but surely the type of tourist you want and need as I keep an apartment in Bangkok and employ a cleaner whether I am there or not and I participate in many expatriate events and thus support many Thai charities. I have had all my Covid-19 vaccination records and I would like to return to Thailand to get the benefits that the good weather offers me in my latter years. I read your paper most evenings in the UK and I can see that Thailand is crying out for more tourists to come. I write to the Thai Embassy in London asking what I need to do to return, enclosing a pre-stamped envelope for a reply, but do I get one? No, only silence from the Embassy. Is this the way forward for Thailand by ignoring the very people they need to help boost tourism?
I understand fully the need for Thailand to reopen for tourism. What I don't understand is the fact that the government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand believe that the rules they implement will be adhered to.
I see tourists, farang longstays and also Thais who do not understand Covid-19 precautions ie temperature checks and contact tracing or do not care as they just walk straight past these when entering malls etc... when no security is present.
Some people are just sooooooo obtuse.
Anyone reading the latest Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) PR would think the country is ready and willing to accept international visitors. While this may be the idea that the TAT and associated government entities wish to convey there is one thing they feel to realise. What, exactly, are the requirements for travelers seeking to enter the Kingdom?
Is the Certificate of Entry (CoE) still in effect along with its 14-day or 7+7 forced vacation, the $100,000 USD insurance requirements, RT-PCR tests, and the time-consuming and over the top paperwork documentation necessary to obtain the COE? Will travellers, I cannot in good conscience call them all tourists, be allowed open access to the entire country or only selected provinces and attractions as designated by the sealed routes offered by many locations?
With its penchant for infographics, now would be a good time for a realistic listing of the requirements necessary to enter the country. A simple, bulleted listing of the items, documents, and tests necessary along with a breakdown of current travel restrictions would suffice.
With other countries opening up to those fully vaccinated with a valid passport and recent negative test the current failure of the government to clarify this information only acts as a turnoff for anyone even thinking about coming here for reasons other than returning to their homes, or jobs, from abroad.
Well, we all have our dreams, don't we?
I am growing increasingly uncomfortable in restaurants with what feels like the staff being treated as masked servants. I miss seeing their faces and having interactions with them, sharing jokes, both mutually being able to express ourselves as human beings. This could well become permanent I imagine, under the guise of "staying safe", but it is wrong and it is dehumanising these people and turning them into second-class citizens. Is there is no need for noses or mouths or other identifiable facial features for those who are converted into servile robots? I would give my business exclusively to restaurants that have unmasked pro-face policies of workforces of waiters, waitresses, chefs and cleaners.
Let the petrified new-normals patron the restaurants that treat their staff like that. "They are just following orders from the government", you say. I say, show me a restaurant that defies this as bravery and empathy and humanity.
Re: "Hysterical sissies," (PostBag, Aug 14).
Not for the first time, Eric Bahrt rails against the reasonable majority of us. As regular readers will know, Mr Bahrt has form with this kind of hyperbole. On Jan 19, he dismissed the effectiveness of lockdowns as an "old myth", and on Jan 16 described school closures as "a crime against humanity" and "an atrocity against children". On July 7, he defended anti-vaxxed, asserted that there is solid evidence the efficacy of vaccines is over-rated and the dangers under-reported, and just for good measure described many medical experts as "pimps" of Big Pharma.
By July 22 he was back to talking of Covid-19 in terms of a little flu and, rather bizarrely claimed that Covid patients in ICUs were taking up beds hospitals needed for routine operations.
Last week, he spoke of "liars" in the media and was "horrified" his free speech rights were being attacked by his critics.
He is neither a Trumper nor a fascist, he insists but by today is "storming" out of a shop because his civil liberties and privacy are in danger after being asked about his vaccination status. He quotes in support of his outrage none less than Fox's Tucker Carlson... of all the temperate, fair- minded people one could hope to find... and it is we who have become the fascists.
I for one believe Mr Bahrt has been given more than a fair opportunity to exercise his free speech rights, and I'm not sure how many more times we need to see his opinions in PostBag.
17 Sep 2021
All letter writers must provide a full name and address. All published correspondence is subject to editing and sharing at our discretion
SEND
