OPINION

Toxic culture

Re: "Navy divers to help seal SPRC pipeline," (BP, Feb 24) and "Second spill salvage op gets green light," (BP, Feb 21).

With two toxic oil spills in less than a month from Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC), it is becoming apparent that the time for oil needs to be ended or curtailed to only "safe operating" procedures.

The recent oil spills are just a glaring example of the problems facing the oil industry. Just look at a global mapping of "major" oil spills around the world and the evidence is clear that this issue is a major threat to both the environment and humanity. If you factor in the supposed "minor", or unreported spills, the situation is more dire.

If a company such as SPRC is not technologically able to "clean up" contamination resulting from their business, then their business should not be allowed to operate! Using toxic dispersal agents to hide the oil slick is not an example of what one would consider a cleaning action. Better to call it what it is, an "out of sight, out of mind" effort.

It is true that oil was required in the past to power the advancement of humanity, but that is no longer the case. There are now plenty of energy options that are far less toxic then the oil industry. But what is "best" for humanity and nature is not considered.

How will SPRC be truly held accountable if they cannot undo the damage their operations have created?

The industry must demonstrate the capability to fix their own mistakes in order to continue. Anything less is insanity.

Visa rug pull

Re: "Visa perks for wealthy long-stays," (BP, Feb 23).

I'm glad that we're seeking to compete with many other desirable places for foreigners who can help us recover quickly from Covid-19: high-income earners, retirees and those who want to work remotely from Thailand.

But we're putting in a deal-breaker: we're deliberately kicking the foreigners who we so badly need out after a maximum of 10 years. We invite the high-earners/those working remotely to bring (and leave) their money here, fall in love here, and maybe have children here. Then, when they want to stay on and pump more funds and skills into our country -- we give them the bum's rush, breaking apart their families if need be. We tell retirees that we're a wonderful, laid-back place to spend their years (and money) after decades of hard work -- then, after many of their friends and relatives back home are dead -- we show them the door, telling them that we no longer want their money and to go out into the cold.

Are we sure that that's what we think will attract what we desperately need to develop? If so, we should think again. Kill the cap, and make it absolutely clear that long-stayers are welcome as long as they're not a financial burden on us.

Nuts not chocolate

Re: "Visa perks for wealthy long stays," (BP, Feb 23).

Once again, this kind of good news looks shabby. Why would someone relocate to Thailand on these given terms? First, you bring lots of money in, invest in real estate, have a hefty monthly income, have insurance, have your visa given for the five years and later extended to another five years, annually get your visa renewed, and report your address every time you do a pilgrimage to the immigration office. Above all, why would anyone park tonnes of money in Thailand not knowing what will happen after 10 years?

Such half-baked policies are not suitable for luring the rich to live and spending a few more million on daily expenses. Life in Thailand is not like chocolate. Yes, people abroad will think that Thai officials are nuts.

Dogged pursuit

Re: "Dogs show signs of mourning after loss of canine companions," (Online, Feb 25).

Since we humans share a common ancestor with modern dogs only some 60 million or so years ago, it is not surprising that we today share about 84% of our DNA. Nor should it surprise us that such a close relationship results in shared emotional and behavioural traits.

In this case, some solid support for the common anecdotal belief that, like ourselves and many other mammals, dogs display grief following the death of a fellow creature they cared about. Less happily, the dogs with whom we have been evolving more mutually these past 30,000 or so years also share the common human tendency of indifference, if not outright intolerance, to the death or suffering of those not in their own pack.

It took until about 500 years ago for it to really lift off, but blind evolution has endowed our species with the set of tools needed to develop science as a means of reliably understanding reality, including ourselves. That same mindless evolution has also given us the tools to develop a more complex moral understanding than any dog aspires to.

It is equally naive and willfully reckless to think that sacred texts recording the insights of our remote human ancestors are more reliable guides to good behaviour than the efforts of modern thinkers in the moral and political realms. We can and should be better scientists than our pet dogs; we can and should also be better able to temper our natural behaviour than the ructions of injustice in Ukraine, Myanmar, the US and everywhere else suggest (as with knowledge, there is always room for improvement). Progress in science is mainly a slow slog to make small improvements; it is also real. Moral and political progress is equally challenging for humans; it is also real, and in the face of regressive political and social forces, the right choice, the good choice, is surely doggedness.

A load of bull

Re: "Mexico City, bastion of bullfighting, considers ban," (BP, Feb 22).

One of the defenders of bullfighting is quoted as saying: "Bulls are born to fight". How does he know that? Did God tell him?

I'd like to take all the people who go to bullfights, cockfights and dog fights, stick them in an arena and force them to fight to the death. Then we could put the animals that these cowards have abused into the stands so they can watch humans act out their natural instincts.

Now that would be karma!

Bullies begone!

Re: "Is ICJ genocide case legitimising junta?," (Opinion, Feb 23).

A textbook definition of a "bully" is: "A person who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom he perceives as vulnerable." Today's state of affairs internationally certainly provides all too many examples of this.

The purpose of my writing, is on those who allow "The Bully" to provoke, intimidate and continually violate the less able. If a gorilla were to arrive at your front gate, my guess is that you would become concerned. If the gorilla were to walk up your front steps and sit on a deck chair, your concern would know doubt be heightened. If the gorilla were to knock on your door you would want, perhaps even expect, some help. Why is it that such an event is taking place in our world right now and there is little, if any, real help?

At present, the World Court is considering the accusation of a government for genocide against an ethic minority. Yes, it has taken too much time but, at least, someone is calling out the bully. On the contrary, Asean, which is certainly in the neighbourhood, has remained, sadly, very silent. This arrogant, abusive government should be strongly reprimanded and removed from Asean, if not long term, at least temporarily.

A larger gorilla is also committing genocide against another ethnic group of people in our part of the world through incarceration, indoctrination and, potentially, extermination. Yet, what has the world done? Even the United Nations, which has made some statements regarding this matter, has truly done very little to question or change the situation.

Then there is, perhaps, the biggest bully of all intimidating, threatening and outright violently abusing a sovereign neighbour for little purpose at all other than his own personal satisfaction. This bully should be tried as a war criminal, and no longer be accepted as a member of the world community. In a world so conflicted by discrimination, poverty, sexism, and needless to say, a world threatening pandemic, as our world presently is, there isn't any room for the inhuman actions of these all-too-significant number of bullies. Any perpetrator of the above-indicated crimes against humanity, any BULLY, needs to be called out for whom he is and removed from our presence.

Correction

In the Feb 25 editorial, Re: "Tenure saga needs care," it was stated that the 2007 charter allowed Constitutional Court judges to serve until the age of 75. In fact, the age extension from 70 to 75 is outlined by the current supreme law, which also shortens their term to seven years.

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