Foggy legislation

Re: "Actress's friend paid bribe", (BP, Feb 2).

It's astonishing that they paid a bribe of 27,000 baht for vaping. If vaping is banned in Thailand, then why do the same police allow it to be sold in broad daylight under their nose in all major spots in Sukhumvit, Silom, Khao San, etc? How is it allowed to be smuggled into the country?

D Kedia
Get out of jail free

Re: "Actress's friend paid bribe", (BP, Feb 2).

I have been reading just recently about policemen involved in bribery and extortion. The most serious was of a Taiwanese actress paying 27,000 baht to the police.

Here in Pattaya, there was a similar incident whereby an Indian man was relieved of several thousand. However, it appears the perpetrators have all been transferred to inactive posts. There must be hundreds of people in these posts now for similar reasons. Why on earth they are not dismissed is beyond me.

DNL
Resigned to it

Re: "Cop bribery queries", (PostBag, Jan 25).

If the PM had to resign every time some departments under his government did something wrong, he would have had to resign more than 100 times during his eight years as prime minister!

Frustrated Reader
Masks for smog

Re: "Dept goes after black-smoke belchers to curb PM2.5 pollution", (BP, Jan 29).

Dust levels are unsafe across much of the country, posing long-term health hazards to citizens, especially children. This is one instance when the Ministry of Public Health should issue regular announcements encouraging N95 masks to be worn (surgical and cloth masks are not effective).

Of course, we have not heard from them, as is to be expected under the current regime. It's a pity. More people will lose their quality of life and die sooner than they ought to.

Ban Bandit
Suu Kyi's stumble

Re: "Suu Kyi's fate", (PostBag, Jan 31).

I realise in politics, you sometimes have to compromise. But there is no evidence that Aung San Suu Kyi engaged in any quiet diplomacy to help the Rohingya. Instead, she was an outspoken defender of the people who were murdering them, and she denigrated the Rohingya with her comments.

Suu Kyi's problem was she compromised so much and justifiably lost our respect. And where did it get her? (I'm not even sure she disapproved of those atrocities. If she did, it's a well-kept secret).

Eric Bahrt
Unfounded gloom

Re: "Putting a damper on Thai recovery", (Opinion, Jan 26).

What is the long-term track record predicting the price of global oil by the International International Energy Agency (IEA)? I found after 40 years in this business, oil prices are very difficult to forecast, and if the global economy does retract again, it's hard to see how oil prices would rock up. Stock markets are always forward-looking, and the Thai SET index is at its highest level since April 2022; hence does not seem to concur with Khun Charthai's declared economic pessimism. A big influx of wealthier Chinese now happening will have an overall positive contribution to the Thai economy -- and it's far from certain a coming US recession is in the making, as many keep predicting only to keep moving the target.

Paul A Renaud
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