OPINION

Culprits were local

Re: "Forest suffers 'worst wildfire in 20 years'," (BP, April 7).

Living in the very far north of Chiang Mai province and up against the Burmese border, my district has been very badly affected by smoke pollution, and if I'd followed government guidelines, I wouldn't have gone outside the door for three weeks.

We have big mango and orange plantations which don't burn, farmers producing vegetables for local consumption who are not burning, and hillside ethnic minority villages (Lahu, Lisu and Akha) who this year have mainly halted burning.

Two weeks ago, massive amounts of smoke and falling burnt leaf remains came down from the forest not one kilometre from our local nursery school full of 4 and 5-year-olds badly susceptible to this smoke pollution. Whether they are legally owned areas, national forest or just areas of degradation people want to use doesn't really matter; what does is that the local villagers know who is responsible for that fire and did nothing.

The locals know centralised government doesn't give a damn and that a fire and smoke police doesn't exist, but for the life of me, I can't understand why they don't organise themselves, force the headman into action, and do something for their and everyone's health.

Fire maps showed hot spots quite clearly on the edge of our villages for 10km along the border area, and the culprits were local. It's time to stop blaming our neighbours and "the others" and take proper local action to put things right.

Re: "Burn-offs persist", (PostBag, April 9) & "Forest suffers 'worst wildfire in 20 years'," (BP, April 7).

I have just been reading a letter penned by Johnny Thoyts. He is absolutely right what he says that large stretches of the central reservation have been burnt by road maintenance teams to save time from cutting the grass.

I too, have driven the same Mittraphap Highway and have seen all the blackened central forest reservations by road workers. Surely their managers know this is happening; the local authorities need to stop this now.

Re: "Try being humble", (PostBag, April 8) & "Beware of boredom", (PostBag, March 30).

Khun Songdej Praditsmanont complains that some PostBag regulars are overconfident that their beliefs are right. Yes, I'm confident in my belief that it's wrong to murder and torture billions of animals a year for food that isn't even necessary to eat.

I'm confident in my belief that, as a Jew, I should be outraged when Israel commits atrocities in the name of my religion against the Palestinian people.

Yes, I'm confident in my belief that when a woman told me if I didn't get the Covid vaccine, there was a 50% chance I would die from Covid, that she's a certifiable idiot. It's a sign of the times that if you believe in common sense and human decency, you're called overconfident and conceited.

Re: "Come back, Crutch", (PostBag, April 10).

Wondering what happened to Crutch's PostScript.