OPINION

Spend more wisely

Re: "China-made sub engine is now 'ok'", (BP, Nov 21).

Royal Thai Navy (RTN) chief Adm Adung Phan-iam said that the sub engine China wants to give us is a licensed version of the German one we originally specified and thus the Chinese-made one should be acceptable to us.

But if the engines are identical regardless of whether original or licensed, Germany should have withdrawn its objections, which it hasn't done. Why don't we get the original version from Germany? Also, China just recently released details about the engine to us, so how could we have committed to the sub blind, without knowing such vital information? The RTN's spending your money and mine like they're in a toy shop.

The RTN's test of the Chinese model was evidently run on a single sample for 200 hours. Statistically speaking, a test run on a single item is worthless and we should not accept an engine that's been tested for just 200 hours (eight days). Notably, no major navy is using the engine the RTN want, not even the Chinese, who have 44 diesel attack subs. Why should we be guinea pigs for the world?

The RTN's pride and joy, the HTMS Chakri Naruebet aircraft carrier, hasn't been combat-ready for years and probably never will be. Whether buying a sub or surface ship, the RTN should be more professional in using taxpayer's money.

Tax rethink needed

Re: "Amendment to see overseas income taxed", (Business, Sep 26), "Tax uncertainty" (PostBag, Nov 19).

Should Thailand consider exempting its retirement/mobility programmes from the proposed tax on foreign income?

The government should carefully consider whether to exempt foreigners in the country's retirement/mobility programmes from the proposed change to the tax on foreign income, slated to commence on Jan 1, 2024.

Foreigners in these programmes are overly impacted by the change, having no permission to work in Thailand, and by design, forced to remit funds to Thailand during their stay. Such remittance is to the benefit of Thailand and is the very reason these programmes exist. In the circumstances, it seems both unfair and counterproductive to burden these foreigners with significant tax obligations. After all, other retirement/mobility hubs globally offer full tax exemption on foreign income, while others offer generous tax concessions combined with social benefits and even permanent residence.

The proposed tax change will not only discourage remittance but is likely to make a long stay in Thailand far too onerous for many. Even where a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) exists, the onus would be on the foreigner to declare the funds remitted, and produce the documents needed to satisfy tax authorities they have paid an amount of tax on the income at source, which was equal to or greater than, the tax they would have paid on the same amount of income in Thailand. Such bureaucratic burdens are exactly what foreigners are trying to avoid in their retirement or during a long stay.

Furthermore, DTAs can only aspire to provide tax equalisation. Reduction of tax payable at source by means allowances, offsets, credits, deductions, write-offs, as well as full or partial exemptions on certain types of income, is generally not accounted for by DTAs. This makes additional tax payments in Thailand a distinct possibility for many. Likewise, DTAs are of little use to those whose income is derived from countries that have a lower tax rate than Thailand. DTAs do offer some important protection, for example, the DTAs of several countries specify that pensions taxed at source are fully exempt from tax in Thailand. However, beyond this, DTAs offer very little to individual taxpayers. Many foreigners may well discover the tax change increases their total tax bill, and some may even find they would be better off returning home or relocating to one of the many other retirement/mobility hubs.

Affluent foreigners, which Thailand claims to be actively seeking to join its retirement/mobility programmes, are also likely to be negatively impacted by the change. These individuals often have complex tax profiles and are very conscious of tax planning. They would be very reluctant to relocate to Thailand if they felt the tax change exposed them to potentially costly and time-consuming interactions with the Revenue Department.

The Ministry of Finance has mentioned on several occasions that the proposed tax on foreign income is unavoidable as it is required to fulfil Thailand's obligations under the OECD international tax transparency standard. With respect, this seems to be an overstatement. One only needs to look to the many countries that have recently enacted tax codes to comply with the very same standard. All these countries now tax foreign income remitted by companies, but many have chosen to specifically exempt individual taxpayers, and for very good reason.

If Thailand is serious about wanting to promote itself as a viable retirement/mobility hub and reap the benefits, the government must give careful consideration to exempting foreigners in these programmes from the proposed tax on foreign income. Such a move is just common sense.

Speak up, teachers

Re: "Lessons from history" (Editorial, Nov 22) & "Teachers are undervalued", (Editorial, Nov 21) & "Making education keep up with change" (Opinion, Sept 13).

On successive days, the Post had editorials on the state of Thai education. On Tuesday, Nov. 21, "Teachers are undervalued" deplored the seeming undervalued status of Thai teachers mired in debt. No one doubts that Thai teachers are in financial trouble, despite the Ministry of Education getting the single largest budget allocation, a whopping 14.6% of the total budget in 2022. And yet those same teachers under the Ministry of Education have, for many decades, plainly failed to deliver results commensurate with the largess handed out for what is politely called "education." Something is amiss.

The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) in "Making education keep up with change" puts the blame on decades of failure to educate from an outdated curriculum. They also rightly emphasise that "the crux of the problem ... is not a lack of student effort" or even "inadequate teaching".

Perhaps part of the problem is that teachers fail to value themselves highly enough to make a stand for decent education. Rather than objecting to bad policy and joining such sensible, soundly reasoning students as the Bad Student group, too many teachers passively go along with whatever dis-education policy is being pushed by a political agenda that values myth over history, faith over reason, uniformity over creativity, and rote orthodoxy over critical thinking -- in short, everything the Post gently rails against.

The teachers should perhaps make a stand for honesty. It's a moral value worth cultivating. It would be good for public morality to critically assess the pros and cons of religion. It would improve public morality to honestly examine not only the good that any Thai institution has done but also to honestly reflect on the harm. The brute facts on the ground are that it is exactly fervent nationalism that Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul appears to be pushing in his call for enhanced patriotism that has, over the course of many decades, allegedly guided Thailand and failing education to exactly where they are today. That reality is not much of a recommendation.

As the TDRI concludes in the paper: "When the education system is mired in the past while the rest of the world forges ahead, the future appears grim, not just for our children but for the entire nation."

The last thing Thai education or Thailand the nation needs is what Prime Minister Srettha's government is pushing more of. Where, it must be wondered, is the outrage from Thai teachers' associations?

About diabetes...

Re: "Diabetes warning", (PostBag, Nov 19).

Diane Archer says that Covid vaccines reduce the risk of diabetes in children. She makes no mention of the fact that the explosion of obesity among children is the reason for the explosion of diabetes among them.

Dr James Anderson reversed type 2 diabetes in almost all his patients by putting them on a low-fat near vegetarian diet. (Source: The book: The China Study). No wonder someone wrote a book called: How to raise a healthy child despite your doctor!

Prove it, please

I have little doubt that Eric Bahrt is active on platforms other than PostBag, and these may not be as well moderated as this column. It is also highly likely that his aggressive and intemperate language gets up the nose of contributors to those forums as it does for readers of PostBag, so who can say what manner of exchanges take place?

I challenge him, however, to cite one letter published in PostBag that contains personal abuse beyond frustration at his dogmatic, "combative" style (as he himself recently characterised it) and the irritating frequency with which his letters appear. Likewise, let's see one letter which could be described as "threatening", as well as details of how the years-long "well-organised plot to get me censored" is actually operated by a bunch of people whose only interaction is via PostBag, most often from behind the anonymity of pseudonyms.

What winter?

Re: "Winter has officially arrived: Met", (BP, Nov 15).

Are you joking? Has there ever been "winter" in Thailand?

I would not even call it a cold season but the "least-hot" season. As they say: there are three seasons in Thailand; the hot, the hotter, and the hottest seasons.