OPINION

Road to ruin

Re: "Seabed test drilling starts", (BP, Feb 11).

Exploratory drilling has started on the bridge from the mainland to Koh Samui. This is madness for so many reasons.

First, the government has always maintained that it wants upmarket tourism, not mass market. Samui is the best example of upmarket tourism largely because the Bangkok Airways monopoly on flights makes it several times more expensive to get to than any other Thai location. The bridge would open up the island to mass market traffic with cars, buses and coaches pouring onto the single-track road. Just look at the state of Phuket to see the effect of a bridge.

The second reason is there is only one major road, which runs around the coast, most of which is effectively single lane in each direction. Traffic with school pick-up and workers going home, means that most days traffic is at near walking pace around Maenam, Bophut, Bangrak and Chaweng.

The roads just cannot take a greater volume of traffic. This road already has one of the highest fatality rates per kilometre in the world! During peak season, you already have more chance of winning the lottery than finding a parking space.

Thirdly, Samui has a major garbage disposal problem and already struggles to cope with the influx of visitors. We are facing an unmanageable influx with the White Lotus programme effect. Fourthly, the water supply is inadequate, and during high season, it is common for many areas to ration or have no water.

Lastly, the same applies to the electricity supply, which is overloaded. I experience outages on an almost daily basis. I cannot see what advantages there are in destroying the only truly upmarket holiday destination in the country. It is better to spend the money developing the mainland, which has beautiful beaches and is served by an airport in Surat Thai province.

A dusty claim

Re: "Safe air nationwide, cleanest in Bangkok", (BP, Feb 10).

At 4.24pm on Monday, Bangkok was ranked 66th worst out of 125 major cities in the world as determined by IQ Air's real-time Air Quality Index. One might wonder how the government's spin, "Safe air nationwide, cleanest in Bangkok" found its way to the Bangkok Post? Was it because the sun cast a shadow for the first time in a long time?

Game of secrecy

Re: "Secrecy on tally of generals draws flak", (BP, Feb 12).

The Ministry of Defence is correct that, on the grounds of national security, some topics, or issues, should not be subject to the informed opinion of worth.

Other nations employ similar restrictions. The US, for example, keeps nuclear launch codes secret. In contrast, the US military does not see the number of top officers as a matter of national security.

A quick Google shows that: "As of Sept 30, 2023, there were 809 active-duty generals and flag officers (GFOs) subject to statutory caps, 48 less than the maximum of 857 authorised by law."

There might be a compelling reason peculiar to Thailand that would make allowing the number of generals to be stated publicly a threat to national security.

But since that is not true for other countries, the Ministry of Defence does have to substantiate its claim for Thailand's allegedly more delicate situation.

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