OPINION

Airing grievances

Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand director Chula Sukmanop has decided to ban incoming flights until May 31. Unless he is an epidemiologist, the director is not qualified to make such decisions. It appears this government is immune to the needs of Thai citizens.

The death rate from Covid-19 in Thailand has probably dropped below the suicide rate which is climbing.

Has anyone thought of informing the aviation authority that the Thai economy depends on international flights and the longer local carriers' planes sit idle the more money they lose daily?

I'm just curious if there are any Thai SMEs which have had success with the SME Soft Loan Programme? We are a Thai SME with six employees. We have a good payment track record with the bank, a healthy (audited) P&L and balance sheet over the last eight years and have paid hefty entry fees for our existing credit lines with our bank. In addition, I was even forced to buy a 30-million-baht, five-year term life insurance policy from the same bank. Now, we are just trying to fill purchase orders, maintain our business, and make sure all our stakeholders get paid during this difficult period. We didn't anticipate two- to three-month delays in the logistics supply chain and now have run out of money. Our bank said we were not qualified for the programme.

Re: "Mixed up priorities," (PostBag, April 27).

I agree with Burin Kantabutra that the government should stop "pouring good money after bad" in its attempt to salvage THAI from bankruptcy.

But I think it is unfair for Mr Burin to put the blame solely on the government -- in the case of a man who killed himself by jumping into the river before his five-year-old daughter also leapt to her death after him. Suicide cases happen everywhere in the world. Be that as it may, some males with children would never commit suicide and leave their children behind to fend for themselves.

So far, the Prayut government has done a commendable job in keeping the numbers of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country to the lowest possible level -- while some more advanced countries have not done so well.

It looks to me that unless our leaders have heart replacement surgery wherein they receive new hearts that have some empathy and caring for the poor, that the new normal is not going to be much different than the old normal, except there probably will be fewer poor people due to disease, starvation and suicide.

The photo of THAI counter staff, as well as travellers, huddled together in a small space at Suvarnabhumi airport, and without the least observation of physical distancing is appalling. With airports scheduled to open in the days ahead, I would have hoped to see far more stringent practices in place -- like those at the skytrain and some department stores. Please, AOT and Thai Airways, prepare yourselves properly and train your staff.