OPINION

Shape shifting

Re: "Aged society needs new provident fund", (Opinion, March 2).

During this current visit to Thailand, I have noticed two new phenomena: first, the concern displayed in your newspaper about the ageing of Thailand's population. The second one will greatly impact the first: for over 40 years I have travelled to Thailand at least once each year, first for work and now for retirement breaks from winter weather. This trip I have been shocked to see the increase in Thailand's population, not in numbers but in the average size of individuals! Thai people are getting fatter, and if this continues, you will soon look like Americans, who on average are very sadly overweight. I see here not only overweight conditions, but obesity and even morbid obesity. This will greatly impact the general overall health of your people, because being overweight increases the seriousness of virtually all other medical problems, more so as we age.

According to what I have read this trip, the Thai government is wisely considering how to deal with an ageing population. But both problems have to be considered when planning for the elderly, and it takes different skill sets. Neither is easy.

One way to start is to follow that old adage, "It is easier to stay in shape than it is to get in shape". Hopefully, many will see that it's not too late to get back into shape. And also hopefully, the officials looking at the future of aging will add this factor of weight expansion and its accompanying problems into the planning.

Judge not

Re: "US should stay away", (PostBag, March 3).

To those of your correspondents who argue that the US, and by extension Nato, should not get involved in the destruction of Ukraine by a country led, arguably, by a vicious psychopathic egoist, one can only assume that if their countries were similarly invaded, and their homes were being destroyed, and their families were being slaughtered, they would reject proffered help and would not be begging for assistance from absolutely anyone.

I can sit safely in my comfortable home on the other side of the world, but I am a fellow human being and I cannot rest easily with what is happening. Please, let us have more compassion and empathy and do everything possible to stop the destruction, rather than making judgements about who is to blame and who should or should not be involved, which helps nobody.

Beyond belief

Re: "Russian disbelief", (Postbag, March 2).

Alexandra writes that Russia "can invade a whole country, bomb it, turn hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians into refugees and cause children to grow up without a father". Replace the words Russia with America and Ukrainians with Iraqis and you just described America's invasion of Iraq.

And of course the biased media makes no mention of how Russians were persecuted in Ukraine or how America went back on its word not to expand Nato.

I'm no fan of President Putin. But to pretend that the sole problem in this conflict is that Putin is not a nice man is utterly preposterous.

Declared interest

As a fledgling country in 1823, President James Monroe of the United States boldly made a statement warning that the US will not tolerate any interference by European countries in the Western Hemisphere. The statement now known as the Monroe Doctrine has been used as a major guiding principle of US foreign policy. The Cuban crisis in 1962 was the direct result of the upholding of this doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine made four basic points: (1) non-interference by the US in European affairs; (2) non-interference by the US regarding existing colonies in the Americas; (3) US disallowing of any future colonisation in the Western Hemisphere; and (4) the view that any interference by a European power with any nation in the Americas would be viewed as a hostile act against the US.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has watched Nato closing in on its borders and making aggressive moves with impunity. The Bucharest Nato summit in 2008 producing a declaration that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of Nato is one such occurrence. Since the US funds over 50% of Nato's budget, it is in fact the country that controls Nato and is meddling in European affairs without heeding its own Monroe Doctrine.

Let's be clear, there is no justification today for an armed conflict anywhere in the world to take place. Economies of the world are interlinked and we all suffer when these superpowers are in conflict, whether they are armed or unarmed. But the rhetoric today from the Western press is that Russia is making war on Ukraine without provocation. Without the provocative Bucharest Summit Declaration of 2008, perhaps this war would not have happened.

Sorry state

Re: "Not all apologists", (PostBag, March 3).

Jensen K seems somewhat put out at having his ludicrous "reasons for Putin to invade Ukraine" rightly derided.

Nato has never invaded Russia nor has it been a threat to it.

Putin, on the other hand, previously invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea, and has invaded it again. Putin has invaded Georgia and effectively annexed South Ossetia, and continues to foment separatist unrest in Moldova.

Anyone who says it is reasonable to do this is indeed a Putin apologist.

Perhaps the fact that 141 countries chose to condemn Putin will give Jensen K some pause. Or the fact that only four supported him: Syria, Eritrea, Belarus and North Korea, in all of which Putin supports an equally unpopular and unwanted dictator.

Sign of the Thais

Re: "Seducing shoppers with special offers", (PostScript, Feb 27).

Well, quite often you come across very dubious offers in Thai malls. Some vendors proudly advertise: "Sale -- 80% off". That should be an immediate put-off, but we seldom wonder about the margins. How can anyone sell a product for 20%? Maybe the actual price of the product is 5% of the sale price.

There are also half-clad mannequins in Thai malls with odd signs. On the bare chest of one a sign reads: "Do not touch me", while another clad in lingerie has a sign saying, "What are you looking at?".

Somewhere in Thailand a big road sign reads: "Slaughterhouse intersection". And of course there is a real "Porn Hotel" in Bangkok.

One-sided expression

Re: "India's hate speech problem", (Asia Focus, Feb 28).

The article written by Mujib Mashaal, Suhasini Raj and Hari Kumar is an extremely one-sided opinion piece written against a nation and people who are traditionally and culturally connected with the Thai people and nation in a very positive manner.

Freedom of expression is not just a prerogative; it is a right and privilege that has to be exercised responsibly. In this instance, we are sure that the Bangkok Post was unaware of the one-sided exercise of free expression in this article, otherwise as a responsible and mature publication it would definitely have invited alternate views.

The authors of the article are not independent journalists but employed by The New York Times and are based in New Delhi. The same newspaper in the recent past has been known for its venomous anti-Hindu and anti-India articles.

The writers focused their diatribe on one event in Haridwar. However, they did not mention about the action taken, that the "hate speech" committers were arrested almost immediately. The writers also did not mention the "Owaisi" brothers' hate speeches against Hindus. Nor did they speak of rights protection regarding instant triple talaq among a 50% Muslim population.

Nor did they speak of the "pro-choice pro-hijab" protest that is a fundamentalist ploy for the future subjugation of Muslim women, all the while not mentioning the fact that the Muslim population that was 10% back in 1947 in Bharat exceeded 15% in 2021. This while the minority population in former parts of India continues to decline -- in Pakistan from 10% to less than 3% and in Bangladesh from 24% to less than 8% -- because of murder, rape and forced conversions.

The Bangkok Post is a respectable and influential publication. While we accept that everyone has a right to express their views, when such inflammatory articles are published, we expect the Bangkok Post to provide opportunity for opposing views by eminent journalists and writers such as Vikram Sampath, Sai Deepak, Rajiv Malhotra and Arti Agarwal, all of whom can present a factual view of the situation in India.

While we express our strong objection to the one-sided views expressed by the writers, we do look forward to a very balanced and factual presentation of the situation as per the best practices of journalism.

CONTACT: BANGKOK POST BUILDING136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110Fax: +02 6164000 email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

All letter writers must provide full name and address.

All published correspondence is subject to editing at our discretion.