OPINION

Plan doesn't rate

Re: "Govt plans to charge foreigners more than Thais for hotel rooms", (BP, July 6).

The government says it wants to continue to stimulate domestic tourism by giving Thais low hotel rates, while charging foreigners more. Boosting the hospitality industry is fine, but the mechanism looks very racist -- viewing foreigners as ATMs to be fleeced (to mix metaphors).

Rather, the government should promote domestic tourism by giving residents of Thailand -- regardless of nationality -- hotel discounts upon proof of residency as thanks for taxes paid. Those from overseas -- again, nationality-blind -- would pay the normal published or promotional rates.

Behind the pack

Re: "Budget panel fears legal weed could hurt tourism", (BP, July 6).

Have the authorities considered whether cannabis products currently on sale legally and openly advertised on TV here might be packed as novelty gifts by naive Thai (and other) tourists on their travels elsewhere? The subsequent legal ramifications could be dire in other less liberal countries if the local customs and excise office searches their bags.

In other words, "give an inch and take a mile".

Memory leak

Re: "Why anti-cannabis?", (BP, June 25).

Whilst not disagreeing with much that Alan James Cooper said, if he really thinks that he knew no one who drank alcohol in the 1960s, I think that the weed he was smoking at the time may have had a devastating effect on his memory.

Envoy ordinary

Re: "6 reasons to recalibrate Thai-US ties", (Opinion, June 28).

Why the always well-informed Kavi Chongkittavorn failed to highlight the yawning policy gulf that must have been apparent at the recent meeting he reported upon between our distinguished special envoy to Myanmar, Ms Pornpimol Kanchanalak, and President Biden's point man for Myanmar, US Department of State Counsellor Derek Chollet, must remain a mystery, perhaps shrouded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' mandarins continuing outrage at the envoy's ill-conceived appointment, notwithstanding her "extensive knowledge of the country" as mentioned in her letter of appointment signed by Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.

Mr Chollet, speaking at the same SLD meeting, reflected the real world, and majority Asean, view.

He was reported as saying "there is no chance the junta's planned election in August 2023 would be free and fair ... it can be an attempt to manipulate the region and the international community".

One has to ask what planet our distinguished envoy is living on? Isn't she aware there is a civil war raging in Myanmar? A significant portion of the country is no longer under the junta's control. Daily atrocities and gross human rights violations have only served to strengthen the Myanmar peoples' complete rejection of military domination of their country.

The junta will never regain the control of Myanmar they had on Feb 1 last year, the day that will go down in Myanmar's history as "the last coup".

Our government, and the special envoy, need to hurry up and catch the winds of change.

Thailand has been fortunate that Asean's current chair, Cambodia, captive as it is to Chinese imperial interests, has been soft on the Myanmar junta, thereby providing cover for the Thai military's traditional policy of appeasement toward its Myanmar military brethren.

But come November, Indonesia will assume the Asean chair and we can expect a tougher Asean stance toward the Myanmar military which, among other things, will likely force Thailand's military-controlled government to distance itself from the junta-led State Administration Council (SAC) in Myanmar or risk further damage to Asean's already tenuous cohesion.

That the Myanmar and Thai people are both engaged in the same historic battle -- to force their respective militaries to submit to democratic civilian control -- is apparent to all. While victory for the people is certain in both countries, only the timing remains in question. By massively opposing the coup, the Myanmar people have already taken a giant step toward victory. One has to wonder if Thailand's "last coup" is already written in our history, or awaits further struggle.

Cheesed off

I first came to Thailand in 1968 and have lived here permanently for nearly 20 years, but barely a week goes by that I don't see something that defies logic. Or at least my ability to make any logical sense of it.

My local Lotus's supermarket has a refrigerated cheese display. On the left are mozzarellas, Gruyere, Brie, Tasty Mature, blue-veined and several other block, sliced and grated cheeses. All of these are clearly price tagged.

But to the right are about 20 wedges of Parmesan and the same number of a brand of Cheddar cheese, all neatly packaged and tempting the shopper to purchase them.

But there is a sign above them that reads: "This cheese is for demonstration purposes only: Not for sale".

Can anybody offer me an explanation of why a supermarket would put items on show but refuse to sell them?

Oh well! As they say: "This is Thailand".

Too late

It is fascinating to note a few postings lambasting the majority being fooled into being vaccinated. One piece of news told me not to take those wise guys seriously. At the early stage of Covid-19, it was reported by one nurse that one infected patient struggling with their last breath whispered to her for a vaccine jab. She had to respond that it was too late.

No to juvenile jabs

Re: "Covid kills kids," (PostBag, July 5).

The disclaimer from CDC Wonder which Dianne Archer recommends as a source of data on paediatric deaths from Covid disease states, "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal site." Why do they make such a disclaimer, because all of their data is from state sources?

Secondly, all deaths with Covid were recorded as from Covid and that is still the policy in the US. No autopsies are performed to determine cause of death and if there are underlying causes, as many as 20 will be totally ignored as a matter of practice under guidelines handed out to the states by the CDC. Why? The CDC is in the vaccine business. They receive royalties and direct payments from the vaccine manufacturers -- and imagine just how enormous such payments become every time the FDA issues another EUA for the vaccines in a progressively younger and younger series of age groups.

The vaccination of young children with experimental gene therapies is a crime against humanity. Many other reliable databases show that children have virtually zero chance of dying from Covid infection.

A recent study out of the UK and reported by The Wall Street Journal stated, "Some 99.995 percent of the 469,982 children in England who were infected during the year examined by researchers survived." Tests show that 99.5% of children under the age of 18 have antibodies against Covid.

Furthermore, the vaccines do not protect against any of the Omicron strains because the Wuhan and Delta strains are virtually extinct. Therefore, anyone who argues for paediatric vaccination is flat out wrong and criminally so. Save our children -- refuse to exterminate them.

Unsmiling land

Re: "PM 'upbeat' over tourist numbers", (BP, July 3).

Thailand, the Land of Smiles, or so we are led to believe. Well could someone please tell immigration officials at Bangkok's airport that it would be great to be greeted by a smile instead of a grim face.

Also perhaps the Bank of Thailand could start training their tellers that a bit of courtesy would go a long way when dealing with their customers instead of treating them like something that has crawled out of the woodwork.

Animal blights

Re: "Bred for fighting", (PostBag, June 29).

David Brown's recent letter above was good. Thailand is an odd place when it comes to dogs. For starters, there are essentially no animal shelters, though correct me if I'm wrong.

And pets are problematic, wherever there are people. There should be a limit of one pet per household. There should be free spay (sterilisation) programmes everywhere.

Barking (and attacking) dogs are one part of the problem, and owners should be fined for allowing/enabling that. Cats, both domestic and feral, kill millions of native birds and reptiles annually within Thailand and probably kill billions worldwide. Dogs and kittens are abandoned by the thousands each day.

Anyone who likes animals should deal with their pets responsibly, because their adoration is killing wild animals, and severely annoying neighbours.

And don't get me started on the hundreds of tonnes of pet poop generated monthly. It gives new meaning to the expression "love you to death".