OPINION

Will Thaksin deliver?

Re: "Cheaper electricity touted", (BP, Jan 7).

I fully agree with ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra that "All forms of monopoly must be dismantled so that people will have a lower cost of living, higher incomes, and better opportunities. All of this must happen in 2025." So, this year, he's vowed to break up (a) CP-All's 73.6% of the convenience store industry; (b) AIS and True-DTAC's shares of 46% and 54%, respectively, of telecoms; and (c) PTT's 43% of oil and retail oil business -- plus others.

Will he deliver heaven -- or mirages? PM Paetongtarn should start showing that her dad delivers on his promises by making her 10,000-baht handouts in cash -- just as with the first batch. Digital disbursements will severely restrict recipients to CP-All's 7-Eleven chain, as SMEs usually aren't equipped to handle e-banking. Payments to 7-Elevens will go straight to CP-All, killing any hopes of the multiplier effect that Ung Ing's staking the sky on. Lastly, the upcoming disbursement will be to the elderly -- who are the least computer-literate.

PM Paetongtarn, make daddy's vows real.

Pure speculation

Re: "SEC seeks opinion on adopting stricter margin loan rules", (Business, Jan 7).

If daily mark-to-market and so-called maintenance-margin and then force-sell rules are followed by brokers, as should be strictly mandated by the SEC/SET, there should never be a problem of harming security/brokers. As the force-sell rule mandates immediate action of a new cash deposit or a sell-out to cover, well before an account goes into negative. Further, margin loans should never be extended to IPOs or, as this article states, "options or futures", as this invites pure speculation on often over-priced, over-volatile new securities which have no trading history or the latter having no or little assessable inherent value.

Test the tap water

Re: "Happy to be back", (PostBag, Jan. 7).

Mr Kane asks if there is a way for consumers to test our tap water. All I know is that it's not recommended to drink Thai water (straight) from the tap. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to know which hazardous residues/pesticides, through a cheap test, Thai tap water contains. And while we are at it, consumers wouldn't mind either knowing if there's a cheap test, checking which hazardous residues and pesticides are on fruits and veggies. After all, it seems that the government apparently hasn't enforced its own ban (since June 1, 2020) much in the case of the agricultural chemical chlorpyrifos (Re: "Tests show high levels of pesticide" (BP, Dec. 28)). Or could this newspaper enlighten us further on this (testing) matter?

Too long on red

Re: "Stop idling", (PostBag, Jan 12).

I'm not a traffic management expert, but I believe Khun Randy is correct in calling for faster cycling traffic lights.

I recently spent several days in Ho Chi Minh City -- a metropolis with an even higher population than Bangkok, heavy density of vehicles, and similar challenges of narrow, winding streets meandering alongside a major river cutting through the centre of the city. Yet, traffic flowed relatively smoothly, without major delays.

The one difference I noted from Bangkok was that nearly all the traffic lights cycled with 30 seconds or less on red. The result was no long backups of traffic and no vehicles sitting idling for interminable delays. Speed up the cycles, lessen the delays, and reduce air pollution!

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