YOU'RE NOT BIG BROTHER, PRAYUT
Re: "Prayut to 'deal with' meeting minutes writer" (BP , Oct 8).Whoever signs the minutes of a meeting must be the one who is held accountable for their accuracy. If it were otherwise, nobody would know for sure what meeting participants had really agreed upon. That's why the chairperson is always most careful in signing minutes - and that's why PM Prayut's protestations that the cabinet's minuted intentions regarding the single internet gateway are inaccurate ring hollow.
The minutes clearly state the PM ordered the Information and Technology Communication Technology Ministry to "set up", not "study", the single gateway without delay.
Gen Prayut defends his claim that this gross invasion of privacy is merely being "studied" by saying: "If a method violates human rights or laws, it can't be implemented. It's as simple as that." But he's "invited" schoolchildren for "attitude adjustments" because they peacefully flashed three-finger salutes or read Orwell's classic, 1984 , in public, putting the lie to his words.
PM Prayut, instead of trying to deny your smoking gun, accept the minutes were accurate but the cabinet was prying and wrong, and respect our rights more. You are not our Big Brother.
Burin Kantabutra
DOUBLE PRICING IS THIRD WORLD
I agree with Martin R ("Two tiers the norm", PostBag, Oct 10), that two-tier pricing is common in many third world countries. Kenya, for example, prices its precious national parks differently for tourists and resident tax payers regardless of skin colour, which seems fair.
Two-tier pricing is extremely rare in the developed world. I thought Thailand was a newly developed country?
Berni
CLEAR COSTS CURB COMPLAINTS
Many thanks to Martin R and SL Bangsai for providing rare objective perspectives on the perennial two-tier pricing issue (PostBag, Oct 10).
Contrary to the rants of so many previous PostBag contributors, two-tier pricing is definitely not unique to Thailand. As Martin R points, two-tier pricing is common throughout the world, in both developing and developed countries.
I have personally witnessed blatant examples of two-tiered or multi-tiered pricing in Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Vietnam and many other countries. In the US, it is common for state residents (state taxpayers) to pay lower entrance fees at state parks than non-resident visitors.
As articulately pointed out by Khun Bangsai, there are often quite logical reasons for such pricing structures. The best way to avoid misunderstandings and upset, is to have clear pricing, applied consistently and without prejudice.
Samanea Saman
BIG PHARMA HAS US HOODWINKED
Eric Bahrt writes of the "mammograms myth" (PostBag, Oct 10), but myths seem to run throughout the health industry.
A famous medical doctor/author, Vernon Coleman, states, and I quote: "Too many doctors are now in the pay of drug companies." Having practised medicine for many years, he is fully conversant with the relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Interestingly, while Dr Coleman has been outspoken on this issue for many years, he has never been sued for libel.
Recently a very senior British gynaecologist, when discussing prevention rather than cure at a seminar, admitted the curricula followed by trainees in the medical profession contain very little on diet and lifestyle. It appears they are concerned mainly with diagnostics and prescribing the appropriate drugs. Obviously prevention is not in the financial interests of any part of the medical or pharmaceutical industries.
On the issue of mammary glands, there is very strong scientific and epidemiological evidence pointing to dairy products as a prime cause of breast and prostate cancers. The hormonal and protein content of cow's milk is far too powerful for the human body. It is naturally intended to make baby cows grow very quickly into 400kg animals. One scientist, Professor Jane Plant, cured herself by eliminating all dairy products from her diet.
JC Wilcox
WHEN GOOD AND BAD COLLIDE
Re: "A benign dictatorship" (PostBag, Oct 10).
Joob-Joob makes a valuable point that some dictators are clearly bad, for example Saddam, while others are not necessarily bad at all, for example the current situation in Thailand. But he fails to mention the distinction between "theirs" and "ours". America has supported some very brutal dictators. But they were "our" good guys, for example Saddam for many years. Fidel Castro was in the Soviet camp, so he was automatically bad.
A wealthier country with influence over the media can tar one dictator as bad, and the reverse, based on factors that have nothing to do with performance. Sometimes a switch from good to bad can happen overnight, such as Saddam again. This is why we often cite the wisdom of George Orwell as we struggle to understand these issues. Thailand walks a tightrope as a neighbour to a huge country in ascendance, while keeping a friendship with a wealthy country clearly in decline.
John Kane
YET ANOTHER SCAM IN PATTAYA
I'm not sure if this a new scam after the jet-skis, but here it is.
Farang goes drinking in a bar, Thai man stalks him when he leaves. Farang man drives off in his car and Thai man hits the car slightly with his motorcycle. Thai man asks for 5,000 baht to repair his motorcycle and for hospital fees, when there is evidently no damage to either motorcycle or driver. Farang refuses to pay whereupon policeman friend arrives. Policeman provokes farang, beats him with his fists, and subsequently handcuffs farang for resisting arrest.
Conclusion: farang pays motorcycle man 5,000 baht, policeman gets 20,000 baht under the table, otherwise farang will have a police record. The above story happened to a friend last Friday night in Pattaya.
Clara Holzer