OPINION

Bangkok traffic cure

Re: "Congestion fee questions", (Editorial, Oct 23). Indeed, penalising parties using private cars coming to town does not alone solve the horrendous traffic jams that some Bangkokians have to endure. The crucial enticement is to provide alternatives that are reliable citi-wise and popular. In London, it is usual to see most office workers taking public transport to work and using private cars at weekends.

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, opined that "a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation".

Thailand is hardly near that benchmark of top CEOs joining the crowd at BTS stations or sitting next to office clerks.

Worst toilet award

Re: "Bangkok awards best toilets for hard work in big job", (BP, Oct 25).

City Hall may award the best public toilets in Bangkok, but it should also award itself the worst.

The filthiest and most disgusting public toilet is located in the public parking building in Bang Lamphu, which is managed by City Hall. It charges 20 baht for the first hour and 30 baht for the second hour, and it is usually crowded with temporary and long-term clients. The income should be enough to keep the toilets clean.

Is this how City Hall promotes the capital's hygiene standards?

Rights on trial

Re: "Behind Thailand's winning UNHRC bid", (Opinion, Oct 22).

Khun Kavi Chongkittavorn correctly questions if Thailand's election to the UNHRC will have any more meaning than a hollow boast of successful lobbying by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Thailand UNHRC membership brings enormous challenges to the fore. There will be heightened expectations from civil society and Western countries with close ties to Thailand regarding domestic human rights issues that require long-awaited reform and action."

How PM Paetongtarn responds to the letter from over 30 national and international rights organisations calling on her to release Vietnamese activist Y Quynh Bdap, who has UN refugee status here and who has been ordered to be extradited to Vietnam to face imprisonment on terrorism charges, will be an important signal reflecting her government's commitment to honouring Thailand's election to the UNHRC.

In the letter, 33 human rights groups suggested Bdap "faces a real risk of torture, prolonged arbitrary detention or other grave human rights violations" if he is returned to Vietnam. Bdap is the co-founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group. He fled to Thailand in 2018 to escape persecution in Vietnam, which has long been criticised for its treatment of the country's predominantly Christian Montagnard minority.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Thailand will be violating domestic law and its international refugee law obligations if it sends Bdap back to Vietnam.

Thailand's Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act prohibits extradition when there is a substantial risk of torture or ill-treatment upon return.

In addition, according to HRW, "Thailand is obligated to respect the international law of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or other serious ill-treatment, or a threat to their life. This principle is codified in the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Thailand is a party and customary international law."

Our cordial relations with Vietnam notwithstanding, the PM should demonstrate her new-found resolve to uphold international human rights standards by denying Vietnam's extradition request and freeing Bdap.

Build with care

Re: "Warning app downloads surge in earthquake-rattled Taiwan", (World, May 8).

Whatever it is, the fact of the matter is that countries have miles to go in the matter of tackling quakes. Going by all the facts and figures including these latest Middle East earthquakes, there have been serious lessons to learn from natural disasters. First off, it is time to coexist with Mother Earth and its abundant natural resources. For instance, the overexploitation of natural sources must be avoided at all costs.

True, we have technological advances at our disposal. But this does not mean that we can use and exploit Mother Earth to the greatest extent possible. As a matter of fact, rigorous human activities have long been impacting the nature of Mother Earth. OK, what could be the way forward or the best way out of this?

First, mega-building structures (skyscrapers) must be banned. Plus, quake-prone areas should be excluded from rigorous construction activities in the best interests of all. In fact, such practical and precautionary steps will go a long way in this connection.

More importantly, the time has come to say a big "no" to concrete jungles. Instead, we must pay more attention to green activities like planting trees. In my native areas like Korkai, Tiruchendur, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Marthandam, Nagercoil and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, there have been green activities/areas in abundance from big trees to green fields to numerous farmlands/food crops. Of course, such green activities will always be in tune with Mother Nature and Mother Earth in all respects.

Immigration woes

Re: "Govt promotes new 'digital nomad' visa'", (BP, Sept 20).

As a man in constant disbelief as to the inefficiency and stubbornness of Chiang Mai immigration I have a few questions that maybe someone could answer.

Does each customer have a storeroom to accumulate the masses of photocopy documents that they produce, or do the new ones replace the old, which get disposed of? Why are two officials, one outside and one inside the building, needed to inspect my documents and apparently do the same job? After this double inspection and processing of my application forms, why can't my renewed visa be stamped into the passport immediately instead of me being asked to return? Exactly what happens in the five weeks from application until acceptance. Do the hundred staff in the office actually check the new against the old documents and establish authenticity? Finally, has immigration heard about the exciting progress made in the world of office efficiency brought about by computers and their ability to store information and have it accessed in minutes by quite ordinary people with a touch of the finger?

Price of pollution

Re: "Bangkok, Chiang Mai among world's worst cities for air pollution", (Online, Oct 26) & "Chiang Mai 'ready for tourists next month'", (BP, Oct 25).

The above city now has problems. There seem to be fewer tourists there these days. That does not surprise me at all, as Chiang Mai has been enlisted in the worst air pollution in the world for a few months of the year during the "burning season", when farmers clear the land by burning it. Clearly, word has now spread worldwide that the above city can be quite polluted at times.

Also, the tourist areas in Chiang and Chiang Rai seemed to put all their eggs in one basket a couple of years ago, banking on Chinese tourists as their main sources of revenue, and the results now speak for themselves.

The only white tourists in those areas these days seem to be backpackers and a few dedicated mountaineers.

Thus, both places need to start catering to the upscale people from Western Europe and North America, as it seems most tourists from these places are now going to southern areas of the kingdom and Pattaya.

Most of all, the tourist operators in Chiang Mai need to provide customer service to all tourists; without this, upscale tourists will not go to the Lanna or northern areas of the country in large numbers.

The Chinese will continue to visit the temples of Chiang Mai, but that's all.

Politics of language

Re: "Harris calls Trump a 'fascist' at town hall", (World, Oct 25).

US Vice President Kamala Harris, retired 4-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and former White House chief of staff John Kelly have all labelled Donald Trump a "fascist". This is not mere campaign mudslinging. Indeed, the parallels between Trump's rhetoric and stated aims with those of Adolf Hitler are highly disturbing.

Trump has admired foreign dictators, talked of suspending the constitution and using the military to go after his political opponents, describes rivals and journalists as "the enemy from within", speaks of minorities "poisoning the blood of America", falsely accuses immigrants of instigating an unsubstantiated surge of rapes and murders in the US, and promises mass deportations including of legal asylum-seekers. Lest we forget history, these are vivid and alarming echoes of Adolf Hitler and the rise of Nazi fascism in Germany in the 1930s.

For the good of America and the world, let's hope that enough American voters recognise Trump for the terrifying danger he poses and successfully block his return to the White House.

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