Consider nature
Re: "1 more dead dugong found", (BP, Nov 19).
Your attention to dugongs dying in Krabi is admirable. Our Loy Krathong celebration was moderated on Rawai Beach because dugongs have been in the water recently, and it was decided that krathongs were forbidden. We would suggest coastal protection like this is in short supply. Around the corner on Nai Harn Beach, there is no shortage of cement being poured and landfills being dumped into without any oversight. Nai Harn was once voted Thailand's third most beautiful beach. No longer. From the Department of Special Investigation's busted money laundering houses built illegally past the Nai Harn Hotel to development on Ao Sane Beach to the condo mania that is fouling the water of Nai Harn Lake, there is zero ongoing consideration for the natural environment. After the tsunami, many sea turtles came and laid eggs at Nai Harn as the turtles knew that a natural event had cleared the path to lay eggs safely. Some of these returnees laid eggs seven years ago (which were removed). I doubt we will ever see a turtle again. Maybe we should try a bit harder and stop pouring cement.
Prices go bananas
Re: "Bananas still a golden ticket for farmers", (BP, Nov 11).
How is it that more than three years after the revision of Thai land tax policy spurred unprecedented planting of thousands of rai of new banana plantations by landowners seeking to avoid land taxes, the price of bananas in markets is higher than ever? Could it be that all those new banana plantations were never really intended to yield any tangible produce?
Stop name-calling
Re: "Scrutinise the Fed", (BP, Nov 21).
Having followed the PostBag forum for over half a century, one has to admire the editorial and editorial comments as most wholesome and liberal-minded. One small criticism is the generosity in allowing a few contributors like Michael Setter to disagree with the contents of others by labelling others with unjustified and damaging adjectives by debasing a person's character. Though Michael Setter's opinion is refreshing, it is not faultless. It is only an opinion forum where ladies and gentlemen from diverse readers share their views. "Letters to the Editor" of other newspapers are fond of unorthodox views but never accept name-calling on another writer. Though censorship is not the norm, insults are edited.
Michael Setter labelled me as having "a serious case of Trump derangement syndrome" -- a polite way of saying "mentally unsound" in criticising Elon Musk for proposing the demise of the US Fed. In lauding the World Bank, he labelled me as having "another sign of ignorance". I can take criticism in any form because of the saying of the English philosopher Bertrand Russell, "I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong," but not those debasing my character.
Criminal defamation under Section 326 is defined as "whoever imputes anything to the other person before a third person in a manner likely to impair the reputation of such other person or to expose such other person to be hated or scorned, is said to commit defamation…". The aggrieved has five years to decide whether to proceed with legal action.
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