Caught on film

General News - Thursday December 20, 2007

POSTBAG

Caught on film

E-mail: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th / Snail mail: 136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

As a Thai national working in the local film business, I am appalled and ashamed to read the allegations that previous TAT governor Jutamas Siriwan could have been involved in bribe-taking from Hollywood writer Gerald Green. This kind of corruption scandal completely undermines the Tourism Authority of Thailand's entire efforts to encourage filmmakers to shoot here, and will only further distance inward investment from foreigners to the film industry here.

I hope that those who are found responsible are severely punished for the damage they have done to Thailand's reputation by their selfish actions.

Anticipating that this news might signal the nail in the coffin for the fate of the Bangkok International Film Festival, I also hope that the $1.7 million that was alleged to have been taken, essentially from the government's purse, is redistributed to better support the local film industry.

TOM WALLER

Seeking accuracy

The front page of Learning Post this week mentions the "University of South Hampton" (sic). Where exactly in England is this seat of learning? Also, what is the local football team called? Shouldn't Learning Post be accurate?

BERNIE HODGES

Songkhla

Tourism not affected by the alcohol ban

I write in reference to the letter, "Why ban tourist fun?" (Postbag, Dec 17). I find the comments made by Paul Slack exceptionally offensive on behalf of all foreign (and domestic) tourists currently in Thailand, or those tourists currently planning a trip to Thailand.

First, Paul seems to be making the assumption that foreign tourists come to Thailand to drink alcohol, or that this is a defining reason for visiting. I do not need to point out how ridiculously absurd this is.

Foreign tourists come to Thailand to visit some of the world's nicest beaches, islands and jungles. Not to mention the exceptionally diverse culture, people and the incredible food.

Second, to infer that a two-day alcohol ban is as damaging to international tourism as one of the world's worst natural disasters, or the horrific Phuket aviation accident, is beyond comprehension and belief, and belittles the memory of those that lost their lives.

Paul can rest assured that this alcohol ban will have no impact on international tourism, that tourism in Thailand is not "a mess" (from personal experience I believe tourism in Thailand is very well organised, cost effective, well known and the most accessible in all of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim), and that all foreign tourists will leave Thailand having enjoyed themselves immensely.

PETER WHITE

Australian, currently in Chiang Rai

No right to a political opinion except at home

I disagree with Paul Spurrier (Postbag, Dec 18) who wrote: "I disagree with those foreigners who feel that they have no right to a political opinion."

Foreigners everywhere have no right to a political opinion anywhere, and that is why they are called foreigners. Is it so hard to accept the fact that no matter where you come from, when you land in a country that is not your own you have to give up certain things you enjoyed at home?

Politics belong to people who pay taxes in the country, who have citizenship in the country and who vote in the country. Opinions from anyone else are just speed bumps in the highway to democracy.

GUY BAKER

Wrong example

Re: "Early climate change victim Andes water" (Bangkok Post, Dec 18). The article says that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels has caused such a reduction in the size of glaciers in the Andes that the area is now suffering from a shortage of water.

The area in question is a semi-arid region subject to droughts and supplied by water melting from evanescent glaciers that have come and gone in cycles for thousands of years. The history of the region has been shaped by changes in this source of water.

The current state of relative dessication is part of a well-known pattern of water supply in the Andes and it cannot in any way be related to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.

CHA-AM JAMAL

Karenni mistreated in refugee camp

I am very concerned about the unfolding situation in Mae Hong Son province. I have recently become aware of the massive protests that are taking place in the Thai-managed refugee camps along the Burmese border. There are apparently upwards of 4,000 Karenni (a Burmese ethnic minority) taking part in these protests against long-standing mistreatment by the Thai authorities.

While the Thai government apparently looks to the Mae Hong Son Burmese refugee camps as models of "good" (read strict and heavy-handed) management, as opposed to the greater lenience of the Mae Sot Karen camps, for the refugees and those who take interest in their plight, the management of the Mae Hong Son camps has been a travesty.

Basic human rights are systematically trampled upon and individuals are denied resettlement on the basis of their utility to provincial authorities.

This has predictably come to a boiling point, and when a number of Karenni youths were severely beaten by Thai authorities following a football match this past weekend (resulting in hospitalisation of the youths), protests by the Karenni refugees ensued.

The response by the Thai officials was to fire live rounds of ammunition into the air and, in the case of one police officer, point blank at one 20-year-old Karenni, killing him instantly. The protests by the Karenni continue and have intensified.

The fact that these events, and the dramatic mobilisation of thousands of people, have to my knowledge not made the slightest ripple in the English-language media here concerns me very much.

Burmese refugees and illegal migrants in Thailand number in the millions and, as a rule, are treated shamefully. The fact that these events fail even to register in the Thai media gives little hope that those officials responsible for the beatings and murder will be held accountable for their actions.

SUSAN READER

Bangkok Post