POSTBag136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, ThailandFfax:022403666Femail:postbag

General news - Friday December 14, 2007

POSTBag136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, ThailandFfax:022403666Femail:postbag

Why not?

Clearly, here is someone with integrity who should have a vested interest in the future direction of Thailand and how that direction will have an impact on the region that is his adopted home.

Someone who has spent that amount of time in most other countries would by now have citizenship and the right to vote. Thailand's immigration laws keep out good people who can, and do, have a positive impact on this country. Even those with Thai hearts. JOHN Living without air-con Bangkok Post raises the interesting question of what sort of power plant might meet the approval of the Lord Buddha (''A kinder, less violent energy'', Dec 12). A related question, perhaps of more relevance to the individual, is: what sort of standards for personal energy use might be approved by the Lord Buddha? For example, would he use air-conditioning?

Back in the 1960s, energy use over much of the country consisted of a kilo or so of home-made charcoal (''biofuel'' you might say) for each family, mainly for cooking. The use has now advanced to several tens of kilos of carbon per day, mainly derived from natural gas, one of the higher use rates among peer countries.

With perhaps two-thirds of the kingdom's electric power use now devoted to air-conditioning, and a good portion of that wasted on overcooling of solar-heated urban concrete, Thailand is profligate indeed in its expenditures to keep sweat off its brow.

A couple of years ago after spending some time at the Suan Mokh monastery studying the teachings of the venerated Buddhadasa Bhikku, I became convinced that most discomforts can be managed at the point of their arousal, that being the human mind.

Accordingly I undertook an experiment: try living in Bangkok with no air-con. Now, after two years' experience, I am happy to say that this can be done, though some architectural re-arrangements and changes in personal habits are recommended for progressive felicity. Meanwhile, with the cessation of the compressor's roar, one learns to develop a new appreciation of the passing natural conditions of the city, the most distant barking of dogs, the blind man on the corner, the marital troubles of the neighbours.

My brother Ron Swelters of MIT has engaged to set forth the details of this experience which I hope will serve as a lasting, if minor, footnote to our effort to come to terms with our own sometimes careless adoption of wasteful technologies, not the least of which is the 12,000 BTU air-conditioner. JACK SWELTERS Confused about US Emanuel D Samuel has it all wrong in his letter ''CIA eye wash'' (Postbag, Dec 11), in which he writes:

''When the Americans want to rationalise or conduct an act of cruelty, deception, sadism or torture, they put the responsible position in the hands of a Latino.''

US President George W Bush and the Central Investigation Agency are in a difficult position right now, and the rather immature misunderstanding of American culture by foreigners like Mr Samuel adds to the overall confusion.

Americans love their dark-skinned little neighbours from south of the border, eat their food all the time and listen to their music.

Americans are also a bit absent-minded sometimes and accidentally destroy things like video tapes. It happens all the time in the United States. GUY BAKER

Bangkok Post