Maybe it's just as well, because if the people of that region wanted to show any respect whatsoever for environmental concerns, they'd consider investing in recycling machines.

The problem of litter is not simply solved by burning it. If anything, greater long-term environmental problems arise by not disposing of litter properly. Tackling the litter problem seriously requires educating people about how rubbish can be reduced, reused and/or recycled. "Three R" programmes should be implemented within schools to alleviate the growing litter problem that is rampant throughout the Kingdom.

There are some administrations throughout the Kingdom that could be doing more without the government's assistance but quite simply don't. The Pattaya City Administration (PCA) recently shelved plans for an Arrow Bio refuse plant, which generates biogas. The plant would be capable of processing 300-400 tonnes of refuse per day. The PCA openly acknowledges that there is a mounting garbage problem but decided against the proposed plant, because of a lack of research in quantifying the varieties of garbage. In the same week, the PCA announced it would spend Bt30 million on beautifying Sukhumvit Road, obviously with the opening of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport in mind.

Blaming the caretaker government, which struggles to do anything cleanly or clearly, is hardly justification for not raising public awareness about what should be done with litter, nor is it any reason for schoolchildren not to be taught how to handle by-products properly.

Litter Bugged

Chon Buri

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Make high-grade booze more expensive to stave off abuse

Re: "Industry fears the worst from new law", News, September 11.

I read this article about proposed alcohol reforms with a sinking heart. Maybe I am biased after having spent 20 years running pubs, but people who talk about alcohol abuse and want to stop it seldom have any idea of the realities. Alcohol is not all bad: it is a drug that promotes social intercourse and well-being, is good for digestion and in limited quantities is good for the heart. People abuse alcohol mainly through the consumption of hard spirits. To solve Thailand's alcohol problem, there are three musts, which if not acted on, will negate any other action:

1) The sale of lao khao (rice whiskey), or any home-brewed alcohol, must be stopped.

2) Beers with a high alcohol-by-volume (ABV) content must be more expensive.

3) Cheap spirits need to be significantly more expensive.

On the issue of banning advertising, I am not sure how you will stop international brands advertising on international sportscasts, giving a clear advantage to multinationals. But the truth is you cannot control alcohol by banning it; just look at what happened in the US when that was tried!

A practical approach is to use taxation to drive the market to less dangerous products, such as lower-ABV beers and wines, while making high-ABV beers and spirits more expensive.

That will work; banning those under 25 from drinking will just make them drink more! And how on earth do you tell people who can vote, be shot at as soldiers or drive a car they cannot do something because they are not old enough?

TR

Fellow of the British Institute of Innkeepers

Bangkok

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Fast-food ban should follow if public health is the concern

Re: "Industry fears the worst from new law", News, September 11.

So stringent curbs are now planned or already in place for smokers and drinkers in Thailand. Fair enough. It's now high time to focus on the fast-food industry.

Let's face it, bad diet and obesity are arguably the world's greatest current global health threat. If smokers and drinkers are to be penalised, then other groups should be, too. For example, if, as proposed, alcohol sales are to be banned in Thailand for anyone under the age of 25, then people of that age group should also be banned from fast-food outlets. Let's also tax these fast-food companies out of existence - for causing bad health, bad smells, an appalling litter problem and ruining the "culture" of food.

Not that such draconian measures work in all cases. History has shown that human beings have an inborn capacity for defying overzealous and repressive regulations. Long-term education is the only way.

John Shepherd

Bangkok

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Figures released by govt cannot be taken at face-value

Re: "Critiques on People's Bank using wrong set of criteria", Letters, September 9.

I do not think Martin Searle really knows what he is talking about. Is he sure the information released by the Government Savings Bank to defend itself in the Office of the Auditor-General's investigations was correct?

The writer is still very much unfamiliar with the degree to which transparency is deficient in public administration. I think he should do more research before giving such a misleading view.

Chukiat N

Bangkok

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Blind acceptance of official actions only fuels tyranny

Bill Cymbalsky ("The US does not lie, it just fools its enemies", Letters, September 10) says the US is not lying, only misleading the enemy. When did the very people the administration is elected to serve but lies to instead become the enemy? Thanks, Bill, for summing up the US administration's disdain for its own citizens so well.

W Knight ("Terrorists do not deserve the same rights as the rest of us", Letters, September 9) believes there is nothing wrong with being carted off by the CIA at the whim of a faceless and unaccountable government. Has he read George Orwell's "1984"? Do you see any similarities between what the CIA has been doing and the actions of any number of regimes who seek to silence political dissent by incarceration without trial, or worse?

Really, though, the above was not the crux of my previous letter ("Secret-prison news no surprise given US history of telling lies", Letters, September 8). I was more appalled by the utter acceptance of good US citizens, such as Knight, who apparently don't see the similarities I allude to above, and how inconsistent these actions are for a nation promoting democracy and freedom. The CIA's actions are the complete antithesis of democracy and freedom. How long will it be before the FBI starts to adopt the same methods, in the name of "national security"? Or perhaps the US administration will be allowed to operate within US borders to combat the "enemy within". These people are denied any justice, the right to a legal defence or a trial. They are neither accused nor found guilty, existing in a legal vacuum.

Sibeymai

Bangkok

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Opposition to official lies is mounting in Thailand and US

Re: "Secret-prison news no surprise given US history of telling lies", Letters, September 8.

Thanks to Sibeymai for the spot-on letter regarding lying political leaders and the voters they so easily deceive. One would think those in power would realise that, sooner or later, when they get caught in their own deceptions, it might bring shame upon them and the voters who support them. No such luck, though, because in this day and age, politicians who lie are rarely held accountable.

The leaders of the present governments in the US and Thailand have, over the past few years, been less than transparent on countless issues. Many of these issues are of vital importance to the citizens who elected them, and yet when these politicians are questioned regarding these issues, they deny, dismiss, obfuscate or just plain don't respond, in order to evade accountability. And all too often, it is a pliable news media that supports letting it all slip away.

There is a growing number of opposition voters in both the US and Thailand who are embarrassed, outraged and fed up enough with these governments. They are so fed up they might be able to initiate change, but unless the opposition truly represents the will of those who elect them, the story will sadly just repeat itself. There is a need to be positive; it won't come easy, and it will take time, but with an informed and determined electorate, such change is possible.

Mr Bill

Bangkok

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Analysis ignored joy expressed by some Muslims after 9/11

Re: "Whose war on terror?" Opinion, September 11. While Mai Yamani makes some valid points in analysing post-9/11 relations between the US and Muslims, Yamani's assertion that Muslims were supportive of the US immediately after 9/11 is way off the mark. Yamani ignores the thousands of Arabs and Muslims who openly celebrated 9/11 as if they had won the World Cup. While Arab governments did their best to intimidate and prevent reporters from covering these sickening celebrations, the news did get out.

Yamani is also incorrect that most Muslims were glad to see the Taleban removed from power. Muslims were generally silent about the Taleban's barbaric acts, and even US allies in the Muslim world warned that the US better act quickly in Afghanistan. These governments correctly noted that more Muslims would be angered by having foreign troops on "Muslim land" than by such Taleban policies as destroying centuries-old Buddhist carvings, forbidding girls from receiving an education and executing individuals for minor infractions.

Americans and other Westerners continually engage in introspection and debate about how to coexist with the Muslim world. Unfortunately, the same thing does not appear to be occurring on a large scale within the Muslim world. As long as Muslims continue reflexively to blame everyone but themselves and refuse to engage in self-criticism, there will be tragic conflict between Muslims and the West.

Josh Baker

Thailand