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Published on July 15, 2007

So in order to achieve a dubious goal, we should now buy Thai. According to the Foreign Trade Department, the Thai economy is under siege from a glut of imports: "Electrical appliances led the import surge, up 26.9 per cent, followed by fruits and vegetables (30.6 per cent), watches (7.14 per cent) and cosmetics (18 per cent)."

Is it not the case that Thai domestic industry is already hiding behind enormous duties on these products? Taxes generated by the sales of these goods generate already disproportionate amounts of revenue for the country. All I have been reading is that the baht is too high. It is the nature of the market that these goods should be in higher demand when the domestic currency is stronger. In the longer run, a surge in imports will lead to an eventual weakening of the baht.

As for the statement that "luxury imports do not benefit the economy", this would be very difficult to explain to the thousands of shops, shop assistants, logistics companies, warehouses and advertising agencies that derive income from these goods.

Nearly all the goods in the article are already massively dominated by Thai firms, and I quote "home-decorative items, garments, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and brand-name shoes and bags". Considering the elaborate and punitive taxes that are placed on imported goods, if Thai manufacturers with their low-cost bases are scared about the increased sales of Louis Vuitton and Apple iPods, there is something very wrong in the productive capability of Thailand.

Nick Wood

Bangkok

Bureaucrats stand in the way of education reforms

Re: "Reform stalled by lack of leadership", Editorial, July 11.

In this editorial you identify poor leadership as the chief cause of failure, including a reluctance to make tough decisions. While this may be right as far as it goes, simply having leaders who are decisive is not enough for success - because reform cannot be imposed by fiat.

People willingly changing their individual and collective behaviour is a hallmark of all successful reforms in open societies, as is the resistance of many if not most of those affected by the process of change. People everywhere are too attached to their daily routines, whether comfortable or not, and are naturally reluctant to ditch the known for possible but distant benefits sold to them by managers of change.

The ability to sell change, to negotiate it over a period of time and to bring about a situation where everyone feels they have gained something, is rather rare. Hence it is not surprising that education reform is so difficult - there are so many groups pulling in different directions over resources and social values - education reform is political.

One key impediment to successful education reform is the enormous and continuing resistance of the Thai bureaucracy. You do not have to look very far to see why the bureaucracy resists any and all change: the job for life, the pension, the health benefits at a generous rate, the ability to do a bit of business on the side, the leisured workload etc. No wonder the majority are wedded to their lifestyle and perhaps do not fully realise that the world has moved on since the days of King Chulalongkorn.

The next elected government should resume the education reforms that stalled in 2002, even if the task seems uphill at the moment. The fact is that the groundwork for the implementation of the National Education Act of 1999 ran into the sand only when Thaksin was well established, and the main priority of his ministers began to be feeding their own mouths. Reform stands a reasonable chance of succeeding, and the price of not trying is very heavy.

There are many educators and civil servants committed to the education reform process. All they need is reviving and energising.

Richard Sproat

Bangkok

Selling off land would spell disaster for farmers

Re: "Economic revival vital for political change in Isaan", Letters, July 14.

The suggestions for government subsidising the use of high-yield rice plants or for better water-management to utilise fields year round are constructive suggestions, but not new and difficult to carry out.

If anyone wants to know why Isaan farmers are having difficulty surviving, all they have to do is look at the rice broker mansions in front of every rice mill or find the even larger mansions in Thailand owned by rice exporters. Check the price that rice farmers get for a kilo of rice and then check the retail price that some American in Los Angeles pays for it, and you will find that something is happening between one point and the other. As for the rest of it, life in any country for any small farmer has never been a snap.

As for the last paragraph of that letter, I particularly loved the line: "This capital surplus and increased free time among farmers can lead to other productive investments." I can just see all of the ex-farm owners standing and watching the stock quotes to check on their investments.

The reality of the Isaan farmer is that when many got their Bt10,000 village loans, they spend them in about 10 days. And if they got Bt100,000 for their farms, they would spent that in about 100 days.

What Egon is suggesting would lead to a situation where all of the farm land in Thailand would be owned by big-money corporate farms and all of the present farmers would be working in sweatshops or at large foreign retail stores in the city. The farmer will still be broke, only now he and his wife will have to work and their children will be left to roam the streets at night.

Farmers may not be wealthy, but they do their own thing in their own time and their families are in tact. Leave them alone.

I have said it before and I will say it again. The answer to the poor quality of electors in Thailand is abolishing mandatory voting, not trying to educate people who have no use for education other than how to jury-rig a hoist, or make a fence out of bamboo.

Ultimately, all independent Thai farmers will lose their land to land barons, but it should take a long time. Don't rush the process, or you will have a host of poorly educated people flocking to the cities to find work.

John Arnone

Yasothon

Jail ghost story smacks of superstition to reader

I am writing in regards to the front-page story "Tank-top spectre haunts prison cell", (News, July 14). I am wondering what the purpose was of running this story anywhere in the newspaper, let alone on the front page as if it were one of importance?

The story tells of how one recently locked up prisoner had a restless night's sleep after being brought in for credit-card fraud. No surprise there; he would obviously have a lot to contemplate about his possible new living conditions for the next few years. But wait, it gets better, his sleep had been interrupted by a "mysterious man" in a red tank-top who apparently was none too happy, charging at the man and causing him to strike out in his sleep. The recipient of this midnight sock-in-the-mouth was the guy in the next spot over.

The story goes on to say that "police records" confirm that there had been no "paranormal incidents" prior to the hanging death of a man accused of raping his niece. (Was this bit of salacious information the reason the story was included?) The alleged rapist hung himself using the sleeves of his - sorry "X-Files" fans - long-sleeve shirt.

Yet for some reason monks were brought in to perform an "exorcism" in order to ease the fears of police. How embarrassing in the modern world that the over-active imaginations of a couple of stressed-out jailbirds is enough for the police to publicly embarrass themselves by advertising the fact that they buy into it.

Do we really need a front-page story that celebrates ignorance and trumpets superstition? I for one would sleep better knowing that I won't have to read this sort of stuff over my morning breakfast.

Bernie Farber

Bangkok