Postbag
I have recently travelled in and out of Thailand from both of Bangkok's airports, Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi.
There were no issues whatsoever!
No queues _ only friendliness and smiles. The officers, both male and female, chatted and wished me a good trip.
You cannot ask for better than that.
Well done!
SIR LANCE
Temples far too noisy
While religion is an integral part of any society, I would like to know how monks in the past coped with temple events prior to the acquisition of loudspeakers, boom-boxes and sound systems. I have a feeling Buddhism was more intimate between the average Thai and his/her local temple.
These days gigantic concert speakers blast out music, more like obtrusive noise into the crowd, deafening many, and causing a disturbance for at least 2 kilometres in every direction.
It is time even monks in temples realised that ultra-loud noise is not good for its adherents, nor for those in the temple area. I would bet many monks above the age of 25 would test with a hearing loss of at least 10-20 decibels across the board.
While on the topic, why do country Thais also blast loud music for a family event which involves a half-dozen people, deafening not only themselves but also those around them? Many times the local police have to arrive to turn off the sound systems as those in attendance are passed out, totally stoned or drunk past coherence.
UPCOUNTRY MANGO
Democracy is imperfect
Philip Cunningham's article, ''Democracy is the smell of tear gas in the morning'', (BP, Nov 26), seems to waffle in a semi-humorous way.
Democracy not only has to be fought for to be achieved but continuously maintained to avoid erosion of its principles.
At Gettysburg in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared that ''government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth''. Democracy is about the people (plural) not any individual.
Winston Churchill referred to democracy in a speech in 1947: ''No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.''
In other words, whilst it is far from perfect, it is the best of a bad lot and there must be some system of government to retain order within societies.
However, there is far more to a working democracy than having the right to vote. All institutions such as the judiciary, the military, the police and the bureaucracy must be apolitical, whilst each individual retains the right to follow their own political persuasion. Above all, every individual must be accountable under the laws of the land. Essential to democracy is freedom of expression.
Democracy does evolve within its essential principles. It is not black and white, a matter of right and wrong: it is far from perfect; fraught with grey areas which must be resolved by an apolitical judiciary, but it is the fairest most reasonable system we know.
The weakness of democracy is its system of voting; it's a ''numbers game''. Voting can be controlled with money for bribes and/or lack of education that exposes an electorate to persuasion via cheap propaganda.
An established and respected democracy with its celebrated monarchy is the UK. Perhaps to decide whether a country is worthy of the status, it should be considered how it measures up to that old democracy.
J C WILCOX
Little flushing going on
Re: ''Bangkok's khlong snags'', (PostBag, Nov 26).
John Kane wonders if Bangkok does anything to flush out khlongs, as Amsterdam does. Bangkok can't even keep public toilets flushed or clean, let alone khlongs.
CHARLIE BROWN
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