Postbag
It seems to me that Tarit Pengdith has gone overboard in his quest to make the Department of Special Investigation Thailand's counterpart to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
J Edgar Hoover, who was director of the FBI for 48 years, used his experience from his former job at the Library of Congress to create the FBI's knowledge management system, generally known as ''the FBI files''.
The secret of the FBI's enormous success depended on Hoover's concentration on creating files on various people, but staying away from political controversy as much as possible.
However, Mr Tarit seems to be leading the DSI in the opposite direction. He tends to make noises about everything he has at hand regardless of the authenticity or relevance. Thus, the DSI's future looks bleak.
Vint Chavala
Lamphun
WESTERN LOOK MOSTLY BY CHOICE
The writer of the piece "'No jacket' racket makes climate sense" in Friday's Bangkok Post has a somewhat distorted view of Thai history. While it is true that the Thai aristocracy were wearing Western attire by the end of the 19th century (one is reminded of the famous portrait of King Chulalongkorn), this was in no way imposed by foreigners. Instead, the elites of Siam and many other countries were actively reaching out to the West in an effort to learn as much as possible from them so they could better defend themselves from the threat of imperialism. Thai elites also sent their children to be educated abroad. That they chose to wear Western attire was something that just happened.
The one that "believed they had the right to define appropriateness when it comes to clothing" was Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram, who in a series of cultural edicts in 1938 encouraged Thais to adopt Western attire, among other things.
He instructed that men should wear hats and ladies gloves and even issued the edict that men should kiss their wives before leaving for work.
Steve Smith
SPEED KILLS BEHIND THE WHEEL
In their efforts to promote their property portfolios, property developers and agents now advertise that the the travelling time to the resort cities of Pattaya and Hua Hin is a mere one or two hours, respectively, from Bangkok. Surely not by car. Perhaps by private jet, magic carpet or maybe inter-stellar wormhole? In the interests of road safety, we'd better hope people don't try to make these insane times by car. What next? A three-hour trip to Phuket or Chiang Mai?
Arty A Driver
OXYMORONS ON THE MARCH
Referring to yesterday's news story "'Critics slam blanket amnesty bill", I was stuck by the name of the group proposing the amnesty bill - "The Independent Committee for Promotion of the Rule of Law". Isn't this an oxymoron, since the aim of the amnesty is to override the working of the rule of law and not to its promotion?
Songdej Praditsmanont
Bangkok
STREET VENDORS SERVE PURPOSE
I have a few questions for the writer of the letter "Waiting for answers" in Saturday's PostBag. First, if he were governor, how would he get rid of the harmless vendors on Bangkok pavements? They are just poor people desperately trying to make a living in order to survive.
What would happen to the tens of thousands of poor street vendors after they are cleared from the streets just so he can walk around unhindered ?
And what about all the poor people, hundreds of thousands of them, who are dependent on street vendors for their cheap clothing and food?
Ricardo
GOVERNOR'S RACE IS PANDERING TO THE NAIVE
I cannot believe how gullible Bangkokians are in thinking a new governor will make a blind bit of difference to their daily lives. While making promises we all know they cannot keep, they are only in it for themselves and their political masters. This election is just another waste of time and money.
Fantia
Hua Hin
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AIMING FOR THE TOP: Bangkok governor hopefuls MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen and Pol Gen Sereepisut Temeeyaves take part in a candidates' debate held in Benjasiri Park.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/24/tarit-is-no-hoover/
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