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One suggestion to ease the plight of abandoned mothers in Thailand
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
One suggestion to ease the plight of abandoned mothers in Thailand
May 28, 2006 12:00 am
What is being done to address the problem of fathers who abandon their children? Granted it's a prickly issue in every country, but in Thailand there seems to be no law in that department, or else the law has no teeth.
An informal census of dozens of common young Thai women with menial jobs revealed the following: well over half are single mothers. Nearly all the fathers of their children are out of the picture, both in terms of nurturing and in terms of providing any financial support. In other words, the men have fun making babies, but when the domestic situations get sticky, they split and never look back. Responsibility goes out the window, and neither the government nor the courts have the will or the means to do anything about it. Rather than throw my hands up in disgust, I'd like to propose a solution, with the disclaimer that no program is going to be perfect, but something is better than nothing. Create a ""Work Corps"" affiliated to the Army and funded as part of the military budget. Each ""deadbeat dad"" should be located and given a choice: either make a monthly payment directly to the abandoned mother (perhaps Bt 3,000 per child) or get drafted into the Work Corps. Starting pay would be minimum wage, though half of that would be sent directly to the abandoned mother. Spartan lodging and meals will be provided, and each corps member would have to report back to barracks by 8pm. Any repeated infractions would result in jail. Each member would be evaluated once every six months. If it were determined that he could responsibly pay his obligation while ""living on the outside"" then he would be freed. Members would have to work until their children turned 16.The Work Corps could have multiple functions such as disaster relief, municipal projects and environmental initiatives but should not be allowed to assist private people or companies. Besides offering support to abandoned mothers and their children, the corps would reduce unemployment, enable its members to learn skills and aid Thailand as a whole. Contrast that to the current situation, where many millions of abandoned mothers, many of whom resort to the ""skin trade"" or menial jobs to try to scrape by, have not the slimmest chance of receiving even one satang from the deadbeat dads. Ken Albertsen, Chiang Rai --------------------------Gaping holes in credibility in remake of 'Poseidon'
Re: ""A remake that stays afloat"", Entertainment, May 25.I disagree with Hanuman's view that ""Poseidon"" is a good movie and a creditable remake of the original, ""Poseidon Adventure"", which I have seen many times. The movie devoted about five minutes to character development before turning the ship over and starting the thrills, chills and spills. There was no time to develop any empathy with the characters and thus no personal investment in whether they survived or not. In fact, by the middle of the movie I was hoping the ship would sink and they would all die so I could go home. The special effects after the rollover were incredible, as in ""not credible"". The movie lost me when they were stuck in the ballast tanks with the pressure-release valves - pressure release valves in ballast tanks? - and the incoming water filled them to the top (bottom?). Where did the air go in the closed tanks? It should have compressed, leaving them breathing space in the tank. I was gone from then on. The height was the propellers, designed to turn in water, turning so fast that they sucked the hero off his feet and stuck him to the open hatch in the bulkhead. Oh please, not credible. And why would there be a hatch opening to what would normally be under water? Suspension of disbelief is something I can accomplish in a well-made movie, but this movie insulted my intelligence. I give it two stars on your scale of five. Wolfgang Peterson can be proud of ""The Perfect Storm"", but ""Poseidon"" does nothing to enhance his reputation. ""What movie was that again?"" Forgotten already. William Smith, Phuket ------------------------------ An unpleasant experience of Thai bureaucracy at NESDB
Two weeks have passed since I started my summer internship program at the National Economic and Social Development Board of Thailand (NESDB), which is popularly believed to be one of the most productive organs of Thailand's incompetent bureaucratic body. I am currently pursuing my master's degree in Public Policy Analysis at Columbia University in New York and had excitedly been waiting for the internship opportunity at the NESDB. To my dismay, I have recently been overwhelmed with the realisation that it is no different from any other inefficient bureaucratic agency. For two weeks now, my principal responsibility at the Macroeconomics division has been to perpetually translate documents from Thai to English. Moreover, every two out of the five working days I would be sitting in front of the computer surfing the Internet with absolutely nothing to do. I have made every endeavour to ask the deputy permanent secretary to allow me to transfer to the other division, at which I would get to put my knowledge fully into practice. My petition has thus far been in the land of zeros and ones. The only thing the personnel section has kindly and diligently informed me of can be summarised in two words: be patient! Quite frankly, I can tell you at this moment that I am very sick and tired of how pathetic the Thai bureaucratic system is. I however remain sanguine that there are those in the system who wish to see things improved but are constrained by their rank and socio-economic status. Upon graduation, I would still like to serve His Majesty the King in this bureaucracy, notwithstanding my inability to make ""significant"" changes in the system. Let us keep our country's bureaucratic system in our prayers. Tatchalerm Sudhipongpracha, New York City ------------------------------------------ National park not the right site for Tsunami Memorial
Why does the Tsunami Memorial museum in Phang Nga have to be placed within the bounds of Khao Lak Lamru National Park? Will this give authorities the excuse to cut even more trees down? Already a large swathe has been cut through the forest for road-widening in the narrow strip of land where the park touches the coast at Laem Hin Chang. Could the authorities clarify exactly where the memorial is to be built, and whether a single tree is to be cut down to make way for it? Isn't the purpose of national parks to conserve forests, after all? A more appropriate site for the memorial would seem to be near the police boat rudely tossed more than a kilometre inland by the tsunami to the back of Ban Bang Niang. This was where many tourists and Thais lost their lives, not on the high ground where the park forest stands. The flat land adjacent to the impromptu police boat memorial is otherwise empty and would surely benefit from the planting of trees to blend with the proposed memorial - a symbol of regeneration, perhaps. Though the tsunami itself took down relatively few trees along the coast - the majority of palms, with their solid roots anchoring them, merely bent with the waves - many lives were cut short. No more trees should be added to the toll. Oliver Hargreave, Chiang Mai ------------------------------Auto expert's suggestion could prove dangerous
Re: ""Pros and cons of timing belts and chains"", Auto Industry, May 25.Pattanadesh Asasappakij was right about timing belts being quieter and lighter than chains, but to say that belts are used so that engines are lighter and therefore consume less fuel is just plain daft. In truth, the advantage of a timing belt is that, being lighter, it can be accelerated faster, thereby improving engine response. It is more efficient as there is less friction, and the tension on the belt is less than that of a chain, which means longer life for adjacent bearings (or smaller components for the same life). Chains will always consist of pins and link plates, and there must naturally be a clearance between them, which increases their tendency to stretch over time, whereas timing belts are normally reinforced with kevlar or similar polymers with extremely high stiffness. Belts also cause virtually no wear on the pulleys while the chain and its sprockets wear together. Additionally, timing belts require no lubrication, and their tensioning devices are also less complex, simplifying maintenance and reducing wear.Most manufacturers recommend replacing the timing belt every 100,000 kilometres. At let's say Bt5,000 for a belt (which would be very expensive), that only works out to five satang per kilometre. Most belts cost one third of this price, which makes it even more ridiculous to think you save money by skipping a belt replacement. How much would a new engine cost if the belt suddenly failed? As for warning signs before a failure, this really depends on the vehicle and the observation skills of the mechanic or driver. To suggest that you only need to perform maintenance when you hear ""strange"" noises would be like suggesting that a motorcyclist only put on his helmet when he knows he's going to crash. Would the cost of a belt replacement not be worth the peace of mind? I was horrified that Pattanadesh in effect suggested that car-owners could simply ignore the manufacturer's recommendation if the belt ""looks"" okay. He even went as far as to say that a chain could last as long as the engine. These are dangerous suggestions. Surely the general public should be asked to follow, for their safety and others', the recommendations of the manufacturers. Chains and sprockets will wear and stretch over time. Their tensioning devices will also undergo wear and must be serviced accordingly. Timing belts and associated components are very much the same. These costs are the costs of ownership of any car. It is entirely irresponsible to indicate that these expenses are somehow unnecessary.As for Pattanadesh's last remark about Isuzu engines using timing gears, I don't know where he got his information, but gears are not generally used for cam timing because of their inertia: you're just adding more parts to move. They were used in older cars as good-quality and reliable chains or belts were not available.I don't work for a car company or in any auto-related industry. I am simply an engineer who does not appreciate ""experts"" who spread misinformation. Chaiwat Kositkhun, Bangkok
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