The South is Burning

One of the most tragic stories in Thailand today is the deteriorating situation in the South. This is a major worry for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that no one in the southern regions can live without fear. According to today's Bangkok Post, 124 teachers have been killed over the past few years, and 287 schools have been attacked by arsonists. If children cannot attend school safely, what future does this region have? Another reason for concern is that the Government seems to have no idea about what to do to solve the problem. They have tried sending many soldiers to the region, and they have also asked the local population to identify terrorists. However, nothing has worked, and there seems to be no answer forthcoming. All in all, for the reasons mentioned above, I consider the South of Thailand to be one of the most desperate regions in the world today.    

The news I read

There are several news websites that I read every day. The first is the "Sydney Morning Herald", which is the daily newspaper of Australia's biggest city. Although I was born in Sydney, I never lived there, so it may seem strange that I would read this newspaper instead of the "West Australian", my hometown daily newspaper. The reason I read the SMH is that it employs some very good journalists, and most newsworthy events that happen in Australia occur in Sydney. The next major publication that I read is the "Bangkok Post". The news in Thailand is always strange or dramatic, and sometimes reading this newspaper gives me the same thrill as reading an exciting book. Another good thing about the "Bangkok Post" is that it also employs some very good writers; Kong Rithdee, Sanitsuda Eckachai and Roger Crutchley are good examples. The last item on my daily reading roster is "The Guardian", which is published in England. "The Guardian" is an investigative newspaper and sometimes they report some really shocking things. To sum up, I begin each and every day by reading news from  around the world in three major publications.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Why can't politicians around the world show some accountability? In Thailand, it is the same old boring story. Today we have the Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Noparmonbodee refusing to quit and even threatening to sue an investigation into his supposed corrupt dealings. His boss has already resigned after being accused of engineering "irregularities" with billions of baht of public money, but Mr Manit has cleverly understood that the ruling Democrat party needs the support of the minor party to which he belongs, so he is not moving. I predict that this story, which has caused a huge fuss recently, will disappear within a week. We may even find out one day that Mr Manit has become PM, and no-one will remember his murky past. The Bangkok Post covers the story here.

In my native Australia, the papers have been full of stories about tragic road accidents. There have been five people killed in three separate road accidents, some of which have involved collisions between huge trucks and private cars. In response, there is tremendous public pressure for heavy freight haulage to be moved from road back to rail. Reading stories like this always reminds me how far away my own country is. Nearly every day I see ridiculously overloaded trucks being driven like F1 sports cars by drugged up truckies and I mentally wonder when it is that I will be squashed like a pancake. However, I have given up feeling outraged, and now drive as recklessly as everyone else here.

Finally, The Guardian newspaper in England is remarking on the bitterly cold weather in Europe. I wish we had some of that. It was 27 degrees when I went for my run at 5am this morning, and I must have sweated several liters by the time I finished. We definitely have not had a winter.