OPINION

Another win-win

Re: "Protect rights of refugees", (Editorial, April 30).

Refugees from Mynanmar can be a win-win opportunity for Thailand if we have the vision to see it. We endanger winning the highly-prized UN Human Rights Council seat we want by falling short on our trumpeted vows to treat Myanmar refugees in line with humanitarian principles. For example, we're only able to accomodate 3,000 people in five temporary shelters -- but hundreds of thousands are headed our way.

Also, we're one of the world's fastest-ageing societies and face an acute skills crisis; for example, two-thirds of our youth and adults struggle to comprehend basic texts, making tasks like following medical instructions difficult.

Those fleeing being forced to kill their countrymen are precisely the ages, genders, and professions we need to kickstart our stagnant economy while Thais take subsidised programmes to improve their productivity. We should offer refugees acculturation workshops, rural jobs at market rates, and a merit-based path to citizenship, inducing them to help us grow in the long term.

Act now for a win-win outcome.

Covid treatise

Re: "PM urges vigilance after Covid-19 surge", (BP, April 27).

Thailand remains firmly rooted in the dark ages, characterised by ignorance and superstition. This is conspicuously evident in two statements from the article, "The DDC is advising people again to wear face masks when in public" and "among the 608 at-risk individuals during this time, three succumbed to the disease, 292 suffered from pneumonitis, and 101 needed intubation."

Thai treatment for Covid-19 disease has changed little since late 2020. Eschewing the low-cost generic drug ivermectin, which has been demonstrated to be a safe and effective anti-viral, the common practice is to allow patients to rest at home and wait until symptoms which reflect severe lung inflammation from a cytokine storm manifest.

Only then are patients intubated -- an intervention which has shown poor outcomes under these conditions. Early treatment with ivermectin and high dose vitamin D has proven to be far more effective than intubation during late-stage infection.

Considering face masks, the strategy has demonstrated zero effectiveness in preventing respiratory virus infections, whether from influenza or Covid. The evidence is clear, yet this humiliating practice which causes long-term health problems due to nasal infections, increased CO2 and lowered oxygen intake, and developmental retardation in children is still being recommended by the DDC.

It is worth noting that during early 2020 Thai doctors proudly (and unfortunately erroneously) announced they had cured Covid with anti-viral medications previously used to treat HIV. One must ask where that courage has gone in the face of the propaganda barrage from the WHO, CDC, and big pharma? Public health policy must not be politicised to the detriment of the public's health merely to allow the medical-pharma cartels to reap more obscene profits.

Hail, sex worker!

Re: "Legalise sex work", (PostBag, April 30).

Long recognised as the premier sex-tourism destination in the world (by all but Thai politicians, of course), Thailand should heed Burin Kantabutra's call to embrace the contribution of the sex industry to the kingdom's economy.

The world's oldest profession is alive and thriving in Thailand, both domestically and in the tourist fleshpots. I imagine that sex-for-money exchanges per day, transacted at every level of society, could easily top the million mark. It is a kind of institutional hypocrisy to keep in place laws that can arbitrarily be used to prosecute either the sex workers or their clients.

I understand that many Thais are uncomfortable discussing this topic, but like it or not, ordinary Thai girls have been selling sex in Bangkok, Pattaya and, latterly, Phuket to a succession of tourists starting with the GI's on R and R in the 60's, and continuing unabated, except for the pandemic, to the present day.

In that time, the nightlife that has developed around the sex industry has unquestionably sparked interest in Thailand as a major tourist destination for a much broader range of visitors. In the meantime, bar girls and go-go dancers have sent back to their villages billions of baht to support their own children and ageing parents.

In the absence of financial support such as child allowances and decent retirement pensions from successive governments, these "working girls", often single mothers, have been the breadwinners for their extended families.

They, and all sex workers, deserve equal rights and the recognition that they are an integral and undeniable thread in the fabric of Thai life.