OPINION

Accountability matters

Re: "Army abuse still with us", (Editorial, June 22).

As a concerned citizen, it both saddens and maddens me to read about the social challenges pointed out in your incisive editorials.

The crux of the problem is the total lack of accountability. Thai society is well known for its compromising nature as encapsulated by the ubiquitous phrase "mai pen rai". However, there are certain principles that should never be compromised, an important one being justice.

Unless the bigwigs are held accountable for actions taken under their watch, nothing will change. History has shown this to be true numerous times: if Thanom Kittikachorn or Suchinda Kraprayoon had been held accountable, would our attempts at self-government be continually ripped from us before they had a chance to bloom into a full-fledged democracy?

Battle for electric cars

Re: "FTI urges auto parts producers to diversify", (Business, June 18).

In my lifetime, I have owned many internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. However, for the past three years, as an early adopter of EVs in Thailand, I have been driving an electric vehicle.

With this EV experience, I will not buy an ICE-powered car again. EVs are less expensive to buy for the same drive quality, cheaper to operate, require little to no maintenance and allow me to contribute to a greener world.

ICE vehicles have dominated our lives and the world for the last century.

However, they have also created an environment that is toxic to our well-being and their continued usage is unsustainable. Fortunately, EVs have been invented, and Thai policymakers have had the foresight to nudge Thailand towards this transformative technology.

Despite this progress, not everyone is on board with EVs, especially major automobile manufacturers. Recently, Toyota, Mazda and Subaru announced they are forming a consortium to reinvent the ICE.

The difference this time is that the well-understood limitations of ICEs are being ignored. ICE limitation factors such as thermodynamic Carnot limitations, waster heat and friction losses, incomplete combustion and the draw from auxiliary systems have been extensively studied.

Despite a century of improvements by the best engineers in the world, the maximum efficiency a gasoline engine can achieve is around 30%.

In contrast, electric motors are 85–90% efficient for the same amount of energy. Furthermore, an ICE using fuel other than hydrogen -- which presents its own storage and refuelling problems for cars -- will still be toxic to our well-being.

This latest Toyota-led consortium announcement reminds me of the final scene in The Last Samurai, where brave samurais, armed with bows and arrows and the best katanas of their time, laid down their lives and charged against guns and cannons.

Tax plan is flawed

Re: "The final straw", (PostBag, June 22).

First, one is grateful to Bangkok Post for publishing Michel Barre's long lamented letter and nice to know of love in a classroom. Secondly, thank you, Michel, for the reflection and for living in Thailand for 35 years, despite now having to say goodbye because of the Revenue Department's proposal to tax world income.

The first hurdle for the proposal is having to pass the plan as law through the approval of the cabinet and subsequently parliament.

Among those elite members, one can assume that many must have plenty of investments outside Thailand.

Even if the plan becomes law, the Treaty of Avoidance of Double Taxation between Canada and Thailand, as the name implies, would give partial or full relief of taxation.

Under the principle of taxation, no income should be taxed twice. If you and your spouse are already subject to tax of 35% in Canada, then that 35% tax could be set against any tax one has to pay in Thailand. One can get assurance from any leading tax adviser in town.

Time for journalism

Re: "New overseas income rules proposed", (Business, June 5).

There has been much hue and cry in Postbag about new taxation rules for worldwide income on expats, but precious little clear information.

I suggest the Bangkok Post do some investigative research and (1) write an article for readers explaining the situation in clear detail, and (2) write an opinion piece that might be seen by the government.