Giles Ji Ungpakorn
Thailand’s military junta has done nothing over the last year to try to solve the terrible air pollution in Bangkok and other areas of the country. The self-infatuated generals and their civilian flunkeys are not fit to rule. They care nothing about protecting the health of the public. Never the less, they stay in power maintained by a parliament “elected” in sham elections which guaranteed a majority for Prayut’s dictatorship.
The Air Quality Index for PM2.5 particles in Bangkok has been above 100 for most of January. AQI Levels above 100 are a danger to health.
Pollution particles with a diameter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) are the cause of respiratory and other diseases and can have serious consequences for people exposed to these particles, especially young children. The risk factor to humans of breathing PM2.5 is higher than for smoking tobacco.
This time last year, I wrote in this blog that scientists and public health experts were very concerned about the levels of PM2.5. [See https://bit.ly/2RBfCMC ] Yet during the last 12 months nothing has changed.
The general public are reduced to wearing masks which are often sub-standard and cannot be regarded as a real solution. Some teaching staff are reduced to buying air filtering machines to try to reduce pollution inside class rooms. But this health crisis requires a robust centralised policy from the government.
The use of diesel engines causes about 26% of PM2.5 pollution in Bangkok and another 25% comes from burning organic matter, especially sugar cane. The burning of sugar cane makes the harvesting of the crop cheaper, at the expense of public health. Factories and coal-fired power stations and construction work add to the amount of dangerous particles in the air. Motorcycles, mainly used by the poor, are also a source of pollution.
Last year I wrote that an important solution to this crisis is to promote the use of cheap and good quality public transport. Free public transport and the use of electric railways and electric buses would not only drastically reduce air pollution, but it would help solve traffic congestion and cut carbon emissions which cause global warming.
This would require a drastic change in government policy, which in the past has promoted private vehicle transport and ignored the need for state-sponsored mass-transit systems, all in the interests of business and the free market. It would mean raising taxes on big corporations, the rich and the Palace and it would require cutting military spending. The money raised could be invested in public transport and generating renewable energy instead of using coal and oil.
The junta has no serious transport or energy policy along these lines. Instead, it has continued to turn a blind eye to the burning of sugar cane and even scrapped some controls on polluting factories in order to favour business interests. Generalissimo Prayut has spouted reactionary comments about limiting the use of private cars, with the emphasis on older cars used by poorer people. Without good quality free public transport it would be very difficult to reduce the number of private vehicles.
In addition to the pollution crisis there is also the threat of the spread of the Wuhan Novel Corona virus from China. So far the government has not announced adequate and coordinated plans to tackle a possible health emergency resulting from the Corona virus and face masks are in short supply.
Both the air quality crisis and the threat of Corona virus infection show that Prayut’s parliamentary dictatorship is more interested in maintaining the power of the military in society and placating business interests. This is yet another example of the incompetence of a military government and the way that free market policies cannot meet the needs of ordinary people.
Uglytruth-Thailand 