OPINION

Legalise sex work

Re: "US carrier docks in Chon Buri for 'community service", (BP, April 24).

Thais are gladly welcoming the 5,400 personnel of the USS Theodore Roosevelt now visiting Chon Buri -- including thousands of sex workers in the shadows.

We should join Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Turkey and Nevada in legalising prostitution to benefit and regulate sex workers. For example, we could ensure that all were voluntarily in the industry, of legal age, received medical tests and care, and had clean working conditions. Amsterdam's prostitution windows have become a major tourist attraction, to the point where the sex workers themselves opposed being relocated -- much as Bangkok's Soi Cowboy is known for its nightlife.

Legalise the oldest profession.

Digitisation, right!

Re: "Digital wallet 'super app' to link with bank apps", (BP, April 17).

Riddle me this, Joker! Recently, we have, again, been inundated with talk of government digitisation. So, here's the issue.

I can go to the small street vendor downstairs who sells what I call stick food. Numerous fish, sausage, tofu and chicken on a stick and deep fried. The cost is 10 baht/stick. Now I can pay with a QR code by scanning with my phone. I can also do this at the fried chicken vendor and the local massage shop.

So, why, when I go to the massive Bldg "B" at the Chaeng Watthana Government Complex, do I have to carry cash for every transaction as no digital payment is accepted? The same goes for licence renewal at Land Transport. I do get to walk past numerous empty cubicles stacked to the rafters with reams of photocopied forms and provide the same copies and hand-drawn maps I have been providing for over a decade.

And these people expect us to believe that they will develop a "Super App" to keep track of 500 billion baht and 50 million people making multiple transactions throughout the entire kingdom.

Can't wait to see how that one goes, if it ever goes at all!

Let's see the data

Re: "Re: "Dubai floods expose weaknesses to a rapidly changing climate", (BP, April 20).

There is so much opinion on the subject of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its effect on the weather, but what we really need is scientific information from scientists who will put their names to their reports.

It would allay so many fears were we to see scientific reports from qualified scientists.

With respect, such articles, including the one mentioned, are confusing and very upsetting to many people. What does this statement mean? Where is the scientific evidence for "a rapidly changing climate", and what is the scientific link between climate and the Dubai floods? We need scientists to explain this to us.

Could the Bangkok Post publish scientific data and evidence rather than articles like the aforementioned to put people's minds at rest?

Real names, please

I thought letter writers were required to sign their letters with their real names. In Sunday's Postbag, three of six letters have fake names. Are the writers afraid to put their own names with their opinion letters?