AS IF THE TRAFFIC ISN'T BAD ENOUGH ....
.. there's news from Reuters that a bill may be introduced to encourage motorists to stop their vehicles and observe the twice-daily playing of the Thai national anthem.
Thailand is the most patriotic country in the world and every day at 8am and 6pm you'll see people in many public places stop whatever they are doing whilst the anthem is being played.
The new law, if passed, will not fine anyone that refuses to stop so it will be entirely up to the driver if he or she wants to stop. Although traffic never moves fast at those times of the day it's going to be a complete lottery predicting whether the car/lorry/bus/taxi/tuk-tuk/mobile coffee shop in front is going to stop.
The story quotes retired General and NLA member Pricha Rochanasena, 70, as saying "The national anthem lasts only one minute and eight seconds, so why can't motorists stop their cars for the sake of the country? They already spend more time in traffic jams anyway," he added, referring to Bangkok's notoriously congested streets.
1 comments:
Yeah I've heard. There's one method that can kill a voluntarily culturally cute gesture like standing still at BTS at 6pm is to make it a law. People do this out because they want to, NOT because they're forced to. And seriously, stopping the car and come out saluting a song no one can sing properly (seriously no one really sings it correctly. The first word is "Prathed Thai" but people keep singing "Prathed Prathai") is just plain silly. I'm all for standing up before movies and on BTS but only when we're NOT forced to.
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