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Letters

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words.
The commentary, “Bangkok branches out: secret to Thai capital’s green revival” (August 8), resonated with me considerably.
As a regular visitor to the city, I have witnessed many of the changes. Benjakitti Forest Park is undoubtedly one of the city’s great successes. The transformation of industrial land into wetlands and woodlands has given Bangkok a new breathing space. The upgraded walkways, pocket parks and greener streets have also made the city noticeably more pleasant to explore on foot.
Bangkok has a strong culture of outdoor activities. The expansion of accessible green spaces seems to encourage even more people to reclaim public space for recreation. Every morning and evening, parks fill with runners, cyclists and aerobics groups.
However, Bangkok remains one of Southeast Asia’s most unequal cities. The contrast between luxury towers and informal settlements is highly visible. This raises the question of whether the benefits of greening are reaching all residents equally.
One concern is green gentrification. Major parks often increase nearby property values, attracting new investment while making neighbourhoods less affordable for lower-income residents. Benjakitti’s success may have environmental benefits, but it is reasonable to ask who gains from rising land values around Bangkok’s most desirable green spaces and whether that also limits access to some green spaces for vulnerable communities.
The creation of public parks comes with social costs. The eviction of the Pom Mahakan community to create a park is a reminder that green space can be created at the expense of multi-generational communities. Similar debates have surrounded the development of Pathumwananurak Park, where informal settlements overshadowed by swanky malls had to be removed before the park could open.
There are also questions about ecological benefits. Planting millions of trees sounds impressive, but the real success lies in quantifiable long-term survival rates, biodiversity outcomes and the protection of mature trees and habitats.
Nonetheless, Bangkok should be celebrated for improving public spaces so visibly in such a short period. I hope the newly re-elected Governor Chadchart Sittipunt will now focus on solving the environmental challenges deeply embedded in the city: for example, unpleasant smog emitted in traffic gridlock, urban sprawl and flooding problems that affect poorer peripheral communities more than affluent residents and tourists.
The true test of Bangkok’s green revival is whether the city can become not only greener but also fairer and healthier for everyone.
Ian Tan Yuk Hong, Sai Ying Pun
‘Designated schools’ remain a problem
Since my last submission on “designated schools” in Hong Kong, I have had the opportunity to take legislator Adrian Pedro Ho King-hong and his team to my secondary school, which is a former designated school.
Years ago, the Hong Kong government began providing special funding to schools it saw as experienced in caring for non-Chinese-speaking children. These designated schools were expected to create programmes for teaching Chinese as a second language and other support measures. The schools attracted children from minority communities around Hong Kong but ended up inadvertently separating these children from their Chinese peers.
I arranged a tour for Ho and his team to show them that while the government says it ended the designated school programme in 2013, these schools still take in a large number of ethnic minority children. This creates an environment that is not conducive to Cantonese learning because of, among other reasons, a lack of exposure to local Chinese students.
My suggestion is that legislation putting a percentage cap on the number of ethnic minority students in such schools would get rid of these designated schools once and for all, and this idea will be taken up for debate at the Legislative Council.
In fact, this idea is borrowed from Singapore. It does the same in its neighbourhoods so that ethnic enclaves do not form in one neighbourhood.
Let’s see if Hong Kong’s Education Bureau can finally correct the mistake it made in 2006. The thing that has made this whole issue so difficult to tackle is that most people don’t even know about this issue or these schools.
Ayudh Sharma, Sheung Wan


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Bangkok

A greener Bangkok must also be fairer

Downtown Bangkok in 2024. Photo: Shutterstock


Bangkok branches out: secret to Thai capital’s green revival

The Benjakitti Forest Park’s woodlands and wetlands serve as sponges to mitigate flooding. Photo: Donald Low


A pocket park under the BTS Skytrain’s Sukhumvit Line. Photo: Donald Low 

Upgraded pavements along a canal in the historic Hua Lamphong district. Photo: Donald Low 

People walk along a treetop bridge connecting the new Benjakitti Forest Park with the older Lumpini Park. Photo: Donald Low 

The Benjakitti Forest Park is Bangkok’s biggest park. Photo: Ronan O’Connell

Bites to bytes: Thai street food app feeds into hunger for authenticity

A street food vendor  sells fried vegetarian snacks to visitors in Bangkok’s Chinatown on April 29. Photo: AFP

A street food vendor fires up a wok in Bangkok’s Chinatown last year. Photo: Alexander Mak

A street food hawker waits for customers on a roadside pathway in Bangkok on May 12. Photo: EPA

People eat at the newly opened Lumphini Hawker Centre in Bangkok on April 30. Photo: AFP

Opinion

Readers discuss the revitalisation of Bangkok, and the legacy of ‘designated schools’ in Hong Kong


Readers discuss the revitalisation of Bangkok, and the legacy of ‘designated schools’ in Hong Kong.


Sustainability

Thailand

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Readers discuss the revitalisation of Bangkok, and the legacy of ‘designated schools’ in Hong Kong

Readers discuss the revitalisation of Bangkok, and the legacy of ‘designated schools’ in Hong Kong