A couple of days ago we posted on how the governor of Chiang Mai preferred to focus on some artwork bringing attention to the city’s deteriorated air quality rather than on the problem of dangerous levels of pollution. In royalist Thailand, he was getting his priorities straight. Obviously long dead royals matter more than the health of more than 100,000 living residents.
The Nation reports that the air quality in Chiang Mai is so bad that Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Medicine has “handed out a more protective type of face mask, the N95 [respirator], to help its staff cope with serious air pollution.”
The faculty’s dean, Professor Bannakij Lojanapiwat, said: “Air pollution now is at its worst in three decades…”. He added:
“We are unable to control air quality in our town. But at the very least, we should learn to protect ourselves as best we can,” he said. “If you wear a normal mask, it can’t block out very small particles. You now should go for the N95 if you go outdoors”.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reports that the Governor Pavin Chamniprasart’s royalist explosion has caused the “editor of Citylife Chiang Mai has apologised to the provincial governor after he threatened her with criminal charges for posting on Facebook a student’s painting of ancient kings wearing pollution masks.” [They look like the right kind of mask too.]
Pavin’s claims that the image was “a blasphemous act, disrespectful, and affects the hearts of the people of Chiang Mai,” well, his heart anyway.
One of the governor’s dubious “successes” was that an “anti-pollution rally … planned for last Friday” has been cancelled.
Rest easy Governor Pavin while your subjects are poisoned.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 