Re: "Transform conscription to national service", (Opinion, Sept 30).
John Draper and Siwach Sripokangul's column really struck a chord with me.
Over the past 10 years I have helped support a Thai family, including putting the youngest son through high school then supporting him for four years while he completed a university degree in Bangkok.
He graduated with a major in Chinese and immediately landed a job with a prestigious boutique business hotel because he not only speaks Chinese, but Thai (obviously), English, Cambodian and some Lao.
Early this year he was unlucky enough to pull the red marble in the conscription lottery and is now languishing in a military base where he is assigned to the unit's orderly room, a menial, almost mindless position where for most of the day he has nothing to do. He is bored almost witless and it is all I can do to tell him to hang in there and wait until he has served his time and is discharged.
What a total waste of a good brain and a normally willing worker, and as your writers point out, there is no guarantee he will be reemployed by the hotel, which has already recruited someone else.
David Brown
Rayong
Asylum conundrum
Re: "Yingluck deserves her penalty", (PostBag, Oct 1).
I don't expect Martin R really expects British Prime Minister Theresa May to read his letter urging her to reject any application for political asylum from Yingluck Shinawatra, but the folks at the British Embassy in Bangkok will, I am sure, have provided a full briefing on all aspects of Yingluck's trial and conviction to the Home Secretary, the minister in the British government responsible for deciding on such applications.
Martin R states Yingluck was convicted for committing crimes and grossly abusing her power whilst in office. No, she wasn't. She was convicted on one charge only: dereliction of duty in not dealing more effectively with allegations of corruption relating specifically to the "government to government" deal within her government's rice-pledging scheme. The judges found nothing wrong with the rice scheme itself.
It is a coincidence that Martin R's letter should be published on the same day as an opinion article ("Hypocrisy of double standards") which makes some interesting points about the apparently different way Yingluck may have been treated compared to other prominent politicians regarding unseemly activities in areas over which they had responsibility.
Would that affect any decision on granting political asylum to Yingluck? We will just have to wait and see.
Robin Grant
Our Yingluck-y day
Re: "In support of Yingluck", (PostBag, Oct 2).
Like Tony Ash, I and many others were delighted to learn of the untimely departure of Yingluck Shinawatra and care little how she got away or where is she now.
I agree that Yingluck's bail-jumping has created a political vacuum that can reduce the divisiveness in our society. One could speculate that the party, which can justifiably claim to have improved healthcare for the poor, will become leaderless and open to competition among key members.
But the contest is unlikely to include any members who are related to the Shinawatra family -- as all the credible contenders are now unavailable. Moreover, the cruel fate that has befallen Yingluck would hardly encourage any of her relations to seek power in order to bring her and her older brother Thaksin back home.
Songdej Pradaitsamont
Thai mafia to blame
Re: "Prawit orders mafia crackdown at tourist spots", (BP, Oct 2).
In the above article stating operations began in Pattaya with the Immigration Bureau playing an important role, the implication is that most of Pattaya's woes are, of course, caused by foreigners. The fact is that local mafia gangs are the root of the problem.
The notorious jet-ski scams, marauding ladyboys, local taxis, overpricing and police scams have nothing to do with foreigners. The sooner the authorities admit this, the sooner the problems will be solved.
Martin R
Contact: Bangkok Post Building
136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110
fax: +02 6164000 Email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th
all Letter Writers Must Provide Full Name And Address.
all Published Correspondence Is Subject To Editing At Our Discretion.
