Re: "FFP makes waves for better and worse", (Opinion, April 1).
Whilst professing otherwise, Veera Prateepchaikul nonetheless seemingly fails to understand that better educated, more thoughtful young Thais today understand very well that it is the bad old ways of bad old people who have brought Thai society, politics and morals to the dire state that they have been in for decades. It is all very well to complain about the young not respecting the old as tradition dictates, but that something is dictated by hoary tradition does not and cannot make any tradition good enough to deserve respect. Respect must be constantly earned.
The youth of Thailand see better, both factually and morally, than the old. The youth are right to look to long overdue reform of bad ways, whatever might once have been uncritically accepted by many. Nor is Veera right to equate stating a different opinion, even an offensive one, with disrespect. I might disagree with my aged mother about whether she should continue living at home alone or move into assisted living, but this is not because I don't respect her. On the contrary, to let her continue holding bad beliefs that lead to bad decisions is the true failure to show respect.
But does Veera even have any good evidence to support his claim that an idea he attributes to Future Forward Party's secretary-general "is both unacceptable and deplorable to many Thais"? He certainly failed to cite the relevant statistics needed to back up such an assertion.
Others might as reasonably assert the exact opposite, and in the absence of actual evidence that tells us the percentages, both claims are equally well-informed, which is to say equally uninformed.
As a competent, professional journalist of many years, Veera certainly knows that if you make bold claims about what a population thinks, those claims need to be backed up by citing the relevant polls of public opinion.
Felix Qui
Crooked politicians
Re: "Political 'cobras' are poisoning our democracy", (Opinion, April 1).
There was reason for Sir Bernard Shaw to say that "Politics is the last resort of scoundrels". In Thailand, politics is also far removed from the teachings of Lord Buddha, who asked his followers to reduce the suffering of others through service and sacrifice. Very few Thais join politics to represent the people and alleviate their condition.
For most of its history, the Thai political swamp has been infested with crooks and cobras. In the eyes of the world, Thai politics has turned into a dirty business where the elite, the army and politicians take their turn to thrive. Soon after being elected, almost all of them get caught in the vicious circle of "power-influence-survival-revival-power".
Young people in every society are its hope for a better future. There are many countries in Asean with a similar history where zeal, inertia and the participation of young people have been suppressed or ignored. Instead of threatening them, the young leaders must be treated as stakeholders in nation building.
The fate of a nation should not be held hostage to the crooked intentions of elders who want to hold on to power at the expense of the next generation.
KULDEEP NAGI
Airport doldrums
Re: "Around Asia", (Asia Focus, April 1).
In one of the least surprising news items of the year, the transport research firm Skytrax named Singapore's Changi airport as the best in the world (for the seventh straight year). Equally unsurprisingly, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport was nowhere to be found on the list of best airports.
Asian airports captured six of the top 10 spots in the annual global best-airport listing. Why is it that those responsible for managing Suvarnabhumi seem incapable of elevating the country's main gateway to the ranks of the world's top airports? If Thailand wants to maintain it's position as a leading tourist destination, it needs to give far greater attention to this key aspect of visitor impressions of the country.
Samanea Saman
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