In a country often said to have dual prices there is nowhere with such a great difference as in the theatre of political protest and the price to be paid for making your statement. Ms Nuttaa Mahattana, Pai Dao Din, and others have all come under extreme pressure, had visits from soldiers, spent time in detention and found their futures threatened. Some would say that's the price they must pay for their dissent.
But how does that square with the "punishment" of other notorious protesters who were involved in serious government shut downs but appear to have benefited from their dissent. Former MP Buddhipongse Punnakanta has recently been appointed as the prime minister's deputy secretary-general despite still awaiting charges on sedition. Likewise Sakoltee Phattiyakul was awarded the position of deputy governor of Bangkok back in April although still facing charges of protest violence. And then there is Suthep Thaugsuban, apparently suffering no great loss in his reputation despite past performances.
So I left asking, is protesting a crime or is it a credential? Why is there such a difference between the treatment of these individuals especially when some have been far more peaceful than others. Is this fair?
Lungstib
Cops out of bounds
In your Sept 13 editorial, you note that the Thai police cancelled a forum about the atrocities committed against the Rohingya. Where did the police get the legal authority to do that? While I realise democracy in Thailand is a joke, just for appearances sake shouldn't the police have gotten a court order?
But with the military and the police being the judge and jury for everything the concept of due process of law in Thailand is now a fiction.
Eric Bahrt
Thai torture
The UN has placed Thailand on a list of 38 nations that torture, kill and otherwise intimidate human rights activists (BP, Sept 14).
Coincidentally, and seemingly confirming the UN listing, the continuing detention without bail of a female motorcycle taxi driver for selling T-shirts with a simple logo on them also made the news. She is charged with sedition. Of course in this case it might have made a mockery of the rule of law, since there is no law against selling T-shirts of this particular design. Then again perhaps Thailand was about to be the first nation to undergo a coup by T-shirt and we should therefore offer thanks to the ever vigilant General Rolex for preventing a catastrophe.
Mr M
Praise be to Prayut
General Prayut Chan-o-cha has been doing his best in keeping the people of Thailand abreast of what his government has been doing (and is being done) to advance the well-being of Thailand. Every Friday evening. PS I am happy, too, that there are subtitles.
And, I am impressed, too, with the quality of the many new initiatives. These show that he has excellent advisers in areas such as agriculture, energy, environmental protection, and so on.
What I am wondering is why this government is not doing more to help people to become aware of the many wide-ranging projects that are now underway or soon to be under way -- and to be rightly proud of how this government is moving the nation forward.
Dictatorship? Maybe one could use such a word. But, it could be argued that the reason the country is moving ahead is precisely because it is a one-party government. It is not embroiled in partisan politics as we see all too clearly in, for example, the US and in the UK.
Happy to be Living in Thailand!
Moaning millennials
Re: "Asian millennials prefer e-payment convenience", (BP, Sept 13).
"Time-pressed youngsters" expect a seamless omni-channel experience? Stores are no longer good enough unless they have "contactless payment" systems, Apple Pay, or self-service (vending machines) that require smartphones, but disallow cash? A world of direct-deposit and seamlessly integrated apps right down to the last 10-baht bag of chips?
The report stated that "Asia-Pacific is leading the race in encouraging its population to become a completely cashless society", but isn't it a shame that today's Asean youth are living in such a state of irreligious high-tech addiction that their "conveniences" have grown to outweigh their appreciation for the very liberties of the open-market capitalist system that themselves brought these so-called "conveniences" into their lives?
Private property rights, fully autonomous savings abilities, wholesale consumer choice, as well as the autonomous use and reception of consumer-driven capital stood as the levers that powered the digital and industrial revolutions themselves. Yet, a "cashless society" will not only strip all of those innovators away, but it will entrench a new, ruling class of so-called "merchants and geniuses" who will inevitably skim sky-high fees off of every last one of those monopoly-enforced transactions; a monopoly that would only be a matter of when, not if.
In a truly cashless society, bricks-and-mortar entrepreneurialism will crumble, socialism and communism will set into countries whose histories do not support such systems of living, and society will eventually be left to wonder if the term "cashless" actually referred to an entirely different kind of currency than that of outright money -- those would be the currencies of personal liberty and self-driven pride themselves.
Jason A Jellison
Deadly school rules
Re: "Girl, 6, dies in mum's arms after stomachache at school", (BP, Sept 11).
I never heard of any rule that the parent's permission is necessary if a school needs to take severely sick kids to hospital in case of emergency. What would be the consequence if the school sent the girl to the hospital without seeking permission from her parents first? Why did this poor mother have to take her daughter to hospital by taxi? Did anyone bar her from calling an ambulance?
RH Suga
Ventriloquist's puppet
Re: "Suu Kyi defends court decision to jail Reuters reporters", (BP, Sept 14).
She is just a junta mouthpiece, nothing more, nothing less. I wonder if she ever listened to Frank Sinatra singing, "The lady is a tramp".
General Golani
Koh Tao 'safe haven'
Dick and Jane who wrote the Sept 12 letter, "Island of Denial", and Brian Corrigan in his "Special Koh Tao status" letter the following day missed the point. Without any counter facts or statistics, they both come across as quite poorly written.
I think only Dick and Jane are in denial. At no point is "Koh Tao trying to mend itself" mentioned in my letter. Read the paragraph about the Thai authorities that have all had a major increased presence since 2015. One would think the huge increase in various police and army here would be addressing "rooting out the problem". Your letter is vague and it is the readers that are left laughing (or scratching their heads) rather at you than at anything else.
Mr Corrigan tells a story like he knows it's true. Have you been to Koh Tao lately, Mr Corrigan? Complete and utter fantasy to think the Thai government just left the island alone to police and manage itself. Same paragraph I mentioned above in my previous letter. There is almost a point of over regulation on the island as all the various government organisations are making their mark. Daily road checkpoints, businesses checked regularly, military police walking the beaches at night time, for example.
Perhaps some readers would be well advised to actually come and spend a few days on Koh Tao so they know what they are talking about, instead of making vague and generalised assertions that are false.
I am in no way defending the RTP, army or any other government organisation on how they investigate crimes or pursue justice. I feel the same as 99% of readers in this regard. But again, the point is: Thailand at large is your issue, and certainly the places where many of the letter writers are likely located are far more dangerous than Koh Tao.
Readers may be happy to know that there are plenty of tourists here on the island, with most hearing only of the island's reputation as a dive Mecca and one of the most relaxed and fun islands in the kingdom; or have heard the "Death Island" claims but recognise propaganda when they hear it. Everyone I've talked to said they felt safer on here than anywhere else in Thailand.
Timsahb
Islanders don't rule
Re: " 'Special' Koh Tao status", (PostBag, Sept 13).
Brian Corrigan was correct in saying that Koh Tao has a special status but there is no evidence for his assertion that a king gave incoming immigrants special privileges and allowed them to rule the island as they saw fit with their own form of justice. The island, which had already been proclaimed state land under absolute monarchy in common with land in many other parts of the country, was used to house a prison in 1933 by the constitutional government to house political prisoners following the Boworadet rebellion.
In 1947 the prison was closed down but the island has remained state land, which can never be transferred to private ownership, ever since. All the land on Koh Tao is classified as either forest conservation land or Por Bor Tor 5 land, none of which can be upgraded to become any form of title deed. The Por Bor Tor 5 land can be used for agriculture and fisheries and temporary shelters may be erected on it for these purposes. This land is under the administration of the Interior Ministry which delegates its authority to village headmen and local administrations who collect peppercorn rents for it, oversee the transfer of land use rights and are supposed to ensure the land is only being used for agriculture and fisheries.
This system was introduced long after the end of absolute monarchy and it is the Interior Ministry that is responsible for allowing the use of land reserved for agriculture and fisheries for the development of a tourism industry without direct benefit to the state which is the land owner. It is also the Interior Ministry that has allowed the devolution of its authority to manage the island's land to village headmen and local administrations without oversight, which has in turn made them so powerful.
George Morgan
Load of garbage
As I drove into Prachin Buri's Muang district yesterday morning, I saw the flooding in many side streets, and was amazed to notice the storm drains so full of garbage and whatever else that stuffed them up, so there was no drainage.
A few years ago an extensive and expensive project was undertaken to dig up the one of the main streets, insert drain pipes, cover the intakes with iron grates, but, after the first major rain, these drains were ineffective.
So it goes, like everything else, a waste of money. It's always build, build, build, spend, spend, spend, but when it comes to maintenance, the attitude is, "duh, maintenance? What's that"?
Yankeleh
Strays need homes
For about 14 years, the Bangkok Post has been a good Samaritan, helping out Khun Tharinee Wipuchanin, founder of Pic-A-Pet4Home shelter in Bangkok. Pick a Pet-4-Home has been a mainstay until the discontinuance of Brunch magazine.
Surely the paper's management can somehow find a place for the insertion of this invaluable advertisement to help strays who are in desperate need of homes? We tend to measure everything in terms of saving money, cutting back here and there, and we tend to forget the principles of compassion toward both humans and animals in the process.
Jack Gilead
Cherry-picking causes
Re: "Tiny steps for LGBTI rights", (Editorial, Sept 12).
As a foreigner in a same-sex marriage with a Thai citizen and living in Thailand, I would certainly welcome any meaningful step toward the legalisation and recognition of same-sex marriage in Thailand, or of a civil partnership with similar rights, whether this comes from an unaccountable assembly or not.
I find it hypocritical that the LGBTI community postures loudly over the process of establishing future rights, condemns the recent sentencing of a lesbian couple in Malaysia, and continues to remain silent over the plight of its members in the Muslim south of Thailand. I suppose that, for the young girls subject to genital mutilation there, better luck in their next life?
Baffled Reader
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