My daughter in Australia, knowing my love of the English language, recently sent me a list of archaic and now almost forgotten words that are so delightfully expressive that I believe they should be revived.
To this end I offer the following comment on the current state of politics in Thailand.
Space in PostBag will not allow definitions here, so readers will have to Google the answers themselves.
"Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is increasingly intolerant of the grumbletonians demonstrating against his government. But his detractors have their point. They despise kakistocracy, and the grufeling snollygosters who perendinate time and again on dates for the return of democracy. They uhtceare about ministerial abligurition and their cacoethes, such as buying Chinese submarines and wearing Rolex watches in public. Anyway, enough of my twattling ultracrepidarianism".
Have a good day, Thailand.
David Brown
Issues trump politics
The editorial on Feb 22, "Protest is a citizen's right", said: "Politicians openly aligning with demonstrators risk being labelled as sponsors. This is bad for the politicians, but would end up as a tragedy for activists. Civil society at every level must work to stay independent from government and professional politicians..."
Now, according to the dictionary, democracy, which all Thais are aspiring to restore, is: "A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives."
There is an impression that the members of "civil society" (eligible voters) and "professional politicians" belong to two very separate categories which prevents them from joining in advocating for a political cause. The adjective "professional" ("professional politicians") implies that politicians belong to a class of their own, and that the political class's aims might not align with those of the common citizen.
In Britain, the members of the Ukip party openly and enthusiastically made common cause with the citizens that called for the country's exit from the EU. Nigel Farage and the Ukip MPs risked losing the support of a large segment of the electorate, but, for them, taking a clear stand on an issue was more important than hanging on to the career of "professional politician".
Edward Zile
Graft boosters
Re: "State of resignation", (PostBag, Feb 22).
It was good to hear the opinion of MBW with his suggestion, which incidentally concurs with that of my 26-year-old son, that Thais have resigned themselves to corruption, and are not in denial. If this is truly the case is it because the majority of Thais, good, honest and anti-corrupt, have been unable to get their desires known in a parliament that doesn't respond to the citizens or is it because they remain a minority? Could it be that parliament in its various forms is the problem and not the solution? If MBW is correct then some influential body somewhere in this country is perpetuating corruption for their own benefit and going against the citizens' wishes. It would be nice to know who.
Lungstib
Looking for clues
Soonruth Bunyamanee, in his Feb 22 article stating "Happy uni students still need to lift grades", repeats the common wisdom that Thailand's unemployment rate is low because those without formal jobs will work in the informal sector and agriculture.
That helps explain why the rate is lower here than in the US or Europe but it does not explain why it is considerably lower than in India, the Philippines and many other countries that also have a large informal sector and many family-owned farms. These countries use the same one-hour-per-week indicator.
Paul Vandenberg
Friends with agendas
A quote from a story recently published in the Nikkei Asian Review, "There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country," American statesman John Adams (US president from 1797 to 1801) famously said. "One is by the sword. The other is by debt."
China needs no more Tibets. It is using debt to conquer and take over. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should remember that as he signs more and more deals with China. There is an old proverb, "You know who your enemies are. Be careful of your friends". Take heed Gen Prayut, scrutinise your friends very carefully.
Lobzig
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