US envoy Daniel Russel should be far more concerned about judicial standards in the USA.
The US justice system is fatally flawed and corrupted by big law firms. Read any of the latest John Grisham books to see why. Grisham says the US courts are places where winning is everything. The truth and justice get lost.
I hope someone on the Thai side reminded the US envoy about what is going on in Saudi Arabia, a country recently festooned with world leaders, where justice and human rights are hard to find.
As for the "the rice money wasn’t lost" letter from Andreas Kertscher, from the USA, I am still in awe of his humour. Perhaps he is Robert Amsterdam in disguise.
Whatever he is taking I want some of it and a pair of his rose-coloured glasses would top off the fantasy.
The real hard fact is that rural poverty in rice-growing areas increased during the rice scam and the only ones that seemed to have benefited were the well-connected and the loan sharks.
KMAC
Fishing for votes
Andreas Kertscher said the "rice money wasn’t lost" (PostBag, Jan 26) since the money ended up in the economy anyhow, and perhaps even returned a profit.
This is known in economics as the broken window fallacy – a window is broken, money is spent on fixing it, so everyone seemingly ends up better off. A job is created, work is completed, and money is spent.
Alas, this is simplistic thinking; the money spent on fixing a broken window or on rice purchased deprives the economy of useful spending that could have generated better returns – new schools, better healthcare, investment in competitive industry, reduced taxes. It is the cost of what could have been.
Offering a stimulus or subsidy support for the rural poor was never the debate (since the majority of rural poor do not grow rice). It was simply "pork barrel politics" to win votes, with most of the money ending up in the pockets of a few individuals and companies, not the country, nor the general public and certainly not the rural poor.
While pork and rice make a delicious Thai dish, the funding came from the taxpayers of Thailand, not the politicians presenting the scheme. When mismanagement and corruption became increasingly clear, damaging a major export industry, the government chose not to fix it, but to deny the losses or problems. Knowing the value of the rice sold, balanced against the money spent on buying and financing it while deducting theft and wastage could have given them an easy calculation of the loss. This basic information was concealed for as long as possible, which is what makes this loss particularly unpalatable.
Van Nostrin
Prayut knows better
Re: "PM rebuffs US martial law barbs", (BP, Jan 28). I support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in his dignified reaction to comments by US envoy Daniel Russel about the May 22 coup and martial law in Thailand. His comments showed he lacked understanding of the real situation in Thailand — both before and after the coup.
What happened here prior to the coup was chaos and mayhem, not democracy. Corruption and the killings of civilians were rampant and unrestrained. That is why the coup happened.
As a long-time friend of Thailand, the US should have studied the situation carefully before jumping to conclusions. As a supposedly cordial ally of Thailand, the US should not poke its nose where it doesn’t belong.
Vint Chavala
US should wise up
Once again the US sends someone who is ignorant of the past and present political situation. I’m sure he received a candid update from the impeached ex-PM. Maybe he should stop by Dubai and talk to another ex-PM. When will the US wise up, and and do some research before they send a representative who knows absolutely nothing?
BJ from Ubon
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.