OPINION

A safe place to hide

Re: "Police swoop on Japanese 'face-off' stock suspect", BP, July 30.

A number of questions arose in my mind as I read the report.

If the suspect used bank accounts and a mobile phone registered to Thais, how did he get these? Does he have accomplices, and if so, will they also face arrest? What sort of visa did he have?

If he has been in Thailand since 2005, even if he had a retirement visa and never left the country, he would have had to renew the visa over 10 times (once a year). Presumably he was using the same passport the whole time.

Why did it take authorities more than 10 years to notice a discrepancy between his photo and his appearance? And why did immigration only check on him because of the discrepancy? Shouldn't they be checking everyone regardless?

Moreover, the article said a Japanese court issued a warrant for his arrest in 2007. Did they notify Thai authorities at that time? The chief of the Immigration Bureau says his office received an alert last week. Was that the first alert they received?

This is one of those articles that raises more questions than it answers. I hope answers to these questions can be found in follow-up stories in the Bangkok Post. They might shed some light on why there are so many international criminals hiding out in Thailand. They must feel it is a safe place to hide.

I urge readers to google "Muslims around the world speak out against terrorist attack in Paris". Then they'll see that some Postbag writers who claimed that Muslims refuse to condemn terrorism are wrong.

The possible reason for these writers to do so is that they hate Muslims, not terrorism. Ironically, Islamic State, with it's hatred and bigotry, has much more in common with these writers than it does with any Muslim I've ever known in my life.

It would seem face saving and self-empowerment are common throughout SE Asia. Often the offended, shamed party will retaliate with a lawsuit, or let it pass as the "offender" may lose face.

Teachers writing on a student's shorts recently is one example. Sending a student home because his fingernails do not meet the teacher's standards of correctness is another.

My own son, like myself, is a slow reader. But he is a deep thinker. Due to this trait, he was abused in front of his class. His teacher ordered the class not to play or eat with him, just to isolate him and deny him any education or social interaction.

So, I would fault the teacher for her shaming punishment.

My son has become withdrawn, isolated, afraid, and feigns sickness to avoid school. His prior skills in English have been suppressed and damaged.

I doubt the authorities will stop or prevent such acts.

At the rear of the condominium where I live in central Bangkok there is a run-down seven-storey residential complex with a disused swimming pool atop. Besides being unsightly, we are concerned the pool could become (or is already) a breeding ground for mosquito borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever, not forgetting Zika.

I only hope health authorities in our city read Postbag and make contact with the editor who has my contact details. This is a disaster just waiting to happen!

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