OPINION

High price for justice

I agree with the Sept 23 editorial, "Bail must not just be for the rich", and that the Justice Ministry's pilot programme to empower judges to extend bail without monetary surety should be expanded system-wide.

But much remains to be done for the underprivileged besides broadening bail. For example, all interrogations should be recorded, to encourage police compliance with the Criminal Code requiring that suspects be notified of their Miranda counterpart rights before any information, including confessions, is made court-admissible.

Pro bono legal aid must be offered to all defendants, such as by final-year law students working under the supervision of their professors. If a defendant is subsequently found innocent, the state could pay him the minimum wage to relieve his financial pressure while awaiting trial.

Most of those incarcerated are in jail for drug-related crimes. We should learn from Portugal and consider decriminalising owning some drugs for personal use, and treat addicts as sick people, to be cured. I understand the previous minister of justice held a similar view, and think his project should be continued.

Let's bring justice to the poor at last.

Aung Maung in his Sept 23 letter is correct to point out that, in colonial times, we British brought in large numbers of people from Bengal to resolve an acute shortage of labour in what was then known as Arakan state.

Similar migrations were brought about in other former colonies, leading to ethnic tensions following independence. However, after Myanmar's independence in 1948, the Rohingya were given official recognition as an ethnic minority group, and for several years thereafter Rohingya representatives were elected to the Myanmar parliament. Sadly, this tolerant attitude has not survived, as is clear from some of Aung Maung's derogatory comments.

He refers to the Rohingya as "illegal Bengalis" which reduced them to that parlous condition in 1982, when their official status was removed by the Myanmar military after its brutal seizure of power. Since then, the Rohingya have suffered from discrimination and persecution, and constant infringements of their basic human rights. These are indisputable, documented facts, not fantasies dreamt up by a supposedly gullible international media and human rights organisations.

However, I do believe the opprobrium now heaped upon Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to do more to alleviate the plight of the Rohingya is excessive, and to some extent unfair. She is damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't. The military still rule the roost in Myanmar, and she is powerless to do anything to resolve what is a clear case of ethnic cleansing.

I cannot bear the "pack up, go home" talk any more (PostBag, Sept 24). What should the young Thai woman do who found the Bangkok public transport system "sucks"? Should she go home to her home province? Or what should she do if she was born in Bangkok? Where should she pack up and go then?

I would say everyone should speak up if he feels that something in the community in which he is living is wrong or could be improved. It does not matter where he originally came from.

In general, mature people do appreciate feedback from others. How else can you improve? From introspection alone? I do not think so.

Re: "Yingluck flight takes on soap opera feel," (Opinion, Sept 25).

It seems the authorities don't know how to deal with the police officers involved in the ex-prime minister's escape. I assume that perverting the course of justice is not a criminal offence here. In some countries it carries a life sentence.