Beware fool's dream
Re: "Graft a 'human trait'", (PostBag, Jan 15).
I am glad that Clara Holzer agrees with the point I had emphasised that "democracy does not stop at elections", which are, as she writes, but a small step, albeit an essential one, in the difficult process of achieving and maintaining a healthily functioning democracy. We are also in agreement that the temptation to corruption is a human trait.
However, Ms Holzer appears to have missed the evidence I pointed out showing that democracy had been taking solid root in Thailand: The defeat by the outraged voice of the Thai nation of Pheu Thai's sleazy amnesty bill and the increasing pressure being put on that government to come clean about its rice pledging scheme. Such are only possible when vigilant citizens are accorded the right to seek and to speak truths, which is why free speech is a cornerstone of democracy.
To further clarify an issue that continues to confuse Ms Holzer, democracy, whilst certainly being no guarantee of it, is indeed the "surest antidote to corruption" for the same reason: corruption can only be eliminated when financial, legal and other forms of corruption can be discovered and openly stated for what they are, something only possible under the democratic principle of free speech which is conspicuously absent under the currently ruling set of Thai politicians, who are unelected and unaccountable.
Censorship is beloved by the corrupt precisely because they have much to hide, which is the reason that undemocratic governments always make up a corrupt rule of law to confer the impunity of ignorance that censorship bestows on corruption. Yes, Clara Holzer, much as history shows that many of its particular instances fall short, democracy remains the only form of government whose founding principles make it inherently opposed to corruption.
It is a fool's dream to think that an opaque government intent on using its own made up rule of law to silence healthy investigation and critical questioning of its acts and motives will be less corrupt than a democratic alternative: the forced ignorance alone precludes any sound basis for such a pious belief.
Felix Qui
Trump was right
Re: "President offends entire continent", (World, Jan 13).
Haiti as well as many countries in Africa are dirty, dangerous and undesirable places, and describing them as such does not make one a racist. Yet see how much time, money and energy is expended by politically correct media puppets labelling Trump a racist.
In reality, let's take a look at a few African and Middle Eastern nations and their safety records. The tiny country of Rwanda killed 1,000,000 of its own people in 1994. Another small nation, Burundi, wiped out 260,000 people between 1972 and 1993. Then of course, there are Somalia, Iraq and the ongoing slaughter in Syria.
What do these genocides have in common? Racial hatred and ethnic cleansing. Where is the hue and cry from the mainstream media and polite politicians about real racism? There are four suits in the deck, calling them all hearts will not allow one to win the game.
Michael SetterChon Buri
President digging hole
Merely a week after labelling himself a stable genius Donald Trump's vulgar reference to Africa and Haiti as "shithole" countries is, despite his denial, unprecedented by a sitting president.
Mr Trump's relentless challenge to President Obama's birth place when the latter was in office, and his desperate repeal of the laws (such as Obama Care) and international treaties (the climate change accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership) enacted or pursued by his predecessor could possibly stem from racial hatred -- that Mr Obama was a black president.
Mr Trump is obviously not alone. He speaks for a big percentage of those who elected him to office, and it is naive to deny that there is no racial tension in America. But America's demography is changing, and unless Mr Trump can prove those racist allegations against him to the contrary, that deep hole he has dug for himself will sooner, if not later bury his presidency.
Yingwai Suchaovanich
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