OPINION

Profiting from animal cruelty

Re: "Viral elephant photo spurs zoo probe", (BP, Dec 13). It is a total disgrace to the heartless operator of this "zoo" as well as all the visitors. None of them have ever expressed any empathy or disgust about the horrible exploitation of these poor creatures. After all, isn't it the symbol and pride of the national flag since 1820?

It is heart-breaking to see these poor, emaciated elephants still being forced to perform and nobody will see their horrifying physical condition? And now you report that the respective authorities have ordered a halt of performing until their health is restored. How gutless and devoid of any empathy?

This is outrageous for an animal lover like me, the elephant being one of the most sensitive and family-oriented animals on the planet. They should be taken away from this heartless operator, who should be punished for utter mistreatment. Those poor animals should be taken to one of those refuges where they will reunite with "brothers and sisters" and live their lives in dignity.

Shame on the operator and shame on all these "blind" visitors.

In a book, fictional character Jack Reacher is jailed for severely beating five other men. He is subsequently released as none press charges. No one complained. There was no plaintiff. Yet almost daily I read in the Bangkok Post about people imprisoned without a plaintiff's plea for justice. The "criminals" are in jail for possessing a substance used for recreational purposes. Hundreds of thousands of them. Not only in Thailand, but elsewhere in Asia and most of Europe and America.

Their crime? Possessing a substance with the intent of enjoying themselves; the pursuit of happiness. This is a fine, if non-existent line. If a person has a fever it can be difficult to pursue happiness. But if that person ingests an antibiotic to relieve the fever, that person may be attempting recreation.

People also use smart phones to enjoy themselves. Recreation is not an idle pursuit. The government of the US is sworn to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness cannot be supported without life and liberty; the pursuit of happiness is governments' ultimate goal.

Bear in mind Steve Jobs said that the use of magic mushrooms was the most important event is his life. Would we rather he was jailed than invent our smart phones? James Mason, one of the fathers of the American constitution, said the idea for democracy came to him while smoking weed. It is a weed; indigenous to most of Earth. Just don't put it in your pocket.

Studying the recent analysis of the Japanese legal system by Noah Smith, "Why Japan desperately needs criminal justice reform", (Opinion, Dec 13) I felt like reading a justified criticism about the German justice apparatus. You just have to change the names of the countries to come to the same conclusions. There are reasons for this: Over the past two centuries, Japan applied a whole bundle of structures and legal theories from this European country. The central pole of this system is the division of criminal and civil codes -- a well-meant invention.

But surprisingly, this leads to the same negative effects in the daily juridical practice in both countries. To avoid long and expensive juridical processes, all different types of suspects have to swallow often the bitter pill of a more-or-less arranged "confession" in front of the criminal court to finish their rotation in the millstones of justice. But the question of guilty-or-not is not sufficiently answered at all.

These "confessions" during the criminal processes are leading then to a real domino-effect: Lawyers repeatedly like to use these questionable agreements in a civil action for an even more expensive out of court-settlement to generate some extra money for their clients.

The problem is: The civil courts are accepting these "confessions" by themselves too often to justify all kinds of compensation payments or civil claims. This kind of a spark striking a short-circuit between the two described poles of the legal system leads directly to the conclusion that the justice in some constitutional states is, in fact, little more than a critical constitution. Even such internationally recognised democracies such as Japan or Germany are deeply affected by this misconstruction of their legal systems.

Songdej makes a point in regard to Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen about the dangers of blind loyalty. Some people call me disloyal because I'm an American who is frequently critical of American policies and a Jew who detests Israel. I've even been called disloyal to the human race because I support animal rights.

But I'm 100% loyal to my principles. We don't owe loyalty to any race, religion, nationality or individual -- we only owe loyalty to justice.

It seems the Bangkok/Chiang Mai high-speed train project will soon be scrapped, due to its unprofitability as feasible studies suggested. For the same reason, the existing single narrow gauge railway will die within another decade.

I suggest a double track standard gauge railway at medium speed, around 150kph, be built. Investment for this project will be far smaller than high-speed trains and be cheaper to operate. Cargo trains will bring dramatic improvement for the freight transport industry, replacing heavy trucks with benefits in term of cost and the environment.

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.