Will there be respect?

Re: “Judgement day has arrived”, ( BP, March 24). With judgement day upon the nation, the Election Commission’s chairman’s observation that “the result of this election will indicate the direction of [Thai] democracy,” while timely, leaves many questions unanswered as to whether Thailand will move to the good or stay chained to the bad.

If the good Thai people again vote in favour of democracy, will the bad forces against democracy finally accept that, or will they instead resort to the usual overthrow of the rule of law to force their undemocratic agenda on Thais?

Will the Senate respect the wishes of people shown in their votes, or will it favour those who appointed it? Will the people be allowed to prevail at last, or will they again be thwarted by corrupt law made up to allow the bad to prosper?

We know how history judges dictators and other bad people, will the good people of Thailand make the same healthy judgement for their nation in their votes? Will Thailand move forward to a future under good democracy, or stay mired in the bad old ways of the bad old days?

FELIX QUI

Stop burnoff madness

I drove into town at night a few days ago (something I rarely do), and the burning rice fields resembled the glow of a bombed site. The smoke was so thick and choking, driving was reduced to 10kph. Suddenly, through the dense smoke, flashing red lights.

To my amazement, local fire trucks were driving up and down the side laneways in the rice fields dousing the infernos. Bravo to the Prachin Buri fire department. Someone got the message across that burning is illegal and dangerous. Fields were blatantly set alight during daylight hours, but the night fires were something new, as if the preps relied on night to hide their actions … as if a fire cannot be seen at night. I’m sure it was with no help of the local mayor or governor, both do-nothings. Maybe the closer one gets to the seat of government, (Bangkok), the faster the message gets through … to someone in charge.

BUTTERCUP

NED doesn’t fund us

Re: “Flawed democracy”, (PostBag, March 23).

A Johnsen’s letter to Postbag of March 23 wrongly asserted that the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). For the record, the FCCT does not receive any funding from NED, and has never done so.

Furthermore, as anyone who attended the club’s annual general meeting on March 8 can confirm, the club has no outside sources of funding.

FCCT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Don’t raise prices

Yessiree, all you politicos who want a vote in your favour. Promise the increase in wages policy. Don’t forget to promise to keep prices at a pre-wage increase level as well. The losers will be the small businesses who employ under 10 people. The losers will be those whose wages are increased as well, finding that prices for staples and rent have gone up proportionately. The losers in fact may be people on government assistance plans who find themselves locked out because what they earn exceeds the limits to qualify.

The upward spiral never stops. It simply levels off waiting for another reason to spiral upward. Forty-five years ago when teachers in New York City demanded an increase in pay, the Board of Education published a wonderful futuristic cartoon. It showed a robot instructor in a classroom; the caption: “You too can be replaced … by a robot.”

RETIRED NYC TEACHER

24 Mar 2019 24 Mar 2019
26 Mar 2019 26 Mar 2019

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