Good people bad laws
Re: “Court to rule on PM’s eligibility”, (BP, July 6). While Jade Donavanik, the former adviser to the Constitution Drafting Committee’s comments that “the Constitutional Court ruling will be binding”, ring true, it is important to remember that such a legal precedent is subject to the caveat that applies to all laws: Merely being legal confers neither rightness nor justice.
If the law itself is corrupt and unjust, then rulings that are made in strict accordance with the law inherit the underlying moral corruption and injustice of that law.
Felix Qui
RIGHT-WING ISAN PARTY
Anyone who has lived here for any period of time will realise that Thai politics have been dominated by two main forces in recent history: a left-wing, or red-shirt movement, centred on Isan and the Lanna areas of the country, and a conservative, or yellow-shirt movement, centred in Bangkok and the southern areas.
Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Palang Pracharath Party has been elected leader again with the help of the Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties. The strange thing is that the latter party was basically created by Newin Chidchob of Buri Ram. So the question remains: How did a party centred in Isan join forces with a right-wing group?
Perhaps seasoned Thai veterans such as Khun Vint Chavala or Somsak Pola can provide some insight into how this has occurred.
Paul
HIDING THE FACTS
Re: “Dangerous comment”, (PostBag, July 5).I am all for combatting racism, hate speech and discrimination, including against migrants, and highlighting evidence-based benefits of legal immigration.The problem is that we have an evidence-based record in Europe that highlights some problems and the negative impacts of migration. Those who speak about these negative impacts are often accused of “systematically promoting intolerance, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination towards migrants”, and there is a belief that reporting on these problems inevitably generates hate speech and rhetoric that all migrants are a problem.Here are two quick examples:For almost 20 years, journalists and academics reporting on the rise of anti-Semitism in France, mostly on the part of political Islam and Arab Muslims, were accused of perpetuating hate speech in courts, while the media and politicians were silent. They were exonerated in court because the report was, in fact, evidence-based, but they still had to go to court. It took 50,000 Jews fleeing the suburbs, Jewish parents being told by public school masters that the safety of their children could not be guaranteed, and a gruesome murder of a Holocaust-surviving grandmother that shook public opinion last year, enough for the media to finally address the issue and for the highest political authorities (French President Emmanuel Macron) to acknowledge and announce plans to address the scourge.
Meanwhile in Germany, several women were sexually assaulted and a number were raped during the 2015-16 New Year celebrations. The police initially described the events as “playful”, and national media remained silent for days until the public outcry on social media forced them to report on the events. A Federal Criminal Police Office report confirmed that most of the perpetrators were of North African origin and had arrived in Germany during the European migrant crisis. Guess what people reporting on the events were accused of? Unfortunately for Germany, the rise of unsavoury groups such as Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident, better known as Pegida, and the Alternative for Germany party, and their wrongful, inflammatory language was fuelled by the public perception that the government and media were hiding the facts, which they were.
Baffled reader
INAPPROPRIATE HEADLINE
Re: “Mom Oui calls for patient leaders”, (BP, July 5).I found it inappropriate to refer to the former deputy prime minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula by his given nickname in that headline. I also doubt that your non-Thai readers would understand that “Mom” is an informal reference to his royal title, Mom Rachawong. Such a headline is misleading and inappropriate.
Amporn Chakkaphak
BTS CATTLE CAR
I truly believe that if all of the senior management of the BTS skytrain were required to take the train to and from work every day, the service would improve immediately. The BTS has been like a cattle car. Folks are always jostling for places to stand, even outside rush hours. And good luck if you’re disabled and need a place to sit, given the number of people sitting and staring at their phones, totally unaware of others who are in more need.
Fred Ligon
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