OPINION

Words can kill

Let us hope that nobody beats up pop singer Amita Young, or worse, following Khun Atiya's commentary tagging her as a homicidal bag of hate (Opinion, July 9).

It's this kind of (column) that can kill. More seriously, while there is obviously a concern over the exacerbation of public debate on social media, it is certainly wrong to state that social media are creating a culture of violence in society or that things have deteriorated since the elections.

This is because Thailand has been a violent country full of guns and has had a culture of violence long before the emergence of social media. Tempers were hot online before the elections; beating up or killing activists. Unfortunately, it is Thai politics as usual and politics have always been violent (how many canvassers have been killed at each election?) Homicide rates in Thailand have always been high. The good news: since 2005 and the explosion of social media, homicide rates have more than halved and Thailand has become a less violent country. But it would be as wrong to attribute this decrease to social media than to attribute any recent acts of violence to them, and especially acts of violence that have not happened.

Let's get it right

Re: "Catholics reflect on trailblazing priests", (BP, July 6).

2019 marks the 350th anniversary of the creation of the Vicarate of Siam by the Vatican in 1669 and is rightfully being celebrated by Thailand's Roman Catholic Church and community.

However, the first line of the article "St Joseph's Church in Ayutthaya marks the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the religion in the country" unfortunately is not correct.

As the writer described in the article, the first Catholic Christians to arrive in Siam were the Portuguese. This happened in the year 1511. Fifty-six years later, in 1567, Portuguese Dominican priests, Fr Jeronimo da Cruz and Fr Sebastiao do Canto arrived in Siam as chaplains to the Portuguese soldiers. It was these individuals who truly deserve the recognition as being responsible for the arrival of the religion in the country. It was these dedicated priests who celebrated Mass for the first time, baptised the first converts and educated the first Siamese about the Christian faith. In 1584, the first Portuguese Franciscan priests arrived in Ayutthaya and the first Portuguese Jesuit priests in 1607.

A second point must be made regarding the writers' use of the phrase "During this same time" to describe the arrival of representatives of the Paris Foreign Mission Group (Propaganda Fide) and Bishop Lambert de la Motte. These individuals did not arrive in Ayutthaya until 1662. This was 95 years after the aforementioned Portuguese pioneers. The Vicarate of Siam was then established seven years later, with the Papal Bula Speculatores. While these dates may all seem relegated to an unknowable past, it is critically important that our scholars and journalists remember their responsibility to help keep the historical record accurate.

While I am not in any way dismissing the importance of the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the Vicarate of Siam and the beginning of the official role of the Vatican in the life of the Roman Catholic church in Siam, I am disappointed to read the Bangkok Post article which does not clearly explain and almost ignores the nearly 100 years of history, sacrifice and faith of the Luso-Thai and Portuguese Catholic communities (and the Portuguese Padroado) prior to the Vicarate's establishment.

Ambassador of Portugal

Watch this space...

I just saw a TV news story about a wristwatch worth eighty million baht. Yup, that's the price.

I wonder if General Rolex saw it as well, and if he is salivating to buy it (or perhaps "borrow" it).