OPINION

Mockery of the law

Re: "Above the law?", (PostBag, Dec 6).

Regarding Deputy Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow's 1993 drug conviction in Australia, Khun Burin Kantabutra asked, "Doesn't the constitution that Gen Prayut drafted state that criminals convicted of major crimes cannot be ministers?"

Well, this cased has already been explained. Dr Wisanu Krea-ngam, a law professor and deputy prime minister, has said that the conviction must occur in Thailand by a Thai court to disqualify a person from serving in a cabinet post. I'd like to add that even if Thammanat was convicted in Thailand, he would still qualify because PM Prayut and his cabinet never swore to abide by the constitution.

Meanwhile, if I were the embattled MP Pareena Kraikupt, I wouldn't lose sleep over the land encroachment case. After all, she is one of PM Prayut's staunchest defenders in parliament and I'm sure there is a way out for her (borrow the land from a friend who has died?)

The worst thing she could face is getting a slap on the wrist or a tut-tut, "you, cute little naughty girl!"

I read with amusement and bewilderment that Thailand's richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, preached about what is needed to improve Thailand's educational system! Is this the same man that said that a strong Thai baht is good for the local economy? Didn't his company led consortium lose a court case against the Thai navy? The consortium was late in submitting bidding documents for the 290-billion-baht Eastern City Airport project. They conveniently blamed their tardiness on a traffic jam and then had the audacity to sue to get special treatment! I can go on and mentioned about CP-All senior executive's insider trading case but I believe I have already made my point.

Perhaps, Mr Dhanin should include the value of punctuality and the importance of respecting rules and regulations in his next public speech.

As a Brit who worked 15 years with Americans and live in Thailand, I read news from all three countries now that I am retired and have free time. At present, there is a strange link between these countries, the constitution.

Britain doesn't have a formal written one and is probably wishing it did as the citizens watch the antics played out by the politicians in the never-ending saga of Brexit. The US probably has the most famous constitution with people even knowing they can "take the fifth" or demand their second amendment rights. Sadly, a document written in 1776 when there were 13 states and less than 4 million people is providing problems for election results in a modern country with 327 million. They are also discovering, like the British, that a leader who flaunts all norms and standards can actually get away with a great deal due to legal loopholes.

Thailand, of course, is unique in that it writes the constitution faster than its cops can write traffic tickets. No-one remembers them, few read them and everyone assumes the new one is just around the corner. Which begs the question, why is the present one so hard to change? In modern politics, the constitution just appears to be just another document from which you pick the bits you want and disregard the rest as suits your political agenda.

I am happy to see that the Dalai Lama expressed his support for the young people protesting government inaction on global warming.

Also, former US Secretary of State John Kerry recently formed a group -- World War Zero -- that includes former US presidents, celebrities and high ranking retired military officers, among others, to start holding town hall meetings throughout the US to alert people to the serious effects of global warming and what they can do about it.

I would dearly love to see someone (a sport figure, an actor, a singer, a politician) in Thailand which according to the Global Climate Risk Index was the 8th most affected country in the world by climate events during the last 20 years, stand up and become a hero by showing their support for the young people of this country who are protesting government inaction on global warming.

In using the term, "heteronormative" in a Dec 2 report, "UN: LBGTs still face discrimination", the UN has just supplied more newspeak for dictionary editors to scratch their heads about.

I am so pleased to read comments on my Nov 30 letter "China's Uighur lesson".

The first letter states that "Prasan is clearly blind to the damage being done to not only Uighur culture and dignity". Hans van Willenswaard may not be blind as he teased me, but intentionally short-sighted to read only CIA-fabricated data. A few years ago, two Uighurs engaging in a fight with some Chinese (Han) were beaten to death in Guangdong province. As a result, revenge was arranged in Urumqi in which nearly 200 Chinese (Han) were killed. Is this "Uighur culture and dignity" worthy enough to preserve? Of course, the Chinese authority made a decision to suppress this and kept terrorism down to few incidents per year, whilst in the south of Thailand, incidents have gone from a monthly occurrence to weekly and now almost daily leading to the loss of thousands of innocent lives So, I strongly agree with Hans van Willenswaard that we should adopt the Beijing government's strategy for taming the Thai-Muslims in the South.

Tibet was a kingdom thousands of years ago and for being "friendly", they were colonised by China. In the 9th century, the Lama assassinated the Tibetan King to gain the power to rule the state. However, killing is against the first commandment of Lord Buddha and it also claimed that the Lama is the reincarnation of Lord Buddha.

The second letter insisted that "putting over a million (accused) people in camps due to their religion is not (fair)" but that this is an internal affair of China to keep its 1.4 billion citizens safe.

In the third letter, Eric Bahrt's statement "Only the cruelest bigots would fail to make a distinction between the good and bad (guy) and persecute all of them, including innocent women and children". This perfectly describes America's genocide in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs which killed nearly two hundred thousand innocent civilians including women and children. Also, let's not forget the use thousands of tonnes of bombs and Agent Orange, which killed and crippled millions of Vietnamese innocent civilians including women and children.

Re: "Why cultural restitution by Europe really matters", (Opinion, Dec 6).

It is rather ironic that Patrick Gaspard condemns European colonialism and the cultural damage it inflicted on African culture and praises El Hjj Omar Tall, the founder of the Toucouleur Empire (also known as the Tijiniyya Jihad State). Omar Tall founded his empire by conquering other African empires (the Bamana and Massina empires) in the name of a religion foreign to Africa that conquered the North of the continent by war. Islamic conquest and empire-building was stopped by the tsetse flies killing the horses of the Arab invading armies, thus preserving African animist cultures in the south.

Apparently, for Mr Gaspard, colonisation, empire building and the destruction of African culture are perfectly fine and should be celebrated.

Jack Gilead in his Dec 6 letter "Wrong direction'', seems to be repeating the frequent assertion that the problems with teaching English in Thailand can be solved by employing retired farangs to teach it. However, he seems to have a problem with English himself as he doesn't seem to understand the meaning of "retired".

I may be wrong, but I would have thought that a properly qualified teacher of English could easily change to an appropriate visa status in order to get a teaching job.

I am a native speaker of English, taught formal English grammar long ago, but I am not trained as a teacher, so I would not consider myself fit to teach English.

There is a hoax that the private hospitals would have you believe that they are going broke because of nonpayment of services.

Like all commercial establishments, they have insurance to cover these kinds of debts. Yes, this may cause the premiums to rise, but one of the richest if not the richest institutions are the private hospitals in Thailand. It's true that in most they give excellent care for what they do. If you arrive in a coma at the hospital, they are duty-bound to give you all the life-saving procedures that their ethical duty entails. And when you awaken, they hand you an invoice that you are unable to pay. Subsequently, this bill is then passed onto their carrier for payment.

In the so-called "cost of doing business", they have been whining to the government and the government has taken an ear to their constant complaints. Yet in the end, private hospitals with what they charge customers should just print money,

I recently visited the new "Makro store" in Sattahip, Chon Buri. Whilst there, I inquired about obtaining a "membership card" for future shopping visits. I was advised to spend a minimum 2,000 baht and present the receipt for joining which was "no issue".

However, I was also asked to produce my passport! That was in my car in the car park. Instead of going outside, I offered my current Thai driving licence (which has my passport details) but was told: "Foreigners must produce their passports!"

Wow!I had only wanted to spend some money!!Sir Lance Rayong

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