OPINION

Law is for everyone

It was reported earlier this week that the army admitted to killing three unarmed civilians in the deep South.

The army says that gunmen opened fire on security officers in Rangae, Narathiwat, and then fled. Soldiers gave chase, met three unarmed civilians and killed them. Fourth Army Region commander Gen Pornsak Poonsawat said, "The officers mistook them as insurgents. I apologised to the victims' relatives and promised them justice." He also admitted the trio were not carrying any weapons when they were shot.

Gen Pornsak should not promise what he cannot deliver. In 2004, 78 protesters suffocated to death after being bound hand and foot, stacked like logs, and transported by the army at Tak Bai. Even though the statute of limitations expires in five years, nobody's even been charged for the wrongful deaths; evidently, the Royal Thai Army has no understanding of command responsibility. Or, in 2012, five unarmed locals on their way to a funeral were shot to death by rangers, again due to mistaken identity and, like previous cases, nobody's been charged.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha often emphasises that all must obey the law. As actions speak louder than words, he should show that even his generals come under rule of law -- starting with Tak Bai, Nong Chik, and now, Rangae.

I think it is absolutely shameful and cowardly for the government and its supporters to use the legal system to try to silence the opposition.

But the more frivolous and grasping-at-straws lawsuits the government and its supporters come up with, the weaker, more desperate and insecure it looks.

If it really was a government that was good for the country, and not just a small group of old rich people, it wouldn't have to resort to these cheap, shabby political tricks to stay in power.

Re: "Core lessons we teach kids? Hypocrisy", (BP, Dec 18).

My eyes glazed over as I scanned some of the mind-numbing cliches that Bundit Kertbundit unearthed from the list of National Children's Day mottoes of past years in his article.

Thailand has always been addicted to platitudes, and this investigation seems to have produced a rich treasure trove. They range from former prime minister Plaek Phibulsonggram's 1956 masterpiece, "devote yourself to the public interest", to the latest jewel, presumably coined (or at least approved) by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for 2020: "Thai children in the new era know unity and responsibility." This could easily have been condensed to "Be united and responsible." But condensed or uncondensed, these nuggets of banality do not improve with time.

To my mind, the best possible all-time motto for children, even though it's a platitude, was uttered by ET in the 1982 movie of the same name, when he counsels little Gertie at the end to "Be good". But alas, in this flawed samsaric world it is not enough just to be good. To survive some of the nastiness you will inevitably encounter, you also have to be tough and smart. That gives us a universal mandate that ought to be observed by children and adults alike: "Be good, be tough, be smart." To that I would add a corollary: "And have as much fun as you can."

Something is definitely wrong with the Thai legal system.

A known serial killer of five women is believed to have killed again after leaving prison. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment but was granted parole after serving just 14 years.

It is not uncommon that a convicted murderer in Thailand can walk away as a free man after serving less than 10 years in prison. They don't need a character like Andy in the classic film The Shawshank Redemption to dig through the thick prison walls, nor will they become frustrated like Red in his numerous failed applications for parole.

All they need to do is confess immediately when caught in order to avoid capital punishment. From then on it is a matter of discounting the number of years sentenced on whatever reasons available, and keep their fingers crossed.

The Correction Department officers who granted parole to this serial killer are now in hot water. The public would like to know if there are any rules or criteria to determine the reduction of prison terms, or is it just a list of names printed out from the computer.

In many murder cases related to sexual offences, the convicts had committed similar offences before. There is a pattern of behaviour that makes them more dangerous than other criminals when set free.

Instead of just pointing fingers at the Correction Department, has anybody asked why a convicted serial killer of five women did not receive a consecutive life sentence? Or a more severe punishment to stop him from freely picking his prey again?

Re: "Penal system gets it wrong", (Editorial, Dec 19).

I believe serial killer Somkid Pumpuang should have been given the death penalty without reservation. Placing killers like him on parole etc has been historically bad and expensive.

Thai jails, like many in the West, are brimming over with prisoners. In Australia, it costs around A$100,000 (about 2 million baht) per annum to keep a prisoner in jail. In Melbourne, there was a similar case to the Thai one where a violent, serial rapist raped and killed the journalist, Jill Meagher. This man was also on parole when the murder took place. He's now back in jail; but for how long, I wonder!

Re: "A global anarchy revival could outdo the 1960s", (Opinion, Dec 20).

Pankaj Mishra should be commended for carefully distinguishing between anarchy and the political tradition of anarchism, that is applied to the numerous protests currently underway around the world.

And then you completely ignore the content of the article due to the misleading headline. It should read: "A global anarchism revival" not "anarchy".

Re: "Taiwan: a democracy in Asia that works", (Opinion, Dec 20).

I am just waiting for the time when people can have an honest discussion about the elephant in the room. The brainwashed mentality of the Thais is what's holding the country back.

The inability to question authority, think outside the norms of society, and focus on the future as opposed to the past -- all these keep Thailand stuck in a rut.

In the past 20 years, Taiwan has become a first-world economy while Thailand remains stuck in second gear.

Re: "TAT wants more first-time visitors, they spend more", (Online, Dec 18).

That may be true, but after first-time visitors get a taste of double pricing for parks and other places, and in some restaurants, as well as rip-offs galore, they develop a bad taste for a second return.

They are especially put off with the TM30 nonsense and somehow do not understand how or why they need to inform the immigration police when they change venues every 24 hours.

Yeah, first-time visitors first time only.

On Dec 14, NHK World Japan aired a wonderful 2016 documentary, Water, Not Weapons, about the work of Dr Tetsu Nakamura, who was tragically and senselessly murdered in Afghanistan on Dec 4.

Dr Nakamura's decades-long work in the area of water-management brought prosperity and relative peace to hundreds of thousands of Afghans.

It is a great pity that, based on a policy introduced in 1974, Nobel Peace Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously. After viewing this documentary, I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to the tireless work of a man who improved the lives of so many; nor an individual more deserving of this honour.

Perhaps it is time for the Nobel Foundation to reconsider the merits of this policy, with some behind-the-scenes persuasion from the Japanese government and others.

The Madrid talks on global warming did not fail because the world refused to listen to children like Greta Thunberg as one PostBag writer insisted in his recent letter, "I Stand with Greta". They failed because this is a very difficult issue to solve. While I applaud Thunberg's youthful idealism and activism, I question her self-righteous indignation and simplistic understanding of this complex issue.

The global economy, which Thunberg mercilessly criticises is the exact same one which provided her with a multi-million dollar racing yacht to safely cross the Atlantic. While her trip might have been classified as carbon-neutral, the yacht-building process certainly was not.

The carbon emissions from fossil fuels that she claims will destroy her generation still contributes nearly half of the energy to run Sweden's advanced economy which makes her very comfortable life as a professional activist possible. Such prosperity deserves gratitude instead of scorn.

Inaction on climate change will certainly result in major costs, but taking action also involves significant costs, many of which fall disproportionately on the world's poorest people through higher energy prices. Sadly, there is no magic solution to this incredibly difficult problem.

Neither earnest schoolchildren nor useless UN bureaucrats have the answers on climate change. Our best hope for the future is to get talented children like Thunberg back in school to accelerate technological progress.

Re: "Period poverty, is the hard truth, not fake news", (Opinion, Dec 20).

A "tampon tax" sounds like an April Fool's joke or someone's idea of a prank rather than fake news.

Maybe the people upset by this have breathed too much of Bangkok's polluted air and it has obliterated their sense of humour.

Sadly though, one of the characteristics of an authoritarian personality is that they have no sense of humour and I suspect that is the case here. It must be kind of lonely, though, being the only one who didn't get the joke.