OPINION

Army can't reform itself

Re: "Underpinnings of a Thai mass shooting", (Opinion, Feb 14).

I fully agree with Thitinan Pongsudhirak that "this tragedy should be a wake-up call for the Thai army so that it becomes more professional, streamlined, better paid, and is back in the barracks". I laud army chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong for pledging that the army's commercial and welfare schemes will be transparently managed by professionals from the private sector. I second the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand's proposal that the reforms should cover all other branches of the military and police.

Since the military and police's noble mission is to serve and protect the public, and we pay them, the reform should be managed by our elected representatives in parliament -- not by the armed forces -- plus ACOT as a full member. All income and expenditure should go to and come from the Ministry of Finance, and organisations audited like SET-listed entities.

On pay, all members should be paid competitively with the private sector, so none need to have sideline incomes, and they can live in accordance with our late national father King Rama IX's sufficiency philosophy.

We should look at the necessity and mission of each commercial or welfare activity, and find the most effective way to achieve that. For example, we the people own the airwaves. Thus, all income rightfully belongs to us, and the military and police will have the right to interrupt normal operations for emergency broadcasts. Or, our armed personnel need housing after retirement -- but perhaps the most effective way is to give subsidised mortgages through commercial banks, so that they may live anywhere within that budget, not necessarily in an army-built house.

Thank you for vowing to reform the army, Gen Aphirat. Let's work together to extend your dream to all members of our military and police.

Military rot goes deep

Thitinan Pongsudhirak has the bravery to say in his Feb 14 article what millions have known for many years.

The military's involvement in business is no surprise to all but a few totally uninformed Thais. The vast majority of people are fully aware of their involvement in everything from broadcasting, protection rackets and massage parlours to tourist amenities, land deals and loans.

Many other civil authorities -- from the police in all its guises, metropolitan and local authorities to even the schools and colleges -- are also involved in general day-to-day bribery and corruption. This list of course neglects the biggest pig's trough, politics, which represents the main obstacle to reform.

It seems the perpetrator of last weekend's heinous crime was not some brainwashed religious fanatic, just someone driven to psychosis by the depression and desperation of the injustice dealt by his most trusted superior. I have no sympathy for him, but more importantly he should have been stopped long before he started murdering people. It is evident the authorities were negligent and likely far too busy making money or spending it to do their real jobs.

Maybe some good could eventually come from this terrible tragedy, but it will take brave people indeed to reform so many rotten institutions.

Rejecting liner a bad mistake

Kudos to the Cambodian government for allowing the cruise ship Westerdam to dock in their country. We hear numerous stories about western expats leaving Thailand to go and take up residence in Cambodia. This incident, I'm afraid, only adds fuel to the fire.

Thailand lost out on a glorious opportunity to earn goodwill from Westerners, and in turn bring back tourists from the West.

You would think that members of the Thai government would have learned by now that you can get burned by putting all your eggs in one basket, and relying too heavily on the Chinese for tourism revenue. But apparently many of the ministers in this government are slow learners.

It is understandable why the Taiwanese, Chinese and Hong Kong people would be reluctant to let in thousands of individuals from the Westerdam, given that these nations are basically at the epicentre of the coronavirus. But for the Thai government to do so is unconscionable, bearing in mind that the majority of individuals on the ship come from countries which have hardly been exposed to the virus and which have been regularly tested for the presence of it.

Single-ticket conundrum

The plan to have a single ticket for the BTS, MRT and Airport Link (BP, Feb 14) is a great step forward, but how will they manage tickets for overseas seniors?

The MRT happily offers all seniors half-price fares while BTS discriminates against foreign seniors by only offering reduced fares for Thais.