OPINION

Righteous anger

Re: "PM 'understands' students, warns them against bias", (BP, Feb 27). Like me, I suspect that the patriotic Thai students protesting for a better future for their nation did a double take when the PM piously intoned that "The most important thing is the law".

This is the man, as the bright young students from Thailand's best schools and universities will well know, who, while honour-bound to uphold and protect it, plotted against and then overthrew the supreme law of the Thai nation in 2014. This exhortation to respect the law from the man who refused to comply with the explicitly written law in Section 161 of the current constitution sends a perfectly clear message to the righteously protesting students.

And the PM wonders why the students and other good people of Thailand are angry at the blatant hypocrisy, prejudice and double standards that his unjust rule by law forces on the Thai nation. Nor are his thinly veiled threats the response of an ethical politician.

Peaceful, lucid, determined, intelligent and informed, the protesting students inspire hope that the Thai nation does have a future. These brave Thai citizens have clearly put both their command of English and their smartphones to some very smart use to learn the unbiased reality about their nation's sad state.

The truth is out

Despite his words it is quite obvious that the PM doesn't "understand". It is hope for the future that brought these student protesters out, and it's by finally discovering several alternative news sources that they have come to their opinion. The days of state media control are over. Just how wrong can the man get.

Confused students

Re: "School students join rally", (BP, Feb 26).

One is inclined to have great sympathy for high-school students demonstrating for democracy against dictatorship while singing the national anthem. Yet they are certainly mistaken in thinking that the present regime, with all its faults and tactics, is a dictatorship. What is encouraging, however, is that "what [they] hate is dictatorship".

As such, I am curious to see whether they will join the protests of university students, who were described in yesterday's newspaper as chanting 1960s slogans and songs of the Communist Party of Thailand whose ideology and goal was explicitly to establish dictatorship. Or whether they will protest against the university students, or else join them with their anti-democracy slogans. The former, I hope, if they are consistent.

I suppose that these high school girls know that, had the Communist Party of Thailand not been defeated, Thailand today would probably be like Laos, Vietnam and China -- a dictatorship where schoolgirls and students cannot protest, and where the Future Forward Party and other parties except the CPT would not be allowed to exist.

No virus cover-up

It is truly remarkable that Thailand has only detected 40 cases of Covid-19 infection to date. Given its strong links to China, a significantly higher rate of infection was expected by public health experts. The low rate of infection is in large part due to the excellent work of the Thai Department of Disease Control in case detection, contact tracing and isolation of those infected and their close contacts.

Thailand's impressive response is not surprising in light of the inaugural Johns Hopkins University Global Health Security Index (2019) survey which assessed the preparedness of 195 countries for epidemics and pandemics. Thailand ranked as the sixth best prepared nation in the world and was the most prepared upper-middle-income country.

The low number of Covid-19 cases in Thailand has led to rumours that authorities have been under-reporting the number of cases. This speculation is almost certainly without foundation. Thailand's public health officials have a well-established record of integrity and it is very doubtful that they would have cooperated with any cover up which would have inevitably been revealed by a whistle-blower.

However, one issue of concern is that the Department of Disease Control has this week removed the prominently displayed counter on its home page that was showing the total number of Covid-19 cases detected in Thailand. That counter remained at 35 cases for over a week from Feb 17, but in recent days five new cases have been detected. For some unknown reason the DDC is no longer clearly showing the total number of cases detected in Thailand on its home page, although the number of cases in China and globally are still showing. One has to go to other pages on the DDC website to find out the total number of cases for Thailand.

This seeming lack of transparency by the DDC may serve to fuel unfounded conspiracy theories. It is important that the DDC maintains full transparency in reporting on its excellent work in Covid-19 containment. With a global pandemic likely, public authorities need to act in a way that fully maintains the public's confidence in their efforts.

Songkran goes viral

Regarding the contagion measures that have been drawn up, have the powers-that-be factored in that Songkran is just around the corner, by which time infections are likely to have escalated? What a fertile time for the virus to propagate due to mass travel and water being chucked. Perfect conditions for Covid-19 to exploit amid lack of protection due to diminished responsibility generated by the revelry.

Abortion un-Buddhist

Re: "Pro-life is pro-death", (PostBag, Feb 25).

Eric Bahrt and other contributors to PostBag seem to have misinterpreted my comment on Ms Sanutsida Ekachai's article on abortion as being pro-life. My letter was merely pointing out that one cannot hold Buddhist beliefs that include the foetus being a separate human being with its own spirit (with the detail that it has two parents) and, at the same time, hold that abortion is justified as the right of a women to control her own body. These two positions are not compatible and you need to choose. The final sentence that made the point of my letter was edited out.

For Eric Bahrt, all those who have issues with abortion are guilty by association with American right pro-lifers. But does anybody remind him that Hitler was a vegetarian? Is he aware that Planned Parenthood was created with the specific eugenics objective of preventing the reproduction of the poor and racial minorities, all deemed to be biologically inferior?

If he had more self-awareness, he would realise that his critique of pro-lifers applies exactly to him. His letter could have been titled: "Pro-animal life is pro-human death".

A ban in name only

In January, City Life magazine posted this news bulletin: "Following measures set by Chiang Mai governor Charoenrit Sa-nguansat, to ban burning effective for 80 days (Jan 10-April 30), local authorities in each area have been stressed to monitor and explain to local people to follow the measure."

Really? On Wednesday the AQI in Chiang Mai was 177, and it's been more or less like this for over a month.

Pray tell, why is it so difficult to enforce a simple burning ban? Violations cannot be hidden. We can all see and smell the smoke billowing into the sky, and feel it burning our eyes and lungs. Those of us who live in Chiang Mai feel the burn every day, and many are in the hospital as a result. Why is there no enforcement? What's the real story here?

Power minus thought

It is obviously not only the Thai army that considers itself sacred. Rayong Land Transport Office officials have delusions of grandeur way above their secular station and function.

I went to the office the other day to renew my driving licence. I was neatly dressed in a collared shirt, tailored shorts to just below the knees, and leather shoes. My hair is trimmed and I am clean shaven. I was even sporting a splash of Dunhill cologne, and if I say so myself, cut quite a dashing figure.

But I was turned away with the accusation that I was showing disrespect for not wearing long trousers.

What mindset is it that thinks this way?

Is it just petty bureaucracy or the bloody mindedness of bureaucrats in a boring, mindless, repetitive job whose only recourse is to demonstrate how much power they wield? I am sure it is not actually in the rule books. If it is, Thailand is even worse shape that I thought.

BTS derails English

The continuing development of Bangkok's public transit lines has been a boon not only for residents, but also for tourists. Using the BTS and MRT, visitors can now explore areas of the city that were much more difficult to access a decade ago. Our electric train lines are clean, fast and efficient.

I notice however that on new train cars on the BTS, the route maps are marked in Thai only. This seems like a rather shortsighted and thoughtless decision. Most visitors (as well as long-term expats) cannot read Thai. How will they figure out where they are and where they are going?

I do hope that someone from the BTS reads this letter and remedies the issue. Tourists are likely to view this situation as inconvenient and unfriendly.

Korat cacophony

It is very worrying that the rash of noisy motorbikes is not being taken seriously in Korat. At all hours of the day we are bombarded with extremely noisy motorbike and car exhausts.

There are laws in place to tackle this big problem, but nothing seems to be done. Who is responsible?

Rule by daily diktat

A government that appears to address problems on a day-to-day basis with little or no thought to the future, as this one seems to do, seems to me to be just as much of an existential threat as the PM2.5 problem and the fast-rising sea levels.

If I were under 40 years of age, I would be deeply worried about my future.