OPINION

Justice? Money talksey talks

Re: "Thai justice system overhaul overdue", (Opinion, July 31).

High-profile cases are never pursued seriously by the Thai criminal justice system. It is quite evident that public prosecutors and judges side with people with fat wallets. This has become the hallmark of the Thai justice system, NACC and other entities. These agencies have gained the same reputation as the country's notorious massage parlours.

Petty criminals, innocent mushroom pickers, student activists and others with loud voices are sent to jail. And those with money fly away and cannot be traced, even with the help of Interpol. The Thai system of governance itself may be on trial in the court of public opinion but be assured Thitinan Pongsudhirak, nothing much will happen to inspire confidence in these institutions. It is the same story in countries bordering Thailand. They all have one thing in common in their justice system: show me the men or women and we will find the crime.

A quote by Suzy Kassem, an Egyptian-born American writer, fully captures the state of affairs in Thailand. "When people can get away with crimes just because they are wealthy or have the right connections, the scales are tipped against fairness and equality. The weight of corruption then becomes so heavy that it creates a dent that forces the world to become slanted, so much so that justice just slips off."

Re: "Thai justice system overhaul overdue", (Opinion, July 31).

But it's not just limited to the Red Bull case. An election result was overturned by the EC changing the party-list MPs' calculation. An incredible 30+ charges were filled against the FFP and 25 of their MPs were simply bought off with huge bribes. Not only did the Constitutional Court ban their party and leaders, they urged the courts to go back and file criminal charges against the leaders for possible jail sentences. It's impossible to fight the whole state judicial system. And now it's left to the students to voice their anger, youngsters who should be concentrating on their studies etc, rather than being the catalyst for reform.

Re: "Cocaine in Boss for dentistry", (BP, July 31).

When are the police and other officials going to stop treating the Thai public like imbeciles, with their constant restructuring of the events surrounding Boss's fatal traffic accident.

First, we learn of two new witnesses who came forward years after the event. Next, new analysis is supposedly presented to show Boss was driving within the speed limit, not at 177kph as assessed by the original expert witness.

Now we are supposed to believe that cocaine found in Boss's body was because of dental work. Nonsense! The use of cocaine-based anesthetics is now discredited. Even if it were true, Boss still has the responsibility not to drive under the influence of an alcohol-cocaine cocktail.

In Australia, when dentists or doctors administers an anesthetic they warn you that you must not drink alcohol or drive for 24 hours. Do Thai dentists and doctors do the same? If not, why not?

"One of the two witnesses whose testimony reportedly convinced prosecutors to drop all charges against Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya died following a motorcycle crash in Chiang Mai province in the early hours of Thursday", from a Bangkok Post online story. Perhaps divine intervention and retribution for bearing false witness and lying (probably for financial gain). Who knows? But it proves that what goes around, comes around, and we all get our just desserts at the very end. Some desserts are poisonous.

It appears one of the so-called witnesses in the Yoovidhya case was just killed in a motorcycle accident in Chiang Mai. One down, one to go. Perhaps the all-seeing eye of the Buddha is indeed watching.

Re: "Unravelling Iran's nuclear thresholds game", (Opinion, July 29).

It is a misplaced notion perpetuated by leaders during the Cold War that having a nuclear arsenal makes a country powerful. Yet the Cold War era culminated in a dismal outcome: the development of more and more lethal weapons. Every nuclear nation, whether it be the US, Russia, China, India or Pakistan, is struggling with their economies. Some so-called "nuclear powers" -- India, Pakistan and North Korea -- have a huge population living in utter poverty. For these countries, the race to become a strategic power player by developing nuclear weapons has resulted in huge suffering for their people. Every aspiring nation, including Iran, must learn lessons from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Hence nuclear nations must abandon their arsenals to prompt others to invest more in their people and economies, rather than tanks, bombs, drones and missiles. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us one important lesson: a virus can kill people in any country, including those who take pride in having the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction.

In an online story, a scientist sticks to his evaluation of the car speed, 177kph, during the 2012 collision of the Red Bull brat and a police motorcycle. The story goes on to report: "Two new specialist witnesses, police majors, inspected the damage to the Ferrari and the victim's motorcycle. They compared it to other accidents and agreed the Ferrari had not exceeded 80kph."

Will these police "experts" kindly let us know how qualified they are, their training and experience, to be qualified in determining the speed of that Ferrari? The police force is plagued with too many experts. Speed determining experts, investigative experts, forensic experts, experts on experts, etc. This is what led to the convictions of two Myanmar kids on Koh Tao a few years ago. Their fate was determined by police "experts". A police "expert" is another euphemism for an incompetent bungler, (or one probably paid to "drink tea").

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic being far from conquered, the Malaysian political scene is wrought with landmines.

The democratically elected government under the Pakatan Harapan (Hope Coalition) was attacked with a sledgehammer and taken over in a political coup right in the thick of the global coronavirus outbreak.

Now, as the country gingerly treads a potential second wave of the ravaging pandemic, the Sabah state government has been dissolved, making way for an election.

Such shocking political manoeuvres clearly indicate that there is a serious political war gaining speed in Malaysia as the political brokers throw health and safety to the wind.

Patriotic, peace-loving Malaysians see themselves helplessly caught in this political plotting and war games while businesses are suffering and job losses by the hundreds keep mounting up.

Meanwhile, the cost of living is hitting the ceiling but who cares?

Whatever the ordinary citizens hoped for and fought hard to free themselves from the overwhelming bondage of a six-decade-old political grip on power by the Barisan Nasional has come crashing down.

The price to pay for this political instability is something that investors will not want to gamble with, for sure.

The economy is set to freeze and turn threateningly fragile in a global climate of uncertainties including inclement and unprecedented weather challenges.

Will Malaysia sink far below its neighbouring Southeast Asian fraternity, owing to the unstoppable political battles raging there?

Only time will tell. And it will not be long either given the unprecedented challenges of the century plaguing the world over. Indeed, what the country is becoming is very sad, thanks to the unabated corruption of decades that has seeped through every fabric of the Malaysian society that once basked in the promise of being an "Asian Tiger".

The government is twisting itself into a pretzel to try to downplay the suffering of monkeys forced to pick coconuts ("Farm tour to allay abuse claim", 27 July) but the evidence is irrefutable: pigtail macaques are kidnapped from nature when they're babies, cruelly trained to pick coconuts, and forced to work day in and day out, all while being chained 24/7.

Peta's video footage is crystal clear and denying the evidence will not make it go away.

Aroy-D and Chaokoh use coconuts from farms that enslave monkeys. Peta contacted both companies before the findings from our undercover investigation were made public, but much like the government, it appears they hoped that ignoring the empirical evidence would make it disappear. They were wrong.

Coconut milk buyers around the world have made it clear they won't buy anything made from forced monkey labour and companies around the world are pledging to end sales of these products.

The government and the coconut industry must focus their attention and efforts on implementing humane, animal-free coconut-picking methods used by other coconut-growing regions. Until then, Peta will continue to push to get monkeys out of the industry.

I hope our new Bank of Thailand governor is aware of what your freelance economist pointed out recently, that a new stimulus package is needed as we are facing 20%-plus unemployment in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

With online shopping and home delivery all the rage because of Covid-19 when is this government going to get its act together and change the home address system to something that actually gives the deliverer a place to go? As it is, I'm sure I'm like so many other people, spending a lot of time on the phone trying to explain where my house is.

Simply changing the numbering system from this archaic system to a rising numerical street number would be a start. Or do as England has and give every home a postal code that can be entered into GPS.

Almost anything would be an improvement on what we have.