OPINION

Everyone's business

Re: "PM readies for rally showdown", (BP, Aug 20).

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said "foreign organisations should keep silent on Thailand's internal affairs, after some warned the government against using force against student protesters. The government had never used force against anyone...."

Studying in the US Deep South when racial segregation was legal, I often spoke out against the practice, always using my real name and identifying myself as being from Thailand. I was also the only non-white, non-black picket in my campus's equal rights organisation. To their credit, never once did anyone say or write that segregation was a US internal affair, not even my roommate, who believed that God had created whites superior to all other races. Even racists knew that "no man is an island" and that foreigners could give them unique points of view well worth considering.

Also, I've found that those who use the "internal affair" defence do so because they have no logic to support them. For example, how can students be charged with sedition for peacefully protesting against a government which originated from the forceful overthrow of an elected government? How can they be charged with breaking the emergency decree, when PM Prayut specifically said that peaceful political activity would be permitted under that decree?

FM Don, I suggest that you could do Thailand a great service by wedding truth to power, explaining the insights of foreigners to our cabinet and helping bring our actions into alignment with our welcome words supporting constitutionality and guaranteeing freedom of expression with accountability.

Stephen B Young in his Aug 19 article "John Locke and Thailand's future", conveniently clothes the Buddha in the robe of the father of liberalism. "English and American precedents would serve the Thai people much better today than the divisive and failed experiments of the French Revolution," he concludes. Young hardly mentions the destructive outgrowth of liberalism to extremist neoliberalism, which now rules our world. No wonder it turned ugly, as the liberal emphasis on the protection of private property of John Locke (later extended to corporate property) is in USA historically founded in the massive expropriation of indigenous land, genocide of Native Americans and centuries of commercial property over slaves.

Noble, classic liberals like Stephen Young cherish pure values which are detached from their extreme manifestations; but so do genuine progressives embracing the three values of the French Revolution: freedom, equality and community spirit. This pure triad of values (not necessarily questioning egalitarian monarchy) can be also clearly recognised in the 1947 Constitution of Independent India. However, when asked, Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution, explained that he derived these values not from the French Revolution, but from Buddhism as he understood it, namely as an emancipatory force. His fierce loyalty to his Asian roots, even though he had studied in France like Pridi Banomyong, stood tall. The Thai people, rather than being made to choose between the Anglo Saxon or the French model, would better dig deep into their own Asian cultural capital, rather than being lured into the adoption of American liberalism. Anyhow, Dr Ambedkar also studied in USA, far appreciated John Dewey over John Locke. Consequently, the way public trusteeship (a very useful notion!) is understood and promoted could be better guided by "Earth Trusteeship" as a modern interpretation of Sri Lankan Judge Weeramantry's legal vision, rather than by the "ethical" elite interpretation of Stephen B Young. Earth Trusteeship can be formulated as "all global citizens are equal trustees of the Earth" -- for the benefit of the "community of life" and future generations. This resonates well with the advice of Prof Thitinan Pongsudhirak, who wrote in the Bangkok Post on Dec 20, 2019: "For democracy to take root in the long term, Thai people should feel and act like they own the country in equal share, no one more than others. Previous constitutions, after all, stipulated that "sovereignty belongs to the people", implying that each and every Thai person owns Thai sovereignty, covering everything from territory and resources to the government".

It sounds like the police are a lot more afraid of breaking the law than the protest leaders they are arresting. Poor police. Given all the social media activity supporting these leaders that I have seen recently, it appears they really have their work cut out for them if they are serious about trying to shut disgruntled citizens up, leaders or no leaders.

I think the government needs to find some other solution to dealing with disgruntled citizens rather going on a campaign of mass arrests which will only make more of them and which is probably physically impossible as judging from social media activity, there seem to me to be far more disgruntled citizens here than police.

Re: "Police 'botched Boss report'", (BP, Aug 20). Surprise, surprise. Is there anything the Thai police have not botched these past few years? They botched the Boss investigation and report, they botched the Koh Tao investigation and report. They botched how many other important cases, where the need to look good, efficient and competent were at stake. A new bit of vocabulary should be coined. Instead of policeman, the new term should be botchman.

One way Thai academics may better promote their cause is by writing in a wide range of outlets, making their research more accessible to the broader community. Researchers can contribute to society in many ways besides teaching.

Having useful quality research read and engaged by many is a desire of many academics. However, researchers strive, mainly, to write for peer-review journals. The publish or perish mentality of academia compounds the problem, even when what is written may not be read. Only about one in five academic papers are cited and may be read by no more than 10 people. Variations occur across disciplines and even within disciplines, a few papers get the most citation. Hence, the consumption of peer-reviewed articles is limited.

Academics should reach out to the broader community by more significant interaction and writing in public forums. They are rarely seen in the districts except for occasional courses and field research. Even then, field research involves administering questionnaires. More than 90% of research in Thailand is quantitative. More qualitative research would mean investigators spending time interacting with the community, talking with the data providers, giving feedback on usage, explaining the purpose of the study and more.

Being questioned and giving explanations early into the research would help the researcher produce better quality results. The intimate knowledge and experience gained while explaining would help communicate the research contribution better to academia and even practitioners.

Some discoveries make their way into the community because of the researchers' self-promotion and the occasional curious journalist. Many of those papers have been misquoted and called out for promoting questionable results. Having scholars write for public domain media might contribute to a better understanding of the results by giving a better context of their investigation. Thus, misquoted and poor research drive debates on vaccination. Retraction Watch do try to put research in perspective but the site is suited to a highly educated audience.

Having findings returned to the community will contribute to a positive feedback loop where observations, projects and experiments become long-term ventures. Thailand has an oral preference, with some professors partaking in call-in programs and other discussion-type programmes. The fractured nature of the Thai broadcast industry means the dispersion is limited, especially when it is not about a topical issue. Academic research can be boring but engagement would reduce the opaque nature of the process.

In spreading findings internationally, Thai academics face a language problem. Some use expensive language editors who may not understand the content. Thus, the paper's language may be good, but meaning and content do not make sense. By writing in local English-language outlets, lecturers can develop a greater command of their language skills and explain their research better when writing for the global intellectual crowd.

By writing simply, the quality and usability of papers coming out of Thailand can actually improve. Einstein is reported to have said something along the lines that if one cannot explain a phenomenon to a six-year-old, one does not understand it. Scientists should be able to demonstrate their work plainly. Writing in social outlets would enhance the confidence to write in a more relaxed manner and not keep it needlessly esoteric.

Sixty-six-year-old Angela Merkel recently had a 90-minute meeting with Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and some of her German climate change activists.

To me Angela Merkel is an example for how a real leader should act.

RTP chief Chakthip Chaijinda claims the police are duty-bound to arrest student leaders (BP, Aug 21). Where was the policy duty when Suthep and his cronies, many having high positions in the present government, paralysed the country and torpedoed elections. Their behaviour is simply disgusting. I do not even want to talk about the "Boss" case.

Re: "A dry argument", (PostBag Aug 19).

The water wasted during Songkran does not come out of the Chao Phraya river, but from local stocks of treated drinking water, a totally different thing that cannot be compared to the cusecs of water flowing down through Bangkok's centre. It is also glaringly obvious that the re-use of shower water to flush toilets has to be an absolute water saver, possibly up to 50%, and this practice should be used where possible. Perhaps the water management team should team up with the water department engineer who told me, after five weeks with zero water coming through the mains, that my problem was caused by my water meter being of insufficient size and that installing a bigger one would solve the problem.

Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic there are still thousands of couples still separated. A petition has been conducted -- we have over 5,000 signatures asking for Thailand to please allow couples to reunite. Please make this petition public so the Thai government can hear our stories. I have been separated from my girlfriend now for nine months. I am missing my home, my girlfriend, my dog and there is no clear indication of when I can get back.

Many countries are now allowing loved ones to reunite. All we ask is that Thailand starts allowing people to reunite. We are all willing to follow the rules and we are all willing to go into quarantine. We would just all like the option of getting home to our families.

#LoveisNotTourismThailand