OPINION

River carnage a crime

Re: "Asean needs to act on Mekong River", (Editorial, Sept 30).

"The impacts on fisheries and rice crops in the downstream countries have been devastating and are well-documented."

And that's really all you need to know.

Sixty million people's lives will be harmed or destroyed by the thoughtless destruction of their natural environment for the gain of a few. It's a crime against humanity.

Thais must engage

Re: "Thai big media forced to rethink unwritten rules", (Opinion, Sept 28).

It was interesting to read Paritta Wangkiat saying that Thai journalists "are currently embroiled in debate as to how and to what extent they can report on matters pertaining to the monarchy".

In stark contrast, in the adjoining column Veera Prateepchaikul on the same day warns protesters that "while their cheerleaders remain safe from legal consequences, they aren't and may have to bear the full weight of the law".

What is apparent is reporting on the monarchy from abroad has become much more frequent and deference to the subject has all but vanished.

Given that this is the principal source of information for most Thais and is, practically speaking, uncontrollable, the refusal of the mainstream Thai media to enter the debate in an honest manner seems ridiculous.

Surely it's better to have the topic covered by Thais with their deeper knowledge and understanding of the subject.

Time to exit, general

Re: "Nida poll a wake-up call", (Editorial, Sept 29).

Yes, the Nida poll should be a wake-up call, telling Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha et al that while the junta can fool some of the people some of the time, they cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

Gen Prayut's Palang Pracharath Party still lags behind the opposition Pheu Thai and Move Forward parties in citizenry support.

Gen Prayut still cannot even keep his cabinet clean -- witness the General Watchman and Sinister Minister's heroin smuggler scandals.

On the economic front, our GDP growth rate is a third to a half that of Vietnam's. Gen Prayut can't even find a finance minister with the capability needed to join his cabinet.

Past time to exit, sir.

Change is good

When newly appointed army chief Gen Narongphan Jitkaewtae praises Gen Apirat Kongsompong, his predecessor, for being "resolute in his ideology", I interpret this to mean "being stubborn and inflexible, still seeing the world exactly the same way he did 40 years ago".

Not high praise in my opinion, but apparently not uncommon among many older people, some of whom would rather die than learn anything new.

Another way of looking at it, to paraphrase Muhammad Ali: "If a man looks at the world when he is 60 the same way he looked at it when he was 20 and it hasn't changed, then he has wasted 40 years of his life."