OPINION

Stop wasting money

Re: "PM defends defence spending," (BP, June 1).

PM Prayut staunchly defends proposed military expenditure for next year, saying that "most of the [military] budget will be spent on salaries, funding core missions and developing the armed forces".

But that begs the question: What should our military's headcount be? The UK has about our population -- yet, in 2020, the UK's full-time trained armed forces numbered 144,200 in the army, naval, and air arms including reserves. The source for this information is the House of Commons library. In contrast, we have 360,850 active duty troops plus 200,000 reserves.

The UK's been a world power for centuries with far, far fewer people carrying weapons than what we have now. For us to be a Southeast Asia power with the UK's headcount should be child's play. We should reduce our military headcount by two thirds over three years and use the savings to fight Covid-19 and revive our economy.

War not the answer

Re: "Myanmar military fails to quell protests four months after coup," (Online, June 1).

Dictatorship must be resisted, but a civil war is not the solution. Dictatorship in Myanmar's history has never been good for the people and the country.

The people of Myanmar feel and know from history that another dictatorship will regress the country they love and ultimately lead it to ruins like previous dictators under Ne Win, Sein Lwin, Maung Maung, and Than Shwe.

Dictatorial regimes in the past were unfair, corrupt and self-serving.

But a civil war would be worse than the current seemingly dictatorial regime.

A full scale civil war would wreck the country's economy. Businesses that were closed would be unlikely to open anytime soon.

Thus, workers will be unable to return to their jobs, leaving millions of people with empty pockets. A civil war would make schools impossible to open. The future of any country is damaged and irreparably damaged whenever its children are not educated to the full extent of their talents.

And if a full-blown civil war were to break out, an estimated eight out of every 10 students will be unable to go to school.

I advocate for leaders from the civilian government and the military regime to talk in one room. And work on a compromise solution that promises a federal democratic future and the return for normalcy for the average person immediately while making some concessions politically, for now.

That is important because Myanmar needs to get out of the recession that Myanmar is currently experiencing. Otherwise, the recession will later become a depression.

See real problems

Re: "Covid perspective," (PostBag, June 2).

"Why not a headline on how many Thais died from heart disease? How many Thais died yesterday from vehicle accidents or cancer?"

Dear Eric: Unlike Covid, heart disease, vehicle accidents and cancer are not infectious diseases that can be transmitted in the air.

See the difference?

It is good that we are made aware that Covid is still very much up and running so that we continue to take precautions such as masks, social distancing and vaccination.