OPINION

Not state business

Re: "New laws eyed after unwanted headlines", (BP, May 7).

The National Office of Buddhism is considering making sex between Buddhist monks and their partners a criminal offence, instead of just having the monks liable to be defrocked.

I suggest that breaking a religious tenet should not be a criminal matter. All religions are equal before the law in this country.

If, for example, a Hindu in Thailand sinned by eating beef or a Christian worshipped Lord Buddha, they might be expelled under their religion's practices -- but not jailed.

Here, several monks had sex with consenting adults.

If some were married or were underage, we have criminal laws to cover such cases already.

But if they were single and of age, I suggest it's not the state's business.

Re: "PM defies efforts to oust him from office" (BP, May 7).

When he proclaims that "We are transforming the country for the better and they (his loyal coalition members) are willing to work with me," it must be wondered from what dictionary Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha got his understanding of the verb "transform".

The peacefully protesting youth, the Bad Students movement, and Move Forward have a clear vision of a transformed Thai nation.

When looking at the prime minister's record and the Thailand he appears determined to keep exactly as it was last century by actively suppressing honest, peaceful calls for openness or accountability that might lead to actual transformation, it is hard to see anything transformative.

Have I failed to see something?

Re: "Living with Russia", (PostBag, April 26).

I agree with the points made in the first paragraph of Mr. Kuldeep Nagi's post of April 26.

He goes on to say that "Ukraine must realize that it has to live with Russia, its immediate neighbour".

But I would like to offer a correction to this sentence "Russia must realize that it has to live with Ukraine, its immediate neighbour".

Yes, Ukraine joining the EU will make it free. Should they join and then decide to leave, they are assured that no EU country will invade them.

All the talk about nuclear strikes (only by Russia, I might add) is the posturing of a weak nation that has been proven to be a paper tiger with nukes. Everyone should remember the "MAD" doctrine -- Mutual Assured Destruction.

Re: "Thai Pass tipped to ease", ( BP, May 6).

The Thai Health minister should change his name to "Antin Xenophobic Charnvirakul". Someone should educate His Excellency that the virus does not differentiate among nationalities.

All these schemes are designed to scam foreign tourists and feed the coffers of hotels and insurance companies.

Thais were never required to buy insurance and keeping this requirement is obviously aimed at foreigners.

Re: "Thinking cap", (PostBag, May 8).

Pulling the plug means to stop whatever it is you were doing. It's a reference to that plug, not that plug.

So the headline about pulling the plug on the diesel cap is entirely appropriate.