OPINION

Let's see Vicha report

Re: "Nate probe a let-down", (May 19).

Former director of the Office of the Attorney-General Nate Naksuk will be dismissed -- but with a pension -- for deciding not to indict Red Bull heir Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhaya, who hit and killed a cop a decade ago and fled.

To his credit, years ago PM Prayut appointed former National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Vicha Mahakun to find why Boss hadn't been brought to justice. Vicha's panel promptly found that -- surprise, surprise! -- our judicial system badly needs reform, including the RTP and OAG. The panel recommended changes to the Criminal Code and at least six laws, including those concerning the timeframe in criminal investigation and forensic procedures, and laws supervising police and public prosecutors.

PM Prayut vowed to make the panel report public -- and instantly buried it deep.

Let's support and pressure Prayut to publicise the Vicha panel report and act on it -- now.

Rat trap

Re: "Thais dream of democracy", (Editorial, May 18).

In a culture where bigger vehicles cut in front of smaller ones, and smaller vehicles willingly give way to bigger ones, regardless of traffic laws, where the young and those of lower status refer to themselves as "rats" in the face of the older and those of "higher status", what chance does real democracy have?

In a real democracy everyone is equal; young and old, big and small, rich and poor, white and brown. I sometimes doubt even the young generation who have taken to the streets recently truly understand this concept.

Potted jeopardy

There is a simple measure the Bangkok governor can take to enhance pedestrian safety before there is an accident.

The plant-pot supports on many lamp posts have slipped to eye level. Their pointed ends are a hazard for tall people.

Such hazards can be seen near Sukhumvit Soi 26. I have seen similar ones on Sathon.

An unsure thing

Re: "Chadchart 'no shoe-in for governor'", (BP, 8 May).

Because he wears boots? Or sandals? Or perhaps you mean 'shoo-in'?.

Not up to the mark

Re: "BMA fails capital's children in need", (Opinion, May 11).

To say that I was shocked what the above writer stated would be putting it mildly, to say the least.

I always assumed that Bangkok had the smartest and best students in the nation. While this may be true to a certain extent, the fact remains that the children attending the schools run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Association (BMA) are being short-changed. The poorest children of the lower classes attend BMA schools.

It has been found that only about a third of the 31,796 elementary school students in the BMA go on to attend high schools in the system. And that only 11 of 50 districts even have high schools; and of the approximately 11,000 Mathayom 3 students in the BMA, only 1,636 of them went on to attend M4 last year. Most incredibly, only about a third of the 31,796 students in the BMA go on to attend high schools in the system.

Even worse, the test scores of BMA students are lower than others in almost all subjects by both national and international standards, especially in maths and science.

According to TDRI researcher and writer Thunhavich Thitiratsakul, about 5% of the students who did not complete high school in the BMA go on to complete studies elsewhere. And what about the rest of them? Well, no data exists on their whereabouts now!

So clearly, something has got to change here. Hopefully the new incoming governor will do something to address the imbalances, the above writer proclaims.

According to the writer, instead of using a top-down approach in which one size fits all, the leaders of the BMA must let those at the top of local schools make decisions which best suit them.

Further, schools which do not have enough teachers must be able to get teachers from places where there is an excess of them who are not doing much.

Finally, money must be better spent on helping students, instead of just on teacher salaries, which account for well over 50% of the money spent by the board.

Critical point

Re: "Vegan stoicism", (PostBag, May 14).

Actually I'm concerned about David Brown's mental health. What kind of a person would spend hours with letters I've written in the last year if he thinks my letters are so awful. He must be a masochist.

Not only do my critics remember everything that I write, they even "remember" things that I didn't write. I was recently accused on a BP forum of "lying" about an organisation I never even heard of!

Now suppose someone wrote a PostBag letter claiming the moon is made out of cream cheese. I would just laugh and not bother to respond.

My point is that if my critics are so convinced that I'm ridiculous they wouldn't be so obsessed with me. They're not obsessed because they think I'm wrong; they're obsessed because they are terrified that I might be right! And that's why they attack me personally instead of refuting my arguments, which they can't do.

Sainted tradition

Re: "This is the way", (PostBag, May 20).

Your correspondent explains sex scandals and corruption in Buddhism by informing us that failings must be first seen and understood before being transcended. Nothing new there.

As St Augustine wrote apologetically in his Confessions: "God make me chaste but not just yet." In the last two millennia countless priests have enthusiastically followed that reassuring creed.

Shoulder chip

Kuldeep Nagi's letters have defended Russia's right to its unprovoked war against Ukraine and criticised USA sanctions which he claims "damages the reputation of the West" in helping Ukraine. Now we know why. His PostBag letter May 17, 2022, cites "the 1990s when the USA sanctioned India for testing nuclear weapons". Because of his ethnic background, Mr Nagi obviously has a colossal chip on his shoulder.

Made his day

Re: "Vegan Stoicism" (PostBag, May 14), "Turkish Delight" (PostBag, May 15) and "Marcos victory no surprise", (Editorial, May 15).

These following writers made my day -- one being sarcasm at its best and two being thought-provoking.

First, David Brown was gradual in his description of Eric Bahrt, like a concerto and reaching its crescendo at the end, asking Eric Bahrt to stop reading and writing to Bangkok Post for the sake of his mental health.

Secondly, Miro King made me question my agreement with the prospect of Finland joining Nato. Mr King made the good point of remaining peace-loving while the going is tough and with Ukraine being only one problem. Changing Finland's eight-decade stand of neutrality at this juncture does not help the world be peaceful, unless it is a ploy to use at the negotiation table for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Finally, the Editorial lead on Marcos Jr's victory was a timely response to the surprise of Bong Bong's landslide victory of 30 million votes against the closest rival of 14 million. To me, the quoted examples in the comments of other countries as in Malaysia are convincing arguments that Asians care less than others about democratic rule. India has always been cited as a great example of democracy. However, in term of progress and economic well-being, China, a country lesser democratic than India, outpaces India by leaps and bounds. The words of Sir Winston on democracy as the least worst form of government may now be open for challenge.

Balance due

Re: "Grim reflections in the mirror of Ukraine crisis", (Opinion, May 20) and "The West has got its Russia sanctions all wrong", (Opinion, May 13).

Although greatly surprised, I was pleased to see that you have published a substantial letter from the Russian Ambassador to Thailand, in which HE Evgeny Tomikhin explains the Russian point of view regarding the war in Ukraine, and mention some important historical facts, and the hypocrisy of the West. Although I do not agree with some of his analysis, many of his views reflect mine. Especially the one about giving Ukraine US$40 billion worth of arms, extremely destructive arms, without taking due care of the American taxpayer! This is not humanitarian help -- they are weapons of destruction, which will prolong the war and enrich the American arms industry.

Another good article, by Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman on May 14, succinctly explained the futility of the current form of ineffective Western sanctions against Russia, which hurts the West, and especially the smaller members of the alliance, was also very timely.

Please publish more of such articles which would give a more balanced analysis to the whole argument than the endless, biased, subjective hysterical Western propaganda.

Also investigate the substantial, historically strong opposition in Sweden to abandoning neutrality and joining Nato.

And bring into it Turkish president Erdogan's views too.