OPINION

Inquiring minds

Re: "Casual dress allowed at college exams," (BP, Nov 5).

While our Ministry of Education bureaucrats and university presidents are spending hours figuring out what to allow candidates to wear to entrance exams, my seven-year-old granddaughter is wrestling with such questions in class as "How can I be a responsible citizen?" and "How can I make a better world?"

Shouldn't all of our teachers have the same eager, exploring, questioning mindset as those at her school?

Re: "Casual dress allowed at college exams," (BP, Nov 5).

In his remarks railing against the notion that students be allowed to dress in comfort when taking exams, Atthaphon Sangkhawasee, the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Education, should have presented a compelling factual argument for his stance.

It is presumably because they always wear such "uniforms ... closely tied to ... behaviour, discipline, responsibility, and morality," that the Royal Thai Police and Royal Thai Army are likewise respected for setting an example for excellence, with never any hint of corruption, malfeasance, coup-plotting, or engaging in any underhand, if not outright criminal, behaviour.

Re: "2 held over B16m diamond scam", (BP, Nov 5).

If the diamonds were fake as alleged, they could not possibly be worth B16m as police claim.

Re: "Curbs on small distillers eased," (BP, Nov 2).

For many years, it's been nearly impossible for any Thai organisation to brew beer to sell. Now, it looks as though the Singha and Chang corporations might have to (probably reluctantly) see that happen.

Hard liquor, however, is still under strict minimum production quotas. In other words, if you have a company which can crank out 88,000 litres of fermented rice juice (also known as rice whiskey or moonshine), then you cannot legally operate in Thailand, because that's deemed too small a quantity.

Re: "Don't let Putin turn Ukraine into Aleppo," (Opinion, Nov 3).

You published on Nov 3 a commentary by Bret Stephens, which originally appeared in The New York Times, concerning the bombing of Ukraine by Russians. Without taking sides, it might be interesting to read what the NYT said in similar circumstances a few years ago.

NYT, May 4, 1999: Nato broadened the scope of the air strikes on Monday and attacked Yugoslavia's electrical system crossing a threshold in the 40-day campaign in a bombing that had an immediate and widespread effect on the Yugoslav people [...]

"The fact that lights went out across 70 percent of the country shows that Nato has its finger on the light switch now," said Nato spokesman Jamie Shea. "We can turn the power off whenever we need to and whenever we want to."

Re: "It's all history," (PostBag, Nov 4).

In his letter on the history of British colonisation in India, Bob Heywood nevertheless forgot key facts, and therefore gives an incorrect picture. He claims that Indian democracy was introduced by Britain. He has obviously forgotten about the many years that men like Gandhi and Nehru had to fight to get India her independence. It was not "given" but "earned." These efforts took many years and many lives.

No laughing matter

I, too, am extremely disappointed that three of the four comic strips I followed daily are now gone.