OPINION

No more lip service

Re: "PM wants 'Boss' found," (BP, Dec 28).

Call me a Doubting Thomas, but does PM Prayut really, really want Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, accused of the hit-and-run death of a cop in 2012?

The Associated Press located and photographed the fugitive without much trouble in 2017, and the Daily Mail newspaper reported, with pictures, that "social media shows (Boss) has been living the high life in Venice, Japan, and attending F1 races around the world. On April 8, 2017, he was seen leaving a £5m (208.3 million baht) property in West London".

Khun Nate Naksuk, former director-general of the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), handled this case with gross negligence and dropped a charge of reckless driving causing death against Khun Vorayuth.

For that, Khun Nate was dismissed from the civil service -- but since he'd already resigned, the dismissal was punishment in name only. And, evidently, there's been no investigation of Khun Nate for a quid pro quo for the dismissal.

PM Prayut credibly commissioned graft fighter Vicha Mahakun to find why the Royal Thai Police and OAG have been unable to bring Boss to justice. Khun Vicha's panel handed their report on reforming the two agencies to PM Prayut -- who has been assiduously hiding it from taxpayers for the past two years.

PM Prayut, no more lip service. Open Khun Vicha's report to the public -- now.

Re: "State of mind," (PostBag, Dec 28).

"When one comes to the essence of being, the shining wisdom of reality illumines all like the cloudless sky." These are the words of the incomparable Tibetan sorcerer, murderer and Buddhist yogi, Milarepa, who was born in the 11th century. They are clearly not the words of Kuldeep Nagi.

Please do not confuse Mr Nagi's statements, "Just as light and darkness cannot coexist, peace and negativity cannot coexist. Hence, happiness will always depend on the state of our mind," with true wisdom.

Reality, truth or happiness is a transcendental matter, not dependent upon conditions. Whether they consist of thought, emotion, knowledge or the weather, conditions do not change the nature of reality one bit. It is better to ponder a single teaching of Milarepa once than to read all of Mr Nagi's (or my) contributions to Postbag for a thousand lifetimes.

Re: "Liberty of speech", (PostBag, December 27).

Samuel Wright goes to lengths to address Felix Qui's criticisms of his earlier letter in which he advocates a "citizen military" (whatever that may mean).

However, he ignores my letter in which I asked him what country he is from, whether that country has conscription, and whether Mr Wright has been conscripted and served in his country's army.

This is important, because as I said, it is my experience that it is often those who are not subject to conscription who are its most vocal supporters.

Come on Mr Wright. It is time for you to 'fess up.