OPINION

Reforms overdue

Re: "Cops red-faced as scandals rock force", and "Whistleblowers expose misconduct", (BP, Feb 13).

We should do the top-to-bottom reform the Royal Thai Police needs now. Decentralisation of the RTP so they'd be accountable to the locals they'd sworn to protect was a key part of Pol Gen Vasit Dejkunjorn's proposed reforms -- echoed by ex-graftbuster Vicha Mahakun. Perhaps protection of his own self-interest was why PM Prayut has buried Khun Vicha's report from public sight for over two years and counting. Now, with RTP scandals proliferating in every nook and cranny, elections around the corner, and the debate in parliament this week, voters should push Gen Prayut to release Khun Vicha's report to the public. Parties also should commit to timeline-specific RTP reforms.

Re: "Drinking perils", (BP, Feb 13).

As I open my morning newspaper and sip my morning coffee, I could not agree more with Ken Albertson on several points. First, he is 100% correct that it is wrong to take some college student with no record, or a disadvantaged minority, and lock him up for ages just because he had one or two speed pills in his pocket.

But, more to the point, speed (amphetamine) can be used in certain patients with medical problems that drain their energy, like chemo patients, and those with intractable sleep apnea. It also can be used in patients with ADHD, severe obesity and narcolepsy.

I conclude by saying that I don't know about discos for all, but I do know that life is not much fun for people in those circumstances, and fun is a necessary part of living. So as long as it's prescribed by a doctor and carried in clearly marked containers, then I'm liberal enough to say that I think a little "recreational" use is perfectly fine, and for those people, I'm totally cool with cannabis and speed.

I'm not always as conservative as regular readers might believe.

For a long time, I have been aware of the arrest of protesters and the fact that many of them couldn't get bail and remained in detention for many weeks. Being completely un-lawyerly and having no great interest in the subject, I nevertheless had a quick look at the English translation of the 2017 Constitution.

What I found surprised me because it doesn't appear to have been mentioned anywhere in the press. Section 29, 2nd paragraph says: "A suspect or defendant in a criminal case shall be presumed innocent, and before the passing of a final judgement convicting a person of having committed an offence, such person shall not be treated as a convict."

As I understand it, the non-violent protester who shared an audio clip and was sentenced to a record jail term was held in pre-trial detention for four years, and Pai Dao Din was in detention for six months.

That sounds very much to me like being treated as a convict, or am I missing something?