OPINION

Beyond populism

Re: "Saving the amnesty bill", (Editorial, Oct 9).

In its call to remove Section 112 offences from Move Forward's proposed amnesty bill, the Bangkok Post fails to even mention such considerations as justice, democratic principle, or good public morals.

Move Forward is right to include Section 112 offenders in its amnesty bill. Unlike dubious populist policies promising easy money, this policy is just, it comports with democratic principles, and it will encourage the open dialogue essential to informed opinion.

Annoyingly effective

Re: "How PETA infiltrated many fashion shows", (BP, Oct 8).

Kudos to BP for running The New York Times article about PETA protesting fashion shows that exploit animals. I know many people don't like PETA's tactics. And many people hate me for aggressively promoting animal rights.

None of us like being hated. But it's nothing compared to the horrible suffering animals endure when they're exploited for clothes, food research, etc. Only when the movement became more militant did people take notice, and things began to improve. I really wish politeness worked. But it doesn't!

Khalistan haven?

Re: "Sikhs get bad rap", (PostBag, Oct 1) & "The roots of the India-Canada spat", (Opinion, Oct 7).

The above letter writer is correct in asserting that most Sikhs are law-abiding citizens who do not engage in terrorist-based activities in either India or Western-based countries such as Canada.

Nonetheless, he ignores the fact that Canada has now become a haven for the "Khalistan Movement", as the majority of Sikhs who wish to carve out an independent homeland for themselves free of India now live in Canada, syndicated columnist Brahma Cellaney points out.

Tin-hat territory?

Re: "End is not near", (PostBag, Oct 7).

It takes minimal research to find the source of Michael Setter's claim that original data has been tampered with to prove that global temperatures are rising rather than falling.

This latest nugget of misinformation, most probably originating from an article in The Daily Sceptic, is doing the rounds of the conspiracy-theory cohorts on social media.

It has been fact-checked to death, and detailed rebuttals are all over the internet.

PostBag's editor must know that this sort of nonsense is mischief-making but seems set on allowing Mr Setter and a few others. It is hardly that there is a paucity of thought-provoking commentary in the letters on the same page as Khun Michael's latest missive, so no excuse at all for the inclusion of his letter.

At the very least, the gratuitous insult aimed at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should have been edited out, and I'm 100% sure I would have been red-inked if I'd tried to slip in an extraneous comment completely off-topic, such as: "It is how we got 'safe and effective from useless and deadly'", referring of course to Covid-19 vaccines.