Unhappy ingrates

re: "Campaign begins to impeach NACC" (BP, December 29)

Dear editor,

In his response to those Thai citizens to whom happiness has not been returned by its scrupulously timed ruling on the deputy Prime Minister general's sufficiently impressive wrist adornments, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) secretary-general is certainly correct when he insists "that the NACC's work had been done in accordance with the law."

Why does such loyal service by the rule of law so upset the unhappy ingrates? Who, after all, would go to all the trouble of selflessly staging a coup in order to make up a new rule of law without the natural expectation that rulings be made in strict accordance with their reformed rule of law?


 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 30, 2018, under the title "Unhappy ingrates" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1602906/let-investigators-do-their-job
  

When reality bites

re: "Time for Prayut to show his integrity" (Editorial, December 16)

Dear editor,

The Bangkok Post might feel that former army general Prayut Chan-o-cha, long reborn as prime minister, "is obliged to observe political etiquette and ensure fairness in the game"; the reality is manifestly otherwise: the only thing that the self-made politician feels obliged to do is whatever he himself wants to do. That is, after all, why he joined that long line of self-promoting Thai political animals who jumped from being members of Thailand's costly army of politicking army generals to self-elected supremo politicians without the inconvenience of  civil election or other such respect for political decency. As the Bible's Jeremiah (13:23) long ago realized, the leopard cannot change his spots.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 17, 2018, under the title "When reality bites" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1595362/picture-ban-is-telling
  

Dictator apologist

re: "PM blasts Thaksin's charter rewrite proposal" (BP, December 14)

Dear editor,

Suthep Thaugsuban's deceitful piece of unreason, that "The constitution received 16.8 million votes in its favour [in] the referendum, so everyone must respect the people's decision," is fully  consistent with the reaction of the self-elected current prime minister to former Prime Minister, now convicted felon, Thaksin Shinawatra's critical comments pointing out that Section 272 effectively turns the senate into a tool to hold on to political power, which amounts to legalized corruption. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has been loyally served by the anti-democratic PDRC instigator since 2010, according to Suthep's own admission in June of 2014, when he boasted that they began colluding that early to overthrew the previous supreme law of the Thai nation, the 19th constitution.

Naturally, dictators do not want amendments to the constitution made up at their behest to further their own agenda untrammelled by democratic values. It's a sad thing when even the likes of Thaksin can teach good governance to the ruling politicians gloriously self-amnestied. But it cannot surprise that the likes of Suthep and other apologists for dictatorship repeat the falsehood that an election automatically confers democratic merit.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 15, 2018, under the title "Dictator apologist" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1594494/dictator-apologist
  

Ban crime films now!

re: "Suspect says movies inspired him to B6m gold burglary" (BP, December 7)

Dear editor,

It is a matter of the gravest concern that a gold shop robber has admitted that watching "several films. …  about robberies … gave him the idea to imitate them." It is obviously essential to immediately ban all films about robbery, theft or other crimes before they corrupt vulnerable youth and adults, thereby leading to a flood of such crimes! Thai society plainly hangs in the balance. To save it, these wicked films that corrupt the good morals of viewers must be strictly prohibited forthwith before it is too late!

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 10, 2018, under the title "Ban crime films now!" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1590794/ban-crime-films-now
  

Sheer happiness for the 1%

re: "Report: Thailand most unequal country in 2018" (BP, December 7)

Dear editor,

Who would not be impressed by the report from Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2018, which ranks Thailand comfortably at number one at last?

In 2016, Thailand's 1% elite owned only 58% of the nation's wealth, but the unremitting efforts of those selfless lads who took over to correct such states of affairs have managed to boost that to 66.9% ownership by the 1% this year. For those threatened by the good morals of democracy, another coup was clearly the sound investment strategy. And with Thailand's Gini Index "at a whopping 90.2,"  it is obvious what sort of ingrates complain about the state of the state.

The joy of coups: returning happiness to the 1%.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 9, 2018, under the title "Sheer happiness for the 1%" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1590390/sheer-happiness-for-the-1
  

Peasants, behave!

re: "Enough of the iron grip" (Editorial, December 7)

Dear editor,

The trouble from the dictators' point of view is that ungrateful Thai citizens, despite an amazing Gini index of 90.2 courtesy of those same self-made old boys, cannot be relied upon to mindlessly obey unless a little fatherly coercion is used, hence the urgent need for morally corrupt laws to be strictly enforced by the morally challenged politicians who stole the Thai nation by overthrowing the previously existing form of democratic constitutional monarchy, which was obviously not doing enough to keep the 1% in control of the nation and their servants.

As the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2018 shows, the economy is much happier now, with the 1% owning a more respectable 66.9% of everything Thai. And those upstart peasants are firmly back under heel.

Why risk what is so obviously returning happiness to all save the 99% of low worth ingrates?

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 8, 2018, under the title "Peasants, behave!" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1589922/peasants-behave
  

Keep expectations low

re: "Dire need for elected Senate" (Editorial, December 6)

Dear editor,

Such values as transparency, openness and respect for the nation's people, even to allowing them a voice in determining the form of their government and society, characterizing democracy's moral superiority over dictatorship, it would be contrary to reason to expect dictators or their laws made up to benefit dictatorship to respect such. You might as well expect the basic right of free speech to be respected, thereby posing a dire threat to traditional corruption by allowing a well-informed understanding of national affairs, which understanding must leave devoutly promoted falsehoods open to correction.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 7, 2018, under the title "Keep expectations low" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1589106/keep-expectations-low
  

Dance of discord

re: "'Khon' dance no reason for discord" (Editorial, December 2)

Dear editor,

It is nice that Cambodia's and Thailand's local versions of the Indian epic have been awarded UN recognition. Who, other than that fugitive former Thai PM who famously boasted in March 2003 that "the UN is not my father," would not be proud of such august recognition to confirm their worth?  Will the currently ruling PM general (ret.) now also start to admire the UN suggestions that Thailand respect democracy and human rights, or will he favour the policy of the great fugitive?

But I also wonder: could the Post kindly tell us how many Thai people have ever seen a khon performance, unless forced to sit through one on a school outing? How many Thais today have any interest in doing so? Is it closer to 10% of the population, to 99%, or to 1%? This is a relevant statistic, but I was unable to find any figure. My guess is that it's much closer to 1% than to 10%, but I might be totally wrong. Like other  myths of amazing Thainess, could it be that solid, factual statistics are banned on the grounds that they would reveal truths that do not comport with enforced fantasies? Is Thai nationalism founded on nothing more substantial than myths told by unseen players hiding behind masks lest reality become known? The symbolism seems all too literal.

In fairness, I am reminded of the West. Our cultural font is Homer's "Iliad," yet how many citizens of Western nations have ever read him in any language? Brad Pitt and Eric Bana's mild-mannered version in "Troy" is nice, but that niceness doesn't really do Homer justice. How many have thrilled to that blood soaked tale of vengeance, loyalty and humanity, complete with gore, sex, violence, sexual violence, betrayal, randy gods acting with full human capriciousness, and with a healthy contempt for decidedly non-divine but human, all too human, kings? These elements of Homer all helped the West rise above the despotic Middle East ruled over by the likes of the dictatorial Yahweh, who gave birth to the Christian god and then to Allah, all three claiming an unbelievable, and unbelievably inhuman, omnipotent benevolence that must be held in awe, or else. 

Naturally, severe dissociation from reality goes hand in hand with frothing nationalism.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 3, 2018, under the title "Dance of discord" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1586446/dance-of-discord
  

The joke of law

re: "Ray of hope for rule of law" (Editorial, November 30)

Dear editor,

The impressively slow progress on Premchai Karnasuta's case for alleged poaching in a national wildlife sanctuary can surprise no one. It exemplifies perfectly why Thai people do not trust Thai justice, or rather, Thai rule of law posing as justice. Even when the law manages to be just, it is applied with seemingly blatant discrimination to protect corrupt hi-so types who are members in good standing of the old boys club while coming down mercilessly on the poor and powerless, who correctly see it as being created by traditional hi-so types to keep the masses in their place underfoot. We need not imagine where Premchai would be today had he been an aged peasant picking mushrooms illegally.

Exactly the same is seen in the illuminating tale of Thaksin Shinawatra. When he was in with the old boys, he could do not wrong as they pushed him as their poster child elect for PM. Nor was a small "honest mistake" at the time ruled by the courts any bar to his political ascendancy while he was in good standing with the oligarchy, who even went along happily with his war on drugs, going so far as to condone, if not encourage, those vile abuses. They even defended Thaksin's defence of himself with obstructionist lawsuits and similar threats against the Thai press that dared to question him and what he stood for. It was only after he had fallen out with his former mates that all changed. Thai law was then redirected to attacking him, but that the only charges ever brought were for accusations so manifestly political that no country would ever extradite, while the actually real crimes of the drug wars were left untouched, is telling.

With such compelling examples of the corruption of the rule of law to serve injustice, who in their right mind, or in a morally decent mind, would respect what has traditionally been applied to favour the self-anointing elect and their gangs? To maintain this entrenched corruption in the rule of law has always been a major reason, for military coups against the Thai people, as we see with the self-amnestied gang who most recently overthrew the constitution of the Thai nation precisely when it looked as though democracy threatened to work. It was, after all, immediately after the Thai people's outrage had stopped the sleazy Pheu Thai amnesty bill that the PDRC and those collaborating with them ratcheted up their destructive protests intent on "shutting down Bangkok" and preventing an election, to pave the way for yet another coup against the evolving good morals of democracy. As we have been constantly reminded these past four years and more, everything since has been committed strictly according to the rule of law, the law, that is, as made up by the coupists. A sign of a small return to happiness is that the sensible Thai people no longer swallow the deceitful non sequiter that being the rule of law means being just, moral, decent or respectable.

Felix Qui 

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 1, 2018, under the title "The joke of law" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1585630/the-joke-of-law