FFP's campaign coup

re: "Thanathorn running wrong campaign, says Prayut" (BP, Novemer 28, 2019)

Dear editor,

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha might not quite have grasped their strategic brilliance  when he accuses "Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit of running the 'wrong campaign' by calling for the abolition of military conscription." Future Forward has, on the contrary, chosen its first campaign for reform very sensibly, as the PM's failure to present any sensible opposing argument proves.

Future Forward's proposal to bring an antiquated conscription system that is unfit for national defence or any other service to the nation into the modern era of small, professional, well-equipped service personnel who are trained and equipped to respond quickly and effectively, including as "'first rescuers' when there are natural disasters like floods or drought," to quote the PM, is exactly what the Thai nation needs from the defence budget it pays for. 

The proposal to reform military conscription also has wide popular support. Future Forward is, therefore, to be congratulated on its political acumen in choosing to wage this particular campaign. That Future Forward's proposal is already separating the good people from the bad old men in the eyes of the electorate will prove a valuable collateral benefit come the next election campaign. 

Thanatorn's party clearly has solid strategists in its ranks.

 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 November 30, 2019, under the title "FFP's campaign coup" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1805419/rich-law-poor-law
  

Pope's hollow words

re: "Pope plea for needy" (BP, November 22, 2019)

Dear editor,

In a land where bad men have had crafted a constitution to suppress human rights, is it quite right for the pope to be telling the leaders of Thai society to respect human dignity? That is surely a bit blunt.

In a land where the greedy 1% own a whopping 67% of the nation's wealth thanks to decades of coups against democracy for the people, is it quite right for the pope to be telling the leaders of Thai society to be compassionate to the poor? That is surely a bit blunt.

 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 November 24, 2019, under the title "Pope's hollow words" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1800879/time-to-take-a-stand
  

It's time for a change

re: Thailand's inevitable political endgame (Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Bangkok Post, 22 November, 2019)

Let us hope that the blatant corruption, injustice, and gross selfishness of the traditional Thai elites will prompt ever more Thais to do the right thing by vocally supporting Future Forward. The Thai nation, which is the Thai people, deserve so much more than the usual corrupt army generals tramping the people down economically, socially and morally.

And anyone who wants to stand on the right side of history will join Future Forward to create a better history for the Thai nation suffering under the malignancy of bad tradition spreading its contagion throughout the nation as the selfish 1% take ever more for themselves using military force.

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

The text as edited was published in PostBag on November 23, 2019, under the title "It's time for a change" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag
  

The Very Best of Friends

re:  Trump Says He’s ‘Standing’ With Xi (and With Hong Kong’s Protesters) (The New York Times, 23 November, 2019)

When Trump says of the brutish communist dictator that "He is a friend of mine. He is an incredible guy," it is all too credible. A tyrant who brutally suppresses his nation, suppresses religious freedom, suppress free markets, suppresses free speech and generally behaves as a communist dictator, is exactly the sort of person who would be "a friend of" Donald Trump.

But since when did US leaders become avid fans of dictators and communism? Since when did being friends with dictators, communist or otherwise, become something for a US president to boast of?

How sadly under Trump has the US shrunk miserably from its former greatness.

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The above comment was submitted by Felix Qui to the The New York Times article.

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/politics/trump-hong-kong-protests-xi.html#commentsContainer&permid=103798807:103798807

  

What's in a name?

re: "Anti-graft chief sets 2020 target" (BP, November 19, 2019)

Dear editor,

The NACC's full name as reported, the "National Anti-Counter Corruption Commission," means that this commission is tasked with being anti-counter corruption, that is, that it is opposed to (anti) opposing (countering) corruption. In other words, that it opposes ending or reducing corruption. That it is, in plain words, pro-corruption.

That sounds far too honest for the august body that has cleared, among others, the impressively watched deputy PM, the Rajabhakti Park plotters, and of course those involved in the amazingly expensive purchases of those infallible pointers to corruption in high places, the army's miraculous GT200s.

 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 November 21, 2019, under the title "What's in a name?" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1798819/not-up-to-grade
  

Staring into the abyss

re: How to Peer Through a Wormhole (The New York Times, 19 November, 2019) 

A timely reminder of how little we know.

While it's sensible to follow the best current scientific knowledge, it's also prudent to realize that that might be radically changed very quickly, as Copernicus, Galileo et al. did 500 years ago, as Newton and co. did 300 years ago, and as Einstein and the quantum men did just over a century ago.

We can guess, but cannot know what is just around the corner.

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The above comment was submitted by Felix Qui to the The New York Times article.

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/science/wormholes-physics-astronomy-cosmos.html#commentsContainer&permid=103751670:103751670

  

‘1984’ in China, as in ...

Re: ‘1984’ in China (The Editorial Board, The New York Times, 2019, November 19) 

China, being under a totalitarian ideology that cannot tolerate dissent, is exactly like Islam in Saudi Arabia and other states under totalitarian Islamic ideologies, and exactly like so many Western nations were under the despotic sway of Christian ideologues bent to witch hunts, blasphemy trials and heretic burnings until recently.

Totalitarian ideologies, whether theistic or atheist, all tend towards the same intolerance and brutal suppression of dissent. This is why democracy is so precious.

This is why the likes of Trump are so harmful as he undermines the traditions, the institutions and the moral norms that had once made the US great not only economically but morally. 

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At times like these, the world needs more examples of respect for both the processes and principles of democracy, not less.

At times like these, it is more important than ever to set the example of fearlessly strong legal protection for peaceful expressions that we find deeply offensive, vile, threatening and plain disgusting.

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The above comment was submitted by Felix Qui to the The New York Times article.

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/opinion/china-muslims.html#commentsContainer&permid=103741206:103741206

  

THAI truly amazing

re: "THAI reports B10.9bn net loss for Jan-Sept" (BP, November 15, 2019) and  "Creative accounting" (PostBag, November 15, 2019) 

Dear editor,

I now feel quite the gullible fool for merely being amazed two days ago that THAI, the national disgrace, was predicting a loss of a "mere" 2.2 billion baht this year.

Generously respecting the venerable traditions of Thainess, that earlier claim a full two days ago was presumably one of those amazing "honest mistakes" so valued by conservative Thai tradition that must be rigorously protected by coups, against the threat of transparency, honesty or other good governance.

If the THAI white elephant's loss for January to September is now running at an even more amazing 10.9 billion baht, what might it be next week? And the week after that? And come New Year's Eve?

The mind boggles. The tax payers are presumably all a quiver.

 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 November 17, 2019, under the title "THAI truly amazing" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1795909/a-tax-on-the-poor
  

Protecting Pareena

Re: "Pareena saga a test of land reform resolve", (Opinion, Nov 15, 2019) 

But if both the famously well-watched Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and the possibly even more famous Deputy Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow, a "monkey feeder" well-known for his sedative powers and ability to market natural agricultural products, have come out to defend their colleague in the PM's government loyally supporting a man whose respect for the rule of law is famously beyond doubt, as proven by the overthrow of one Thai constitution and consistent refusal to comply with the latest, what more could possibly be needed?

Surely Palang Pracharath MP Pareena Kraikupt's innocence has already been proved beyond any reasonable doubt?

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post as a comment on the opinion piece.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on November 16, 2019, under the title "Protecting Pareena" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1795489/protecting-pareena
  

Creative accounting

re: "THAI hopes to pare losses to B2.2 billion" (BP, November 13, 2019) 

Dear editor,

We are all amazement that THAI has now managed to lose an incredible 8 billion of its projected 10-billion-baht loss. But is that an actual loss in the loss, or is it creative accounting? Where has that lost 8 billion baht loss gone?

But regardless of this amazing misplacement of an 8 billion baht loss, it remains unjustifiable to expect we the tax payers to hand over even 2.2 billion baht to further fund the persistent incompetence and general failure that characterize the disgraceful white elephant that is THAI.

 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 November 15, 2019, under the title "Creative accounting" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1794639/sour-side-of-sugar
  

Religion of politics

re: "Any pure believers?" (BP, PostBag, November 9, 2019) 

Dear editor,

David James Wong misunderstands a fundamental truth about religions. They are a subset of ideologies. As such, they share the common defects of ideologies, which are at heart divorced from reality, from spirituality, and from the pursuit of good morals. Religions, like any other ideology, reject truth seeking, critical review of inherited moral precepts, and transparency exactly like communism, fascism, Stalinism, Maoism, National Socialism, and the many other overtly political ideologies.

In fact, PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha adheres to the ideology of Thai Buddhism every bit as much as Xi Jinping follows his officially established communist ideology. The Thai PM practices the teachings of the local ideology, which preaches, for example, that it's OK to kill, or to order paid servants to kill, as many animals, even humans with a proper dispensation, as desired to sate a desire for tasty flesh, to drug up on alcohol, to lie your heart out about plotting a coup, to censor the peaceful expression of honest opinion and research in order to prevent right understanding of national affairs, and so on. This all comports strictly with the ideological underpinnings of the traditional Thai state and its loyal religion.

The popes of the Roman Catholic version, among other Christian ideologies, have ever been equally in love with similarly un-Christ-like abuses as they cavorted in over-the-top embroidery in the gaudy palaces of Rome well-stocked with young alter boys and Swiss guards to keep out nosey investigators who threaten to bring in the teachings of the Christ to their gilded halls of conservative tradition backed alike by despotic rule of law and rigorously entrenched social norms against such spiritual growth. It is no accident that Galileo was condemned to prison by the popes, that various Christian sects still condemn Darwin, or that the Vatican State remains to this day a secretive sovereign state untrammelled by democratic norms.

And then there are the well known set of variations on the Islamic ideology loyally serving the secular interests of a range of entrenched political hierarchies around the world.

 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 November 10, 2019, under the title "Religion of politics" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1791119/locals-should-take-charge
  

Are you serious?

re: "Thanathorn should learn to listen" (BP, Opinion, November 4, 2019) 

Dear editor,

Posing as a moderate, it is rich of Veera Prateepchaikul to suggest that Future Forward's leader Thanatorn Juangroongruangkit should follow Buddhist principles. The PM who forced himself on the unwilling Thai nation, meanwhile, follows the long line of his predecessors, who have never shown respect for the wise teachings of the Buddha: Thai law criminalizes the free speech essential to right understanding; Thai law made up at the behest of military men enshrines injustice that allows the rich and hi-so to take advantage of the powerless; and Thai law rejects compassion to the point of ordaining the killing of Thai citizens. Whatever the conservative Thai tradition forged by a long history of coups against the good morals of democracy might be, it is not Buddhist. 

Veera is also wrong that the constitution is not fundamental. It is the founding rule of law that determines the form of society and government, including the nation's economic health. The latest morally challenged permanent constitution was made up to hobble democracy that might offer a path to justice, to fairness, to equality and to the transparency that might greatly reduce Thailand's endemic corruption of many decades. The conservative Thai mindset embodied in the latest supreme legal pillar of the nation is, as usual, blessed by the religion known as Thai Buddhism, ever loyally allied to the conservative tradition of authoritarianism in Thai politics that has contaminated traditional Thai society as exemplified in the militaristic uniforms not only of civil servants, but even of school teachers and the very politicians elected to serve the people in parliament.

Future Forward with its intelligent, educated and morally aware members is the best hope the Thai nation has had in many decades of moving past the anti-democratic mindset of conservative Thai tradition and the systemic failures that the most cursory review of Thai history proves that tradition to have wrought. This fact was recognized when intelligent, educated and morally aware Thais sensibly gave Future Forward a solid thumbs up in the last election.

 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 November 5, 2019, under the title "Are you serious?" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1787419/are-you-serious-
  

Temples never safe

re: "Temples no longer safe for children" (BP, Opinion, October 30, 2019) 
and "Time ripe to nip mob mentality of Thais in bud" (BP, Opinion, October 29, 2019)

Dear editor,

Thank you Khun Sanitsuda Ekachai for another brilliant opinion piece bluntly stating important truths that need to be aired. But I fear the reality is even worse: it is not credible that Thai Buddhist temples were ever a safe place for children. The blind respect for those accorded social prestige based on nothing but tradition backed by legal protection from the state effectively guarantees abuse, as it does in the similar Christian set ups and every other institution where dissent and critical review is socially sanctioned or actually criminalized by unjust law. Those with nothing to hide do not hide behind censoring laws and repressive norms. Horrifying though the truth be about traditionally revered Thai institutions like the religion known as Thai Buddhism, it is healthy progress that today the abused are starting to call out those monstrously ugly truths too long censored from public expression.

Neither the law nor social norms should give sanctuary to such vile abuse of the powerless that they should care for and protect.

Sanitsuda's concerns chime perfectly with those of Atiya Achakulwisut in "Time ripe to nip mob mentality of Thais in bud" yesterday (Bangkok Post, Opinion, October 29). This reminded me of the recent furore when a creative young artist respectfully painted Buddha as Ultraman, only to have the mindlessly unBuddhist mob zealously baying for blood, while ignoring the reality that traditional Thai Buddhism perpetuates the hierarchical system that breeds paedophile monks, the misuse of donations, and other unBuddhist corruption in Thai society.

A foundational principle of the Buddha's wise teachings is right understanding, which is fostered by mindfulness. This  is why the Buddha explicitly encourages critical questioning of all received traditions, authorities, institutions and social norms, not excepting his own teachings. The mindless adulation of a traditional practice merely because it is traditional has no place in a right understanding of Buddhism, nor in any other right understanding. Such mindless respect for the merely traditional, socially sanctioned and legally protected has led Thailand to what it is today, with corruption rampant, injustice in the legal system, gross inequality in society, undemocratic government by intimidating force, and of course, paedophile monks wallowing in veiled sanctuary.

 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 November 2, 2019, under the title "Temples never safe" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1785379/temples-never-safe