Jailhouse injustice

re: "Baby steps in jail reform " (BP, Editorial, January 30, 2020)

Dear editor,

When a society locks up its citizens, it has a  moral obligation to treat them decently, regardless of the crime. Thailand plainly fails to accord its imprisoned citizens this basic dignity, which official abuse is hardly likely to turn them into model citizens on release.

But far worse is that many in Thai prisons have done nothing wrong, merely being guilty of having broken an unjust law or a law that should be a civil not a criminal matter, such as possession for personal use of drugs not popular with hypocrites, who cheerily endorse or profit from legal possession and dealing of the far more socially harmful drug of addiction that is alcohol. Locking up people who have merely drunk alcohol, taken a few pulls of a reefer, or swallowed the odd pill benefits no one. Nor is locking up people in possession for personal use of small quantities of alcohol, marijuana, yaa baa or whatever of any benefit whatsoever to them, to their loved ones, or to society. Imprisoning such people can only worsen harms to themselves, their families and society.

Prisons have a useful role to play in protecting society from actual harm, but save them for the rapists, the murderers, the thieves, the drink drivers, the fraudsters, the corrupt and such criminals who pose an actual threat to the lives or property of others.

 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 January 31, 2020, under the title "Jailhouse injustice" at
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1847444/jailhouse-injustice
  

Free speech is vital

re: "Anti-graft mission failing" (BP, Editorial, January 28, 2020)

Dear editor,

By definition, coup makers, whose defining act overthrows a nation's supreme rule of law along with its form of government, in Thailand's case a democracy with a constitutional monarchy, hold the rule of law in contempt, contempt being what a coup necessarily exemplifies. When the self-made and self-amnestied Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha and his entire cabinet, including a convicted international heroin dealer, then refuse to comply with the explicitly written requirements of section 161 of the shiny constitution they had made up to serve themselves, it would be irrational to expect them to oppose corruption. Coups against democracy are made to enable corruption, not to end it. The transparency that comes with its other good morals are trampled under the boots by every coup against democracy.

The Bangkok Post rightly writes of Transparency International's latest report that "Thailand's slide down the Corruption Perception Index ranking from 99 to 101, while a disappointment, comes as no surprise." The editor's listed failures of the PM's two governments merely confirm what reason dictates: that censorship and the suppression of democratic principle go hand in hand with corruption and other abuses toxic to society. People who genuinely oppose corruption in its myriad forms create strong legal protection to enable the free speech that is foundational to democracy, even when it deeply offends, so that evils can be known that they may be exorcised.

The repeated coups and unjust legal machinations against good people and good morals to prevent democracy taking hold are the reason Thailand is so backward socially, politically, morally and economically. In every way, the good people of the Thai nation deserve much more than they have been allowed these past seventy years or so.

 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 January 30, 2020, under the title "Free speech is vital" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1846754/better-safe-than-sorry
  

Abbott knows worst

re: "Abbott calls for middle class women to have more children" (The Sydney Morning Herald, January 28, 2020)

Perhaps educated, middle-class women make the mature, rational, moral decision to refrain from having children because they see where the human species is driving itself.

Is it quite right to be forcing life on innocent persons without their consent given what might be just around the corner? 

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The above comment was submitted by Felix Qui to The Sydney Morning Herald article.

It is published there at https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abbott-calls-for-middle-class-women-to-have-more-children-20200128-p53vkx.html#comments

  

Princely capers

re: "Prince Andrew Offers ‘Zero Cooperation’ in Epstein Case, Prosecutor Says" (The New York Times, January 27, 2020)

Prince Andrew is not guilty of anything merely because he was friendly with a cunning monster, except that he was recklessly friendly with a cunning monster.

But if he falsely believes himself to be above the law, and above justice, merely because he was born a prince, he needs that false belief smartly corrected.

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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/2020/01/27/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew.html#commentsContainer&permid=104856609:104856609

  

Pregnant with hypocrisy

re: "Trump Tells Anti-Abortion Marchers, ‘Unborn Children Have Never Had a Stronger Defender in the White House’" (The New York Times, January 25, 2020) 

Fake morals from President Trump us usual.
The honest name for those opposing the legal right of  women to choose abortion is not "pro-life". It's anti-person.

If the so-called pro-lifers were rationally and morally consistent, they would be PETA members actively opposing the killing all the animals that we like to eat. Pigs, ducks, fish and cows are all living organisms every bit as much as  any human foetus.

The fact is that those opposing abortion on the grounds that it kills a living organism are hypocrites unless they also oppose steak, bacon and delicious roast duck. Do they?

That Trump pretends to agree with them says something disturbing about both him and the "pro-life" anti-person voting constituency.

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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/2020/01/24/us/politics/trump-abortion-march-life.html#commentsContainer&permid=104811383:104811383

  

How to steal a nation

re: "Government's competence in question" (BP, Opinion, January 24, 2020)

Dear editor,

Although honest, Thitinan Pongsudhirak was far too gentle to the bungling incompetents retarding the Thai nation in every way as they diligently enrich themselves and those they serve.

Prime Minister Prayut and his cabinet of constitutional oath refusers have, in their own peculiar way, achieved true greatness. The one undeniably impressive achievement of the entirely self-made PM, unscathed by the inconvenience of elections or any other sign of democratic principle, is to have proved himself to have far out-Thaksined even Thaksin. That is no mean feat. When the likes of Thaksin are manifestly preferable and preferred, you know you stand out intellectually, politically and morally.

Given it's location and natural resources, Thailand could and should have long been a wealthy, successful nation of educated people with secure lives in a united and diverse society. That it is not is largely the fault of super-greedy elites using repeated military coups to screw the Thai people under cover of nationalistic myths deceitfully passed off as revered tradition, absent any shred of solid evidence. The Thai nation should be outraged that those setting themselves up as leaders have for decades destroyed Thailand's progress forward to a great future.

Congratulations PM Prayut: you and yours have earned your place in history.

 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 MonthDate, 2020, under the title "How to steal a nation" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1843334/how-to-steal-a-nation
  

Not their fault

re: "Are My Friends’ Deaths Their Fault or Ours?" (The New York Times, January 18, 2020)

The people whose ignorance of its principles leads them to such absurdities as, “Natural selection weeding out those less fit for survival,” impressively prove their ignorance of how evolution combines with environment to make us what and who we are. It is not only that intelligence has a large inherited component that can only flower under the right surroundings, but so too do such aspects of our personality as perseverance, drive, discipline and all the other goodies that the advocates of personal responsibility tout as justifying their refusal to help those who are in need of help.

Yes, some of us are less disciplined, less intelligent, less hard working and so on than others. But we did not ask to be so: we were made what we are by a combination of nature and nurture, for neither of which we can justly be blamed. If nurture in a deprived neighbourhood combines with our genetic inheritance to breed life destroying despair, the responsibility for that cannot be laid at the door of the despairing, who neither made their own genetic nature nor created the environment that nurtured that genetic code's expression.

Whatever the reasons for a bad situation, good people would do what they can to ameliorate the bad. They would not heartlessly blame those trapped in it through no ultimate fault of their own.

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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/2020/01/18/opinion/sunday/deaths-despair-personal-responsibility.html#commentsContainer&permid=104706828:104706828

  

A selfish vision

re: "Oldies but goodies" (BP, PostBag, January 16, 2020)

Dear editor,

In his praise for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's government, Jack Gilead is at least honest in admitting to unfettered selfishness as the excuse for supporting the traditional status quo enforced by repeated coups against the nation, the coup installed rule that has long retarded Thailand not only morally, socially and politically, but also economically.

A more far-sighted perspective might, however, see that everyone, including the old, the ill and the poor, would be much better off in every way had democracy been allowed to take root so that such wholesome reform, as that seen in Future Forward's proposals regarding the antiquated military draft and the anti-free market liquor laws, could spur the much stronger, sustained economic growth and equity that the entire Thai nation deserves. That much enhanced growth would have served all Thais far better than the selfish agenda of the super-greedy 1% who lust only to be big pigs in a small pen of which they own 67%, a retarded conservative vision for which the Thai nation has for many decades paid very dearly.

 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 January 18, 2020, under the title "A selfish vision" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1838379/singapores-solution
  

Rights are rights

re: Whose Side Is Bill Barr On? (The New York Times, January 15, 2020)

The American people are fortunate that a great American company is committed to protecting the basic rights of Americans from the US government and law enforcement agencies, which sometimes appear to forget that the US is not a communist surveillance state modelled on China's despotic control of citizens.

Apple is right that a strong right to privacy is not compatible with back doors that give the state access to anything it wants, however seeming compelling the reason. Breaking it for one case breaks the right to privacy, and that's not worth the cost, not even to stop terrorism. 

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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/2020/01/14/opinion/barr-apple-iphone.html#commentsContainer&permid=104633065:104633065

  

The right royal hits

re: "Prince Harry’s Real Declaration of Independence: From Britain’s Tabloids?" (The New York Times, January 10, 2020)

Yes, their chosen path is fraught with difficulty, but Harry and Meghan are to be applauded for their courageous decision, doubtless taken after much careful thought about what is right and proper. A "financially independent" royal is an ideal worth aspiring to and an excellent example to set.

I wish the Duke and Duchess of Sussex  all the best in their future ventures. At the very least, they have shaken things up a bit, and that is good in itself.

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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/2020/01/09/world/europe/prince-harry-meghan-markle.html#commentsContainer&permid=104547652:104547652

  

Tradition corrupts

re: "Set kids a good example" (BP, Editorial, January 9, 2020) 

Dear editor,

While it is true that critical thinking and democracy are both excellent things that cannot threaten what is true and good, it is equally true that for old ways founded solidly on dogmatic injustice, inequality and unreason, "progressive thought [is] a threat or a challenge to norms, traditions or the status quo." It is, therefore, natural that those who teach violence as a means to serving their ends, which is what every coup against democracy exemplifies, must distrust critical thinking. It is, similarly, inevitable that a status quo founded on morally questionable tradition will distrust democracy, which form of government welcomes critical questioning of old ways. It cannot surprise that the ruling Thai leaders set children the example of violence, suppression by rule of law, and fake claims protected from honest inquiry.

Known to be fiction even by children, violent video games, sexually open movies and the like do not harm society. Real harm, in contrast, is done by the real examples of corruption, violence, nepotism and unfettered greed protected by unjust law that coup installed politicians have set Thai youth for many decades; the resulting harm to society is seen in what Thailand is today. A long history of suppressing democracy, in collusion with unjust law that represses critical thinking to protect bad tradition, has made modern Thai society in their image, as reflected in the gross inequality where a greedy 1% own 67% of the nation, in the widespread expectation of injustice at the hands of law made up to protect the privileged few, and in an educational system that famously fails Thai children. This is the real example that bad people who come from or support coups teach Thai children.

Is there any reason to think Thai children such fools unable to tell fiction from reality that a simplistic slogan, a fake platitude however cute, will defeat the actual examples set before their seeing eyes?

 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 january 10, 2020, under the title "Tradition corrupts" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1832434/tradition-corrupts
  

Says more about you

re: "Is it really time to 'seize the power?'" (BP, January 6, 2020)

Dear editor,

No, Veera Prateepchaikul and former Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom, the Future Forward Party (FFP) is innocent of the charge that it has an "anti-military, anti-establishment and anti-culture ideology." What FFP has are policies that promote justice, honesty and democracy for all Thai women and men.

If the promotion of justice, honesty and democracy appears to some to be an "anti-military, anti-establishment and anti-culture ideology," that says something sad about the myths and ideologies of a corrupt status quo that is guilty of being propped up by repeated coups against the Thai nation's democratic aspirations for honesty and justice for all Thais.

 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 MonthDate, 2020, under the title "Says more about you" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1830174/long-time-coming
  

Before and after birth in Trumpland

re: "Why Are Young Americans Killing Themselves? (The New York Times, January 6, 2020)

Perhaps part of the problem is looking for quick, easy solutions, such as taking a pill or seeing a shrink.

Maybe it would help more to offer serious philosophy courses (not healthy living or other new age pap) in schools to at least provide some tools for the issues that occur as a natural part of live these last few centuries.

And perhaps we also need to have a wider public discussion about what could make life worth living, or not. The recently reignited abortion debate, for example, with its warped notions about being human, being a person and being valuable before and after birth likely ties in here.

Perhaps depression comes when the young see all too clearly the moral hypocrisy founded on solid unreason and fake concern from their elders pretending to be the leaders of society?

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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/2020/01/06/opinion/suicide-young-people.html#commentsContainer&permid=104461697:104461697

  

Setting bad examples

re: "A barbaric misstep" (BP, Editorial, January 1, 2020)

Dear editor,

In responding to the reckless reaction from the Justice Minister to the call for harsher punishments, a popular and understandable knee jerk reaction given what Thai society has been made for many decades, the editor covers the relevant points well in "A barbaric misstep" (BP, Editorial, January 1). If rape could easily be eradicated by draconian legal measures or other violence, it would already be long solved.

As the editorial realizes, the cultural background of society sets the daily example that moulds us: it is the environment in which we humans both function and learn what behaviour is and is not acceptable to achieve our determined ends. But humans are not stupid: as the low violent crime rates in countries like Japan show, even truly graphic, violent media does not increase crime rates; even the very young can tell fiction from reality. In Thailand, the daily reality is that violence is taught by the Prime Minister and his ilk as a means to fulfilling lusts for power. That is the example that every coup has taught for many decades. Money by any means is the real lesson taught when the rich are admired with no concern for how they came to be rich. Abuse is taught by hi-so types as a means to ego indulgence when they are seen to be above justice, often with the connivance of corrupt law and institutions made up for that purpose.

The government MP who suggested forced castration, and the Justice Minister who is happy to go along with it merely because it sates a popular lust, are exacerbating the cultural example that sees vicious violence in response to a desire as an appropriate way to act.

 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 January 3, 2019, under the title "Setting bad examples" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1827794/setting-bad-examples
  

No laughing matter

re: "Criticism goes with the job" (BP, Editorial, December 30, 2019)

Dear editor,

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha is right "that ridiculing him and his government is not a laughing matter." It is, on the contrary, a serious matter that every patriotic Thai who cares for good governance should undertake as a duty to the nation. Laughter at the absurd pretensions of the corrupt, the brutish, the lying, the repressive and the generally bad is a healthy response.

Such ridicule is a healthy reminder that the government should fear the people, who are the nation. When the people fear to mock the government or institutions, society is seriously sick, and that is no laughing matter.

 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 January 1, 2020, under the title "No laughing matter" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1826714/injustice-at-ministry