Law isn't about justice

re: "PDRC jailings reveal Ratsadorn's fate" (BP, Opinion, February 27, 2021)

 
Dear editor,

It would have been amusing, in the way of Stygian black humour, reading Chairith Yonpiam's opinion piece "PDRC jailings reveal Ratsadorn's fate" (Bangkok Post, February 27), except that the issues on which the writer touches are beyond laughing matters.

Chairith usefully brings up the matter of Thaksin Shinawatr's "shameful amnesty in 2013" sought for him by his sister Yingluck Shinawatr, then Thailand's properly elected and popular Prime Minister, albeit not nearly so popular, loved, admired or respected as her exiled brother was and remains. But Chairith conspicuously fails to mention the amnesty that Prayut Chan-o-cha gave himself not one year later after overthrowing Thailand's supreme rule of law and destroying the Thai people's democratic form of government: such being the factual statement of what it means to commit such a coup. Yingluck's amnesty, promptly put on hold, was indeed shameful in the way it was brought forward in the dead of night. However, compared to the act of plotting and committing a coup, Thaksin's sins were trivial, nothing more than some of the usual corruption that thrives so well under Thailand's status quo propped up by coup after coup, decade after decade; in the shamefulness stakes, could anything compete with  committing the most serious crimes against the nation then unilaterally giving yourself a full amnesty with no regard to the feelings of the nation, its people, or the religious teachings presumed to matter to the nation and its people?

When we then compare the student protestors being harassed by Thai law intent on the usual repression that is so intrinsic a part of the status quo protected by those same repeated coups against the Thai people, the black absurdity is yet more stark.

The PDRC mobs baying for a coup against the Thai nation boasted of their intent to "Shut down Bangkok." The protesting students ask only that the right to peaceful free speech be respected so that important issues can be raised for discussion by Thai people who would like their fellow Thai citizens to have informed opinions of worth on those Thai issues. The law being unjustly used, albeit with perfect legality, against those students is intent on preventing Thais from understanding Thai affairs half so well as any interested foreigner easily can.

It is hard to see how any rational person could hold that such law comports with justice. It does not. In no way can the imprisonment for two evenings of the PDRC people who colluded to bring on the latest unjustified coup against the Thai people justify any such legal sanctions against the patriotic Thai youth who desire only that Thai people have a voice in determining Thai affairs according to foundational democratic principle. As the students being legally harassed rightly understand, Thai people deserve both to understand Thai affairs, and to know what Thai people truly think about Thai affairs.  

 Felix Qui
 

_______________________________

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 February 28, 2021, under the title "Law isn't about justice" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2075643/dont-squabble-fix-nation
  

Re: Humans Are Animals. Let’s Get Over It.

re: "Humans Are Animals. Let’s Get Over It." (The New York Times, February 23, 2021)

 
You are distinct from me. I'm distinct from my brothers. You are also distinct from the dogs on my street, and I'm distinct from the rats scurrying the garbage kindly dispensed to them by the good citizens of Bangkok. The rats are also distinct from the cockroaches who thrive equally well in the human provided environment.

And in these days of Covid, it's worth bearing firmly in mind that not only are we related to our human relatives, to Aunty Clarice and Sister Ces, and all the rest, but that we also share a common ancestors with the dogs and rats, and bit further back a common ancestor with the cockroaches, and beyond that we share a common ancestor with the carrots on the supermarket shelves, and further back still, we mortal human animals share a common ancestor with the Covid-19 virus that has found our bodies so very useful for reproducing itself with stunning success.

Our relatives have much to teach us about our place in the scheme of things.
 

_______________________________

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/opinion/humans-animals-philosophy.html#commentsContainer&permid=111720113:111720113

  

No world for kids

re: "Call for more baby bumps" (BP, Editorial, February 18, 2021)

 
Dear editor,

It's all very well to call "for solid measures to quickly boost the birth rate and stabilize demographic development," but Thai women are making rational, informed choices not to have children.

When brutish authorities use unjust law to lock up their children for daring to question a dubious status quo, the sensible choice is not to bring children into such a society. When gross wealth inequality driven by repeated coups against the Thai people allows abuse by the rich and powerful who support the injustices of coups, the morally right choice is to remain childless. When those with vast wealth preach "sufficiency economics" whilst doling out niggardly pittances from their own vast wealth, for which they expect boundless praise in return, not to have children is a rational choice. When seeking and speaking truths about Thai society is proscribed by anti-democratic law, good people will abstain from inflicting life on the children who must suffer it should they be born into such a traditionally backward society.

 Felix Qui
 

_______________________________

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 February 20, 2021, under the title "No world for kids" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2071451/a-costly-delay
  

Forward thinking

Re: "No excuse to stay idle", (Editorial, Feb 12)

 
With their constructive proposal to reform a grossly unjust law to make Thailand a better country for Thai people in accordance with democratic principles, Move Forward again shows itself the party of democracy. The Post's editor is also to be commended for publishing such a direct, honest and accurate piece on this desperately long overdue reform of morally indefensible law traditionally abused to inflict great harm on Thai citizens and on the Thai nation. Well done Move Forward and the Post.
 

_______________________________

The above is the text that was actually posted as a quick comment on the article by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text of that quick comment as edited was published in PostBag on February 13, 2021, under the title "Forward thinking" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2067515/a-knee-jerk-reaction

  

re: The Coming Technology Boom

re: "The Coming Technology Boom" (The New York Times, February 11, 2021)

 
It's taken a while, but is becoming more certain that anything nature can do on Earth, humankind can do better. If the gods were half so potent and clever as humans, we never would have resorted to science as the infinitely superior option.

It's a joy to reflect on upbeat possibilities to be made real for a change.
 

_______________________________

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/opinion/science-technology.html#commentsContainer&permid=111543714:111543714

More than a shave

re: "Protest banner leads regional police chief to shave his head" (BP, February 3, 2021)

 
Dear editor,

I must confess that I read with some interest, liberally tempered with sincere credulity, the explanation given by the commissioner of the Royal Thai Police's (RTP) Provincial Police Region 3 that it was necessary, among other decisive deeds, to shave his head because "Police must cherish the royal institution, with the highest respect." Although it is not obvious how shaving one's head manifests the cherishing with the highest respect of an institution, there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of the assertion. Let it be accepted that it is thus.

And that logically compels a most compelling implication, to wit, that the traditional acts and deeds thereof that express the values of the Royal Thai Police do also manifest cherishing the royal institution. The Royal Thai Police, like other institutions wont to invoke the same institution, would seem, therefore, to imply with strict logic that those acts and behaviours for which they are rightly renowned constitute manifestations of cherishing that institution with the highest respect — an interesting take on what gives the RTP and sibling institutions their well-deserved reputations.

 Felix Qui
 

_______________________________

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 February 4, 2021, under the title "More than a shave" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2062367/a-lesson-for-suu-kyi