Tip of the iceberg?

re: "Custody death clip sparks storm" (BP, August 25, 2021)

 
Dear editor,

It comes as no surprise that the Royal Thai Police officer who masterminded the alleged torture and murder at a police station by police officers is in fact "Regarded as one of the best drug suppression officers" as reported in the Bangkok Post ("Custody death clip sparks storm", August 25, 2021).

It must be wondered for how long such extortion of suspects has been going on in that police area. It must also be wondered, given the prevalence of such accounts of brutality and extortion, how widespread throughout the Thai nation such practices are. It must further be wondered what other evils lie secreted in closets protected by repressive censorship from healthy public knowledge and open debate. Had the video of this latest alleged torture and murder by those famously upstanding men of law and order waging war against druggies not gone public, would there have been even a pretense of seeking justice?

Perhaps if Thailand's drug laws, which have conspicuously failed decade after decade to reduce drug use or drug-related harms to society, were reformed to respect individual rights, we would see not only no significant increase in drug use, but a great saving of currently wasted  tax money and police resources, a substantial reduction in drug-related harm to society, and certainly the elimination of such corruption as seen in the extortion leading to murder by Royal Thai Police officers who are officially "Regarded as ... the best drug suppression officers".

 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 August 27, 2021, under the title "Tip of the iceberg?" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2171995/stop-squabbling