Conscript clarification

re: "Liberty of speech" (BP, PostBag, December 27, 2022)  

Dear editor,

I must thank Samuel Wright for the considered response to my last letter, "Different systems" (PostBag, Dec. 19) responding to his own. Unfortunately, the Post's editing removed my expression of full agreement with his salient point made as clearly and forcefully as it deserves: we fully agree that Thailand's young protestors peacefully calling for reform to further democratic principle deserve praise as the true Thai patriots they are, nor, it should be relevantly added, can Thailand's internationally honoured recipients of South Korea's Gwangju Prize for human rights, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa in 2017 and Arnon Nampa in 2021, both of whom Thai authorities  have arrested and imprisoned according to reigning law for their peaceful efforts, be excluded from that appreciation of their efforts on behalf of their nation. For its greater similarities to Thailand, the South Korean experience of military reform to strengthen democratic principle and practice is more relevant than the Swiss and others. 

I am also pleased to note that Mr Wright concurs that reforming Thailand's traditional conscription system in the direction of a universal system such as exists in South Korea, Switzerland and other flourishing democracies would be a very good thing.

But having reread both of Mr Wright's previous letters on this issue, I confess that I'm unclear as to what other reform he has proposed which he thinks I oppose. I may have misunderstood, but got the impression that Mr Wright favoured keeping the existing military conscription system, which he argues would thereby allow increasingly democracy-minded conscripts to be forced into the military as usual, where they would share their democratic ideas with other conscripts and ask pertinent questions that deserve answers. That is not reform. It is leaving things as they are and hoping that change will somehow occur spontaneously. As noted by myself and others, Thailand's historical record contradicts such optimism. 

If Mr Wright could specify a little more clearly exactly what reforms he in fact has in mind other than the South Korean and like models of universal military conscription on which we already agree, I might be better able to do those proposals for reform of Thailand's existing military conscription system the justice he believes I have denied them. 

 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 31, 2022, under the title "Conscript clarification" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2472382/more-than-a-handful

re: "The Signal App and the Danger of Privacy at All Costs"

re: "The Signal App and the Danger of Privacy at All Costs" (The New York Times, December 28, 2022)

100 years ago, before the wonders of modern technology made the world a vastly better place for almost all in liberal democracies, the only way for the state's lawful authorities to get information about what someone had said to another was for that other, perhaps a spy or perhaps just a conscientious citizen, to report the speech or hand over the correspondence. 

This has not changed with the arrival of Signal. 

The content of conversations on Signal can, unless burnt like a handwritten letter, be recorded and shared by the parties involved in that conversation. If someone has a Signal record discussing, say, child sexual abuse, they are as free as a priest, bishop, reverend, imam, monk, pope or police officer to share that information with law enforcement when lawfully ordered to or when their conscience dictates they do so. And the fact that Signal cannot be easily hacked greatly strengthens the worth of such documentary evidence handed over.  

Tools such as Signal merely restore the option of having a conversation as private as could be had 100 years ago by walking down the road 100 yards from potentially eavesdropping others. 

Meanwhile, for those not blessed with living in liberal democracies, it is essential to support such powerful tools for privacy against abusive surveillance states, which states  are all to real and numerous. 

Mr Blackman's arguments in this opinion piece are lame at best, and his proposals likely a dangerous threat to many.  

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/opinion/jack-dorseys-twitter-signal-privacy.html#commentsContainer&permid=122264118:122264118

Wrong assumptions

re: "The opposite effect" (BP, PostBag, December 24, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Jason A Jellison is correct that "there is nobody alive today who had anything to do with decisions made centuries ago" concerning the Netherland's solidly attested historical involvement in slavery. It is equally certain that no one alive today was involved in any way with America's War of Independence from England. It would therefore follow, according to Mr Jellisons's argument, that no living American should be celebrating the Fourth of July as though it mattered today. And as for that event that some allege to have happened in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, that is so far beyond living memory that it can't be deemed, on Mr Jellison's reasoning, to have any particular connection to anyone now living.

Mr Jellison's mistake is twofold. First, he fails to understand that nations are entities, typically recognized as juristic persons by the law, whose life times are not limited to the life spans of any particular generation. What Americans celebrate with due pride on July 4 is of central importance to their nation, which is in essence the same nation that has existed since July 4, 1776. The Netherlands also has a historical continuity that means it can and should admit the mistakes that it made as a nation, as well as celebrating what it did right. Christmas is a similarly enduring celebration that inarguably remains central to the lives of many, even though neither they nor a single traceable ancestor was ever involved in the events that some sources uncritically report as having occurred around the time of the birth of a carpenter's son 2,000 years ago who went on to become the most famous street activist and political radical of them all.  

The second, and more substantive mistake Mr Jellison's popularly specious argument overlooks is that historical events have consequences today. African Americans are worse off than white Americans for historical reasons that at least in part trace back to two hundred years of slavery in what was to become the United States. The ancestors of white Americans accrued wealth, education, and other advantages unjustly, and they passed those advantages on to their descendants, whilst bequeathing to the descendants of slaves and Native American Indians lower education and material means. Those facts from 300 or 200 years ago, and also the more recent Jim Crow and later eras, have real world consequences today. Distributive justice requires that those suffering the depredations of past wrongs and those enjoying the fruits of a comfortable life based on historical wrongs, which were not recognized as at all wrong at the time, do require corrections today.

The Netherlands, in the person of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, is right to begin by admitting it (not any individual, but the nation) committed grievous wrongs for which it should apologize. And after apologizing, it should look to ways to make substantive amends for the wrong it previously committed against some groups.

You cannot reasonably celebrate your nation's good unless you are also willing to honestly face its bad, however many venerated generations ago that good and evil was perpetrated or by which condemned or revered figures. 

 Felix Qui 

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post. In an earlier draft, I had followed Mr. Jellison in mistakenly writing "Denmark" rather than the correct "the Netherlands". 

The text as edited was published in PostBag on MonthDate, 2022, under the title "Wrong assumptions" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2468900/wrong-assumptions

re: "Donald Trump Is Now Forever Disgraced"

re: "Donald Trump Is Now Forever Disgraced" (The New York Times, December 23, 2022)

Trump may well "be disgraced in perpetuity," but that ugly reality is unlikely to weaken the adulation of the solidly faith-based, whose absolute devotion to their idol is, being purely faith-based, immune to objective reality, which they dismiss with the same pretension to infallibility as their master as nothing but fake news. Thus does religious conviction undermine not only every decent moral value, but reason itself. 

Will those who care for the well-being of the Republican Party, let alone of the United States of America, allow their deplorably faith-based element to force another Trump presidential candidacy to the (secret) joy of the Democrats? 

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/opinion/donald-trump-criminal-referral-insurrection.html#commentsContainer&permid=122174031:122174031 

Different systems

re: "Try Walk the talk" (BP, PostBag, December 18, 2022)  

Dear editor,

Samuel Wright, thank you for that warm response to my recent letter responding to your own. Let me begin by clarifying that I fully agree with you regarding the members of Thailand's patriotic and "inspiring younger generation who take to the streets to demand a return to democracy." It is unfortunate that their peacefully expressed calls for such democratic practices as openness, transparency and accountability are met with suppression in strict accord with Thai law that contradicts democratic principle.

I also concur with your belief in the excellence of the Swiss conscription system. Did Thailand also have such a military conscription system where all able-bodied citizens of a certain age did the same form of military service irrespective of family status or wealth, I would also think that perfectly acceptable to Thailand. However, that system of universal conscription, where citizens from varied backgrounds get to meet in close quarters for an extended period their fellow citizens from very different backgrounds to share experience that included learning of their compatriots very varied life experiences, is radically different to the status quo conscription system you appeared to support. Had you instead argued for a radically reformed conscription system based on the Swiss, Finnish, or similar systems, I could happily have joined you in supporting that. But the historical facts are perfectly clear: the current Thai conscription system has proved itself not a force for democratization but one for enabling coups against democracy.

I would also suggest that under such a radically reformed system of universal military conscription to an armed forces under proper parliamentary civil command as the Swiss, the conscripts have history classes which analyze how the long series of military coups committed by those who proved themselves disloyal to the nation's constitutions have seriously retarded Thailand's growth not only politically and socially, but also morally and economically, as noted by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun ("Ex-PM Anand says coups have retarded Thai democracy", Bangkok Post, March 6, 2022), who was himself installed as prime minister as a result of a coup that had yet again overthrown the Thai people's democratic constitution. Also worth remembering is that it was Prime Minister Anand who gifted the Thai nation what was arguably its best permanent constitution to date. Naturally, two further coups were then committed by the conscript-fed military to dismantle that most popular people's constitution.  

 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 19, 2022, under the title "Different systems" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2463510/insult-to-democracy

Understand sources

re: "Masked efficacy" (BP, PostBag, December 10, 2022) 

Dear editor,

I've been loath to join the lusty debate about the merits and demerits of various Covid-related policies, but Michael Setter's latest requires a response. Intrigued by his claims regarding it, I added Mr. Setter's cited source from The Annals of Internal Medicine to my morning coffee reading routine. Having read it, I was perplexed. The paper "Medical Masks Versus N95 Respirators for Preventing Covid-19 Among Health Care Workers" (2022, DOI: 10.7326/M22-1966) does not say what Mr Setter reports it saying, namely, that Loeb et al.'s paper "shows unequivocally that not even well-fitted N95 masks demonstrate any effectiveness in preventing Covid-19 transmission or infection." Quite the contrary. What it in fact says, to quote the authors' words, is that "In conclusion, among health care workers who provided routine care to patients with COVID-19, the overall estimates rule out a doubling in hazard of RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 for medical masks when compared with HRs of RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 for N95 respirators." This conclusion is consistent with what the authors say they set out to investigate. 

I am left wondering, therefore, how Mr Setter came to claim for it something so very far from what his cited source in fact says. Did he read the paper and not understand its plain content? Did he not actually bother to read it, instead reporting someone else's misunderstanding or false claim for the research? Or is there some other explanation for the obvious mismatch between Mr Setter's account of that the paper says about the value of masking and what the paper itself says on that topic? 

I like to see writers citing reputable sources in support of their ideas, but it's important to correctly understand and accurately report the ideas and information in those sources. 

 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, 2022, under the title "Understand sources" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2462565/the-real-threat-

Loyal citizen soldiers

re: "Retain citizen army" (BP, PostBag, December 13, 2022)  

Dear editor,

Overlooked his seemingly overlooked fact that dictators historically tend to use forced conscription to further their aims, in his extolling of a citizen army as a bulwark of democracy, Samuel Wright left a couple of points unclear. Foremost, how is an army made of citizens who willingly sign up to serve their nation any less a citizen army than one where unwilling citizens are conscripted for forced service? Second, it is most puzzling how being forcibly conscripted into the service of an army that has a long track record of overthrowing the Thai people's popular form of democratic government might in any way serve to support democracy; the well-known historical record would appear to suggest the opposite. 

But perhaps if the young conscripts, men and women, were required to swear an oath to uphold and protect the constitution of the Thai people, that would help. In fact, it would surely be a very good thing for the stable, democratic flourishing of the Thai nation were all holders of senior state offices, whether appointed or elected, required on taking office to swear an oath to uphold and protect the constitution of the Thai nation above all other things. The nation's constitution is, after all, the supreme legal document that is the ultimate foundation of every institution, office, and practice that is defined to lawfully exist under it. Were such a requirement written into a duly amended latest current permanent constitution of the Thai nation, Mr Wright's theory might then have some 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 14, 2022, under the title "Loyal citizen soldiers" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2459900/questioning-masks

False interpretation

re: "Myanmar monk militia: Buddhist clergy backing junta" (BP, December 8, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Overlooking the fact that Buddhist monks high in the state hierarchy preaching killing and lying as a means to a decidedly not right understanding in the service of a military dictator waging war against his own nation's people seems to seriously pervert the Buddha's wise insights and teachings, I was impressed by senior Buddhist monk Sitagu's insightful explanation that coup committer and nationalist killer, army chief Min Aung Hlaing, is in truth the model of a "benevolent king." This has greatly helped to clarify what the term "benevolent king" truly means, for which enlightenment the revered senior monk  is to be most gratefully thanked. 

 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 11, 2022, under the title "False interpretation" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2457742/india-can-lead

An old precedent

re: "Germany foils bizarre coup plot by far-right group" (BP, December 8, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Who would have thought that a right royal prince, Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss himself no less and wrapped in all his famous benevolence and righteousness, would be involved in a violent plot to commit a coup against his own nation's popular form of democratic government. Could such antique evils yet happen in the 21st century? 

That such an effort to overthrew the rule of law is right wing, regressive and violent need hardly be said, those being the defining characteristics of such conspiracies against justice. Had those enemies of the German people succeeded, they would presumably have also followed the hallowed precedent of promptly criminalizing saying anything rudely honest, however peacefully, about themselves or their newly installed and incontestably universally beloved father-in-law of the nation. 

 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, 2022, under the title "An old precedent" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2457290/lets-try-composting

A practical solution

re: "Mafia pull alive and well" (BP, Editorial, December 5, 2022) 

Dear editor,

The Bangkok Post is right to be concerned about the scale of criminal gang operations in Thailand by foreigners attracted by the profits to be made. It is perhaps sobering to reflect that such foreign business successes are likely dwarfed by the more smoothly running local Thai mafia gangs and loyal officials also eagerly raking in the billions to be had. It might, therefore, be more constructive to ask what it is that contributes to making Thailand a hub of such gang-led criminal activity. I would suggest that the major answer is Thai law. 

In 1920, the US criminalized alcohol. The result was not that millions of law abiding citizens, or at least citizens who saw themselves as being generally law-abiding, upstanding members of their community suddenly stopped drinking. Well, they did, but not for very long. After an initial, dramatic drop in 1921, alcohol consumption by generally law-abiding, upstanding members of their community, now all officially criminals, rapidly returned to their pre-Prohibition drug drinking habits. In 1919, per capita alcohol consumption in the US was just under 0.8 gallons/person. In 1921, this plunged to a little over 0.2 gallons/person. In 1922, it soared to actually exceed the pre-Prohibition level of 1919 (Clark Warburton, The Economic Results of Prohibition. Columbia University Press, 1932, pp. 23–26, 72).

Of course, what America's experiment with criminalizing the sale and use of alcohol proved was that decent people often strongly demand what those misled by good intentions righteously deem bad for everyone. When denied the opportunity to legally purchase regulated, safe products from legal, responsible business people, the good citizens of the US turned in their masses to the mafia gangs, enabling those criminal institutions to get a solid footing in American law enforcement, judiciary and government — not exactly all that righteous. 

The recent Thai saga of Tuhao, or Chaiyanat Kornchayanant as he is known, illustrates exactly the same phenomena. Millions of Thai and Chinese customers, who not only think of themselves as being decent, law-abiding people who want a bit of fun, and whose bit of fun in almost all cases does not harm anyone save themselves, are eager customers for the likes of foreigners such as Tuhao, and even more so for the Joe Ferraris and others in the Royal Thai Police and other Royal Thai law enforcement bodies serving the local criminal gangs who are getting rich beyond their official salaries' dreams. As reported, Tuhao naturally appears to have all the requisite law enforcement and political connections to ensure high profits.

No business person, Thai or foreign, legal or criminal, ever got rich by selling a product for which there was no demand. The most practical partial solution to the corruption as usual in the Royal Thai Police and elsewhere, which no one who supports the regressive status quo over progressive reform will ever tackle, irrespective of incredible promises, is to at least decriminalize all those activities so beloved of the Thai people that they are staunch customers irrespective of legality. If those inherently unjust laws were reformed, that would immediately put a major dent in the income streams of foreign and local criminal gangs and corrupt Thai officials, which is perhaps the reason those groups so oppose sane law. Such reform of obviously failing law would also greatly reduce the harms to society caused by having the sex industry, the drug industry, the gambling industry and so on run not by regulated, tax-paying business people who could be held to account, but by criminal gangs and corrupt officials getting rich at great cost to Thai society. 

 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, 2022, under the title "A practical solution" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2455577/just-fine-in-theory

re: "When Gay Rights Clash With Religious Freedom"

re: "When Gay Rights Clash With Religious Freedom" (The New York Times, December 4, 2022)

It is honest of the author to admit that homophobia is written into her religion's sacred text, as are endorsements of the institution of slavery (even more in the New than the Old Testament: Ephs. 6:5, Titus 2:9, etc), which was also common when old men steeped in the patriarchy of desert tribes were busily composing those sacred scriptures to freeze desiccate their societies and every bad moral value held. 

The question then is, perhaps, how much value must the rest of us give to beliefs that, whilst sincerely held by millions for many generations, lack any sound moral foundation save the accident of having been written into someone's sacred text? Must every belief that has a scriptural foundation, say in Mein Kampf, and that today has sincere believers require that we respect their right to conform to their doubtless sincerely held belief? 

Can the law compel a racist, say one who holds that view for what they, notwithstanding Ms. Warren's rejection of it as bad theology, hold to be a theological command from their god written into the text of the Bible? Are only majority religious interpretations of a set of approved scripture to be allowed force in determining which religious exemptions are to be granted from complying with the secular law of the land? 

That said, I also see the attempted wisdom of Ms. Warren's suggested solution to the difficulty. We do not, surely, want to be in the habit of using the law as a weapon to compel compliance to our own values. 

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/opinion/303-creative-supreme-court.html#commentsContainer&permid=121836678:121836678

re: "A New Clash Between Faith and Gay Rights Arrives at a Changed Supreme Court"

re: "A New Clash Between Faith and Gay Rights Arrives at a Changed Supreme Court" (The New York Times, December 4, 2022) 

The zealous fans of that famous sacred text Mein Kampf have indubitably sincere beliefs that are as well founded on reason, reality and moral decency as are the moral convictions of any other set of sacred texts pushed by any religion. (Every single supernatural claim about reality by every religion is exactly exactly equally well supported by solid evidence.) Must their sincerely held beliefs that comport with their strongly held faith about what a greater power dictates be so be similarly respected? 

And then there are all those explicit endorsements of slavery in the Christian Bible, especially in the New Testament — passages such as Titus 2:9 and Ephesians 6:5. How exactly is the law of the land to accommodate the beliefs and practices of those who sincerely yearn to follow those commands of their loving god? 

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/us/politics/gay-rights-supreme-court-first-amendment.html#commentsContainer&permid=121837705:121837705

re: "What Euthanasia Has Done to Canada"

re: "What Euthanasia Has Done to Canada" (The New York Times, December 4, 2022)

The short, correct answer to Mr. Douthat's question, " What if a society remains liberal but ceases to be civilized?" is that Canada has only become more civilized by allowing 10,000 people to control the end of their own lives. At the moment, that is 3% of deaths, which proves that many sensible adults want this option. 

Mr. Douthat is also wrong to falsely suggest that death is not a cure for suffering. It very plainly does end suffering. There is nothing dystopian about making it easier for informed adults to decide to opt out of meaningless suffering before inevitable death. There is nothing inherently ennobling or wonderful about such suffering, and civilized societies do help their members escape it. 

The root of Mr. Douthat's error-strewn understanding of euthanasia is his rejection of the insight that "The idea that human rights encompass a right to self-destruction" as he emotively loads his portrayal. This objection reeks, as he concedes, of some religious ideology that claims, with no evidence or good reason whatsoever, that humans are the property of a creator god and that as his playthings, they must not seek to live freely according to their best assessment of what makes their own lives, including the ends of their lives, meaningful and valuable to them. 

Similar fake claims are used to justify denying abortion rights.

It might be the conservative way to so deny the right to choose how we live our own lives; it is not the just, liberal, or honest way. 

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/opinion/canada-euthanasia.html#commentsContainer&permid=121823436:121823436

Nothing but fairy tales

re: "'Thainess' needs rethink" (BP, Editorial, December 1, 2022) 

Dear editor,

"Inspired by real events" is the forthright disclaimer for NetFlix's highly popular series "The Crown". That is honest. George Orwell's enduringly renowned "Animal Farm" was originally subtitled "A Fairy Story". That is honest. Children's fairy tales, "Beauty and the Beast" and its gorgeously varied bed mates, do not pretend to be factual history in their "happily ever after" conclusions. That, too, is honest.  

And then there is Thai history, something apparently not to be taught in Thai schools under the sway of the Ministry of Education following the commands issued by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, as reported in the Bangkok Post's "'Thainess' needs rethink".

The Education Ministry's suggestion to teach Thai history "as an individual subject ... in school curricula" in fact strikes me as an excellent idea. If only it were true. If only it were possible. To genuinely study history, especially your own nation's, as opposed to choking down saccharine fairy tales, is to be sometimes shocked at what your nation has done; to be sometimes horrified at the baseness and unchecked incompetence often shown by your national heroes; to be disgusted at the means sometimes used to gain and abuse power. If you read only stories of pure courage, niceness, and unfailing moral excellence, that's a fairy tale pretending to be history. Children's fairy tales are more honest than such childish half truths pretending to be history. 

Thais deserve to be able to study and argue about their nation's history in all its splendour and ugliness, its successes and failures, its insights and silliness, and its merits and rottenness. How else is anything of mature worth to be learned for a sound understanding of what made Thailand what it is today, let alone of how to move their nation forward to a better future for all Thais? Is honest history really so dangerous that it must be suppressed by law that actually imprisons those who peacefully call for that openness to dissenting ideas that alone protects any society from perpetuating venerated errors? 

Both history and fairy tales tell us stories that can entertain, elevate and educate, but they are not the same thing. It is childish bullying to dictate the rank dishonesty that fairy tales be accepted as incontestable 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 December 3, 2022, under the title "Nothing but fairy tales" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2452159/whats-the-incentive-

Illusory soft power

re: "Building on Apec pluses" (BP, Editorial, November 24, 2022) 

Dear editor,

When they write glowingly of French President Emmanuel Macron eating Chinese food, of a Muay Thai skit, and a visit to Wat Pho as being "the talk of the town" the Bangkok Post's editor is perhaps expressing wishful thinking of the same variety that leads the national police chief to regularly insist that the latest heavily promoted crackdown will this time solve whatever problem is currently hot once and for all. And there are no gambling in dens in Bangkok.

The claim regarding those rigidly managed photo ops of visiting national leaders doing the approved Thai tourist cultural activities, including the obligatory temple visit, dictated in detail by the same centralized power structures that subject Thailand to militaristic rule that "they helped promote the country's soft power" is equally incredible. That is not what soft power is; it is certainly not any way to nurture any soft power that will win global renown. No, they were cute distractions where duly vetted "good" Thais put on exactly the same shows that have been repeated for decades to impress starry-eyed tourists before they go out to enjoy some real fun if not strictly sequestered in an APEC security bubble. Such is the opposite of soft power. It is stultifying hard power forcing a show of what authoritarian, centralized authority deems properly and politely "Thai." 

Actual soft power would be what Korea's K-pop and economic growth show. Actual soft power would be what is demonstrated in Taiwan's booming economy founded on the technological innovation that drives its computer chip and related industries. Such actual soft power success requires creativity to question old ways and reform them in new ways. Thailand has no soft power industry of global note; it  only sells off its natural beauty, its people kept strictly in line for their own alleged good, and its fancied up historical and cultural myths for profit. 

Actual soft power, not reruns of decades old thinking beloved of coup leaders and enablers, is not compatible with the mindsets that have repeatedly colluded to deny the Thai nation political, social, moral and economic progress for many decades. If Thailand is to emulate the real success of such nations as Taiwan and South Korea, it needs to do what those nations did in the 1980s and rid itself of the stultifying malaise of military interference in civil society. 

The editor's other alleged "pluses" are equally showy bits of theatre of extremely dubious value to Thai society, if not actually harmful. How, for example, does putting a few thousand more drug users or dealers in prison and giving them a criminal record help themselves, their families or society? It does not, as decades of evidence, such as persistently high drug use rates that result in serious harm to users and society shout out too clearly. If the self-alleged fathers of the nation were to address the defects in society that lead so very many Thais to find the yaba or alcohol or other drug filtered version of it preferable to the actual reality of their daily lives, fewer Thais might be so desperately keen to use drugs to escape. 

In fact, were those deeming themselves bounteous fathers who must be strictly obeyed to allow the Thai people to be creative, to think and express themselves freely, to reinterpret inherited social norms, food, traditions and history, and even to decide for themselves how best to live their own lives, Thailand might then enjoy its long-denied soft power success, and collaterally see a massive drop in demand for drugs to escape the not-so-fantastic reality that the likes of Prayut have sedulously forged over the decades through their more than sufficiently boasted selflessness, righteousness and good intentions. 

 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 27, 2022, under the title "Illusory soft power" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2447289/so-were-paying-for-thai-

Fifa vs One Love

re: "European teams say won't wear 'OneLove' World Cup armband" (BP, November 21, 2022) 

Dear editor,

It is extremely disappointing to read of FIFA's caving to the bad values of intolerance and hatred that Qatari officials insist on to protect their fragile sensibilities and presumably to shield their citizens from exposure to what is good, just, beautiful and right. No one disputes that Qatar has every right to make such laws as it sees fit and to enforce those laws. It is equally true that such unjust laws founded on corrupted moral values, fake claims about non-existent entities, and unreason deserve to be called out for what they are and to be protested against. 

FIFA players from democratic nations have every right to protest such unjust laws and ugly social norms that flatly contradict their beautiful sport's own embrace of inclusivity. FIFA has seriously let the side down and deserves due contempt for its craven stance of appeasement. 

Regarding the ugly, fake comments quoted from former Qatari international and World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman that being homosexual is "damage in the mind," it should be noted that the only damaged minds are those that in 2022 could still hold such a backward notion, one more fitting for a primitive, cloistered desert culture of patriarchy than any modern, global society.

But it is for the 5% of Qatari people who love members of the same sex for whom I feel most sad. They are forced by their own fellow citizens and the state that should care for them  into dark closets haunted by the risk of anyone knowing who they really are. Qatari law and social norms thereby breed dishonesty and distrust in society, along with the hatred and intolerance dictated by the religion that the state dictates all be subject to. 

 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 November 24, 2022, under the title "Fifa vs One Love" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2445160/apecs-echo

re: "This Holiday, I’m Going to a Gay Bar"

re: "How to Talk to Kids About Drugs in the Age of Fentanyl" (The New York Times, November 23, 2022)

That took me back near 50 years. I haven't been to a gay bar for a couple of decades now, but they were indeed a lifeline in 1970s Sydney. Whilst their continued existence in communities is reassuring, it's sad that gay bars are yet needed because segments of society yet hate and fear moral progress, terrified even of its whispers. 

Who is more directly harmful to society and children: a drag queen rocking a gay bar (or book reading, or prom, or anywhere else) or a priest, bishop, imam, reverend got up in sacred vestments too camp as he preaches supernaturally dubious claims and hellish intolerance because the authors of an ancient text wrote their inherited patriarchy, ignorance, and bigotry into it?  

_______________________________

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/opinion/club-q-colorado-springs-james-dobson.html#commentsContainer&permid=121643065:121643065

There is also an earlier comment:

For all the usual reasons, as Ms Hough sets them forth, Qatar is perhaps the timely example of a society in desperate need of some gay bars. 

t is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/opinion/club-q-colorado-springs-james-dobson.html#commentsContainer&permid=121642956:121642956

Half-truths

re: "Selective reporting" (BP, PostBag, November 21, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Highlighting the need for full reporting of arguably relevant facts on the use of rubber bullets by state forces during a recent APEC protest, Thanin Bumrungsap makes an excellent point regarding the truth behind the proverb "half the truth is often a whole lie," as he cites it.

But must it not then be wondered what that identical insight says about Thailand's state institutions protected by law that dictates only half the truth be spoken? 

 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 November 22, 2022, under the title "Half-truths" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2443159/half-truths

Cannabis sensibility

re: "Champions of pot plot pro-bill rally" (BP, November 19, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Other than objecting on principle to free citizens choosing how to live their own lives without directly harming others, or an even more principled objection to adults having fun at all, what is wrong with recreational use of cannabis that does not apply with at least equal force to recreational use of alcohol? 

Those in favour of freedom, of personal liberties, should support the legalization of cannabis for sale and use by consenting adults, with due safeguards against underage or other inappropriate use. Those safeguards need be no more than now obtain for both alcohol and cigarettes, both of whose recreational uses are more harmful to society and, especially for alcohol, pose a greater threat to the underaged than does fully legal recreational use of cannabis. 

Some of the hysteria around this very sensible policy change, albeit botched in execution, of the current Thai government is reminiscent of the addled thinking of drug damaged brains. Might some perhaps have been at the alcohol too much in their youth?  

 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 November 21, 2022, under the title "Cannabis sensibility" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2442345/cannabis-sensibility

An 'open society'?

re: "Protesters confront riot-control police" (BP, November 17, 2022) 

Dear editor,

There is, I fear, a problem with the wording lauding the APEC love fest. I don't mean that minor matter of the missing "e" from the large welcuming banner advertising that famous command of English inculcated by Thailand's too amazing Ministry of Education. The language problem causing concern is more substantial than the inept orthography that some fool arrogantly deeming his wisdom above being open to correction refused to have competently proofread before a proud public exposure. The more serious error is that the people who thought up the slogan "Open. Connect. Balance." appear to fail to understand at least one of those concepts. 

An open society and people who actually respected the ideal of openness would not be arresting and imprisoning those who peacefully express different ideas about inherited notions, social norms, or alleged articles of faith. To be open, to be an open society, which all the best are, means to be, well, open: open to new ideas; open to critical review of old ideas; open to new perspectives on traditional reverences; and open to competing ways to understand and live in the world. 

Only such an open society, one where inherited errors can be corrected by healthy, critical interrogation, makes possible progress to a better future. That better future has for many decades been denied the Thai people, who could and should have followed the path to flourishing of Taiwan and South Korea, but were instead condemned to the retarded political, social, moral and economic malaise that is Thailand today — a far cry from South Korea and Taiwan. Perhaps Thais should study not only K-pop, but even more the South Korean history that enabled that nation's great global success. Hint: the seeds were sown in 1980. Thailand, in contrast, continued to repeat the stultifying errors that Thai law strictly bans correcting. 

 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 November 19, 2022, under the title "An 'open society'?" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2441319/an-open-society-

Dictatorial disputes

re: "Anti-hate hating" (BP, PostBag, November 10, 2022), re: "Reflecting on a century of Fascism" (BP, November 7, 2022)

Dear editor,

It is not clear exactly which of Jason Stanley's "own words" manifest, as Sam Wright alleges, "anti-democratic views [with] dark dictatorial promise." Mr. Wright usefully reports the professor's points that fascism is both rotten and that it does tend to be beloved of Christian conservatives peddling their perfectly unsubstantiated fantasies as all-justifying fact, fake claims if ever there were. He also helpfully summarizes Prof. Stanley's analysis of the threat that Trump poses to US democratic institutions and principles. But there is nothing in all this that is manifestly anti-democratic or fraught with dictatorial promise of the sort that continues, for example, to afflict Thailand, another nation where religion plays a conspicuous role as a pillar loyally propping up glorified tradition opposing democracy that respects human rights. 

Mr Wright has more solid grounds for his observation that Prof. Stanley fails to also rail against much else that is rotten, such as the "left-wing authoritarianism" cited as absent. It must be agreed that the ideology of left-wing authoritarianism, such as exemplified in Xi Jinping's China, if that is what is to be understood by "left-wing authoritarianism", is also rotten. But since Mr Wright does not trouble himself to indicate what he might in fact mean by the undefined term "left-wing authoritarianism", with neither explanation nor a single example being given, we can only speculate as to whether or not Xi and that ilk qualify.

There are, nonetheless, equally authoritarian tendencies than those inspired by fascist authoritarianism with its love of simple final solutions to complex social issues, typically of the "kill them" or "lock them up" type, as Prof. Stanley also discusses with regard to the modern United States with its extraordinarily high rate of imprisonment, most disproportionately of the less-white demographic.

Mr Wright might also have pointed out that Prof. Stanley could have broadened his comments beyond Christianity, since at the very least the world's other monotheistic religions, with or without the multiple personalities of the Christian god, are every bit as repressively immoral and morally stunting in their primitive authoritarianism as are the religions of the God of Abraham, with His famous Ten Commandments, the first of which explicitly dictates in Exodus 20:3 absolute intolerance of other ways of thinking, living or being. But wait, what was that we read in Prof. Stanley's essay about the political acts of Hindu nationalism in India?

Perhaps a closer reading by Mr Wright would have suggested that Prof. Stanley chose to focus on one acute threat to democracy in the West today, not to analyze every political ill, such as seen in the never-democratic likes of Iran, where religion also naturally allies itself to viciously anti-democratic violation of basic human rights, nor was he analyzing the decline and fall wrought by "left-wing authoritarianism" of Chinese democracy under Xi's rising Maoification. Perhaps that dissection of "left-wing authoritarianism" over the past century will come in a later piece, or perhaps Mr Wright could write that essay for us. 

 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 November 12, 2022, under the title "Dictatorial disputes" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2436077/grim-logic

What a cop out

re: "Drunk doctor avoids jail time for fatal road crash" (BP, November 8, 2022) 

Dear editor,

The facts as reported in the case of the doctor, who happens collaterally to hold the rank of captain in that gloriously uniformed institution the Royal Thai Police, getting off with zero prison time after killing two people and injuring another whilst driving under the influence of his preferred drug of addiction might appear to reasonable people to confirm what observant people have suspected for many decades: namely, that those deemed "good people" by bad people are not to be treated like common people. 

 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 November 11, 2022, under the title "What a cop out" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2435259/financial-injustice

re: "How to Talk to Kids About Drugs in the Age of Fentanyl"

re: "How to Talk to Kids About Drugs in the Age of Fentanyl" (The New York Times, November 9, 2022)

We want to protect children. We also want to protect adults. But adult persons have a right to decide for themselves how to balance advantages and disadvantages: some will opt to skip the high sugar desserts, others will value the present enjoyment and pig out. 

That we know something is unhealthy is a good reason to be concerned. It cannot be a sufficient reason to criminalize its use by or sale to adults. 

Legalize all the drugs so that quality can be regulated and sold by respectable businesses. At least then adults and reckless teenagers will have a fair chance of knowing exactly what they are ingesting and the real risks.  

_______________________________

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

It is published there at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/opinion/fentanyl-teens.html#commentsContainer&permid=121387215:121387215

Setting an example

re: "Casual dress allowed at college exams" (BP, November 5, 2022) 

Dear editor,

In his loyalist railing against the notion that students be allowed to dress in comfort when taking exams, Atthaphon Sangkhawasee, the permanent secretary for education, really should have presented the compelling factual argument for his stance. It is presumably because they always wear such "uniforms ... closely tied to ... behaviour, discipline, responsibility, and morality," that the Royal Thai Police, Royal Thai Army, and similar institutions are famously respected for setting the example to the Thai nation of moral excellence, with never any hint of corruption, malfeasance, coup plotting, or engaging in any underhand, if not outright criminal, behaviour. 

Need more be said in defence of official opposition to progress in Thai education? 

 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 November 7, 2022, under the title "Setting an example" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2431489/inquiring-minds

Feigned blindness?

re: "No gambling dens in city: police chief" (BP, November 2, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Could anything be more reassuring? We hear direct from MPB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Thiti Saengsawang that "definitively there are no gambling clubs operating currently in Bangkok," echoing National police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, who "insisted there are no gambling dens in the capital." The courage it takes to expose such critical thinking skills in public can only impress.

Perhaps, however, a high school student whose critical thinking skills have not been stunted by bad education could explain to the national police chief the difference between there being no evidence of X and there being no X. The fact that, for example, zero evidence for corruption by Xi Jinping is to be found does not mean that Xi Jinping is not massively corrupt. If true as alleged by themselves that the Royal Thai Police are perfectly ignorant of any gambling dens in Bangkok, it does not follow that such dens are not in fact common in Bangkok, merely that for some reason the RTP does not know that. 

Lest anyone be troubled for any reason by my choice of Xi Jinping as the useful example, replace him with any preferred figure equally revered; exactly the same truth will hold: the perfect absence of evidence of corruption or other abuses cannot logically entail that there is no such ugliness hiding under the suave, ruthlessly managed public façade, no matter how immaculately dressed in rich robes, vestments, or other gaudy uniform.

 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 November 5, 2022, under the title "Feigned blindness?" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2430474/world-cup-follies

Crimes of the state

re: "Go softly, softly: 4th Army head" (BP, November 2, 2022) 

Dear editor,

To hear his perfectly fantastic statements promising so much in Thailand's long troubled southern regions from the newly appointed commander of the 4th Army Region, Lt Gen Santi Sakuntanark is to be reminded of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha's equally fantastic promises after he had staged a well-plotted plan to initiate a not at all fantastic, being all too real, road map that began with making himself prime minister: healing social divides, ending corruption, reforming such revered institutions as the Royal Thai Police, bringing true democracy to Thailand after almost a century of it being denied, ensuring transparency and accountability in all things, respecting human rights, and of course restoring happiness to the Thai people. It's all too incredible.

I would suggest that as soon as soon as the 4th Army Region's new commander starts to bring justice and accountability for such horrors as the Tak Bai and Krue Se killings, his promises might move from being purely fantastic to being credible.

In the meantime, those "urged to surrender and prove their innocence in court" might well have some glimmer of miraculously trusting faith that they will indeed "be given the right to a fair trial." But until those responsible for Tak Bai and like horrors committed by the Thai state are held to just account by similar proceedings in open court, those invited to enter that process might also have justified worries about suffocation or other untoward incidents occurring as they are packed for delivery to that trial.  

 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 November 4, 2022, under the title "Crimes of the state" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2429535/fix-the-basics-first

Double gibberish

re: "Recreational use 'doubles' since delisting" (BP, October 31, 2022) 

Dear editor,

"Recreational use 'doubles' since delisting", the Bangkok Post's lead article for most of Monday, front and centre on the website's homepage, certainly catches the reader's attention. It is also a shameful piece of alleged journalism. Admittedly, the Post is not an academic journal. Nonetheless, if such a claim is to be made as that "the number of people aged under 20 who use cannabis recreationally has doubled since the plant was formally decriminalised this year," then at the very least, the before and after numbers must be cited. Did the number allegedly double from one to two? Or was it from 100 to 200? Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000? One million to two million? Without those numbers, the claim is worthless.

Equally important is to explain the research behind those statistics. As far as this piece of reporting goes, it might just be numbers made up by someone at the Centre of Addiction Studies making a more or less educated guess to push an agenda that the Bangkok Post apparently favours. Did the statistics come from polls? From records of hospital admissions acting as proxy for the number of users? Did they come from arrest records? Did they come from the same or different methodologies? Again, without this information being given, the Post's loudly touted headline "Recreational use 'doubles' since delisting" is at best garbage, and possibly deceitful. 

 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 November 2, 2022, under the title "Double gibberish" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2427890/partially-understood

Plea for vaping

re: "Vaping ban fails to do its job" (BP, Editorial, October 30, 2022) 

Dear editor,

It is depressing to again see the Bangkok Post insisting that "The government must put a stop to this dirty business," the dirty business in this case being the thriving market for e-cigarettes, which are, as the Post reminds us, illegal in Thailand, as so many things are to the great benefit of criminal gangs and their loyal aids in law enforcement.

The Post's sole claim to an objective reason for seeking to ban Thai adults deciding for themselves how best to live their own lives is the claim that "the World Health Organization (WHO) says otherwise" of the common belief that "e-cigarette lobbyists insist e-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco and also help tobacco smokers quit the habit." Unfortunately, the Post failed to cite a specific source to check for the dubious claim it attributes so blithely to the WHO. But at least part of the that claim is certainly false; it is definitely not only e-cigarette lobbyists who hold such beliefs: both the UK's NHS and the US's CDC admit that whilst certainly not harmless, e-cigarettes are "less harmful than cigarettes" (NHS, "Using e-cigarettes to stop smoking", 2022; CDC, "About Electronic Cigarettes (E-Cigarettes)", 2022). The Post is pushing what seems dangerously like false claims that will harm the health of Thais, including Thai youth. 

More disturbing is the awful logic, the illogic, that the Post uses to justify even greater state interference in the private lives of Thai citizens. The editor's citing of the 2017 Constitution, currently the latest permanent constitution of the Thai nation, seems disingenuous. If the constitutional requirement that "the government must ensure citizens of their basic rights to good health and provide an effective public healthcare system that includes disease prevention and control" mandates a ban on e-cigarettes, then that same provision also mandates that the government ban or severely restrict high sugar foods, at least their sale or giving, to innocent children and teenagers, whose health is certainly harmed by regular consumption thereof. That will clear out the food floor at Paragon. And perhaps throw a few reckless parents into prison for allowing their darlings to daily pig out on cakes, soft drinks and other sweets. The salient point is that if that were indeed what that section of Thailand's deeply flawed constitution required, it would be but one more example of a section in urgent need of amendment. 

Even if e-cigarettes were more harmful than regular cigarettes as the Post dubiously claims, that would not be a sufficient reason to justify the ban. By all means regulate their sale to and use by those under 18, but if adults want to use them, a society that respects their right to decide personal matters for themselves must allow that. Along with Move Forward's principled politician, in this instance, the government's Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn is correct: "legalising e-cigarettes would enable the country to tax their sales and would provide a safer option for those unable to quit smoking regular cigarettes."  E-cigarettes should be legal, which would also respect the human right to decide how to live your own life.

The Post should retract and revise its stance on e-cigarettes. 

 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 November 1, 2022, under the title "Plea for vaping" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2427005/too-many-curbs

Ideology check-list

re: "Xi and top officials pay homage to Mao" (BP, October 29, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Freshly ordained into the highest holy orders, of course Xi Jinping, the the newly anointed messenger of the one true, universal and apostolic Chinese Communist Party, flanked by his college of cardinals most resplendent descended upon the "holy land" of Yan'an to pay homage to the divinity(ies) whose graciously bestowed eternal truths benevolently guide himself as he selflessly shepherds with fatherly resolution the devoted flocks along the bounteously paved paths to heaven. 

Blindly held dogma? Check.

Magical rites promising eternal prosperity? Check.

Elevation of pure faith over reason and reality? Check and check.

Deities to worship mindlessly, tolerating no others? Double check. 

Criminalization of blasphemy, heresy and apostasy? Triple check.

The infallibly righteous and inerrant ideology of Maoism has ascended to full blown religious zealotry, complete with priestly caste dressed to kill, nor is any limit placed on the sufficiency of lesser humans to be sacrificed to protect the faith from inimical reason, sense or justice, past, present or future. 

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Rome's Pope Francis, among others similarly immured in their own infallibility, could take the online course. 

 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 October 31, 2022, under the title "Ideology check-list" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2426120/ideology-check-list

A mind of its own

re: "AI art raises questions about copyright" (BP, October 26, 2022)

Dear editor,

Whilst wondering how much of the text might have been prompted if not actually written by a helping AI, I enjoyed Saliltorn Thongmeensuk's timely reflections on the present need to set up legal frameworks for the ascending AI and its creative achievements. Google's omnipresent AI, I've noticed, has become far more adept over recent years at correctly predicting the word or groups of words that I would like to write next.

But Open AI's GPT-3 and DALL-E 2, Google's LaMDA, which recently convinced one of its creators that it was an actual person (Google insists it is not),  and the rest of the growing set of rapidly evolving deep learning and other AIs pose a far more enticing set of questions to ponder than the beguiling legal issues raised.

As Chula law lecture Dr. Saliltorn notes, "In short, AI is no longer a tool of humans, but it can make decisions and create artistic works itself." And this is perhaps where AI most pushes us to reflect on what, if anything, is particularly special, let alone unique, about being a typical adult human being.  

Dr. Saliltorn uses the adjective "rapid" to describe the evolution of AI, but this seems a bit weak. We took millions of years to mindlessly evolve by nature's blind trials into what we are today. AI began only decades ago, and being mindfully evolved by ourselves, is developing at an exponentially accelerating clip that makes it reckless to predict what it might be capable of in five more years, let alone another decade of ever accelerating evolution. 

These are indeed most interesting times to live in. 

 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 October 28, 2022, under the title "A mind of its own" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2424555/a-mind-of-its-own

Legal versus moral

re: "Mall zoo prices Thailand's last caged gorilla at B30m" (BP, October 21, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Whilst legally sound, the argument from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment regarding Bua Noi, the gorilla held captive in solitary confinement at the Pata Pinklao Department Store for many years, that they "could not take any action other than buy the giant ape, because the gorilla was private property" bought before Thailand signed up to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), under which such a purchase would now be illegal, ignores justice and the wider moral issues at stake.

Prior to 1860, it was also legal to own human beings throughout most of the United States of America. That legal fact did not stop President Lincoln emancipating much, albeit not all, of that private property on January 1, 1863. With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution on December 6, 1865, all slave property in the US was freed, irrespective of the fact that they had until that date been legally owned private property. 

It is indefensible to continue what has subsequently come to be recognized as a great injustice merely because the law once blessed such wrongs. We now understand that Bua Noi should never have been subjected to the inhumane treatment she has legally suffered. Had Bua Noi's human owners any sense of decency, they would themselves have moved her to a decent situation many years ago rather than extracting every last baht they could by turning her misery into a public entertainment. Plainly, they have not and will not. 

Bua Noi is owed amends from those who have so abused her, and it can be no injustice to amend the law to correct the historic wrong committed. It can, on the contrary, only aggravate that injustice to continue to protect it by law that fails to respect an evolving moral understanding.  

 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 October 26, 2022, under the title "Legal versus moral" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2422763/legal-versus-moral

Violence no solution

re: "Srisuwan attacked while on 'Nose' job" (BP, October 19, 2022) 

Dear editor,

The Bangkok Post is to be commended for the fittingly witty title "Srisuwan attacked while on 'Nose' job" for its report on the mild attack by a zealous Red shirt on the morally suspect Srisuwan Janya with his fondness for using the law to attack all sorts, often contrary to justice, such as his recent legal assault on comedian Udom "Nose" Taepanich, whose featured position on NetFlix suggests he is one of the more revered Thais currently promoting Thai soft power in accord with official policy. 

Whilst it's understandable that some are angry with Srisuwan, peaceful remains the better approach. Like other public figures, Srisuwan deserves some hearty ridicule for his antics, albeit not so much as prime ministers, deputy prime ministers and other allegedly revered public figures, not excluding Nose himself or other types with noses unduly in the air. Actual punching, however, is playing by the rules of the likes of army General Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his enemies of democracy, which, as Srisuwan correctly points out, is not really what pro-democracy advocates should be doing.

A further ugly truth is that Thaksin's faithful Red shirts, in  this case Weerawit Rungruangsiripol, do tend too often towards violence, being too inclined to be of the same rotten traditional mindset as exemplified by PM Prayut and his, who have for many, many decades set the Thai nation the example of using violence to get your way, that being precisely what a coup against the Thai people and their nation is. 

Thaksin's war on drugs similarly set violence as the popular example to the nation almost as much as the regular coups against democracy. And then there are those more vile official evils such as Tak Bai, October 6, 1976, and other acts setting the official seal on extreme violence.

Don't follow the example of the bad people who commit, collude in, egg on, or sign off on violence. 

 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 October 21, 2022, under the title "Violence no solution" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2419421/violence-no-solution

Better future beckons

re: "MFP proposes amnesty for those with contrarian political views" (BP, October 16, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Again, the Move Forward Party (MFP) offers constructive proposals to move Thailand forward to a better future. The bold initiative to amend the plain undemocratic sect.112, one of the more manifestly unjust sections of the criminal code, stands out for its moral courage, but so, too, does the ratification of the International Criminal Court statue, which might also promise an effective means to bring Thaksin to justice for his crimes against the Thai people that left thousands dead in his populist drug wars egged on by bad people, along with the long overdue justice for the Tak Bai massacre. Perhaps even the October 6, 1976 massacre could finally see some justice done? The other proposals presented are equally concrete and constructive for an economically stronger, morally healthier nation.

A poll on each of the MFP proposals would be useful, likely proving most illuminating. The polls done on the Ratsadon reform proposals before Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha used Covid as an excuse to stamp them down showed majority support for all of their proposals. Is there any reason to think that that groundswell of support for such reform has not strengthened over the last couple of years? MFP has likely judged correctly what the Thai nation has come to understand what it needs for a better future for all Thais. It is not yet more of the same old ways of the bad old days of bad old men. 

 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 October 18, 2022, under the title "Better future beckons" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2416790/heavy-ukraine-price

Drug falsehoods

re: "Lessons to learn from nursery tragedy" (BP, October 10, 2022) 

Dear editor,

The lesson to be learned from Veera Prateepchaikul's "Lessons to learn from nursery tragedy" is that some go to great lengths of to push comforting, populist assumptions over an evidence-based, critically reasoned response to a tragedy. Veera's opening sentence proclaims the dead horses he's going to flog for a few paragraphs: "Narcotic drugs, methamphetamines in particular, and guns, when they are mixed together, are a dangerous chemistry for violence -- much worse than the combination of alcohol and guns."

Yes, the killer used guns. But Veera overlooks (I am sure he is not ignorant of the fact) that the killer also used knives to kill. And yet there is no discussion of the need to ban or at least strictly control knife ownership. The rampaging killer was not simply a "gunman" as Veera labels him, but also a knife man.

The more serious misunderstandings Veera assumes are his incorrect ideas about drugs and drug harms to society. His claim that "methamphetamines ... are a dangerous chemistry for violence" is true. But when he goes on to repeat the common false belief that  they are "much worse than the combination of alcohol and guns" he flatly contradicts expert opinion, which is that of all drugs in popular use, alcohol is far and away the most harmful to society and others. This is the conclusion reached, for example, by Nutt et al. writing in the Lancet in "Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis" (2010, DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6) and Bonomo et al. reporting in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in "The Australian drug harms ranking study" (2019, DOI 10.1177/0269881119841569). Veera's sole support for his outrageous claim is to point out that "from time to time, we hear reports of a man who turns into a monster when high on methamphetamines." He offers no solid statistical support for his claim, which is likely popularly shared, for the very good reason that no such exists. False beliefs, however sincerely and widely believed on pure faith, do tend to lack actual supporting evidence. 

Veera is certainly right that drug use, especially methamphetamine use, is a serious problem in Thailand. Alcohol use is, however, an even more serious drug problem in Thailand, relevant to which are these summary sentences from the results section of Bonomo et al.: "Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug when harm to users and harm to others was combined. A supplementary analysis took into consideration the prevalence of each substance in Australia. Alcohol was again ranked the most harmful substance overall." It is not merely that alcohol is the more harmful drug to society because it is more widely used, but that for equal numbers of users, alcohol is the more harmful. But then, if instead of focusing on the rare reports that fit his preconceptions of demented yaa baa users holding their own family at gun point (more likely knife point, as I recall such reports), Veera considered for a moment, he would realize that it is alcohol that is the drug implicated in a high percentage of traffic deaths and in domestic abuse and sexual assault. The Democrat Party's former golden boy Prinn Panichpakdi plied himself and alleged victims not with yaa baa but with alcohol to fuel his lusts.

Yes, Thailand needs to take a hard look at the failing drug policies of many, many decades. A healthy start would be to look honestly at the evidence and form drug policy that reflects reality. Portugal, which decriminalized all personal drug use in 2001, now offers more than 20 years of valuable statistics on what happens when reason not inherited prejudice based on wild assumptions is used to plan a national drug policy whose aim is not appeasing popular prejudice but in fact the reduction of drug harms to society consistent with respect for human rights. 

 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 October 15, 2022, under the title "Drug falsehoods" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2414990/losing-our-standing