Define 'decent person'

re: "Upper House under fire" (BP, Editorial, January 17, 2023) 

Dear editor,

What exactly does Senator Kittisak Rattanawaraha think constitutes a "decent person"? If he means only someone "allowed to serve as long as voters wish", the most obvious example of such a "decent person" is Thaksin Shinawatra. Others might feel that Thaksin holds democratic principle in not much higher regard than does Prayut Chan-o-cha, who proved the extent of his respect for democratic principle by committing a coup to trample it into the dirt beneath his boots in accord with the thoroughly plotted road map he and allies have since continued to impose on the Thai people. 

Sen. Kittisak and like-minded colleagues in Thailand's current senate should be thanked for encouraging public debate about what constitutes a "decent person" and who qualify as models of such. For those aspiring to a democratic form of government, patriots who personally suffer as a consequence of peacefully standing up for democratic principle, especially when to do so brands them criminals according to undemocratic law, might best meet the definition of a "decent person". Thailand's internationally honoured recipients of South Korea's Gwangju Prize for Human Rights come to mind as such models to the Thai nation of genuinely decent people. 

 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 19, 2023, under the title "Define 'decent person'" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2486079/still-in-army-uniform