re: "New govt may face street protests: poll" (BP, June 18, 2023)
Dear editor,
It should be seen as a healthy sign that a NIDA poll suggests that, irrespective of what who forms it, many believe there will be protests when Thailand's new government takes office. Protests show that members of society can and do disagree. This is normal. It is honest. It is also a lesson that those who falsely claim universal agreement with or unquestionable righteousness for their pet ideologies would do well to learn, and to accept. Save in logic and mathematics, there are no such infallible truths, hence the need to insist that all substantive claims be open to debate.
Since no society worth the name has or even could have universal agreement on all matters that matter deeply to its individual members, strong disagreement is not to be run from in fear. Some will be theists insisting that theirs alone is the one true god, others will be atheists preferring reason and reality to mythic tales. Some will be royalists, others republican: both have an equal right to expression. Some will be libertarian, others communist: no big deal provided the equal right of all to peacefully present their case is strongly protected by law. Some will even think that regions of the nation should be able to discuss why they should be expected to remain a part of that "one and indivisible kingdom" (Thai Consts. 2007, 2014, 2017, et al. Sect. 1). Again, the best way to resolve such very real differences of opinion is by open dialogue where reasons are presented by both sides to persuade. The use of repressive law to shut down dialogue is no recipe for unity or for peace, nor does such suppression respect democratic principle.
Provided they are peaceful and not like the PDRC mobs of 2014, who boasted of their intent not only to "Shut down Bangkok, but to overthrow Thailand's "democratic regime of government with the King as Head of State" (Thai Consts. 2007, 2014, 2017, et al. Sect. 2) by instigating yet another coup against the nation, protests should be, if not welcomed, at least accepted as a sign of political, social and moral maturity.
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 June 21, 2023, under the title "Protests on horizon" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2596161/lacking-mandate
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