OPINION

Thailand so fragile

Re: "Cops mass at Chula Oct 6 meet", (BP, Oct 7).

The heading says it all and shows how ludicrous the regime's action was to detain and deport Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong. All it did was to draw the world's attention to the heavy handiness of Thailand's rulers and the possible pressure put on it by a certain foreign power. Surely Thailand is not as fragile as this?

I quite understand the authorities' concern for maintaining law and order, but in the digital age it makes little difference whether someone making a speech is doing so in person, or, as in this case, electronically. In fact, the banning of Joshua Wong likely gave him more attention than he otherwise might have had, thereby defeating the purpose of the ban.

Joshua 1, Thailand 0.MARTIN R

The 40th anniversary of the Oct 6, 1976 massacre should be remembered as an important event in Thai history. But it is unfortunate that Hong Kong independence movement leader, Joshua Wong, was invited to attend one of the memorial activities. His potential presence was always going to put the Thai government in an awkward position vis-a-vis China, and student activist Netiwit Chotipatpaisal must bear much of the responsibility for this situation.

Yes, China is the bully in the school playground. But these Human Rights Watch experts (based in New York and London) and other commentators criticising the Thai government's action don't understand the ramifications of going against China's wishes. Look at how many countries have acquiesced to China's pressure over planned visits by the Dalai Lama.

Joshua Wong is a naive young man who is painting himself into a corner. First refused entry into Malaysia, now Thailand. Where next I wonder.

In the last few months, the Bangkok Post has organised many forums and invited Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to speak. Gen Prayut has never confronted the issue of freedom of speech and human rights at these forums. He has made it clear that Thailand does not need Western-style democracy. And the current government has been on the global radar for its human rights abuses ever since it took control in mid-2014.

The PM and his team do not care about activist Joshua Wong's struggle and the aspirations of the people of Hong Kong, or the young Thai students who were held in jail. Hence, looking at the pattern, Mr Wong's deportation was not surprising. It is very clear that the current government does not care about its image. It is not making any serious efforts to crawl out of the hole it has dug itself after the coup. On the contrary, it is tightening its grip by eradicating the political class and replacing it with the new military brass. As far its relationship with China is concerned, it seems like a family affair. For authoritarian regimes "like attracts like".

Re: "No caviar but oodles of noodles for Prawit", (BP, Oct 5).

It was great news to read that Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon did not in fact eat caviar, but only noodles. I only hope that Thai Airways takes note of this and reduces the cost of the flight accordingly.

The video of the 43-year-old post office worker attacking and stamping on the head of a seven-year-old boy in retaliation following a childhood scrap has gone around the world since being shared on social media.

Friends in the UK and the US have been in contact, shocked at what they have seen, but I reassured them not to worry. This is a common occurrence here in Thailand. Child abuse is not a serious issue. If it was, then the father would have been arrested.

Our beloved leader, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, has the ability and the power to make the lives of Thai children safer if he wanted to. He has an opinion on most things, but of all the recent cases of child abuse that have made the news he has yet to give an opinion or make any statements.

How much longer are adults going to be allowed to abuse children? Developed nation status? Not yet, not until child abuse is taken seriously.

In order to prevent unnecessary road accidents, the Thai government should look into how minibuses operate. They should find out whether drivers are qualified and whether their vehicles are illegally modified.

The government recently restructured its taxes on vehicles, causing some motorists to turn to buying more minivans instead of sedans and pick-ups. Some of these new minivan owners run minibus services without properly registering their vehicles as passenger vans. Worse, some modify their engines to make them run faster. Some drivers of these vans usually boast about their ability to exceed speed limits.

Eating out at night, I often see children as young as 10 selling jasmine flowers in restaurants and on the street. So prevalent are they people have become used to it -- business as usual. There is no other term for it but child labour, illegal elsewhere. I once asked one kid who made him do it. "Dad," he said. "What does he do?" I asked. "Labourer," he replied. Indeed, most of them are forced to work against their will either by parents, or worse, criminal gangs.

Am I helping or hurting them by supporting them? If I buy their flowers, would that incentivise them, encouraging them to produce more? But if I don't, are they allowed to go home? And what consequence will the lack of additional income be for them and their families? Worse is what is in store for them if they return home empty handed to abusive parents, or parents living below the poverty line?

With children working at night, this will negatively affect their school performance -- assuming they attend school at all. The time those children spent at night working could and should be better used for studying and enjoying their lives like typical children their age do with their families. In doing so, they will end up contributing more to the economy later on by being well adjusted and educated.

To the extent that families cannot support themselves, it is the responsibility of the government to help them to support themselves, through welfare schemes, job training and job creation. I therefore urge the government to rectify this; to come up with measures to solve this problem.

Re: "Hollow conviction", (PostBag, Oct 6).

Mr Jackson makes a common error when he links "the Pheu Thai Party and the Democrats" with the election and selection of a prime minister. Their situations are quite different. Thaksin isolated the largest party, the Democrats, from government in 2001 when he invited all other parties into his coalition. In 2004, the coalition parties were invited to jump ship to stay on the gravy train.

The new voting system will make it possible to reduce the number of MPs from any party to less than 50. There is already talk about alliances in the coming election. History says that the Democrats need not bother to turn out and Thailand will be open for business with the good old boys in different coloured suits. Coalition or collusion?

Re: "Anti-Russian agenda", (PostBag, Oct 7).

His Excellency Kirill Barsky's letter attacking John Lloyd from the safety of the Russian ambassadorial compound here in Bangkok is broadly reflective of that country's currently belligerent and noisy approach to international relations.

Well, I for one think that John Lloyd is, indeed, hugely sympathetic to the suffering of the people of Aleppo, whose misery is exacerbated by the gratuitous bombing visited on their hospitals, and defenceless women and children, on a daily basis by the unelected and dictatorial Assad regime and their Russian counterparts. There's only so much outrage and disgust decent people can take. So from that standpoint, Russian crocodile tears over the entirely innocent dead, the dying and the maimed in that besieged city can be taken at face value.

Moreover, I seriously doubt that, contrary to the ambassador's factually unsupported invective, Mr Lloyd has any "outright hatred" toward the overwhelmingly respectable majority of Russian people at all. Vilifying morally motivated people is a common tactic used by de facto despotisms to smear those who speak truth to power, in the manner to which we are treated by the ambassador in his communication to the Bangkok Post. I wholeheartedly agree with Mr Barsky, however, in that there should be an end to terrorism in Syria once and for all; a start could be made with the total, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Russia's war-making capacity in that benighted country.

Re: "Anti-Russian agenda", (PostBag, Oct 7).

His Excellency Kirill Barsky raised the very important issue that modern journalism is so biased it evades facts and obscures the truth. Journalism has become propaganda.

It is a fact that the US Democratic Party behind the current US regime accuses Russia of just about everything from hacking its e-mails to committing war crimes in Syria. Anybody criticising their candidate for the White House is dubbed a Russian agent. The sick irony is that their Democrat candidate is largely responsible for the appalling suffering in Syria. She permitted a massive arms cache to be transported to Syria from Libya to arm the rebels attempting to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad. These rebels are in fact IS. Under international law, effecting regime change is illegal. The US has violated this law in Iraq, Egypt, Libya and now in Syria to suit its own agenda regardless of the massive cost in innocent lives.

Russia is supporting Mr Assad and fighting the US-armed IS "rebels". Mr Assad is alleged to have resorted to the use of banned weapons but he was desperate in the interest of defending his country's sovereignty. Once again was it not journalists, submersed in political correctness who made these allegations? We must never forget that the US used the ultimate weapon to end World War II. War is war.

The Russian people have suffered considerably from Chechen Islamic fundamentalists so understandably they have a reason to crush IS while supporting Mr Assad. The US should be reminded that the bombings at the Boston Marathon were perpetrated by two Chechens. People do not need partisan propaganda dished out by globalist-sponsored mainstream media. People need clear information based on facts from which they can make their own decisions. What people do not want is anymore is lies.

Re: "Read and learn", (PostBag Oct 5).

Wombat suggests having English subtitles for Thai movies to assist foreigners learning Thai -- a great idea. I just hope whoever translates the subtitles does a better job than in an English-language movie I saw with Thai subtitles. At one point a character enters the room and says to his wife, "Hi honey." I smiled when I noticed the subtitles had the caption: Sawadee namphung. I'm assuming the translator was having a bad day, as namphung is the word for honey, but specifically from a bee, not as a term of affection.

Why are convenience stores allowed to hand out plastic bags like it's some sort of contest to see who can create the most pollution?

So much of the garbage on the street is from these stores. I've seen people walk two feet from the door and drop the bag in the garbage.

The plastic bags should be banned entirely as should all the other plastic bags handed out by supermarkets and food vendors. When are we going to stop living in our own waste?