OPINION

Foolish drug war

Re: "Weed use a 'medical minefield'", (BP, Aug 8). If countries like Canada and the US are not intimidated by threats from the wrong-headed International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) that is stuck in the hysteria-driven mistakes of the ignorant past and vicious drug war heyday, why should Thailand be terrified of its threats to punish good citizens who need other medicines? The whole idea of punishing another group for the perceived crimes of others is morally indefensible, however popular it might be in the sanctions imposed by US presidents intent on forcing others to bow to their populist will.

Perhaps it is time Thailand withdrew from the 1971 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. If a treaty entered into with good faith is later learned to be based on false beliefs contradicted by the facts, by reason, and by good morals, only a bad fool would continue to be a part of it to the detriment of his own nation's citizens. It has long been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that wars on drugs not only fail but that they enable mafia gangs, encourage corruption of law enforcement officials, waste vast police resources, worsen national health outcomes and uselessly imprison sons and daughters at horrific financial and social costs to families and to society.

In view of the fact that most illegal drugs are far less harmful to society than alcohol, nations are increasingly moving to respect the rights of their adult citizens to decide for themselves how best to live their lives. To refuse them the right to such self-determination, even when we believe it to be personally foolish, is, after all, to treat people like slave property of the state, and slavery is now known to be a moral abomination.

Getting off scot-free

Re: "PM 'won't quit' over oath", (BP, Aug 9).

Can you imagine what would happen had a PM from the Pheu Thai-led coalition gave an incomplete oath and omitted the part about upholding and abiding by the constitution?

Surely, all hell would have broken loose. An avalanche of law books, accusations, charges, denouncements, rants, would have buried him or her alive. But for the Chosen One, it's mai pen rai, just an honest mistake. I think it is more serious than doing a cooking show on TV.

If the Chosen One can get off scot-free, an oath would be unsanctified and becomes meaningless and give its ledgers the freedom to leave out any part they feel they can't adhere to.

Mysterious Yingluck

Re: "Yingluck gets Serbian citizenship", (Online, Aug 9).

Once again, we have to rely on updates about Yingluck Shinawatra from a foreign news source rather than one from Thailand.

Your story says "her current whereabouts are unknown". Since she is a rather high-profile person in Thailand, isn't there anyone in Thailand who knows where she is? Or is it the usual sheep mentality that is common in a very third-world government.

Of course, the Thai government is the last to know anything and it's always unable to use Interpol or extradition, except if the person is a non-Thai like Rakesh Saxena in which case Thailand always seems to be able to bring them back.

Also since her predecessor supposedly has a Montenegrin passport and she now has a Serbian passport are we supposed to take the name of their political party seriously? Because the implication is that its members love the country and wouldn't consider living anywhere else.

Jimmy Carter, who is considered to have been a terrible president, said that people get the government that they deserve. Since Serbia says that it gave her the passport because "it could be in the interests of Serbia", a conditional statement, perhaps she is bringing political ideas there or is an adviser to Slobodan Milosevic, their former president.

Thai people say "farang talk too much". Maybe this news is an example of that.

No govt is 100% clean

Re: "Condoning graft?", (PostBag, Aug 8).

First, Ron Martin asked whether I was condoning graft in Thailand when I warned politicians not to involve themselves "too deeply" in corruption.

In fact, there is no squeaky-clean government anywhere in the world -- regardless of whether that country is a democracy or not. Take the US and Britain for example, corrupt practices in politics have happened in these places for as long as these countries existed.

Secondly, the problem of the Thai military having an inflated number of commissioned officers might be true, but to cut the defence budget drastically just because of that is unwarranted.

According to a World Bank report, Thailand's military budget for 2018 was 1.3% of the country's annual budget, while for Singapore it was 3.1%.

Hence, it seems the more advanced a country's economy is, the more need there is for a larger defence budget.

TM30 mishmash

The issues surrounding the irksome TM30 reporting requirement have become ever more confusing. Recently my wife, who is a homeowner, applied online to register with the Immigration Department. An acknowledgement was received stating that an email containing a login name and password would be sent, enabling her to complete the registration. A week later, that information has still not been received.

Last week, foreign visitors stayed at our house. The day after their arrival, my wife had to take her elderly mother to the hospital, and thus had no time to submit the TM30 report in person. However, when our visitors departed, they apparently encountered no problems at the airport. The several hours it would have taken my wife, including travel time, to make the TM30 report at the Immigration Department at Chaeng Wattana would thus have been a complete waste of time and effort.

What a shambles!

Expats, not criminals

I am at a total loss on this recent TM30 stink that seems to be getting up expats noses. Firstly, before I relate my own situation, let me say that if I was not an avid Bangkok Post reader, I would never have even heard of it at all.

I have lived in the same place for 20 years now. Every three months during this time, I travel outside the kingdom. I have never been to an immigration office. I choose to leave as I enjoy a little holiday every three months, whether to a border country or the occasional flight to Europe. So whether I go to Laos and have a day or three in Udon Thani province or elsewhere along the way or a few days in Bangkok to relax before a flight, I am always out of my home province for over 24 hours. Never once have I told anyone.

I have never broken any law in any way and have never overstayed once. Am I now being told I must report my movements every three months?

Well, I will not be doing anything at all differently based on stories in a newspaper. So am I now considered a lawbreaker? The vast majority of expats are law-abiding and bring important foreign currency into the country.

How about putting tracking devices on politicians and men in uniform as these are the ones often involved in corruption and other pages of the Post?

Evil big pharma

I suppose as a vegan I should be happy by the article claiming that studies on mice show that a diet low in eggs and red meat can slow the progression of cancer tumours (Life, Aug 6).

Well, I'm not happy! Dr Dean Ornish's extremely well-documented controlled studies which involved humans with early-stage prostate cancer showed that a low-fat vegan diet, combined with exercise and meditation, could arrest or even reverse cancer. Yet, instead of following up on those studies and promoting vegetarianism, the cancer establishment is still playing games with mouse research which does nothing but tell us how to treat cancer in mice! In fact, a treatment that works for a mouse might not even work for a rat! This is nonsense.

As I've been saying for the last 30 years, the only objective of the cancer establishment is self-perpetuation.

Herculean price rise

Re: "Stop picking on us", (PostBag, Aug 8).

Regarding Mr Frost's justifiable letter about the hike in prices for imported comestibles for foreign tastes against the baht's strength, has he examined the Herculean rise in costs of boxes of wine which were nearly 40% lower two years ago? I commented on this a while back, but alas no intervention.

Climate of fear

Not all of us foreigners hate our country of birth, despise our duly elected leader or despise meat-eaters as primitive.

Most of us have both liberal and conservative values depending on our age, upbringing and experience. We hold no malice towards Thai people but many of us see your current government as being overly xenophobic in feeling the need to know where we are at all times.

In the 35 years I've had a relationship with Thailand, I see no difference between us as people. Thailand's problems stem from a ruling class not ready to make the necessary changes.

I've left Thailand possibly for the last time due to the fear of being refused entry at immigration. I never had a problem until recently and my most recent dealings with immigration have left me feeling I am unwanted and disliked.

I've spent a lot of time and money in Thailand. Instead of seeing this as a good thing, officials told me to never come again on a tourist visa. It's not the Thai people that made me feel unwelcome, it is Thai officials who just overlook my 35 years as a law-abiding regular visitor.

That is extremely upsetting and I am not the only one this has happened to.