OPINION

Focus on substance

Re: "Oath 'fix' tipped for today", (BP, Aug 27).

The opposition and Thai public should focus their attention on making sure that the government performs in matters of substance, the things that make a difference -- rather than the way things look or sound, which are of relatively little importance.

For example, many are taking Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to task for neglecting to swear that he would defend our constitution. But our military has overthrown the then-legal government at least 20 times since ending absolute monarchy, qualifying us for a Guinness World Record. Presumably every coup d'etat mastermind, being a career military officer, had taken a similar oath, and broke it, with very few, if any, being court-martialed for what would ordinarily be high treason. So what difference has the oath made?

On the other hand, when the National Anti-Corruption Commission investigated Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon to determine the provenance of his 21 ultra-expensive watches, Prime Minister Prayut didn't move the suspect to an inactive post, as would be normal practice and good governance. Also, the head of the investigating committee had been appointed to his post by the defendant -- yet declined to recuse himself from the case.

I suggest that these major omissions in the probe of Deputy Prime Minister Prawit were matters of substance, because the probe results were highly questionable, and DPM Prawit was one of the most powerful people in the land. Were the omissions a dereliction of duty? If so, how should the wrongdoers have been held accountable, and how to remedy the mistakes? The opposition should make the government adhere to good governance to show that none are above the rule of law. This would make a tremendous difference in Thai governance.

Given the respect shown by the military to the last 19 constitutions, it doesn't surprise me at all that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha overlooked or skipped swearing to uphold the 20th constitution.

I doubt that it makes any real difference whether he finally agrees to swear to uphold this constitution or not as I strongly suspect that with army generals like Gen Apirat Kongsompong in charge of the army, it will only be a matter of time before this one also goes into the trash bin.

Re: "'Tessakit' must do duty to make pavements safe", (Opinion, Aug 30).

There appears to be no sense of a duty to society in Thailand. There is no understanding of how abiding by rules and regulations is for the good of the whole and benefits everyone. Instead, it's all measured by personal benefit and the need for an individual to do what he/she needs. Hence motorbikes on pavements, casual distribution of litter, riding the wrong way down a road, leaving dogs to roam streets, and much, much more.

Re: "Widodo selects Borneo to replace Jakarta as capital", (BP, Aug 27).

Jakarta is sinking. Bangkok is also sinking. Where should we move our capital to? I suggest the summit of Doi Inthanon. As the highest point in Thailand (5,565 metres), rising seawaters will take longer to reach it than any other place we've got.

Of course, moving such iconic Bangkok venues as the Grand Palace, Democracy Monument, Siam Paragon, and Khao San Road to the summit of Doi Inthanon could pose a few logistical problems. But surely the "can-do" government of PM Prayut can manage it.

We might even rename the relocated capital "Prayutabad".

Re: "Baffled, indeed", (PostBag, Aug 29).

Eric Bahrt and Daniel K do not seem to be able to make a distinction between a position that white supremacism is evil and that some evil people commit horrible acts of terrorism in its name (my position, and according to Eric Bahrt, the position of over 80% of strong Trump supporters), and a conspiracy theory according to which both he and Daniel K may be infected by the invisible white supremacy virus. According to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi is an agent of white supremacy, so they probably are too.

Now, Daniel K should know that data in fact show that women are paid the same as men for the same job once you account for women's career choices (taking breaks, or part-time jobs or working less hours than men). And if women are willing to pay more than men to buy something they think is pretty because it's pink, you can either consider that this reflects their consumer preferences and willingness to pay, or adopt a conspiracy theory that women have been infected by the patriarchy with an invisible pink supremacy virus, which seems to be his theory. Yeah, right!

Despite the ever-mounting evidence, such as that reported in "Skull find in Ethiopia yields new clues on how humans evolved", (BP, Aug 29), there yet exist those who profess to sincerely believe that the human species was created independently of every other living thing on the planet only a few thousand years ago. Then again, there are also those who profess to sincerely believe that the Earth is flat. Are such radically faithful specimens truly as ignorant and irrational as they insist, or are they merely liars?

Whatever, it is healthy for us to be reminded, as this latest fossil discovery does, not only that we are related to every other living thing on the planet, from chimpanzees to rats, roses to bella donna, and truffles to the influenza virus, but that our own species very likely killed off our sibling human species that had existed beside us for hundreds of thousands of years. Have we changed that much in the past 70,000 years or so since mindless nature gave us the brain power to make up fantastic tales by which to dominate the planet as no other species ever has?

The high Thai baht makes Thailand very expensive for tourists. The value of touring Thailand was an attractive part of the holiday. All things in retail and tourism are expensive and it needs to be questioned.

Re: "EC must tread very carefully", (Editorial, Aug 28).

The nasty underbelly of politics is again exposed, where supposedly independent state agencies can be suborned to do the bidding of those holding power using convoluted arguments of dubious legal validity. The sophistry used to justify these actions has become an art form in Thailand. But Thailand is not alone in this insidious practice and the practitioners can hardly be blamed for following the example of Western countries regarded as solid bastions of democracy.

Take Australia for example. The Australian Human Rights Commission's power to consider complaints is limited by just three words; "act or practice". The court (Justice Branson) has ruled that these words mean the discretion exercised by a decision-maker. Any complaints arising from any other cause, such as from the force of legislation, are excluded from the commission's consideration.

This narrow interpretation allows the commission to reject outright complaints about human rights violations legislated by the parliament.

How convenient for those in power. And this from a country which currently holds a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Thailand has some way to go yet to reach the shameless heights of political duplicity and hypocrisy practiced in Australia.

It is with regret and great shame that death sentences are upheld for the two Myanmar young men in the Koh Tao murder case in 2014 (BP, Aug 30).

Thailand is obsessed with image and in this case, someone had to be made to pay for it in order to protect the country's image.

Unsolved murders still happen in Koh Tao, with the police unable to solve any of them. The evidence was indeed bungled but no one will admit it.

Thai police are not ones to tolerate loss of face, or their lack of proper knowledge or experience in evidence gathering. So it goes. It's always face, face, face, not justice for all.

Word for word, from a good friend. Yes, he is pretty cheesed off.

"I arrived back in Bangkok Tuesday night around 10pm. I had to go to immigration the next morning arriving at 11.30am and not getting back to my guesthouse until 3.30pm. The taxi there and back was 540 baht.

It took a few hours to prepare all the documents with the owner the night before. To make matters more ridiculous and disgusting after waiting hours in a queue, the immigration official tapped aggressively on the bottom of one of the documents I left blank, as it was for the officer to fill out.

She was a surly, rude individual! I left Immigration on that note... another 30-minute taxi ride back to the guesthouse. This is how Thailand treats foreigners now."

The Thai lady owner of a restaurant approached me recently. "You used to come here three times a week and spend a lot more money. What happened?"

I answered with one word.

"Immigration."

When you take the 800k/400k baht cash lock-up, the controversial TM30 rule, 90-day reports, required permission to leave and re-enter the country, annual re-application for residence visa, and the coming compulsory health insurance, it's clear that immigration laws, requirements and procedures, are sadly and increasingly making Thailand less hospitable to long-stay expats, many of whom financially support Thai wives/girlfriends and their Thai children.

I'm just one expat living in Thailand. But because I live in Thailand, I had eight friends and family visit me last year.

And that is not unusual. One resident expat equals one expat plus eight tourists. If I have to leave Thailand, eight tourists will leave with me.

I like Thailand.

I like Thai culture.

I like the Thai people.

I like living here. I don't want to leave.

But it does seem to me that the Thai Tourism Authority and Thai Immigration are effectively pulling in opposite directions to the detriment of the Thai economy and the Thai people.

With all the kerfuffle these days, and the TM30 occupying and dominating our waking hours, the news, etc, I'd like to ask only one question.

Unless the Immigration Bureau has a secret war room hidden away with a Cray brand supercomputer running 24 hours a day on billions of bytes, how do the Immigration police keep track of, or even collate all the TM30 applicants?

My guess is that they cannot, but want to appear as if they can. Again, it is more intimidation than effective enforcement. I'll bet those who know can simply ignore the TM30 and get away with it, and frankly don't give a doodler's damn.