OPINION

Kangaroo court?

Re: "Expose skeletons", (PostBag, April 16).

Khun Burin Kantabutra's letter pricked my conscience in asking whether we will end up having a kangaroo court in the case of Khun Prinn Panitchapakdi. Although our system of justice is not 100% perfect, the accused is always given a chance to mount a defence or confess.

Similar to the American Fifth Amendment, an accused shall not be deprived of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".

In Britain, the media could be accused of contempt of court by acting as a judge and jury or opining to excess.

Re: "Home stay rules to be relaxed", (BP, April 13).

You have to be kidding me! How can it be front-page news that the guidance for self-isolation for individuals for Covid-19 will be reduced by a whopping two days -- from seven to five?

Considering that home isolation is generally a voluntary practice in any event, do such proclamations really deserve front-page news coverage?

Unfortunately, such tedious micromanagement of the pandemic is emblematic of the control mentality and obsession with rules that Thai officials have applied to the overall Covid-19 challenge from the beginning.

The time for such excessive control and confusion has long passed, if it was ever justified.

Re: "Rainbow of hope loses its luster" (BP, April 17).

Thailand's LGBTQ has grounds both for pride in progress made and disappointment that much progress remains to be achieved.

The experience of Thailand's LGBTQ citizens, who ask only to be accorded equal legal rights to other Thai citizens, mirrors in several aspects the recent history of gay lesbian rights movements in Western liberal democracies.

There too, and taking my own country as an example, religious bigotry and blind prejudice was the major force spewing toxic hatred and intolerance into longstanding social mores.

When I was in primary and high school 50 and 60 years ago, being homosexual was right up there with murder in the social evil stakes.

It was an abomination too evil to name.

That was the atmosphere I grew up in.

That was the social atmosphere created by the toxic faith-based ideology of religions falsely claiming to value love, peace, and acceptance.

It would appear that younger, better educated Thais able to think and critically assess the issues understand that traditional conservative arguments based on pure faith are no reasons at all for or against any law, and that traditional social mores are as likely to be as gravely unjust as they are to be just.

The desperate efforts by conservatives using anti-democratic law to stifle free, open discussion of nationally important Thai issues is proof that those so censoring have no sound reasons to continue inflicting their historical prejudices on the Thai people.