OPINION

Matter of decency

Re: "PM term limit proposal blasted," (BP, Jan 14).

Sen Seree Suwanpanont demonstrates a dubious understanding of the issues involved in the Senate committee's proposal to swiftly amend section 158 of the latest permanent constitution foisted on the Thai people by those professing themselves to be "good" -- amounting to "decent" people with the most virtuous of intentions.

One supporting reason proffered by Sen Kittisak Rattanawaraha's other argument, that "a decent person should be allowed to serve as prime minister for more than eight years", is more seriously misguided.

The obvious obstacle is that what counts as "decent" is open to irreconcilable debate. There are even those being so radical as to argue that committing a coup that overthrows the Thais' popular form of democratic government might be the act of a "decent" person, while others think that "decent" people might accept the use of undemocratic law to suppress peaceful free speech merely because it offends some allegedly popular narrative about Thais. Could actually decent people really do such things?

Setting aside that problem of vagueness unto murky opacity, even if someone were agreed by all to be the epitome of decent, being as benevolent and righteous as could possibly be imagined, they should still not serve as prime minister for more than two terms.

Re: "The truth about Thai money politics," (Opinion, Jan 13).

Thitinan Pongsudirak's analysis of Thai money politics is spot on. Unfortunately, getting rid of money politics is wishful thinking. Powers that be will try at all costs to prevent change. One just needs to look at the current situation. As long as the masses are drip-fed handouts and kept away from good education and critical thinking, nothing is going to change.

Re: "Thailand tops Asean progress poll again," (BP, Jan 10).

Heartiest congratulations to PM Prayut for Thailand's ranking first in Asean in the UN's latest Sustainable Development Report, scoring 74.1% in the assessment of its progress in achieving the 17 sustainable development goals. We performed best in poverty eradication, reflecting well on Gen Prayut's leadership.

But there's far, far to go. We've consistently underwhelmed in all-important economic development. Our GDP growth is next-to-last in Asean, with our 1.5% besting only war-torn Myanmar's. The Philippines led with 5.7%, then Indonesia (3.6%), Cambodia (3.0%), Vietnam (2.6%) and Laos (2.5%) (source: World Bank; data is for 2021, excludes high-income countries).

Also, our household debts (and Malaysia's) lead Asean; Moody's noted that "these markets were at risk of non-performance as interest rates normalise".

It's excellent that we lead in sustainable development, Gen Prayut, but our poor are still living hand to mouth, overburdened by debt. Get moving.

I recently found the following quote on Wikipedia: "Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas" from Latin poet Virgil, meaning: "Fortunate, who was able to know the causes of things."

This is interesting in the context of omniscient contributions to this column.

Re: "Myanmar concerns," (PostBag, Jan 14).

Shame on you, Bangkok Post! Would you have given the floor to Hitler 80 years ago? What's next? A thousand words from Putin?