OPINION

A winning smile

I just watched an interview, in English, with Ratchanok Intanon, who has just been catapulted with her latest success to the world's number one spot in badminton.

This young woman is a true ambassador for Thailand. She comes across as a very talented, smart lady who is appreciative of all the support for her. And that smile. This is the Thai smile we hear about so often, but rarely see. She is the face that should be advertising Thailand in a positive light.

Myopia may be defined as the ability of a high-ranking military officer to say the following with a straight face: "It is normal for children of high-ranking military officers to join the military when there are openings available." One wonders if an alternate meaning might be nepotism? No, that would be depicted by answering "No comment".

There are tonnes of plastic floating around in the world's oceans -- between 10 and 30 billion pounds, to be imprecise -- and more than half of it comes from just five countries. Those countries are China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a recent study.

I've just come back from Vietnam and there is no plastic bag pollution like here. Myanmar also doesn't have any. Why are we so lazy and ignorant that we think everything we need has to be wrapped in plastic? Convenience stores, supermarkets and food vendors hand out disposable one-time use plastic bags like its some sort of contest. Plastic bags and styrofoam should be banned completely. How will we live, you ask? The same way the rest of the world does: responsibly.

Re: "Year-round policing", (PostBag, April 18).

G Charles' letter laments the lack of effective law enforcement and patrols. He wrongly attributes this to the police being lazy, however. This may be the case in a relatively small number of cases but the real reason is the lack of resources provided by the government.

For example, police stations are simply not provided with enough suitable vehicles and other equipment to make the regular patrols that should be made; neither are they allocated enough funds to run their limited number of vehicles full time.

Until the government funds the police force properly and stops relying on officers to subsidise their own employment, Thailand will never get the law enforcement it deserves.

As both the Democrats and Pheu Thai, which between them received the majority of votes in the last election, have declared their intention to oppose the draft charter, it is clear that in a free and fair election, the Meechai draft should follow the Bowornsak draft to the dustbin.

I suggest the main reason for both failures is the people's lack of involvement in the drafting of, and hence lack of commitment to, the finished product. As former prime minister Anand Panyarachun noted: "Democratic values are about how to reach a consensus, how to tolerate other people. These are the core values that we have not tried to learn or to emulate, or understand." Not only did we not try to reach a consensus, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit said, "You can think, but don't express your thoughts," and ordered charter critics to undergo "attitude adjustments".

What now? I suggest that we build on that charter with the most public participation, which was the 1997 "People's Constitution", encouraging inclusive, constructive public participation in updating and revising it to fit our long-term, national goals. In it, we should show our national vision and consensus for the next century, not the next three years. Let our constitution's 21st edition be our last.