Re: "Coming out swinging", (BP, Oct 23), and "New parties present faint flicker of hope", (Opinion, Oct 22).
As an observer of Thai politics for half a century, those middle-path parties, mostly offspring of the large parties, are wasting their time and money in hoping to be the odd ones that big parties wishing to govern have to rely on their fractional votes. This has been the vicious circle of Thai politics since the oldest party, the Democrat Party, has declined in popularity and become a hopeless case in itself, for forming the next government.
Seeing the photos of the leaders of these middle parties brings to mind the possibility of these parties forming an alliance. A prior agreement could be concluded that each party will be responsible for each ministry portfolio and undertaking not to join any large party to form a future government. With such an alliance, the public will be treated to a breath of fresh air in terms of Thai politics. The aim is for each party to promise to do the common good, rather than to be a chip of necessity for others.
Songdej Praditsmanont
Empty promises
Re: "More tension or hope to come from COP27?", (Opinion, Oct 21).
Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, who is the COP27 president-designate, has given an upbeat assessment of the climate crisis summit about to begin in Egypt, noting that "civil society is devising mechanisms for holding companies and governments to account".
But civil society groups that have set up pavilions inside the UN-secured "blue zone" have been told by the Egyptian government that events already scheduled for the Nov 7 conference opening must be cancelled.
Also, under a 2017 law regulating nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), foreign funding for Egyptian civil society is banned and human rights defenders are currently under prosecution for "receiving foreign funds".
Amnesty International's 2021 report on Egypt says that "the rights to freedom of expression and association were severely repressed".
Civil society in Egypt may well be devising mechanisms for holding their government to account. But the Egyptian government seems to be trying to make it difficult for them.
Alec Bamford
Let's move forward
Re: "Violence no solution", (PostBag, Oct 21).
I would have to agree with Felix Qui, the letter writer, that the Move Forward Party (MFP) is the best alternative to choose in the next Thai general election for prime minister.
While many left-leaning democratically inclined Thais prefer the Pheu Thai Party, the fact remains that choosing another member of the Shinawatra clan is not going to help things much in the country, given that the red shirts under Thaksin were violent towards others, and continue to behave as such even today, as Mr Qui pointed out in his letter.
And of course, choosing Prayut again, bearing in mind that he was the head of the previous junta government, is not much of an option either. So all things considered, it seems that the MFP is the best option for the Thai electorate in the next election.
Paul
PayPal problems
Re: "Depositors upset over ID", (BP, Oct 20).
PayPal is using the NDID platform as a sole means of verifying the identity of customers seeking to use PayPal Thailand personal accounts (including existing account holders whose accounts will be transferred to PayPal Thailand).
For the time being, a Thai national ID is required to enrol in NDID (other forms of identification that do not have a 13-digit Thai national ID number, such as a non-Thai passport, work permit, non-Thai identification card -- pink ID -- or Thai permanent residence permit cannot be accepted).
PayPal has advised me that I will no longer be able to use PayPal unless I provide a Thai ID. I am not Thai but have lived in Bangkok for over a decade -- and have used PayPal for almost twenty years.
Stephen Colbourn
No news is...
Re: "Puzzling priorities", (PostBag, Oct 26).
Paul's suggestion that reading about world catastrophes is more important than playing Target reminds me of my late grandmother. She insisted on wearing her life jacket 24/7 and taking all meals in her cabin on an expensive cruise. When challenged, she brought up the Titanic and the Lusitania.
Barry Kenyon
Bag of laughs
Re: "Puzzling priorities", (PostBag, Oct 26).
One would hope that PostBag was a part of journalism, not a survey of the popularity of your amusement offerings.
Michael Setter
Licence to kill
Re: "Gun loopholes need plugging", (Editorial, Oct 18), and "Look to Ardern", (PostBag, Oct 9).
Regarding the plea for our prime minister to seize upon public anti-gun sentiment and immediately introduce legislation banning civilian ownership of all firearms, one might ask how this visionary leap could be achieved.
First, start by publicly recognising that our current gun control laws, rated as "restrictive" by the University of Sydney's GunPolicy.org, are an abject failure, aided and abetted by the miscreants at the Ministry of Interior, which oversees this vitally important aspect of national character.
The ministry's callous lack of interest in controlling the proliferation of guns is exemplified by its Provincial Administration Department, which many years ago thought it would be a good idea to launch the Gun Welfare Programme, surely the ultimate misnomer.
Offering unlimited cheaper guns to a broad range of state employees, and essentially having been designed to circumvent the strict quota system controlling gun imports, the scale of this programme is frightening.
For example, on Sept 19, 2015, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha approved the purchase of over 150,000 Sig Sauer P 320 SP pistols for police officers to buy, an order earlier endorsed by Interior Minister Gen Anupong and Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs Gen Prawit.
Police officers complained of long queues when they collected these pistols in December 2017, paying 23,890 baht instead of an open market price of over 70,000 baht.
In February 2020, after a rogue soldier killed 27 people and wounded 57 in the Northeast, even then-army chief Gen Apirat was moved to say he was going to scrap the "welfare gun" programme. Apparently, this utterance was never acted upon, as a few months ago one officer was arrested after acquiring over 2,000 gun licences courtesy of this deadly programme.
The result? We are a country with over six million registered firearms and equally as many illicit guns, regarded as the centre of Southeast Asia's illegal weapons trade.
Japan, on the other hand, a country with nearly double our population, has 777 licensed handguns in civilian possession due to the effective enforcement of very strict gun control laws and a general belief that guns have no role to play in civilian society.
Since the rule of law does not reign here today, we are left with no alternative but to legislate a complete ban on civilian ownership of all firearms. No half measures. All gun licences must be cancelled, all registered weapons will be subject to a government buyback, and destruction.
A one-month amnesty will be implemented during which all illicit weapons must be turned in, and similarly destroyed. Both the buyback and amnesty elements could be organised by the army, but with strict oversight by the Auditor-General's Office and civil society representatives. Harsh penalties will be stipulated for any civilian found in possession of any firearm after the end of the amnesty.
Since leakage of weapons from the 1.25 million guns reportedly held by the armed forces and the police appears to be a frequent occurrence, an independent central gun registry should be established to record and audit all state-owned weapons. Since no weapons will exist in society at large, the police will no longer need to carry weapons, and military personnel will be very restricted in when and where they can carry weapons in public.
We might consider one exception to the no-guns law. For the sport of target shooting and international shooting competitions. To own a gun for such purposes one would need to belong to a registered gun club, and the gun must always be kept at the club, as is the case in Singapore.
By enacting legislation to ban civilian ownership of all firearms, Thailand would join an elite group of about 15 nations. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, four of these nations are fellow Asean members, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Many of the others are small island nations.
But, while some of these neighbours are obviously having difficulties enforcing their no-gun laws, if Thailand could achieve the goal of a true gun-free society, not only would we demonstrate to the world a staggering feat of national determination, but also erect the only truly meaningful memorial for the children of Nong Bua Lam Phu.
Sad Optimist
