Jumbo torture
Re: "King donates to Sak Surin rehabilitation", (BP, July 5).
While I think it's great that Thailand is trying to help elephants who were abused in other countries, what is being done about the horrible way elephants are abused here in Thailand? What about the barbaric practice of "crushing", where baby elephants are endlessly tortured so that they will cooperate and give rides and do tricks for tourists?
I'll never forget when I was at The Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai and saw an elephant whose eyes had been poked out by its previous owner.
Is anything being done about these atrocities? Anything!?
Eric Bahrt
Cut back the tusks?
Re: "Ailing elephant comes home", (Online, July 3).
I don't know whether this is allowed culturally in Thailand, but I would like to suggest that the jumbo Sak Surin's tusks be cut back to allow for safer mobility and greater comfort. The tusks must be very awkward to live with now, especially in a weakened state.
Rose Bellini
Taylor Swift, yay…
Re: "Pita invites Taylor Swift to Thailand", (BP, July 6).
You have to give it to our prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat, for his tenacity in assuming to be already our country's premier -- despite local media reports that he still has a number of precipitous cliffs to climb in order to become the chosen one.
Anyways, Taylor Swift is always tremendously loved here in Thailand. And we would love to welcome her!
Vint Chavala
Bill Gates as PM?
Re: "Experience counts", (PostBag, July 6).
As part of his continuing attempt to discredit Khun Pita, Khun Yingwai extols Bill Gates as an example of the type of individual who should become PM. Bill Gates pales in comparison to others in Yingwai's pantheon of personal heroes, such as Mao Zedong, whose handling of the Great Leap of Famine responsible for the deaths of millions of Chinese, and the beloved Xi Jinping, are a couple of the other shining lights Khun Yingwai routinely gushes over.
Apparently, Khun Pita just doesn't have the right stuff, according to Yingwai's measuring stick. That may be why he won the vast majority of the public's trust and affection.
Michael Setter
Where do you shop?
Re: "Packaging is a scam", (PostBag, July 7) & "Food industry looks to the future", (Business, July 6).
I'm struggling to understand Overpaying Consumer's complaint in yesterday's PostBag letters.
I don't know a single major supermarket in driving distance from me that doesn't sell loose the fruit and vegetables he describes, so that the consumer can pick the exact quality and quantity they desire.
Yes, there are packaged fruit and veg for the quick shopper who doesn't want to queue for weighing, but this is merely an option for said shoppers' convenience. In which supermarket is Overpaying Consumer doing his shopping?
Tarquin Chufflebottom
Rethink, Senate
Re: "A time for unity", (Editorial, July 6).
The Thai constitution, both the current and many previous, states in Section 3 that "Sovereign power belongs to the Thai people". The people have shown through their properly elected representatives in the pro-democracy coalition that they want Move Forward's Pita Limjaroenrat to be the next prime minister of their nation.
The trivial number of shares in the non-functioning iTV media company that Mr Pita has previously held on behalf of his late father's estate being a non-issue, the Senate has not a single good reason to deny the sovereign will of the Thai people in this matter. It should, as a matter of democratic principle that demonstrates good manners, unanimously support the majority coalition's nominee for prime minister. Should the Senate be so reckless as to hide behind alternative but equally lame excuses to deliberately thwart the Thai people's sovereignty in this matter, they will thereby put whatever excuses they so use in direct conflict with the majority of the Thai nation. It is hard to see how such a rejection of the nation's will could be construed as being in any way unifying, helpful, respectful, or remotely wise.
Felix Qui
Teach your children
The writers discussing discipline have not once mentioned the basics of discipline in children in places of education. And that is being taught in the first place of education. Their homes. It is the parents' responsibility to teach their offspring to be responsible for their actions. The first rule is to respect others if they deserve respect. And do as you would be done by. I was reminded by one of my offspring recently: "Remember. Standards, Dad. Standards." She is in her sixties.
Ron Martin
Promote the family
Re: "The pride of Thailand", (BP, July 3).
I was deeply shocked to read in the Bangkok Post that the TAT is encouraging and promoting LGBTQ tourism in the interest of income.
It is very unfortunate that Thailand is already a target for paedophiles from across the world, and I would suggest inviting and promoting further sexual depravity will only worsen the suffering of our Thai children. Children are our future and should not be influenced by any political ideology but educated with the true facts of life. Biologically there are only two sexes, genders: male and female. To in any way influence children otherwise must be wrong.
The trafficking of people, including children as young as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 years of age and even babies, is a 34-billion-dollar industry worldwide. A movie, Sound of Freedom, has just been released, showing the horrific Satanic sadistic suffering of children. Children are passed from paedophile to paedophile. It is gut-tearing to even think about it. I would suggest, for the sake of our children and our civilisation, that TAT promote and encourage the heterosexual family unit.
Jeffrey Charles Wilcox
Uniforms are useful
Re: "Uniformed values", (PostBag, July 6).
Sam continues the recent debate regarding the value or otherwise of school uniforms. The solution does not seem to be complicated to me. When children first start school, they are coming from a variety of backgrounds. Some will have had intellectual stimulus and good parenting, and others will have survived in a parenting vacuum. The wearing of a uniform to school helps signal to them that this is a different environment where a degree of conformity to authority and social rules and behaviour is expected. Therefore I think uniforms for ages up to 11 or 12 are useful.
(The argument that uniforms hide wealth disparity, I believe, is a weak one as every child knows who is wealthy and wealth disparity is a fact of life.)
By the time they reach secondary school, around 12 years, they should be starting to develop their independence, creativity and individualism. Enforcing uniforms at that age must be counter-productive.
Phil Cox
More on climate
Re: Law and governance innovation, "Towards a global summit of the future?" (BP, June 19).
Justice Kriangsak Kittichaisaree in "Climate change at the world courts" (BP, July 6), offers a clear overview of advisory opinions requested on climate obligations to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) as well as from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences for states of causing harm to the climate system. It should be taken into account that the ICJ campaign was initiated by an informal group of students from Pacific small island states, ultimately resulting in unanimous support from the General Assembly.
Justice Kriangsak notes that one of the very few countries that did not put forward legal arguments to the Unclos deliberations was Thailand, never mind its pioneering role in the Law of the Sea dynamics in the past.
However, there is a new window of opportunity for the articulation of Thai diplomatic insights. In both above cases, the courts are bound to assess existing international law. For the much-needed law and governance innovation, which is not their mandate, we rely on initiatives in the margin and independent public discourse, beyond the demarcation of the status quo.
Thailand could be an enabler of exploratory research and dialogue. There is one challenge in particular related to an emerging agenda issue called "UN 2.0" as mentioned by Ajarn Vitit Muntharbhorn in his recent article "Towards a global summit of the future?". The issue for the Global Summit of the Future agenda is: "Repurposing the UN Trusteeship Council". Repurposing one of the central bodies of the UN system would require a reappraisal of the legal and governance concept of trusteeship as a primary principle of modern environmental law.
This is being explored in a recent publication, Reflections on Earth Trusteeship. Mother Earth and a new 21st-century governance paradigm, Justin Sobion (Ed.). It also would require a change of the UN Charter.
Whereas such a change has been considered far out impossible for long, recently, a UN High-Level Advisory Board issued a report titled "A Breakthrough for People and Planet" with a pertinent call to see the Summit of the Future as an opportunity to (…) announce a Charter Review conference (…).
HANS VAN WILLENSWAARD
