Today's graduates are not the same calibre as their predecessors

Even though I very much doubt all the figures cited in this report - especially when it was stated that 99 per cent of Thai children are unhappy with their schooling - I have to admit that I unequivocally agree with the academics that today's graduates of all levels (except, I think, the kindergarten) are of a very low quality.

You don't have to be an educator to realise that most universities today are only concentrating on their financial gains, with second-rate staffing and with a mindset that their role is only to provide a continuation of regular high school education - just to keep young adults from entering the workforce a while longer.

I once had an opportunity to see the CV and job application form of one senior academic with a PhD in marketing who wrote "moderate" under the "sex" category; and once found an item "Total Fruits" in an English menu at a restaurant/ hotel operated by one of the educational institutes that I do not want to mention here.

Vic Phanumphai

BANGKOK

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Good education plus free debate equals democracy

There are signs that the future of democracy in this country is far from rosy. No, I am not looking at the various groups opposing the draft constitution or urging the removal of the junta. I am talking about those supporting the new charter and the elections.

The PM and various others in the current administration have talked about the need to clean up corruption and hold fair elections under a new constitution. I agree those things are necessary for a return to democracy but they do not, by themselves guarantee it. Democracy includes the ability of the media to report on events both favourable and unfavourable to the government of the day. It includes people being able to voice opposition to individual projects or issues, and to organise others around them, plus free and open debate on issues.

The leaders of community groups should not live in fear of their sudden disappearance or being shot in a drive-by motorcycle attack. At local level people should be able to form community pressure groups over issues of concern to them. How these groups are structured and operate should be up to the group, not restricted by rules from central government. 

Of course for these things to work successfully people need to be trained in critical thinking and analysis and be able to get involved in logical and reasonable debate based on access to information.  The current Thai education system seems to do the exact opposite. It trains people to accept what a higher authority says without question. My experience suggests that older Thais with little or no formal education are far better at critical thinking than their younger "better educated" offspring.  When I went through school in Britain we were having debates as part of our schooling at the age of 11.

At least one feature of the draft constitution is not democratic: the qualifications to stand for office as an MP. Why should a candidate have to have a degree? This immediately restricts parliament to the highly educated, particularly the older generation. Why should they have to have been a member of a political party for a minimum period of time before the election? Any Thai citizen should be able to stand. If they are not a member of a party, they will probably have very little chance of being elected, but that should be their decision.

Gareth Clayton

BANGKOK

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The lessons of failed extradition attempts

Re: "Exiled businessman says law not on govt's side in Thaksin extradition fight", Letters, July 1.

It was interesting to read Rakesh Saxena's letter from Vancouver. The irony is not that his legal analysis is sophomoric. The irony is that Thai law enforcement authorities from the Attorney General's Office to the Anti Money Laundering Office are learning from experience in seeking extradition and freezing bank accounts overseas from going after Saxena and they are gradually succeeding. We may see Saxena brought to justice in Thailand one day. His co-conspirator, former BBC president Krikkiat Jalichandra, was already sentenced to 30 years in jail and a Bt3.21-billion fine. In the final analysis, it may not be in Thailand's best interest to seek the extradition of Thaksin. Without a doubt his return will escalate a greater schism in Thai society. In a cosmic sense it is a sweeter punishment that he lives in exile outside the kingdom. Ultimately, the proper place for Thaksin is before the International Criminal Court for his alleged involvement in thousands of extra-judicial killings and massacres. Thailand is a signatory to the Rome Statute. The next administration should ratify the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, where crimes against humanity can be properly adjudicated.

Netirat Intira

BANGKOK

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It seems that no one wants the Hmong

The Hmong were chased off their land when China took over their country over a century ago. However, neither the Lao or Thai governments are willing to help them. The Lao hunt them down and either imprison them in camps or kill the men and put the women in brothels. The Thais just put them in prison camps.

So, is Buddhism a religion of protection? Or a religion of murder, torture and imprisonment?

Michael Weldon

UDON THANI

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Remembering Burma's jailed political activists

After 18 years in prison, Burmese journalist U Win Tin is still in solitary confinement. U Win Tin is the most outstanding journalist in Burma. He recently told a friend who visited him at the notorious Insein Prison: "Two prison officers asked me last week whether I would take up a political career if I were released. I told them that I will unquestionably do so since it is my obligation as a citizen of this country to strive for basic freedom."

U Win Tin, a 78-year-old journalist and Central Executive Committee member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested on July 4, 1989, during a crackdown by the military authorities on the opposition. Originally, he was sentenced to three years with hard labour for being a dissident who used his influence to mount a civil disobedience campaign against martial law. Later, his sentence was extended to 21 years and public promises of his release in 2004 and 2005 have never been carried out. Since 2006, he is no longer able to receive visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

When Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special envoy for human rights in Burma, visited him on his 75th birthday in 2005, it wasn't the deplorable conditions he was kept in or even his failing health, made worse by poor medical care and the effects of improper surgery he wanted to highlight. Instead, it was Burma's human rights situation.

Summing up the situation, there can be no progress in the democratisation process and national reconciliation in Burma while the military junta is crookedly using political prisoners, including our Nobel Laureate, as scapegoats thrown into confinement to prolong the military dictatorship. If the SPDC truly want to show its seriousness, it should release all political prisoners, including U Win Tin and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, prior to resuming the so-called national convention on July 18 at Nyaung-hnapin camp in Hmawbi Township.

Zin Linn

BANGKOK

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Retail bill must consider the customers first

Jit Siratranont, president of the Retail and Wholesale Business Committee, Thai Chamber of Commerce, wants the Council of State to speed up its deliberation process.

My concern is that the bill's goal is to protect retailers - but who's looking out for the consumers' interests? We should not protect retailers' vested interests at the expense of 65 million Thais.

Jit quotes a Thai Retailers Association study as finding that "sales at hypermarts have been rising, with as many as 80 million receipts per month, which is pretty high considering that most Thais are poor". In his opinion, this is excessive spending at the hypermarts. But who is to determine what's too much? Is there a quota which says that consumers should spend this much, and no more, at a given type of shop?

The same data can be interpreted to mean that consumers are shifting to hypermarts because the big stores give them more value for money than mom and pop shops. If that were the case, the retailers' own study would imply that mega-stores should be encouraged, not hindered.

I am neither pro- nor anti- mom and pop shops. I am, however, for the consumers' long-term interests. I suggest that the draft retail law should be given very careful study by the Council of State and National Legislative Assembly, to ensure that consumers are protected. To me, this means that in the long-term, consumers should have a choice, and not be restricted to just mega-stores or just small shops.

Burin Kantabutra

BANGKOK