Not impressed with comment on case

Re: 'Top judge rejects criticism of court's lese majeste law,' front page, January 25.

The chief judge of the Criminal Court has countered criticism of the lese majeste law by saying it "reflected Thailand's culture, which is different from those of other countries".

Oh. That makes it okay, then.

Consider a hypothetical country whose citizens practice infanticide, female genital mutilation, and cannibalism. They'll say, "It's part of our culture. We're different."

If this is the quality of thinking that prevails within Thailand, we're in deeper trouble than we think.

Meanwhile, here's a news clip I found while surfing the Internet and would like to share it with Abhisit Vejjajiva and the rest of the Democrats:

"On December 2 last year, Spanish athlete Iv?n Fern?ndez Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Navarre, an autonomous community in northern Spain. He was way behind the leader, Kenyan runner Abel Mutai, and sure to finish second. As they entered the home stretch, he saw the Kenyan runner - the sure winner of the race - mistakenly stopped running about 10 metres before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.

Fern?ndez Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of speeding past him and claimed the victory, he stayed behind and pointed the Kenyan to the finish line and let him cross first." And here was what the Spaniard had to say: "I didn't deserve to win. I did what I had to do."

What do you - dear readers - think Abhisit would do if he were Fernandez Anaya?

Somsak Pola

Samut Prakarn