Best of intentions

Re: “Voters’ needs first”, (PostBag, March 2).

Burin Kantabutra has very good intentions as well a keen desire to see Thai society and its governance models improve.

But I am not sure if Thailand will ever have a government which promotes freedom of expression and civil rights similar or even close to what is taken for granted in the USA.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution which was adopted on Dec 15, 1791 prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

It is hard to find a nation which has such a robust bill of rights.

Differences of opinion, dialogue, discourse, discussion and debate are signs of a healthy society.

Unfortunately, they are not cultivated through any Thai institutions or even appreciated as values.

Everything from top to the bottom is largely about conformity.

In Thailand one can be arrested and given a jail sentence for criticising even a draft constitution or its feudal and dysfunctional legacy institutions.

This sort of environment does not bode well for developing a civic society. Thailand is light years away from having something similar to a bill of rights.

KULDEEP NAGI