Boys owe no debt

Re: “Rescued boys should help out society”, (Opinion, July 15).

Khun Anucha Charoenpo suggests that the boys and their coach should consider volunteer work in their community as a way of giving thanks to the country for the rescue effort that took them out of the cave.

He says that the boys and their coach didn’t do anything wrong. But if they didn’t do anything wrong (and I don’t think they did), why should they feel obligated to “give something back to society”? Though the rescue mission was very expensive with over a thousand people involved and one of the divers tragically lost his life, the authorities and the government were only doing the job that the Thai taxpayers pay them to do. For those people that volunteered their services, I’m sure they did so without any expectation of a reward. And I’m sure those rescued are very grateful for being rescued, and they have already offered their thanks for that.

Should the survivors of the tour boat that capsized and sank in Phuket earlier this month also be obliged to do volunteer work? Should there be an obligation on everyone rescued from danger to do volunteer work? I don’t think there should.

If however, the boys and their coach did decide to do some volunteer work, a decision that only they should make, then some of them might find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Khun Anucha makes a reference to nationality when he writes that “as a fellow Thai I would like them to think about how they could give something back to society...”

Though nine of the boys are fellow Thais, the coach and three of the boys are not actually Thai citizens and are officially stateless, and are unable to legally work (or open a bank account). As far as I am aware, as nonThais, they would need visas to do volunteer work. But as they are stateless they would not have passports so would be unable to apply for visas! PETER ATKINSON