Future Forward’s young guns are playing with fire
Re: “An election full of bad examples for youth, Editorial”, April 1.
The trouble with the Future Forward Party (FFP) is that, thus far, their leadership’s attitudes towards the country’s high institution and the military are, to put it mildly, irreverent and belligerent.
As we know, FFP was born out of a marriage between money (Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit) and hardline political rhetoric (Piyabutr Saengkanokkul).
While Thanathorn is well known as one of Thailand’s lucky young billionaires, Piyabutr is a former member of the Nitirat group, an anti-establishment grouping led by academic Worachet Pakeerut, who is highly respected among the red shirts.
The FFP leadership needs to be reminded of the following two facts:
First, the Constitution.
Section 1: Thailand is a unified and indivisible Kingdom. Section 2: Thailand is a democratic regime of government with the King as head of state.
Second, every country, big or small, must have a military force to protect its territory and sovereignty. Hence, when FFP leaders say military budgets must be cut, they should be specific about exactly how much and precisely where the cuts will be applied.
If cuts are the way to go, so be it, but you must be specific so that the country is not put in harm’s way unnecessarily.
This is not kid’s stuff. If you don’t respect your elders, you should respect the country’s forebears.
Vint Chavala
