OPINION

A plague of legal scholars seeking to subvert ethics

News, Thirasant Mann, Published on 18/02/2012

» Nitirat is not pronounced "nitty rat" and does not mean "a rat with nits (baby lice)". The word, derived from Pali and Sanskrit, translates as "ethics of the citizenry" and in today's parlance means political science. In Thai, it is written one way (Nitirasadorn) and pronounced another (Nitiraad), giving one the impression that what you see isn't quite what you get. Which makes it an apt name for the group of lecturers whose recent lallations about the lese majeste law have caused alarm in certain quarters and made people wonder what's brewing in the political pot. So let us tackle Nitirat head-on, questioning it as we would an individual whose motives are suspect.