The preschool mass shooting in Nong Bua Lam Phu last week has raised a number of controversial issues — from gun control, journalism ethics and professionalism, to drugs and violence.

The issue of mental health and anxiety and how it can lead to unexpected actions or even death should not be overlooked.

Thais were shocked when an ex-policeman walked into a nursery in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lam Phu and killed 36 — 23 of whom were small children. At least 10 more were injured.

After the mass shooting, in which the gunman also killed his wife and her three-year-old son before taking his own life, the mother attributed the incident to her son’s personal stress, debt and use of narcotics. The mother of the killer also expressed condolences to all families who lost their loved ones.

The Nong Bua Lam Phu massacre is not the first incident where the authorities — police officers and soldiers — were the killers. In February 2020, a military officer committed a mass shooting at Terminal 21 in Nakhon Ratchasima province, killing 30 people and wounding 58 others.

In June last year, a former soldier also committed a mass shooting out of anger at a field hospital in Pathum Thani, leading to two deaths.

And a military officer carried out another shooting spree at the Army War College in Bangkok last month, resulting in two deaths and one injury.

Accumulated stress can be the result of many things — both personal and work-related. Coupled with the possession of weapons, uncontrolled stress and anger can lead to injuries and even the deaths of the innocent.

Stress is a silent killer. According to a 2019 report titled “Chronic Stress: Are We Reaching Health System Burn Out?”, a number of countries were forced to allocate a large sum of their national budget to stress-related treatments.

Based on data from the report, the United States spent around US$133 billion on stress-related medical treatment, followed by Australia ($22.9 billion), the United Kingdom ($14.7 billion) and South Korea ($13 billion).

Meanwhile, Thailand allocated around $717 million (approximately 27 billion baht) on stress-related medical bills for its population. This accounts for around 4.3% of the country’s entire healthcare budget.

Covid-19 turned the situation from bad to worse. According to information from the Department of Mental Health, people in Thailand have increasingly been at higher risk of becoming victims of mental health issues. Based on data collected by the Mental Health Check In system since April 2021, 45.5% of Thais suffer a high level of stress. Additionally, an estimated 51.5% were on the verge of developing depression, 30.6% were at risk of suicide, and 17.6% suffered burnout. Of all these numbers, 90% were working people.

With such alarming numbers, stress should immediately be addressed before it turns into something more evil, and because the majority of working people reportedly suffer from stress, it is paramount that workplaces realise the importance of stress management among staff and provide them with much-needed support.

On a professional level, organisations — be they public or private — should provide mental health counselling for their employees so that their personal and career-related stress and worries can be relieved through discussion with mental health experts. Mental health should no longer be treated as a taboo subject in the workplace, but rather be the top priority in modern companies and organisations.

Almost all companies today already have a nurse’s room or a medical unit. Adding a psychological expert or counsellor should not be a burden. Rather, organisations should see it as an investment as part of human resource management. Staff with good mental health make jobs easier.

Supervisors or employers should also see staff mental health as one of their priorities. Instead of just making money, supervisors should also care for staff well-being, notice signs of mental health disorders or if their employees are stressed out due to long work hours, workload, job insecurity or conflicts with co-workers or bosses.

People these days spend a lot of time at work. Some say one-third of our lives is dedicated to working, so reshaping working environments to promote and protect mental health among staff is paramount. This could eventually help save a lot of lives.

Arusa Pisuthipan is the editor of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.

The preschool mass shooting in Nong Bua Lam Phu last week has raised a number of controversial issues — from gun control, journalism ethics and professionalism, to drugs and violence.

The issue of mental health and anxiety and how it can lead to unexpected actions or even death should not be overlooked.

Thais were shocked when an ex-policeman walked into a nursery in the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lam Phu and killed 36 — 23 of whom were small children. At least 10 more were injured.

After the mass shooting, in which the gunman also killed his wife and her three-year-old son before taking his own life, the mother attributed the incident to her son’s personal stress, debt and use of narcotics. The mother of the killer also expressed condolences to all families who lost their loved ones.

The Nong Bua Lam Phu massacre is not the first incident where the authorities — police officers and soldiers — were the killers. In February 2020, a military officer committed a mass shooting at Terminal 21 in Nakhon Ratchasima province, killing 30 people and wounding 58 others.

In June last year, a former soldier also committed a mass shooting out of anger at a field hospital in Pathum Thani, leading to two deaths.

And a military officer carried out another shooting spree at the Army War College in Bangkok last month, resulting in two deaths and one injury.

Accumulated stress can be the result of many things — both personal and work-related. Coupled with the possession of weapons, uncontrolled stress and anger can lead to injuries and even the deaths of the innocent.

Stress is a silent killer. According to a 2019 report titled “Chronic Stress: Are We Reaching Health System Burn Out?”, a number of countries were forced to allocate a large sum of their national budget to stress-related treatments.

Based on data from the report, the United States spent around US$133 billion on stress-related medical treatment, followed by Australia ($22.9 billion), the United Kingdom ($14.7 billion) and South Korea ($13 billion).

Meanwhile, Thailand allocated around $717 million (approximately 27 billion baht) on stress-related medical bills for its population. This accounts for around 4.3% of the country’s entire healthcare budget.

Covid-19 turned the situation from bad to worse. According to information from the Department of Mental Health, people in Thailand have increasingly been at higher risk of becoming victims of mental health issues. Based on data collected by the Mental Health Check In system since April 2021, 45.5% of Thais suffer a high level of stress. Additionally, an estimated 51.5% were on the verge of developing depression, 30.6% were at risk of suicide, and 17.6% suffered burnout. Of all these numbers, 90% were working people.

With such alarming numbers, stress should immediately be addressed before it turns into something more evil, and because the majority of working people reportedly suffer from stress, it is paramount that workplaces realise the importance of stress management among staff and provide them with much-needed support.

On a professional level, organisations — be they public or private — should provide mental health counselling for their employees so that their personal and career-related stress and worries can be relieved through discussion with mental health experts. Mental health should no longer be treated as a taboo subject in the workplace, but rather be the top priority in modern companies and organisations.

Almost all companies today already have a nurse’s room or a medical unit. Adding a psychological expert or counsellor should not be a burden. Rather, organisations should see it as an investment as part of human resource management. Staff with good mental health make jobs easier.

Supervisors or employers should also see staff mental health as one of their priorities. Instead of just making money, supervisors should also care for staff well-being, notice signs of mental health disorders or if their employees are stressed out due to long work hours, workload, job insecurity or conflicts with co-workers or bosses.

People these days spend a lot of time at work. Some say one-third of our lives is dedicated to working, so reshaping working environments to promote and protect mental health among staff is paramount. This could eventually help save a lot of lives.

Arusa Pisuthipan is the editor of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.

The most exciting news of the week is that mushrooms were found growing on a seat of an active Bangkok bus. In addition to carrying passengers on the No 82 route from Phra Pradaeng to Phahurat, the bus featured a battered seat covered in newly sprouted mushrooms. Alas, the seat has now been replaced by spoilsport officials following complaints from passengers unimpressed by sitting next to a seat covered in fast-growing fungi.

It had all the potential of one of those wonderful killer plant horror B movies like Day of the Triffids, this time with mushrooms taking over Bangkok. That would definitely provide a whole new challenge for Governor Chadchart Sittipunt.

It is not entirely clear what happened to the rogue mushrooms, although rumours suggest they may well have ended up in the bus conductor’s cooking pot.

Actually, eating wild mushrooms is not recommended as I was reminded of some years ago following a PostScript column featuring mushroom expeditions. I received a cautionary email from a professional mushroomologist (Yes that’s what they are called). He admitted the mushrooms he consumes “have to come wrapped in cling film in an environmentally unfriendly polystyrene carton from an air-conditioned establishment with a name like Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s, Waitrose etc”.

That’s straight from the mushroomologist’s mouth. Forget being in the jungle looking for a wild breakfast — it’s down to the supermarket if you don’t want to end up with the Thailand trots.

Witches and Dead Molls

The magnificent mushroom is unfortunately often a villain in literature, primarily because of its poisonous potential. You only have to look at the names of wild mushrooms to put you off any mushroom adventures — Poison Pie, Witch’s Hat, Dead Moll’s Fingers, Devil’s Urn, Destroying Angel and the most common killer mushroom, Death Cap.

Perhaps the best known fungi in literature is the Giant Mushroom, which plays a significant role in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Following the Caterpillar’s advice, Alice discovers that eating one side of the mushroom can make her taller and the other side shorter which she puts to good use. Mushrooms also feature regularly in the Harry Potter books, the fungi being ideal for magical potions.

Speaking of magic there have been tales of bizarre behaviour by tourists after consuming special mushroom omelettes on Koh Samui and adjacent islands.

Larry’s lodger

British PM Liz Truss, who incidentally is quite partial to mushroom pizza, looks as if she could do with a few friends at the moment, even if it’s only Larry the Cat, the resident No 10 moggy. However, Larry has appeared grumpy ever since he discovered who was his fourth boss.

Larry’s official title is “chief mouser” and he even has a Twitter account. It may not come as a surprise that his account has a bigger following than Ms Truss. You may recall at the time of Boris Johnson’s resignation a no-nonsense tweet from Larry announced: “I can no longer, in good conscience, live with the Prime Minister. Either he goes or I do.” We all know who won that one.

Soon after Ms Truss moved in to No 10, Larry was tweeting again letting everyone know his stance on the new arrival: “I’ve just told Truss the same thing I told Johnson when he took the job: Work hard, follow the rules, treat people with respect and never lie to the public. I just hope that she was paying more attention than he did.”

Doorstep drama

In a recent appearance on the steps of No 10, Larry appeared to give Ms Truss the cold shoulder when the PM tried to tickle him and he strode off in a huff. A recent tweet from Larry informs us that “Liz Truss has asked me why I am more popular than she is. I pointed out that wasps are more popular than she is”.

However, this week Larry acted above and beyond the call of duty, fearlessly chasing off a fox prowling around No 10.

I hope the prime minister rewarded Larry with a treat or she will be in real trouble.

White House moggies

It’s not just in London that felines roam the corridors of power. The White House has a long history of resident cats. Even Abraham Lincoln had a couple called Tabby and Dixie. He once observed: “Dixie is smarter than my whole cabinet! And furthermore she doesn’t talk back.”

The present occupant is Willow who joined the household last year with Joe Biden becoming the 11th president to have a cat. Which leads us to a significant Thai connection with White House cats…

Maeow Thai

In 1879, an American diplomat in Bangkok sent president Rutherford Hayes a Siamese cat, imaginatively called Siam. It is believed to be the first-ever Siamese (Maeow Thai) in the US. Unfortunately after a year of White House hospitality the cat died of a mystery illness.

The next Siamese cat to arrive at the White House came a century later. Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan had a Siamese called Shan. It was a beautiful-looking cat, but had an unfortunate habit of biting staff.

President Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy also had a Siamese quaintly named Misty Malarky Ying Yong. It prompted guitarist Gabor Szabo to compose a funky jazz number by that same name, possibly the only musical composition inspired by a presidential cat.

Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.com

The most exciting news of the week is that mushrooms were found growing on a seat of an active Bangkok bus. In addition to carrying passengers on the No 82 route from Phra Pradaeng to Phahurat, the bus featured a battered seat covered in newly sprouted mushrooms. Alas, the seat has now been replaced by spoilsport officials following complaints from passengers unimpressed by sitting next to a seat covered in fast-growing fungi.

It had all the potential of one of those wonderful killer plant horror B movies like Day of the Triffids, this time with mushrooms taking over Bangkok. That would definitely provide a whole new challenge for Governor Chadchart Sittipunt.

It is not entirely clear what happened to the rogue mushrooms, although rumours suggest they may well have ended up in the bus conductor’s cooking pot.

Actually, eating wild mushrooms is not recommended as I was reminded of some years ago following a PostScript column featuring mushroom expeditions. I received a cautionary email from a professional mushroomologist (Yes that’s what they are called). He admitted the mushrooms he consumes “have to come wrapped in cling film in an environmentally unfriendly polystyrene carton from an air-conditioned establishment with a name like Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s, Waitrose etc”.

That’s straight from the mushroomologist’s mouth. Forget being in the jungle looking for a wild breakfast — it’s down to the supermarket if you don’t want to end up with the Thailand trots.

Witches and Dead Molls

The magnificent mushroom is unfortunately often a villain in literature, primarily because of its poisonous potential. You only have to look at the names of wild mushrooms to put you off any mushroom adventures — Poison Pie, Witch’s Hat, Dead Moll’s Fingers, Devil’s Urn, Destroying Angel and the most common killer mushroom, Death Cap.

Perhaps the best known fungi in literature is the Giant Mushroom, which plays a significant role in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Following the Caterpillar’s advice, Alice discovers that eating one side of the mushroom can make her taller and the other side shorter which she puts to good use. Mushrooms also feature regularly in the Harry Potter books, the fungi being ideal for magical potions.

Speaking of magic there have been tales of bizarre behaviour by tourists after consuming special mushroom omelettes on Koh Samui and adjacent islands.

Larry’s lodger

British PM Liz Truss, who incidentally is quite partial to mushroom pizza, looks as if she could do with a few friends at the moment, even if it’s only Larry the Cat, the resident No 10 moggy. However, Larry has appeared grumpy ever since he discovered who was his fourth boss.

Larry’s official title is “chief mouser” and he even has a Twitter account. It may not come as a surprise that his account has a bigger following than Ms Truss. You may recall at the time of Boris Johnson’s resignation a no-nonsense tweet from Larry announced: “I can no longer, in good conscience, live with the Prime Minister. Either he goes or I do.” We all know who won that one.

Soon after Ms Truss moved in to No 10, Larry was tweeting again letting everyone know his stance on the new arrival: “I’ve just told Truss the same thing I told Johnson when he took the job: Work hard, follow the rules, treat people with respect and never lie to the public. I just hope that she was paying more attention than he did.”

Doorstep drama

In a recent appearance on the steps of No 10, Larry appeared to give Ms Truss the cold shoulder when the PM tried to tickle him and he strode off in a huff. A recent tweet from Larry informs us that “Liz Truss has asked me why I am more popular than she is. I pointed out that wasps are more popular than she is”.

However, this week Larry acted above and beyond the call of duty, fearlessly chasing off a fox prowling around No 10.

I hope the prime minister rewarded Larry with a treat or she will be in real trouble.

White House moggies

It’s not just in London that felines roam the corridors of power. The White House has a long history of resident cats. Even Abraham Lincoln had a couple called Tabby and Dixie. He once observed: “Dixie is smarter than my whole cabinet! And furthermore she doesn’t talk back.”

The present occupant is Willow who joined the household last year with Joe Biden becoming the 11th president to have a cat. Which leads us to a significant Thai connection with White House cats…

Maeow Thai

In 1879, an American diplomat in Bangkok sent president Rutherford Hayes a Siamese cat, imaginatively called Siam. It is believed to be the first-ever Siamese (Maeow Thai) in the US. Unfortunately after a year of White House hospitality the cat died of a mystery illness.

The next Siamese cat to arrive at the White House came a century later. Gerald Ford’s daughter Susan had a Siamese called Shan. It was a beautiful-looking cat, but had an unfortunate habit of biting staff.

President Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy also had a Siamese quaintly named Misty Malarky Ying Yong. It prompted guitarist Gabor Szabo to compose a funky jazz number by that same name, possibly the only musical composition inspired by a presidential cat.

Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.com

Two lawsuits on forest encroachment made headlines late last month. One involved a powerful family charged with encroaching over 6,200 rai of national forest. The other was a landless peasant charged with encroaching on 10 rai of forest land. The legal outcomes highlighted yet again the gross disparity, legal double standards and injustice involved in such cases.

In 2018, a famous vineyard and resort hotel on the rolling mountains in Loei’s Phu Rua and Dan Sai districts were hit with forest encroachment charges. The property belonged to the Karnasuta, one of Thailand’s richest families.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) asked prosecutors to charge the defendants and take them to court. Last month, the attorney-general said no to the DSI request. The public was stunned.

Two weeks later, the Supreme Court sentenced Sangduen Tinyod, 55, a poor villager in Lampang’s Ngao district to one year in prison for growing rubber trees in forest land. Although the jail term was suspended, the poor farmer must still pay a fine of 450,000 baht for damaging the forest.

While the Phu Rua forest encroachment in Loei involved rich outsiders, Ms Sangduen is a poor villager. Her family had lived on that plot of land before it was declared part of the national forest. Recognising her tenure, the Forest Department had even allowed her to stay and encouraged her to grow rubber trees there.

That changed when the military junta declared the “Reclaiming the Forest” policy to win popular support after the coup in 2014. Ms Sangduen was forced to cut down her rubber trees, then taken to court.

She was not alone. According to P-Move, a land rights movement, about 46,000 forest dwellers have been arrested under the junta’s scheme. National forests are home to more than 10 million people, many of whom were living there before the areas became protected forests. Yet they were treated as forest encroachers subject to eviction, arrest and imprisonment. The indigenous forest dwellers are not spared. They are treated as criminals in their own ancestral lands.

Tapo Ngamying is one of them. The old man is a spiritual leader of an indigenous Karen forest community of Ban Pa Phak village in Suphan Buri ‘s Dan Chang district. The village dates back to the reign of King Rama VI, yet all ethnic Karens there became outlawed when the forest agencies marked their ancestral home as part of a national forest.

Grandpa Tapo was tilling his two-rai plot of land with an old hoe for his subsistence way of life when he was arrested although he was practising a sustainable farm rotation system which has won international recognition for preserving forest health and diversity. On the heels of Ms Sangduen’s verdict, Grandpa Tapo received a suspended jail sentence and a court order to pay 67,000 baht for damaging the national forest. Losing their lands and having no money to pay the fines, both are now in deep distress.

The stream of lawsuits against the forest poor is endless. Earlier this month, prosecutors in Phetchaburi province charged two Karen teenagers for encroaching on the Kaeng Krachan National Park. They were in legal trouble because they had followed their parents to return to their ancestral land deep in the jungle.

The charge was part of the state’s heavy-handed eviction which started when former park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn led his team to torch and burn the indigenous forest dwellers’ homes.

When the Kaeng Krachan Karen’s spiritual leader, Ko-ee Mimee, took Mr Chaiwat to court, his nephew Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen disappeared mysteriously. After many years of investigation, the DSI charged Mr Chaiwat with abduction and murder. Yet the bosses at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife remain protective of the controversial official.

Apart from the harsh forest laws that do not respect community and ancestral land rights, the forest poor also suffer from legal double standards. While the rich can acquire land titles and use forest resources, the indigenous peoples and local communities face severe punishment.

The government’s forest conservation policy is mere rhetoric. Despite environmental destruction, the government continues to grant mining concessions in rainforests.

The Irrigation Department also pushes for huge dams and water diversion projects which will destroy the rainforests and local communities. Meanwhile, forest authorities keep expanding protected forests and national parks into forest communities amid intensifying forest evictions.

According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPPC), indigenous peoples and forest communities are key to curbing global warming because they are effective forest guardians.

To save the planet and humankind, governments must recognise their land rights and support their ecological farming. Indigenous peoples and forest communities are not criminals but in fact saviours of the forests.

Two lawsuits on forest encroachment made headlines late last month. One involved a powerful family charged with encroaching over 6,200 rai of national forest. The other was a landless peasant charged with encroaching on 10 rai of forest land. The legal outcomes highlighted yet again the gross disparity, legal double standards and injustice involved in such cases.

In 2018, a famous vineyard and resort hotel on the rolling mountains in Loei’s Phu Rua and Dan Sai districts were hit with forest encroachment charges. The property belonged to the Karnasuta, one of Thailand’s richest families.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) asked prosecutors to charge the defendants and take them to court. Last month, the attorney-general said no to the DSI request. The public was stunned.

Two weeks later, the Supreme Court sentenced Sangduen Tinyod, 55, a poor villager in Lampang’s Ngao district to one year in prison for growing rubber trees in forest land. Although the jail term was suspended, the poor farmer must still pay a fine of 450,000 baht for damaging the forest.

While the Phu Rua forest encroachment in Loei involved rich outsiders, Ms Sangduen is a poor villager. Her family had lived on that plot of land before it was declared part of the national forest. Recognising her tenure, the Forest Department had even allowed her to stay and encouraged her to grow rubber trees there.

That changed when the military junta declared the “Reclaiming the Forest” policy to win popular support after the coup in 2014. Ms Sangduen was forced to cut down her rubber trees, then taken to court.

She was not alone. According to P-Move, a land rights movement, about 46,000 forest dwellers have been arrested under the junta’s scheme. National forests are home to more than 10 million people, many of whom were living there before the areas became protected forests. Yet they were treated as forest encroachers subject to eviction, arrest and imprisonment. The indigenous forest dwellers are not spared. They are treated as criminals in their own ancestral lands.

Tapo Ngamying is one of them. The old man is a spiritual leader of an indigenous Karen forest community of Ban Pa Phak village in Suphan Buri ‘s Dan Chang district. The village dates back to the reign of King Rama VI, yet all ethnic Karens there became outlawed when the forest agencies marked their ancestral home as part of a national forest.

Grandpa Tapo was tilling his two-rai plot of land with an old hoe for his subsistence way of life when he was arrested although he was practising a sustainable farm rotation system which has won international recognition for preserving forest health and diversity. On the heels of Ms Sangduen’s verdict, Grandpa Tapo received a suspended jail sentence and a court order to pay 67,000 baht for damaging the national forest. Losing their lands and having no money to pay the fines, both are now in deep distress.

The stream of lawsuits against the forest poor is endless. Earlier this month, prosecutors in Phetchaburi province charged two Karen teenagers for encroaching on the Kaeng Krachan National Park. They were in legal trouble because they had followed their parents to return to their ancestral land deep in the jungle.

The charge was part of the state’s heavy-handed eviction which started when former park chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn led his team to torch and burn the indigenous forest dwellers’ homes.

When the Kaeng Krachan Karen’s spiritual leader, Ko-ee Mimee, took Mr Chaiwat to court, his nephew Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen disappeared mysteriously. After many years of investigation, the DSI charged Mr Chaiwat with abduction and murder. Yet the bosses at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife remain protective of the controversial official.

Apart from the harsh forest laws that do not respect community and ancestral land rights, the forest poor also suffer from legal double standards. While the rich can acquire land titles and use forest resources, the indigenous peoples and local communities face severe punishment.

The government’s forest conservation policy is mere rhetoric. Despite environmental destruction, the government continues to grant mining concessions in rainforests.

The Irrigation Department also pushes for huge dams and water diversion projects which will destroy the rainforests and local communities. Meanwhile, forest authorities keep expanding protected forests and national parks into forest communities amid intensifying forest evictions.

According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPPC), indigenous peoples and forest communities are key to curbing global warming because they are effective forest guardians.

To save the planet and humankind, governments must recognise their land rights and support their ecological farming. Indigenous peoples and forest communities are not criminals but in fact saviours of the forests.