Mark Tarmthai, a philosophy lecturer at Chulalongkorn...

Mark Tarmthai, a philosophy lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, speaking at a seminar on the death sentence and drug problems organised by Amnesty International (Thailand) and the Union of Civil Liberty, said the government should set up a committee to study whether capital punishment was the best method to solve drug-related problems before deciding whether or not the death penalty should be abolished.
Senator Kraisak Choonhavan said he would take Mark's proposals to the meeting of the Senate's Committee on Administration and Justice, and Kriengkamol Lohaphairoj, adviser to the Prime Minister's Office Minister, said he would bring Mark's proposal to the government's attention.
Nattee Jitsawang, deputy director-general of the Corrections Department, said the majority of people still supported the death penalty. Regarding suggestions that the death penalty be abolished and replaced with life imprisonment, Natthi said he was even unsure which kind of punishment inmates on death row would prefer.