Published on January 31, 2006
Re: “Thaksin fights for eroding legitimacy”, Opinion, January 30.
Did Thaksin Shinawatra really force the Thai people into accepting “his marginally moral thinking and actions”? I fear this is not the case.
As much corruption and unethical and immoral thinking and actions as there are in the Thaksin government, little of it would be viable without a parallel set of such greed, selfishness and weakness throughout most of Thai society. “It takes two to tango/tangle.” Interview almost any Thai citizen and ask, “If it were you up there, if it were you getting those huge benefits and making all that money and getting away with all that, would you do it?” The answer is overwhelmingly likely to be, “Yes.” Sometimes a regretful “yes”, but still a “yes”. In a land of pretence and illusion, the reality of wrongdoing is still not an accepted concept that places the wrongdoing on the wrongdoer or responsibility for those who get away with literal and figurative murder on those who allow them to get away with it. It’s not a simple matter of burying one’s head in the sand – Thai social values perpetuate people like Thaksin, and it is only the result of time and opportunity that allowed him to get to the top. There have been many like him in the past, and the future does not look promising. Frank G Anderson Nakhon Ratchasima ----------------------------------------------------- Flag-waving works for only a limited amount of time Re: “PM’s patriotism flies out of the window as soon as he sees his chance to make a buck”, Letters, January 28. A plausible explanation for PM Thaksin’s silence over his personal business deal with Temasek Holdings of Singapore may lie in the true nature of the “patriotism” that he has publicly professed ad nauseam in the past. His “patriotism” may be the kind that provides the last refuge for scoundrels. It has worked for him in the past, but it may not this time. True Patriot Bangkok ----------------------------------------------------- Taxes from share sale could have helped alleviate poverty A thought that must be going through so many minds at the moment is that at the end of a week in which the PM concentrated on trying to alleviate poverty, he completed a deal that deprived the government of a published Bt20 billion plus. If that money had gone to the government of the country, then a large proportion of the poverty may have been resolved. What was the point of the poverty tour? Concerned for Poor Thais Bangkok ----------------------------------------------------- Thai Army evolved into ultimate Old Boys’ Club Re: “Time to upgrade our armed forces”, Editorial, January 30. You state that Thailand’s hundreds of Army generals are a legacy of the Cold War. Surely, the truth is that they are a legacy of the military dictatorships that ruled Thailand for most of the last century and created hundreds of jobs for the boys. Dom Dunn Krabi ----------------------------------------------------- Death penalty works and was appropriate in Horton case Re: “Horton case does not signal a new trend in Thai justice”, Letters, January 28. John, you stated that capital punishment did not prevent the two Thai fishermen from murdering Katherine Horton. True, but it will prevent the Thai fishermen from repeating their crime and save the next victim’s life. They will never be able to repeat their crime; that is a hard fact. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the death penalty works. The Thai government is to be applauded for their swift action in solving this capital crime. The death penalty when applied swiftly is a huge deterrent. Cheers to the Thai government. Bill Cymbalsky Bangkok ----------------------------------------------------- Perceived absence of justice harms Kingdom’s image Re: “Samui pair get death sentence”, News, January 19. Passing a quick death sentence on the two convicted fishermen does not improve Thailand’s image abroad, as some Thais seem to think. On the contrary, in Europe the death penalty is considered barbaric, and both the swiftness of the trial and the pressure from the Thai prime minister for the death penalty raises doubts about the fairness of the trial itself. Martin Schreck Copenhagen ----------------------------------------------------- Looks like there’s more than just one Land of Smiles I have just visited the country of Gambia in West Africa and learned that there is another “Land of Smiles”. In what ways are Thailand and Gambia the same-same? Both countries’ capital cites begin with the letter “B”: Bangkok and Banjul. Both capital cities are at the same latitude on the globe: 13 degrees north of the equator. Both countries are subtropical, with palm trees, white beaches and Western visitors. Both countries are on oceans, and the people of both countries love seafood and spicy food. People in both countries eat together from one main dish with a spoon and sit on the floor. Women in both countries do most of the work, and their dream is to own a shop or business. Women in both countries are very beautiful and take great pride in their clothes and jewellery. Women in both countries are the boss in the home and make most of the money. Men in both countries take pride in working little and having many secret wives and children. Families in both countries must struggle to live and work hardest to give their children an education. The oldest daughters in both countries must work and sacrifice for the younger children. The girls in both countries may marry a man they choose but then must work for the husband’s family. The children in both countries are pampered and respected and then put in a uniform and sent off to school. And like Thailand, Gambia is called “The Land of Smiles”, which I can say from my trip is true. Peter Gamache Anchorage, Alaska ----------------------------------------------------- Onus is surely on Israel to show responsibility Re: “Hamas must show responsibility”, Editorial, January 28. In response to your statement about Hamas that “the organisation’s victory should be understood as a protest vote against the Fatah leadership”, many observers think this extraordinary success is much more a people’s vote against the occupation, and a loud “No!” to persistent efforts by the Israeli military and political class to force Palestinian surrender. Quite simply, an electoral expression of what Palestinians call muqawama, or resistance. It’s useful to ponder a few facts in context: the election was carried out under the most suffocating occupation currently in force anywhere on the planet – a free vote by ordinary people living under appalling oppression, in grinding poverty, their villages and towns turned into locked cages. Thirty-one of the candidates, many now elected, are behind bars in Israeli jails, probably unprecedented for any democratic poll in the world. That includes the most popular single Palestinian in the eyes of the masses, Marwan Barghouti of Fatah. Sheikh Mohammed Abu Tir, second on the Hamas national list, spent most of the past 30 years in Israeli prisons. The Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi were openly assassinated by Israeli air strikes in March and April 2004. So the massive pro-Hamas vote was also in part a payback and political “blow back” for that kind of violence by the Israeli political elite, tacitly supported by Washington. This election was a vote by a decided minority of the Palestinian people, the far greater majority of whom live as refugees in a vast diaspora, mainly in the Middle East, and as second-class citizens inside Israel proper. If all Palestinians could vote, who knows what the results might be? Finally, we should not forget that Hamas is a many-sided grass-roots movement, rooted since its founding in 1988 in the people, the neighbourhoods. Its activities in the Palestinian streets have concentrated on building an extensive education network, distribution of basic foodstuffs for the holidays, aid to the poor, youth camps, sports, care for the elderly, scholarships, sponsorship of light industry and religious services in the mosques. It has anchored itself not as a political party, but as a people’s movement of mutual aid moored on Islam – and resistance to an entire choreography of systematic oppression. Many Palestinian Christians also cast their ballot for Hamas. All that should be borne in mind. As Israeli jazz artist, novelist and peace activist Gilad Atzmon wrote after the poll: “If we are as democratic as we claim to be, it is down to us to respect and welcome the Palestinian people’s choice. I would suggest that to support Palestine is to support the Palestinian people and their right of return, regardless of their political, theological or cultural choices. Rather than imposing our world-views on the Palestinian people, we had better let the Palestinians be. We should listen to them and try to find our way within their complicated cause.” It is time for a new political class in Israel to “show responsibility” in moving forward to a just solution. At the very heart of the Judaism I was raised in is a “rage for justice”. Bill Templer Trang
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