I wish to express my anger about the way Thailand is dealing with the confiscated orang-utans from the Safari World zoo.

These orang-utans should have been returned to Indonesia two years ago, but they have become the victims of political power games and greed. Thailand has no right to keep these orang-utans. They are highly endangered primates, and all international agreements state that these orang-utans should be returned to Indonesia. This case gives Thailand a very bad name, which is so unnecessary. Protests worldwide are being organised to demand the release of these primates. Why are they still being kept inside the country, and why do letters remain unanswered?

Internationally, governments should cooperate to end the illegal wildlife trade, and returning these orang-utans to the rain forests in Indonesia would be the first step Thailand should take right now.

Femke den Haas

Director, ProAnimalia International

Jakarta

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Charter court’s ruling may be impetus the public needs

Re: “Rejection of impeachment petition was simply in Thailand’s best interest”, Letters, February 18.

I agree with Sondej’s remarks regarding the impeachment of the prime minister, but not for the same reasons.

He is right when he comments that governing would have come to a standstill, even though I’m not quite sure what “governing” means these days. The trial, if there was ever to have been one, would have gone on for months, if not years, and at the end of it the Senate would have probably reached a stalemate between vested and unvested interests.

The best outcome was rejection, as this decision calls for an immediate reaction from the Thai public, who will be further enraged that the great plunderer has got away with it again.

This case again highlights Thailand’s status as a corrupt third-world nation, disgracefully through the greed of the nation’s leader. It’s not morality, ethics or stupid honour that count: it’s the eyes of the world staring into Thailand in shocked horror and disbelief.

Jimmy Sucatash

Bangkok

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Halting ‘investigations’ will come back to haunt Thaksin

Re: “Constitution Court gets Thaksin off the hook”, News, February 17.

At first I felt totally discouraged and outraged by the Constitution Court’s verdict. After thinking about it for a while though, I realised that perhaps this represents Thaksin’s greatest mistake: underestimating the people’s anger and outrage regarding his abuse of power and personal enrichment by using Thailand like a chessboard and making sure that any “independent investigation” is snuffed out at its first steps.

This is what will come back to haunt him.

You don’t need a PhD in criminal science to realise that there is something very wrong with this country right now. He should have encouraged the court to accept the petition, then people would have been pacified a little for a while, but now they will really want to stand up and fight.

A worried watcher

Bangkok

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PM has a record of promising much, delivering little

About 10 years ago there was an up-and-coming politician. He claimed he would get rid of Bangkok’s traffic jams within six months. He gave the “best police station” Bt50,000 each month. They must have thought he was joking. That was just a drop in their petty-cash box compared to their “unofficial” income. After those six months he hadn’t achieved even a minuscule improvement, but of course he had known that would be the result. It was important only that the people wanted to believe him. Now what can you expect from a politician who came up with this, and many other, public-relations stunts?

Since that time, some 10 years ago, he has been able to say whatever he wants, but I have never believed or even trusted him. When he now says that 19 million Thai citizens voted for him, I translate that into him saying that he has the financial means to pay enough so that 19 million people vote, or are made to vote, for him.

Or are there 19 million who can still be fooled after so many years and so much experience?

Sam Munich

Bangkok

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Thailand cannot comfort itself with illusions for ever

I do not know if the entire world is an illusion as some eastern sages have claimed for millennia, but I do know that there are some undeniable illusions when it comes to local politics.

One is the illusion that changing the Constitution will make politicians less power-hungry, greedy or corrupt. I don’t know if Thailand is in the “Guinness Book of World Records” for having the most constitutions over the past 70 years, but if it is not the champ, it must be in the running. Are politics less corrupt today than in the past? There’s no need to even answer the question.

A second example of illusion is the call by many well-meaning people for the government and its leaders to voluntarily clean up their act. For example it is reported that academic and senior citizen Chai-anan Samudvanija suggested in a recent speech that the prime minister call in his family and tell them to stop pillaging the country. My reaction was to wonder what kind of mind-altering substance he had ingested.

Remember that many of the nation’s leading figures faithfully attend His Majesty’s wisdom-filled annual birthday address. They often nod as if they understand and agree with such prescient advice as the importance of a self-sufficient economy, the need to start now to initiate programmes to create alternative fuel in light of a burgeoning global oil shortage and his call on them to be upright and principled in governing the country. Then they walk out the door and forget every word of wisdom that they had just heard.

Great changes will occur here and around the globe, but not as the result of street demonstrations and calls for legislative or constitutional reform. Changes will occur as a result of worldwide crises. These crises that will shape the future include global climate changes and the havoc they wreak, hostilities over the control of the world’s oil supply, diseases and the collapse of the global economy, which is supported by unsustainable debt levels on the part of individuals, businesses and governments.

Remember, getting rich is considered glorious, and it is one of the greatest obsessions of this age. Just look around: one of the new major shopping malls in Bangkok advertises itself as “the glory of Siam” and “the pride of Bangkok”. There was a time when such accolades were reserved for Buddhism or the monarchy. Times have changed, not necessarily for the better.

The greatest illusion facing Thailand and the nations of the world today is the denial that these problems are serious or that they will affect you and me.

Who wants to think about these things? Let’s go to the mall. Illusion indeed.

David Spillane

Chiang Mai

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Kingdom’s own David and Goliath story

Re: “Supinya to Shin: Show remorse”, News, February 18.

If Thailand wrote its own David and Goliath story the dialogue might begin with this exchange:

Goliath: I want Bt500 million.

David: I want nothing but genuine freedom of expression in society, and I want to tell the rich that such rights and freedoms are more precious than Bt70 billion.

Cha-am Jamal

Phetchaburi

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Equal treatment among Asean countries in question

“Those holding Cambodian passports please show Bt20,000 in cash”

This appears hand-written in Khmer at the Thai immigration office at the Poi Pet and Aranyaprathet border checkpoint. In addition to showing the cash, Cambodian travellers need to hand over a copy of their passport and visa to the immigration officer before they can enter Thailand.

Immigration officers said this was their regulation, but when I asked them the reasons behind these regulations, none were provided.

I view this regulation as a double standard, because it is being imposed on the people of a neighbouring country and a member of Asean. It does not apply, however, to other tourists or foreigners: they can use their passports to cross the border with ease and are not subject to this extra regulation.

This double standard has caused many difficulties. One Cambodian lady mentioned the difficulties faced by a friend who had to run from the border checkpoint to her house on the Cambodian side just to borrow the cash to show the officers.

Cambodians who come to Thailand for business and to study complained that they had never been informed of the rule and knew about it only at the border. Some see this as discriminatory behaviour by Thais towards Cambodians.

The reasons behind this regulation must be stated clearly, and the Cambodian and Thai governments should revise their stance on this issue so that no further conflicts or misunderstandings arise between the two countries.

I feel very ashamed to see this double standard imposed on a member of Asean. It contradicts the purpose of Asean members having no borders in the future.

This double standard indicates weakness and a step back regarding Asean members’ cooperation to reach that goal.

Sodany Tan

Chulalongkorn University student

Bangkok

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