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Published on July 31, 2007

Thaksin Shinawatra's new website, which has one of his best pictures on its front page with the caption "The Truth Will Set You Free", looks very promising. One should hope that it would give Thaksin's reasonable side of the story to balance that of the Surayud government and the Council for National Security for the sake of fairness.

Yet the ousted prime minister seems convinced that he will help his case by targeting Privy Council General Prem Tinsulanonda in an effort to regain his credibility. He couldn't be more wrong.

Thaksin should have realised that during his heyday he made the gravest mistake in his political career by opposing General Prem, the statesman entrusted to the position of Privy Council president; the man best known for his honesty and integrity, and who has a record that Thaksin could never be compared to.

Thus, along with this new website, Thaksin should send a signal to his former henchmen who comprise the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship to stop pestering General Prem in their bid for the return of democracy to Thailand. That would help his case tremendously, for these people who are praising Thaksin as if he is a demigod, and at the same time treating General Prem as an evil person, are wrong on both counts. You simply can't beat a good man that way.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

Baht appreciation has not hit the average consumer

Maybe I'm just too naive here. Having lived in Zimbabwe for a number of years and seen the state of the economy here, it makes me wonder what the fuss is really all about with the "baht appreciation"?

True, it affects the exporters and makes Thailand less competitive. What is also true, but what no one seems to be making a fuss about, is that imported things should be cheaper.

If memory serves me correctly, Thailand's trade deficit has always been high so doesn't that mean that we are importing more than exporting? Doesn't that also mean that overall the appreciation of the baht is "better" for most Thais?

The trouble, of course, is we haven't seen the appreciation of the baht significantly reflected in the Thai consumer market. Is someone actually looking in to this? Why are the prices of imported items the same as they have been for some time? Some are even increasing, while the baht continues to strengthen.

Or maybe it's just me - the naive consumer?

Jakkris Tangkuampien

Zimbabwe

Anti-coup leaders playing on public's sympathies

I am truly puzzled by some writings on the sufferings of the eight anti-coup leaders who are now in prison. The writings give the impression that the eight suspects were ordered to be detained for 12 days. It gave the wrong impression that the eight were not released because bail requests were rejected. This is far from the truth since no release could be given by the court without a bail request.

One suspect, Jaran Dittha-apichai, did ask for bail and was released upon a surety of Bt200,000. Should the eight have filed a bail request, they all know that the court would have freed them under the surety of the same amount and one condition of keeping quiet while on bail. So, effectively, they are now in prison at their own choice and not that of the court's choice.

It is this sort of ambiguous reporting that has caused erroneous reactions in the past. The eight just want the world to see them as martyrs. This is purely gamesmanship played by these "martyrs" in securing more followers.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

'Ratatouille' preferable to reality of fast-food world

I caught perhaps the first showing of "Ratatouille" in Bangkok on Thursday morning. It was an amusing cartoon but the idea is actually funnier than the content. It also leaves me to suspect who may be cooking my morning omelette at my hotel.

This suspicion was lent credence by a surprise "guest" the other day at my table as I pushed my plate back to have a look at the newspaper when I noticed that a cockroach the size of a hamster was dining on the remains on my empty plate.

But if you think that you are safe perhaps by going to an American establishment I'd like to share some information from the 2001 book "Fast Food Nation". The author, Eric Schlosser, claims that in 1997 the USDA suggested that up to 78.6 per cent of hamburger sold in fast-food chains and supermarkets could be contaminated with faecal material, urine, vomit and insects. This is because of the lack of sanitation in animal feed lots where the animals are fattened up before slaughter. The way it is transferred to the over 800,000 tons of hamburger created each day is by way of incorrect butchering and carcass preparation which allows dressed meat to be contaminated mostly with E coli from materials found in the animal's gut or what comes out the rear end before that. That with rats, insects and such are ground into your burger.

This came to light at that time when a number of people who had eaten at fast food places died or got seriously ill from eating undercooked burgers. It was discovered that E coli had a killer cousin called E coli 0157:H7 spread in the meat. To rectify this, Nasa, in 2000 came up with a method of irradiating meat with exposure to cobalt 60. This did not exactly kill the bacteria but altered their DNA so they could not multiply in your gut but there was concern that people would not want to eat food exposed to radiation.

I have no idea since then what has happened in the fast food industry. But keep in mind when you tuck into that next fast food meal that at least "Ratatouille" was a cartoon and in the restaurant I could see my little guest. As far as I know, in the fast-food biz the rat and the roach would be ground up in your burger. With that all I can say is "Bon Appetit!".

Brian Elkey

Bangkok

Talents of Thai chefs spread far and wide

I've been living in Hong Kong since leaving Bangkok in 2004. I reckon I could visit two different Thai restaurants each weekend here (without repeating) to enjoy the most authentically fabulous Thai cooking at reasonable prices. So I'm just wondering if you still have any decent chefs left in Bangkok?

Dennis Kiddy

Hong Kong

Asian Cup win a hopeful example for a united Iraq

Sometimes in life sport can teach us all a lesson and none more so in Iraq's fantastic Asian Cup win. To see an Iraqi team made up of Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurd players all pulling together for one cause, proving that they can indeed succeed together when they want to, will hopefully lead to bigger and better things in the country. Let's hope so!

Adrian Dale

Bangkok