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Published on September 27, 2007

 

 

The writer professes to not understanding Buddhism. As a Buddhist, I can assure him that all Buddhists in Thailand pray quietly in their hearts at this crucial moment that the Burmese soldiers refrain from firing at monks carrying pictures of our Lord Buddha. They pray that the people succeed in winning back the freedom that was stolen from them by the junta in 1990 when Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 392 out of 489 seats. The junta annulled the result and refused to step down.

The electronic age allows the world to witness despicable deeds almost immediately. After 30 years, the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders have to face a court of law.

If I were a member of the Burmese junta, I would tread carefully and refrain from using force against monks who represent our Lord Buddha.

Rebuilding Burma is possible without bloodshed if we all contribute in telling the junta that we are watching it and reminding it that its days are numbered.

SP

Bangkok

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Dictatorship signs its own death sentence

Than Shwe signed his own death sentence today by attacking unarmed Buddhist monks. Uneducated Than Shwe does not realise that Indira Gandhi was killed by her own Sikh bodyguards when the Indian Army attacked a Sikh religious site.

Than Shwe's use of Chinese-supplied war weapons to attack peaceful demonstrators will lead to anti-Chinese riots all over Burma.

Statements like "watching developments closely" is bureaucratic talk for doing nothing. UN envoy Gambari can't even get a visa to Burma and yet pretends that the UN secretary-general's office can play an important role in Burma.

Burma is dying slowly because the world refuses to help, and Gambari keeps issuing worthless statements like the military regime in Burma is "turning a new page".

The national uprising was needed because no one would help us. We are aware that we will have to pay an enormous price in blood. This is the only effective way to get rid of the evil, corrupt and incompetent military regime in Burma.

Myint Thein

Bangkok

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Don't let Thailand become a haven for tyrants

Re: "Than Shwe's family gets out", News, September 26.

It appears that this vile dictator has seen the writing on the wall and is getting his nearest and dearest out of Burma. It is comforting when the "great" fall and just how squalid their lives become in their final hours.

Indeed, I have a vivid picture of ex-president Nicolae Ceaucescu of Romania and how his iron grip dissolved equally unexpectedly and quickly and how he and his wife tried to flee unsuccessfully. They met a swift and final end at the hands of their own military.

So now the rats scurry, but it is very disappointing that they choose to come to Thailand, feeling it a sanctuary. This does the Kingdom's reputation no good at all. A sad day indeed.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

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Burmese democracy will be a wake-up call to Thailand

With the coming rebirth of democracy in Burma, this only spells hard times ahead for Thailand. Commerce and industry apart, Burma has some 500 Phuket-like islands, pristine and unspoiled just a few miles north of Thailand's favourite tourist destination. Let's hope that attitudes in Thailand improve greatly, whilst there is still time (is there still time, I wonder?) or I fear for the consequences which will be far-reaching and difficult to change.

 Can any country play Russian roulette with its future. The Thai people deserve better, even if at the present time "they know not what they do". It's human to make mistakes, but to get the vast majority of decisions wrong is inexcusable.

Dr David Jones

Oxford

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Pavement changes don't address the real problems

Before creating bicycle paths, perhaps the authorities could rid pedestrian paths of motorcycles - a deadly hazard on Sukhumvit. They might also restore the pedestrian paths by ridding the street of vendors, often rendering passage for two people impossible. Wake up, Bangkok. Laws, rules, regulations are useless unless they are enforced.

Observer

Bangkok

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Now the city sidewalks have been made doubly hazardous

 

Who turned the north sidewalk along Sukhumvit Road, from Soi 7 west to Ploenchit Road, into a bicycle path?

A month ago someone tarred the entire north sidewalk from Soi 5 to Soi 7. Then, about two weeks ago, the sidewalk from Soi 3 to Soi 5 was tarred.

Initially, I assumed that the local merchants had banded together and paid to tar over the treacherous sidewalk which, for years, had caused twisted ankles and sprayed clean clothes with a dirty black liquid.

But this morning I discovered two broad white lines about a metre apart in the middle of the sidewalk from Soi 7 west to Soi 5 and then to Soi 3 and so on. It was a bicycle lane - smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk.

Pedestrians now have to make way for psychopathic bicycle riders who think they own the sidewalk.

Bicycles, especially motorcycles, have long been a menace on sidewalks in Bangkok. It is illegal to drive a bike on a sidewalk, yet many people do it. Kids on small bikes, pizza delivery boys, office messengers, scooter-taxis trying to go around traffic, and even cops drive onto the sidewalk and sometimes ride as far as a block or two.

Bikes on sidewalks are a safety hazard. I have seen women and children pedestrians run over by them.

Now, someone has made it legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk. Whoever is behind this should be taken to task. Bicycle lanes belong in the street, along the kerb - not on the sidewalk.

J Rosemont

Bangkok

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Potential residents may be older but not necessarily wiser

Re: "Age and maturity, not wealth, should guide immigration policy", Letters September 23.

 John Arnone has once again suggested a credible solution to preserve the utopia that he moved to - albeit, somewhat predictably, not in the manner in which he may have perceived.

An immigration policy such as that proposed by your Yasothon correspondent would, if I may generalise by generation in the fashion of the writer, lead to a situation where ageing (rich obviously) paedophiles and lotharios are positively encouraged to settle. Once here they will be free to prey upon the young and to be preyed upon by the slightly older. Insecure (age being the main factor) in their fledgling relationships, they will submit to every financial demand made by their unfamiliar partners and their new extended families.

That truly would be a return to old-fashioned Thai values as wished for by Mr Arnone.

Ben Kelly

Nakhon Ratchasima

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Get angry and keep writing letters to the press

Re: "The blase attitude to safety is well entrenched", Letters, September 26.

I too would like to praise Christy K Sweet's criticism of the Thai attitude in disregarding preventative measures in saving lives, especially in the travel industry. J Cicero was partly correct that, with it being printed in The Nation, most Thais would not have seen it and, worse still, those who read it wouldn't care less anyway.

However, there is an outside chance that one of the few Thais who reads it may be in a position that matters and may take some necessary action to make a difference to the "mai pen rai" attitude.

This reminded me of the time when a former prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, made the use of helmets mandatory for all motorcyclists and their passengers. I was surprised at the backlash then by many Thais and the media against Khun Anand.

The opposition was silenced only when, uncharacteristically, the then prime minister angrily hit back at the critics for having the audacity to question his good intention in saving people's lives. Since that day, there have been many preventative measures introduced by various governments. Sometimes you need to be angry in order to get your point across.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, keep writing to The Nation and pricking our consciences of those Thais who read this letters column.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Money better spent on a truly poor service

Re: "Peering keenly through the political clouds", Business, September 26.

True president and CEO Supachai Chearavanont and True's parent company Charoen Pokphand Group have donated Bt75 million to the Democrat Party and a lesser amount to the Chat Thai Party. While this appears to be an excellent business decision which may ultimately result in True being allowed to continue operating their cable/satellite television monopoly in Thailand's urban centres, it does not bode well for their hundreds of thousands of subscribers or their millions of viewers.

The Bt75 million should have been used to improve programming content and to upgrade the decades-old technology that we are forced to tolerate while being constantly reminded that True is the No-1 service provider in the Kingdom.

David Barkdull

Bangkok