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Published on October 3, 2007

In disagreeing with your Opinion piece of October 1, "Thailand's policy of cowardice on Burma", Pongswan Sanguan cautioned and advised Thailand to be careful in dealing with the Burmese junta, since we share a border with them and should consider our own benefits over others who are far from Burma. He also opined that we better "use peaceful measures to pressure and convince those generals" to be nice to their people.

Wow. That reminded me of Sir Winston Churchill's condemnation of his predecessor Neville Chamberlain as "an appeaser who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last".

Sir, these generals will never change their spots, and you don't want this type of ruler next to your own country. In perpetuating their power, they have done irreparable damage to themselves by having their troops standing and waving guns over a group of monks who were ordered to squat down in front of them as though paying respect. That one picture tells us everything.

In the history of mankind, there have always been countries with a selfless attitude in helping the unfortunates to right wrongs. Ask yourself why New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US sent their men to Europe during the Second World War. Ask why UN troops go into conflict areas like Korea, Kosovo, Cambodia and East Timor. Without that selfless attitude, genocide and severe human suffering would have been so much more prevalent. One can no longer live in isolation of others.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Switch off your lights; hurt the junta's pocket

With the re-entry of Burma into the world press and popular conscience comes the inevitable side-dishes of amateur editorial and e-mail petitions. All good intentions, but as toothless in effect as they are painless in participation. Letters and electric signatures "to be forwarded to the UN secretary-general" take a minute to execute, and even less time for the target parties to ignore. According to Thomas Fuller's recent article in the International Herald Tribune, 20 per cent of Thailand's electric power is run on natural gas imported from Burma.

If the letter-writers and petition-forwarders would like to actually enable the Thai government to take the strong anti-junta position they feel is morally obligate, they can begin by reducing their power consumption by one-fifth or more. Personally, I can only manage about one-tenth, so I won't be signing any petitions. While there is no pleasure in admitting one's own weakness for toxic, blood-stained luxury, it is preferable to the dishonesty of hypocritical outrage.

Wesley Hsu

Bangkok

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Asean hypocrisy shames enemies of evil regime

Re. "Surayud must rally Asean action on Burmese crisis", Letters, October 2.

Burin Kantabutra writes a particularly poignant and shaming letter concerning the present vacillation emanating from Government House concerning the appalling human tragedy which is unfolding on Thailand's doorstep. He is right to suggest that now is the time for action and not just empty platitudes, as Asean has already supposedly made its position clear on the matter of human rights.

In July 2007 the Asean foreign ministers, under the chairmanship of Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G Romulo, agreed to create a human rights body under the draft Asean Charter. Romulo said: "The Asean Charter will now have a human rights body. This will show to the world that a people-oriented Asean truly cares about the rights of its peoples. Having a human rights body will give great credibility to Asean and the Asean Charter."

For this not to be the most insensitive deceit, Burma must be expelled from Asean immediately and all cooperation with it, by the other members, cease. If this is not done, then all the other members can rightly be called hypocrites.

For a clear view of the brutality of this odious regime, I direct your readers to the picture of the week from the Democratic Voice of Burma, which is an extremely distressing picture of the body of a young monk lying face down in, reportedly, the Rangoon River. The photo is also carried by the BBC news website which reports that about 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week, that they have been disrobed and shackled, and are being held at a disused race-course and a technical college before being sent to prisons in the far north of the country.

How a Buddhist country such as Thailand can stand idly by while these monstrous crimes against peace-loving monks are perpetrated makes me wonder about the resolve and faith of this country's leaders.

The state of affairs in Burma continues to shame the world community, Asean, Burma's neighbours, but most specifically Thailand.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

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Cynicism is as useless as inaction

The brutal scenes in Burma, which we have seen on television thanks to the Western media's superficial coverage, are just a part of entertainment in today's international affairs": Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun.

How can we call ourselves human beings or teach our children simple values of respect with the attitudes of intellectual daisy cutters like this? Shameful.

Murray

Bangkok

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Education for girls is the key to equality

I am a 14-year-old, tenth grade student attending Ruamrudee International School. I just moved to Bangkok from upstate New York, and so far my experiences have been wonderful. Just recently I had an amazing opportunity to attend the UN Regional Conference on "Men as Partners to End Violence Against Women", organised jointly by the Thai government and the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

The forum attracted about 150 participants from government and civil sectors from 11 Asian countries including Singapore, East Timor and the Philippines. As a young girl involved in promoting literacy among girls through my Hope is Life Foundation, in which I serve as the honorary chairman (www.hopeislife.org), I was very interested in this topic, and in getting to know the current status of women in most Asian countries.

There were many wonderful speakers at the forum including a young speaker, Terrence Anton Callao of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific, representing the Philippines. According to him, prostitution has become a multi-billion-dollar industry in his country. That sentence alone made me want to do something to eliminate violence against women. He also said that education can only empower us and that we should learn through exposure. I agree with him 100 per cent. Yet, the one thing that really made me listen to him was that he was a youth. Yes, youth has the power to change the world.

When I was seven, I started doing service work, starting a project that sent used children's books to Third World countries. My goal was to make sure that girls stay in school, because it is the women who become the first educator of their children. From a young age, my parents always told me that service should be a normal part of my life. This lead to the start of our Hope is Life Foundation, focusing on educating girls.

Growing up in the suburbs of upstate New York, I lived a sheltered life and my eyes weren't open to the terrible issues that occurred in other parts of the world. Now I have realised the fact that men don't treat women equally, and women are considered the less worthy race in some countries. I have started several projects in Asia through my Foundation, sponsoring girls' education, to make sure they attend school and not stay home. Only through education of girls can we attain equality. And now, after attending this conference, I've decided to start several projects in my new home country, Thailand. Still, my biggest goal is to motivate youths all over the country to start their own projects to stop violence against women and to fight for equality. Parents, teachers and members of the community must make sure that youths get involved in small projects that can eventually change one's mind. Making a difference in at least one girl's life is the best thing we can do.

Natascha Yogachandra

Bangkok

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