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Published on October 10, 2007

Just two weeks after its brutal crackdown on demonstrators led by monks and nuns that led to speculation that as many as 200 people have been brutally murdered, the Burmese military junta shows a quick change of stance in its attempt to start talks with Aung San Suu Kyi.

This olive branch belies the junta's hidden intention: to temporarily pacify repulsion from around the world at its recent inhuman acts. Once the global uproar has died down, things will get back to dictatorial business as usual for the junta. The world is fast at forgetting.

World leaders should be serious about the Burma situation this time. The emergence of globalisation and the Internet has facilitated news and pictures travelling fast, making it hard for dictators to cover up their heinous acts.

The problem with Burma is that its military has outgrown its role as protector of its sovereignty: the junta has turned its guns on its own people. To solve its problem, the Burmese military must be kept alive, but well within its assigned duty. For no country will be secure without a military to safeguard its territory and sovereignty. Look at what George Bush has done to Iraq by invading its territory and destroying its defence mechanism: civil war reigns and, as a result, the country looks set to split according to ethnic groupings. Now there seems to be no end to the conflagration in that country.

The world must act in unison to press the right buttons in order to solve this seemingly insoluble Burma problem. Burma's immediate neighbours should be urged to apply pressure on the Burmese military junta to change its role vis-a-vis its countrymen and the world community. These neighbours must shed their self-serving attitudes and look for long-term, peaceful coexistence within the region. This first step must be taken immediately.

Of course, the Burmese military leaders must be dealt with according to the crimes they committed, but the military itself must be spared and preserved. Democracy and sovereignty must go together.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

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First step is to allow the opposition a voice

If the regime in Burma was even considering democracy, the democratic leader would be free to form an opposition and keep attention on the plight of her people. The leader should be able to talk to the media and travel overseas to keep the focus on the needs in Burma. This should be basic stuff and should be demanded by Asean and the World. China cannot get away with hoping the call for democracy will just go away through fear. This once worked for China but it cannot be allowed to work anymore.

Stuart Davie  

Australia

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Govt ineptitude opens the door to further chaos

Re: "Failure of post-coup reforms to be felt in election", Opinion, October 9

I would like to congratulate Thepchai Yong for his Hard Talk column. I appreciate your balanced views and realistic assessment of the situation that avoids resorting to knee-jerk or sentimental arguments on the supposed merit or evil of such or such side.

I share the worry that political confrontation is looming, with pro-Thaksin forces still strong and well funded, and fully agree with your view that the choice of Samak Sundaravej is a well-calculated move. I also agree with your indictment of the junta's and the government's ineptitude at countering Thaksin's populist appeal and that of the other political parties, particularly the Democrats, that failed miserably to capitalise on Thaksin's political misfortune, because they lack leadership and credible platforms.

I am no friend of Thaksin because of his authoritarian tendencies and because of his greed and that of his cronies. However, I despair at the lack of alternative policies offered to Thai voters. Thanks for a clear and to-the-point column. Keep up the good work.

Jean Flame

Bangkok

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Blackwater criticism not always justified

I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 with a small group of soldiers, 80 in all. Prior to our deployment we attended an intense survival course at the Blackwater compound in North Carolina. There we received extremely realistic training from professional and highly experienced operators. We mastered everything from counter surveillance, extreme-driving techniques and advanced weapons employment to surviving an ambush.

Due to the nature of our mission, my small group was spread throughout Afghanistan. During our deployment, members of my group experienced close-quarters combat, two suicide attacks and multiple ambushes initiated by direct RPG hits on a convoy of vehicles. Everyone survived and reacted appropriately due, I believe, in part to the outstanding training at Blackwater. Further, I worked extensively with members of Blackwater during the deployment itself. I called them "facilitators", as opposed to the "inhibitors", which is how I referred to those in the military system that was supposed to support us, but did not.

Blackwater in Afghanistan was entirely professional and dedicated to the mission. In many cases the men we worked with flew unarmed into very dangerous situations without hesitation. I respect, honour and admire those men. Simply put, without them my mission would not have been completed.

CPT M

Bangkok

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Those pesky foreign-sounding presidents

Re: "American voters unlikely to elect Obama or Rudy", Letters, October 9.

Meechai Burapa says that men with foreign-sounding names cannot get elected as president of the USA. I guess that is why Roosevelt and Eisenhower could not get elected. I have to say that my pick has the most Anglo-Saxon of names, Fred Thompson, and if he is elected I'll take Meechai out for tofuburgers.

Michael Clowes

Bangkok

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For pity's sake, save the Pata animals

I have had the sad experience of visiting Pata Zoo and commend others who were outraged enough to notify the authorities.

The zoo is located on the rooftop of a department store in a congested part of town. The entire zoo is a cemented bunker. The only leaves and trees are painted on the walls in the birdcages. All animals sit, walk, eat-off and relieve themselves on concrete.  There is not a patch of earth for the animals to smell nature.

Bread is sold to be thrown to the bears, gorilla, orang-utans, birds and langurs, irrespective of their natural diet.

Most of the animals are disoriented and in a state of agitation.  The vibration from passing vehicles and noise blaring from the department store must keep these animals in a state of torture.

Bua Noi, the gorilla, is our closest cousin in the evolutionary ladder.  Gorillas live in family groups in nature, but for the last 12 years she has been deprived of any contact with her own kind.

The animals at the Pata Zoo do not seem malnourished or crippled for lack of space to exercise but they all seem dispirited.  They are jailed for life in concrete cells for the entertainment of the public that are attracted for profit for the store.

My call for the Pata owners is to relocate all the animals at their rooftop zoo to the ground and thereby gain much merit in this life

Jenny

Bangkok

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Anyone know what the  zebra crossing's for?

I wonder what the statistics on accidents at zebra crossings in Thailand are. Most motorists do not stop their vehicles automatically when they see pedestrians waiting at zebra crossings in Bangkok.  Paradoxically, contrary to its benefit of protection, walking across a zebra crossing becomes a risky endeavour. Motorists are reluctant to consider that they have to halt their vehicles, and that they are obliged by law to do so whenever there are pedestrians waiting to cross on the zebra crossing.

Do we ask ourselves what these lines on the road are for? For drivers, having to stop for pedestrians to cross, it's an inconvenience and irritation. Quite regularly I hear drivers blaring their horns in annoyance at pedestrians. 

Sometimes when I cross myself, and get honked at, I gesture to the driver and point to the zebra crossing, but I doubt that they understood. The police need to act and educate the public on this. The relevant ministries should invest in a campaign to alter motorists' perception and behaviour, and appreciate that the purpose of zebra crossings is to compel motorists to halt their vehicles for the right of pedestrians to cross the road. The zebra crossing is a simple-to-understand arrangement to replace that of a traffic light crossing.

Ean Lee

Bangkok

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