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Published on October 29, 2007

So sad to see that the Thai military is wasting billions of baht on the purchase of military aircraft it doesn't need from Sweden. It is equally wrong for Sweden to engage in such a sale. No one is going to attack Thailand and if the Burmese even thought of it they would be bombed back to the stone age by the allies of Thailand who are just looking for an excuse to attack Burma.

In travelling around Thailand, you see the end result of such criminal waste of unneeded arms expenditure. Millions of Thais in general barely eke out a subsistence living.

It would be much better if the Thai military vacated political life and returned to their barracks, turned their words into ploughshares and ended their expensive purchases of "toys for the boys".

Marcus L'Estrange

Bangkok

Arms-procurement deals need to be transparent

Hurrah for Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas's suspension of the controversial Bt4-billion purchase of Ukranian armored personnel carriers due to a lack of transparency and poor armour quality. For example, when the bidding closed, the winner apparently wasn't one of the 10 bidders.

We repeatedly buy arms that prove unsuitable after we've paid, eg, Stingray tanks that cracked when their guns were fired, or our anti-sub aircraft carrier, which was bought even though there's no sub-armed potential enemy in sight, and even if there were, destroyers could do a much more cost-effective job.

We keep praying that we'll be able to find a few honest men to keep our arms-procurement process clean. However, god helps those who help themselves - and we haven't. It's way past time that our arms-procurement process was overhauled and made transparent, scrutinised at every step by security-cleared officers and their civilian bosses. Make the system so transparent and rigorous that if a crook were in charge, he'd have to go straight.

I also back Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn and the State Enterprise Policy Office's objections to giving state enterprise employees a pay raise unless and until their productivity goes up correspondingly. They already earn 30 to 57 per cent more than their private-sector counterparts, and pay raises in 2004 and 2006 didn't result in productivity gains.

Under a free enterprise system such as ours, firms and their staff must focus on improving efficiency in order to have the funds to give their workers pay raises, etc. In short, such increases are a hard-earned reward, not a right.

State enterprise workers often threaten to hold the nation to ransom by interrupting services, etc unless they are given what they demand - not what they deserve. This is hooliganism that should be firmly dealt with according to rule of law.

To provide an incentive for state enterprise workers to increase productivity, I suggest that their compensation increases for each upcoming year equal 50 per cent of savings from productivity improvements over the past year.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

Corporations complicit in Burmese junta's atrocities

Re: "PTT propping up junta, not helping citizens, with its holdings in Burma", Letters, October 28.

Somsri Hananuntasuk's letter poses an awkward test for PTT and this government. It expresses clearly facts that disprove PTT's pat assertion that its involvement in Burma benefits the Burmese people, and exposes its superficial plausibility.

Will this commercial monolith fixated on energy at any moral price shrug its corporate shoulders and do nothing? Will the government of this Buddhist country look on and conveniently say it has no role to play in the commercial business of companies? I fear the answer to both of these questions is yes.

If this is in fact true then the men responsible in both of these organisations must be aware that they are as guilty, in part, as the generals in Burma of the abuse of the Burmese people and also guilty by association of their crimes. I hope they can live with that knowledge.

Dr John Patterson

Bangkok

Burma's generals have a history of falling to karma

It's time Burma's generals learn their lesson! It started with General Ne Win, the powerful dictator who ruled Burma with his iron grip over all aspects of Burmese people's lives. In 1988, he ordered his troops to brutally crack down on the popular uprising by the people who hoped to overcome the unbearable hardships they suffered under his regime. He then decided to pull the strings from behind the scenes by stepping down as the head of state. But later, his underlings became more powerful and he was virtually put under house arrest. In the end, he died ungracefully and was denied a decent and proper funeral. Till now, his son-in-law and three grandchildren are languishing in their prison cells.

Then came General Saw Maung, who was the chosen one to lead an already battered nation. He wasn't in the post for too long because he became mentally unstable and faced an untimely death. After that, General Khin Nyunt, considered to be the protege of General Ne Win and who held key position in State Peace and Development Council, also faced a similar destiny with an unexpected downfall from his post. Now, he is still under house arrest.

The last but not the least is General Soe Win who was named "the Butcher of Depayin" because of his leadership role in the killing of many demonstrators in a town called Depayin. He too died quite young of leukaemia just few days ago.

These incidents can't be just bizarre coincidences. It's about time that the remaining crop of generals, especially General Than Shwe, realise that they can't escape being punished by their own karma!

Attention generals: what goes around comes around.

Prophet Supreme

Bangkok

Private hospital did not allow for patient feedback

As an expat in Chiang Mai, I just returned from doctor consultations at a well-known private hospital in Bangkok. As I had expected, doctors and medical facilities met expectations - I was pleased. But one major thing did not meet expectations and surprised me greatly: lack of a user-friendly customer feedback system for the hospital management to assess their performance, in spite of the hospital's website touting world-class service. I had several issues of constructive feedback to discuss with a management-level person responsible for customer relations, but the customer-service desk would not provide the name of such a person. The hospital also did not conduct an exit interview or provide a feedback form for international patients. I had expected a customer feedback system on a par with a five-star hotel.  There is a strong battle going on now for medical tourists, however, I was not made to feel like a valued customer. On the contrary, I felt customer-relations management was in hiding.

J Suter

Chiang Mai