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Published on November 21, 2007

While the cruelty of the Burmese junta in suppressing their citizens and Buddhist monks still remains in my mind, the timing of the Asean members' signing the Asean Charter, thereby giving birth to a human rights body to protect basic rights in member countries, is unfortunate. It is doubly so when one reads the "triumph" that Burma has agreed to sign this charter. Disappointment reaches a nadir when one comes to the part that a common position has been reached to "engage" the junta and not to sanction the ruffians. It is similar to the action of the former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he came back from Nazi Germany in September 1938 waving a peace pact.

Fortunately, your online news, "US rules out free trade deal with Asean, citing Burma", puts this in the right perspective. The advice of the US Trade Representative, Susan Schwab, that "Asean has special responsibility when it comes to the situation in Burma" heartens me that at least some selfless people on this planet still care for our fellow men. Like the old saying goes: One can be guilty by association.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Another Sad Example of Asian Non-commitment

US policy will rule out signing a free-trade agreement with Asean because of serious problems with one of its members: namely, Burma.  Meanwhile, Asean official spokespeople continue to announce that they're dealing with the Burma situation as one "within the family".

Which parts of the Burmese population does Asean consider family? Does Asean's family include the hundreds of Buddhist monks who were beaten and killed while peacefully protesting? Does Asean's family include the thousands of Burmese civilians beaten and imprisoned for speaking out in favour of democracy? If such people were part of my family, I would certainly not appease the henchmen who oppress them. From all indications, the only part of Burma that Asean considers family is the junta.  The regular people of Burma seem to be viewed as annoying outsiders by Asean. 

Asean wimps out again. Its acronym now stands for "Another Soppy Entity of Asian Non-commitment".

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Khmer Rouge trials too little, too late

The current publicity about the upcoming trials of the living relics of the Pol Pot regime show quite clearly how the Cambodian people are being conned into believing that the trials will bring justice to the mass murderers.

The world has stood by whilst one after another of these criminals has got away scot-free by dying before they could be brought to justice. The trials of the accused have been delayed for so many years by their former compatriot, Prime Minister Hun Sen, that they are now old and infirm enough to be turned over to the authorities to benefit from the medical care that the tribunal will be obligated to provide.

Their defence teams' delaying tactics will in turn make sure that they will be too sick or have died before the trials are completed, thus preventing the airing of further evidence against them.

The Cambodian people will be finally betrayed in a most sickening manner and will be prevented from closure of a period of shame for the international community.

Peter Moseley

Bangkok

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Why dirty politicians are like babies

Pampered politicians and infant diapers need changing for the same reason.

Pax vobiscum

Bangkok

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Don't let them squander your taxes

Re: "The "Thaksin effect lingers in the voting public's mindset", Opinion, November 20.

Amid the confusion over whether Thai voters should elect parliamentary representatives to usher in a new prime minister or [a proxy of] the same one who divided the nation over the past six years, I think we should look at the situation from the taxpayers' point of view.

Thai taxpayers must think far into the future. We must not let Thaksin Shinawatra use his political extremism to divide our nation again. We must resist his comeback bid and his squandering of our money in wasteful populist projects without telling us how he will acquire that money in the first place - as he did last time. We must save our children and grandchildren from being subjected to exorbitant taxes in the future to satisfy this man's lust for big-money projects.

In sum, we must vote against any party that intends to harm our posterity.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

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Satellites and larger classes a step backwards

Re: "Learning via satellite acclaimed", News, November 19.

I have several reservations about the distance learning project. I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, and I recognise that in 1995 this was the country's best option for improving education in rural areas, but I suspect the technology has passed the programme by. The Internet, even at low bandwidths, offers much more cost-effective options now, and students don't have to fax in questions. 

But if we are talking about educational outcomes, we have to have something measurable.  The article says the number graduating from Mathayom 6 has increased six-fold, but this is just a raw number, not a percentage of improvement. Maybe there are just more students. And this six-fold number says nothing about the proficiency of the students graduating.

My biggest reservation, however, is that we may be exacerbating the one of the biggest problems with the Thai education system: class size. Now we have one teacher in Hua Hin teaching not just 40 students but 400 or more. It's very hard to see this as an improvement.

Forrest Greenwood

Nakhon Sawan

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Unions holding travellers to ransom

Spurred on by PM Surayud's readily raising a white flag at the first sign of trouble with the rail unions, the bus unions are now threatening to walk out if he approves a restructuring plan which they fear would cost many jobs - despite BMTA director Pinet's denials of such layoffs.

PM Surayud should follow the lead of Franklin D Roosevelt, who learned "to seek solutions which would not so much compromise among competing interests as transcend them, include them, give each at least something and the hope of more" (James D Barber). PM Surayud should seek to allay the union's fears of layoffs, by getting them to review Pinet's claims that no such losses would occur, to improve upon the BMTA's proposals and come up with alternatives. BMTA staff should be polled in confidence to see the feasibility of early retirement. 

At the same time, this holding of the people to ransom by transport unions must stop - especially if the union refuses to come up with any alternative to the restructuring, other than to chant, "give me, give me".

If staff call in sick en masse, send the allegedly ill to be checked by military doctors, and have their places taken by soldiers. Those found healthy will be disciplined according to labour regulations. To avoid delays, bus fares will be free on strike days, with the lost revenue being collected from the union.

Negotiate, yes, and seek win-win solutions, but no surrender.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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