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Published on January 30, 2008

In the wake of the 1976 bloodshed that saw hundreds of left-leaning students and bystanders killed by ultra-right-wing hooligans, who were encouraged by Samak on Army radio, he was rewarded with the post of Interior minister.

Shortly thereafter, a Chinese party leader passed away. While the palace-appointed prime minister was pondering whether to fly the Thai national flag at half mast as a gesture of respect, Samak objected to the idea, saying it would be tantamount to kow-towing to a communist figure.

When vying for the post of Bangkok governor, he told people in Bangkok's Chinatown that he, too, is of Chinese descent - with a Lee root. 

More saucy political blunders, if not white lies, are sure to follow from now on.

Sean Miguel Esagtawski

Cambridge, USA

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Samak just a pawn in Thaksin's chess game

Re: "Despite shortcomings, Samak deserves to be given a chance", Letters, January 29.

I don't think Samak deserves anything much. From what I've heard, the people of Isaan don't like him and that's the reason he was rarely seen on the campaign trail there or anywhere else. Instead, they voted for their saviour-in-exile, and Thailand will just have to put up with his portly lieutenant for a while. Forget about the economics; forget about any statesmanship; forget about image. This election was fought on different fields.

The new government is not a government as such; it is a game of chess aimed at restoring Thaksin Shinawatra as leader of the nation by the year's end.

In "Through The Looking Glass", the author, through Alice, alluded to a chess game won in eleven moves, with each square representing a new scene and a new piece - an illusion not too dissimilar to Thailand's political climate right now.

In your editorial, "No honeymoon for Samak", you suggest that he should actually care about integrity and sound political judgement. I think not. Instead, the endgame is to return the wounded warrior to power within a year - an amnesty of eleven moves in eleven months.

James Groveway

Bangkok

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Money is the root of all evil in Burma

The Statement of Concern about Burma issued by the Foreign ministers of America, Britain and France is helpful, but not adequate. They need to do more than "carefully watch". For example, President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines bluntly stated that her government will not ratify the Asean Charter until and unless Aung San Suu Kyi is released.

Both the US government and the French government have enormous leverage with Chevron and Total respectively. They could force these two oil companies to deposit all oil and gas revenue from Burma in a "trust fund" to be released when a legitimate government of Burma is democratically elected in free and fair elections. You don't need UN Security Council resolutions to sequester these funds.

If the funds that are financing the military occupation of Burma are sequestered, it will facilitate and expedite the restoration of freedom and democracy in Burma.

Political demographics will soon facilitate significant political change. The Buddhist monks are from rural areas, just like the soldiers in the Burmese army. And the childhood classmates of the '88 Generation are now colonels commanding army battalions.

This is why the next national uprising will be successful.

Myint Thein

Bangkok

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Visitors to rural areas: bring a set of earplugs

Re: "Amplified broadcasts odious imposition", Letters, January 27.

I can sympathise with Chris E's letter detailing the obnoxious din of loudspeakers at dawn in rural villages.

During the New Year holiday I was travelling in Nong Khai and Loei provinces, expecting some peace and tranquility. I was awoken around 6:30am every morning by martial music and garbled broadcasts that sounded vaguely like news reports.

Not being a Thai citizen (I'm an expat, not a tourist), I do not expect my opinion to carry any weight in the affairs of my host country, but I would like to try to understand why the authorities feel this racket is necessary.

My expat friends and I tried to come up with some potential reasons in hope of developing some empathy for the situation:

*It's a hold-over from the communist insurgency days and the loudspeaker broadcasts are the central government's way of conveying its message to the people in government-held villages;

*Given the diversity of Thailand's ethnic groups and linguistic variations, it might have something to do with the central government promoting the idea of Thai nationalism and the nation state by blasting rousing military music and news reports in the central Thai dialect to remote villages - even though the villages/towns that I visited were very much part of Isaan.

*Maybe they feel they are doing the villages a service by giving them an early morning wake-up call and listening practice in the central Thai dialect via news broadcasts. (Especially if some villagers do not own TVs or radios.)

*My more cynical friends theorise that without this morning call to action, certain members of the rural community would simply down a few bottles of rice liquor for breakfast and be glassy-eyed or comatose by 10am. (Perhaps the loudspeakers are necessary to drown out the incessant cacophony of roosters so early in the morning.)

For whatever the reason these annoying early-morning broadcasts are deemed necessary; one thing is certain: a few letters to the editor by irate foreigners will not change things.

I'll simply remember to pack my earplugs on my next trip to rural Thailand.

Poo Yai Lee

Bangkok

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