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Published on February 4, 2008

What a punch from the headline for this letter in which the writer remarked on his displeasure at time wasted under Surayud Chulanont. It was made even more painful by the recollection that someone had the audacity to say that the outgoing prime minister was the equivalent of Sir Winston Churchill. Sir Winston never flinched at the onslaught of challenges and would fight the enemy head on, without any sign of regret at any time.

The pain was further aggravated by reading on the opposite page Sopon Onkgara's column about the Surayud government having achieved nothing. However, it was relieved on reading the comments about new Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej being a no nonsense man who cannot stand "dimwits and the intellectually unwashed". Unfortunately, with the checks and balances involved in lining up the incoming Cabinet, even though Samak has expressed his dislikes and objections he will have no choice but to have more than one "dimwit" sitting at the same table as him. I am certain that Samak's true self will appear and he will blast some of these "dimwits". He is nobody's puppet. The key question is how long this will last.

From now on, there won't be many dull moments in politics. I am looking forward to the evening news and seeing an army of poor reporters interviewing this short-fused man.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Official intimidation not unheard of in the West

Re: "A lack of courage is clearly evident", Letters, January 31.

I fully support the sentiments expressed by "DGB" about the behaviour of the Election Commission in pursuing lawbreakers.

For those brought up in Western cultures there is far too much acceptance among Thai people of the control influential people and families have on Thai society. The part of DGB's letter I found odd was his reference to "open societies in which individuals live with no fear". I wonder where such societies are. On the surface we in the West are free to criticise the power elites, however there are other points to consider.

Before coming to Thailand I was the victim of three break-ins. The total value of cash and goods stolen was about 100 Australian dollars (Bt2,809). I have had mysterious interference noises when I used my home phone to communicate with selected other people that were not present when using a public phone to contact the same people. Was I being too sensitive about a late Sunday afternoon visit by supposedly plainclothes police officers over a formal complaint I lodged about police behaviour at a political demonstration in considering this an attempt to intimidate?

All this was before the current fear of terrorism in many Western societies.

We appear to have more freedoms in Western societies, but how free are we really if we start to challenge the policies of the real controllers of those societies - in my case, Australian?

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok

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End corruption by first targeting traffic police

It is interesting to note that of the five letters published in The Nation on January 27, three dealt with the topic of corruption ("In circles, sideways, or just plain backwards - quo vadis, Thailand?", "Examples of corrupt local administration", "Suvarnabhumi officials colluding in taxi scam").

This topic pervades the entire fabric of life in Thailand and it is no secret that it goes all the way from the top to the bottom. Those who should be setting examples make no effort to do so.

No serious effort is made to address the problem. Bleating by citizens of good standing via letters to the editor falls on deaf ears.

The problem is so serious that it would be difficult for a reformist administration to know which level to tackle first.

If I were in charge, I would start with the police, in particular the traffic police. I would challenge anyone to correct me in saying that many traffic policemen in Thailand are corrupt.

This problem was solved in the Philippines in 1991 while I was living there. The traffic police at the time, known as "The Chocolate Boys" because of their brown uniforms, were abolished by presidential decree without warning. Every traffic cop lost his job and the army took over traffic control until a new administration was recruited and trained.

Thailand aspires to become a nation with standards of prosperity comparable with Western nations. It never will achieve this until the problem of corruption is tackled seriously.

Bary J Rumpf

Macau

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Wars fought to ensure the powerful stay that way

It must have been the innocence and misplaced ideals of my youth slipping through into my stream of consciousness that made me make anti-Iraq War pronouncements. I forgot to face reality. This world is, and will continue to be, a very nasty and dangerous place.

Last evening, while cleaning out the files of one of my ancient laptops, I heard the familiar tones of a Slavic dialect coming out of the television. I try to avoid TV but last night my wife had been watching, and it was on some satellite special.

What I heard caught my rapt attention. It took only an instant and my eyes were glued to the tube, as they say. A man's voice - in a thick Slavic accent: "Ahh, the girls, they are so beautiful - sexy no? We are training them of dancing in Japanese clubs. They will make over $4,000 in a month - a fortune, is that not so?"

The screen pans to beautiful young Romanian girls doing the physical bumps and grinds that are the common denominator of bars the world over. A girl, not a week out of her 16th birthday, says, "Oh yes, I will make much money. And I come home and open a shop, no?

As I try to gather my thoughts and concentrate, an old crone comes on and, while denouncing the brutal life she has had to face since the fall of the Soviet empire, says, "We are paying the price for freedom".

It took me an instant to refocus, and then I knew what this old lady was trying to express. This continuing Middle Eastern nightmare has nothing to do with democracy or freedom, and everything to do with power and influence.

So now I understand the US government, in its bumbling and disorganised manner, is only doing what it has to do (covertly or overtly) to keep our old American crones from having to sell in the bazaars, and to keep our young daughters from having to learn exotic dance so as to be better prepared for the "floating world" of the Roppongi.

If there wasn't a devil, we would have invented him.

Don Ross

Bangkok

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