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Published on February 11, 2008

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej now denies that he is Thaksin's nominee, going against his own characterisation during the election campaign.

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama stated on paper that he was no longer Thaksin's counsel. His first policy pronouncement was to say that Thaksin should have a diplomatic passport - just like other former premiers - while "leaving" the decision to passport officials. Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung simply cried, "I miss Thaksin". Sondhi Limthongkul has started to draw a line in the sand against the whitewashing of Thaksin by the Samak administration.

The one person with an "ace in the hole" is Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra. A few days after she returned to Thailand, things started to roll. Evidently, she has brought a truckload of Thaksin cards.

In order for Thailand to move on, Thaksin should come back, the sooner the better. Let all the forces interface. We cannot move on until there is a resolution against the man who is still capable of bringing the country down to save himself.

Netirat Intira

Bangkok

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Pai reporter's comments out of place in 'letters'

Re: "Pai shootings inspiring 'malicious rants'", Letters, February 10.

Andrew Drummond writes that he finds it "slightly worrying to see certain sections of The Nation, including this page, turning into vehicles for malicious rants by foreigners".

First, let me say that I find it more than "slightly worrying" that the letters to the editor section has become a second home for a journalist to provide colour commentary on the stories he is regularly filing to the same newspaper. A journalist should be objective and confident enough in the facts of his stories to let them speak for themselves. Drummond has opted instead to send two letters to the editor. In the first he apologised for reporting on Carly Reisig's history of having had violent drunken flare-ups with cops in Pai in the past.

Surely, despite Drummond's claims in that letter and in this most recent one, such a history has a direct bearing on this case which involves her, alcohol and a cop. In his second letter, he attacks an opinion columnist, Stephen Cleary, for questioning sensationalist reporting from Thailand. One can assume he saw himself in this critique.

Drummond ended his initial report on this case with the following: "Like the Kanchanaburi case, the killing in the idyllic tourist village of Pai has the semblance of another police 'loss of face' execution." He made this claim based solely on what Carly Reisig had told him and before he could have had a bit of the material necessary to back it up. Even now in the full light of the forensic evidence it seems like this was in no way a "face-saving" killing. Calling that first report "sensationalist" is an understatement.

Now, Carly Reisig has changed her story completely. Almost every detail of the case as she recounted it initially to Drummond has changed. Drummond did not make mention of the night and day difference between his initial report and Reisig's actual testimony. Attempting to deride Cleary, Drummond writes: "Internet bloggers and posters demand an audience and rarely admit they are wrong." And the same can be said about certain foreign correspondents.

Might it be overreaching to suggest that the Thai government might be pressuring its agencies to get this one resolved quickly and with Thailand shown in the best "corruption-fighting" light? And that Carly Reisig was told to fall in line with this new version of events that has come out? Might this explain why her story has changed so drastically? Maybe it is overreaching. Maybe there is no merit to that theory since forensics obviously is showing the policeman's version of events to be unreliable. But it is a possibility, and one that Drummond is sure to ignore. He has taken this case as something akin to a personal mission of his own. Activist journalism can be dangerous in cases where there are no easy black and white answers.

Carl

Bangkok

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Booming Islam does not need anyone's sympathy

Re: "Radical Islam leaves no room for discussion", Letters, February 9.

So your dear reader from Chiang Rai "sympathises" with Muslims, for they have no choice in the religion imposed upon them.

Well, let's hope he has sympathy for 1.5 billion people and growing - faster, reports CNN, than any religion even in the West.

May his sympathy extend to almost 900 mosques built in the US in the past 12 years - 80 per cent of the total number. As they "have no choice" it is indeed fortunate that the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for "parts of Sharia law to be recognised in the UK" according to the BBC. Turkey's parliament recently lifted a ban on Muslims wearing headscarves at university, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Perhaps this further march toward Islam will give the girls a bit more confidence in the divergence of opinion that secularism would only be tolerated in official societal institutions. Have sympathy though on humid days, please.

In the end, we Muslims will be okay - all 1.5 billion of us. We just have a little cleaning up to do from past and present historical grievances.

Bear with us, kind sir, and in return we'll see what we can do about reducing that journalist's sentence just a tad, as a token of goodwill.

David Webster

Bangkok

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Election will invite revolution in Burma

Than Shwe has chosen his poison. He has scheduled general elections even before their sham constitution is approved in a national referendum. This is an invitation for a revolution in the streets of Burma.

We will bury Than Shwe and his sham national constitution. The next national uprising will have the support of several army commanders.

They have seen how junta leader Than Shwe and his 40 thieves have stolen from Burma by watching the wedding video of Than Shwe's daughter.

The UN can't help us and UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari is simply pretending. Asean can help us, but won't because the grouping is held hostage by its investments in Burma. And China and India will never help us, simply because they want to exploit Burma's rich natural resources. A free and democratic Burma will declare as "null & void" all oil and gas concessions granted by an illegitimate military junta.

We will be ready for the final showdown with Than Shwe.

Myint Thein

Senior Adviser to the Burmese Resistance

Dallas, Texas

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