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-  A report was released concluding police failed to bring a single person to justice for the killing of more than 2,000 people in the "War on Drugs".

-  A man accused of murdering a policeman was mysteriously killed in a suspected act of revenge.

-  A gang of policemen was accused of  running an extortion racket and collecting reward money for torturing false drug confessions

out of innocent people.

-  A massive car theft and con ring implying police complicity was uncovered.

Perhaps the new government can get serious about real and much needed police reform.

It would probably be the most welcomed populist policy of them all!

Banana republican

Bangkok

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Nuclear option too liable to abuse in Thailand

Re: "Nuclear energy a must to maintain competitiveness", Opinion, February 17.

On purely economic grounds, there's a strong case to be made for nuclear energy. But this being Thailand, there will be massive corruption. Mega-projects bring mega-opportunities for graft.

One of the major causes cited for ousting Thaksin was that he took graft to new depths - and the People Power Party's main election platform was that it was the Thai Rak Thai reincarnated.

Suvarnabhumi Airport should be fresh on our minds, ie the CTX scandal where MPs voted overwhelmingly that there was no graft - but nobody outside Parliament believed them. Another case would be King Power where big projects were allegedly fragmented to escape scrutiny.

In the case of Suvarnabhumi, the penalties to society for graft are comparatively light. But for nuclear plants, the penalties could be literally deadly - and occur long after the guilty ministers have gone. Also, we cannot even manage the light bulbs at Suvarnabhumi; why do you think we can maintain an infinitely more complex nuclear plant?

So I say to the proponents: show us a workable anti-graft plan that will thwart corruption by any government of the day - then, and only then, let's talk economics. To get the ball rolling, I suggest putting Parliament and/or ministers' residences within 10-kilometres of the plant, and downwind. Is my idea outrageous? Of course - but do me one better!

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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PM's credibility in doubt after remarks on '76

Re: 'Invisible hands' at work to destroy PPP: Samak

The prime minister is suggesting  that there are invisible hands at work seeking to undermine his government. Clearly these are different hands from the very obvious hands now seeking to strangle free speech in the Kingdom.

Given his muddled recollections of the October 1976 massacre, which have incensed historians his credibility, like the boy who cried wolf, is now extremely questionable.

Fred Morrice

Bangkok

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Samak's stance and PPP reaction a PR disaster

How unbelievably short-sighted it was of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to provide his distorted version of the student massacre of October 6, 1976.

A blind man could have predicted the backlash, and for the PM's office minister to silence Chirmsak Pinthong has only made an appalling situation worse. One would have imagined that high on the agenda of any democratically elected new government, fresh from the wounds of 16 months of military rule, would have been to nurture public opinion and restore faith. However such basic common sense seems to be absent among these politicians, so one can only watch open-mouthed at what acts will follow as an encore.

Tim Taylor

Bangkok

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Too late to protest after Beijing awarded games

I don't see the point in pieces like Nick Cohen's "The only winner at the Beijing Olympics will be tyranny" (Opinion, February 18).

This is yet another classic case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

What Beijing represents today is the same as what it represented when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2008 Games to China: suppression of dissidents, repression and subjugation of the Tibetan people, imprisonment of journalists, censorship, persecution of minorities, a horrendous human-rights record - the list goes on and on. And, by the way, Steven Spielberg saying he is going to boycott the Olympics is a recent decision.

Where was he, Nick Cohen and all the other protesters - well known or among the faceless masses - when the IOC was deciding some years ago on where the 2008 Olympic Games would be held?

Sombat Kapeng

Chiang Mai

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Anti-smoking lobbyists never deterred by the facts

Re: "Lack of vision led to ineffectual smoking ban", Letters, February 18th.

It was refreshing to read a letter from an anti-smoker that made some sense. He or she feels that people would be complying with the latest anti-smoking law outlawing smoking in bars had they made the law require bars to provide non-smoking areas rather than made the law a complete ban.

I just read where a public official in England is now pushing through a bill that will require smokers to have an annual licence to smoke, at the cost of £10 (Bt614) per year. He was publicly bragging that he intended on making the licence application as difficult and confusing as possible. I would imagine that this is his interpretation of "tough love".

In Minnesota, a condo complex just voted to outlaw smoking in the complex even in one's own condo. This is predicated on the belief that smoke is getting from one condo to another. Of course they haven't yet been able to figure out a way to keep the automobile exhaust from the street out of their condos, but I am sure they are working on it.

 In Bangkok, there is no smoking in parks. At Disneyland in the US, an outdoor venue, there are two 10-foot-square areas that allow smoking over an area of some one-hundred acres.

All of this is based on a contrived report from the surgeon -general of the United States some 20-odd years ago that determined that second-hand smoke is killing people. How any logical person can believe that it is possible to prove such a thing is beyond me, but people believed it, obviously because they wanted to believe it.

The point of all of this is that if "Farang Rak Thai" is waiting for anyone to be reasonable about smoking, he or she is going to have a very long wait. Somehow, with a little encouragement from the American surgeon -general, people have convinced themselves that we smokers are killing them and it has given them a righteous reason to persecute us to the maximum. And like that public figure in England, they are enjoying it.

So forget reason and logic along with it Farang Rak Thai. You won't be seeing either soon. What you will see soon will be storm troopers, who should be out chasing criminals, descending on bars to give you your way. And then you will see outdoor bars flourishing in Thailand and those wonderful indoor bars you like so much with locked doors with signs on them declaring: "Out of business due to a lack of reason and logic."

John Arnone

Yasothon

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