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Published on March 3, 2008

First, it is a normal practice for a new government to roll some heads when taking office. Plus, those high-ranking officials Samak removed were all appointed by the Surayud government, installed by the military coup. You live by the military coup, you die by the legitimate government; it's just a matter of karma. Meanwhile, when the puppet government removed officials in some 20 key positions - both military and civilian - who were loyal to Thaksin, no one complained.

Finally, I scratched my head when letter-writer Burin likened Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's actions to feudalism and the French Revolution. I see no similarity or correlation whatsoever.

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

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Western democratic ideas too narrow for Thailand

Re: "Vengeance of the middle class not democratic", Letters, March 2.

"One Frustrated Cleaning Lady's" views I fear are nothing to do with that paragon of the poorer classes which this foreign correspondent has chosen as a mouthpiece. The piece reads like the typical byline from the foreign correspondent on the front lines in the land of smiles who lives in a plush apartment in the Lumpini area and does indeed have a "cleaning lady" at his beck and call and thinks that the issue is all about a class system along the lines of the European model that he grew up with.

It isn't. If you go upcountry to places like Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan or down South to areas that are at least as poor as the Northeast you will find a large number of people, poor farmers, labourers, shop owners who didn't vote for the People Power Party and who understand just who the beneficiaries were over the past 10 years under Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Thaksin Shinawatra and their cronies.

It is too easy for foreigners to report that this rift in society fits neatly into a lower class/poor farmers vs middle/upper classes in Bangkok scenario a la the French Revolution. Short of giving you a quick homily on the differences between Asian and European society I'm afraid you wouldn't understand this.

No, this rift is about justice and the strength of the justice system in Thailand. You say that declaring that a person is a criminal without trial is unjust.

Did you also know that the courts convicted and disbarred 111 officials from any part in the political process in Thailand and that this list included Thaksin?

A strong, independent justice system in a democracy is at least as important as the elected government. And yet as the elections we just had have proven that impeachment decisions handed down by the justice system can be trampled on by those who have money and power. Everyone can see this but little is done until those with money and power who abuse their positions are dealt with sternly by the law.

Jonathan W

Bangkok

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Worst always rises to the top in electoral politics

I am not taking exception to a lot of what the cleaning lady is saying; however, I would suggest that the problem is a little more complicated than what she is suggesting.

The leaders of this country are basically similar to apples and oranges. The apples claim the oranges have too much acid and vice-versa, but in reality, too much consumption of either will give you a stomach ache. A coup only becomes necessary when one or the other comes to the conclusion that the reigning one's methods are dangerous. And giving away money that the country doesn't have in order to obtain support and votes is dangerous, not to mention offering a free medical plan when you have no means of financing it. The damage done to the medical community already is irreparable.

It is true that many other democracies have practised the writer's contention that "it is through taxes that poverty [is] lessened, with society as a whole benefiting in the end". However, again I might point out that in the US, which is supposed to be the guiding light of democracy, liberals have been giving away money for decades to garner votes and conservatives have been building war machines for decades in order to create jobs to garner votes. The result of the country spending money it doesn't have has finally come home to roost. You have a country that is US$9 trillion (Bt283 trillion) in debt, engaged in an expensive war, no longer the ruler of the economic roost and very few of its citizens can afford a home to live in.

Maybe there should have been a coup there many years ago, although I doubt that it would have accomplished much more than the last one here did other than to further regulate the sins of the poor.

What I am suggesting is that the very concept of democracy requires the need to attract voters.

This need creates the need to either give things away or build things you really don't need to keep people working. And that need creates the need to have dishonest politicians who will offer whatever it takes to get into office.

What would happen to any politician who stood on a platform of fiscal responsibility? "I won't spend anything more than what is necessary to keep us protected and secure. If there is any money left over, I will see that it is distributed to the people that need it most."

I would imagine that he would pull in less than one-tenth of one-per cent of the vote. So what it gets back to is the "Apples and Oranges Syndrome", and the one making the promises to the largest segment of the population wins.

I'm sorry to paint such a dark picture of the state of things and I really don't have a solution for you, but one thing that I do know for certain is that both sides of the present political conflict in Thailand have long since convinced themselves that their view is the correct one and I can further assure you that neither is good for society as a whole.

When I see a regime get elected that commits to running things responsibly I'll get back to you.

John Arnone

Yasothon

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Obama shows no pride in US human-rights record

When Barack Obama suggests - as he did in last week's Democrat debate - that we must treat rogue nations' viewpoints without the prejudice that our own nation's values are in any way superior, he causes vast concern among more thoughtful Americans.

How has this otherwise clever man reached high office in our land while apparently valuing so little the principles and ethics which continue to make America the envy of vast swaths of the globe?

Fully two centuries of human affairs have failed to reveal any master to the US in humane and democratic government. How can a United States senator seemingly not recognise and celebrate this self-apparent fact?

And even more to the point: how is it that Senator Obama is regarded as a contender for the leadership of the free world, while holding such brittle esteem for his own country's contributions?

Ron Goodden

Atlanta, Georgia

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