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Published on April 8, 2008

I have two comments on this. First, Samak should ignore predictions by all fortune-tellers. After all, have we ever heard news about fortune-tellers winning first prize in the lottery 10 consecutive times?

Finally, the fortune-tellers who predicted that Abhisit would be prime minister did get it half right, since he is now the self-appointed shadow prime minister.

Somsak Pola

Samut Prakan 

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Oust Chaiya for lame defence in assets case

Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsap's lame excuses for not declaring his wife's assets, as required by law, hold water like a sieve, and he must be held accountable for his lapses. He says he was too busy with ministry work to check the declaration he submitted. The other ministers could submit accurate declarations; does he have more work than they do?

He says that outsiders prepared his assets declaration. But since he presumably signed off on their work as being true, if he escapes liability because he didn't read what he was certifying, then no contract, tax declaration, or other legal document has any credibility - since they're often prepared by experts, then examined and committed to by the contracting parties.

He says that he thought that the shareholding limit applied only to him, not his wife. But, for starters, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Also, for centuries, one key characteristic of marriage has been that the husband and wife are considered to be one legal entity. Where has our Rip van Winkle been, that he didn't know that?

He holds that only misconduct, eg, corruption, should be grounds for removal - showing that he has no concept of conflict of interest. Somebody with such a major deficiency of a sense of right and wrong should not be a street-sweeper, let alone a minister.

Minister Chaiya has declined the honourable way out chosen by the Surayud regime ministers, who promptly resigned even though the law explicitly exempted them. So, boot him out, and show the country that even ministers must be accountable.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Burmese generals picked a bad time for referendum

Re: "Burma warns of terrorist acts during water festival", News, April 5.

I read this article with interest about the Burmese military regime warning of terrorist activities during the Thingyan Water Festival. My letter on April 4 recommended using the Thingyan Water Festival to campaign against the constitution ("Burmese referendum will backfire on the junta"). During Thingyan, groups of people in trucks and cars would go around shouting slogans. The whole city is out in full force throwing water at people in cars and trucks. You don't need permission for "political space" during Thingyan from the illegitimate military regime nor advice/assistance from the UN. You just have to grab this opportunity. Than Shwe could not have chosen a worst time for him to hold the National Referendum.

The "Vote No" campaign against the sham constitution is the equivalent of a no-confidence motion in parliament. If the "Vote No" wins by a big margin, Than Shwe "will be permitted to resign" by our friends in the Burmese Army.

Myint Thein

Senior Adviser to the Burmese Resistance

Dallas, Texas

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1997 Constitution the right starting point for reforms

The idea of "rebooting" the entire political machine, as though it were a personal computer makes no sense. Surely the thing to do is to put the 1997 Constitution on the table for dissection and discussion by all both to remedy its obvious shortcomings, such as its requirement that prime ministers hold baccalaureates and to re-enact that document with emendations. If the 1997 Constitution was regarded as one of the best of the Thai constitutions as recently as two years ago, surely it will become the best with a little tender loving care applied with the memory of its shortcomings fresh in mind.

John Francis Lee

Chiang Rai

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