Time for lawmakers to focus on issues that matter

For example, Puea Pandin said that the government should be tackling economic problems rather than focusing on amending our charter to benefit three parties accused of electoral fraud.

This government has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, eg, the House Speaker forced to step down due to alleged poll fraud; two parties accused by the Electoral Commission of electoral fraud, and risking dissolution and banning, with the PPP facing the same fate; two ministers found guilty of concealing assets by the National Counter-Corruption Commission, yet refusing to step down. Add to that minor matters like the PM's feisty words, more suited to the gutter than Government House and his praise of the monk-busting Burmese generals, and you have the prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both (to borrow James Madison's words).  

Mr PM, you've been in office almost 100 days now. Isn't it past time that you unveiled your vision of where you want to take us during your term, with specific, measurable milestones along the way, and your timeframe? Ex-PM Surayud marched in place for his year or so; do you plan to do likewise? Let's have something beneficial for the country as a whole, not just for private interests.

Burin Kantabutra      

Bangkok

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Forget labels and seek out answers to the bloodshed

Re:  US Government may be getting the message - Finally, Editorials, April 30th.

Your editorial regarding the word games involved in the political mess that rages in the Middle East and, on a much smaller scale, in the deep South of Thailand calls for a new set of lexicon to more accurately depict the "plight of the Malays."

One of your contributors to the editorial gave a broad description of jihad (holy war) as someone "walking his dog quickly through traffic to ensure said dog doesn't get hit by a car" as an example of jihad. Another contributor said that using the term jihad may actually glamorise the holy war, thus being counterproductive when attempting to win the minds and hearts of the public and Muslims in particular.

Your editorial seems to call for more sensitive terms to describe the cold blooded murders of innocent men, women and children. You allude to the fact that harsh terms reflect the lack of sensitivity on Thai society's part dealing with the "insurgents" in the deep South.  You offer no suggestions as to how we all should refer to Muslim men and women who behead, hang, bomb or shoot the unlucky Thai farmer and his wife working in their fields.  What shall we call the miscreant that places roadside bombs and detonates them when buses full of families happen to drive by? It is not only as you say, "the plight of the Malays", in the deep South. Four years and 4,000 murders later no one has a handle on this insurgency or "small civil war" or whatever you choose to call it.  It is actually "the plight of the Thai people". 

I would ask that we all concentrate less on semantics and more on the final solution to a very, very serious problem.  If and when this "baby war" moves out of the deep South and onto the world stage we will have a whole new set of terminology to describe our various failures here in Thailand.

David Barkdull

Bangkok

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No limit to the depths some will go to boost their image

I was appalled to see a photograph of PM Samak and the interior minister supporting a revered monk during a recent visit to Wat Ban Rai in your 30th April edition. This cynical use of a revered monk to gain credit by association is deplorable. 

There are clearly no limits to which this gruesome twosome is prepared to go to polish their tawdry political reputations.

John Symons

Bangkok

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Selecting the court verdict that suits you best

Re: Pojam excused from court hearing - April 30

 We see the wife of the ousted PM back in court again to plead her innocence with her usual extensive entourage.  Having succeeded in getting her first appearance in camera and now being permitted to be in absentia one wonders what will come next. Perhaps she will be invited to choose which verdict she would prefer.

John de laurent

Bangkok

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None so blind as politicians who won't see

Congratulations on your editorial of April 22nd.

I'm pleased that you have spoken out about the mealy-mouthed politicians pandering to "The Junta" for economic reasons. Anyone who visits Burma and speaks to the people who live there will come away, as I did, with a determination to help.

But how can we provide realistic assistance when politicians, of all countries, allow the current Burmese situation to continue? Are they so afraid of China, or is it all to do with money?

Garry Peck,

Australia