Is the PM more concerned about the poor or the PPP?

For example, Bt30 billion (63 per cent of the package's total cost) will be to reduce the cost of gasohol 95 and diesel fuel. But as National Geographic magazine (June 2008) says: "… one prediction seems secure: the era of cheap oil is behind us ... discovery of new giant (fields), and average production for each field, has declined for decades."

As Anusorn Sangnimnuan, president of Bangchak Petroleum, put it: "The subsidy will only lead to price shocks later. It will do more harm than good because people feel they no longer need to change their behaviour or save on oil…. What will happen when the programme ends in six months, because then diesel prices will be heading up for the winter season?"

If PM Samak really wants to help the poor, how about putting the money into, say, improving our rail system for freight, thus lowering consumer goods prices, or upgrading the quality of teachers and schools?

As the Bible says: "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). The poor perish, yet I see no evidence that the government's vision extends beyond getting votes with your money and mine.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

Opposition should support govt's economic package

From my analysis, voters gave their votes to the PPP because they were frustrated by the Democrat's negative campaign and banal rhetoric. In addition, most voters see the Democrats as a group of politicians who are hanging on the coattails of Sonthi Limthongkul in order to get into office. The Democrat Party must shed its old image if it wants to return to the glory days. 

This may sound eccentric, but I suggest that Abhisit holds a press conference pledging full support for the government's new economic relief programme and wishing the plan success. (I've got a lump in my throat already, just thinking about this.) He may also urge the government to draw up a long-term plan to deal with the current energy crunch.

Doing this would win a lot of hearts, including mine, and it fits nicely with the party's campaign slogan: "People must come first." It also shows that the Democrats care about the plight of the people, so much that they are willing to temporarily put squabbles aside and support the government.

This may not work, but it won't hurt, and I'm sure it is a lot more mature than the current mud-slinging strategy.

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

The fox investigates

chicken-coop break-in

Re: "No irregularity in BMA water-tunnel project", July 14.

Well, surprise, surprise: an internal inquiry at the BMA has found no wrongdoing. I find it incredible that this is the way such allegations are investigated. Any politician or public servant involved in corruption would have needed accomplices in the BMA, and to self-investigate is utter nonsense. It is hardly surprising that, as Samak said, "there were other corruption allegations against other governors but they had not been investigated". 

I doubt that anyone will ever be investigated if this is how the system works. It is a totally unsuitable way to run a public authority. Why should a Japanese executive bother to make up a story about corruption? The codes of corporate behaviour are somewhat different in Japan, and it is highly unlikely he would admit to such wrongdoing other than to be seen to be doing the "honourable thing" - a type of behaviour completely unknown in Thailand.

John Patterson

Bangkok

Local property reporting

leaves a lot to be desired

Could we please have some objective reporting on the real-estate market in Thailand? It seems most of the articles about the property market in this country are upbeat "puff" pieces written from a developer's or real-estate agency's perspective.

Many of us foreigners interested in the property market here are accustomed to having access to more information about property transactions. How about publishing a sampling of actual condominium sales transactions as well as other indicators of real market trends? 

The Thai real-estate industry would have us believe that all is rosy here in Thailand while the rest of the world sees housing values falling off precipitously. One example of bad news being suppressed: the huge Regent condo project on Sukhumvit Soi 13 where construction has stopped for nearly a year now, yet not a word in the press about it.

Kurt Heck

Bangkok

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