BOT must persevere in face of political interference

We Thai citizen find ourselves once again indebted to His Majesty the King for the encouraging advice he gave. We should also be thankful to The Nation for its coverage highlighting the plight of the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

At stake is the independence of the BOT and other regulatory bodies. If the government wishes to resign, that's up to the government. But it is not for the government, worse still its deputy finance minister, to be pointing to the exit door for BOT Governor Tarisa Watanagase. It will be a sad day for Thailand should the courageous, highly principled governor be made to succumb to this brutal, politically motivated onslaught and in that event, the government and its economic team should be held responsible.

Prapa Smutkojon

Bangkok

Thaksin may have miscalculated in UK asylum bid

Re: "Ashamed to be British; ashamed of the UK authorities", Letters, August 21.

In my humble opinion, Thaksin has picked the wrong country in which to seek asylum. He must be misinformed of Pin Chakkaphak's case, which is completely different from his family's predicaments with Thailand justice. He should have studied General Pinochet's case in depth before jumping into the British jurisdiction. He should have noted that Pinochet was forced by circumstances to "voluntarily" return to Chile just prior to the judgement of the House of Lords.

Currently, Pojaman's tax case is still subject to appeal. However, jumping bail by both on an ongoing case of a corruption charge is serious unless both of them can convince the Britons that our court is not neutral. This contention is unlikely to hold water since it was through the fairness of the Thai courts that they were granted bail in the first place.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

Extradition unlikely given coup origins of charges

Re: "Ashamed to be British; ashamed of UK authorities", Letters, August 21.

My heart goes to John Symons. Life must be tough for a British citizen living here during the time when the UK government gives refuge to Thaksin Shinawatra.

We look at things from our perspective and see Thaksin as a corrupt politician, a fugitive, and a bail-jumper. But looking across from the Thames River, Thaksin is a victim of military coup. His accusations were all concocted during the tyranny's reign and by a committee handpicked by the tyrant itself.

One may argue that if Thaksin is innocent, why did he run? I would too if the law here can be enforced retrospectively to dissolve Thai Rak Thai and disqualify its 111 members. I would too if the then-Supreme Court president, right after the coup, retired and sat as justice minister in the coup-appointed government.

Had Thaksin been accused of committing crimes while he was in office and impeached according to the law, the British government would have extradited him. My sympathy to you, John; your misery is going to last a long time, maybe forever.

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

Lessons to be learned from caning controversy

 The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) deputy secretary-general said that the caning of eight students at Yothinburana School was for their unexplained absence from class - not their protest against the relocation of the school to make way for a government building.

However, Mangkorn's direct boss, Khunying Kasama Voravan na Ayutthaya, correctly notes that Obec regulations do not permit corporal punishment of students, such as caning. Instead, teachers must use verbal reasoning to discipline students.

Thus, teacher Suwattana Permpool, school director Manop Noppasirikul, and/or Mangkorn stand condemned by their own words either for the caning itself or for not punishing the person doing the caning and that person's superiors.

Teachers, school directors, and the Obec deputy secretary-general must be role models for their students. I call on Khunying Kasama to investigate why Obec's regulation on corporal punishment was so flagrantly violated, apparently without the wrongdoers being punished, and to report on who the guilty parties were and how they've been punished.

If the teachers used verbal reasoning to persuade students to attend class, and failed, the students may have reasoned that they wouldn't get much from class, anyway - and they may be right. Are we, again, focusing on what's easy to monitor, such as class attendance, and ignoring the much more important matter, but harder to monitor: are we short-changing our students, by stressing rote memorisation rather than how to think? For example, how did Yothinburana students score on Obec's exams emphasising analytical ability?

Let's use this teacher-misconduct incident as an opportunity to give Yothinburana students an education, not just a diploma.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok