PM should get back to the kitchen where he belongs

He should learn from his boss Thaksin and carry many passports. If his state of emergency leads to deaths in Bangkok, he will have a chance to compare notes with Thaksin on extrajudicial killings and massacres at Krue Se and Tak Bai.

VEHARACHAN

BANGKOK

Unions illegally holding |the country to ransom

Forty-three state enterprise unions have agreed cut to public utilities nationwide to force PM Samak's government out of office, focusing primarily on agencies dealing with security, but also including city buses and Thai Airways flights. Allegedly these moves are because force was used against the PAD and are to protect the country's interests.

The unions have no more right than the PAD to overthrow an elected government. Worse, neither the unions nor PAD have proposed any alternative set of policies or leaders for us to choose from - so what's to prevent the new jokers from being equally incompetent as Samak?

 I fail to see how Thais will benefit from not having police to protect them, buses to get them to work or tourists to provide them with a living. The PAD claims to be non-violent, following Gandhi's footsteps. If so, there is no excuse for police to use force to disperse those trespassing on Government House - for all the cops would have to do is lift them, unresisting, into paddy wagons, and the unions will have no excuse for striking.

The PAD and Thaksin's empire are crumbling, thanks to our courts following His Majesty's sage advice: "If the country does not follow the rule of law, it will not survive." Withdraw from Government House and let the courts show justice to be done. Use these cases, and others, to educate rural Thais about how many regimes have milked them dry, and how to actively monitor all leaders so that they follow the spirit of the law.

BURIN KANTABUTRA

BANGKOK

Govt gets the bloody clash it wanted

So, the government arranges for supporters to come to Bangkok and then stands back in amazement when violence erupts. For Samak to then blame the PAD is beyond belief. This turn of events is exactly what the government wanted so that it could declare a state of emergency.

WP

BANGKOK

Emergency declaration |is Samak's last hope

Re: "Samak defies the rules of political gravity and grace", Opinion, September 2.

Sopon Onkgara rightly reviews this man's bloody and ignominious past, his brazenness and complete inability to put anything but his narrow self-interest first.

This man is nothing more than a thug and bully whose appalling behaviour is well documented in the annals of recent Thai social history. He brings nothing but shame on the Kingdom. However, like most thugs and bullies, when the chips are down he is also a coward - as has been patently shown by his scurrying under the protective petticoat of the military.

The declaration of a state of emergency is nothing more than his last futile attempt to cling to power.

JOHN DE LAURENT

BANGKOK