The King and Them and Thaksin

No institution in this world is perfect of course, but we in this country do not go around trying to smear or dismantle institutions that are revered or respected in other countries, especially the United Kingdom. And I must say that The Economist, besides The (Manchester) Guardian, which I used to carry around with me proudly at university back in the 60s as a symbol of liberalism, has lately become so unbelievably slanted. For example, a passage in the said article says that the yellow shirts are royalist thugs. There are bound to be thugs in any big gathering except that, viewed from the Bangkok end, the red shirt thugs are actually more violent and deadly. However, I do agree with many others, including The Economist, that the yellow shirts' occupation of the airports was really the last straw. As for the repeal of the lese majeste law, a point made in the article's last paragraph, I would simply say that its application should be "frozen" and the old legislation, like the anti-communist law, should be left to peter out naturally.

The interesting thing about lese majeste is that Thaksin used it to have the authorities arrest social critic Sulak. It is, as fate would have it, the same charge on which he and cohort, former PM's Office minister Chakrapob Penkair, have been indicted. Sulak's case was based on an obscure lecture he gave in a distant province over a year ago, which lecture was an attack on the former PM. While Sulak's case is going forward, those of the latter and Chakrapob appear to be stalling. Sulak may sound like a republican, but deep down he is a reformist monarchist, which makes him dangerous to both staunch royalists and republicans.

As for Chakrapob, his case stemmed from a talk he gave at the FCCT chaired by the BBC country correspondent. His language was rude, crude and so ungrammatical that I felt compelled to write to this column saying he should be prosecuted for his bad English and not for lese majeste. Sulak scolded me at the time for my uppity attitude towards the English language! But a few days ago Chakrapob was mysteriously interviewed by the BBC on his views of Thailand! (Who is Chakrapob? Why not interview the former PM Anand Panyarachun?) Chakrapob's script was professional and, this time, his language was civilised and faultless. Talking about hiring international PRs and lobbyists, this must have been it, although they failed Thaksin with the revocation of his British visa, an issue which The Economist failed to take up with the UK government.

Seriously though, I don't think Thaksin, who I think is brilliant, is a republican. I think he wants to see the Thai monarchy follow the Spanish or Scandinavian model. It sounds similar to what other academics, especially Sulak, have in mind. The problem is that in Thaksin's model everything is money-based - that everyone and every institution can be bought.

I wrote an open letter to Thaksin while he was in office that there was nothing wrong in being previously a top businessman and subsequently the Kingdom's wealthiest person if everything was above board. King Rama III had been such a person in the early nineteenth century through trading with China. But all the gold he accumulated he considered as belonging to the State, and he gave very little to his children. He also came down hard on corruption. If only I could see Khun Thaksin, I would urge him to explore the moral side of money, that he might set up a trust with a modest sum for his children and give the rest to charity. For example, his remaining wealth can fund the national health programme, which is one of his pet and best projects. Then he should stop hiring the international PR and lobbyist firms who are not doing him a service. Then he should come home, sort out his legal problems (which might even be resolved prior to his return) and go into a monastery as a monk. This is the Thai way to forgiveness and he would go down in history in positive terms. More importantly, he would make merit.

SUMET JUMSAI

BANGKOK

Thai people are being cheated out of democracy

Having decapitated and decimated the elected government, the PAD/Democrat Axis would now like to grab power and change the rules before the next election. I hope they are unsuccessful. I hope the elected ministers in the government can come to an agreement among themselves to form a governing coalition and then immediately call new elections. That way the people of Thailand, who have been dealt out of their government by the People Against Democracy and the (hah!) Democrats can at least get some representation before they're dealt out of Thai politics for good by the PAD/Democrat putsch

JOHN FRANCIS LEE

CHIANG RAI