What our readers say

One can appreciate the current government's commitment to not duplicate the murderous conduct of Somchai Wongsawat and his police goons against the People's Alliance for Democracy in front of Government House last year. However, giving in completely to the red-shirted mob is not consistent with taking responsibility to maintain order and protect persons and property.

 An independent commission should be established to determine precisely why the police and the military failed to take appropriate action against the red-shirt mob. Their commanding officers right up to the top of both organisations should be removed and punished for their severe dereliction of duty.

A peaceful foreigner

Bangkok

First Suvarnabhumi and tens-of-thousands of people stranded, now the violation of an international meeting with Thailand as a host all in the midst of a global financial crisis - you can, maybe, behave this way at home when nobody can "see you", but please, when the world "sees you", it is not very likely to look kindly at such buffalo-like behaviour.

Tourism, exports, industry, everyone will suffer from this utterly unfounded and idiotic group behaviour. Thai productivity is already the lowest in Southeast Asia, this goes for agriculture as well as for industrial products. How does anyone believe they can achieve anything other than harming Thailand by doing such acts? And - if you believe "this is democracy" - wake up! Democratic procedures are not based on "terror" or intimidation, they require recognition and dialogue.

Nils B Vogt

Cancelling the Asean+3 summit due to the red-shirts spells disaster for Thailand. Doesn't this prove that James Gleason was right in his letter ('Journalists hoodwinked by fugitive ringmaster', Letters, April 10)?

I would like to go one step further by also blaming the press in general in failing to do their duty by explaining clearly the difference between the yellow- and the red-shirts protests.

To be neutral, in the middle is closing the eyes to reality and denying the atrocious behaviour of the red shirts. The red-shirt protests have really nothing to do with "democracy" whatsoever. The press should have investigated what democracy means for the red shirts. Their answers would have made it clear that these indeed ignorant protesters have no idea about the meaning of democracy.

They want Thaksin Shinawatra back without realising the damage this man has caused Thailand.

When the Isaan people believe that the Bt1-million village fund comes out of Thaksin's own pocket or that the Bt2,000 cheque is a gift from him then there is something fundamentally wrong by the information given to the public!

To call Abhisit Vejjajiva, the first Thai PM in 20 years to be fully accepted in the world, a killer is below every decent standard. With pleasure I read the letter by a mother talking about her hope for her children and country with a PM like Abhasit.

Criticising people Gleason is in fact supporting the destruction of Thailand

Egon Wout

One of your journalists, Pravit Rojanaphruk, gave a rather biased explanation during an interview with BBC about the turmoil and the state of emergency in Pattaya.

In short, according to him, this is a clash between the poor underprivileged people wanting democracy and the urban and traditional elite.

So, obviously, most BBC viewers immediately sympathised with the reds.

However, Pravit "forgot" to say that many people, even some in the North, the Northeast and the South, were fed up with the six-year-long authoritarian regime under Thaksin who tried to suppress press freedom, who is accused of corruption and abuse of authority, who brainwashed voters and bought votes, who has a very bad human-rights record and was finally sentenced to two years in jail for one case of abuse of power.

Democracy with Thaksin is a "contradictio in terminis". The (paid) red-shirt mobs who want Thaksin and his cronies back in power cannot be interested in democracy. The falsifying of history has started already. Is Pravit committing some sort of self-censorship or is he just a bad journalist?

 Nick Jansen

Ref: Thaksin must be stopped from spewing toxins, Letters, April 11

In response to TE Banker asking whether other people agree with him on the diagnosis of megalomania for Thaksin Shinawatra. He is a classic case of megalomaniac. Similar to Hitler he is a man who has worked very hard to rise to the top from nothing, but who does not know when to stop. When the ladder goes no higher, Thaksin, being a convict with nowhere to live, will go into a state of depression, which very often is the underlying cause of suicide.

Just like Hitler, it is ethics and human-rights violations that will bring him down.

Doctor TH

The red shirts did not wreck the Asean Plus meeting in Pattaya. They went there peacefully to submit a letter to air their grievance to leaders of Asean Plus countries. It was Abhisit who cancelled the meeting.

Sound familiar?

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

Abandoning the Asean summit is a shameful episode in Thai politics, but even more shame should be heaped on the police officers whose duty it was to protect the participating foreign guests.

A number of questions need to be answered: Why were the protesters allowed to get so close? Why was the summit held in the middle of a town with narrow streets? Why were the guests all gathered at the same location? Where were the helicopters used by the police to ferry each other?

The Thai police seem to have no skills or even interest in protecting visiting VIPs. The recent G-20 summit in London was a much bigger affair and the crowds of protesters very large, but apart from one dubious moment when a man had a heart attack shortly after being bludgeoned by a policeman, the whole affair went pretty smoothly. The policeman in question was suspended immediately, by the way.

Robert Walker

Bangkok

What are the red shirts accomplishing, by forcing the cancellation of this summit, and protesting on the streets? Who do they want to replace Abhisit Vejjajiva, who seems like a capable, and at the very least, well-intentioned leader? Do they want another Surayud Chulanont? Another Samak Sundaravej? Another Somchai Wongsawat?

Were there three less capable leaders to be found, anywhere in Thailand, in the past three years? By comparison, Abhisit is the best Thailand could hope for, and all of the country should be thankful someone with his grace, elegance, education, language skills and intelligence is leading the country. Do they really think they can get Thaksin back? He has no concern whatsoever, about Thailand, or it's people. The red shirts are being callously manipulated into thinking he does.

Thaksin cares only for three things. Money, power and control. These people are causing their country such harm and should be regarded as criminals, and treated as such. This is no different than when the outlaws shut down the airport. But, at least then, the outcome was positive, in that the country got rid of perhaps the most inept leader in Thai history. However, sacrificing the tourism industry, which provides the country with an estimated 13 per cent of it's GDP, was too high a price to pay.

But now, the question is, how many years will it take to bring the country back from this morass? There are few people in Thailand capable of leading the country out of this incredibly deep pit it has dug for itself. The protesters have tripled the size of this pit. They claim part of the reason they are protesting is the state of the Thai economy. What do they think these protests are going to do to resolve that problem? Do they understand how this will further destroy the already decimated tourist industry? Do they have any understanding of how this is perceived around the world? Do they care? It is time for Thailand to take a hard line with these outlaws.

Mike Macarelli

Bangkok

I find it amazing that the protesters could "push" through the cordon of police and troops. Why have none been arrested? Why did the police not take stronger action or in fact any action at all? Its like the police are on the side of the protesters.

I thought because of Abhisit Vejjajiva's upbringing (educated in the UK), he would have been able to be stronger than this, but he appears to have caved in at every stage. He needs to be strong, bring the military in and arrest all the red shirts even if there is bloodshed. It's the red shirts who are in the wrong NOT the government. How come the red shirts are able to make it look like the government is wrong?

There were roadblocks on Friday on all the main roads in to Pattaya, interestingly the roads blocks were not manned at all on mid-morning Saturday. So how come the protesters got into the place at all? News reports say they arrived in 20 buses and taxis. All vehicles have a numberplate on them that says where they come from. So even for the Thai police, who are pretty inept anyway, they could have worked out that 20 buses full of people wearing red shirts and coming on buses from Bangkok could have been red shirts. So why did they not stop them? The police must be on the side of the red shirts.

So all the senior police men need to be purged, Abhisit must do something now before Thailand is the laughing stock of the world, if it is not already. Purge the police and military of all supporters of Thaksin remove his ability to act, stop him from being able to talk to his so-called supporters several times a week.

The only reason that the protesters have turned up at all is that they have been paid, ultimately by Thaksin, to be there. If there was no money on the table they would not be there. Cut off the source of funds, freeze all the assets of the Thaksin family, including his ex wife, sisters, children and other members of the family. If you do this I can guarantee that the protests will stop.

Nick

Pattaya

TE Banker is absolutely right. Thaksin very clearly suffers from Megalomania.

And this makes him the most dangerous person in Thailand. He is focused on just one thing: gaining and holding power and then gaining more power.

This is what sets him apart from other politicians in Thailand and makes him so dangerous. He is a sociopath with grand ambitions.

 I became convinced of this shortly before the coup. Sociopaths make friends easily. Thaksin had established strong friendships with many high-ranking police and military officers. Most of them held no real position of power within their respective organisations. But that was getting ready to change. Within a few months, a routine reshuffling of leadership was about to take place and Thaksin's cronies were expected to be moved up to the top-ranking positions, giving Thaksin absolute control over the running of the country. No one could stop him. I fretted over this before the coup.

 I absolutely oppose coups. But this one was a big exception, for me. Corruption is no excuse for a coup; megalomania can be, if it is on the verge of becoming unstoppable.

 Thaksin is a lovely person who helped the poor people of the North and Northeast when no one else cared about them, one might say. Think about that. Did he really do that out of kindness? No, he did it because he is a very cleaver megalomaniac who realised that showing interest in those people would bring him an extraordinary amount of support and votes from them. And he was right. They love him for showing interest in their needs when no other high-level politicians have. Thanks to Thaksin, I don't think their needs will be ignored anymore by the political elite. Some good for others can come out of acts of self-interest.

 Was removing Thaksin from power a blow against democracy in Thailand? I don't think so. Thaksin has never shown any true concern about democracy until it became in his own interest to do so. Did it help save democracy in Thailand? Maybe; but Thaksin is still around taking jabs at it.

AJD

Pathum Thani

 I have been reading with interest the Nation's reports on the red shirt rallies and the Asean Summit in Pattaya. Fifteen years ago when my duties as the head of an NGOof an required that I spend much of my time in Asia, I decided that the most desirable location for my home base would be Thailand, a peaceful, friendly country with an easy life style, complemented by a Monarchy that brings unity and stability to the country.

Now I am making a dual appeal to Thai people and foreigners, on behalf of my adopted country which I love. First, to the red shirts, conduct you rallies and protests in a peaceful manner reflecting Thai values that you profess to uphold. In America, we have had massive rallies in Washington, D.C., but none disrupted traffic and caused financial woes as have the rallies of the last year here in Thailand. I participated in a million-person rally in the American Capitol several years ago, and life and business for the residents went on as usual. Please stop disrupting traffic and commerce, which id the life-blood of your nation. Your voice will be heard loudly without these tactics which cause hardships to those who are not part of your cause.

Second, I appeal to the foreigners who love Thailand to not be deterred from you plans to visit here. I live a few hundreds meters from the Royal Cliff complex where the Asian leaders are meeting. While there is an large peacekeeping presence to assure the safety of the delegates, my daily routine has not been affected, and the police and military who are maintaining order have been extremely courteous, and especially so to foreign guests.

Dr Johannnes Maas

Jomtien

Well it simply gets better and better the Kingdom has now been made to look an utter joke in the world's eyes. Do these "democracy loving" people not realise what they are doing to their country. I suppose only when it starts to hurt their pockets and the economy slumps severely, particularly the tourist economy as with China, Japan and Korea's foreign ministers being barricaded in their hotels I doubt this will encourage tourists frown these countries to come here. And I doubt any heads of states or VIPs will ever again trust their security on pathetic Thai security services.

One person who won't be hurt by this ongoing debacle is the puppet master of this chaos ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, he or his family won't feel the chill of economic slowdown to the extent of ordinary Thais. He seems cynically determined to ruin the country for his own selfish greed in a fit of childish proportions.

John Hanslow

Bangkok

Congratulations to PM Abhisit for successfully staving off the reds without the bloodbath that they tried to provoke, and for allowing them the freedom of expression within the law to which they are, and must be, entitled.

And yet, for all their anti-democratic demands, the reds, and the yellows as well, have valid points which we Thais must consider and learn from, if we are to heal the chasms between us. Both the reds and yellows were against the government of the day, yet, as Douglas L. Edmonds noted, "The only things which are wrong about our Government are the things which are wrong with you and me. Democracy is never a thing done; it is and always will be a goal to be achieved. It means action, not passive acquiescence in things as they are; it requires alertness to duty, a dynamic faith, a willingness to give for the good of all. It can live only as a result of loyalty and devotion to its principles expressed by daily deeds."

We rightfully castigate Thaksin for corruption; yet, for example, why do you, dear reader, tolerate the bribery which 25% of ABAC poll respondents said the traffic police had demanded from them? We rightfully denounce the reds/yellows for seeking to force the will of a minority upon the majority; yet, why do you, dear reader, accept the wheeling and dealing that's given us a Deputy Finance Minister who didn't know what VAT was, or an ICT Minister who didn't know what a webcam was, let alone past "Yeech! Cabinets"?

As Edmund Burke said, "Evil will flourish where good people do nothing." Do not look to any government to bring our country out of our mess, dear reader --look within yourself. Become politically informed and active within the law. Encourage discussion of issues of the day, and be heard. Otherwise, we have only ourselves to blame when mega-crooks come to power again.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

By his recent actions the criminal ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now committing more crimes of a considerably higher magnitude than the fiddling a piece of land for his wife of the time for which he stands convicted.

In calling on members of the armed forces and civil service to defy lawful the commands of the government he has committed both treason and sedition defined respectively as: a crime that undermines the offender's government and an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government and in directing the paralysing of Bangkok and other cities he is soliciting insurrection defined as: organized opposition to authority; a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another.

When o when will someone in authority take hold of this situation and charge this dangerous demagogue, who feels that the country is his personal plaything to use in his continuing tantrum over having been removed from power for bleeding the national coffers for himself and his cronies and having blood run in the streets in his internationally reviled "war on drugs".

J Dundass

Bangkok

Re: Demonstrators to Asean Meet: We'll be back, National Affairs, April 11

The incident in which the red-shirted protesters from the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) threatened to disrupt the Asean Summit meeting in Pattaya speaks so loudly about Thaksin Shinawatra: it showed his lack of discernment for the good cooperation among countries representative of more than half of the world's population.

The Pattaya summit is scheduled for meetings between Asean group leaders and leaders from China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the United Nations.

We all know that the leader of the red shirts that tried to prevent the summit meeting from proceeding smoothly is one of Thaksin's close aides.

So it is unthinkable why Thaksin should have allowed such hooliganism to embarrass him in front of the world leaders? Is he blinded by self-importance and aggrandisement? What drove him to resort to such embarrassing scheme?

The Pattaya summit is about the friendship, cooperation and good relations among two-thirds of the world's population. How can one man feel he has the right to disrupt it? The incident in Pattaya showed Thaksin as far from being a hero of democracy or someone with a worldly vision.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

I am disgusted to continuously hear about the protests. Obviously the economic recession may make people feel more upset, but please turn your brains on and think about the past situations. Ajarn Chaiyanun gave a good interview recently, stating that the red-shirts have not given any clear or reasonable requests, which means they cannot be fulfilled. What hope does anyone have, then, to appease the masses? Sour grapes go on and on!

Let's look back at recent history!

Thaksin sold off his shares of Shin corp to Singapore for over Bt800 billion. Remember that? 800+ BILLION baht! How much tax did he pay to the good Thai people and the country? NONE! If the poor think that they are due some handouts from their former white knight, then where are they? Why didn't they come sooner? How can they possibly believe he cares about them?

Thaksin gained votes from many educated people, but do you remember what happened next? Extra-judicial killings against drug lords. Crackdowns against media who criticized him, all sorts of dirty deals that benefited him and his family or cronies, but not the country. Is that something so hard to remember or understand? I have been here for 17 years. This seems very clear to me. People from the countryside idolize him, saying he handed out free money. He did not, he handed out loans, widely misunderstood. Even so, let's say he did hand out money. What next? When gone, what would the people do? How would they have benefited? From my opinion, people are hot tempered due to recession, but they are being very foolish. What will they gain? Who are they helping, and why? Do they really expect free handouts forever? really? This is exactly the type of thinking that is causing problems in France, Germany, the U.S. Wake up and analyze the situation.

A concerned citizen

Bangkok