Thailand must initiate talks with Cambodia

Thai PM Abhisit's actions were seen as a reprisal to Cambodian PM Hun Sen's appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra as his adviser and Cambodia's refusal to extradite Thaksin. Abhisit's impatient actions either disregarded the law or reflected negative views from law experts and blame from politicians and foreign diplomats.

Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin as adviser was not PM Hun Sen's repayment to Abhisit. Therefore, the appointment is not the real cause of the conflict. Cambodia is an independent state that has full rights in making independent decisions to appoint its own people or foreigners as advisers.

The appointment of Thaksin is the internal affair of Cambodia, which has faced negative economic effects because of the global financial crisis. Cambodia deems Thaksin to be a competent economic expert who can help the country out of the economic recession. The Thai government should not conclude that Cambodia has violated the integrity of the Thai judicial system. What PM Hun Sen has done is for the interest of all Cambodian people. He has not interfered in Thai political affairs or Thailand's judicial system.

The Thai government should be the initiator in settling the conflict peacefully, and Abhisit should support some constructive points: Firstly, the Thai government should get rid of the old attitude that Thailand is superior to Cambodia. Secondly, the Thai Foreign Ministry should initiate talks on the conflict. Thirdly, all agreements made by the two countries should be revitalised and respected by all Thai political parties. And lastly, the Thai-Cambodian border dispute should be dealt with in a transparent manner, and must be solved through the boundary commission in compliance with the agreement of the MoUs of 2000 and 2001 regarding the area of overlapping maritime claims.

I urge the Abhisit government to adhere to the principle of peaceful negotiation and non-violence and deal with Cambodia in the areas around the Preah Vihear Temple and overlapping territorial waters according to the law.

TAING SOCKNY

PHNOM PENH

Prevention is always better than cure

While I agree with many of John Arnone's comments about Obama's healthcare proposals (Letters, November 30), it seems as though no one wants to talk about prevention. Think about this: Since it's practically unheard of for anyone with a cholesterol number below l50 to get a heart attack, suppose the health insurance companies in America gave fantastic discounts to people with cholesterol below l50 and greatly increased the rates of people whose cholesterol was above 200.

In this situation, millions of Americans might go on the sort of low-fat, plant-based diet that would be necessary to bring down their cholesterol to l50, which would not only reduce their risk of heart disease but would also reduce their risk of such diseases as cancer and diabetes. Just think of how many tens of billions of dollars would be saved in healthcare costs.

But instead of that, America has a Mickey Mouse president who publicly eats hamburgers and appoints an obese woman to be his surgeon-general. In other words, Obama is making a mockery of all efforts to promote the kind of diet that could virtually solve the healthcare problem.

What America has is not healthcare, it's "sick" care. It's about treating people after they're ill instead of preventing illness in the first place.

ERIC BAHRT

PATTAYA