Re: "Keep your eye on the vision, PM", Letters, February 15.
What Burin Kantabutra writes is indeed worthy and doubtless motivated by pure intent, and whilst I certainly agree that the hopes and dreams of the poor are of paramount importance for the stable future of the Kingdom, his chiding of the PM for being preoccupied with Thaksin is misplaced. This man and his rabble-rousers are a clear and present danger to the stability of the Kingdom, and to not seek to stifle his and his acolyte's attempts to create disorder would be outright negligence, as the government's first duty is to provide peace and order - and that is certainly the last wish on Thaksin's mind at the moment.
I do not share the sentiment that Thaksin was a man of vision who got things done. I guess the generals in Burma might concur, as he rammed through the fat soft loan for them to buy Shin Corp goodies, but the Kingdom did not, to my mind, spectacularly change when he held the levers of power. Indeed, his boast that he would solve Bangkok's traffic problems in six months turned out to be a very hollow boast indeed. However, what did change spectacularly were his financial fortunes when in office.
Sadly, rice farmers upcountry will be blissfully unaware of Anand Panyarachun's Seven Principles of Sustainable Democracy and will not have the will or inclination to try and comprehend them. All they wish for is simple: Some material improvement in their lot. So to attempt to socially engineer Thai society at this juncture would be as purposeful as rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
This is not the time for promoting diverse, reasonable political opinions, accountability, transparency, decentralisation, or any other worthy political concept, but to financially enfranchise the 42 per cent of this country that still toils on the land for so little monetary reward, so that they believe they are getting a fair crack of the whip; presently they do not. And the tune that Thaksin is presently playing is as mesmerising as that of the fabled Pied Piper of Hamelin. And the outcome for Thailand could be as disastrous as that of Hamelin.
Vision is a luxury to be enjoyed later in more settled times; at present there are more urgent and stark problems than getting the political science right. There is no point in planning the pinnacles when the foundations are faulty.
JOHN PATTERSON
BANGKOK
Laws seem to be useless in Thailand
Two managers of the Santika Pub and six others will be charged with recklessness causing death and severe injury in connection with the January 1, 2009 fire. Fine. But the pub had only one apparent exit. Is nobody accountable for turning an architecturally dangerous room into a pub, e.g. the club owner and building inspection unit of the BMA?
If I recall correctly, the pub had no licence to operate as such. Isn't it the district's job to make sure that the pub had all required permission?
Why is nobody being held accountable? Surely among the 76 dead and 100 injured there were underage revellers; will nobody be held accountable for letting them in?
It seems that Anarcharis was thinking of us when he said, "Written laws (are) like spiders' webs, and will catch ? the weak and poor, but be easily broken by the mighty and the rich."
Unless and until we pressure our leaders to do otherwise, there is no reason for them to enforce the law diligently.
BURIN KANTABUTRA
BANGKOK
So, what is the use of the GT200?
Re: "Bt800M embarrassment", News, February 17.
Though the GT200 bomb scanner has failed all tests miserably, Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand could still maintain that "though not scientifically proven, forensic scientists can (still) use it effectively". What a way to cloud the issue by relying on one branch to override the failure. I wonder whether Einstein would have said that, without explaining how the GT200 could be used by forensic scientists.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
BANGKOK
