"During a political demonstration, some people are going to suffer as a result of the demonstration. But when protesters are staying out in rain and heat, leaving their work, quarrelling with their families in order to join the protest, do we consider them political pawns, or traitors? No, we must think, the government must think, the prime minister must think. But the prime minister is not thinking.
"I personally don't like [or] want a parliament dissolution, because going through an election campaign is painstaking and laborious. But dissolution is a way to show responsibility and to achieve peace in the nation. Mr Prime Minister, please set a good example and do it."
Guess who said the above? A Pheu Thai member? No, it was PM Abhisit, then opposition leader, to then PM Samak, on August 31 2008, in responding to the yellow shirts protesting against Samak's government.
SOMSAK POLA
SAMUT PRAKAN
Worse than blood-sucking vampires
It's disturbing to see the weird red shirts wasting human blood by pouring it onto the street. I have always considered the red shirts purely destructive as well as absolutely negative. Previously I thought they couldn't go lower than they did last April, when they terrorised Bangkok and Pattaya. But they waste good human blood that could have been used in hospitals to save lives.
What's your next step Mr Fugitive? Sending Cambodia's army into Thailand to kill Thais in Aranyaprathet? Nothing would really surprise me from this treacherous criminal who only loves himself and Mammon and does not care one iota about the poor Thais he's using as pawns.
Thaksin you are a disgusting person Thailand does not need.
LISA AHLQVIST
AUCKLAND
Finance minister right on telecom claims
Re: "Questions remain on revenue from telecom scandal", Editorial, March 18.
The finance minister might have spoken out of turn on claims against telecom companies because some state agencies are not under his ministry's control. However, his footing is correct that the state (ie, the government) has no grounds against those companies.
The media and some stock analysts got confused in believing that shareholders of a company are the same as the company they own. Since Thaksin misused his authority as prime minister to enrich his companies when he was their major shareholder, therefore, in most [people's] eyes, gains by those companies from his abuse should be returned to the state, even though those companies are no longer owned by Thaksin. This is unjust if the companies were bystanders to that misuse of power.
Under corporate law, a shareholder and a company are not one and the same person. They are separate entities, with shareholders owning shares and dividend income, while a company is supervised and managed by a board of directors for the benefit of all shareholders.
If the board of directors of those telecom companies were not party to Thaksin's abuse of power, which is unlikely, then no state agencies could have grounds to recover the losses from innocent bystanders for misdeeds they did not do. All the damages have to be claimed in civil suits from the wrongdoer - Thaksin Shinawatra.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
BANGKOK
Negotiate? No point, just bring cash
It is lamentable that the Abhisit government even considers negotiating with the red shirts. They offer no principles, no policies. They want only money.
Their leaders are salaried and subsidised by Thaksin. Their underlings get the same support. The sheep who follow them do so for cash paid. All their chants are negative.
So what is there to negotiate? Just bring cash.
They want legitimate decisions by the Supreme Court set aside for the benefit of a crook and liar. Who wants such people governing?
If they have points of view to express, why don't they use their elected representatives?
What is truly remarkable is how the rural rubes of the North and Northeast can support a convicted criminal and fugitive? Have they no sense of right and wrong? Or does cash trump moral values?
Perhaps the best policy for the Abhisit government is to just keep going, knowing that the money will run out soon enough. Once the money runs out, the red shirts will disappear.
GIBSON MARTIN
BANGKOK
