I find the contempt Thaksin Shinawatra and his clan show quite breathtaking. He is directing the red shirts from afar, but can't stop thirsting for wealth long enough to give this project his undivided attention. Now he has the temerity to be gadding around some questionable East European state, which is a well-known haven for criminals, supposedly buying an island while his supporters suffer hardship and are ritually bled for his cause.
The rest of his clan fled well before the siege and his sister even had the gall to say she had not left because of that but because she was looking for a school for her daughter. Clearly the Thai education system, which his supporters must by necessity use, is not good enough for his sister's offspring. It speaks volumes.
The reds have called a class war. But where does a multi-billionaire who has a designer watch for each week of the year, houses around the globe and buys islands while flitting around in a private jet fit into overturning the privileged in Thailand?
The sooner this appalling man is stripped of his freedom and incarcerated so he cannot spread any more of his poison around the Kingdom, the better it will be for all of us who just want to live peacefully.
However, the government needs to address the very justifiable grievances of a vast swathe of the people, and if this is done then they will stop dancing to the tune of this poisonous piper.
John de Laurent
Bangkok
A clear picture of the good and evil
I was taken by the juxtaposition of the two panoramic photographs above your masthead yesterday. The top one of the PM and members of the NHRC portrayed normality, reason and ordinariness in the bright light of day, while the lower one showing the red-shirt leaders gave quite the opposite message - indeed it was quite sinister and troubling to look at.
Fred Morrice
Bangkok
Civil disobedience will achieve a lot more
Perhaps by encouraging their supporters to come to Bangkok and grabbing media attention by lobbing blood at Government House, the red-shirt leaders are approaching the problem from the wrong direction. Rather than spending hours on stage spouting rhetoric, they should encourage a little peaceful civil disobedience to show how much this country depends on the rural poor. May I suggest that after the annual exodus to Isaan for Songkran, they be encouraged to remain there for an extended stay with their children and families they have to leave behind to find work for a minimum wage. Bangkok, factories and the tourist centres around the Thailand will soon grind to a halt.
The Isaan people are a hardy, adaptable bunch with a strong sense of community and are used to existing on very little. Let's see who can last the longest. My guess is that without the exploited, poorly educated labour to toil in factories and sweatshops, the cleaners, security guards, food vendors, waiters, taxi drivers, construction workers, maids, gardeners or minions in the spas and salons to buff their nails, tweeze their bouffant hairdos and kow-tow before their over-inflated egos, it won't be too long before someone from the Ministry of Subordination steps forward and tries to make a few concessions on behalf of the ruling class.
Don't come to Bangkok. Go home. Take all your family with you and stay there for a well-earned rest.
The Central Scrutinizer
Bangkok
Is Thaksin afraid of the rights commission?
Thaksin Shinawatra's rejection of talks between the government and the red-shirt leaders mediated by the National Human Rights Commission comes as no surprise because it excludes any precondition involving any personal conflicts. How can Thaksin endorse the right group when he has blood on his hands after the Tak Bai incident and the extra-judicial killing of thousands of innocent people. Can we not tell that Thaksin is supporting the red-shirt demonstration only so he can return to power, overturn his jail sentence and get back his confiscated assets?
Thaksin's call for democracy is only an excuse, because while he was prime minister, he himself advocated the CEO-style of management. Nevertheless, there is one positive gain from the demonstration - the public can see the people who are supporting Thaksin behind the scenes.
The nation is so blindly divided that even some respectable personalities and academics are relying on Thaksin's money machine and together exploiting the innocent grassroots people to cause chaos in the country. Even Hitler was less evil when compared to Thaksin's sick mind.
Hitler played a part in history because he believed that the Aryan race was superior, whereas Thaksin is only doing this for his own personal greed and interest. The demonstrators are suffering under the scorching heat, as he and his family stroll around in the cool of Montenegro. The only way the situation will return to normal is the disappearance of this true amataya disguised as a fighter for the poor.
The Insider
Bangkok
