PM Abhisit is to be praised for immediately promising an independent commission to establish exactly what happened in the events leading to, and culminating in, the tragic Bloody Saturday that left, by official count, 858 wounded and 20 killed.
He is also to be highly commended for urging those with evidence as to what happened, including photos, to release them to the local or international media - where they cannot be doctored by either side. Such steps show a determination to get to the truth, and to prevent such a tragedy from re-occurring.
To be credible, the commission must be truly independent. Thus, the commission should have only one or two persons from the government side, with a similar number of red shirt representatives - and the chairperson must have no conflicts of interest. The reds, having so strenuously emphasised that they would be non-violent, must fully cooperate with the commission to find the causes of the violence, especially in identifying where the weapons of war used against the troops came from, who used them, and whether undisciplined troops defied orders and aimed live rounds at the demonstrators or not. The reds, joined by Thaksin, must clearly and strongly condemn the violence on both sides, including the involvement of any red shirts.
Find the truth, and stop Thais killing Thais.
BURIN KANTABUTRA
BANGKOK
UAE is harbouring a Thai terrorist
We have been terrorised by him for far too long. It is time that the Foreign Ministry elevated this to the proper channels. The United Arab Emirates is harboring a terrorist.
H GURBANI
BANGKOK
Need work? Reds recruit in all areas
My Thai wife informed me that her brother-in-law came over the other day to offer her work as a red shirt.
Here's the deal: You get Bt400 and some kanom (cake) and water for one person, but you have to stay for 24 hours, then when you present your ID card, you get paid. They provide a red shirt for you.
If you can get a group in a car or taxi, or a few on a motorbike, then you get Bt1,000 and gas money.
There are reds in each area rounding up whoever they can. She declined the offer. She voted for Thaksin once - but finds the red leadership disgusting and hates the way they go about business - "like a communist mob".
I guess that's one way to start a revolution.
RALPH DAVIDSON
BANGKOK
Media needs to provide more answers
Please newspapers, enlighten us readers about the violence exercised by the reds in their "peaceful" demonstration for democracy. What kind of weapons were used and where did they come from? You don't buy AK47s and grenades from a legal gun-dealer. And why is the violence not enough to convince supporters of the red shirts that their heroes are on the wrong track? Do they really mean this is acceptable political practice? And are the yellow-shirts' actions and red-shirts' actions still considered the same?
On Saturday, did the goverment try to stop red-shirt violence by force or was it the opposite, the police and the Army attacked by the red shirts, who then took weapons? Things turn rapidly upside-down nowadays, so please get it straight for us. There must be truth out there. The reds also want the truth now, but why did they cover surveillance cameras with black plastic bags?
And what is wrong or undemocratic with shutting down a TV station that threatens and encourages people to turn to violence? And why did a criminal on the run have a say in public where he encouraged unrest and uprising over so long a time, bringing the whole country to the brink of collapse? Why are his destructive talks never stopped? Why does the government want Dubai to do that job instead of doing it itself? And has the red camp now crossed the line of civil disobedience and given the government the legitimacy to use all means to avoid chaos? Now the government is being paid back for letting the "champion of democracy" go to the Olympic Games. Now the government has got the Olympic Games on its own soil.
A JOHNSEN
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
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