Thaksin's legal eagle, Noppadon Pattama, confirms that the government has returned Bt30 billion of the Bt 76 billion earlier confiscated from Thaksin, and that the Pheu Thai Party doesn't need the money to keep operating.
To me, before he let his greed carry him away, Thaksin started off on the right track, focusing on the poor and delivering on his campaign promises, including Bt30 health care and low-cost housing. He should return to his roots, and help the poor. To be sure that cynical voters (like me) do not think that he was trying to buy his way out of jail or engineer a political comeback - once given - the money must not be under his control.
Since he and his family don't need the returned money to live on, he should donate the entire Bt30 billion to a variety of non-governmental or private-sector organisations aiding the poor. For example, give to Unicef, specifying that it be spent entirely within Thailand; to the Law Society, to empower the poor to exercise their legal rights; and to education-oriented NGOs or for-profit organisations, including Shinawatra University (if it has the expertise), to reform the entire education system. The reform should follow Bertrand Russell's advice: "Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgements for themselves."
Thaksin, show us that the leopard can change its spots, and leave your children a legacy they can be proud of.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
Inquisition reference wasn't funny
I refer to the cartoon "Stephff's View" in The Nation of August 26 and to the text you chose to back the illustration. It saddens me to see that you opted to cling to old-fashioned, time-worn cliches by resorting to, in my view, an irrelevant reference to someone who, however misguided he might have been in his methods, is not generally perceived as the one who invented shackles or pioneered slimming methods.
Perhaps you will be more successful next time when going for the punch line.
Antonio Millan
Embassy of Spain, Bangkok
TrueVisions doesn't control content
Re: "TrueVisions' asinine editing", Letters August 25.
In response to Kurt Heck's letter regarding movies edited heavily by TrueVisions, TrueVisions would like to clarify that all movies on international channels are directly broadcast by the movie channel providers.
As the exclusive licence holder, and on behalf of HBO in Thailand, we have raised your comment with HBO and it has responded as followed:
We seek your understanding that like every television channel operating in Asia, HBO has a cultural responsibility to viewers in our operating environment. As such, we work closely with the regulatory bodies in our territories to not only ensure that the content we air complies with the necessary guidelines, but to also maintain sensitivity to viewers across all playtimes.
In this instance, certain scenes that were deemed offensive were edited from the movies.
Corporate Communications Department, TrueVisions
Bangkok