Quick action when policeman is victim

General News : Monday December 10, 2007

POSTBAG

Quick action when policeman is victim

E-mail: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th / Snail mail: 136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

"A lieutenant at Bang Yikhan police station who allegedly shot dead his boss was arrested on Friday after being at large since the middle of October... Pol Lt Watcharin was sacked from the police force the following day" (Bangkok Post, Dec 9).

Meanwhile, Pol Lance-Cpl Nirut Thammasap, who is reported to have severed a girl's arm in Saraburi on Feb 25, is still on the force while police higher-ups consider his case.

Some Thai policemen act like gangsters who prey upon the Thai people. With "protection" from the likes of them the Thai people do not need any more enemies.

JOHN FRANCIS LEE

Chiang Rai

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Ex-PM's actions speak louder than words

Ex-PM Thaksin says he's through with politics, and wants to devote his life to charity and set up a foundation to help the poor in Asia through sport and education. Bravo - if it's true.

Actions speak louder than words. So what has he done? Has he washed his hands of politics? But if so, why did he allow the People Power party (PPP) to photograph him at his home in exile and distribute five million copies throughout the Northeast, asking for votes for the PPP?

He's given billions to charity, yes - but the main recipients have been his multi-billionaire guard, driver, maid, brother-in-law, etc.

If the charges brought by the Assets Scrutiny Committee are even partly true, then it's difficult to see how he puts other people's interests before his own. How many orphanages has he set up? Zero? How many youth sports teams, demonstration schools, etc? Zero?

Let Thaksin follow Warren Buffett's example and donate most of his wealth to a charity managed by someone else. Or donate to Olympic committees across Asia and expand Shinawatra University to include Asia's best kindergartens, schools, graduate programmes - all free.

Until he matches actions to words, perhaps we should join the Trojan priest Laocoon in saying: "Do not trust the horse, Trojans. I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts."

BURIN KANTABUTRA

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Shame that you feed Thaksin's addiction

Placing the Thaksin interview on the front page with a bold headline directly under the photo of His Majesty the King arriving at a command performance (Bangkok Post, Dec 8) was extremely distasteful.

The Bangkok Post cannot claim ignorance about Thaksin's addiction to limelight and headlines. It is also doubtful the Post is unaware of his skilful use of spinmeisters to get the upper hand at every important event.

This leaves one question: Was the scoop worth it?

JASON M. STONE

Nonthaburi

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Reporting Internet poll is irresponsible

I agree with the writer who took you to task (Postbag Dec 8) for publishing the results of an Internet poll without making it very clear that is what it was.

Internet polls have no value except as a piece of fun. A professional pollster takes considerable trouble to question a representative sample of the electorate he is testing; you have no control over who answers your poll and it does not represent your readers' views since not all your readers take part and those who do may vote more than once.

It would not surprise me if at least one political party didn't have someone repeatedly voting for their candidate.

Far from being of any use, such a misleading poll is irresponsible.

DOM DUNN

London

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Expression of love uniquely Thai

Congratulations for your eight supplements recounting the eight decades of the King's life. It was most interesting and informative with the pictures to enhance the words.

It is so great to see the pictures of Thai people dressed in yellow and the look in their eyes of total adoration for their King. I don't think anywhere in the world you would see the same.

I do hope the events of the past days were reported throughout the world - as bad things are when they occur here.

NIGEL H CANNON

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Media fails to check what IPCC says

When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) first raised the alarm and cranked up the rhetoric about rising sea levels, their forecast was that at the current rate of increase in the use of fossil fuels, the sea level would rise seven metres in 100 years and devastate low-lying countries like Bangladesh.

When these estimates were challenged and their internal inconsistencies exposed, the IPCC quietly revised the 100-year forecast downward 100-fold from seven metres to 7cm on their website, but the rhetoric continued unabated.

Now the IPCC uses "thousands of years" in place of "100 years" in the seven-metre forecast ("Melting Greenland ice sheet could be next puzzle for UN panel", Bangkok Post, Dec 8).

This sleight of hand appears to have gone unnoticed by the media. The media has been less than vigilant in holding these people accountable for their brash fear mongering and have dutifully published all of the scary press releases without a critical analysis.

One day the greenhouse gas scare will go the way of the ozone hole scare and the millennium bug scare and the gullible that went along for the ride will be disgraced along with the perpetrators of this fraud.

CHA-AM JAMAL

Phetchaburi

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Asean must seek more than applause

I was amused and amazed by the light-hearted candour of outgoing Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong. He has truly given the public an inside view of what actually transpires at Asean and if you summarise his comments, it simply means: Nothing happens at Asean except pronouncements for public applause.

On the ground, Asean nations display unseemly pictures of corruption, marginalisation of ethnic minorities, splurging of wealth in the face of grinding poverty, assault on religious persons and institutions, differing definitions of democracy, extremism and so on. One does not see this Southeast Asian alliance as the cohesive entity that its founding fathers envisioned for it.

There has to be a certain common morality and trust among members on which differing cultures, political structures, languages, degrees of affluence or poverty and a willingness to open their economies haunted by the 1997 crises can find a platform to build upon.

As long as each condones the other's misdeeds, Asean will only be what its 40-year-old legacy has made it out to be - a forum for declaring good intentions with an ever evasive vision.

Surin Pitsuwan, please take note.

SYDNEY PRABHU

Samut Sakhon

By : Bangkok Post