PostBag
It is interesting to see the nationalist hysteria being evoked over the listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site, an action which has no effect on the existing border demarcation between Cambodia and Thailand, and which so far has not caused any injuries or deaths.
Some 41/2 years have passed since the sudden return of insurgent violence to southern Thailand in January 2004. Since then, thousands of Thai citizens have been driven from their land, not to mention being deprived of their lives. Teachers, monks, doctors and students have fled the area.
Yet there have been no demonstrations in Bangkok to protest these occurrences, no hunger strikes to stop the slaughter, and no impeachment proceedings to hold the government accountable. Is there a double-standard in play?
P QUE
Hat Yai
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Resonant hypocrite
Re: The interview with Noam Chomsky, Bangkok Post, July 14. Writer Alan Becker lionises Chomsky as a figure whose convictions are "resonant and unwavering".
Further examination of Chomsky paints a far different picture. In his book Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, author Peter Schweizer shows that "anti-capitalist and pro-environmentalist" Chomsky is actually a rich boy worth millions of dollars, with stock holdings in the oil companies and military contractor firms he claims to despise.
When confronted with that fact, Chomsky defended holding the stocks for the enrichment of his family members, and stated that just because he was anti-capitalist he shouldn't have to live in "a cabin in Montana".
Noam Chomsky is quick to call others hypocrites, when he himself is the quintessential hypocrite _ hardly a man whose convictions are "resonant and unwavering".
BEN LEVIN
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PPP and charter change
PM Samak is determined to quickly change Article 237 of the Constitution, which says a party can be dissolved if its executive officers are found guilty of electoral fraud.
The Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission's red-carding of Yongyuth Tiyapairat of the People's Power party for violating the election law.
When the party's deputy leader committed electoral fraud, presumably he and the PPP knew about Article 237, which they'd sworn to uphold, so the PPP's rush to revise this article appears most self-serving.
What concerns me is the lack of public outcry. Why are you, dear reader, letting PM Samak get away from the punishment that Article 237 ordains if his party is guilty? Why aren't you even bleating?
BURIN KANTABUTRA
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Saved by public money
For many years we have been hearing from capitalist bigwigs that any kind of public intervention in the economy is not productive, that markets should self-regulate.
With the US sub-prime crisis, public money is coming to the rescue of companies that took thoughtless risks, under the applause of the same people who used to abhor public interventionism!
I hope they understand now why responsible governments implement rules in a sector where ethics is an unknown notion. JOACHIM
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