PostBag
The military should consider working "with" government agencies for the benefit of the farmers. They are a very important Thai asset, probably the most important. When everything is said and done, life comes back to the basic necessities that are important to rich and poor alike. Those necessities are: food, shelter and clothing. Anything else is extra.
If the government cares at all for the Thai people, they will work hand in hand and each government entity will strive to improve the quality of life for farmers and all the Thai people.
Why not lease the land to farmers for free, and charge a tariff on the rice produced to the buyers. Make loans for machinery for the farmers to prepare the land, fertilise it, harvest it, and pay back the loans at a percentage of the rice produced and sold.
Why does the military need so much land? It is like they have thrown up a road block to lower the production of rice which is so essential.
TIGER
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Doing fine without Wow!
Isan Farang and Frank G Anderson (Postbag, June 17) really hit hard, what with a "strange kind of Thai democracy" and "foreign business franchises... lazy business with no need for innovation" and "being so selfish and self-indulgent, the Thai people hardly have enough time to think of the public interest".
Frank G Anderson says, "Thailand's democracy is not unique... It just does not exist." Somehow I missed all that, having been here only eight years. I do know tourists flock here in increasing numbers each year, many expats value Thailand highly as a retirement home and large numbers of farang seek quality medical treatment here which they cannot afford at home.
For some reason, all that other stuff does not seem to bother them, but what do they know? Thank you, Mr Farang and Mr Anderson, for setting us straight. Whoa, dude.
GUY BAKER
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Much grief from Burma
I just cannot understand the thinking of our Royal Thai Government in its policy towards Burma. So much grief is exported from that country into Thailand, thanks largely to the regime's monumentally criminal rule.
Why does Thailand support such a regime when the consequence is a deluge of drugs pouring across the border along with desperate economic migrants? I can only imagine that their logic includes the 20% of natural gas consumed daily in Thailand via the Yadana pipeline, along with the positive boost to the local economy thanks to those migrants working in Thai sweatshops.
Does this all add up, though? Does the government take into account the real cost of widespread drug abuse among the Thai population?
Sooner (hopefully) or later the regime in Burma will fall or yield; as the impending calamity of mass starvation due to the loss of a large proportion of this season's rice crop hits home and military desertions increase, the generals will find themselves high, dry and isolated.
Has the Thai government thought deeply enough about what is going to befall Burma over the coming months and how that will impact on Thailand for perhaps years to come?
JULIAN PIENIAZEK
Nakhon Ratchasima
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Can't touch the military
Is Burin Kantabutra pretending to be naive when he says, "In a democratic society, the military obeys the civilian government"? Here in Thailand, the land of abnormality, the military has its own turf and the civilian government dares not touch it. Burin may have forgotten that we've had 17 military coups since 1932, when the country turned to a parliamentary system.
What needs doing is to make all military personnel swear an oath to follow the orders of the prime minister and defence minister and to protect the Constitution.
MECHAI BURAPA
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Not enforcing the law
What's wrong with this government and its police force? The PAD has a right to protest and I have a right to drive my car on Rama I Road. PAD leaders are breaking the law and the police and this government are not brave enough to confront them. If the PAD wants to protest, do it in an area where they are not blocking the rights of others. The leaders of the PAD are laughing at this government and police force.
BOB IN THON BURI
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Thaksin's frozen assets
I read with amusement the recent article regarding the Thaksin family demanding the release of their frozen assets because the one-year statute of limitations was going to expire. How absurd. They have been playing the delaying game with such tactics as demanding three extensions and now they're demanding their money back.
Of course, they planned these delays just for this reason - and maybe because they were waiting for a sympathetic government to take power and stifle the investigation.
Let the case proceed without further delay and let the court decide guilt or innocence before releasing the money.
MCS
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