Post Bag
The PAD's taking over Suvarnabhumi airport is outrageous and completely out of line. Enough of this nonsense already! It is time to stop damaging our country.
Tell me, who is going to pay for the damages that will surely run into the billions of baht when you count all the cancellations of flights, hotel bookings and all tourist-related business?
Do the PAD leaders even care about the damage they are causing? Are they really Thai?
KRITAPOL SUNDARAVEJ
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Disgusted with the PAD
As a farang who has lived in Thailand for more than five years, I am disgusted with the actions of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The PAD is destroying Thailand's economy, Thailand's democracy and Thailand's reputation overseas, as well as acting against every premise of its Buddhist religion.
The PAD's invasion of Suvarnabhumi Airport frightened innocent tourists and made them think that Thais are dangerous and uncivilised. How can the PAD possibly justify its actions as being necessary because it ''loves the country''?
As a farang who loves Thailand and the Thai people, and thinks of Thailand as my home, I say to the people from the PAD who were involved in this action: You should be ashamed of yourselves. I thought being Thai meant you were proud of your country and your religion, you were welcoming to foreigners, and you were a peaceful people.
This latest act by the PAD has made Thailand look ''Third World'' and unstable, and is sending a message to the world that Thailand is an unsafe place to be.
Initially, I was a supporter of the PAD. In recent months, I have come to the conclusion that the PAD is the worst thing that has happened to Thailand in many years. I hope right-minded Thais who are proud to be Thai and only want what's best for their country think so, too.
MICHELLE TOPHAM
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PAD has lost its way
It's been quite amazing for me to watch how the PAD devolved from a coordinated, effective force of protest to the equivalent of a whining schoolyard bully who realises he is no longer able to terrorise the other children.
I used to support the PAD _ I think Thaksin was and is an arrogant power-monger; Samak was an ignorant lout; and Somchai, the current PM, although seemingly benign, has undeniable links to the power-monger and the lout which cannot be ignored.
At any rate, government action in Thailand has been nearly non-existent over the past year _ have they even done anything except argue?
At any rate, somewhere along the way the PAD got lost. After several ''last stands'', changing goals, thuggish attacks and a mission statement that is anything but democratic, it is time for them to give up.
I dislike the People Power party as much as anyone else, but like it or not, the last two governments have only been in office because they won the vote. Thailand's nascent democracy may not be perfect but it has to start somewhere. Checks and balances are necessary, and the right to protest is a must _ but you need a clear goal and the support of the majority, both of which the PAD lost a long time ago.
We get it _ you don't like the government. Now go home and let us get back to work.
GREG JORGENSEN
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Despicable PAD
I used to be an admirer of the PAD in the days when they were just happily protesting about the influence of Thaksin in the government and how corruption still flourished within its ranks. Now I am at the point of despising the PAD. They preach democracy, but where is democracy when people cannot get to their work, school, etc, because the PAD have blocked roads, entrances to public buildings, Government House, etc.
The democratically-elected government is definitely being run by the coward who crept overseas and left his supporters on their own; but it was elected by a majority and therefore has the right to finish its term.
BRIAN FORLONGE
Korat
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Obama-mania
Never in history has a man been given so much praise and adulation for simply being ''intelligent and cool''. Barack Obama has very little experience and really nothing in the way of accomplishments, other than to get himself elected.
All this Obama-mania is way overdone, there is no way this man can live up to the huge expectations being placed upon him.
Now we witness the man who was to bring us change installing Clintonites in his cabinet and disciples of the discredited Citibank director Robert Rubin to lead us out of the financial mess. Rubin is credited by many for helping create the conditions for the current financial crisis as a result of the policies he pursued as Treasury secretary.
As an American, I fully support the elected leader of my country and wish Mr Obama much success, but please let's take off the rose-coloured glasses and recognise that actions speak much louder than words.
KURT HECK
Let Obama prove himself / Please do not declare Barack Hussein Obama an arahant (enlightened one). The man has not been sworn into office yet. His meteoric rise is, in part, due to media hype and the eloquence of his speech and poise in front of a camera.
Make this call in judgment in four years, at the end of his first term in office.
There were many mitigating factors in his rise to the pinnacle of the Western world. The agenda he has set forth in the press in the US is not what the world elsewhere has seen or heard. Let us judge him in four years and tell if he is the ''messiah'' that Louis Farrakhan tells others that he is.
He may turn out to be just our version of the Thaksin that you so revered in your recent past. Hold your opinion until the first term has been completed. Then tell the world of his accomplishments.
TOM HRITZ
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