I join Martin R in lauding the late Baroness Thatcher (PostBag, April 11), but do not idolise her to the extent of condemning those who are still bitter against her. One tribute said it all _ that few could say that their existence on this earth had made a difference. Baroness Thatcher could say that.
In reforming Britain, she had to cause unforgivable pain to many. But that was unavoidable in her role of not to please but to lead. Baroness, thank you for your life in being courageously righteous and may you rest in peace.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
Maggie was a menace
It seems a little incongruous to feature a letter from Martin R about the death of Margaret Thatcher, but as someone who saw first-hand the human misery and divisiveness of her policies, I feel the need to strongly disagree with Martin R's sentiments on her passing.
All that she stood for was about a redistribution of income and wealth from the poorest members of society to those already living in relative luxury. As the late Professor Joan Robinson of Cambridge University correctly pointed out at the time, her policies were nothing less than ''a fig leaf to cover up the belief that the more is mine and the less is yours''.
Whilst the death of anyone is inevitably a sad affair for the family and friends of the deceased, much as I find it hard to empathise with the likes of her arms-dealer son, in the case of such a divisive public figure, people have the right to withhold respect for someone with whom they fundamentally detested as a politician and all they stood for.
The Labour Leader at the time, Neil Kinnock, summarised Thatcherite politics and policies as: ''The only one is me, the only number is one, and the only time is now''. Never forget that in two years in power from 1979 to 1981, her government presided over the decimation of the British manufacturing industry _ with a loss of one-third of its total output _ a feat that was not even matched by Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.
As a result, Britain is today overly dependent on financial services with fat-cat bankers gorging on massive and undeserved bonuses standing at the helm, having wrecked much of what manufacturing remained as a direct result of their rampant greed, corrupt practices and sheer recklessness.
She is as divisive in death as she was in life _ and it will be interesting to read Martin R's views when a certain fugitive ex-PM of Thailand passes away.
She created a desert, and called it stability!
GMT
Land grabs everywhere
Re: ''Vietnam officials sentenced over land grab'' (Post Online, April 10). The news told of the trial of five officials involved in a high-profile land seizure in northern Vietnam which ended on April 10, with one receiving jail time. This would never happen in Thailand. Alpine Golf Club, nothing. Forest land taken for homes, golf clubs and resorts, nothing.
TOM
The dream of democracy
This idea is for those who support having elections _ and everyone elected _ as the only way to show that we are a fully fledged democracy: Let's hold a general election twice every month from now on.
That way, our democracy will surpass countries that started the system several hundred years before us. This is simply because we hold more elections than they do!
And while we overtake them on this highway called Democracy Drive, let's shout to our hearts' content: ''Duck, you snails!''
And let them eat their hearts out!
VINT CHAVALA
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