Electing the country’s leader without direct votes from individuals will not produce a leader “of the people”.
Instead it will produce a leader “of the few who decide they know best”. In the long run, it will not work. Candidates must get out on the streets and meet the people.
I do like the fact that finally, maybe, the country will clean up its governance and put an end to cronyism and corruption by those who think only of themselves and want accumulate a massive amount of money for prestige and power.
The cash is more than they could spend in a lifetime, unless, of course, they choose to buy a fleet of Airbus A380s.
Thailand is on the brink of either getting of out of third-world status, or just recycling the same old merry-go-round. Chok dii.
Hyde Parke
Viva Cuba, viva Fidel
I applaud the decision of US President Barack Obama to normalise American relations with Cuba.
That great small country and its wonderful people have withstood half a century of needless sanctions, bullying and intimidation by their big neighbour.
Despite all that, Cuba has gone from beating Uncle Sam in the Bay of Pigs to bettering the US with enviable medical and educational systems, which are the best in Latin America.
Fidel Castro has been blowing his cigar smoke at Washington with gusto and it is about time the Americans recognised that they were and often are wrong.
Hopefully with the right kind of investment, Cuba and its people will finally prosper.
Comrades Che and Fidel have been vindicated. Viva Cuba, viva Fidel!
Isan Proofreader
The life of the party
By the end of this year Thailand will have celebrated 21 days of official national holidays.
These include Buddhist holy days, Songkran and international New Year, the King and Queen’s birthday and other royal and commemorative anniversaries.
Add to that observances of Teachers’ Day, the three-day Chinese Lunar New Year, International Labour Day, the Mid-Year Bank Holiday, Loy Krathong and Christmas, and we have 29 days that are good for a party.
Add to that 96 Saturdays and Sundays and we hit a total of 125 days.
There are also many regional festivals where we can join in the fun and frolics, such as Chon Buri’s Buffalo Races, Loei’s Phi Ta Khon, Ubon Ratchathani’s Candle Festival and Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival.
And as a sign of solidarity we can join our Muslim brothers and sisters on their festive days.
Thais may be xenophobic in other ways, but that hasn’t stopped them embracing Western festivities, such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween, so let’s add them to the total.
This year I noticed an increasing trend of restaurants and the catering trade trying to cash in on US Thanksgiving Day, so let’s embrace that also.
With a little bit of effort we could expand this exponentially.
Take the UK's Guy Fawkes Night, French Bastille Day, a few days for a German Beerfest, throw in Thai adaptations of an Italian Carnivale or the New Orleans Mardi Gras, and let’s all dress in green for St Patrick’s Day. Soon we could party 365 days a year.
The government could legislate for Leap Years, creating a special holiday to celebrate Feb 29, so we would have that covered too.
Of course we would have to ease up immigration labour laws to allow more Myanmar, Cambodian and Lao workers into Thailand, creating an army of latter-day helots to do the work for us.
But what the heck. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
David Brown
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