OPINION

Lighting the dark

I am an American who had the privilege of living in Thailand under the reign of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

I have experienced much beauty in this world but nothing compares with seeing the hundreds of thousands of Thai mourners sing the Royal Anthem at Sanam Luang last weekend. There are no words that can express how I felt.

I think of a quote from Mitch Ablom's book Tuesdays With Morrie. It reads: "All the love you created is still there, All the memories are still there. You live on in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. Death ends a life, not a relationship."

In a world starved of righteous leadership, His Majesty's life and light shined bright against the darkness.

May all the Thai people continue to radiate His light and may they all find comfort.

Re: "Crowds ordered to take away garbage", (BP, Oct 24).

In regard to the garbage story on Sanam Luang and the grounds of the Grand Palace, it would be better for the government to place bins in the grounds rather than have mourners take the rubbish away with them. It would just end up in a canal or at any convenient drop spot outside the palace grounds. That could make an even worse spectacle. The issue is quite simple to address and control.

Re: "We still don't know how the CDC will decide on this", (In Quote, Oct 24).

To reset or not to reset political parties is the question that the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has to decide.

In my humble view, Thailand's political landscape is long overdue for a change. The organic development of political parties, especially the Democrat Party, has to date proven ineffective.

After 84 years, we still rely on the military to arbitrate and intervene in people's political mess.

Breaking down the comfort zone among those parties would be the start of something politically acceptable. The outcome of the last referendum tells me people are not the same.

They now doubt the sincerity of those incumbents and look for new blood. The new blood can only come if the power of the incumbents is broken.

Yes, I encourage the CDC to take courage and tell those incumbents to go away for a change. I have truly had enough of them self-serving.

Re: "Rough justice for Yingluck", (PostBag, Oct 23).

While it is true Thailand seems to have a judicial system that at times is hard to understand, I can't help feeling that if more irresponsible politicians were held accountable in this way the world would be a better place.

Spending other people's money is the easiest thing to do. Declining the chance of huge personal gains and spending wisely seems to be a problem for politicians worldwide. Maybe if every country followed this example, taxation would fall and famine and poverty would soon disappear, along with an awful lot of "unusually wealthy" billionaires.

Re: "Action on Yingluck key", (PostBag, Oct 24).

Unfortunately, Mr Songdej falls into his usual trap of taking an essentially superficial approach to complex issues of which he appears to be only partially aware.

Such ignorance stems from offering a cursory glance at a prevailing situation regarding the Yingluck imbroglio as his latest example. He thus conveniently fails to grasp the obviously chronic structural problems within the system that beset domestic politics.

Experienced political scientists would recognise that glaring inadequacy instantly. It's his normal innocuous fare, of course, but the tenet remains the same.

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