I have just finished reading the third novel in Robert Harris's brilliant trilogy based on the life of Cicero. It's about politicians who struggle to practise and defend democracy, but fail because of the corruptibility and greed of many of them. The politicians are divided, and some favour allowing the all-powerful general, Julius Caesar, to take control of the empire.
Trying to preserve democracy against dictatorship, Cicero said the following in a speech: "To argue that to preserve our freedoms we must suspend our freedoms, that to safeguard elections we must cancel elections, that to defend ourselves from dictatorship we must appoint a dictator -- what logic is this?"
Through various illegal means and brute force Caesar eventually overthrows the elected politicians and sets himself up as dictator, very soon believing himself a god.
Does history have anything to teach us?
Keith Barlow
Idea is to protect people
In addition to Khun Chuchai in his April 13 letter, "Facing the army's shame," I think civil society and the parents should remind young soldiers that they are recruited to serve and protect the people -- not the generals.
PS: I also served in the air force of my birth country for 14 months. I was part of a reserve officer's programme. We made it clear to our higher ups that we would never follow orders to point our guns at our own people. There are also "democratic armed forces". We would follow orders to fight outside enemies (at that time Soviet Union troops stood at our borders).
Karl Reichstetter
Stop the carnage
Is there anybody in Thailand who has the will, knowledge, ability and clout to do something about the carnage on Thailand's roads and the atrocious habits of Thai drivers? Year after year the much publicised "crackdowns" do absolutely nothing to address the root causes of the abysmal road safety record. So many people are killed and not just at holiday times.
I drive regularly in the Pattaya/Chon Buri area and am appalled at the bad driving habits of so many drivers and riders that are a clear reflection on the absence of proper training and a meaningful driving test on real roads. The solutions are obvious but it seems nobody cares.
With army personnel now given police duties, here is a suggestion which would partially address some of Pattaya's traffic problems:
Station three police/army personnel at each major junction controlled by traffic lights. Stop each vehicle that has run a red light and impound the vehicle for a month and issue a violation notice that carries a fine of at least 5,000 baht. Let the driver walk home or get a bus. And do not ignore the tour buses whose drivers think they can get away with crossing a red light but let them proceed after issuing the violation notice which in these cases should be increased to 10,000 baht.
In addition, stop every vehicle waiting to turn right from a straight-ahead lane and who block all traffic behind them, as well as those who block the left-turn only lanes. Issue a violation notice that also carries a 5,000 baht fine. Put police in unmarked cars and stop the insane mini-bus drivers who have no respect for safe speeds, lane discipline or for other road users in general.
Stop every motorcyclist who is obviously underage and almost certainly has no licence. Impound the motorbike for a month and issue the violation notice to the riders' parents. Addressing the 100% helmet law is a mockery so put the focus on those who endanger others by their poor driving habits.
It is probably foolish to believe anything will be done about the meaningless driving test but that is one of the major reasons for so many bad drivers and accidents. Apart, of course, for the abysmal failure of police to enforce existing laws and basic traffic rules.
There is no incentive for Thai drivers to obey the rules of the road that are so strictly enforced in most Western countries. Drivers and riders need to be made aware that serious infractions will carry a significant financial burden and that jail terms are a certainty for causing death by drink driving, dangerous, or reckless driving. The PM certainly has the clout to address the issue but is he willing to use it?
Chris Kaye
Credit where it's due
We hear a lot about police corruption and incompetence but I feel compelled to report the opposite.
I was in Patong for the annual Songkran mayhem. The police work there was outstanding. Thousands of foreign revellers were watched and protected by an invisible and very efficient plain-clothes force. No trouble to be seen and no heavy-handed uniformed presence. Well done, and thank you.
Ken Sowton
Phuket
Shambolic EU
According to international media reports, France has just scoffed at elections in Syria as a sham. Coming from an ardent leading member of the European Union, where referenda in member countries are ignored if the results do not comply with EU policy, there is some irony.
In the past both Holland and Ireland have voted to resign their membership but were told to vote again to ensure the EU-desired result.
A few days ago Dutch people voted again against the EU policy on Ukraine but have been ignored. The federal EU is tightening its dictatorial grip on all 28 member states while encouraging an alien invasion to destroy national sovereignty and culture.
The USA is highly critical of "little" Thailand with its unelected military junta while its own electoral system for its head of state is about level with that of a banana republic. The committees of both the Republican and Democrat parties ignore the votes of the people if the results fail to comply with the wishes of the committees.
Republican committee member Curly Haugland declared the committee elected their nominee for president, not the people.
At the same time, the current regime is increasingly centralising government from Capitol Hill with Common Core Education and Obamacare, and the president resorts to executive orders to bypass Congress.
Democracy is disappearing on both sides of the Atlantic while China's influence descends across Southeast Asia. Rather like Roman democracy that started at the top, the coming world government is moving quickly towards the dystopian model that is China.
We must never forget the EU started as an apolitical free market area, the European Economic Community, with the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership will morph in the same way to obliterate democracy around the globe while the people are being ignored in the new world order.
JC Wilcox
Black humour
Re: "Drink-drivers to face work in mortuaries", (BP, Apr 14).
As a taxpayer, I am relieved to know that not all bureaucrats lack imagination.
Akinari Etoh
Not so hidden agenda
The government won't talk about any alternative to the draft constitution because it does not want to influence voting in August's referendum.
After stating this rationale for secrecy, it informed Thais that inclusion of the question regarding appointed senators' participation in choosing the prime minister was a good idea because if the referendum failed the next constitution could take into account people's opinion on this important matter.
One therefore wonders why the government had not sought the people's input earlier and formulated the constitution accordingly. It might have saved 2 billion baht of their money.
Michael Setter
Bang Saray
Reds will see yellow
Re: "Gift ban carries risks", Editorial, April 13.
The happy Songkran red bowls are no joke, who knows there could be hundreds of thousands of them in the country. But whatever the number, it tells us that the purge has not worked, there are still people supporting Thaksin.
The government must be commended for its perseverance and its commitment to "attitude adjustment". It may take a while but with the proposed courses and persistent efforts the reds will see yellow.
Watson
Fiddling the figures
It is instructive to look back at part of the Enron Corporation collapse in 2001. In brief, Enron built such a maze of shell companies and subsidiaries that US regulators and investigators could not "follow the money".
In a case like that in which "creative accounting" is used to hide so much, a government could simply seize all of the assets and end of story: Those who get "too creative" could lose everything.
In the case of offshore companies that hide ownership and transactions, the same: if a government cannot easily and readily track ownership and transactions, or if ownership and transactions are purposely obscured by using proxies, then, again, a government could simply seize all of the assets and end of story.
If assets are in another country like Panama or the Virgin Islands, then a government could publicly claim ownership and make them almost impossible to sell.
Governments today could easily and legally do all of that -- but they probably would not because in the real world we all know who really owns whom.
The real culprits are governments who protect the ultra-wealthy, which includes just about all of them.
Guy Baker
All a bad dream?
I say "pinch me" so I know I am not dreaming, as no one in their right mind would cut down 100-year-old trees just to widen a road for solely economic purposes (BP, April 14). I applaud those opposed, who have created a moratorium for the present on this scheme.
Money is not the wherewithal to everything! This kind of thinking as well as not being able to express opinions freely without fear of re-education, will bring this country down to a level that will be a hard recovery.
Hyde Parke
Sad plight of tigers
Cambodia is a beautiful country with majestic forests, rich wildlife and archeological sites. However, the non-detection of any wild tigers in Cambodia is sad and dismal news for global wildlife enthusiasts after the release of the latest global tiger census report.
Although India has been predominantly highlighted in the report with almost 70% of the global tiger population, it is important to note that an overall increase in the tiger population has been noticed in the entire Indian subcontinent with 2226 in India, 198 in Nepal, 103 in Bhutan and 106 in Bangladesh. No data is currently available for Myanmar, with both biodiversity rich Indonesia and Malaysia showing an increase in the number of tigers as 371 and 250 respectively.
Thailand also has a good wild population of the Indochinese sub-species of tiger with a count of 189. Thailand and Myanmar are now considered as the last two quality habitats for the Indochinese tiger sub-species; while the Indian subcontinent houses the Bengal sub-species. The number in Russia is also impressive with a count of 433.
The situation in Vietnam is depressing with just more than five reported and in neighbouring Laos it is just two. China which is the largest market for the illegal tiger trade has less than seven and usually has been the home of two sub-species.
To enhance better conservation of wild Indochinese tiger sub-species in Cambodia, fresh blood lines could be introduced from neighbouring Thailand and Myanmar for captive breeding purposes.
The loss of the top predator in Cambodia will be detrimental to the long-term health of the local ecosystems and the tiger will permanently lose one more natural habitat in biodiverse Southeast Asia.
Saikat Kumar Basu
Make it up as you go
Re: "Singing in harmony", (Postbag, April 11).
Maurice Jones expresses surprise, disappointment and a few other kind sentiments about his visa extension and immigration officials. I've been refused a visa extension in Thailand one time, only to get it from an immigration office about a hundred kilometres away.
I am of the opinion that most immigration officers tend to make things up on a day-to-day basis, depending on how they feel, or, as people say, "getting out of the wrong side of the bed".
David James Wong