OPINION

Classic whodunnit

Thawatchai Anukul, 66, was a prime suspect in a land-deed registration scandal involving several hundred plots of encroached forest land in the South worth billions of baht.

He was being held in a cell on the 6th floor of the DSI building when he was found unconscious at 1am in what was made to look like a suicide attempt.

In the following days, other stupid suggestions were made in an attempt to convince people this man had killed himself.

Quite simply one or more persons had access to his cell and caused the injuries from which this man died.

This was not an open area, a public space or a place in which hundreds of people were moving freely about.

This was a cell with a locked door for which someone had to be responsible for looking after the keys.

Discussing the vast numbers of people who may have had conflict with the prisoner or reason to harm him, as director-general Paisit has done, is just muddying the waters. Its quite simply a matter of who had access to this place at around midnight of the day in question.

Even the lack of CCTV should not be a big problem, as we are talking about a secure area where anyone would need to have permission, probably even written, to get access to a prisoner.

If this is not the case, just what sort of place is the DSI running? And will the men at the top resign as they should in such a sordid situation?

It seems a new government ministry, the DNW, may be in the works.

Under one umbrella the tsunami centre, national CCTV system, State Railway of Thailand, HTMS Chakri Naruebet, the RTN's Aeros 40D Sky Dragon, and possibly some submarines will be administered by the proposed DNW.

Can readers guess what the acronym stands for and perhaps suggest additional projects that might be included under the ministry's purview?

Bravo to Brian Corrigan for his letter, "Stop buying Chinese". Indeed, economics can harm a country's economy or a sector as evidenced by China's boycotting of South Korean goods or the tourism boycott of Turkey.

Many Chinese manufacturers know consumers do not like buying their products, which are indeed shoddy or contain non-healthy components in the fruits and vegetables they export. Since "Made in China" does not always appear in a label, a consumer should check the international bar codes.

All bar codes beginning with three numbers, 690 to 699, designate Chinese made products. And if you are in a supermarket and see unlabelled products, just ask.

So our wonderful, wise, ineffable government, with its vastly superior intellect, intelligence and unimpeachable morals, has decided there are 3726 pages on Facebook and YouTube which are illicit. These are pages which they have seen, and decided the general population lacks the education, discernment and moral fibre to be allowed to see them.

What are these pages about? Why are we not allowed to view them? What information is so terrible that it must be hidden from us? What would happen if we viewed them (apart from being sent to jail of course)? Would Thailand as we know it end?

I agree with Jack Gilead in his statement: "Some of the money should be set aside to also bail out the 19 government hospitals in many provinces that are so cash-strapped they are barely able to provide basic medical help to the communities which they serve." Yesterday, my wife went to the dental section and had a broken molar removed, a painful exercise. She was sent home with a strip of 10 Panadol and nothing to prevent an infection. Things could improve.