Police missing in action

Police missing in action

Earlier this month the media showed in great detail shots of an impressive police force in riot gear to deal with protesters in Bangkok.

As an ignorant farang, I don't understand why this force didn't show up when protesters were in Bangkok in 2010.

Why was the army the only force to deal with the protesters then? No wonder things went out of control.

But I guess the truth is rarely simple.

AREND HART


Egypt fears democracy

Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood failed to include all sections of Egyptian society when he was president. It is true that he was deposed in an illegitimate coup and it is equally true that he assumed all powers of the state (executive, judiciary and legislative) despite being elected democratically. Egyptians have always felt they are Egyptians first, rather than Islamists.

The stage for the present turn of events was set a year ago as the West - and, for that matter, China, Russia, India, the UN or even non-aligned countries - observed.

In the third and most brutal series of attacks on Mr Morsi's supporters since his ouster, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured, with improvised first-aid centres overwhelmed and hospitals struggling to cope with the calamity.

Unfortunately, more people will die as Egyptians decide their form of government while the world watches in horror.

International mediators have said it was the Egyptian military that wrecked a brokered plan which the Brotherhood had accepted.

It is Egypt's 84 million people who will pay the price for the military's fear of democracy and for Western self-interest, which is coupled with the West's inability to accept the results of the very democracy it rapturously claimed heralded a new dawn for West Asia and North Africa.

R SRINATH
Assumption University


Learning on the job

Re: ''PM stakes her claim to reform plan'' (BP, Aug 19).

I laud Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her honesty but weep when she says she makes her own decisions.

Ms Yingluck said she took up the defence portfolio to help her understand the armed forces' needs, because for the past two years she's been clueless about their needs and spending priorities.

In other words, if she's clueless about a given matter, she takes charge of that ministry. That's like me saying, ''I don't know how to fly a plane, so I'll pilot one.''

As prime minister, she's in charge of all ministries. That hardly bodes well for us, and perhaps explains fiascos like the rice-pledging scheme, which aids mainly the well-off farmers who have large land holdings while ignoring the poor who can grow only enough for their own consumption.

But let's look on the bright side. If she's a quick learner at the Defence Ministry, she should know that the navy doesn't need an anti-submarine aircraft carrier when there are no enemies in the region with subs, the air force doesn't need an airship that won't fly, the army doesn't need GT200 bomb detectors that have a 20% chance of being right _ less accurate than flipping a coin _ and that an overhaul of the military purchase system should be transparent and relevant to our defence.

She might also learn that the military and police must come under rule of law at last, and court-martial those responsible for the tragic Krue Se, Tak Bai and Nong Chik deaths.

BURIN KANTABUTRA


A bit of toilet humour

In the Beetle Bailey cartoon (Life, Aug 8), the first caption reads: ''Adverse effects may include headache, diarrea, rash, dizziness, depression and lack of energy.''

I realise it was an American cartoon. The proper American spelling is ''diarrhea'', while in Thailand, the word is spelled as "diarrhoea".

The majority of English people I know are unable to spell this word correctly.

NEIL SURTEES


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