OPINION

Learn from Seoul

Re: "South Korean president declares martial law", (Online, Dec 3).

Thailand's civilian and military leaders can learn much from South Korea's handling of President Yoon Suk-yeol's announcement of martial law and army mobilisation. Reaction was swift, decisive, and effective -- as all followed the rule of law.

MPs raced to the National Assembly and, with 190 of its 300 members present, quickly passed a resolution demanding Mr Yoon lift his order while protesters opposed to martial law gathered outside the building and the nation's powerful unions threatened to go on strike.

I note that (a) the general public and unions quickly and peacefully protested; (b) the authorities did not use force to prevent peaceful protests; (c) the military did not take sides and was always under civilian control; (d) there were no reports of tanks or soldiers on the street in Seoul or elsewhere in South Korea.

Soon after parliament's resolution against martial law, soldiers left parliament and its grounds, and (e) all sides followed the rule of law, including Mr Yoon, who complied with parliament's will and withdrew his declaration of martial law.

We should learn from SK, which escaped military rule 37 years ago and has soared economically since then.

Overvalued giants

Re: "SET poised to witness volatile first half in 2025", (Business, Dec 4).

On the Thai stock exchange, valuation discrepancies are at a record never seen before. The most active 2-3 big cap stocks regularly dominate trading volume at stratospheric valuation: price-to-earnings are around 70-80 while yielding barely 1% in yearly dividends.

Compare this to various select smaller and mid-sized quality companies with dividend yields 6-7 times higher (at 6-7%), where market prices are trading at only 1/4 to 1/5, in contrast with the valuation of these over-traded goliaths.

Exat safety measures

Re: "Road safety above profits", (Editorial, Dec 3).

The editorial on Dec 3 discusses an accident that occurred at an Expressway Authority of Thailand (Exat) site last year.

However, the article does not mention that the accident last Friday occurred at a project under the Department of Highways (DoH), another state agency developing an elevated highway on the road.

We want to clarify the safety record at Exat's sites on Rama II Road.

This year, there have been only three accidents at construction sites. In these mishaps, there were no injuries and no deaths. The Ministry of Transport and Exat have demanded our contractors follow safety standards.

We also make sure that our contractors provide warning signs on traffic lanes to enhance the safety of motorists.

Exat has also improved the bidding process by giving advantage scores to contractors with good safety records.

We are also considering imposing a one million baht fine on contractors who cause accidents.