OPINION

Thai kind of democracy

Re: “Beleaguered CDC should thwart the ‘coup in disguise’ ”, (Opinion, March 19).

To an outsider it is quite apparent that the military wants to cultivate its own version of Thai governance. The CDC led by Mr Meechai is working hard to show the world that Thailand is a progressive state. It has a constitution. It has political parties, elections, parliament, a prime minister and all the other components that an advanced democracy has. On top of that, it will have an appointed Senate which will include the military brass to watch over the elected politicians.

This whole exercise is built on the popular notion that in Thailand only politicians are corrupt and the rest of the institutions are as clean as the Alpine snow.

One has to ask this question: How is this new experiment so different from what we have been witnessing in Myanmar for the last 50 years? Recurring coups in Thailand are proof that elected governments can be uprooted any time. So what is the point of putting on a charade of drafting a new constitution, holding elections, having an appointed Senate in which coup-makers reign supreme? Let the NCPO rule for a few decades and see where this new experiment will lead to? It is just possible that other Asean members may learn something new from this unique Thai innovation in governance.

Kuldeep Nagi

Songkran last year claimed about 400 lives and almost 4,000 people were injured, some left permanently disabled.

We all know Songkran is deadly. And while the government and many seniors are looking for measures, they have proved to be failures.

What is worse, the government has just announced it will waive tolls which will only add to deaths on the highways.

We may be able to put a number on the deaths and injuries, but the amount of grief caused to Thais is unaccountable.

Please help save lives, help tell the prime minister to reduce the number of holidays — the more he reduces, the more lives he can save.

And I ask the government not to reduce the tolls as that will only cause more deaths and injuries. Do the country a favour my dear prime minister.

Chatree Niramitvijit

Re: “Trump victory a major global risk, think tank says” (World, March 18).

An English think tank called Donald Trump a “major global risk”. An Australian politician called Mr Trump “terrifying”.

I would implore these politically correct wonks to consider the following true-life situations. After doing so, they might change their minds about Mr Trump.

Let the ivory tower eggheads take a midnight walk in any major downtown of an American city. In 50 years, our cities have been transformed from gleaming capitals into third-world cesspools, crawling with illegal aliens. Let them visit graves and hospitals to pay their respects to the thousands of Americans killed and maimed by Islamic terrorists.

The think tank know-it-alls, lard-bottomed politicos and trade-agreement corporate bigwigs continue to spew the same touchy-feely mush that has led to the slow-motion suicide of the Western world.

Donald Trump is the only candidate fighting these insipid robots. To my mind, Mr Trump is already a winner. No other public figure in the last half-century has been able to awaken the lemmings in the US from our self-induced coma the way he has.

Ben Levin

It was amusing to witness a curious example of cross-cultural exchange at Asok intersection about 10.30pm on Friday. When the little green man said we could go, a couple with a pram took on the challenge of crossing legally, and naturally a few motorcycles tried to sneak through the red light.

Pedestrians be damned, nothing new there, but most had the decency to pause for the pram — the exception being a farang who proceeded to swear at the couple when they protested. “You’re not the only people in the world,” he told them, as if that was news. The only people foolhardy enough to attempt crossing Asok with a baby, maybe, but as the one clearly in the wrong it was interesting to see the rider had totally adopted the ways of the local motorsai drivers.

The Thai mother, for her part, showed she was at least partly Westernised, unleashing a barrage of four-letter words that are unprintable.

The most impressive part? Her perfect grammar.

Asok observer

Marin R understandably derides the latest idea to deal with police corruption, requiring offenders to “sign a pledge to stop their nefarious activities” (PostBag, March 19).

The basic idea is not so silly, but it needs some stronger sanctions to make it work, perhaps along the lines adopted by the anti-corruption authorities in the UK, where organised crime has infiltrated the police, the legal system, the Crown Prosecution Service, the judiciary and the jury system. Faced with substantial corruption in the Metropolitan and other police forces, and the increasing cost of prosecution (£100,000 per case) with no guarantee of conviction because the judicial system itself has been corrupted, the anti-corruption authorities decided to present corrupt police officers with the evidence against them and ask for their resignation, a tactic that has usually worked.

Corrupt officers in Thailand should be likewise presented with the evidence against them and asked to resign. If they refuse they should be transferred “to an inactive post” on half-pay, after an appropriate review of their case.

Andrew StewartPattaya

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