Let's be clear about one important thing. It is true now, as it was true 10 years ago, that there is only one major speculator on the baht, and that is the Bank of Thailand. Ten years ago it was speculating that it would be able, against the power of the marketplace, to maintain an arbitrary exchange rate for the baht against a steadily appreciating US dollar. (There were other currencies in the "basket", but the dollar was the only one whose weighting was large enough to matter.)

Ever since, it has been speculating that, having sworn for years that the one and only "right" rate was Bt25 to the dollar, it could hold the baht at a level around 40 to an ever-depreciating dollar.  These two separate bouts of speculation have several aspects in common, but the main ones are that they were both totally unsuccessful, and that they have both cost the country huge amounts of money.

Ten years ago, the recklessness of the Bank of Thailand and its political masters plunged not only Thailand but Asia into crisis. Since then, most of the continent has learned a lesson - but not Thailand. The Bank of Thailand has steadily built up foreign exchange reserves, on the dollar component of which it now shows fat losses. And to what purpose? None.

Ten years ago, the Bank of Thailand could have argued that foreign exchange reserves were needed to defend the baht peg - although history and economics textbooks teach that the reserves usually run out before the need to mount a defence. But what are the reserves for now? Officially, there has not been any peg to defend. Again and again the Bank of Thailand has said that it sees its job as avoiding volatility, not forcing a particular exchange rate on a reluctant market. It does not need reserves of tens of billions of dollars for that. All the reserves do is to make the Bank of Thailand's appointed task of inflation control more difficult.

Just as well the finance minister is a former governor, or we might have someone in charge who didn't know what he was doing.

Richard S Henderson

Bangkok

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Foreign investors walk away from Thailand's stupidity

It beggars belief that Pridiyathorn implemented the recent 30 per cent reserve policy. How many times have we seen government policies hastily enacted only to be torn down a week or so later - in this case in 24 hours. It was probably the most humiliating, ill-conceived adjustment strategy against the baht's rise by any government, ever.

Take the property market: in the Sukhumvit area alone, there are so many condominiums under construction, it will take a miracle to sell these units under normal circumstances, given the visa and company formation restrictions already in place. Then, the NLA, in its infinite wisdom, decides that it won't affect the market if foreign property investors are asked to park 30 per cent of their savings in a non-interest account with a military regime.

Am I missing something here? Did Pridiyathorn really think, in his wildest dreams, that foreigners would feel confident with this arrangement?

Yesterday, two clients of a property company I am involved with were asked by their banks for the 30 per cent reserve. The funds were for the purchase of three condominium units valued at Bt20 million. They walked away. Maybe today they can ask again.

This policy was an airy, forlorn whim to help solve the baht's appreciation and exporters' diminishing returns. The immediate fallout of this hopelessly misguided, grossly incompetent decision was a stock market depreciation of Bt820 billion. Again, it demonstrates to the global economy that Thailand does not have the intellect to manage its own economy. Expect another meltdown if Pridiyathorn and the other guiding members of the "ginger brigade" are not relieved of their impoverished guesswork very soon.

Sucatash

Bangkok

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Pridiyathorn should take the honourable way out

If Pridiyathorn is still at Finance, Thailand will face calamity. He and his hand-picked protege at the Bank of Thailand are naive about the policy they put in place on December 19. They did not understand the impact on the capital market. They had to revise their policy less than 24 hours later. By that time, lots of investors had lost billions. Our national economy cannot be based on this kind of amateurish move. There are other ways to curb speculation on the baht. If the capital market is in free-fall and international investors leave in droves, we will be looking at "Insufficient Economy". Pridiyathorn should take the honourable course of action and resign.

Netirat Intira

Bangkok

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Thailand needs to open up to the outside world

Discriminatory laws such as the recent financial control law that caused the stock exchange to crash hard in a single day, after foreign investors got scared, are not of any help to Thailand and its economy. It is understandable that Thais are proud of their nationality and that they love their country, but please remember that Thailand is on earth and that Thais are human beings. Closing borders and enacting protective laws never shielded any country from anything but prospering. Ask the US, France the UK or any other country that has or still does have protectionist laws if it does any good. Ask North Koreans, for crying out loud! This is a call made in despair to all Thais: Join the crowd, don't be scared; mingle and make friends. In case of trouble, friends are much more helpful than a closed door.

A frog in the mist

Bangkok

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Inquiries into extra-judicial killings a good development

Chai-yo for the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) for agreeing to open four cases into extra-judicial killings during ex-PM Thaksin's war on drugs. Our National Human Rights Commission had previously investigated 40 such cases, and found most, if not all, of those killed were not involved in drug trafficking. If we are to have lasting reconciliation, we must be satisfied our police are truly protectors - not death squads - and that our law enforcers do themselves follow rule of law. He who kills somebody today without accountability, saying he's a drug trafficker, can easily silence innocents tomorrow, claiming that they're terrorists, etc.

If our NHRC is anywhere near right, though, the vast majority of the 2,500 extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs must be investigated - and this time, justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. Also, to further promote justice and reconciliation, the DSI should urgently and thoroughly investigate the abduction of lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, missing for over two years, with no progress except some cops charged [for a minor offence]. We do not want scapegoats - we must net the masterminds.

Let us have rule of law, not rule of men.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Put a new task force in charge of Suvarnabhumi

Re: "Appalling management at Suvarnabhumi Airport", Letters, December 17.

It was good of the writer to make known his experience with Thai Airways check-in counters on December 5. On November 26 at 10pm, I also experienced the same under-manned counters and the sight of frustrated travellers with almost no standing space left to queue. I heard mumbles from our guests (tourists): "Never again!" But when one moved to other airline sections on the same floor, they were pleasant, with a normal check-in flow with enough space, even for skating. With the coming holiday crowds, now we know which airline we should take if one likes to avoid traumatic experiences.

I simply do not understand how people responsible for the new airport could be so indifferent to all the reported complaints - which seem to be all true and elementary - after a period of three months. What is the airport owner (the AOT) doing, besides taking a walk and churning out words? What are the tourism minister, transport minister, Customs, Immigration and Thai Airways board and management doing? The airport is our front gate to the Kingdom and you have the audacity to let it slide to a shameful state, which reflects the sub-standard quality of Thailand's human resources and culture. You do not deserve to call yourselves ministers because of your dereliction of duties and responsibilities. Yes, there could be some faults with the structural designs but that is minor. Operation-wise this has put Thailand in a shameful state. It is getting worse as time goes by. Now, you can no longer blame Thaksin.

If I were General Surayud, I would consider the Suvarnabhumi saga a national crisis and take over the management of AOT. A new task force should be given the authority to eliminate all conflicts of interest and manage the system smoothly, in addition to rectifying the dirty floors and current shortfall of toilet facilities. Management expenses should be all charged to AOT and not to the Treasury. In so doing, they would be praised or blamed for the results. Please, General Surayud, give us this New Year present.

Spade

Bangkok

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Coup leaders may try to retain some future role

Re: "A coup against the 1997 constitution", Opinion, December 13.

Congratulations to Chang Noi for the remarkable analysis of the real motivations of the coup makers. I was struck to see how they rushed to not only suspend, but revoke, the 1997 constitution. Although Thaksin's personality and misconduct was not for nothing in the political crisis, it is worrying to see that the traditional elite uses any means to prevent an elected government ruling effectively. I would not be surprised to see the CNS keeping a kind of permanent supervisory role on the future constitution. This would be a setback for Thailand, as in a modern country (let's not say 'democratic') there should be one and only one executive body.

Besides, in addition to the military and the senior bureaucrats, everybody knows who is the third conservative group who played a major, if not central, role in this coup against the "people's constitution".

SP

Bangkok

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