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Published on September 26, 2007

I'd like to commend the city of Bangkok for requiring the registration of dogs and I particularly like the part requiring that owners have sterilisation certificates for their dogs. I would take it further and impose stiff jail sentences for those who turn their dogs loose in the street, and crack down on the breeders and pet stores who are the root cause of the stray dog problem.

While many fools get angry at the stray dogs, their anger should be directed towards the people who have caused this mess in the first place.

Eric Bahrt

Chon Buri

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Pitfalls of nuclear power outweigh the advantages

Regarding the debate about whether Thailand should build up to four nuclear power plants, with due respect to Suthep Kittikulsingh, I did not cite his article on the topic. I had written and sent my letter to The Nation before reading his. I see now, after reading his letter in rsponse, that he and I agree on some aspects, though he seems to want to take a wait and see attitude, whereas I am firmly against their construction. In a nutshell, nuclear plants, if built, will portent manifold problems for Thailand and its people.

One of the many potential pitfalls: Who will insure the plants and how much will the premiums cost? The Chernobyl disaster sent a cloud of radioactive dust as far away as Sweden. Residents downwind from that plant are still paying the price in terms of sick lives, farmland now off-limit and ghost towns. Will insurers of a Thai plant be prepared to pay compensation to not only Thais, but possibly to Malaysians, Cambodians, Burmese, Lao, Singaporean, Chinese or Vietnamese people - any of whom may be downwind from a radioactive cloud - if there were a major leak? The insurance claims don't last for a week or a month - they would keep going for decades.

Even the rosiest of scenarios shows that a decommissioned plant will have to be covered by millions of tons of concrete and become a sarcophagus that is off-limits to man and beast for thousands of years. Does Thailand want a vast dead-zone like that on its territory?

Any serious discussion of nuclear plants will have to include specific plans for where the spent fuel rods will eventually be buried. It's not good enough to say "mai pen rai, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it". That was one of the primary issues that caused Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant to be decommissioned. It was located in Sacramento, California and even though it was in good working condition, local residents voted to close it down for environmental and security reasons. Could such a thing happen in Thailand?  Yes, but it would be a much messier process, not least because it's not uncommon for Thai environmental activists to get murdered for speaking out.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Press should be grateful for small mercies

In the last week, when it was the first anniversary of the coup, The Nation, exercised its perceived duty and carried a considerable number of articles critical of the military government. Without discussing here whether those criticisms are valid or not, we should be thankful that such criticism is possible. In many other countries where the military has seized control, such articles would not be tolerated. Look at the country to our west.

Michael Clowes

Bangkok

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Assets shouldn't prevent qualified people serving

Mr Sittichai promptly resigned his Cabinet seat when it became known that his shareholdings exceeded the past Constitution's limit, and presumably the incoming government will have to adhere to these ceilings as well - even though his holdings are legal as a member of the interim government. His reasoning, which I laud, is that the spirit of the law is clear and valid - to prevent the massive conflicts of interest that others, and most famously, Thaksin allegedly succumbed to. Thus, with his high ethics, he adhered to not only the letter, but also the spirit of the law.

I suggest PM Surayud seek ways to enable future Cabinets to tap our best and brightest minds for public service without our having to worry about conflicts of interest.

To start with, I suggest that the financial statements of all those required be audited by Securities and Exchange Commission-approved auditors, at public cost and with clean opinions required, so that at least there should be no errors or omissions as to individual's holdings.

Also, how do other countries deal with this problem, and with what results? For example, how do we set up blind trusts that are truly blind, so that the office holder cannot influence its operations?

If so, perhaps we can require that MPs place their holdings there while in office. Or, should we require that any excess holdings be sold within, say, six months of taking office? If so, how can we be fair to the public servants and not require them to sacrifice potential gains in order to serve our nation?

We cannot fully solve the age-old problem of conflicts of interest, but at least let us do what we can to prevent it, rather than let it happen again and again.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Burma may see blood spilt before it rebuilds

Re: "Burma needs the world's help", Editorial, September 25.

You write an impassioned plea for the UN to show leadership at this dangerous hour for the Burmese people. However, earlier in your piece you deride the same organisation for its shameful inaction up until now - so presumably you are hoping to shame it into some late but hopefully effective action.  However, the list of those waiting for effective intervention by the UN is growing longer and longer and the consequences for them more terrible. 

You also make a plea for the international community not to let the Burmese people down. In what coalescence you imagine the international community as an entity to be able to express a collective will other than the UN quite eludes me. Or perhaps I misunderstood the sense of the plea and you are directing it to all the countries of the world on an individual basis.

The long and the short of it is that the Burmese people have been fundamentally betrayed by the world in general and their neighbours in particular.  Interestingly, as you pointed the finger of accusation around, it never fell on Thailand. Yet there has been a steady stream of Thai leaders trotting off for a tete-a-tete with whichever murderous despot happened to be holding the reigns of power at that time, be it "use my satellite and I'll give you the money to pay for it" or "let us build a dam and then give you more cash to secure your inept regime" to "hello I'm running Thailand now".

As for religion, I do not understand enough about Buddhism to say whether there is any fault or shame to be apportioned at anyone's door. And while the people of Thailand are not directly responsible for the actions of their leaders, the plight of their Burmese brothers and sisters has never registered on their concern scale.

Sadly I feel that violence by the junta is, perversely, in the best interests of the Burmese people as the shedding of a monk's blood under the present circumstances would make the country ungovernable by them, and they would be hounded out. The alternative is some disgraceful compromise that saves faces all-round for those in authority, grants some window dressing concessions in Burma, and betrays the Burmese people yet again.  Sometimes you have to destroy to rebuild, and there is always a cost in destruction. But sometimes there is no alternative and sacrifices must be made.

Andrew Hamilton

Bangkok

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The blase attitude to safety is well entrenched

Thank you Christy K Sweet for having the courage to state some of the things that I think most of us feel in regard to Thailand's utter disregard for safety concerning aeroplanes, airports, buses and tour boats. It has been proven time and time again, but unfortunately at the cost of human lives, both Thai and foreign. It's just too bad that, being printed in The Nation, most Thais will never see it. Worse yet, is the fact that most Thais don't really care about it.

J Cicero

Phuket

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