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Published on October 24, 2007

Such a change would create a dramatic power vacuum.

The Daily Times yesterday came out with a report titled "Civil war without Burma military", which argues, "Without the military, Burma can dissolve into civil war. The country has many ethnic groups, a number of which are still armed and can easily start rebellions in the border regions. The last thing we want is a Yugoslavia or an Iraqi situation on our doorstep."

By supporting such a position, Ong Keng Yong is playing to the tune of the Burmese junta and echoing exactly its rhetoric - that it is the sole saviour of the country. In fact, the opposite is true, as can be seen by the ruthless suppression of the recent uprising, which resulted in the murder of 200 or more people and thousands thrown into prison. Any regime that fails to protect its citizens and instead harms and even slaughters them has no right to rule and is illegitimate in every sense of the word.

Again, the nature of the conflict, especially the ongoing civil war between the Burmese junta and non-Burman peoples, is a vertical one and not horizontal like in the former Yugoslavia or in Iraq, where different ethnic groups were, and are, at each other's throats.

The conflict is vertical, for it is a conflict between the ruling junta and each ethnic group, such as the Shan, Kachin, Chin, Karen, Karenni, Mon and Arakan. The different ethnic groups are not at war with each other and, in fact, even form umbrella organisations to collectively bargain with the junta for their rights of self-determination, federalism and equality.

The Shan Democratic Union, an umbrella organisation of the Shan exile groups, pointed out recently: "We have umbrella organisations such as the National Coalition of the Union of Burma, the National Democratic Front, the Democratic Alliance of Burma, the Ethnic Nationalities Council and the Committee Representing Political Parties. The Shan State Army, the Karenni Progress Party and the Karen National Union are bundled under the Military Alliance; all have common goals and as such, we are in a position to fill the power vacuum. In short, we won't fall into a Yugoslavia-like scenario easily."

It would do the Asean secretary-general good to probe deeply into the nature of the conflict in Burma before blindly endorsing the Burmese military junta's rule in the name of avoiding civil war. In fact, the civil war has been raging in Burma for years and is an ongoing one.

SMW

Hamburg, Germany

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Nuclear plant would be an ill-advised idea

There has been a lot of discussion about Thailand considering building a nuclear power plant. Beside the estimated cost of construction, there are other costs associated with a nuclear power plant. But most important is the maintenance cost, both in terms of money and human well-being. Looking from 27 plus years as a professional engineer in California, from a Thai eye, and knowing how my countrymen do things, it would be a disaster to build a nuclear power plant in Thailand. The Thai authorities cannot maintain the klongs, buses, roads, trains, airport security systems, or even sidewalks. How could they maintain a nuclear power plant? The Bhopal disaster in India in 1984 caused 5,000 immediate deaths and more than 500,000 people are still suffering today.

How can anyone seriously think of building a nuclear power plant in Thailand? Take a drive outside of Bangkok and you can see factories spewing toxic fumes out of their chimneys. "Mai pen rai" and "kreng jai" attitudes are not going to work. It takes a whole lot more than that. This idea is being recycled in the US (and pushed to other places) because of high petroleum prices, but it is not going to fly either.

Manas Thananant

California

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Students are indifferent to learning English

Re: "English learning debate not of vital importance", Letters, October 23.

I concur with Mr Bill's opinion that English language learning is not important to Thais.

I am a teacher in Thailand with 11 years' experience at numerous Thai schools. In that time I do not ever recall encountering more than only a handful of students who enjoyed learning and practising English within or outside the classroom. The vast majority of Thai students are supremely content to remain in a completely Thai world, no matter how small it might be.

I disagree with Mr Bill, however, that introducing other language choices such as Mandarin or Yawi would improve things much. Thai students, for whatever reasons - perhaps the overcrowded classrooms, lack of standards, or their parents' own apathy towards learning - are determined not to do anything unless it is absolutely critical. And this is my point: standards should be raised for English education. Objective evaluation should be implemented whereby at a certain age or grade level, a certain level of progress should be met, and any student that falls short of said standards should not be permitted to continue in English. This would undoubtedly result in entire schools having no English students past the first year of English, but other schools might have a handful continuing on. But isn't that better than the current system where foreign teachers simply waste their time teaching student chaff?

The idea of accountability and standards runs counter to Thailand's philosophy of education (and therefore will never be implemented), but unless standards and accountability are introduced for students, the whole idea of teaching English in Thai schools will continue to be a waste of time.

As for me, I now work as a teacher in a language school with adults who actually want to learn. I find this immensely satisfying and I recommend teaching at language schools for all foreign teachers (minus those employed at some international schools) here in Thailand.

CM Phillips

Nonthaburi

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Read good books or don't bother reading at all

Your recent article on the benefits of developing a strong reading habit asserted that the average Vietnamese read sixty books per year these days, as opposed to a mere two by Thais.

While an average of 60 does seem to be a rather debatable claim, at least the Thai prime minister was able to put this evident failing into a more balanced perspective by noting two areas in which Thais show rather more talent - listening and speaking - which called to mind a wry observation by Mark Twain, another man of many parts: "There is no difference between people who never read good books and people who never learned to read at all."

Frank Lee

Bangkok

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After 75 years, politicians still have not evolved

Re: "Political rot starts at party level", Editorial, October 23.

It's amazing how Thai politics is currently being played. Three newly formed parties - Pracharaj, Matchima Thippatai and Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana - whose names reflect sound ideologies, came into being because their leaders wanted to elevate themselves from group leaders towards a more prominent role in national politics: to get invited to join the new coalition government after the December general election, at all costs.

These parties are ideological only in name. Publicly, they try every possible way to portray themselves as salvagers of democracy. Privately, all kinds of dirty politicking is being played. It seems politics in Thailand is all about self-interest in the guise of public interest. One wonders how much progress our country has achieved during its 75 years of so-called "full democracy".

Thais should sound their disappointment over our politicians' disgusting demeanour. We must start developing our democracy by monitoring and shaping our politicians' character. Another way is not to give these people our vote of confidence - and let them know it.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

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