• 
• 

Published on January 1, 2008

Out of these cases, possibly as many as half of them would be declared fraudulent and as many winners disqualified if the EC were as strict as it claims to be.

This shows the EC has been less than diligent in its pre-election preparation. It should have been more vigilant against candidates related to politicians who were banned from politics for electoral fraud. This would have solved half of the problems they are facing at the moment. Now Thailand seems to be in even deeper water than before the coup because of the rampant vote-buying practices.

It also shows the September 2006 coup has led to naught. And the Surayud government is the biggest letdown in Thailand's history of democratic development.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

-----------

Vengeance must not guide Thaksin in New Year

Is Thaksin planning to be the Almighty? An anonymous top Thaksin aide says, "Once the Samak government takes office, the first priority is to reorganise the top echelon of military officers. Key members of Class 10 of the cadet school will be restored to powerful posts in the military. They still support Thaksin" - as if the military's mission was to be loyal to a given politician, rather than His Majesty the King and country. The aide then says that the judiciary will be reorganised.

How can the People Power Party (PPP), the existence of which revolves around Thaksin, impartially reorganise the system of justice, which will try their guiding light on serious criminal charges? Are they setting up a whitewash? Thaksin repeatedly promised, "I'm not going back to politics" - yet, he's reportedly in close consultations with the PPP; surely they discuss more than the weather?

If his word to stay clear of politics is writ on water, what about his pledge not to seek revenge on Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratglin, not to mention Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda? Does he think that they are blind, deaf, and dumb?

Thaksin should have used his self-imposed exile to learn from his experiences, but it seems that he's learned as little as us voters. There is ever-so-little time for him to stick to his pledge to keep out of politics, and for us to insist that whoever forms our next government must put our interests first and foremost, and lead us with vision and strict adherence to the spirit of the law - for "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he" (Proverbs 29:18).

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

-----------

Prevention the only way to stop bird-flu pandemic

The strategy to prevent hundreds of millions of people dying (possibly over a billion) across the globe from the avian-flu pandemic is totally flawed. This reliance that governments around the world have placed on predominantly vaccination only is a decision that history will record as one of the most insane and insidious ever made by our political leaders.

The eventual human-to-human killer virus that will emerge will be a new strain due to the fact that viruses constantly mutate and, owing to the initial incubation period for bird flu to show its ugly face, the virus will have spread like wildfire across the world through millions travelling internationally on a daily basis.

Indeed, the avian-flu strain is 20 times more virulent than the 1917/1918 Spanish flu that killed between 50 million and 100 million people, but where this time, literally hundreds of millions will perish with this strategy that has been poorly thought out by our political leaders and governments.

This highly contagious disease should have been addressed at its source (prevention) and history again will confirm this eventual conclusion. Unfortunately by then, this terrible event will have taken place.

Governments should rethink therefore before it is too late and adopt predominantly a "field" strategy - for this is the only strategy that will work and stop the unimaginable from happening. Governments have been warned continuously, but they do not wish to listen due to the powerful overtones delivered to our political leaders by the giant pharmaceuticals in their quest for profits (or selfish greed, dependant on which point-of-view one wishes to take).

One has to remember also that since 2003 the human mortality rate through the bird-flu virus has been 62 per cent and where only 38 people on average out of every hundred has survived. Overall therefore it has to be said that these vast profit-orientated pharmaceutical companies have not stopped any of these deaths through their highly expensive drugs and things will be no different when the eventual pandemic arrives.

It is hoped therefore that, for the sake of humankind, a major sea change takes place within the thinking of our political leaders in 2008, from one of cure to prevention, and before time literally runs out on us all. Indeed, in 2007, CNN.Com determined that 87 per cent of voters considered that health agencies would not be able to respond effectively if there was an avian-flu pandemic.

These are therefore not fear factors but factors derived from pure logic and facts determined by some of the leading authoritative thinkers on the subject.

Dr David Hill

World Innovation Foundation

Bern, Switzerland

Send us your views in an instant

E-mail your opinion, with 'Letters to

the Editor' in the subject box, to:

letters@nationgroup.com

The Nation