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Published on March 17, 2008

 His edict ignores the brutal assault and murder of monks and peaceful citizenry and the abject state of a nation that was once (before the generals) a shining light of development in the region. Now some 70 per cent of the population are living on a dollar a day, infant mortality rates are among the worst in the world (according to a UN study, nearly 400 children under the age of five die every day from preventable diseases) and per-capita spending on health and education is around 50 US cents per year!

But that is only part of it. The foreign minister also seems to be totally unaware of the complete and utter intransigence being shown by the junta in the face of all efforts by the UN and most governments around the world to encourage serious moves toward real democracy.

Noppadon Pattama's apparent attempt at rapprochement with the generals is a slur against the whole of Thailand - any government that cares to deal with such murderers and crooks drags their country's reputation through the most stench-ridden gutter imaginable. Can he honestly believe that his words stand a snowball-in-hell's chance of being taken at face value when he chooses to completely disregard the "elephants in the sitting room" - human rights, justice and the litany of crimes against the Burmese people committed by that dreadful regime?

Julian Pieniazek

Nakhon Ratchasima

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Choosak uses fuzzy logic in defending Sumeth's age

Re: "Review of Sumeth's age should be dropped: Choosak", News, March 14.

PM's Office Minister Choosak Sirinin says Election Commission member Sumeth Ubanisakorn is not really 70 (and thus required to retire) because he was born before Thailand switched its New Year's Day from April 13 to January 1 in 1941, and, according to your report, "Every child born between January and April prior to the adoption of the international calendar system would have a year subtracted" from his age. Sumeth was born in March 1938. It is undeniable that he turns 70 this month.

Choosak is applying this unusual rule just to save the job of one person. Does he advocate applying it the same way to everyone born before 1941 who faces mandatory retirement (and those who have already been forced to retire)?

Farang Rak Thai

Bangkok

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Claims made on drug use in Thailand 'disturbing'

Re: "Support for drug war shows alarming ignorance", Letters, March 14.

Richard Sproat's simplistic view of drug addiction and Thailand's "War on Drugs" is quite disturbing.

To say Ecstasy (MDMA) is like methamphetamines (yaa baa) is reckless at best. There is no recreational dose of ecstasy and there will be some amount of brain damage with the first dose. Sproat also downplays the potential damage of heroin addiction by comparing it to being hooked on cigarettes. There is a strong physical addiction to each; however describing nicotine and heroin as "not physically very harmful" is ludicrous. Saying, "methamphetamine in Thailand has been given a very bad press" is just plain irresponsible.

Thailand's War on Drugs in 2003 was very popular with the uninformed. It appears that many of those killed were the victims of extrajudicial murders. All of the facts have yet to be revealed and we probably will never know the entire tale. To put forward the idea that ordinary Thais supported these extrajudicial killings is just not true and insults every citizen in the Kingdom.

David Barkdull

Bangkok

The Nation

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