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Published on April 17, 2008

I read the article in Tuesday's Nation "Noppadon denounces article 237" with mounting disgust as the country's illustrious Foreign Minister and PPP deputy secretary happily proclaimed that section 237 of the Charter was "against Buddhist religious tenets".

I was unaware that Thaksin's trusty lieutenant was such a devoutly committed Buddhist seeking to correct any non-compliant legislation which offends Buddhist teachings.  This aspect of his character has, as you so expertly exposed in Stoppage Time, been amazingly absent until now.

I am sure that this saga has a great deal of content still to come out and that the real depths of political depravity are yet to be plumbed. Myself and others can look forward to being infuriated beyond reason by the manoeuvrings and manipulations undertaken by this political puppet.

Fred Morrice

Bangkok

 

More transparency needed to end vote-buying scandal

Although vote buying is an extremely serious crime, dissolving the party due to the crimes of one of its leaders is also very drastic. To help avoid this fate, parties should be willing to make their finances transparent - because if they really are innocent, what's to hide? I propose that all receipts and expenditures by, or on behalf of, a political party and/or its candidates, directly or indirectly, be audited by a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-approved auditor, paid by the party or its candidates at market rates.

These are the same auditors who review the books of listed companies. The auditors will want to be rigorous, for if the SEC deems them to have acted unprofessionally (e.g., if they allowed a party to buy votes using party funds), the SEC can withdraw approval for a given person to audit any listed firm. Any assets that a political party and/or its candidates control, directly or indirectly, that have not been included in the party's financial statements shall be taken as prima facie evidence of having commissioned, or planned to commission, illegal activities and be sufficient for the party's entire executive committee to be banned from politics for five years.

If any party declines to accept the above terms, then they can retain the status quo, whereby their party can, and will, be dissolved based on the crimes of one leader.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

The downside of too long school holidays

As a foreign teacher with six years experience in the Thai school system, I can vouch for the fact that Thai schools are a few things, but they are most definitely not places of learning.

Nevertheless, one has to ask oneself why the government gives a protracted ten-week vacation for students.  What purpose does it serve? All I see is teenagers in the shopping malls, cramming into Internet shops, and playing computer games for hours on end. When not in those places, youngsters spend their vacation sleeping, eating, listening to music and watching too much TV. In America, most teenagers have summer jobs where they learn responsibility, and inevitably gain maturity and independence from summer occupations. It seems to me, however, that Thai parents do not want their children to have those qualities.

Also, why aren't there summer programmes run by volunteers that you find in every community in the West?

CM Phillips

Nonthaburi

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