Samak exposes himself as an unfit leader on live TV

The fact that the plan was cancelled illustrates that Samak's power base is shallow. He did not get support from coalition partners or the military. Essentially the matter properly belongs to the police.

On Saturday, Samak escalated the conflict and could not justify the one-hour monologue. In his solo act Samak showed himself to be out of touch and out of substance.

Judging from the grumbling from Thaksin, it is possible that Samak could be removed from the leadership of People Power Party and the premiership. In Thai politics we live with unintended consequences everyday.

Netirat Intira

Bangkok

PAD wrongly lumped in with unruly protesters

Re: "Peaceful demonstrations the way to true change", Letters, May 31.

Burin Kantabutra opens with an impassioned plea against inaction to the Kingdom's intelligentsia but then swiftly moves on to attack the People's Alliance for Democracy, accusing it of rabble-rousing, provocation and inflammatory behaviour. On what basis he makes such assertions quite eludes me.

If demonstrating peacefully but then having to defend yourselves from stones and bags of urine when an orchestrated attack is directed at you is rabble-rousing, inflammatory and provocative then he has a fundamentally different understanding of what behaviour qualifies as such than I do.

He then proceeds to quote what he holds to be measured words from historically eminent men.  However, there is nothing measured in those of Winston Churchill's address to parliament as the United Kingdom faced imminent invasion by Nazi forces in 1940. In seeking to rally the nation the tenet of this famous speech was the need to fight. Indeed the word appears seven times in one sentence.

The PAD, the sole target of his present ire, finds itself I would venture, more in the role of victim than that of perpetrator in the present unrest. Burin Kantabutra would therefore, I respectfully suggest, do better to direct his undoubted intellect to  identifying and ruthlessly exposing the injustice he alluded to in his letter and bringing those responsible to book.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

GE could be a Trojan

horse for nuclear power

Re: "GE Energy signs up clients for power", News, May 29.

Smart planning for Thailand's future energy generation is, of course, a good idea. The article mentions several sensible (and obvious) concepts such as "maximum efficiency", and "keeping fuel costs to a minimum", etc.

Perhaps the article's loudest statement is what it doesn't say. GE is a global leader in supplying nuclear-power plants. Could their cheery engagements with Egat and other Thai energy providers be a smokescreen for bringing in nuclear? Thai industry people can be expected to look mainly to their "bottom line", but regular Thais might do well to keep an eye out for a latter day Trojan horse. Egat still hasn't announced where it plans to site the four nuclear power plants it wants. The plants will likely be along the sea coast. Shouldn't nearby townspeople be notified when a nuclear plant is planned for their vicinity?

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

Public transport not ready for a car-free Bangkok

Use of the current mass-transit system will not meet the needs of commuters, if many decide to turn to public transportation rather than private cars. The BTS Skytrain and MRT need to have at least two cars added to peak period trains to make them attractive and viable alternatives to cars. At the present, the terrible crush of passengers on the two systems during peak periods, which is most of the day, is not inviting, as it is not comfortable.  Also, thought should be given to parking lots at station terminals, which would permit commuters to leave their cars outside the city, not downtown as now, and use public transportation for the better part of their commute.

R W Pons

Bangkok

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