Postbag
Re: ''Power comes from afar _ with help from Skype'', by Thomas Fuller, Feb 2.
Yes, we all know that most important political decisions are made by Thaksin, so isn't it time for PM Yingluck to quit lying to the people? She insists that she is her own woman, and it is she who is prime minister and not her brother.
It is time Ms Yingluck admitted she does make important decisions based on advice she receives from her older, more experienced brother. At least then, people would have more respect for her honesty, than they do knowing what she says is not true.
Leave Thaksin where he is, and leave Ms Yingluck where she is. Just be truthful about it.
CHARLIE BROWN
Pattaya
All in the family
Re: ''Leave verdict to the court'', (Postbag, Feb 3). I have yet to know of a case, either in or outside Thailand, that allowing a fugitive to stay in his own home could cause his wife, sons and daughters to face the criminal charge of aiding and abetting a fugitive.
Pol Maj Gen Supisarn Phakdinaruenart, chief of the Crime Suppression Division, mentioned a strong Thai tradition of gratitude to the parents as a mere reminder of family value.
One therefore should not expect the children to help the police to arrest their father. But Gen Supisarn did mention that charges would be laid if there is evidence of extra efforts of Kamnan Poh's children or relatives in preventing the arrest, for example, active in misleading or obstructing the police. Passive gratitude is not criminal.
This police group has enhanced Thailand's rule of law immensely. Unfair and bombastic criticisms merely discourage the force from arresting more fugitives in future. Their exemplary deed has told the world that no one is above the law and crime does not pay.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
It's all pie-in-the-sky
It's all very well for the Bangkok governor candidates to ramble on about wheelchair ramps, safe footpaths, skytrain elevators and so forth, as they did when recently cornered by the disabled lobby (''Candidates focus on services for disabled'', Feb 2), but such measures would be ineffective since the footpaths themselves are almost impassable by able-bodied pedestrians, let alone the disabled.
The problem is that street vendors have been allowed to proliferate out of control, and the situation has become worse and worse over the past three decades. These days, vendors are allowed to ply their wares on both the shop frontage side and the kerbside of the footpath, leaving a narrow channel of less than two metres.
Those who stop to browse or buy something restrict the available width even further, reducing pedestrian movements to a shuffle. Put a wheelchair or two into the mix and you achieve pedestrian gridlock. Does one see many wheelchairs in the vicinity of Siam Square? No. It is not difficult to fathom why.
The solution is in principle very straightforward and requires no investment in infrastructure. The BMA should enforce a series of regulations that ensure that the width of footpath available for pedestrians is never less than, say, three metres, that street vendors should stick to one side of the footpath only, and that certain spots of heavy pedestrian flow such as the BTS station entrances are kept entirely clear.
Ideally, there should be a footpath management plan drawn up for each of the worst-affected areas.
But would the candidates dare to impose such a scheme? Probably not.
NIGEL PIKE
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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2013/02/04/admit-the-truth/
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