OPINION

Challenge awaits

Re: "Anutin dismisses 'sick man of Asia' label for Thailand", (BP, Feb 15).

At the time when Thailand has been named by one media outlet as "The sick man of Asia", the result of the Feb 8 election has led me to one man, Anutin Charnvirakul, standing at the crossroads.

As he patches together a government, Mr Anutin can either make a difference in the governing of Thailand or create a coalition among friends who scratch each other's backs.

The coalition that he forms can make a great difference if he can avoid that "grey party".

The first step is to do something right unexpectedly, even by including prominent outsiders in the coalition.

Mr Anutin is an ex-playboy, saxophone player, a registered pilot of the Red Cross, fluent in English and Mandarin, an entrepreneur and a family man.

He may surprise us yet.

Mr Anutin can be a man destined for greatness, depending on the choices he makes next.

Winter Games woes

Re: "Malinin wilts at Winter Games, Heraskevych loses ban appeal", (Sports, Feb 15).

The winter Olympics seem to be getting more coverage for irregularities than for competing.

There was the weirdest ever form of cheating, "Penisgate", in which the World Anti-Doping Agency investigated whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further.

There are also reports of cheating on a girlfriend by Norway's Sturla Holm Laegreid. He used his bronze medal interview to beg her to return to him. Desperate but doubtful.

There have been a number of downhill fails here, although this is only a broken heart, not a bone.

If they are the best their countries have to offer, then we should start to wonder about the future of these countries, especially their athletes.

What will be the next slip-up?

PP found lacking

Re: "Troubling signs", (PostBag, Feb 9).

Somkid Sirikumarkul was ambiguous in making his point in his latest letter.

The Reuters report citing "influential enemies" blocking the success of the People's Party (PP) is just propaganda by the Western media.

The PP has campaigned to undermine the royal institution by abolishing Article 112.

When they fail, as they did at the election, they blame the "invisible enemies", not themselves.

When the PP openly supported equal wages and treatment for Burmese workers in Thailand, in line with US policy to support the democratic movement there, many Isan workers had already decided to vote against them in this election, and they did.

The PP told their supporters that with a democratic mandate, they can reform the government, and called Article 112 an obstruction to democracy without any proof.

The PP leaders are not reformists, and their electoral polices are not clear or significant.

None has the qualifications or experience needed to lead the country.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the de facto leader of the PP, is an heir of his family business.

Perhaps it is not too late to go and prove himself to voters by running and reforming his family company, which is reported by Bloomberg to be looking for a buyer.

When will those who believe in the PP, especially educated Bangkokians who voted for the party, realise the campaign against Article 112 is just a smoke screen that can lead the country to perdition and chaos?