Stop pointing fingers and start open investigation of ‘weapons find’
Re: “Truth of weapons find lost in propaganda war”, Have Your Say, December 6.
A Johnsen labels those who have expressed doubts regarding the government’s claims concerning the recent arms finds as “finger-pointers”, but then points his own finger by accusing them of keeping quiet during the violent street attacks in 2014. These attacks were indeed vile, and I have no doubt that the fair-minded A Johnsen is referring to the violence perpetrated by both sides, including the fatal shooting of an elderly man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, struck down by a gunman within the ranks of yellow-shirt supporters. This “Popcorn” gunman was later praised by PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban.
The writer yearns for an unbiased response to these arms finds, but several have already been made, including from Weng Tojirakarn, a red-shirt leader, who said he supported a fact-finding process by the government to identify the culprits and bring them to justice. Pure common sense, and no finger-pointing involved! Of course, to ensure justice is served, the facts, once established, would need to be presented in an open court of law during a fair trial to establish their direct connection with the accused.
In a previous letter, A Johnsen bemoaned the current state of democracy worldwide, apart from Scandinavia, from where he originates. However, in statistics recently released by the World Health Organisation, the suicide rate in Sweden was found to be exactly the same as in Thailand, and well above some other European countries, particularly the United Kingdom. I do not know what, if any, correlation there is between these tragic figures and politics; perhaps our resident Viking can throw some light on the matter.
Robin Grant
Bangkok
