In the first report on a possible return to power by caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Samut Prakan MP elect Pracha Prasopdee apparently said: "We have to think of the voters' needs. They want Thaksin to come back again." The other report quotes him as saying that the Democrat Party should take some of the blame for the election because it was a cause of the political crisis. Surely he must have been joking. Otherwise where has he been for the past couple of months? Doesn't he read the newspapers?

A very, very substantial minority of the voters (let's call them the literate masses), would not have Thaksin back at any price, and many of them took to the streets to prove it. According to most reports and comments published over the period, they clearly consider him to be, at the very least, a scoundrel. I am not Thai and therefore will not venture a personal opinion, but I do read the newspapers. Regardless, Thaksin is perceived to be the sole cause of the current political crisis, and to attempt to blame the Democrat Party, who would have none of it when an election was suddenly sprung upon them, is the height of absurdity.

To an outsider this does seem a golden opportunity for Thai Rak Thai to rid itself of a very problematic man, and it would be politically beneficial. If perchance the party is re-elected to power, it has a number of people in its ranks who would make very competent, less troublesome prime ministers.

One further comment: if The Democrat Party wants to win the next election, it really will have to play the Thai Rak Thai at its own "populist" game and come up with policies which will truly appeal to the majority of voters. There are several important areas where the poor and the elderly are distinctly disadvantaged.

Henry Ashe

Bangkok

-----------------------------------------------------

Maybe PM will come back home a changed man

 Your April 29 editorial "TRT may be courting disaster", on Thaksin's possible resurrection, was full of prophecies of doom. His Majesty's historical wake-up call has opened a new chapter. A fresh and fair general election is likely once our judiciary has buried all the recent anomalies.

You say Thaksin should now disappear from the political scene for good, for his own sake and for the sake of the entire nation. But after his being ridiculed and insulted publicly for months by his opponents, I think your hope is unrealistic. No man who has been treated like that would ever disappear from the scene without trying to restore his good name.

As you say, Thaksin needs to act quickly to restore his image; otherwise he and his family will be buried for good. His last opportunity lies ahead. He is unlikely to walk away with his Bt70 billion with pride, as he must have now realised that money is not everything.

Thaksin's methodology in coming back is crucial. If he goes back to his old self without learning from all the criticism, then your doomsaying will prove correct. But don't you think the suffering he has endured recently could have made him less omnipotent, more humble and ethical, less monetary and more accommodating in sharing power with others? I like to think so. Recognising some of his past good deeds, wouldn't it be nice for our nation to test him one more time?

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

-----------------------------------------------------

UN report on trafficking in people shames Thailand

 While the Thai Rak Thai Party and its leader await a decision on whether Thailand is to be delivered back into their care, they could make good use of the time by studying a document just issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime titled "Trafficking in Persons". The report is available online at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/trafficking_persons_report_2006-04.html.

They will discover that Thailand shamefully ranks in the highest category as a country of origin, country of transit and country of destination.

They will learn that the great majority of trafficked persons are women and girls, that the trafficking is predominantly for sexual exploitation and that trafficking for forced labour is also extant.

The Thai Rak Thai has led the country for five years to supposed development and enrichment. It has declared repeatedly the goal of excelling on the world stage, even proposing a candidate to lead the UN. However, this report indicates a monstrous base of enslavement and degradation in our country.

Somehow, in pursuing world status, the agreements which would have countered the problems of trafficking have been neglected:

1. The Convention against Transnational Organised Crime

2. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

3. The Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air

None of these treaties has been ratified by Thailand.

Danthong Breen

Union for Civil Liberty

Bangkok

-----------------------------------------------------

Code of conduct needed on film representations

While Scott Rosenberg makes several important points in his letter "Take measures to ensure that foreign film-makers don't misrepresent Thai culture" (April 29), a broader view is also needed.

In 1999-2000, when Hollywood released three films featuring Thailand with some distasteful elements, I undertook a content analysis of all films about Thailand listed on the imdb.com database. I found that, on average, American films actually portrayed Thai characters more positively than Thai films, with Hong Kong films midway between the two.

Rosenberg's remarks, for example, could be directed toward "Ghost Game", which will form an impression of Thailand that will not escape Hollywood's eyes.

A more generic response would be to call upon the Motion Picture Association of America to establish a code of conduct regarding distasteful representations, to be monitored by a Committee on Foreign Relations, with a requirement that scripts and ongoing productions should be reviewed by independent consultants.

Michael Haas

Political Film Society

Hollywood

-----------------------------------------------------

Fuel cells are not a magical source of energy

 Re: "Hydrogen offers hope as fossil fuels diminish", Byteline & Innovation, The Nation, April 21.

In the article on the establishment of Hygen Power and its proposals to supply and promote the use of fuel cells in Thailand, naturally it would present the technology in as favourable light as possible - and there is a place for fuel cells in the general energy provision system - but it should be recognised for what it is. Some of the statements in the article were a bit misleading.

The managing director Adirek Sriwatanawongsa was quoted as saying that once a company that installed fuel cells had paid the initial installation cost, it no longer had to pay for electricity. True - but what about the hydrogen and oxygen feedstock for the device? Will Hygen Power provide these free of charge for the life of the cell?

Some people think that fuel-cell technology is a clean and inexhaustible source of energy. After all, hydrogen and oxygen are very common elements. But hydrogen, unlike oxygen, does not occur in abundance as a free element, which is a good thing, because it is highly flammable and very dangerous. It occurs combined with other chemicals in compounds, which have to be split up into separate elements to release the hydrogen. This costs money and energy. The latter is the critical point: fuel cells are not a source of energy, they are a storage system that is convenient for some purposes.

For example, we might think of getting the hydrogen for our fuel cell from water, which is a cheap raw material. But we will have to use more energy to break down the water into its elements than we will get from recombining them in a fuel cell later. All such energy systems are less than 100-per-cent energy-efficient. What this means is that the fuel cell's output of energy will be less than the input to produce its raw materials.

If we have a free energy source that we can tap intermittently, we can use it to obtain the hydrogen and oxygen when it is available. The gases can then be fed into a fuel cell to release the energy at a time suitable for the user. Wind and solar power are energy sources that come to mind in this context. They could be used to dissociate water, or some other compound, when and where it is available.

The combination of hydrogen with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce electricity and water is a clean process. But we must look at the overall system, including the production of the hydrogen and oxygen. This may or may not be "clean", depending on the source of power used for the separation process.

Fuel cells probably have a place in the energy cycle, but see them for what they are, as an intermediate storage system, not a magical new source of energy.

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok

-----------------------------------------------------

Abolish taxes on fuel and let free market set prices

 The United States has proposed a US$100 [Bt3,753] fuel rebate for taxpayers, and Thailand has a similar tax-relief programme under review. This makes eminent economic sense as fuels are overtaxed.

In his letter "Cut in Oil Fund contribution is disastrous in the long term", (The Nation, April 29) Joe Frasier advocates high fuel taxes as he fears tax relief would hasten an economic crisis in Thailand.

On the contrary, abolishing all fuel taxes and letting the free market set prices will bring the quickest changes and encourage the most efficient methods of fuel use, which is what the writer claims he wants.

W Knight

Orange County, California

Send us your views in an instant E-mail your opinion, with 'Letters to the Editor' in the subject box, to: letters@nationgroup.com