At least five people were killed in what is described as separatist violence in the three southernmost provinces. What is simply dubbed as "violence in the South" would be big news in most civilised countries, but here in Bangkok it has been going on so long that no one seems to be giving it a thought. I have read inconsistent reports of how many lives have been lost from "violence in the South" over the past two years, and I suspect no one has an accurate body count. This is a very sad commentary on the value of life in Thailand.

Meanwhile, here in the capital, lawsuits, threats, intimidation and chaos in government dominate the news. Many of those involved are the ones who have responsibility and control of just what is happening to this great country. I thought the US was the lawsuit capital of the world, but I no longer think this is the case. Now that the system is paralysed, just who is looking out for the good people of Thailand?

To the powers that be: for the sake of the lives that are about to be lost, even in the South, stop trying to line your pockets, stop playing the blame game and listen to His Majesty the King. Human lives are at stake!

David Barkdull

Bangkok

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Poking a little fun at foreign friends is really not racism

Re: "Disappointed over racism in Thai films and on TV", Letters, May 5.

Disappointed Farang may have some kind of point, but I wonder whether he is mistaking the innate sense of humour of Thais for racism. After all, people in every country have a laugh at foreigners - that is to say, if they have a normal sense of humour unaffected by any silly "political correctness".

Now if we are talking about the behaviour of some foreigners that might cause Thais to look down on them, or some of them at least, one only has to visit, for example, Pattaya. A friend of mine was the other day in the dentist's waiting room of a well-known local hospital and espied two ill-dressed farangs - singlets, shorts and flip-flops - one of whom had removed his flip-flops, had his feet on the waiting-room table and was cleaning his toenails. My friend mentioned this to the dentist, who remarked that on another occasion, a farang and his moll were engaged in passionate embrace in front of all the other patients.

You see, there are always two sides to every story.

Observer

Chon Buri

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PM's recent jaunt was simply to get in some lame photo ops

Thaksin's most recent foreign junket had typically mixed results.

Of the seven targeted countries, the two closest (the Philippines and Malaysia) turned him down, and he had to return earlier than scheduled on a special Thai Airways International flight. Of the five leaders who purportedly met with him, three will soon be on their way out of office (Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Vladimir Putin), and only one (Putin) allowed photographs to be taken.

Given the speed and enthusiasm with which Thai Rak Thai members distributed photos of the handshake with Putin, it seems photo opportunities were the main purpose of the trip. But one out of seven isn't a very good score-card for Thaksin and the caretaker ministers who accompanied him. It was a C-minus performance. Was it worth the expense and breach of protocol?

Instead of getting its ambassadors to lobby for meetings for him, the Foreign Ministry should have advised Thaksin better on diplomatic etiquette and the undesirability of washing dirty linen in foreign lands.

Political leaders come and go, but relations between countries continue. The Foreign Ministry should not have allowed the conduct of relations to be hijacked even for a few days by a dubious caretaker team.

Nisanart Pumpanwong

Bangkok

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Govt handing out checks is no different from fuel subsidies

Re: "Abolish taxes on fuel and let free market set prices", Letters, May 1.

In his regular letters to this section, W Knight of Orange County, California, yammers on about the evils of subsidised healthcare and how the gates of hell will open if it's pursued.

But in his latest letter, he strangely contradicts himself by espousing the Republican Party's idea to put taxpayers on the dole by giving them US$100 [Bt3,800] each to help defray the cost of sky-rocketing petrol prices. Which is worse: helping the indigent access healthcare or helping Americans pay their fuel bills, which are still the lowest in the industrialised world?

Does W Knight really think those $100 checks will put fuel in the tank of a single car? Get real. At best, it's a free night on the town, and at worst they'll use the money to pay down the overwhelming debt most Americans are drowning in. Sounds like pandering to the masses to me, at a time when Bush's approval rating is at an all-time low. Or perhaps it's his way of apologising for being an instigating factor in the massive oil-price surge through his errant actions in Iraq.

The latest scheme reminds me of the Great Voter Buyoff that Bush orchestrated shortly after he took office. That's when he sent out a $300 check to all taxpayers for what he said was "overpaying their taxes", which had resulted in the terrible return of a budget surplus (God forbid). Then he promptly ran up the largest national deficit in history.

Giving each voter $100 pocket change will only do one thing: put the US further in debt, unless of course it's accompanied by a tax hike, which, of course, would never happen under George W Bush's watch.

Copper Johnny

Bangkok

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Courts, not the EC, will decide on propriety of April 2 vote

Re: "Vasana hits out at critics of ballot", News, May 5.

Election Commission (EC) chairman Vasana Puemlarp insists that elections in which a lone candidate stood were democratic. So I assume he considers elections in communist countries - where for many decades having a single candidate was standard practice - to have been democratic. Why, then, did Western countries consistently decry such elections as not offering a true choice? And did not no less a revered person than His Majesty the King note, a few days ago, that having only one candidate was not democratic?

Vasana also says the April 2 elections cannot be nullified. I suggest he, of all people, should know that the EC's actions cannot be above the law - and the final arbitrator is the courts, not him.

Let the courts decide on the elections in accordance with the law, without fear or favour, keeping His Majesty's wise words in mind. If it is within their scope, they should also consider the very important point brought up by His Majesty, but not debated in public yet: was it even necessary to dissolve Parliament and call the snap elections?

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Thaksin could achieve hero status by stepping aside

Ideally in democratic societies, people enter politics to serve others or promote policies they believe in. To accomplish their goals, they understandably seek to gain state power.

Thaksin has had five years in power to do the things he wanted to do. However, he must now realise that even though he may be able to cling to power through the ballot box, he will no longer be able to govern fully, since there is now a critical mass of people who will not accept his authority.

Thaksin could attain hero status if he were now to renounce clearly and definitively all political ambitions for the sake of the country and let others have a go. By voluntarily and permanently stepping aside, he would help break the political, constitutional and legal deadlocks. It should not be seen as a question of winning or losing. By making a personal sacrifice, he would be performing a great service for the country, greater than anything he could hope to achieve by staying on. Is making such a sacrifice too much to ask? He has had more than his fair share of good fortune. Let's all hope Thaksin can come to the realisation that enough is enough.

Natika Chairat

Songkhla

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United States is a pioneer in pigeon contraception

Re: "Pigeons may be put on the pill", News, May 4.

It may save Dr Sitthisat Jiemwongphat and his colleagues time and money to know that a substance that in effect is a birth control agent in pigeons and other pest birds was developed, tested and approved for sale in the US in the 1970s: diazacon. Please see the US Department of Agriculture website:

www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/nwrc/research/reproductive_control/diazacon.html.

Tom Keller

Bangkok

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When can all the new airlines land at Suvarnabhumi?

Re: "THAI to launch a new airline, 'Euarng Luang'," Business, May 3.

About the only thing one can be certain of in Thailand is uncertainty.

While the caretaker prime minister insists that Suvarnabhumi Airport will open as planned in July, today's article [on The Nation website] concerning the formation of yet another new airline by Thai Airways talks of an [airport] opening by the end of the year.

One suspects that only His Majesty the King's intervention could make a July opening certain.

While the prime minister will probably not bet his shirt on a July opening, some semblance of national pride will almost certainly be displayed in June, when many foreign heads of state arrive for His Majesty's celebrations. Where will they land? Well, perhaps the desire to show off Thailand's new showcase to the world will surely prove irresistible.

David Prescott

UK