Perhaps if Dr Chanchai Prasertson lived in Phang Nga or had undertaken research worthy of his title, he would not have written such nonsense about tourist unemployment in Phang Nga.

Compared with Phuket's transformation into a shallow, one-dimensional society due to tourism, Phang Nga's economy has depth. The mainstays are rubber, horticulture and fishing, all of which are thriving, and the four-month tourist season is the "icing on the cake". Ten years ago tourism was barely significant.

In terms of employment, tourism has attracted seasonal workers from Isaan, labourers from Burma, speculators from Bangkok and mafia from Phuket, all of whom Phang Nga could do well without. As for the "songtaew drivers forced to supplement their measly incomes with odd jobs", these wily old rogues are quite happy to charge tourists Bt50 per head for the 3 kilometres between Bang Niang and Bang La-on compared to the normal Bt20 for the 30-kilometre trip to Takua Pa. Not quite so measly, eh?

Thanks to the national tourist policy that puts quantity before quality, Khao Lak is destined to become yet another sad monument to uncontrolled tourist development. While the governor may condone this, the ordinary Phang Nga folk do not, judging from a recent development seminar that I attended; they would like Phang Nga to remain as it is.

But there is not much chance. Right now, we are undergoing another "tsunami" of new tourist construction in which (Dr Chanchai please note) every available pair of hands is fully employed.

Nigel Pike

Phang Nga

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Democrats yet to answer urgent questions on policy

 Re: "There remains no viable alternative to ruling party", Letters, May 4.

I would like to add to Prachyadavi Tavedikul's observations. Besides promising to improve on the Thai Rak Thai Party's work, the rest of Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva's televised speech last Saturday was full of rhetoric and well-timed applause. It was a big yawn and a big nothing - not a single moment that could stir me from my seat. Abhisit would have fared better if he were not so concerned with vote-catching phrases, the southern style.

Crowd pleasing is fun, but not long-lasting. To uplift the credibility of the Democrats as an alternative government, Abhisit should at least try to answer some of our concerns, such as:

l What is the party's stand on economic and monetary policy given the current global environment?

l What is your solution for the energy crisis, alternative fuels and control on inflationary pressure?

l Will you hang on to the globalisation policy or prefer to be left out of the process?

l Will you pursue bilateral free trade agreements?

l How would you improve our tourist industry?

l Will you follow Somkid Jatusripitak's macro-policy on specialisation and marketing strategy?

l Do you agree with privatisation of essential state enterprises?

l Will you support our capital market?

l Will you shelve Egat's privatisation and nationalise PTT Plc?

l Will you continue with the mega-projects?

l How will you cure our social ills and improve quality of life in the cities and rural areas?

l Are you disgusted with the university admission system and your alternative, if any?

l Will you continue the current policy on drug control?

l How would you correct the instability in the three southern provinces?

Abhisit's one hour of television time could have been sufficient to mark him as a leader to be reckoned with, given his good looks and diction. The chance has gone, but perhaps next time...

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Leaders, economists must have seen oil crisis coming

 I remain baffled by how surprised and unprepared most people seem to be for the rise in oil prices. It might be understandable that many working-class people are too busy making ends meet to pay attention to global trends. However, for any national leader, CEO, banker, economist, financier or reasonably informed citizen to be in any way surprised and unprepared is mind-boggling. And yet, this is clearly the case.

One of the few things I recall from my basic university economics course many long years ago is: when supply diminishes and demand increases, prices go up. Duh, hello! If anyone thinks that oil prices are going to go down, except temporarily, they are woefully uninformed. What is the national plan to deal with the problem? This is a country totally dependent on oil imports, and yet its leaders for the most part fiddle while Bangkok burns.

What will the country do when oil hits US$100 dollars (Bt3,800) a barrel? What will the country do when there is widespread flooding due to global warming? What will the country do when there are earthquakes along the fault lines in western Thailand? What will the country do when bird flu or one of its likely mutations progresses to human-to-human transmission?

I could go on, but I hope the point is clear. While the national leadership across the political spectrum consumes their days with petty interests, the clock ticks.

David Spillane

Chiang Mai

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Capital punishment's major drawback risk to innocents

 Re: "The morality of capital punishment, Opinion", May 6, 2006

While The Nation is to be praised for raising the issue of capital punishment, which has great relevance to the Thai justice system, there are questions to be asked from a Thai perspective about opinions based on another culture. Capital punishment is rightly strongly debated within the US, but elements of that debate tend to dominate discussion elsewhere.

Gary Becker, while rightly excluding "revenge and other possible motives", supports capital punishment only because he believes that it deters other murders. To contest this argument we would have to enter into the context of the US crime scene. Those more familiar with the practical aspects of crime in the US assert that, even in premeditated murder, motivation does not depend on a balancing of the fear of being put to death against the urge to kill. Becker's belief is also contested by the results of a US study in 1995 that found that the majority of police chiefs do not believe that the death penalty is an effective deterrent.

The views of Becker are opposed by other academics in the US who have access to related crime and judicial data. However, even at this distance from the scene, one can reject the non sequitur of Becker's arguments: "Opponents of capital punishment frequently proclaim that the state has no moral right to take anyone's life. Yet that is absolutely the wrong conclusion for anyone who believes that capital punishment deters."

"Absolutely"! And as far as moral argument goes, this is a mere repetition of the inadmissible principle that the end justifies the means.

But the most serious fault in Becker's article follows his admission of worry about the risk of executing the innocent and his highly ingenuous statement that "there are very few, if any, documented cases of innocent people being killed". If he cared to look he would have found documented cases. But it is true that there is little effort or resources to prove the innocence of those already executed. Instead, there is the declared innocence of 122 people waiting execution on death row. Becker excludes these people from his conclusion, arguing that their exoneration, mostly on DNA-related evidence, is proof that the innocent escape execution. But how many others were not exonerated when the majority on death row do not have effective legal representation and when normal legal procedure leads inexorably to execution? And what of cases where there is no available DNA evidence?

Of greater authority than Becker are the actions of Governor GH Ryan of Illinois, who declared a moratorium on execution when he found that 13 of those on death row in his state were innocent; or the declaration of US District Judge Rakoff of New York that the federal death penalty is unconstitutional and violates due process because it creates "an undue risk of executing innocent people".

Applying Becker's ideas to Thailand, we might propose that the risk of wrongful execution is certainly greater where confessions under torture are prevalent and where access to DNA evidence to exonerate the innocent is limited. Nevertheless, his affirmation that capital punishment should be limited to cases of murder is a worthy reminder that execution for drug crimes is not justifiable. Confident in the "enormous protection" of the appeals process in the US, he would also be appalled by the practice of extra-judicial execution.

Danthong Breen, Union for Civil Liberty

Bangkok

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Expat Brits nostalgic about the little pleasures of life

 Re: "The grass is always greener on this side of the world", Letters, May 3.

R Richards provided fellow Brits with an update of life in the UK following his recent visit there, and broadly speaking most would probably agree with what he stated in relation to matters he described, but he did miss an important point.

When expat Brits indulge in a bout of nostalgia about life in the old country, they are not thinking about the Tube, buses, trains, etc, or about political correctness or garbage in the streets. They are thinking about a walk in the countryside on a Sunday morning, or a walk in the Lake District, or on Southport Beach, with a cool breeze blowing through their hair. Then, with glowing cheeks, they could look forward to a visit to the "Rose & Crown", the "Kings Head", or the "Duck & Partridge" for a darn good hand-pulled pint of their best. Or, for that matter, a stroll through London's West End with a visit to the Harris Bar in the Strand, and then maybe buying a couple of shirts at Turnbull & Asser in Jermyn Street before having afternoon tea at the nearby Ritz. It is things like these that can make many an expat Brit feel a little melancholic from time to time.

As for TV soaps like "Coronation Street" and "EastEnders", these were never something men were hugely interested in, so they wouldn't have any nostalgia for them. There is no doubt that the old country has changed a great deal, and obviously not for the better, but no matter how good life has turned out to be for expat Brits in Thailand, there will always be a touch of nostalgia for all that was left behind.

C Croft

Bangkok