It should not have been a difficult contest. Seventeen Asian countries were vying for 13 seats allocated to Asia. But we managed to lose out in the voting to countries such as Bangladesh, Bahrain, Jordan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka. The government has been telling us that we have overwhelming support in the United Nations. But it has been proven that this is not the case.

Prior to the past five years, Thailand was regarded as one of the most progressive countries in Asia, indeed the world, in terms of human rights, civil liberties, press freedom and humanitarian treatment of refugees and displaced persons. Many accolades and prestigious awards were given to the country. All that now seems to have been lost. Traditional supporters have deserted us. The voting for the UN Human Rights Council can be seen as an international vote of no confidence in the country.

We have lost much ground due to the conduct of an arrogant and amoral government. We Thais must now resolve: "Never again!"

Nisanart Pumpanwong

Bangkok

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More dark secrets likely to emerge once EC quits

There is clearly something seriously wrong with the Election Commission and its commissioners.

The whole of Thailand knows that our revered King called upon the courts to join together and find ways to clear up the mess that the Thai Rak Thai government and its stooges have created in this peaceful and peace-loving country.

Hence all the measures the judges find appropriate to remedy the current situation, given either as court verdicts or as recommendations, must be deemed as royal commands that every single citizen of this country must obey, including the prime minister.

It is gradually becoming apparent that the Thai Rak Thai Party may have masterminded the creation of small parties to contest the election. This would be a criminal conspiracy at the highest level of government. If true, the Thai Rak Thai leader must own full responsibility and must face the severest punishment for this heinous act to kill democracy at its very roots.

More truths may come out if the election commissioners step down. The Thai public wants the whole truth and therefore all political parties must press the commissioners to step down.

It is surprising that some parties are staying silent and thus appear to be clandestinely supporting the EC's defiance. The public must closely watch these parties and judge their true colours.

A well-wisher of Thailand

Bangkok

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Poll watchdog shouldn't make this an issue of face

Our "Super CEO" showed clearly and often that money and power place their possessor well above the law, and possessors of lesser power were prompt to follow his example to a degree greater than usual. The incredible amount of speciousness among those that should ensure a genuine democratic government for the Kingdom is therefore not surprising.

The wise guidance of His Majesty put the entire sorry mess where it should have gone: to the three highest courts, the top of the system of checks and balances. The courts shrugged off the shadow of the Super CEO and did their duty, but now the Election Commission wants to make their annulment of the anti-constitutional April 2 general election a question of face by refusing to resign.

The Election Commission's "face" is not the issue; the restoration of the Kingdom's political peace is. If their resignations clear the way for a fair new election and a better chosen, representative government, their duty to the Kingdom is clear.

In the Public Palace of Siena, Italy, Ambrogio Lorenzetti's famous allegory cycle of Good and Bad Government (1338-39) shows an eternal truth: when anyone in government does their duty, their country flourishes; when they do not, their country falls into ruin. I strongly recommend the election commissioners look at it and reflect on it. Then the Super CEO may not be able to extend further his shadow over the Kingdom.

Krabong Kuverakorn

Bangkok

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Referees shown the red card but refuse to leave the pitch

 Re: "Court verdict is welcome but could mean more street mobs", Letters, May 10.

Political parties have the constitutional right to opt out of an election that they consider to have been called improperly and which has the likelihood of being flawed, as has now been confirmed by the courts. The fault lies with those who initiated the process in contravention of the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

To use a football analogy, if the referee and linesmen in a match are chosen by only one team and openly favour that team, the other team has sufficient reason not to play. Football league officials have now overruled the referee and cancelled the match. But the referee and linesmen are refusing to leave the pitch. Unsportsmanlike behaviour, to say the least.

Atip Muvit

Bangkok

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Is current stand-off a case of the tail wagging the dog?

Just who is running the show in Thailand anyway? Are the courts and judges to be ignored because they do not really have any power to regulate, or is the Election Commission the real judge in this present mess? There is a lot of arrogance being played out here, but I am not sure who is the arrogant one.

You know, if Thaksin Shinawatra had offered large personal donations from his tax-free windfall to needy groups in the first place, with no urging from "outside", he would not be in the mess he is in right now. A CEO of a large company in the USA was recently paid $124,000,000 (Bt4.66 billion) in pay and bonuses because he led his company to enormous financial gains; he gave it all to needy institutions because of his "jai dee", as the Thais would say. Why then didn't Thaksin, as well as his spoiled kids, do the same? Unbelievable greed and lack of generosity.

Hyde Parke

Chon Buri

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Access to quality education should be a basic right for all

 Re: "Pawnshops boom before school year", Business, May 10.

It is a shame that Thai farmers must take their farming equipment to the pawnshop in order to pay their children's school fees, while the country produces obscenely wealthy people who shamelessly bathe in their money.

Basic education must be free for all Thais, and the introduction of free education should be a plank in any aspiring party's platform in the coming election. This is 2006, not 1706! Human society today is moving towards greater fairness and not towards greed and exploitation. It doesn't serve the country at all if only children of rich politicians and businessmen have access to quality education.

J Pein

Hamburg, Germany

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Personal testimony to death penalty's deterrence value

I have read with personal interest the letters critical of death-penalty supporters. We even heard the absurd rationale that it is guns, not people that kill. Where gun ownership is restricted, the law-abiding people are at the mercy of those who obtain guns illegally. The right to own guns is enshrined in the US Constitution. It has been under attack by the left for decades but was never seriously threatened.

I know personally the pain of a gun-related murder. Just five years ago my son and namesake was gunned down by a young criminal he had known since age nine. Why? The criminal was running from the law and my son refused to miss his college class to give him a ride. The killer was allowed to plead to "manslaughter" in return for a guilty plea. Prosecutors feared at trial this gang member would bring up his broken home and failure to finish school for his attitude and behaviour. He got the maximum sentence of 18 to 30 years. He will be back on the street. He shot my son multiple times. Did he deserve to die? You're darned right he did. We do not blame the gun; we blame the punk.

During the run-up to the trial, there was fear for my family from this gangster's associates, because we were pushing for the maximum penalty. We are a family of soldiers and police, and we felt no fear. We constitutionally maintain enough personal protection to ward off attack until official help arrives. In the face of this tragedy, we continue to support the constitutional right to bear arms and the death penalty for those who murder, regardless of their weapon of choice.

How do I know the death penalty is a deterrent? That is easy for me to answer. I have spent my life killing people, legally, on behalf of governments. I also spent time in the worst type prison on Earth, a POW camp. I maintain constant discipline, which keeps me from doing what became easy for me: killing. After my experience with the Vietnamese, an American jail holds no fear for me. If not for the death penalty, that punk would be dead. It kept me from taking him out. It worked as a deterrent for me.

Major Mark A Smith, US Army, retired

Bangkok

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Iran banning women from soccer matches says it all

So, the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has overruled President Mahmoud Amahdinejad's decision last month to let women attend football matches. Once again, I state that male Islamists greatest fear is of their women being free.

Al Eberhardt

Bangkok