I can only express my own sorrow that I cannot be in Thailand to witness for myself the magnificent pageantry and the outpouring of love and loyalty from the people to His Majesty.

Although I am only one of those Thais who are scattered across the face of the globe, I feel I will not be alone in wishing His Majesty good health on this auspicious occasion and many more happy and peaceful years to come.

Long live His Majesty the King!

Apisake Monthienvichienchai

Cambridge, England

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Charge of illegally sending e-mail sounds a bit desperate

Re: "Officers to face charges over pictures", News, June 9.

It is quite interesting that Defence permanent secretary Sirichai Thanyasiri has targeted two military officers for criminal proceedings and two others for disciplinary punishment for their involvement in leaking closed-circuit television (CCTV) pictures that linked caretaker Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura to the funding of small parties, because nine CCTV pictures were transmitted without authorisation via e-mail.

Sirichai said Sgt-Major Supoj Phanphet and Lieutenant Narongsak Premsuk would be tried on charges related to the disclosure of classified information. The information that is "classified" is simply the disclosure of caretaker Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura on tape allegedly committing a crime himself!

One of the laughable and ridiculous parts of this statement is that the pictures were transmitted without authorisation via e-mail. Does anyone in his or her right mind believe that permission would have been granted?

The other laughable and ridiculous irony is that General Sirichai is more interested in prosecuting the whistle-blowers than he is Thamarak, who is implicated in the pictures. Is there a hidden agenda in Sirichai's course of action?

Heaven forbid that anyone would stoop so low as to think him a mere lap-dog to "you know who". You be the judge.

Amazed

Kalasin

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Whistle-blowers have traditionally been persecuted

Re: "Officers to face charges over pictures", News, June 9.

Frank Serpico, a New York City cop who exposed massive corruption in the New York Police Department and was subsequently shot in the face when his aggrieved fellow officers hung him out to dry during a drug bust in Manhattan, called himself not a whistle-blower, but a lamplighter. A giver of hope, one who spread a small circle of light at his own feet in a dark, dark world indeed.

You recount the retaliatory measures taken by caretaker Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura against Sgt-Major Supoj Phanphet, Lieutenant Narongsak Premsuk, Lt-Colonel Kuru Sensiriwattana and Colonel Arvuth Saengtawan for their service to the nation rather than to the person who is their present superior.

They ought to be - and will be, I believe - treated as the brave men they are, who put the interests of their country and countrymen before the personal interests of their immediate superior, a man who literally appears to be breaking the law in the pictures they released, as well they should have.

In 1971, Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska put out the Pentagon Papers, documents about the conduct of the US war in Vietnam delivered to him by Daniel Ellsberg, into the records of his subcommittee on buildings and grounds, which made secret material public material. Then the papers were carried in a New York newspaper, and the American public got a taste of the cynicism and duplicity of those in power in Washington.

Richard Nixon, the war president of that era, was furious. "To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledegook. But out of the gobbledegook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgement. And the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong."

Well, the president can be wrong. The present president is wrong, again. If Colin Powell had served his country rather than his superior and resigned his position rather than appearing at the UN and reading what he knew to be lies in justification of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, tens of thousands of innocent lives would not have been lost.

An individual can make a difference. The individual makes all the difference. I believe the contribution of these four men will be recognised by their compatriots regardless of their attempted humiliation by those they exposed, enraged at their actions.

John Francis Lee

Chiang Rai

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How long can Defence insist the CCTV footage was faked?

Re: "Officers to face charges over pictures", News, June 9.

Now that four military officers are to be disciplined for leaking closed-circuit television footage "that allegedly linked caretaker Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura to the funding of small parties", is the oh-so-honourable (!) General Thamarak going to stop claiming the footage was faked?

Penkae J

Singapore

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Video 'evidence' is tenuous at best and insufficient by itself

Re: "General Thamarak makes a poor job of brazen denial", Letters, June 4.

Referring to the stills from security-video footage at the Defence Ministry allegedly of General Thamarak Isarangura, Abee says there's no need for a specialist to confirm his identification.

Sorry to disagree, but there certainly is, especially when anyone can see just as plainly it's not Thamarak. The nine pictures bandied about by the Democrats as evidence of payment by Thai Rak Thai to a small political party would be thrown out of a court of law before you could say "General Thamarak Isarangura". Because even if they did show Thamarak, that wouldn't be conclusive of anything. So instead of Thamarak being a laughing-stock, the shoe is on the other foot.

And we know where that shoe is right now, don't we?

I'd like to see some semblance of impartiality when someone is attacked based on unproven allegations. Let's look at the photos from a rational point of view: one, if Thai Rak Thai were to bribe anyone, it wouldn't be Thamarak's job to do it, because, as he says, he's in charge of only Northeast MPs, and they would've romped home without any help.

Two, even if it were Thamarak's job to do the dirty work, would he have done it in the corridor of his own office? Even if Thamarak were personally unaware of a closed-circuit television system, surely an aide would have warned him.

Concede him some intelligence. He is a professional soldier and the defence minister, and cloak-and-dagger stuff would not be foreign to him, especially as the penalty for a mistake is game end, or party dissolution.

Trirat Petchsingh

Nonthaburi

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Insanity plea could save Thai politicians and other officials

As a keen observer of recent Thai politics, it seems a number of Thai politicians should be thanking their lucky stars (for the astrology believers) that instead of being incarcerated in jail if they are found guilty of the offences filed with the courts, they could be spending their time in restful mental institutions.

How else could one explain the actions of Election Commission chairman Vasana Puemlarp (and his cohorts, who must have PhDs in foot dragging, stalling and obfuscation), Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua (and the rest of the senators, who seem to have been closing their eyes) and my favourite: Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura, who swore there were no closed-circuit television cameras in the hallway to his offices (refuted thereafter by Defence permanent secretary Sirichai Thanyasiri), then reportedly told reporters the pictures, as submitted to the courts by Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, were not of him, but rather of his "personal photographer".

All of the above actions, if proven to be criminal by the courts in Thailand, will luckily be futile, since they could only be committed by insane politicians and commissioners who expected the Thai public to believe their fantastic stories and excuses for such reprehensible behaviour.

Harold Mollin

Bangkok

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Allow long-term foreigners to renew visas in country

Re: "Making foreigners leave every 90 days is a pain", Letters, June 9.

I heartily agree! The Thai government should use its common sense and see how this discourages us farangs from staying and helping the Thai economy and Thai people.

Hopefully, money is not all the government wants from us. Foreigners also contribute in many ways to the health and well-being of Thai society beyond mere financial considerations, especially those of us who wish to stay longer than 30 days.

Please change your visa laws so we who have invested ourselves in Thai society and culture can stay longer.

We certainly care more for Thailand and its wonderful people than does a quick-hit tourist.

Stephen Brown

Chon Buri