May Your Majesty have happiness and peace, now and in the future.

James Calhoun

Bangkok

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The Phoenix

Forth from the ashes of conflict he sprung,

Harmony longed for, so rudely shattered.

Profound burden undesired, thrust upon him.

Songs he wanted to sing, left unsung.

But through chaos and strife he strode unbowed,

Through joy and sorrow, the people he steered.

Dreadful tyrants, despots, all quaked in fear,

Where now are those humbled eyes, once so proud?

We may not count the coins of his riches,

For they lie not in vast vaults or ledgers,

Or the resplendent robes' golden stitches.

They rest in the stout hearts of a grateful nation,

All wishing him eternal health in elation.

Zorrigo

Bangkok

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His Majesty is truly wise

His dedication and compassion unrivalled

A peerless monarch

His Majesty has devoted himself

selflessly for the good of the people

Long live the King.

Jessica Hua

Bangkok

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The 60th year of His Majesty's reign

A million subjects convened

Ocean of yellow, as far as the eye can see

Radiating love and gratitude

This auspicious occasion

Our country unites to be

Part of something larger than ourselves

An immense pride in being Thai

As the day he ascended the throne

King Bhumibol remains just and true

Compassionate and humble

Inventive and wise

Pulsating with hope

The heart of our nation

Celebrates one man:

Our beloved King

Voralak

BANGKOK

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UN faces age-old problems in its drive for reform

 Re: "Moment of truth for the United Nations", Opinion, June 16.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is right about the moment of truth for the United Nations. But he is wrong not to recognise that this so-called "moment of truth" has been there since its birth. It took until the end of his final term as secretary-general for him and his deputy to finally came up with the courage to say things that are not necessarily pleasing to the ears of those nations that created the UN itself. The question arises: where has he been all these years?

To be sure, the UN has been a problem in itself from the beginning. Idealistically intended to be a world government that would bring about peace for all time everywhere, it has failed miserably to prevent wars when one or more of the major powers are participants. More often than not, it has also been a tool to provide legitimacy to those powers that wish to go on the warpath. And more alarmingly now, the UN at times seems hapless when conflicts arise even between second-rate or smaller powers.

The use of the power of the purse to bend the UN to the purposes of the major donor countries is nothing new, although the practices have varied over time. In the 1960s through to the 1970s the United States stonewalled the UN on financial contributions, causing a crisis of major proportions that almost sank it. Talk of "getting the US out of the UN or the UN out of the US" was the order of the day. But now that the US has changed its ways, Washington finds that its power of persuasion has greater impact because money does do the trick.

Thoughts of reforming the UN will never amount to anything so long as the UN continues to depend on the major powers for its existence. In this connection, it should be remembered that the UN is not a charity organisation - at least not in the way that the major powers want it. Annan mentioned the noble goals of the UN in helping to create a stable world order among those countries that need it; but even then, those countries themselves have done nothing to bring it about. Though he himself comes from a Third World country and is in a position to bridge the gap between the developing countries and the major powers, his achievements in this regard seem less than stellar.

No wonder Washington is unabashed when asked about whether the next secretary-general should come from Asia. Its clear message is: you can just forget about it.

So to Kofi Annan, thanks for your efforts, but they are too little and too late.

Prachyadavi Tavedikul

Bangkok

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Premature calls to deny bail to election commissioners

 Re: "Deny EC members bail so they can't hinder investigation", Letters, June 14.

Burin Kantabutra proposes that the Criminal Court should deny Election Commission (EC) members bail when their malfeasance case comes up next month.

Incredibly, he wants to deny them bail even before their case has come to trial and before the verdict is known.

He further says the EC botched the elections and that they didn't endorse their own subcommittee's recommendation to dissolve the Thai Rak Thai Party accused of hiring small parties to run in the April 2 polls.

The elections were not botched. On the whole, they went off rather smoothly, although only one major party took part. But surely the EC can't be blamed for that? If they had scrapped the elections because of a boycott by some parties, Thaksin's supporters would have been screaming for their blood.

So they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Second, rather than trying to obstruct justice, the EC may not have had strong enough evidence to implicate Thai Rak Thai in their alleged malfeasance.

What would have been the point in recommending dissolution of Thai Rak Thai knowing the case wasn't watertight?

Burin's argument follows the usual credulous mentality: if they don't do what we want, they must be in collusion with the hated Thai Rak Thai; there's no possibility that they arrived at their position honestly.

It would have been easy enough for the EC to play the crowd-pleaser and throw Thai Rak Thai to the wolves, so to speak. It takes gumption to follow the dictates of your conscience, knowing you might be misunderstood, scorned, derided and yes, even indicted. I think they deserve a little credit for this.

Trirat Petchsingh

Nonthaburi

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Thaksin's actions call his judgement into question

 Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has left on a trip to Kazakhstan to attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (Cica) while security forces in the deep South are facing another big problem.

He has decided to attend this international meeting as a representative of Thailand amid a big discussion about his status as caretaker prime minister after his sudden return to the political stage.

And while his Thai Rak Thai Party faces possible dissolution for violation of election laws, he says he is going to the Cica meeting to lobby for Surakiart Sathirathai's candidature for the post of United Nations secretary-general.

Judging from news reports of Thaksin's latest actions, I must say he is completely losing common sense.

KT

Bangkok

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Scots face genetic hurdle to good pronunciation

 Re: "Correct English from native speakers 'noh bloomin' loikly'", Letters, June 16.

The debate on English language teachers has brought forward many interesting points and I reluctantly have to agree with Sunida.

I guess the correct definition of an English teacher is someone who can demonstrate the language in its correct grammatical, spelling and phonetic context, together with the ability to teach.

That certainly cannot be said for a lot of English speakers, and as Sunida points out, some British regional dialects are almost impossible to decipher for a listener who has learnt textbook English.

This applies particularly to the Scots - many of them have great difficulty dealing with the sounds and use of English. Indeed, scientific research has shown that "pure-bred Scots" have in fact an inherent malformation of the larynx which makes it physically impossible to make English-sounding tones or words. This genetic of defect (a type of furring of the windpipe) has been caused over the centuries through their rough diet of unprocessed foods/crops and harsh liquors.

This would explain why Scots tend to make rough, unintelligible sounds impossible for outsiders to understand.

This defect is not said to be present in populations from other regions of UK, so anyone from places such as the Midlands or Southwest could, over a period of time, be taught to speak proper English.

Norman Castle

Bangkok