In the first instance, while I am a great admirer of the vibrancy of the British press, journalists who are not here or just visiting have written the editorials. In any case that's yesterday's news.

British newspapers have a habit of doing a 100 per cent turnaround when they get it wrong anyway and pretending they never had previous views. The double standards of foreign governments have been ably pointed out here. From correspondents based in Thailand the world got a very different picture, describing the relief, and even euphoria of large sections of society when the troops moved in; though we all may have registered a "wait and see" caveat.

As for democracy I doubt whether London leader writers remember that the non-elected government of Anand Panyarachun was probably the best and most transparent Thailand has seen in recent years.

And with regard to the words of foreign governments one only has to read the words of former Far Eastern Economic Review chief reporter Rodney Tasker in your letters page ("Former FEER journalist urges UK to remember how Thaksin dealt with outsiders" September 26), who, when he went to the British Embassy for support in his dispute with Thaksin, was merely advised to apologise and accept deportation.

But even the foreign diplomatic protest was muted and the strongest words of support for the coup actually came from former British ambassador Derek Tonkin who essentially said Thailand was not democratic because Thaksin had (corruptly) bought the rural vote.

Would Tonkin have said something like this while in office? Of course not. But if you watch the letters pages of the Bangkok English language newspapers it is not rare to see ex-British diplomats putting in their penny's worth. Civil servants appear to work on the premise, as Rodney should know, that if you don't do anything or say anything, you can't get into trouble. Meanwhile I for one feel a lot more comfortable, and so I suspect do a lot of my colleagues.

Andrew Drummond

Bangkok

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CDR's actions the needed cure to eliminate the TRT scourge

I agree that a coup d'etat is normally considered to be the wrong tool with which to effect a change of government, especially if that government has been democratically elected. However, in Thailand's case, drastic measures were needed to rid the country of a government that was systematically robbing and raping the nation for its own benefit.

If we compare this country to a human body which has been infected by a deadly disease and consider the body's own mechanisms to defend itself, we can see a strong resemblance to what has occurred here over the last five plus years. The infection began with the election of Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party. Upon being installed, said party immediately set about applying its strategy of taking total control of Thailand in order to insure its own survival and domination of the body politic - an act common to deadly diseases. Only after the educated middle class began to bring to light the dangers inherent in the spread of "Thaksinomics" did the country's immune system begin a real fight to regain control and rid the country of the disease.

Unfortunately, too many of the tools designed to stop the spread of cronyism and corruption had already been emasculated by this powerful disease. Consequently, extremely strong medicine was needed to prevent the disease's continued consumption of the country - hence the coup d'etat.

To those protesters who are claiming the country has been raped by the military, I must ask this question: do you really believe that the only thing necessary to cure the country's ills was the removal of Thaksin? As with a body infected by a powerful disease, it takes time to eliminate all vestiges thereof and to rebuild those areas that have been rendered almost useless during the course of the illness. The return of civilian administration is only a few days away. Have patience and allow the medicine to take effect.

William Reynolds

Chiang Mai

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Surin Uptakoon denies ties with former M'sian minister

In your recent Opinion piece, "The power and politics behind Kularb Kaew", on September 25, the author makes the speculative insinuation that my investments in Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad and Kularb Kaew have been made in connection with Daim Zainuddin. I would like to state publicly and for the record that I have never met, nor even shaken the hand of Daim. Any assumptions otherwise are simply unfounded and untrue.

Surin Uptakoon

Bangkok

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Proof needed for claims that Thaksin was planning a coup

Roland Watson ("Military coup was the 'middle

way' ", Opinion, September 27) reiterates allegations brought forth by Thanong Khanthong ("Sonthi outsmarted Thaksin at the eleventh hour", Opinion, September 22) that Thaksin was planning to instigate violence between People's Alliance for Democracy protesters and Thai Rak Thai supporters and that preventing this necessitated the putsch. 

The credibility of these claims is compromised not so much by the outright rejection of representative democracy (along with all forms of dictatorship) as Watson expounds on the website of his one-man NGO, but by the failure to present any factual foundation. The Council for Democratic Reform has variously cited national division, corruption and the situation in the South as reasons for the coup, but not the prevention of street violence and bloodshed.

Might they, much like Inspector Clouseau, have accidentally done the right thing? And wouldn't it have been less rash and disruptive for the Army to erect checkpoints and collect weapons from Thai Rak Thai supporters than to tear up the people's Constitution?

As it stands the explanation attempted in another article makes just as much sense ("The auspicious number nine versus ET", Opinion, September 27): it simply was an astrologically auspicious date and time with the digit 9 appearing several times in both. So, was it prevention or superstition? Historians will one day find out.

DB

Chiang Mai

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A wish list for a revised, stronger national constitution

Let me submit my wish list about some constitutional aspects presently overlooked. Article 7 of the suspended Constitution should be revised by introducing a mechanism that allows replacing an elected government in deep crisis with an interim technical government to prevent possible another paralysis in the Kingdom. Article 30, which forbids discrimination of any kind, should be extended to deal explicitly with the principles of multiculturalism. This would represent a big step towards pacifying the South and towards regularising the situation of stateless people in the North and Karen refugees.

Extending Article 42 would reinforce academic freedom by freeing the education system from its "bureausaurs" and from would-be educational gurus and cleaning up present unsavoury practices by them and the schools so that an actual and effective reform of the system and the curricula may take place.

Constitution writers should consult other world constitutions - they are full of excellent concepts that can be adapted for the Kingdom. Once completed and audited, the draft should be submitted to popular referendum. Finally, the coming interim government should promulgate or abrogate laws as necessary to put a revised constitution into force.

Krabong Kuverakorn

Bangkok

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Article on abuse of immigrant labourers lacked depth

In Tuesday's The Nation a brief story ("Workers awarded Bt1mn", News), was run about four employers at a glove-making factory having taken deplorable advantage of 17 Laotian immigrant labourers - subjecting them to what essentially amounts to forced labour for periods ranging from six months to six years.

I found the story somewhat lacking in detail and I imagine many others would as well. The obvious questions are why were the names of these employers not published and why would you not explain the paltry compensation paid given the gravity of the crime? I find it shocking that these four individuals have been shown such leniency by the courts - they will get no jail time and neither they nor the judge that sentenced them have been identified for the public's benefit. While I generally admire The Nation's news coverage, I think you have shirked your journalistic responsibilities in this case.

Kurt Heck

Bangkok

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Crash of WWF helicopter a sad event for conservationists

The crash of that World Wildlife Fund chartered helicopter in Nepal this week that claimed 24 lives has shocked and saddened conservationists the world over, not least here in Thailand. Many of the victims were known to us through forest and natural resource projects around the region and their deaths are a huge blow to the movement, not only in Nepal, but worldwide.

It is ironic that the crash happened as the group was returning from a ceremony marking the hand-over of a conservation site from the Nepalese Government to local communities. Work like this has done so much to relieve poverty among forest dwellers in Nepal, where some 25 per cent of the national forest is now in the care of community groups.

The Bangkok-based Regional Community Forestry Training Centre (RECOFTC) - the only international NGO solely committed to community forestry in this region - has high regard for Nepal for its very innovative community forestry legislation. Many of the Nepalese victims were actively involved in the promotion of community forestry.  We all at RECOFTC, our directors and staff, will miss deeply the colleagues and friends from WWF, the Nepalese Forest Ministry and other victims of this tragic accident, [and remember them] for their vision and selfless efforts for a better world.

Dr Yam Malla

Executive Director, RECOFTC

Bangkok

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