However, I suggest that its main objective should be to maximise consumer choice in the long term, which will maximise their benefit - not to preserve any given type of outlet. We in Bangkok should not be so haughty that we "know" what's best for our country consumers without even asking them.

Thus, when provincial consumers prefer mega-stores/convenience outlets over mom-and-pop stores, we should respect their choice - while pointing the small retailers in the direction of Khun Pitak Ploempitakkul, the founder of Electronic Plaza Siam TV in Chiang Mai, who is winning against the giant chain stores by filling consumer needs better, not by whinging for government protection.

Khun Pitak says, "Before asking for help, you must help yourselves first, by … being eager to learn new things." Thus, he introduced new strategies which were unthinkable at the time, for example, delivery of just-purchased TVs before the buyer had returned home, or offering cheapest-price guarantees (if mega-stores sell below cost, he buys from them and matches their price). He also closely follows market trends, studying Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. As a result, he plans to double sales in three years.

Or, look at CyberDict, the students' lifeline disguised as an electronic dictionary, which seems to have swept the market.

We could also offer retraining for moms and pops, or short-term subsidised loans for them to upgrade themselves - again, so that the consumers have more choice.

Control retailers, certainly, but fix the goal in mind: maximised benefits and choice for consumers.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Say what you like, most Thai children are alright

 Re: "Children's Day all about education and respect", Letters, January 13.

I have been following the debate on Thai children, and the letter from David Barkdull is short of the mark, as were the others.

The original writer on this topic, Paul Bradley, was not entirely wrong in his assessment of Thai children. But it is sad that he labelled all Thai children on the basis of the rich brats in Bangkok.

If you want to measure the unruliness of children, you have only to study the level of affluence of the parents. The more affluent the parents, the nastier the kids.

Most of the kids in Bangkok live with two working parents. In some cases one of the parents is working two jobs because they are trying to keep up with the Joneses. The result is guilt for the time they are not spending with their kids and the resultant buy-off of the children. The truly rich do have a mother at home, but she is too busy with social matters to bother with her children, so they too are bought off.

The result is the brats that Bradley sees on the Skytrain, the rude little urchins hanging around McDonald's or Siam Square, the motorcycle racers and the trade-school warriors. Not to even get into the ones that end up shooting people in discos.

I have seen all of this before back in Los Angeles and it wasn't difficult to trace the gradual decline of parental control and thus unruly children. Things simply become more important than children.

The kids in the provinces are still mostly great kids with the exception of the few rich juvenile delinquents.

John Arnone

Yasothon

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Troops all around are one of Bangkok's unwelcome sights

 Thailand seeks to become a world tourist centre, but what early impressions do tourists get of the country?

Once they have deposited their luggage in a hotel, they start investigating this tourist centre. They soon discover a major danger: the streets and sois are controlled by packs of marauding dogs. Then they will notice the large number of armed police about the place, including the traffic police.

As if this was not enough, to top it off, they keep seeing gangs of blokes in military clothes and toting rifles.

Welcome to the Southeast Asian tourist centre, Bangkok. Don't you feel safe?!

Apart from the negative effect on tourists, I fail to see the point of groups of soldiers hanging around in various parts of the city. Does anyone seriously think it will help prevent a repeat of the New Year's Eve bombings?

Any group with the level of sophistication shown by the New Year's Eve bombers is not going to be stopped by these groups of soldiers. A look at the situation in the South is enough to tell us that. Despite the massive police and military presence, the terrorism in that region shows no sign of abating.

If the security forces want to deter further bombings in Bangkok, they should disappear. No, I do not mean go back to base, I mean melt into the crowd in ordinary civilian attire so that the would-be bombers do not know whether they are in a particular area or not and, if they are there, who they are. That would make a bomber's task a lot riskier because they would never know when they might get a tap on the shoulder over a suspicious act.

It would also be less off-putting for visiting tourists because they would not be aware of the security presence.

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok

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AHRC letter unworthy of an official organisation

 Re: "Asian Human Rights Commission calls for full revocation of martial law," Letters January 13.

One would expect a slightly more diplomatic and refined letter from an official organisation defending human rights. Instead we got a vitriolic attack on the present government and the Council for National Security (CNS), much of it barely intelligible.

What does AHRC mean when it offhandedly states that there is nothing interim about current constitution?

Why is the present arrangement so bad that it doesn't even qualify to be called a "sham charter" by the AHRC?

Why is the AHRC so sure that the CNS wants to "restore an earlier model of hierarchy and administration"? What is this "earlier model", anyway?

Why does the AHRC feel the need to speculate that "in Thailand, with its multitude of overlapping and competing departments, offices and commands, this [restoration of the "earlier model"] can only give rise to even greater conflict"?

All in all, I was very surprised to learn that the sky "has come crashing down in Bangkok", as AHRC tells us that "today, what counts in Thailand is military dictatorship and martial law. All else is fraud and pretence".

Interestingly, in the whole letter, they don't mention human rights even once.

Stan G

Bangkok

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Suvarnabhumi much better than most people allow

 I feel that widespread criticism of the new airport is premature and exaggerated. I sense that disenchantment with Suvarnabhumi is related more to anger at the corruption of the deposed Thaksin government than to the operation of the airport.

During a recent two-month visit to the region, I used the new airport six times. On each occasion, I found it perfectly acceptable.

Transfer times to and from hotels was consistently faster than from Don Muang, which I have used on many occasions. The airport limousines were very comfortable and reasonably priced.

Processing through Immigration and Customs was smooth and the wait for baggage was not long. On the one time that I took a connecting flight, it proceeded without complication and was on time.

The design of the airport is bright and modern.

Frankly, as a regular international flyer, I can have no substantive complaints.

The rail link may not be finished yet, but it will not be long; contrast this to New York City which has had to wait decades for such a connection.

Of course, there are always improvements to make and teething problems to resolve.

Passenger space seems somewhat restricted - a surprising design fault given the amount of land available. Some of the duty-free shops may need to be relocated.

Maintenance of the transparent structure will not be easy and should be addressed with a robust management plan. Already, a few of the somewhat inaccessible areas are dusty and rain-stained.

It is tempting for architects to opt for an initial "wow" factor at the expense of long-term care. For instance, large areas of the glass curtain-walling at London's latest international airport, Stansted, appear never to have been cleaned (and perhaps cannot be cleaned without disrupting the operation of the airport) and now make the complex look increasingly shabby.

In my view, Thailand should cherish its new international airport.

Nigel Grimshaw

Cambridge, UK

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Mother of all resistance was engineered by Iran

 I had wondered how an insipid country like Iraq that had wilted so readily to Saddam's will and to America's invasion could launch the mother of all resistance movements.

Now it turns out, according to the New York Times, that neither the armed resistance against American occupation nor the sectarian war between Shi'ites and Sunnis in Iraq is organic or spontaneous.

Each is a carefully orchestrated plan by Iran's secret service to destabilise the American occupation of Iraq.

Documents found on Iranian operatives captured in Iraq spell out the chilling details.

It's high noon in Iraq and the Great Satan finds itself face to face not with al-Qaeda as it had fancied, but with the Axis of Evil itself - and not even George Walker Bush nor Pat Robertson can make the case that the Great Satan has won this encounter.

Cha-am Jamal

Phetchaburi