Greenpeace is calling on the Thai government to declare the provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai under a state of calamity due to the thick haze that is choking them. The situation has deteriorated to a point where public health is now seriously threatened, with possible short- and long-term economic repercussions. Government resources must immediately be made available to these provinces to help prevent severe health effects and to immediately stop open-burning, be it in the forests, farmlands or other areas that could result in the release and intensification of toxic fumes.

The government should implement a zero-burning policy and penalise offenders. At the same time, emergency and relief measures must be put in place to deal with the health impacts. The government should also assess the environmental and economic damage and work out a collective forest-fire prevention plan together with our neighbouring countries to avoid a repetition. The implementation of the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution is imperative.

In the long-term, Chang Mai must enforce very strict air quality standards along with other environmental laws, especially during the dry season. After all, it is a prime tourist destination and should be known as the cleanest and greenest place in the country.

Haze resulting from forest fires and open burning not only endangers people's health but, through the release of massive amounts of carbon dioxide, also contributes to climate change. Greenpeace urges the Thai government to seriously take into account the formulation of climate change-related policies ranging from raising public awareness to stopping forest fires to reduction of the country's fossil fuel use. Without concrete plans, we face the spectre of annual health-damaging haze and the calamitous impacts of climate change.

Tara Buakamsri

Greenpeace

Bangkok

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Authorities dilly-dally as the smoke rises

Pollution in the north has reached such a dimension that plane flights have had to be stopped. I hope it will get worse so the government finally will do something about the irresponsible and unnecessary burning of rice fields and mountain slopes.

Regardless of the example of burning forests in Indonesia, governments refuse to tackle these problems, despite warnings from environmentalists and the disadvantageous results for the rice yield that this burning causes. The Thai characteristic of acting after the fact is a big obstacle. Now there is talk of a temporary ban on burning in the North, so next year the pollution will arise again. Can this government finally act with an eye to the future and make a ban permanently beneficial to the environment as well as to the farmers?

Egon Wout

Chiang Mai

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Can't breathe or see in Chiang Mai, either

Two years ago we decided to send our children to boarding school in Chiang Mai, for them to enjoy a better climate. It is with distress that we received this SMS from our son: "Hi Dad. Everything is so dusty here that not even the sun manages to shine through. Tevin". Northern Thailand is now shamefully unvisitable and unliveable.

Philip Baechtold

Bangkok

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One law for the police, another for the rest of us

I work with a number of foreigners and have had the opportunity through work to visit a number of other countries both in this region and further abroad. There have been a number of times when I have heard negative comments about Thailand and Thai people, some of which have angered me but some have been difficult to argue with.

Walking home from the Asoke BTS station I pass through Soi Cowboy. On one recent occasion I watched as a policeman on a motorcycle drove the wrong way down this one-way street and wrote tickets for motorcycles parked there.

Normally this would not even catch my attention, but I had never see this before in that soi and there are no posted signs about parking or painted red stripes to indicate no parking.

I watched one foreigner come out to discuss this with the policeman who was starting to write a ticket for his motorcycle. I was close enough to hear that he spoke Thai and was asking where the signs were about no parking, if the new parking rules had been officially posted, and other arguments.

It soon became obvious that the foreigner knew more about Thai law than the policeman, who became embarrassed that he could not answer the questions and defended himself by saying that he had been told to do this.

I suspect that these new directives had come indirectly from the new police chief, but it seemed to be just as obvious that the writing of the tickets was not within the law. As representatives of the law, the police are often seen breaking it, and I hear stories of people being pulled over for tickets when they have not been breaking any law.

As I walked out the other end of the soi I was forced to walk on the road, as the sidewalks were full of parked motorcycles. I began to understand how others see our country and our apparent lack of regulations on the one hand and lack of enforcement on the other and I was embarrassed.

I would hope that the new police chief would at least ensure that new activities under his control are at least seen to be following the law rather than being made up on the spot by his subordinates.

Krisidah S

Bangkok

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An unwritten constitution has political benefits

Thai readers must be getting quite confused over the history of unelected prime ministers in the United Kingdom.

Quite simply, prime ministers are never elected by the people. Citizens vote for their representatives to the Lower House (the House of Commons) and the elected representatives of the winning political party normally expect their leader (elected by current MPs but with some participation of party members) to take on the future role of prime minister.

Once a general election is over and a solid majority has decided the winning party to govern, the party leader will attend an audience with Her Majesty the Queen, who will invite him or her to form a government. Only at this stage will the leader become prime minister. This is a formality the constitutional monarch must follow, except in cases of controversy in which case the queen may call for the Privy Council to meet and offer a legal solution. Such cases are extremely rare.

Of course the British case is rare in that the UK does not have a written constitution. The rules of government are largely laid down by the independent judicial system based on fairness, reason and precedent. This also includes legislation from French law going back nearly a thousand years and Canon Law (the law of the Catholic Church), which is even older. Even so, it is quite common for the law to be tested and the law lords in the Upper House of government (the House of Lords), are called upon to make modern interpretations of old laws.

What the British system does achieve is the continual avoidance of having to completely re-write constitutions. Britain's success is largely due to an independent judicial system which is open to all citizens, rich or poor, to control the excesses of government, and a professional police force which is likewise independent in the execution of the law.

David Harrison

Bangkok

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Point the finger of blame at super-rich Thais

Thais are world renowned for blaming their problems on foreigners and completely ignoring what their fellow Thais do to their own country. It is absolutely impossible that a country that has just had a coup, with bombs going off in the capital city on New Year's Eve, not to mention killings every single day in the South, has a currency that keeps getting stronger. Some billionaire Thais with important connections are absolutely manipulating the Thai baht.

Why are Thais so concerned about foreign businesses operating here, yet totally oblivious to Thai billionaires playing games with the national currency. I guess when there is no foreigner to blame, Thais quickly lose interest.

Interested Foreigner

Bangkok

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'Old ginger' govt has little sense of the modern world

I have maintained patience with the current "Old Ginger" government, despite constant and severe criticism of its performance and objectives, as I felt that its heart was at least in the right place. However, the exhumation of spurned Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla's Alcohol Control Bill has finally convinced even me of their utter uselessness. It is now apparent that there is a severe lack of awareness and ability, and indeed even common sense, in these people. They are capable only of addressing the symptoms of problems and do not have the faintest idea about causes and how to tackle problems in an intelligent and effective way.

They were supposedly put in office to steer Thailand from perilous ruin to a new and bright democratic future. Many months down the line none of the reasons for the coup have been effectively addressed, no one brought to book, nor any viper's nests of corruption revealed. However, what we see are a band of bitter old men trying to stand in the way of progress and turn Thailand into what they think it should be regardless of public opinion or the realities of a modern world.

Consider this comparison: we have China, a one-party state, where the government is rolling back state control and granting more freedoms on a regular and consistent basis as they prepare their country for a bright future. And on the other we have a government of national salvation tinkering with all manner of laws to further restrict its citizens and others, unable to see what is really important. Who, I wonder, is living under the more repressive regime?

Dr John Patterson

Bangkok

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