Until everything is cleared, everyone can go home and watch TV (if the stations are operating legally).

We need laws, but we must also be practical and act in the spirit of the law. Laws are for the guidance of human conduct, designed to influence the will to conform. They should not be imposed on people just for the sake of law. There is a difference between breaking the law and using (or abusing) the law. If laws are not well written and have loopholes, then it is the fault of those who wrote or passed the laws. To try and find some legal reason to penalise someone, after the fact, when they have acted in good faith or in the interests of the people, does not encourage respect for the law.

We are in danger of over-control and over-regulation, which stifles creativity and overrides common sense. Just look at the actions of many officials in the west, who are obsessed with political correctness. They are interpreting laws as they wish, and causing more problems than they are solving (as well as burdening the taxpayers with astronomical legal costs).

Corruption may be excessive here in Thailand, but it is too deeply and widely ingrained to be eradicated. Laws alone will not stop it, and they may contribute more to it by giving those in authority more opportunities to take bribes for turning a blind eye. The more efforts there are to enforce laws to try and stop corruption, the higher the pay-offs that will be demanded. Still, it must be made clear that any official, no matter their rank, who is found guilty of cheating or abusing their position will pay the price and not be able to be protected by friends in high places. Some are not liable under the laws here. This should stop, and certain laws, practices, obligations and cultural practices that prevent free speech should be changed.

With all the legal work, lost time and opportunities which have arisen from chasing all the alleged corrupt practices of certain people, have the general public thought how much this is costing, and who foots the bill? The end result may well be that there are no successful prosecutions, and the only winners will be the lawyers.

The publicised clampdown on corruption is all face. A friend of mine recently applied for an export licence, which costs Bt6,000. Before he could get this he had to pay Bt20,000 "under the table". This is a regular, well-established fee, taken by the officials involved.

To claim that the coup was staged to stop corruption is ridiculous. It is more likely that it was to channel that money made by politicians of the last government into the pockets of others.

J Ellis

Bangkok

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Annual graft adds up to more than Abbott's patent

Regarding the Abbott patent controversy, I notice that the savings for the Health Ministry from breaking of patents are perhaps Bt600 million. I'm not sure whether Thailand is unable to pay a satisfactory, albeit lower-than-demanded, patent fee to Abbott. I just notice that the amount lost from the budget to corruption per year is substantially higher than what we are talking about in the patent case.

The current fire brigade procurement scandal alone has siphoned a few billion baht out of the country's budget.

Allen Short

Bangkok

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BBC reporting is hardly rabid anti-Americanism

Re "BBC a shelter for anti US left-wing intelligentsia", Letters, March 25.

In his latest letter Mr Sheaves opens with the assertion that my retort to his previous unsubstantiated criticism of the BBC proves his point. Quite how he thinks this to be completely escapes me. Just because my, and I contend countless others, perception fails to concur with his perception of the BBC, then somehow he feels he is vindicated.

He goes on to repeat that the BBC is now rabidly anti-American, but gives no proof other than his own unsupported opinion. He further contends that I have used the label "embittered" incorrectly in describing the contents of his previous letter. Since Mr Sheaves displays clearly no fondness for the BBC and cannot substantiate his contentions with objective examples, then the use of the word "embittered" is correct use of English.

Simply reporting the excesses of the Bush regime is not the ravings of some left-wing organism but the press doing its job. Let me use an example: David Hicks is an Australian national. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay for five years without charge. He spends 22 hours every day in a tiny cell with no windows, the size of which is now being paraded through the streets of Australia by Amnesty International, much to the shock and disgust of ordinary Australians and embarrassment of John Howard, who wants this awkward situation out of the way before the upcoming federal elections.

I do not know whether David Hicks is guilty or not of any crime. What I do know is that a regime that deliberately keeps him in a territorial/legal limbo outside the continental USA, to avoid its own laws and jurisdiction, for five years without charge, is acting in a wholly unacceptable way. Reporting such facts does not constitute a patronising, left wing, American-hating viewpoint.

If he wishes to be taken seriously, Mr Sheaves must support his hypothesis with something more than unsubstantiated emotional invective.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

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Beware of baggage theft at Suvarnabhumi Airport

My wife and I travelled from Krabi to Chiang Mai via Bangkok on February 27. Our luggage became separated from us and by the time we saw it again on March 1 it had been opened and many items stolen. These items included our infant son's teddy bear, toys and clothing. We then spent a good deal of time filing reports with the airline and the police. After some gentle pushing on our part, Thai Air Asia advised us that the most likely culprits were staff employed by a contractor at Suvarnabhumi Airport, who move luggage from the airline offices down to the planes. We were told that they use a goods elevator in which no security camera is fitted, presumably an open secret at the airport.

We were advised that the only way for the matter to be investigated further would be for us to lodge a report with Airports of Thailand (AOT). This we did and after three weeks and many faxes, e-mails and phone calls later, all we have is brief verbal advice that AOT considers that the theft of luggage is the responsibility of the airlines. We then lodged a complaint with the Thai Ministry of Tourism, but that seems to be the end of the road.

We have since searched online only to find many others who have had a similar experience to ourselves. A number of these people commented on the lack of responsiveness of AOT. I now publicly call on the manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport to accept accountability for addressing this serious and growing problem. No more stonewalling or buck-passing - it's time to catch some thieves.

Bruce Bickerstaff

Chiang Mai

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Visa regulations still a confusing conundrum

I recently read an article in the Cambodia Daily, taken from the International Herald Tribune, entitled "Famed Thai hospitality is showing signs of strain". It contained a quote attributed to Ms Vongthip Chumpani, an adviser and former vice president of Bangkok Bank, stating that "We (Thailand) are getting a lot of weird retirees here". While that may be true, what hope, if any, is there for us foreigners, married to Thai nationals, who are more often than not placed in the same category as those "weird retirees" who, and again I quote, "(They) can't survive in your country so they come here..."?

I have been married to a Thai lady for going on 18 years. During these 18 years, I have worked, mostly abroad, having purchased property for my family in Thailand and have been sending money home to support them. With my 50th birthday beckoning, my present working contract at an end and at a time when I would like to return to Thailand to be with my family, I find myself having to escape to my own country because the laws regarding foreigners staying in Thailand have become so draconian, due in the main to these "weird" foreigners it seems. There have been so many changes to the regulations in recent months that no one really seems to know anymore.

I fully understand why there is a need to keep "weird retirees" out of Thailand, but will the authorities ever spare a thought for those of us foreigners who are not weird but genuine spouses? Having lived and worked in and around Thailand for many years, I realise that my words will likely fall on deaf ears, be regarded as naive and will even be treated with contempt by many, but after nearly two decades of happy marriage and often condescending treatment in Thailand, it is high time I said something on behalf of those who, like me in the past, have chosen to remain silent while struggling to be with those we care for and walking a line that is constantly being re-drawn.

Disappointed

Bangkok

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Lackadaisical enforcement to blame for recent bus wreck

There are laws already in place to check buses, cars, taxis and also drivers, but as we already know, these checks are rarely taken seriously. Just look at the state of the transport in the city - bald tyres, bad brakes, smoking engines; all these things should be checked but because of selective law enforcement and very low fines, they just go under the radar.

People will keep driving a bus until it breaks down, and if it only barely functions then it is good enough to get us from point A to B. You have no other option if you want to get home on the bus. The real culprits for the recent bus disaster in Saraburi are the inspectors who let things slip past them and continue to allow transport companies to operate even if they know it is a danger.

Mike

Bangkok