In my opinion you have no right to condemn the army for sending troops into terrorist-infiltrated communities on peace missions, as this is exactly the approach you have called for in your past editorials so many times. Now you tell the army to stop and find new initiatives. Instead you should be asking the question why it is that our army, led by a Muslim who seems to take orders from Saudi Arabia, is pursing a strategy that actually appears designed to help the terrorists win.

You assume the mantle of multiculturalism and assume that all cultures are at par with one another. Yet the biggest error of judgement is believing Islamic militants refuse to recognise the Thai state for political reasons and not religious reasons.

You keep reinventing this fantasy of "moderate" Muslims who are trapped in the middle of this war, but you never stop to examine the core teachings of Islam that it is an intolerable act of oppression for infidels to presume to rule over Muslims and that it is the religious duty of all Muslims to assist in overthrowing infidel governments.

Seriously, has it ever occurred to you that you always hear after every last attack the Muslim leaders weakly condemn it and say that Islam teaches peace, and yet the attacks keep coming? Do you ever wonder if the slick excuses and disinformation of Islamic propagandists is actually an orchestrated act of jihad?

Does the question ever cross your mind why, if Islam really so clearly teaches peace, the attacks keep coming? And don't you even wonder why it is that most of these plotters are based in mosques guided by Islamic purists?

Furthermore, where do you plan to find these mythical, moderate Muslims you want to reach out to, and how will you persuade them? This group of people in our South does not want to be equal members of the Thai family but instead wants to destroy other faiths or put them into submission. You are afraid of being branded a racist or islamophobe if you say this, even though it is they who are clearly racist and intolerant.

You are also afraid that if you call this war by its real name, bombs may go off in the capital, the Saudis may cut off our oil and terror will come. But terror is going to come, whether you face it now or later, as it has to all of Asia, Africa and Europe that dares to resist. One does not see daily religiously motivated attacks anywhere in the world by Buddhist, Hindu, Jew or Christian upon the Muslims or anyone else in the name of their faith. And you know the plain truth that if the Malays in the South were not Muslim, this war would not be happening. Neither can you point to a single occasion in recorded history as an example of infidels winning the hearts and minds of Muslims, who then allowed those infidels to rule over them. So why do you continue to hope it will happen here, now?

There are only two choices for Thailand: give the South to the Muslims and wait for their next territorial assault to come elsewhere in the country, or expel those of their number who refuse to renounce violence to Malaysia and then repopulate the South with hard-working and peaceful Thais from other provinces. That is to say, abandon your multicultural fantasies and encourage our government to have the will to create a genuine new multicultural South populated by peoples who actually do practice peace, industriousness and love for their homeland, instead of waiting for hearts and minds that will never come.

Lek

Krabi

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Unions are needed in the absence of a social safety net

Re: "Belief that labour can't coexist with capitalism is outdated", Letters, May 10.

I wonder where Egon gets his ideas from and where he has been living. If it is so outdated, why did the UK Thatcher Conservative government go to such lengths to destroy the unions in the 1990s? Speaking of the lack of economic benefits, "without food, a roof above your head and security, one can't begin to consider happiness". There must be a lot of people in Thailand who can't begin to consider happiness. There are people who go hungry in the midst of the abundance of cheap food supply in Thailand and many who do not have an adequate roof over their heads. Talk to the food-vendor who has to borrow Bt10,000 from a loan shark at an interest rate of around 20 per cent per month for their children's schooling. Compare that with the assets of Cabinet ministers whose asset declarations often talk in hundreds of millions of baht.

Many studies have shown that the gap between rich and poor in Thailand is increasing with economic growth. As for security, what security? Thailand provides none. The only safety net here seems to be the "gold card" medical system, formerly known as the Bt30 system, and that only covers basic medical services. For pension and unemployment benefits, unless you are a public servant, they are up to your extended family or former employer. In other words, the social security nets are almost non-existent. It is precisely because of the pressure brought by organised labour through unions that the situation is rather better in Europe.

When it comes to the behaviour of capitalist industry towards workers, it exploits with the minimum cost outlay. Has Egon not noticed building sites around Bangkok? Workers with no protective boots, no safety helmets and, during school holidays, young children running all over the site. Unions and their members would ban such sites and refuse to work on them because of the dangers they pose to the workers and their families. I have seen a sawmill with no protective shields on the circular saws. "But there don't appear to be any injured workers around." No! Anyone whose was injured would not be fit to work again, even if they were still alive.

The Kader Doll factory disaster was an all-too-graphic reminder of the lack of industrial safety measures in Thailand, but many Thai workers face safety dangers every day of their lives. It is only because of the pressure that organised labour can bring to bear on governments and employers that the situation in Western countries is better. As for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, let's just pay the workers three-quarters of the minimum wage but show the full minimum wage in our accounts. That one-quarter of the minimum wage is a nice little profit that does not show up for tax or shareholder dividend purposes. So much for doling out a fair share of the profits to the workforce.

A country like Thailand desperately needs the workforce to get organised to counter these exploitative practices which are still rampant. I would think that Somyot Pruksakasem's comments were directed mainly at the situation here.

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok

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Why not a two-tiered price system for patented drugs?

I find thatthe compulsory-licensing issue is rather simple. Should a nation be entitled to force the holder of a pharmaceutical patent to grant use to others for a price that is far lower than the price charged to Western patients? The World Trade Organisation seems to think so, but subject to negotiation.

A large number of activist groups, including the Clinton Foundation of the former US president, and some shareholders of those affected pharmaceutical companies morally believe so, possibly as true Christians in allowing the poor to have a better chance of survival.

However, the pharmaceutical companies affected feel that they have been robbed substantially by the nations which have declared for compulsory licensing, Thailand and Brazil. If their rights are not protected, future development of new drugs to fight deadly diseases will be bleak. In short, they warn us that "Without profit, there will be no new drugs".

However, on Tuesday, May 8, former president Clinton put it succinctly: "No company will live or die because of high price premiums for Aids drugs in middle-income countries, but patients may." Furthermore, in economics, more use may mean more profit.

So please leave the emotion aside and judge whether prices of drugs for deadly diseases should be two-tiered.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Theft of patents is theft; it's as simple as that

After reading a myriad tirades against Abbott Laboratories and the USA for Innovation, and now the threat of a lawsuit, it is time to ask one simple question. If it was Abbott and its scientists and its massive amount of money spent on research and development that created a cure for Aids and many other ills, why does anyone have the right to break their legally owned patent and decide that because of high costs and lack of availability it is their right to do so?

I am baffled by this kind of thinking. Aside from any moral point of view or need for generosity in times of great need, it is plainly against the law to steal another's patent or product and call it something else.

Patent rights are stolen all over Asia daily, and only token police raids and confiscations ever make the news. It is stealing, plain and simple, and now the USA has stated "enough is enough" and placed Thailand on a special watch list - where it belongs. These so-called generic, poorly tested, alternative drugs are just another of the shams that are so rampant in Asia. Lawsuits aplenty in Thailand are becoming an international joke. I suggest that some of these folks read the law and grow up.

Hyde Parke

Pattaya

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Worry about problems from within, not from without

Re: "Adelman spin the latest attack in the 'war from outside'", Opinion, May 11.

Mr Thanong's column is a stunning example of hysteria, Thai self-pity and the ugly xenophobia that lurks just under the surface of Thai nationalism. No, Mr Thanong, Thailand needn't follow your imaginary "New World Order". Thailand is a sovereign nation that can roll up the welcome mat and become another North Korea, if it chooses. Oh, but then you wouldn't get all those tourist dollars and foreign investment funds you desire. Likewise, it can invest in research and development in finding new treatments for Aids, heart disease and diseases that afflict nations in the tropics. Oh, but Thais would rather rip off the world by pirating whatever intellectual property it can get its hands on: movies, music, software, and - now the latest - medicines.

And the Thai government can work to raise its people out of poverty, improve education and raise the quality of the air, water and food we consume. But no, it would rather chase down sophomoric videos on YouTube than tackle real problems.

Mr Thanong doesn't raise these points, of course, because he'd rather indulge in the childish something-for-nothing attitude that pervades Thai society. He'd rather rave about the "black heart" of a man, Kenneth Adelman, whom he has never met than critically examine the society he grew up in.

Paul Bradley

Bangkok