A community radio station was shut down after the Public Relations Department found it had no licence to operate, and was shut for "national security reasons". Fine and good, for national security is certainly important.

But wait: the station had just finished airing an interview with Thaksin Shinawatra, where he called for swift elections and voiced concern for underprivileged students, recommending that they seek financial assistance from the Thaicom Foundation. How would this affect national security? It seems to me that he's saying "Boo!" and the government's jumping. Or is the government muzzling his right to free speech?

As Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont emphasised, "We must abide by the law and the rule of law". So, I suggest that for future cases, the Public Relations Department should rush to a judge, prove that the nation was endangered, and obtain an injunction.

All are entitled to free speech, within the law. Those with whom we disagree have the same right to speak as you or I.

Public Relations Department director-general Pramote Ratvinij said that there were around 3,000 illegal community radio stations nationwide. It's amazing that the Public Relations Department has let so many stations flourish illegally, and it seems to me like a prima facie case of dereliction of duty by the department's head. He should be placed on inactive duty and investigated.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Confusing Thai typewriter developed by foreigners

Re: "Configuration of Thai keyboard baffles typist", Letters, May 18.

I'm sorry to break it to you, Ken Albertsen, but you can't lay this folly on the Thais, but rather one lone foreigner, who started it all.

The first Thai typewriter was invented by Edwin Hunter, the second son of Samuel Gamble Macfarland, an American missionary dispatched to Bangkok.

 Hunter was born in Bangkok in 1866 and later served in the Education Ministry. He modified a typewriter made by Smith Premier Company while on vacation in the US in 1891. The four-row typewriter for the Thai language was subsequently jointly developed by the Smith Premier Store and Plueng Suthikham, a teacher at the Bangkok Christian School upon the request of George Macfarland. This type of keyboard, invented in the 1920s, was the basis of the contemporary layout, with perhaps only minor variations.

Brian Lewis

Bangkok

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Punish party leaders, not rank and file members, on May 30

Re: "Tribunal's ruling set to change the face of Thai politics", Opinion, May 18.

Both parties should be spared because they both belong to their respective members. Why punish the members of both parties when they are not the ones at fault?

The leaders of both parties should be punished for misconduct. I blame the current political fiasco on the Democrat Party.

They were the minority party but they had more than 90 members of parliament in the previous government and now they have none. The Democrat Party's decision to boycott a legitimate election and to play a major role in leading the country to the current military junta with no representative government is a crying shame.

I strongly believe that Abhisit Vejjajiva and Chuan Leekpai should both bear the major responsibility for leading the Democrat Party to its current sad state of affairs.

Web Reader

Bangkok

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Disbanding both parties the only way to a fresh start

If Thailand is hoping to have a better and cleaner political system both the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties should be dissolved and their members suspended from politics for at least five years as stated in the law, otherwise there will be no more fair elections in this country! And there will be more scandals like this and Thailand will be carrying such a bad name into the future for a long, long time!

A Southerner

Bangkok

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Double-decker buses a viable solution for pollution woes

Re: "Congestion charge for downtown Bangkok still a dream", News, May 17.

If Ken Livingstone had been Lord Mayor of London when I commuted through the city by car in the 1970s, I would have hated him and his "congestion charge" scheme just as much as my fellow petrol-heads - and the media - have done since.

But time has proved that he was right, with a staggering 38-per-cent drop in car usage and a most welcome 25-per-cent drop in carbon emissions from transport, as you report. Of course, unlike Bangkok, London has it's wonderful "green lungs", the huge parks, pumping oxygen daily into the air to help mere humans survive.

Grudgingly, I admit that Livingstone was right again when he said that buses were the fastest "fix" for the Big Mango, being far faster to implement than highly desirable new BTS Skytrain routes or submarine, sub-surface railways.

But please can we take Ken's remarks a step further - and at the same time present a bouquet to Bangkok's city planners of decades ago? Because they had the amazing foresight to erect almost every pedestrian bridge at a height that would take a London double-decker bus underneath!

Double-deckers move almost twice the number of people for the same amount of fuel and the same crew costs, and at the end of their shift the operator can park almost twice the number of passenger seats in the same amount of road space as a single-decker.

Years ago, some Bangkokians vaguely told me that Thais would never accept double-deckers for "cultural reasons".

But since the BTS Skytrain whisks people along far above the heads of other people, why should this be an impediment?

Come on Mercedes, Scania, Volvo and the rest! Get your quotes in to Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin now!

David Hardcastle

Chiang Mai

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US trade consequences real in wake of drug-patent fracas

Re: "Writer overstated possible repercussions of patent stand", Letters, May 18.

Thai shrimp farmers and Thai jewellery exporters can expect repercussions from the US as a long-term consequence of the Thai government's theft of drug patents, according to an opinion piece by Christopher Horner published in The Washington Times on Thursday.

The Washington Times article states that Thailand is stealing its way out of the World Trade Organisation, a consequence that I have been predicting on your pages for over two years.

In his letter, Songdej underestimates the long-term pain for the Thai people that the government's current cavalier path will cause.

 Siriraj Hospital's studies indicate about 100,000 Thais need the drugs in question. Already around 20,000 Thais with Aids are showing resistance to these drugs. Who will provide new drugs to Thailand for these poor people when Thailand's reputation becomes sullied by piracy?

Charity has been suggested by other letter writers and myself as the proper way to fund drug purchases for these unfortunates. This is more appropriate to help these sufferers than starting up profit-making drug factories based on pirated patents.

 Once the money starts rolling in from these government-run factories based on so-called compassion, the theft of other patents such as cancer drugs will follow.

Cash flow to government cronies will dictate a continuation of Thailand's pariah status. Who will pocket these profits?

Songdej needs to look a little further into Thailand's future before dismissing one of life's basic rules: all actions have consequences.

Will Knight

Orange County, California

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English pronunciation just as baffling as Thai transliteration

I am somewhat confused by one of Albertsen's comments. His reference to Roman characters, specifically the numerals zero through nine. To the best of my recollection the Romans didn't have the concept of zero; rather, that was an Asian concept. The numerals on a Western keyboard aren't even Roman at all; they are Arabic numerals.

 On the other hand, I do sympathise with him about the transliteration of Thai words to English. After all, we native English speakers fully understand what a remarkably consistent language we have. For example the word "schedule" is pronounced, properly, by some to sound like "skedule", and by others, also properly, to sound like "shedule". It should be noted that the proponents of "shedule" are not consistent in that they do not pronounce the word "school" as "shool" as one would expect.

There appears to be another problem with the word "lieutenant" which is pronounced as both "lootenant" and "leftenant".

Native English speakers just say that you have to learn the language. It seems to me that Albertsen, and other foreigners who wish to live in this non-English speaking country, should learn to read Thai. If they did, they wouldn't have to worry about the transliterations that some seem to feel so bothersome.

JM Joyce

Bangkok