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Published on August 23, 2007

Re: "English tutors failing the test", News, August 21.

While it is undoubtedly true that many persons employed as English tutors - whether at government-accredited kindergartens through to university level schools, or at commercial language learning centres - are unqualified and under-qualified, there is a caveat here.

The twin dilemma of English language proficiency and the rate of English language acquisition by pupils under tutorial is Thai students' own poor performance and lack of readiness to learn. A minor indictment of the Thai basic educational system is in order. A tutor begins work with the raw material he or she is provided, and too often the pupil or pupils are a little too raw.

Sandra Kilborne

BANGKOK

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Guides to Kingdom's wildlife sadly out of print

Ken Albertsen ("Amazing wildlife still exists in rural Thailand", Letters, August 20) should not be too dismissive of his hill-tribe friends when they call his giant "worms" snakes. From his description, they are almost certainly caecilians: legless amphibians, of which family at least four species can be found in Thailand, and which are thus closer to reptiles than any worm would be. As for the frogs, which seem fully formed at the size of his index fingernail, my guide lists the pygmy crawl frog and the Isaan flood frog as attaining only 15mm in length, and both of these can be found in his region, near swamps, rain puddles or wet grass.

It is sad that two well-illustrated and thorough guides to Thailand's reptiles and amphibians should both have gone out of print. Amarin Printing and Publishing brought out only a few years ago their "Amphibians of Thailand" (for a mere Bt385) and their "Snakes in Thailand" (only Bt435) but now you cannot find either of these titles for love or money.

If any interested reader has contacts with this company, perhaps you can tell them that there is still a public that needs their services; beautiful wildlife is all the more appreciated when it can be identified and put in context. The knowledge of the general public is perhaps more important in conservation terms than the private knowledge of scientific experts.

Gerald Moore

TAK

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Charity targets plight of abused kids in Cambodia

Re: "Pulled from the garbage", Life, August 4. Many thanks for the publicity your newspaper gave to the valuable work being done to help the poor children of Cambodia.

I am a founding director of the Assistance Fund for Cambodia, which supports the Anakut Laor Aids orphanage, which last week received US$5,000 (Bt172,400) in funding from Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation in New York.

The group also funds teenage aspirations in a country where qualifications have a hefty price tag and works with Operation Smile to bring kids to Phnom Penh for reconstructive surgery. Keo Sophea is 15 years old and the latest addition to our small family of Aids orphans. She is not special in the Cambodian capital. Her story is all too prevalent in a city and country where human tragedy is an everyday and stark reality.

Six years ago, her mother died of Aids, leaving her small daughters to fend for themselves. Her father absconded a few years before that, taking one of his daughters with him. Their whereabouts is unknown, but prostitution is not ruled out.

With no parental protection, the remaining children allegedly fell prey to Keo's 79-year-old grandfather, who was accused of using them as concubines for several years. Keo was able to escape his unwelcome advances, but one of her sisters was less fortunate. She was allegedly repeatedly raped by the old man. When the children sought justice through the courts, her grandfather allegedly paid bribes to officials and was declared innocent.

Medecins sans Frontieres volunteers, who brought Keo, her sister and a councillor to Anakut Laor, were so outraged by this chain of events that along with Licadho, a Cambodian human-rights organisation, they are attempting to ensure the grandfather is jailed for at least 20 years.

Should they succeed, it will be a landmark victory for the abused children of Cambodia, now and in the future. Find out more on the charity's website at www.theafc.org.

Clive Graham-Ranger

Assistance Fund for Cambodia

LONDON

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Rural villagers need a hand up, not handouts

Re: "Poverty 'led provinces to reject draft'", News, August 22.

General Montri Sangkasub's ideas on how to pump money into Thailand's rural economy represent a long overdue positive assessment of how to deal with a problem that is widening the gap between the country's rich and poor and creating a dangerous political divide.

Montri, according to The Nation, said the current provisional government would "not follow the populist policies of Thai Rak Thai but would let villagers think of how best to use the money".

Further, the general is quoted as saying: "This way the problems are solved permanently. If we just hand them [villagers] money, nothing gets solved."

I was living in a Thai village when Thaksin's government "just handed" the local authorities Bt1 million with no advice on how best to use it, no "business plan", no accountability, no follow-up. To their credit, the villagers did their best to distribute the money responsibly, forming a committee that finally doled out Bt20,000 to each of the 50 families there.

Bt20,000 was just enough money to help a few distressed families get out of debt or pay off remaining instalments on their motorbikes, but far short of the necessary capital to launch a business initiative that could have given employment to a few of my neighbours, who existed on odd jobs and handouts. Five years on, the village is as poor as it ever was, and probably registered an overwhelming "no" vote in Sunday's referendum.

If a similar village fund is again launched, then here's some practical advice for the government.

Call, first of all, for business ideas and project plans from village councils. Engage experts to assess them and assist communities in putting viable schemes into practice Retain tight control and oversight of the financing and give the community as a whole the responsibility of repaying the loans. This way, the government will be contributing materially to rural regeneration and might go some way towards winning the hearts and minds of country people.

Robert Tilley

CHIANG MAI

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'Yes'-vote supporters scared silent in Isaan

Re: "Referendum highlighted lack of democratic values", Letters, August 21.

Burin Kantabutra wrote in his letter that "charter opponents were not allowed full freedom to express their views peacefully".

Really? At any given time over the last few months before the referendum I saw little else than protests on TV against the charter in which politicians could freely criticise it even if they were banned from politics.

On TV, I have seen discussions where proponents and opponents could freely express their opinions. People vented their opposition against the charter in many newspaper interviews I read. Isn't the fact that more than 40 per cent voted against the charter ample evidence the proponents could vent their opposition in the media and on the streets?

I would plead the reverse. In Isaan, proponents were not free to express their views because of the reaction this would elicit from the pro-Thaksin camp.

People I spoke with told me about their fear to oppose the "no" side openly. Demonstrations to support the charter were impossible to organise. Indeed, freedom of expression was impossible not for the opponents of the charter, but for its supporters.

Egon

BANGKOK

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AOT's billions better put to less frivolous ends

Re: "AOT to develop Bt10-billion site", Business, August 22.

It is very disappointing to hear that Airports of Thailand (AOT) is spending its time planning commercial developments before it has solved current problems and provided for essential future needs.

It is difficult to understand how a 1,000-rai commercial development with a three-star hotel and golf course is more important than better and more terminals and runways.

Existing facilities are already shabby and inefficient in comparison to many of our neighbours. Suvarnabhumi is not a finished product and it seems to have no extra capacity.

I have not read the AOT's charter, but I assume that providing sufficient airport facilities for the nation is a key part of it.

This situation should be of concern to both Thai people and shareholders of AOT.

T Mercer

BANGKOk

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