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Published on January 7, 2008

The Princess was a great patron of the arts, offering invaluable support to young musicians in Thailand. Certainly the concert halls of Bangkok will no longer seem the same without her familiar figure seated near the stage.

May she rest peacefully.

Chris Jeffery

Bangkok

Corruption at all levels tears society apart

Thailand is trapped in a continuous circle of corruption without any serious intent to punish the culprits guilty of such practices.

We regularly hear statements of "we are investigating", but in the final analysis those guilty of massive corruption laugh all the way to their offshore banks.

Administration after administration allows this to continue.

More and more panels and committees are established to investigate but most of them produce no punishable results. Instead they actually contribute to corruption as the members of such committees are often the recipients of financial benefits from the corrupt criminals they are supposedly investigating.

Crime should have no special status. Crime, no matter the social status of the criminal, must be severely punished.

At present we are teaching our younger generation that crime is allowable if you are within the top circles of society but is punishable within the lower ranks.

A never-ending circle with no end in sight because of a lack of justice meted out to the culprits because of their respective power base within our society. It doesn't say much for our system of justice. What faith can our younger generation have for such a system?

Our law enforcement is very much part of this corrupt system. Those caught are always placed in "inactive" posts, not punished as we ordinary Thais would be.

As a nation we are lost and will continue to crumble further and further as, internationally, we are looked upon as a totally corrupt nation. Nothing can be achieved within our society without "under the table" payments.

I, as a once proud Thai, feel saddened and ashamed of what we are and what we have become. Thousands of our fellow Thais have been murdered without punishment for the perpetrators; schemes which could have been of benefit to our country have had to be cancelled because billions of baht have been stolen from us, again without punishment for the perpetrators.

Yes, I am a realist, as it doesn't take a higher education to see us for what we are or have become.

I fear for our future.

Pakorn

Bangkok

Remembering a respected expatriate

James V Di Crocco, a 30-plus year member of the American expatriate community in Bangkok, died on Thursday following a long illness. Di Crocco, who retired in Thailand after a successful career with the US government, was a past vice-president of the Siam Society.  He also was the honorary editor of The Journal of the Siam Society for many years. After retiring from US government service, he lectured at the Thai military academy and Chulalongkorn University for several years.

An accomplished writer and historian and a meticulous editor, he was the author, co-author, and translator of numerous scholarly historical articles, books, and other publications including the historical monograph, "The Mons: A Civilisation of Southeast Asia" published in 1999 by the Siam Society.  He had the high honour, of which he was most proud, of being granted an audience with His Majesty the King following the publication of the original edition of "The King of Thailand in World Focus" in 1988 for which he was an associate editor.

Di Crocco's funeral service will be held at 1pm today at Christ Church, Bangkok, which he attended for many years.

Jim and Katherine Di Crocco

Newport News, Virginia