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Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat should know that being elected by the people doesn't necessarily give him the right to act at will and most importantly that his mandate to rule has become increasingly questionable since the October 7 incident, in which he injured and killed people he is supposed to protect.

He should take his cue from the Dutch government, headed by Prime Minister Wim Kok and his entire cabinet, who resigned in 1995 in the aftermath of a report accusing them of failing to prevent the Srebrenica massacre, the worst single atrocity of the Bosnian War.

At the time of the massacre about 200 "Dutchbat" troops, under, the command of LtColonel Thomas Karremans, were stationed in Srebrenica as part of the UN contingent.

"The international community has failed to protect the people in the UN safe areas [in Bosnia]," Mr Kok said in parliament in a short explanation of his resignation.

If Kok and his entire cabinet felt responsible and consequently resigned en masse for failing to protect the people of Srebrenica, not even their own kin, how much more should Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat do to shoulder full responsibility for ordering excessive injury to the civilian population?

Sai Wansai

bangkok

Democracy or marketing?

I read with interest Khun Salin Pinkayan's letter, opening with his paean to American democracy. As an American, I can attest that the paean ought to be to American marketing, as the $400,000,000 man has apparently convinced everyone in the world that there is a difference between the policies he espouses and those of his "hottempered war hero" antagonist.

There is not. What is wrong with American democracy is what is wrong with Thai democracy: the people remain spectators as opposing camps pursue "elite" interests to the detriment of their own.

For both in America and in Thailand the cure is the same. Ordinary people - that would be you and I - must participate in the political lives of our respective countries. We must organise and build our own political parties to represent our interests as the present corrupt political systems in both nations represent the interests of a monied "elite". We in America and in Thailand need a kaanmueang phawphiang to complement what HM the King has termed setthikit phawphiang. The one will protect us from the vagaries of the Neocons while the other will keep the Neoliberals at bay.

But wait! Is Khun Salin Pinkayan a clever marketeer of the PAD himself?

Has he absorbed the most salient characteristic of the democracy he professes to admire, namely say anything but keep your policies on point:

"It seems that the only way to get past this stalemate is for the PAD to have its way and the country's elite to declare victory."

It seems so. He is trying to condition us all to accept defeat and the extinction of democracy in Thailand. With a "little help" from The Nation, of course.

"So I really hope the 'Good Politicians' win the upcoming doubly, triply rigged election and get us out of this mess. Let us also hope that in all their goodness they have the cojones to fight for the oneman, onevote system."

Khun Salin Pinkayan ends with a sneer at us and for our longing. How could the nonexistent "Good Politicians" win the upcoming doubly, triply rigged election and get us out of this mess? Waiting for Godot is a fool's errand indeed!

The time to show the courage to fight for one man, one vote is right NOW!

No! No! No! to the PAD! Yes, Yes, Yes to democracy!

John Francis Lee

Chiang Rai