The elite are desperate to preserve the status quo

Invoking it allows for precious time, while awaiting His Majesty's pleasure…. It gives every one of us a chance to pause and look inward and ask ourselves: What is it we really want? What are we prepared to sacrifice or give in exchange for a fuller democracy?"

The writer was Sumalee Viravaidya, supporting a royal petition made by 99 "educated, intelligent and mature" academics requesting His Majesty to appoint an interim government - action that would have constituted a soft coup against then-PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

No amount of carefully supplicant, passive wording can divorce such a petition from involving the monarchy in politics, or from its essential anti-democratic sentiment of wanting to overthrow an election. By contrast, the current petition to pardon Thaksin is minuscule in its legal scope, albeit equally weak in its legal merits.

The salient difference between the two petitions is the will of one million people from the bottom of Thailand's patronage pyramid versus the preferences of 99 at the top. The million might well lack "education, intelligence, and maturity" - a problem in most democracies - but to deny them the tools of political grievance on those grounds is to reject pluralism outright.

Sumalee's question "What is it we really want?" is itself a conservative deception; it is time to accept that different Thais actually want different things. Which is why no one appears prepared to sacrifice anything for fuller democracy, except those who have nothing.

WESLEY HSU

BANGKOK

Who is actually running the show?

I have lived in Thailand for 30 years and until recently have had no problem when it came to determining who was running the country. This is no longer the case. My dilemma concerns these facts:

(1) Abhisit Vejjajiva is nominally the prime minister, yet he seems unable to make decisions and must rely on Suthep, who holds the title of deputy prime minister, to tell him what to do.

(2) Is Suthep the prime minister in fact?

(3) Finally there is the fugitive former prime minister Thaksin, who, it appears, is calling the tune by inciting his red shirt supporters to rebellion against the government and who claims he will return to solve all the problems existing within Thailand and clear up any misunderstanding created for neighbouring countries by the current persons who are supposed to be knowledgeable in the field of diplomacy.

My request: Will the real prime minister please stand up?

WILLIAM REYNOLDS

CHIANG MAI

Hilltribe children advised to take up playing tennis

What fantastic news that Thailand's newest tennis sensation (Nok) is granted a diplomatic passport in just a couple of weeks. In northern Thailand, hundreds of hilltribe villagers have been waiting for up to twenty years to be issued with identity cards, so that they can travel, vote and even obtain a driving licence. I work at a hilltribe school, and a number of students make use of motorbikes for commuting to their villages. Having no identity cards, they have no licence, and are therefore easy pickings for the police at the end of the month when money is short. The cycle continues, as to pay fines, drug dealing is not uncommon and the domino effect continues with hilltribe people losing out all the time.

Thailand appears to have laws and standards for the rich and the poor, and also for Thai and non-Thai. I suggest that some of these hilltribe children should start playing tennis, as it might change their lives.

ROD GRIERSON

CHIANG RAI