It is a fight against democracy, not for it

However neither of these commentators go far enough with their analyses. Buruma's Thai elites - "the ruling class, backed by big business and the Army" - are clearly a dying breed and sound strangely at odds with their counterparts - the "New York liberals" in America or "multiculturalists" in Europe. Chang Noi is closer to the truth in calling them "middle class urbanites".

What Chang Noi only hints at, however, is the massive growth of this vast new middle class - people who were once poor during the last century, but who now have access to more money, consumer goods, education, healthcare, mobility and entertainment than they have ever had anytime in their history.

As GDP surges, so too does the number of people gaining access to the middle class. All across Asia the growth of this demographic is radically changing the political structure and threatening the old feudal societies, which had always depended on "patronage" and corruption for their power.

Thailand's rural population, like the Philippines, is and has been ruled by locally powerful families, mafia thugs, police chiefs and village heads at least since 1938 when the government first became a military dictatorship under Marshal Phibul. Such people are terrified of progressive democratic changes in society, social welfare, strong tax policies and tough legal constraints on what they consider traditionally legitimate, but illegal, behaviour.

Such changes, however, are inevitable as more and more people join the expanding middle classes and demand the same as their counterparts across the globalised world.

The current revolt has been precipitated and supported by these corrupt feudal families. Thaksin is their hero - and because each fiefdom controls its own group of rural people they have been able to make it look like - to the naive foreign press - that a large crowd is clamouring for democracy. But it is their intense focus on violence that gives them away entirely. They have a powerful military wing that has no qualms about killing their own protesters in order to lay blame on the government. They have been clamouring for bloodletting since the beginning of this protest. There is no idealism here, unlike the student-led uprisings of the past. Instead they are fighting back tooth and nail against democracy, education, the welfare state - attacks on hospitals - and in particular the legal system. They are, in the end, the dying breed.

Early Warm

Nuclear power is a major security threat

Today Bangkok, tomorrow a nuclear power plant?

Egat is hell-bent on getting four nuclear plants built along Thailand's coasts. They announced two months ago that they would name the four sites this month. It doesn't take a genius to see that nuclear power plants would pose a plum target for future protesters or insurgents.

It's also a no-brainer that solar power plants won't carry that concern. Indeed, producing large-scale electricity from the sun is cheaper, cleaner and safer than producing the same from uranium.

Solar has become a lot more than a few PV panels on a roof. Current technology is mind-boggling in its feasibility, efficiency and low cost - even for large-scale municipal applications.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

Blame it all on vengeful Thaksin

Thaksin is the mastermind behind the crisis in Thailand. He has said all along that if he lost, everyone would go down with him. He is the kind of person who loves you if you're on his side, and does everything to destroy you if you're not. He once said any provinces that didn't vote for him would get no special treatment. He always remembers and holds grudges. He takes advantage of other people. He talks from both sides of his mouth, with no feelings of shame or guilt whatsoever.

There is much evidence that he hired an armed militia to be part of the red-shirt protesters.  The government should target the former and current Army generals who planned and executed the street battles. It should announce that these people are the rebels who want to make Thailand a failed state. They know that the government is weak and is too gentlemanly in its conduct.

At the same time they are asking for the UN to intervene. They know that a government that shoots at people has no legitimacy. It's difficult to explain and justify the government's conduct to the international audience with the pictures on TV, unless you know and can prove how cruel the red-shirt masterminds are. How they are willing to sacrifice the country and well-being of their countrymen for their personal goals.

It is sad how ineffective most organisations in the country have become. Most of them only complain about the situation, avoid responsibility and bicker among themselves.

Choopong A

Bangkok

Urgent need for a balanced approach

Being a resident of Bangkok, with no political leanings, I am very happy that this impasse is finally over, at least for the time being. I read the ramblings of Napas (May 19) in which she complained about the international reporting of CNN, which she felt was very one-sided in favour of the Democratic Alliance against Democracy. Her letter was totally subjective against the red-shirt protesters, and I could not imagine her appreciating the very poignant "Burning Issue" on the back page of the same edition. She probably delighted in the cartoon above her letter, and interpreted it to mean that all the peasants should be upcountry where they belong. I cannot help wondering if she was supporting the yellow-shirted thugs whilst they aggressively commandeered the airport until they got their way.

I do not agree with the vengeful tactics of the red-shirt hard-liners as they exact destructive revenge after their loss. I think they should go home and lick their wounds until they come up with a more suitable mandate. In the meantime Napas can happily parade around her favourite shopping malls manifesting her "new money" image.

Alwes

Focus on how to avoid a repeat of this crisis

I take Suthichai Yoon's hint in "Thai Talk" of May 20 - no point in finger-pointing but to focus on what is ahead because the conflict is not yet over. The following are my thoughts:

First, it was not about a civil war but more about a clever man with almost unlimited funds trying to achieve an honourable return. His only way now is the victory of his proxy party at the next election. If we could stymie his use of money to manipulate people then we would be halfway there to nipping his chances of getting amnesty for his sins.

Second, to be fair and credible, the yellow-shirts' sins should be accelerated for judgement to match the red-shirts' cases and never again should one sector be allowed to have an advantage over another sector because of cronyism.

Third, the old thinking inside a box should be changed by thinking outside the box to achieve the target. If force has to be used to uphold the rule of law, then there should be no hesitation to uphold that rule to maintain our society. There is no point in parrot-mumbling about good governance, transparency, fairness and honesty. Action must be stronger than words. Yes, speak less and show us more.

Fourth, planning is a must for any government as it is its job to anticipate and prevent citizens' losses. In the past, the conduct was more of shadow-chasing rather than anticipating the reactions of villains. Tyre-burning and many vicious tactics were made known and shown off but no legal action was taken to prevent the acquisition of those tyres until when they were completely used to paint our city black.

Finally, be less legal-minded but more pragmatic in governing and using laws as the government's tool in achieving an ideal goal. New laws and changes are meant to be subservient to good administration and not the other way round.

Knowing Thailand, a repeat of this mayhem can be expected unless there is a dynamic change and sincerity in one's aim for the common good. The despicable event can easily be forgotten as time heals. We will be back to our past normalcy, inclusive of corruption and dirty politics, and the promises of social justice and economic equality will simply evaporate since the government is now on the winning seat. I call for a higher standard of normalcy to ensure no repeat of this ugliness in Thai men.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok