When His Majesty the King asked the three highest courts to sort out what he succinctly termed "the mess" following the April 2 election, he no doubt had in mind that the Thai institutions should follow the advice passed down by these courts. Last week, a bunch of Thai Rak Thai MP's threatened to impeach the judges. This week, Vasana Puemlarp, chairman of the discredited Election Commission, stated, "I can make my own decisions", and, "I won't allow them to drive me away".

The rule of law in Thailand is notoriously weak. It is with frustration that one reads about politicians' sons getting away with murder, local mafia being given opportunities to slip away after being found guilty, police who should have been charged with abduction and murder being charged with theft of property instead.

It is bad for business confidence when government agencies wilfully break or rewrite contracts with the private sector when disputes between individuals or firms are resolved in favour of those with money and connections.

And at the end of the day, this weakness sets a desperately poor example to society as a whole. But this latest matter is extremely serious. Vasana has already demonstrated mind-numbing ignorance of his own job description.

Now he is acting in open defiance of the highest authorities in the land. For the good of the political situation, for the rule of law and for Thai society, he must go.

Nigel Pike

Phang Nga

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Charter never envisioned today's political situation

The farce they call politics in Thailand is growing worse by the day.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with the election annulled, then we're back to where we were on April 1 - coincidentally, April Fool's Day. On that day, we had a Parliament that had been dissolved and Thaksin in charge as a caretaker premier.

Now, if reports are correct, and he and his Thai Rak Thai Party paid small parties to contest the election, both he and Thai Rak Thai will be disqualified from politics. Add to the equation that the Election Commission should be disbanded also, and we have a classic situation called a Mexican stand-off.

The Constitution never envisioned such a scenario; appointing a new caretaker government is not the duty of judges.

Tom Lloyd

Australia

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Thaksin in new electionwould be worst-case scenario

Re: "Court orders new poll; pressure mounts on EC", News, May 9.

The two verdicts passed by the Constitution Court on May 8 have long been anticipated by a vast majority of the people, most of all the Thai Rak Thai Party. The earlier anxiety shown by Thai Rak Thai members and their futile attempts to block the judicial review now going on were clear indications thereof. With more rulings to come from the other courts, which are also expected to be consistent with the two earlier ones, Thai Rak Thai will find itself in a whole new ball game.

With the prospects of a new national election looming, the Thai Rak Thai heavyweights are now mulling over whether to ask outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to stand on the party-list ballot and hope the party can ride on his coat-tails as it did on three previous occasions. Thaksin, however, has been pretty much keeping things to himself and apparently is weighing his options.

Unfortunately, this time Thaksin will not have many options to work with. His aura of invincibility has by and large been shattered by the court's decisions and will soon vanish, as more revelations about conflicts of interest and crony capitalism continue to open the eyes and ears of the electorate. Thaksin himself will soon have to face multiple legal wrangles, both civil and criminal, as he treks precariously through the land-mines that lie ahead.

Suddenly also, his very popular populist policies are now not that popular any more. Worse, Sudarat Keyuraphan, in a press conference after the Thai Rak Thai meeting, told a gathering of journalists that Thai Rak Thai would continue its old policies that made the party the champions of the poor. Little did she and Thai Rak Thai understand that those policies have become more or less an anachronism that probably would not or could not be continued by anybody, including Thai Rak Thai itself if that party did lead the next government.

For it was those policies that depleted the national reserve, caused financial chaos on a grand scale for the bureaucracy and increased the national debt as a whole, both public and private. The crunch will come when payment is due. Knowing this to be the case, Thai Rak Thai in its meeting failed to address the grave economic situation that is now upon us. No real solution has been discussed or suggested as to the energy crisis and the worsening scenario of runaway inflation. The much-acclaimed mega-projects that gave so much hope to the revival of the Thai economy might not materialise at all. Sometimes, one wonders whether the magic wand of Somkid Jatusripitak has been broken and is no longer effective.

Thaksin himself has promised to take a "political holiday" from the arena. He cannot renege on his words, even now that the Constitution Court has declared the April 2 election null and void and ordered a fresh election. If he does that, he will find himself in a very compromising position. Not only will he stir up the street politics again, he will also be branded unworthy of the confidence of those who are still with him, within and outside of Thai Rak Thai. If he does not stand down and then loses, that will put an end to his political career and probably cause the destruction of Thai Rak Thai, of which he vowed to make a permanent institution.

Prachyadavi Tavedikul

Bangkok

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Who will foot the bill for another election round?

Re: "Court orders new poll; pressure mounts on EC", News, May 9.

So, there's to be a new election. Seeing as this entire mess was created by the Thai Rak Thai Party, if not by Thaksin personally, I consider it only fair that the ruling party be billed for it. The prime minister's pockets are definitely deep enough, and surely he would want to do right by the people he purports to represent, wouldn't he?

Better yet, Thaksin could recoup so much of his lost prestige by assigning some portion of his family's Bt73.3-billion windfall from the Shin Corp share sale. Let's say maybe an identical amount to the taxes that would have been paid if he had not been so sneaky about the deal - even though it was apparently all legal.

Punter

Bangkok

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Time is ripe to abolish capital punishment in the Kingdom

Re: "The morality of capital punishment", Opinion, May 6.

Gary Becker's article on the morality of capital punishment highlights the issue at an opportune time. He argues as an economist, talking about cost benefits and so on, which is fine, because science can always shed light where darkness prevailed. However, as he himself says, one should not base any conclusions solely on the econometric evidence.

This is a celebratory year for Thailand, and it would be a momentous achievement to crown the across-the-board progress we've achieved over the past 60 years if we were to renounce capital punishment. I realise many people, perhaps even the majority, would initially object, fearing the worst.

It is not surprising that Europe has taken the lead in banning capital punishment, the culmination of centuries of struggle for justice and equality that began with religious toleration and the Enlightenment and has led to present humane views.

But it wasn't that long ago that hundreds of crimes in England - even what are now petty ones, like stealing a loaf of bread - were capital offences. As protests were raised against this injustice, the idea of capital punishment meted out for many crimes became repellent. In a relatively brief period, Europe has reduced to zero the number of capital offences.

Thailand's experience has not been the same, of course. But we have succeeded in reducing capital punishment to only a few offences; I feel we can telescope the rest of the European experience without further delay and arrive at the same consensus.

As Buddhists from all around the world gather in Bangkok, it would be fitting if a voice among them were raised in support of this idea of compassion and reverence for life, which, after all, their founder espoused thousands of years ago.

Trirat Petchsingh

Nonthaburi

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Education reform must embrace Internet technology

The nation's most urgent priority should be to plan, activate and undertake comprehensive education reform, which would require the formulation of innovative, learner-focused strategies and a mastery of Internet-technology-savvy 21st-century skills. The major role of teachers in this fast-forward digital age would be as supportive facilitators, encouraging and exploring, with their students, the virtual-reality world of free Internet access.

Knowing and understanding how and what today's students should be learning can present exciting opportunities and vital challenges if we acknowledge that yesterday's conventional methods no longer adequately meet the cyber-needs of the Yahoo! generation. The non-stop continuous cycle of learning deals with acquiring and applying "life skills", such as originality, ingenuity, curiosity, spontaneity, adaptability and creativity.

Our collective goal should be for each and every child in the Kingdom to become integrally involved in determining his or her own individual priorities, nurturing one's innate talents and special abilities to ensure a brighter, more promising future. Personalised self-directed instruction would broaden perspectives and maximise potential by enabling a greater say for each student in what works best, truly reflecting pupils' wants and needs, with better-informed options leading to higher academic or vocational achievement and ultimate test success or job satisfaction.

Research indicates that all children - regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background and academic status - can and will excel when immersed in meaningful, relevant, challenging and intellectually stimulating tasks and activities.

Dr Chanchai Prasertson

Bangkok