Congratulations, you have somehow managed to become both boring and arrogant. No small feat. Get over it. Get a life. Get back on your medication.

Topics such as the new visa regulations, the airport and two-tier pricing might merit your input. However, when it comes to the Thai political process, you should remember that it's their country and we should let the Thais sort it out their own way and at their own pace. Absent any gratuitous advice from the farang quarter.

For those foreigners writing from abroad, I say look to your own house first. For those expats resident here, I say accept Thailand, warts and all, and enjoy the fruit of your labours in this wonderful kingdom.

As for myself, I moved here 15 years ago primarily because of the amount of personal freedom here no longer available in the US. I now have a small condo, a small car, small bills and a small Thai wife. They all work fine, with minimal maintenance required. What's not to like? Stop whining, please, it's boring.

Arthur Lee Gordon

Pattaya

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Whistle-blowers deserve proper legal protection

CTX graft investigator Tortrakul Yommanak proposes offering witness immunity for helping net the big fish. Fine!

But giving immunity just removes one obstacle to full cooperation; many others remain. Powerful incentives must be generously given so that whistle-blowers will willingly risk not only their lives, but those of their kin.

I propose immediate full protection for witnesses and their families plus, when the masterminds are convicted, new identities (including relocation and jobs) and 75 per cent of damages awarded by the courts. Let's make whistle-blowing safe and rewarding - as well as patriotic.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Electorate to blame for bad politicians being re-elected

Re: "Tak Bai, suicide and democracy", Editorial, November 4.

It is good to see a Thai newspaper finally acknowledge that much of the blame for the failure of democracy in this country must be placed on the heads of the Thai people, who simply didn't care enough to fight for its preservation.

The next step is to admit Thaksin may have won the corruption stakes - but it certainly wasn't a one horse race. All the Thai governments since 1992 have been corrupt and abusers of human and civil rights. Think about each of them: an honest man here and there but, for the most part, rotten to the core. It is important to admit this because if and when democracy is returned, the next elected government will be made up of all the usual suspects up to all the usual skulduggery.

If democracy is to succeed next time, the public and the press will need to be vigilant and have the courage to stand up and shout "Enough!"

Still, you have made a start. Congratulations.

Dom Dunn

Bangkok

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Ex-PM's ouster saved him from Suvarnabhumi shame

As the coup took hold, former prime minister Thaksin must have felt thoroughly humiliated at the thought of being denied the glory of welcoming foreign dignitaries to the opening of the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

This was to be his moment - even adversaries would have forgiven the prime minister in a moment of national celebration.

But given that the new airport has so far inspired nothing approaching wonderment but rather embarrassing disbelief, Thaksin must feel rather lucky to have escaped the fury for the failures that would have been unleashed against him. It's an ill wind that blows no good.

David Prescott

Bangkok

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Thaksin demonstrated love for the people very clearly

Thaksin's love for the country and the people is indisputable. At the height of the bird-flu outbreak, when some countries banned imports of Thai chicken, he risked contracting the disease by eating chicken in full public view. To understand the problems faced by the rural poor, he spent one week in Roi Et eating and sleeping with the peasants to taste a life diametrically different from the one he was used to.

Tony

Bangkok

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Muslims entitled to apply own law in family matters

Re: "All Thais should be subject to one set of laws", Letters, November 4

I was sorry to see the extreme anti-Islamic views of Al Eberhardt and Dean Barrett given space on the letters page and I hope you will now publish this rebuttal.

Dean Barrett draws some surprising conclusions from reported proposals to strengthen the Islamic judiciary in the southern provinces. There being one set of laws for all Thais, he says, Muslim judges should not be applying their own laws that unfairly favour men over women. "There is a difference between negotiating peace and capitulating to terror," he concludes.

In matters of family law and succession, Thai Muslims are subject to the traditional Islamic laws which apply in the region, just as Muslim "adat" law has been applied in the Malay peninsula alongside non-Islamic criminal and civil laws under British rule and ever since. Such a dual system is normal and proper, giving expression to the customs of a minority community.

Thailand is a peace-loving and tolerant society very capable of accommodating such pluralism, and it is regrettable when an outsider expresses views that are ill-informed and divisive. To suggest that allowing an element of Islamic law and culture to govern the private affairs of Thai Muslims equates to a capitulation to "terror" is a view that should not be aired in these columns.

Vox Populi

Bangkok

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A few pertinent facts to absorb and consider

I live in Mae Hong Son province. Some time ago I was told that a foreign man was in jail having been sentenced to six months for repeatedly cutting trees in a National Park.

Let's compare: a poor non-Thai national illegally cuts some trees and is given a sentence of six months in jail and no pardon. Some 2,500 people suspected of belonging to the drug mafia are cut down by the Thaksin regime without indictment, without trial. Nobody was found guilty, no jail for those who were responsible, but at least Thaksin was ousted.

Almighty Bush and his cronies started a war in defiance of international law, cutting off the lives of some 3,000 American GIs, and "only" some 100,000 Iraqis (nearly forgotten in the US press). No trial, no punishment, no discharge, no impeachment - but still in office.

Eckhard Helbig

Mae Hong Son

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Only US voters can get rid  of their bad president

Once a chickenhawk always a chickenhawk. It never ceases to amaze me how Republicans who consistently vote against veterans have the audacity to request support from the same said veterans. Senator Allen rates a D+ for his support for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Pitiful! Yet Senator Allen wants your vote!

Then we have another veteran candidate in Illinois. Now here is a woman who flew combat missions in Iraq, lost her legs for the privilege and is now standing up to fight for the people of Illinois, fight for veterans and fight against the corruption in Washington. And what do the Republican chickenhawks do? They accuse her of wanting to cut and run. She can't cut and run, she left her legs on the battlefield. These Republicans are the same chickenhawks that shamelessly handed out joke Purple Hearts at the Republican National Convention in 2004.

Five more brave troops killed today in Iraq, 56 Iraqis killed, Bectel decides they made enough money and are pulling out (read: not enough security). And where was the plan to secure the ammo dumps and weapons caches when we went into Iraq in the first place? Now our guys are getting killed with those same neglected armaments. Republicans have the nerve to get on Kerry while our guys are getting wasted due to abject negligence and absent leadership.

Where is the security? Everyone knows the first priority is security. Where is Osama? Why didn't we close the door on Osama in the mountains of Tora Bora?

Democrats, Independents and Americans who love their country had better get out to vote on Tuesday and bring a friend or two. Let's put this sad chapter of misleading America with incompetence, greed, corruption and deceit to rest.

Capt (Ret) Donald E Bryant

Bangkok

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Resort's decline happened years ago, not recently

Re: "Pattaya's development boom is ruining its environment", Letters, November 5.

I've got news for you Steve: Pattaya is already ruined. Look also what has happened to the once beautiful Chang Mai. It amazes me how the population of Thailand believes Bangkok is the ideal metropolis and strives to convert all towns and cities into this sorry state.

Scott Benson

Chonburi