The penny simply hasn't dropped in most of the Northeast, for example most poor people have no idea how narrow was the country's escape. That's why the present government's primary responsibility must be reconciliation, but it's a task that can only be accomplished if the truth is brought out at the same time.

The whole world watched breathlessly as the South African people managed to do exactly the same thing in 1995. To heal such a painfully divided country everybody had to tell the truth in a public forum - whites from the old apartheid regime stood alongside black resistance fighters in a public forum and both admitted their crimes against humanity. Yes, the South Africans had Nelson Mandela to hold their hand, but we have great-hearted men and women too. We Thais are hardly lacking in saintly leaders, we just don't know how to listen to them!

Shouldn't the same be demanded of all those Thais who corrupted policy, for example? Shouldn't anyone who paid for a vote, killed someone extrajudicially, or subverted a government agency be asked to admit it - and shouldn't the list include everyone right from Senate speaker down to the labourer with no house or land to his name? And those who resisted the previous regime in violent or illegal ways, shouldn't they confess as well, including the military? I can't think of a single episode of violence perpetrated by the latter, or by anyone else in the opposition, but if there prove to be any, shouldn't they be asked to stand up and admit their crimes too?

What makes a task like that of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission so difficult is that no human being finds it easy to accept that his or her most deeply held beliefs are wrong. Apartheid was a proud nation's official development policy, after all, and most white South Africans did not see themselves as racists but simply social pragmatists. I have no doubt that most members of the ousted government felt justified in what they were doing too, and now only regret the inconvenience of no longer being able to do what is normal in a Thai government - pull the strings and milk the cow!

The twisted assumptions behind the old "hostile takeover" political system in this country are just as hard to acknowledge as racism, for they go right down to the bedrock assumptions of our culture - that the strongest person is the best person, the richest person the worthiest person, and the cleverest person the most deserving of reward. When the penny does finally drop, those who held the assumptions will have to admit that they were in fact deficient in both ethics and compassion. They will also have to admit that the sort of governments their assumptions would throw up in the future would be just as unjust and corrupt.

To get that across to our people is truly a task for saints. But not to try is to guarantee old "square face" will be back in some guise or other. The future is for our children and grandchildren, after all, not just for his!

Lung Kip

Chiang Mai

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Vital HIV treatment is not  available outside Bangkok

 It seems the government is withholding Tenofovir, the new HIV treatment drug many people are in desperate need of, from all except residents of Bangkok. Are people of Bangkok somehow superior, more valuable or wanted than the rest of us? It often seems as if the government sees things that way - we know that Bangkok people often do too. It is immoral to assume criteria for determining whom to give respect and consideration and whom to ignore, even let die.

Clearly the remaining stocks of GPO-vir and the AZT substitute for it (for the truly desperate - here the cure often really is worse than the disease, with bone cancer killing much quicker and certainly painfully) are to be greatly diminished before Tenofovir is widely distributed - as if there will be no new cases who could use those drugs, and also as if lipodistrophy and other dire side effects don't matter.

Alternative treatments are economically way out of reach of most people not living in the capital; natural, herbal aids ARE somewhat helpful but in full accounting woefully insufficient. It is past time that government and big business return to some vision of what's right, proper, appropriate and just. Profit alone cannot make a society worth living in.

Name withheld

Chiang Rai

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Parents also have role to play in violence against children

 Re: "Violence against students a national problem," News, November 18.

The article stated that "the information was drawn from responses to a questionnaire sent to about 1,300 teachers in both primary and high schools in all regions of the country". Further on, the article quoted Dr Choochai Suphawongsa as saying, "This is just the tip of the iceberg, really."

Saying it's the tip of the iceberg is an understatement. Whenever you ask a vested interest group to comment on negative aspects of what they're doing, you're bound to get cover-ups. Imagine if you asked policemen to report their own wrongdoing, or bureaucrats to report their own compliance in graft? A better survey would be to ask the students and recent former students. It would have to be an anonymous survey because of obvious fears of retribution.

It's profoundly sad that students are getting physically and mentally damaged by teachers. Just as sad, in my view, is parents teaching their children to be hoodlums. Every time a parent allows their child to watch a video, movie or TV show depicting degenerate behaviour, they're essentially teaching that kid about that type of behaviour.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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UBC keeps changing story on departure of music channels

 Is it actually possible to get an honest answer from UBC? On the first of this month I called to enquire the wherabouts of MTV and VH1. I was told the channels were dropped because UBC had replaced them with "alternative channels"; namely Mahjung TV and TRUE Music, neither of which carry international music.

I called again on Friday to ask whether they had reconsidered and was told that actually they had wanted to keep MTV and VH1 but that those companies refused to sign a new contract with UBC. To quote: "Why would we cancel those channels when so many of our subscribers like them?"

Exactly! Why would they? And why would I be told two different stories? In the past I have enquired regarding English subtitles for movies such as Suriyothai and was told that subtitles weren't available. A curious excuse as I had already watched it at the cinema with subtitles! UBC seem to think that a polite voice and a "sir" or "khun" represents customer service rather than actually telling their customers the truth.

The sooner this monopoly is broken the better.

Neil Aitken

Bangok

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'Weighted' payment system would serve hospitals better

 Re: "Healthcare ship fighting to stay afloat", Analysis, November 17.

While there is one set of problems with using budgets as a way to fund our health providers (such as hospitals), a different set of problems emerges when the "per capita" system is not properly implemented.

In a provider payment system, budget has been considered to be inefficient and inequitable as it does not take into account the number of patients it covers and it encourages the hospitals to use up their budget even when they don't need to. So the per-capita system should really be the answer to the problem, but I do not believe it is properly applied.

A simple per-capita system will not be sufficient to provide an equitable healthcare system. It must also take into account, the age, sex and socio-economic factors of the patients. To provide Bt2,000 for healthcare might be sufficient for a 25-year-old woman but it would cost a lot more for a 70-year-old man, who is more susceptible to illness. So the per-capita system must be weighted according to those factors which would affect the needs and utilisation rate of each registered patient. The system is used widely in many countries to fund their primary care providers.

However, when it comes to secondary or specialised healthcare, the per-capita system can no longer apply as patients are not registered but referred from primary care centre. So some sort of performance-based or case-based funding must be established, ie, hospitals are paid based on the procedures performed or types of illness treated.

As I understand it, many hospitals in Thailand are primary and specialised healthcare providers where the payment system must be separated. It is also my understanding that many hospital managers in Thailand are medical doctors who have received very little management training and hence find it even more difficult to cope with the financial situation of the hospital. So it is imperative that the government revise its health reform strategy, and not just the payment system for health providers, so that our healthcare system is more equitable, efficient, effective and responsive. Also, provide the hospital "managers" with the support that they need.

Jiraboon Tosanguan

London

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Give pandas the whole package to get them going

 Re: "Chinese expert advocates 'panda porn'", News, November 14.

I was delighted to read that the Chinese may soon be using erotic audiotapes to inspire pandas to mate. But sound alone may be insufficient to stimulate the libidos of these sexually sluggish creatures.

In my book "Thai Lite 2" (buy your copy now before it's sold out) I take this idea one step further by advocating blue movies for pandas. These would feature panda superstars with names like Arnold Pandenegger, Pandela Anderson, Sean Pennda, and Pandelina Jolie in a variety of steamy scenarios.

There is of course the problem of censorship in this sternly moralistic country. Even so, properly implemented under the watchful eye of the Culture Ministry, blue movies for pandas should stimulate a number of successful mating events, followed by a quantum leap in the panda population.

My only question is: do I get a medal for this idea? (No.)

S Tsow

Bangkok