John de Laurent is right on the mark when he points out the discrepancy between the spelling of the new airport's name ("Suvarnabhumi") and its Thai pronunciation ("Suwannapoom").

Suvarnabhumi is Sanskrit for "Golden Land", and in Sanskrit it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. But Sanskrit purists must shake their heads in disbelief at some of the linguistic atrocities that occur whenever Sanskrit words are rendered into spoken Thai. One would never believe, for instance, that the name of the Thai city Phitsanulok derives from the Sanskrit "Vishnu Loka" ("Vishnu's World"), or that Nakhon Si Thammarat derives from "Sri Dharmaraja Nagara" ("City of the Righteous King").

With regard to the airport, I seem to recall that, at the request of the relevant authorities, the name Suvarnabhumi was conferred by His Majesty the King. To trifle with such a name might be construed as disrespectful to His Majesty. But there is a way out of the problem. His Majesty will be 80 years old next year, and he recently completed 60 years on the throne. As part of the celebrations, would it not be possible for the authorities to petition His Majesty to allow them, on his next birthday, to change the airport's name to King Rama the Ninth International Airport? Perhaps bestowing such an honour upon the airport could be made conditional on its upgrading to a standard worthy of its new name.

Omkar

Bangkok

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'Suwannaphom' one of many transliteration complexities

Re: "Spelling of the airport's name causes confusion", Letters, December 23.

John de Laurent hit it right on the head about the English-letter spelling of Thai names and words. What is even more interesting is that the small town near Yasothon that is pronounced exactly the same way as the airport name is officially (maps, road signs, etc) spelled "Suwannaphom", which is a lot closer than "Suvarnabhumi" is to the actual sound.

I was chastised by a foreign friend for mispronouncing the name of the airport, but living close to Suwannaphom, why wouldn't I mispronounce it?

Lastly, it is becoming a little trying being chastised by Thais for mispronouncing the word paakaa (the Thai word for "pen"). How can you mispronounce a word that is a bastardisation of the English word "Parker". I even have them correcting my pronunciation of my bulldog's name from "Butchie" to "Butchee". It is one thing protecting the pronunciation of your own language, but when you start telling people how their own language should be pronounced and spelled, you are becoming a little presumptuous.

If Thais want to know why we have so much difficulty learning their language, they should go to their books, signs, etc, and rethink the English spelling of their words.

And by the way. Is it "Ubol" or "Ubon", "Chon Buri" or "Cholburi"? Who is in charge of these things? I say send him to the guillotine. Is that pronounced "gwillotine' or "geeoteen"?

John Arnone

Yasothon

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Challenges await prospective PM candidates in 2007

While we debate several issues on the new constitution and the interim government, it's time for us to also think about the new government that will be in office in about another year. We can guess the identities of a few with ambitions to be the next prime minister but we have not heard anything about their plans for the country.

There will be problems the new government must tackle: the complicated violent situation in the South will continue. We must improve Thailand's competitiveness to compete with new emerging countries. Many Thais are still poor and the gap between the rich and the poor has become bigger. The problem of the quality of education needs to be addressed. Jobs are scarce and come with low pay. Corruption will continue to be a problem even though the situation should be better after the coup. The value of the baht may still be an issue.

With an election approaching, politicians vying for the job of prime minister should come forward and tell us their concrete ideas for these issues, or others they feel relevant for the country, supported by facts. Their ideas should be clear and objective. This is part of a good democratic process and the media can play an important role here. Those who want to be MPs should do the same. This will make the public feel comfortable that we will have a new capable government.

Prichar

Bangkok

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Photo of  'swine Santa' just in the spirit of holiday fun

Re: "Please don't make a mockery of our Santa", Letters, December 25.

In her letter Liza Castaneda expressed strong views about Thai people. I, too, saw the pictures and thought that it was cute and fun. To me there was no mockery of an icon of secular Christianity. As a matter of fact, I received many more provocative representations of Santa in recent emails, including one of Santa naked (believe me, that is too much information) - all from Christians. If you are going to take offence at an innocuous photo from the Chon Buri Zoo and write to The Nation, maybe you should also write the same letter to every newspaper in Christendom, as the treatment of Santa (he's my Santa too) by Christians can be far more frivolous. Otherwise, relax and take it as it was intended - fun.

JM Joyce

Bangkok

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T'is the season to be annoyed by yuletide mall muzak

Part of the reason I left the UK and came to live in Thailand was to escape the clutches of Christmas. I find myself bewildered, therefore, by the assault upon my senses perpetrated by Bangkok's shop owners in the form of Yuletide greetings, sing-a-long seasonal muzak and pictures of festive gnomes grinning at me inanely. I would be grateful if any of your readers could suggest somewhere for me to hide that is free from the conspiracy of consumerism they call "Xmas".

Mustapha Fagg

Bangkok

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Bank of  Thailand's moves helped country dodge a bullet

The Bank of Thailand is being severely criticised - in some cases ridiculed - for Black Tuesday. But behind the banter is the fear that other Asian countries will follow Thailand's lead. Why would other countries do this?

And, why did Thailand not simply continue accelerating its accumulation of dollars?

The answer to both of these questions: to avoid capital losses in the future.

The dollar will continue adjusting downward. George W Bush's vice president likes to say, "Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don't matter", and since he isn't much of a kidder, it must be that he's just plain wrongheaded.

But deficits do matter, and so do foreign reserves, especially for oil-importing countries. Unlike the real guilty culprit, China, which has political reasons for being willing to take those future losses, Thailand doesn't need to.

So much the better for Thailand. And if the "hot money" has decided to stay away from Thailand's stock market, good riddance. Thai stocks trade on great valuations, hot money isn't needed.

Let someone else drown in it. Thailand looks smart.

Steven Stoffers

Chiang Mai

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Helping the living must be the legacy of the 2004 tsunami

Re: "Where did our tsunami cash go?", December 25.

This drove me crazy at the time, and the passing of time doesn't seem to have helped any. Why is it that, after the tsunami struck, the dead tourists were somehow more important than the living citizens? Still today, there is talk about "wanting to help victims of the tsunami..."

Hey! The dead are past our ability to help.

How about helping the living, who lacked food, shelter; in some cases lost their entire families?

Some of the victims are living without shelter or means of earning a living still today, two years later. Please, people, try to focus on what's important here!

Frank Maunder

Bangkok

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Philosopher's words carry the promise of a better world

Stumbling upon the writings of Ivan Illyich I find: "The present world is divided into those who do not have enough and those who have more than enough, those who are pushed off the road by cars and those who drive them. The have-nots are miserable and the rich anxious to get more. A society whose members know what is enough might be poor, but its members would be equally free ... Much less do most of our contemporaries experience the sober joy of life in this voluntary though relative poverty which lies within our grasp."

I think that this is surely the same insight that His Majesty the King has been trying his best to share with us.

The study of Ivan Illyich might help us all focus on just what a unique opportunity we have here in Thailand, to skip the pain and suffering involved with an industrial society, to march in place and forward at the same time into a more convivial world.

Much, if not all of Ivan Illyich's work is available over the wire. Ivan Illyich died in 2002.

John Francis Lee

Chiang Rai