These are only flimsy excuses: the inferred right to freedom of expression they are based on always has a limit in the responsibility for what one says and shows.

Google's American management also showed ignorant and asinine arrogance in offering to "educate" the government on the working of YouTube after having violated cultural tenets, protocol, etiquette and good taste. Regarding the latter, it is interesting that two American Google executives for Italy were subject to a magistrate's inquest over a video posted on its website showing a handicapped boy being slapped by bullies at school - a great thing, the Internet, it is not?

Google has treated His Majesty the same as a Bush, Blair or Berlusconi, but the latter three are mere politicians and are therefore legitimate targets of satire. His Majesty is above all politics and is not only the most respected head of the nation but also the symbol of it: to satirise him so coarsely is to offend deeply the entire nation.

Krabong Kuverakorn

Bangkok

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Chiang Mai's air is still unsafe despite governor's guarantee

 The Chiang Mai governor recently "guaranteed" that the region's air pollution would vanish by Songkran, and urged tourists to come to the festival. He can guarantee no such thing. In 1999, another year with smoke levels as bad as this one, the most carcinogenic air particles (less than 10 microns in size) stayed at dangerous levels till June.

They are still high now, and show no signs of abating.

A blog link from The Nation's website yesterday gave advice on how to have a safe Songkran in Chiang Mai. Unless one fancies the prospect of carcinogens lodging in one's lungs, the only safe behaviour would be to not go within a thousand kilometres of Chiang Mai until mid-year.

Brian Davies

Bangkok

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Demand for Buddhism as the state religion is un-Buddhist

 Those self-declared Buddhist nationalists and monks who tried to advocate Buddhism as the national religion seem to misunderstand the original doctrine of Sakyamuni Buddha. The original Buddhist schools of thought - be it Hinayana or Mahayana - advocate compassion, kindness, impermanence and non-self.

To impose a priority on religion creates not only rift among people by infringing on their religious freedom but also exposes how ignorant some Buddhist communities are in modern Thai society.

It has become a trend to build huge statues of the Buddha to lure visitors, sometimes ridiculously positioned at an entrance on a main road, or splendid temples, sometimes with Italian marble, or offer mystical fortune-telling services to Buddhist laity. However, it seems that many modern Thai Buddhists and monks have forgotten that when they first take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha, they vow to follow the Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings to attain the path of enlightenment. The 10 precepts laid down by the Buddha clearly require his followers, specifically monks, to be free of all sensual entanglements. They clearly prohibit, among other things, the seeking of status, personal importance and luxury, and the accumulation of wealth. And in these modern days, perhaps they would also include freedom from politics.

As the Buddha said, " Don't take what I am saying, just try to analyse as far as possible and see whether what I'm saying makes sense or not. If it doesn't make sense, discard it. If it does make sense, then pick it up." (John Bowker, "Worlds of Faith", BBC, 1983, p134). The message is clear: his followers are free to adopt or reject his teachings or inspiration.

Thailand is already a de-facto Buddhist country, why create ripples when a solution for peace is desperately needed in the deep South? For those Buddhists who want a say in the drafting of a new constitution, perhaps it is time for them to use their excess energy to brush up on their long forgotten teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha. It is better to search for peace of mind on the path to nirvana than to engage in a meaningless dispute that could have a dangerous impact on the country's internal stability and security.

Yingwai Suchaovanich

Samut Prakan

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Proper road safety measures more reassuring than candy

 I wonder if we have amateurs or professionals running the traffic police as they try to reduce accidents at holiday times. This year, the Prachuap Khiri Khan highway police will hand out "super sour" candy, blessed by 2,999 monks, to keep drivers awake. God helps those who help themselves. Instead of handing out candy, how about flying squads enforcing laws on selling alcoholic beverages to minors, speed limits, driving under the influence, wearing of motorcycle helmets along secondary roads, etc?

For their part, the land transport and highways departments will use breathalysers on drivers of inter-provincial buses and check their vehicles for roadworthiness at rest stops. If their buses are in dubious shape (as many will be), or if they've been drinking (as many will have been), will any driver risk stopping to be checked?

Instead of cosmetic measures a few times a year, we should attack the many problems causing traffic accidents at the source, and not just during holiday seasons. Require drivers of public transport to be road-tested every five years, and their vehicles to be inspected twice yearly. Deduct points for traffic violations. Make insurance driver-specific, to hold them accountable, and require their employers to carry enough insurance to cover loss of earnings for those injured or killed, plus punitive damages. Revise compensation schemes so they do not encourage drivers to race for passengers. Reward police for lowering the accident rates in their area of jurisdiction.

Above all, get professional.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

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Environmental issues need to be part of political platforms

 Can anyone name one environmental issue that was addressed in any of the political platforms leading up to the three previous Thai national elections? I can't. Despite repeated mentions by Her Majesty the Queen, environmental concerns continue to be off the political agenda.

Looking just at whether there's a sustainable amount of fish in Thailand's waters, here's a direct quote from the most recent National Geographic magazine: "In Asia, so many boats have fished the waters of the Gulf of Thailand that stocks [of fish] are close to exhaustion." Some countries, Canada and New Zealand in particular, have effective policies for setting aside bodies of water to enable fish stocks to replenish. Even though the US seems to be everyone's whipping boy these days, Uncle Sam recently created the world's largest marine preserve near Hawaii. At 310,000 square kilometres, it's 70 per cent the size of Thailand's land area. How may square kilometres has Thailand set aside to preserve as "marine parks"? Every metre of Thailand's beaches contains rubbish, the number of large fish and mammals gracing its waters is decreasing, and coral reefs are slowly being decimated. Mangroves, which are like nurseries for sea life, get systematically cut down to make way for shrimp farms - which wind up getting silted up and abandoned soon after. If a dynamic environmentalist shows up, he or she stands a chance of being murdered. Meanwhile, Thailand's leaders seem to be yawning at the wheel. For the upcoming election, Thai voters should demand that candidates address environmental issues.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Cyclists lament restricted access to Bangkok's parks

 Bravo to some forward-thinking people in power for suggesting that more Thais use bicycles as a way to get around. Despite the horrendous traffic, there are actually quite a few paths and sois in Bangkok that are easy to ride through. But if you have to ride through a park, watch out!

On Saturday a friend and I tried to ride through Lumpini Park, but were stopped at the gate by a gang of surly guards. They said we couldn't ride our bikes inside, presumably for safety reasons, despite the fact that I could see at least four other people riding bikes in the distance. After a little back-and-forth, we decided to do an end run through the parking lot and onto Sarasin Road. We then saw another person riding a bike inside the park. The guard that was following us stopped us again and when I pointed to the rider in the distance, the guard said he was allowed to ride here because he lived here (or something like that). Deeply flawed logic, but okay.

Fifty feet later we saw three mid-teens riding their bikes, which the guard explained was okay - because they were children. I pointed out another rider, clearly in his late teens, sitting besides his bike eating. The response was the same: he's young. After battling our way through traffic to the Rama IV statue, I saw another guy about my age, with a baby in a seat on the back of his bike, ride right past another cabal of surly guards at this entrance. It seems that being a child - or simply possessing one - allows you to ride in the park.

I thought about trying to explain to the guards that no matter who it is - the prime minister, the Pope, a teenager or myself - we're still all riding bikes, but didn't think they'd understand the logic. In my extensive rides around Bangkok, I've been shut out of most parks I've tried to ride in. I'm not going to fly around at 60 kilometres per hour or ride through the flowerbeds, so what's the problem? It would be nice to have some rules posted up instead of just a blanket "no bikes allowed in the park, even if it's deserted" rule.

Greg Jorgensen

Bangkok