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Published on January 6, 2008

The projects that occupied her time and real interest were what the young today would call "awesome".

HRH Princess Galyani was patron of 63 different organisations and charitable foundations, covering a myriad of fields such as child care, health, education and the arts and, not least, animals, and even campaigned against landmines and drowsy driving.

She worked tirelessly for rural health, carrying on the work of her mother, the best known of which was the HRH the Princess Mother's Volunteer Doctor Organisation. The Princess travelled with these doctors each year, deep into the countryside, visiting villages in 51 different provinces in the country.

The Princess was also known for her work for the Kidney Foundation of Thailand, the Prostheses Foundation, which made the "Guinness Book of Records" in 2006 when it worked to provide 664 legs for 646 people in 11 days to mark the 60th year of His Majesty the King's reign.

Long is the list of her works, some of which the Princess herself initiated, such as the Child Care for Slums Children programme. She had read articles on the plight of these children in newspapers and decided to visit them herself to see how she could best help.

"You have to see for yourself to believe hardship that these children face," the Princess said when she visited them the first time.

She herself sat on the board and actively presided at various other organisations and, unbeknown to most, she was the first to give support to Thai students competing in the International Science and Mathematical Olympiad since May 1989, presiding at their training and funding their needs.

Her diverse interests included the Elephant Hospital in Lampang of which she had been patron since 2002, the Foundation for the Hospital for Autistic Children, the Anti-Drowsy Driving Campaign, the Promotion of French Language Teaching for French teachers, the Foundation for the Development of Women in the North and the Thailand Mine Action Centre (TMAC), of which she has been patron since 2000.

Towards these organisations and foundations, the Princess had been responsible for channelling and raising funds in the millions of baht.

Sunida Kitiyakara

Bangkok

Let the judiciary, not the CNS, protect the AEC

Re: "New govt will do what it likes with the AEC," Letters, January 4.

I sincerely thank John Symons for disagreeing with me, as the scrutiny of those like him serve as a vital quality control for me. However, I feel that I've been misunderstood.

My stand is that the new government, provided that it has been approved by the due process of law, has the legal right to shut down the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) if it so wishes. Nowhere do I say, nor did I mean to imply, that the government could do anything it wishes, including illegal acts (and I hasten to add that a People Power Party-led government should not interfere with the AEC, due to severe conflicts of interest).

I agree with Symons that if "restraining mechanisms [checks and balances] are not present or incapable of functioning properly then there is an implicit duty on any institution that is capable of preventing clear abuses to most certainly warn and … act to defend the good of the state".

However, I would not say that the Council for National Security (CNS) is capable of identifying the good of the state. To me, the CNS tore up the constitution, had the gall to excuse themselves from legal accountability for that act, and set themselves up as sole judge as to when a forcible takeover (by themselves, of course) is necessary in the name of democracy. It is certainly not impartial; for example, the generals responsible for the use of excessive force at Krue Se and the manslaughter at Tak Bai were never held accountable. For such an institution to prevent abuses, Symons and I should look further, to the judiciary for example - not the CNS.

I suggest that if the CNS were to stage another coup d'état, this time to protect the AEC, they would set our democracy back another decade. Nowhere did I say, nor mean to imply, that world opinion would hinder Samak Sundaravej et al from whitewashing Thaksin if they so wished. All I said was that such a whitewash would be unwise for them and us, and I stand by that.

John Symons, again my thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok

Education campaign needed for motorcyclists

The police traffic branch does not need to use press liaison staff during the major holidays. All they do is to get out the same press release they used last time and change the numbers slightly. Change the occasion between New Year's Eve and Songkran but the overall story of traffic accidents is the same: the major cause of accidents is always drink-driving, 80 per cent plus of all accidents involve motorcycles and a large proportion of them occur on secondary roads. The highest rate of accidents is always between 4pm and 8pm.

The police and the Public Health Department have been fighting against vested interests over the drink-driving problem, but I have not seen any evidence of publicity and education campaigns directed at the high rate of accidents amongst motorcyclists. There should be campaigns aimed specifically at motorcyclists to warn them of the dangers they face on the roads, particularly if they mix drinking and driving. While I have not had the opportunity to look at the figures, I would expect that in many of the accidents involving motorcyclists they were not at fault. But motorcyclists should also remember the slogan "he was right, dead right, but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong".

The various bodies with responsibilities in the traffic area need to do some serious thinking about targeting the most accident-prone sector of road users with messages that speak the language of this group to have any chance of reducing the accident and death toll in general and particularly on major holidays.

Gareth Clayton

Bangkok