I, the electorate, have spoken

POSTBag136 Na Ranong Road, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110, ThailandFfax:022403666Femail:postbag

I, the electorate, have spoken. You may not like what you hear, but respect it you must! True reconciliation will only come once we, the people in Bangkok, get it through our heads that the people in the North and Northeast are also Thai, and that their vote counts as much as those from Bangkok. SANTI RATTISETHI No more coups, please One thing that the Dec 23 elections showed is that we should have no more coups d'etat.

Mainly, coups don't work. Last year's coup had everything going for it: a warm initial reception by Bangkokians, the junta leader was army chief, the prime minister was not only ex-army head but a former privy councillor, the deposed PM and his party's executive committee were banned from politics for five years, and the main remaining party was headed by a young, energetic, photogenic, Oxford-educated leader. What more could one want?

Yet the junta's accomplishments have been as scarce as hen's teeth. Our GDP is the slowest-growing in Southeast Asia; to this day I still don't see the junta's road map to solve our southern problems, and they've failed abysmally to show the rural folk how bad Thaksin was for them.

PM Surayud and Gen Sonthi, like ex-PM Thaksin, scrupulously failed to implement the rule of law when it came to those in uniform, e.g. at Tak Bai or Krue Se, or the 2,500 extra-judicial drug war-related killings.

So what are we left with? Educating the public, of course, so that we are better able to analyse and weigh alternatives, and inform you, our leaders, where we want you to take us.

So Khun Samak and Khun Abhisit, don't tell us where you want to take us. Rather, convince us and show that what you propose is sustainable. BURIN KANTABUTRA Democrat coalition

far from reality I find the Democrat party secretary-general's hope of forming a government in the current tussle as somewhat strange, (''PPP reaches out to other parties'', Bangkok Post, Dec 25).

Without a shadow of doubt, the Democrat-led coalition with a combination of all the other parties except People Power party (PPP) is far from reality. With a command of 248 against one party (PPP with 232 seats), the Democrats can hardly survive with a theoretical majority of eight, which can dwindle down if some are subsequently red-carded by the Election Commission. I am afraid the Democrats are now destined to be the leading opposition again.

Chart Thai, with 37 seats, hardly matters to the PPP. In excluding Chart Thai, PPP still has two alternative choices of forming a formidable coalition with 253 seats _ if Puea Pandin, with 25 seats, is excluded, or 278 seats if it is included.

I venture to guess that the scenario of 278 seats in a PPP-led coalition is most likely because, from the past conduct of Thai political parties with the exception of the Democrats, they have never liked to be in the opposition, and the tide has now turned to recognise that it may not be that bad to affiliate with former Thaksin members. SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT Stunning victory So despite all the hurdles put in its way, the PPP or de facto TRT manages to pull off a stunning landslide victory, on the same scale of 2005, without even having the advantage of state networks.

Is this truly the will of the people? Considering it lost 111 of its best MPs to a ban and about 80 others to defection, I find the result hard to believe, especially in a country where people traditionally vote by patronage.

I'll be interested to see what the final figures look like after all the vote-buying complaints are investigated.

However, disqualifying two dozen or more PPP candidates, among others, is just going to look like a farce to the rest of the world and I think the PPP well knows it. NORTHERNER Do not 'glamourise' Khao Yai Park I was disappointed to read the article ''High life on the big mountain'', about Khao Yai National Park's makeover into a glamorous, jet-setting, ''cultured'' destination.

When I was young, in the late '80s and early '90s, there were several winters where my family would take a holiday at Khao Yai in a modest cabin we rented with another family. We shivered under blankets at night, and in the day we hiked on Khao Yai's beautiful trails, carrying a picnic lunch.

During the evenings we made a fire outside and talked, sang and laughed. We were there for the freedom and stillness that only a place like that could provide.

Here's to the hope that the five-star service, award-winning wine, fashionable topics du jour and Italian sausage have not completely obliterated the park I loved as a child _ the one that Earth created. BENNETT POOSAWTSEE Michigan, USA