Bangkok’s Political Pundits

Ever lost in translations?

Ever struggled, when another major political scandal rocked Bangkok, to fully understand what was going on?

Does this sound familiar: All you understand turns out to be the contrary of what is actually going on?

Take the coup d’état on September 19th, 2006.

The whole world was panicking. Thailand kept its cool. Thai people from all walks of life offered a wai to the soldiers. Decorated the tanks that were built to kill with flowers.

Thais celebrated their latest coup with cutely manicured, giggling girls, dressed in military outfits and posing arm in arm with the heavy boys and their guns.

For snapshots.

After a military coup.

Can you believe it.

The trend quickly became epidemic. And had to be prohibited. The leaders of the velvet coup had to ban go-go dancers from performing for troops, fearing soldiers may be distracted.

“We have to maintain the seriousness of the coup,” a military spokesman said.

The coup leaders took some male soldiers off the street and replaced them with attractive female soldiers. Who didn’t do much more than smiling. Which is exactly the point I am trying to make.

It’s all about appearance.

The house is burning. And the arsonists organize a feel good campaign.

Not that the coup was wrong. But it was another shining example of the Kingdom’s seeming and the real.

For Thais it is as natural as the sun in the sky to put more emphasis on appearance, whereas real reasons and causes remain negligible side effects.

Politics in Thailand is all about this easiness. Because the real issues remain an impenetrable net of each intertwined and contradicting reasons leading to respective, unforeseeable causes.

Which is why Thais have little interest in politics. Politics are “too much headache”. Rather spend that time in a less headaching way.

Which leads us to the topic of this post: Understanding Thai politics with the help of people who are paid to understand Thai politics: Namely journalists and foreign correspondents.

As the annoying concealment of the clear and obvious in Thailand makes it hard for foreigners to ever truly understand Thailand. We need help to understand.

Take following example: Quite many things cannot openly be said in this beautiful country. Because it is prohibited to talk about quite some things. But everybody knows about them.

There is a vast, highly organized underground railroad of information running through this country, feeding the public the information everybody knows, but nobody finds in any newspaper.

Information you never read about in newspapers and magazines.

Information you never hear about in radio and TV.

But every Thai knows about it.

Foreigners generally have no access to this wealth of undercurrent information that is flowing through the Thai undergrounds. Which, for foreigners, automatically leads to the feeling that the longer you stay in Thailand, the less you understand.

As clear-cut information is sparse.

The more you see of it, the less you can make of it.

What brings us finally to the topic of the post: Why it makes sense to ask the advice of political pundits, whose calling it is to ponder over Thai politics.

Their experience and analysis help to not lose your way through the meanders of Bangkok’s political labyrinths.

A favorite in this métier is Shawn W. Crispin, the Asia Times Online‘s Southeast Asia editor.

Crispin rose to fame with that story in the meanwhile succumbed Far Eastern Economic Review FEER. A story, for which Crispin – together with Rodney Tasker – had paid with much unwanted attention. Crispin though is known for his excellent sources with no clouds over his integrity. Hence for Thailand other priorities count.

Crispin seems to be aware of political drifts and rumors in Thailand before they even start. He knows to pull some strings even highly placed Thais are unaware of.

Crispin now and then writes about stuff no Thai dares to write about. He doesn’t seem to be too much concerned about it. Well, you’d call it a Jester’s license earned the hard way. Back then he was threatened with expulsion, even prison. What made him a kind of untouchable.

Crispin’s carefully researched stories pay greatest attention to seemingly lesser important details. But as we all know, most often it is the seemingly unimportant that counts here.

Much fresher in the trade, but not less well connected, is the Asia Sentinel’s Thailand desk. Some stories they print make even BangkokDan’s hardened face go pink.

The Asia Sentinel is a newer, mostly courageous, never sloppy portal about Asia and her politics. Its three founders are all longtime Asia initiates. They impose no writing formulas to their writers, they solely edit for clarity, brevity and accuracy, which gives the Sentinel’s pieces that kind of free-spirited drift. And being an Internet news site allows to publish stories much longer and detailed than even the honorable long-winded New York Times would ever print them.

Through the comment section of the Sentinel there’s a certain interaction between the authors and readers – and the comments speak of quite some competence of the readers.

The Asia Sentinel’s Thailand stories offer surprising angles with carefully researched backgrounds. Many Thailand reports are not signed by the author, but by „Our Correspondent“. Do your own research and be surprised.

Other, less intrusive stories, are signed by the Sentinel’s very own Daniel Ten Kate. An – if ever – beautiful nom de plume.

A truly anonymous, nevertheless proven and never tired voice about the inside outs of Thai politics remains Bangkok Pundit, a – self-quotation – “person who works in Southeast Asia and spends a large amount of time in Thailand.”

Bangkok Pundit gives the impression of standing on steady ground when elaborating about Thai truisms. He deliberately hides his name and face, but his knife-sharp insights for me at least are credentials enough.

Bangkok Pundit about Bangkok Pundit: “I am a political news junkie.”

Forced to write. “As he/she found the level of political news reporting by English-language Thai newspapers such as The Nation and Bangkok Post not up to standard,” commented Philip Golingai, the Bangkok correspondent of Malaysia’s The Star.

Of much more real flesh and blood is the Inter Press Service‘s Thailand correspondent Marwaan Macan-Markar, who even under his real name does not shy away from the dangerous.

Macan-Marker tracks down stories you never thought they’d existed. He’s the constantly traveling voice of the castaways and the downtrodden, exposing their misery through captivating feature stories.

The real great icon of foreign reporters in Thailand though remains the New York Times’ Seth Mydans, whose reports are, yes, literature.

Mydans’ style goes down as well as a fine old burgundy. He plays with metaphors, sometimes even overreaches into grounds that you would only find in novels of Gabriel García Márquez. Mydans keeps it all together with wondrous twists and turns.

Reading Mydans is like eating good food. Inspiring, satisfying, entertaining. What more can you want.

More straight, more clean, with no less valuable sources, is the Herald Tribune’s Thomas Fuller. But any gourmet tastes the difference. Mydans is a last remaining ambassador of the old era of correspondents. Fuller represents the quite younger, more modern generation.

Then there is the Economist, good value by reputation alone, but we all remember the inexcusable faux pas of the Economist after the coup. Which was harshly condemned by the magazine.

Because of the basic Westminster rule, the Economist argued, that only an election shall replace an elected leader.

As it turned out, the writer responsible for that piece was a fresh arrival who had no clue of what was going on.

He learned his lessons, but we still have the impression that the Economist’s reporting on Thailand is too clichéd and stereotyped, observed from the faraway aloofness of an ivory tower.

Much more hands on – what brings us to the Thai side of things – is The Nation’s editor Tulsathit Taptim.

If Chuan Leekpai’s tongue is said to be a honey-coated razor blade, then Tulsathit’s tongue is a honey soaked arsenal of machetes. He shines with sharpness, wit, sarcasm (a rarity amongst Thais) and 360 degree approaches.

Sometimes Tulsathit gives slightly in to The Nation’s tendency of being too emotional when simple reasoning would be the call of the day. His thoughtful, provocative elaborations though mostly hit the nails on the heads.

I know, we mainly hear from The Nation’s more public faces Suthichai Yoon and his brother, Thepchai Yong. Tulsathit’s voice though is the one to listen to.

Competitor Bangkok Post unfortunately doesn’t have any household names left. The Post’s „Inside Politics“ was the core piece to tell us about the behind-the-scenes. But as the Post had already failed us during the Thaksin days, it has finally become a too-easy-to-digest advertising paper which shies away from any direct engagement with critical issues.

Its glory days are gone. The only real inputs you get from the paper’s PostBag, aka, its readers.

It has to be mentioned though, during the past months the Post regained some of its old fervor. Analyses and commentaries are sharper again. The old lust is back to rub salt in wounds – welcome back grand old dame!

Bringing us to Sondhi Limthonkul’s independent satellite TV station Thailand Outlook.

It goes without saying that Thaksin would still be in power without the anger and persistence of the cunning rascal Khun Sondhi, who burnt much more money in his life than he can ever earn. But Sondhi knows no fear. It was Sondhi who brought the movement against Thaksin into speed. The core of his Manager Media Group is Thailand Outlook TV – with mostly savvy young chicks with highly alert minds as anchors.

If you were never really impressed by the intellects of Thailand’s carriers of the two X chromosomes: Sondhi’s girls, let them teach you a lesson.