Say You’re In Charge: (Poll)
Abhisit is kicked from all sides. He could have acted faster, other governments would never have waited that long. The other night red paramilitary even attacked the Dusit Thani with an RPG (source: ThaiTV). That’s a serious war weapon. A big hole in one of the upper floors, CNN’s Sara Sidner reported.
Under international law the government is acting not illegally. Remember the Mumbai attacks? The last surviving assassin has just been condemned to death. But let’s say you’re the leader in charge. What would you do? How would you have acted? Oh no please none of the “but they’re peaceful and unarmed!” anymore.
With pressure tactics and a last minute face-saver for the red leadership not all must be lost. If Abhisit and the red leaders to issue a common statement at some point in time it could mark a milestone towards reconciliation. But the task looks like an impossible one after what happened so far. And no, the “fatal” demand by the red leadership that the government has to submit to justice together with the red leaders cannot be listed as an option. No government would ever seriously consider such a condition.
This poll by no means pretends to be scientific or complete. Add your own conflict resolution proposal as a comment:
Both #4 and #5 are true.
You forgot the easiest solution:
Reds should just go home and bury their heads in shame for causing people and nation so much heartache.
Dan the buttons don’t work on my laptop.
But, I pick #3.
(BD: What browser? Mac? Win?)
This is a very flawed poll Dan. I realize you feel you have to play the game but what happens if the Thai media picks up on this? What are you really saying about Thailand’s international community when you offer these very limited and highly selective options? You will be doing us all a huge disservice in the spinning war that is going on by allowing pro government elements in the Thai media to misrepresent the degree of divergence in the views of the farang community …
This is a poll can only be described as designed to give one particular result. Because of the order and way the statements are phrased you have given your first option a clear advantage. I’d say the first two options are clearly supportive of the government. The third option is confusing and options 4 and 5 are suitable for those who wish to condemn the government. Six seems to serve the purpose of siphoning off the opinions of those who detest both sides … By splitting the anti-government view into two different options, tersely and rather crudely stated, you are clearly promoting the first option. It would then be possible to say, (and i am sure that the Thai press if it becomes aware of the poll will suggest this) that more respondents to the poll supported the government’s continuing attempts to manage the situation in accordance with international standards. That’s very naughty of you to give them this opportunity.
Unless you really need the money why not leave this kind of spinning to the masters of ThaiVisa? They are all about the money and therefore appeal to the kind of people who support political repression and human rights violations.
We can all see that the government isn’t going to back down and barring some extraordinary last minute manouver this is going to end very badly. The government doesn’t need your support for this. It will do what it wants to do regardless. Why imply support when you know what has been happening and what may happen next. Why implicate yourself?
By the way, where is Prachatai? Or do I really have to ask?
I picked No. 1 and was encouraged that this unscientific poll tagged my choice as the most popular. No. 2 is hindsight and useless. No. 3 was impossible – no sane government will give in to intimidations and Abhisit had a constitutional mandate to rule as Thai PM. No. 4 is a matter of opinion (the poor struggling is a universal truth) and PM Abhisit did adopt poverty alleviating polices that was easily discarded by the reds as copycatting Thaksin. No. 5 hah! we all now know this 2010 violent red protest-mini-uprising was a setup with the village poor as hostage/shield while the violent reds (in black) terrorize, kill and maim indiscriminately. No. 6 In retrospect the king was very wise to get out of the way because there’s no way to satisfy that Dubai man-with-a-grudge. No. 7 is the doom sayer mumbling incoherent nonsense. No. 8 nah! Let the man squirm because, an incurable optimist, I believe that particularly in Thailand the good guys always win!
And as we can now see from the comments, the Thai media has arrived. Presumably all the people responding to the poll are doing so in good faith and represent a typical sample of your readers.
Whatever your intention was Dan, its out of your hands now …
My choice is #8.
Ultimately there is no winner or loser, everyone should be fighting as though its theirs to lose, to the death.
Thailand and its people have not endured the Japanese occupation, real civil unrest as witnessed in Singapore & Malaysia’s past. Not enough blood shed for either cause.
Talk and sit in with your stupid “happy clappers” (YELLOW & RED), or you can play with RPGs and make a proper statement.
I say its time for everyone to go all out and we’ll see what’s left after, if anything.
Bangkok can be the Palestine of the East! New tourism take.
Still, someone please wake me up when the real action starts, instead of this rhetoric of what is legal and or legitimate.
Well, Jaded, when someone introduces his exercise with “The other night red paramilitary even attacked the Dusit Thani with an RPG (source: ThaiTV)” … what do you expect from the poll itself?
That you would even quote the government-run ThaiTV as a source is a disgrace, they are completely biased and useless for the most part. Many look to blogs to get an idea of what is really happening, not to see regurgitation of the party line. So tell us what possible advantage can be gained by the reds attacking the Dusit Thani? Or who do you imagine just might benefit from saying that they did? This isn’t rocket science.
There are people being gunned down, many with head shots, and you are running a poll? Yes the reds are a pain and an inconvenience, but when did you leave your humanity behind? This isn’t entertainment as many farang armchair generals believe, it is a massacre, and yes the red supremos are just as guilty for sacrificing them.
Report events, be cynical, dig, give us something to think about, if I want mindless propaganda I will read The Nation. And yes I know we can’t discuss what this is really all about, but we can at least bear it in mind when analyzing why things pan out as they do.
(BD: I’m certainly not posting rumors or unconfirmed stuff. Go search for some images, that’s quite a hole in the upper floor. Certainly not from a firecracker.)
BD – nobody disputes the hole in the building. What I picked up on (and I assume is also Chunkton’s point) is you saying “red paramilitary even attacked the Dusit Thani with an RPG”.
Is the identity of the attacker “confirmed stuff” as far as you’re concerned? If yes – how?
(BD: Jackpot, not proven! How could it be. Because they’re Peaceful Protesters Not Terrorists. Hey I saw it confirmed in monumentally huge letters over the stage. So big, you can read it from a plane. Who knows, maybe Seh Daeng shot himself. He draws that gun so fast, nobody saw it!)
Eventually the ugliness we all see today will pass. Ratchaprasong area will be cleared of the reds protesters … very very soon. That’s the easy part.
The hard part follows: (a) How to restore some semblance of normalcy with immediacy; then (b) how to achieve more lasting peace and normalcy … a reconciliation process that could be seen as impartial and working?
Just maybe I was a bit hasty with my No. 1 choice. Considering the hard part above, choice No. 9 gets really tempting eh?
Makes me wonder about the moral choices government leaders make. AND if indeed PM Abhisit had NOT opted for the extra-judicial short-cut with respect to the departed General Khattiya, I salute him with my highest reverence, and I urge him to keep on with the”‘rule of law” path whatever or however urgent the temptations otherwise beckon.
(My numbering in my earlier poster was all wrong missing No. 3 altogether.)