Thailand, What Have You Become

With the emergence of shadowy Pallop Pinmanee as the designated successor of PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang the PAD’s psychological warfare mêlée at Government House has gained a whole new dimension. Bloodbath anyone? Pallop’s the man. And ask yourself who provided the PAD with barbed wire for the barricades. You don’t buy barbed wire at your local hardware store.

Pallop and PAD leaders Chamlong & Sondhi are masters of psychological warfare. But the grim blame game over at Government House is wearing heavily on the small PAD supporter. “A growing paranoia” is reported “inside the government compound as the protesters are constantly on alert over security and the possibility of riot police storming the compound to disperse the crowd and arrest their leaders.”

Chamlong, Sondhi & Co. themselves are protected by a human shield of willing followers aka potential cannon fodder, hostages to their noble cause. For the average PAD protester Government House “has become an enclosure. Once they make their way inside, it is practically impossible to leave because the PAD’s guards have erected barriers and employed tight security measures in fear of police infiltration.”

Chamlong however shows first signs of paranoia himself. Is worried about the nevertheless thinning PAD crowd. Chamlong demands heroism. Knowing that indoctrination and herd instinct are the primary forces at play – with the growing paranoia weakening the individual while strengthening the group’s dynamics.

You’d expect rationality and reasoning in a political fight. Thailand’s political landscape has been reduced to a Darwinian diktat of the ruthless and reckless leaving a swatch of hate, division and destruction behind.

The aims and goals of all sides are respectable and we’re not for or against the Samak government. We’re just asking for some mutual respect, civil debate and adherence to the rule of law. All we can see though are agitation and politics of primal fears.

After what has happened the past few days we’re maybe slightly less convinced that Samak must go.

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Comments

15 Responses to “Thailand, What Have You Become”

bosunj on August 29th, 2008 4.03 pm

While your ongoing time line regarding the current events at Government House are well appreciated I do take exception to the faux news (read Fox News) hard line anti-people stance interspersed within.

Firstly, this is a Thai problem. Thai people have a different point of view than do westerners. Isn’t that one of the reasons why we love this country and Thai people so much?

Secondly, your duly elected government line is tiresome. Truly, Josef Stalin said it doesn’t matter who votes or how, it only matters who counts the votes. With a long and glorious history of vote buying here, I am rather unimpressed with claims of legitimacy.

Thirdly, Taksin himself was supposedly duly elected. The man, in my considered opinion, was and remains a fascist maniac with little respect for the people or laws of Thailand much less for the Crown. I find this reprehensible. His billions don’t afford him greater rights!

K. Samak may or may not be a simple mouthpiece for Taksin. Not for me to say. Obviously a great many Thais are of this opinion.

As any governments first duty is to the good of the people it governs, and since any government only legitimately governs by the WILL OF THE PEOPLE, if a significant number of citizens take objection to the manner they are being governed then they have the DUTY to protest. If their protests are, for the most part, ignored they have the additional DUTY to then use force to remove that government. Sometimes things get messy.

I love Thailand and have retired here for ten years by choice. I love and respect Thai people and their culture. It is for Thai people to decide for themselves how they want to be governed.

In conclusion, while I respect your good work I kindly ask that you moderate your right wing editorializing.

I wish you well.
BangkokDan on August 29th, 2008 4.20 pm

I cannot but agree with your observations on the Thaksin legacy bosunj.

Count me among the first on the street back then against the Thaksin regime.

It was a difficult time.

But I still prefer to be lead by a pseudo-elected government compared to anarchy of the street.

I fear mayhem if the PAD movement should ever succeed. Let alone the simple question: “And now? What next?”

And who is right wing here?

Take the PAD’s stance on democracy and elections. The general public is not mature enough to elect honest public servants. A system of certain appointments, says the PAD, would be a wiser choice for the good of the country.

Most Thai commentators in here don’t seem to share your views.

A country more divided than ever – doesn’t this tell us something.

With all due respect -

BangkokDan
SBThailand on August 29th, 2008 9.53 pm

It is with no due respect that I write this post. I take exception to the faux news in the Bangkok Post and find this site’s viewpoint rather refreshing. In a democracy, the people have a right to protest WITHIN the limits of the law. PADs current approach is little more than a mob of thugs holding the people hostage because they are unable to get their way in a general election. I find it incredibly offensive that they proport to know better than the people, but hide behind old ladies and children. I find it very offensive that my friend’s vote would not be counted due to her limited education. The PAD and their followers attribute ignorance or misunderstanding to an outcome that is against them. It isn’t ignorance or misunderstanding, it is how the democratic process works. The majority rules, not an elite few. Dan has hit the head on the nail comparing the PAD to Hitler Germany.

In my neck of the woods, a certain Senator is known to provide a 2pc chicken dinner to those who vote for her. We don’t break into government buildings in protest. We accept that it is part of the democratic process and if people don’t like her, they will not vote for her in the next election. We also know that if anyone threatens treason against the government, our government would not hesitate to charge you with terrorism. That is exactly what the PAD has become, terrorist. In the U.S., treason is punishable by death.

I do love Thailand and I am very aware that this is a very different culture. However, if Thailand is going to move forward, it is time to grow up and accept the outcome of an election that was heavily monitored and deemed fair. The PAD are acting like spoiled children who didn’t get their way.

Where exactly did all that barbed wire come from?
bongo on August 29th, 2008 11.33 pm

Go PAD!!! Your logic is flawed and driven by a small group of egotistical maniacs but anything is better than the joke that is pig-face Samak and his embarassing excuse of a government.

Whatever happens it’s time for change. fingers crossed …
SBThailand on August 30th, 2008 8.45 am

Be careful what you wish for. The devil that you know is usually much better than the devil that you don’t!
BangkokDan on August 30th, 2008 10.45 am

I wish I was wrong bongo, I wish.

Who wasn’t for the PAD. Who can still be after what just happens.

BangkokDan
Peter Hall on August 30th, 2008 5.03 pm

Students know better: Contrary to my previous take on lobotomized students, WESLEY HSU’s articulate letter to the Bangkok Post is refreshing …

Keep up the good work BD!
hobby on August 31st, 2008 7.30 am

The majority rules, not an elite few

That’s not quite how I understand it is supposed to work.

My understand is the majority elect who rules.

The government rules for all the people, and there are checks & balances to overcome the tyranny of the majority.

In Thailand those checks and balances do not function properly, and that combined with a large uneducated & poor population susceptible to vote buying, leads to the problems we now see.
bosunj on August 31st, 2008 5.53 pm

“Most Thai commentators here don’t seem to share your views” – certainly they do not! They are corporate media in the same sense that faux news is in Amerika. They have their corporate masters to serve. Perhaps too they fear for their lives and their futures as well. Wasn’t one NBT reporter fired and charged due to her comments, hmm?

“I fear mayhem if the PAD movement should ever succeed. Let alone the simple question: And now? What next?”: I imagine King George’s Court felt the same way when those insufferable colonists had the temerity to stand up to him. The point is, one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.

Speaking of terrorists and countries divided, what about the worlds biggest terrorist and the divisions his biggest cheerleader – faux news – encourages with it’s “fair and balanced” editorializing, er, I mean, um, reporting. Yeah that’s it, reporting …

My great fear is the massive resurgence of fascism worldwide. My greatest fear is the seemingly grateful acceptance by many many people around the world for not only the erosion of their rights but in many cases the complete revocation thereof.

Anyone who is willing to trade security for freedom deserves neither.

Again, when a grievance is so great that peaceful protest will not change it, then true patriots are bound by duty to from time to time overthrow by force that which harms them and put in place a government that serves them. I do not express this as eloquently as did Thomas Jefferson:

“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … And what country can preserve its liberties, if it’s rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Men of conscience can disagree without enmity.

Be well
Chang Dek on August 31st, 2008 7.00 pm

Without enmity, nor distortion of reality:

It is indeed easy to take crowd grasping statements made by the great orators and twist them to apply to ones own de-bunked political wish list. The point is, democracy isn’t born democratic, it gets made that way by trial and error, and endurance and vision of humanity going forward, not backwards because it cannot fathom out that humans DO have the ability to overcome corruption and greed.
tum|bler on September 5th, 2008 3.26 am

bosunj:

At least the PAD could do with being more consistent in their demands. Right now each of their 5 core leaders speaks of different and conflicting demands each day and it is simply ridiculous to keep moving the goalposts.

Besides, you said BangkokDan was being right-wing, but I haven’t seen much in your argument to suggest you’re really with the people.

“Again, when a grievance is so great that peaceful protest will not change it, then true patriots are bound by duty to from time to time overthrow by force that which harms them and put in place a government that serves them.”?

Sorry, when the rest of the country are hoping for a peaceful resolution, you’re explicitly calling for blood.

“With a long and glorious history of vote buying here, I am rather unimpressed with claims of legitimacy.”

Even Abhisit has freely admitted that TRT/PPP still would have won elections even without vote-buying.

“They are corporate media in the same sense that faux news is in Amerika. They have their corporate masters to serve.”

I don’t have any master to serve, nor am I part of any corporation.

And I do not support either Thaksin or Samak. I used to think PAD was a genuinely popular movement with noble aims, until it revealed its true reasons of existence: To disenfranchise the rural majority and keep the country in the hands of the elites.
bosunj on September 5th, 2008 4.04 pm

My dear tum|bler,

I am not advocating for or against any particular action or outcome. Those quotes were directed at the Americant’s posting to this blog so that they might be reminded of what great men wrote leading up to the formation of their government. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify.

As for the remainder of your comments, and after looking at your blog, I understand your statement denying any employment by a corporation.

I am somewhat amused though by your claim of populism on the one hand and the sarcastic
statements on your blog regarding what you deem the abysmal bandwidth in Thailand and what seems, in your opinion, to be the scandalous inability of your government to provide the same here on the other.

While you are off in Korea studying diligently for your exams, holding forth on such weighty matters as pop music and enjoying the most advanced internet access on the planet have you paused for a moment to ask yourself how populist you truly are?

You do seem, upon reflection, in my opinion, to be an important part of many corporations. That is the second most important part right after profit, a consumer.

I wish you well and great success in the completion of your studies in Korea. I hope you are able to bring what you learn there to bear for a better future for Thailand, your family and yourself.

Chok dee.

Be well.
tum|bler on September 5th, 2008 9.08 pm

bosunj:

Thanks for visiting my blog. I’m even more amused that you have gone to such great lengths just to find something to say.

For your information, I study in the UK, not Korea. I’ve never even been to Korea although I quite want to.
Pon on September 7th, 2008 10.26 pm

“… until it revealed its true reasons of existence: To disenfranchise the rural majority and keep the country in the hands of the elites.”

I’d like to say that the average PAD protester’s aim in more accurately described as having an accountable government. Some truly believe an accountable government can be achieved by the proposed “new politics” (Hong Kong has an appointed-mixed-elected system, very clean and effective government). Others in the pad crowd don’t actually support the 70-30 idea. I suspect that most of middle class in Bangkok who are sympathetic to PAD, including all those students that came out rallying at democracy monument on Saturday (about 1000 students), I am sure most of them don’t support 70-30 politics. So, at the end of the day, even if Samak resigns or dissolves parliament, I see it as unlikely that the 70-30 idea will ever become a reality in Thailand. I can’t see the Democrats supporting it either.

As for keeping the country in the hands of the elites, it seems that Thailand has always been in the hands of the elites, which during Thaksin era, was probably more consolidated than ever before.
tum|bler on September 8th, 2008 2.53 pm

“I’d like to say that the average PAD protester’s aim in more accurately described as having an accountable government. “

I actually agree with you. But can someone please ask the PAD leaders whether this is what they stand for as well? Most recently they have said that the protest will continue until the “new politics” is established, which to me sounds like an excuse for staying for as long as they like.

“As for keeping the country in the hands of the elites, it seems that Thailand has always been in the hands of the elites, which during Thaksin era, was probably more consolidated than ever before.”

Yes, and to keep the one-man-one-vote principle in place is one of the ways to guarantee at least some amount of power in the hands of the ordinary people. The PAD leaders have clearly objected to it. Sondhi has stated numerous times that one-man-one-vote is not suitable for Thailand.

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