The Prisoner of Bangkok

We are Thailand

tomtardis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:59:38 +0000

Almost every famous, professional Thai singer have come together for an album that will hopefully start the healing process after recent Thai turmoil. Though nothing has been written about this in the Nation or the Bangkok Post, it is assumed that money it was like We Are The World of the 1980s that was supposed to help people in Africa. This is probably supposed to help people rebuild their homes and businesses and to help people who have suffered because of the turmoil.

Note; This is based on watching a news story and videos on NBT, Thai news channel run by the Public Relations Department of Thailand, a government agency, on the night of May 29^th. It was a Saturday.

The Red is Dead

tomtardis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:51:12 +0000

He was the most famous victim of the recent Thai turmoil was Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, mostly knowm by his nickname of Seh Daeng (Thai for Red Commander).

He spent his last moments he as he did for the last few weeks: inspecting the red shirt security around the red shirt protest on Ratchaprasong and Ratchadamri roads. He stopped to talk to the press near the Sala Daeng intersection. Shots rang out. One bullet hit him in the forehed and he fell to the ground. He did not survive this wound. He died a few days later as the city burned like he wanted it to.

When he was younger, he supposed helped the Americans in their “secret” (can’t be a secret when everybody knows about it) war against Communists in Laos and Cambodia. He allegedly went undercover went undercover as a Communist. There is no proof that he did any of these things. The only evidence is that he turned his experiences into books. These books were very popular in Thailand. He became one of the most well-known soldiers in Thailand.

During the last ten years, he became an ardent supporter of Thaksin Shinawatra and his people. This, of course, developed into a problem when the new non-Thaksin government came into power 18 months ago. He went to red shirt rallies and vocally voiced his oppositions to the governments as well as to head of the Thai military. They first punished him by demoting him and making him teach an aerobics class. He said the he would teach them the “throw-the-grenade-over-the-head” exercise. Despite this punishment, he continued to speak out against the government and they finally suspended hi m after few months. There was a rumor going around that the military was slow to suspend because he had high friends in the military who were protecting him. Presumably, he was not part of the military when he died.

The only known duties that he was doing at the time were for the Red shirts.

I am not support of the Red shirts, but I could never a person like Seh Daeng, no matter what sided he was on. He seemed to relish talking about violence and wanting it to happen. There was never going to be peace as long as he part of the Red shirts or any other Thai group. After he died, there was peace, but only after many people died.

Seh Daeng is dead and I hope there is no one to replace for his kind of evil should stop when he or she is dead.

Memories of Burnt Things

tomtardis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:38:21 +0000

After the government finally broke up the Red shirt rally on May 19th, 2010, the red shirts who were not put in jail, reacted by trying to burning down buildings and causing even more violence. To me, the Red shirts reverted ti what they have always been: sore losers.
In 2008, Thaksin Shinawatra and his people which included the Red shirts, had to two chances to control the Thai government. They failed due to the Yellow shirts and their own stupidity. They just couldn’t help being corrupt and breaking laws. After backing two losing horses, they decided to back the second largest party in the Thai parliament, the Democratic Party. Through parliamentary maneuvers, the new government was formed with the Democratic Party controlling reins of power.
Instead of accepting that they lost, the Red shirts have spend the last year and a half trying to bring the government down. It is true that it was not the best way to form a government, but you do have to accept it. Your side lost and you should spend the time until the next election making sure that you rule the parliament without a coalition. You don’t trash an ASEAN summit. You don’t have riots during the Songkran Festivel of April 2009. You don’t try to get amnesty for Thaksin Shinawatra from the King of Thailand in an illegal way. Only the family of the accused can ask for amnesty and the accused have to be in jail. You don’t shut down the city of Bangkok. You don’t burn down buildings. Politically, the Red shirts should have their status of losers and try to work within the system to become the winners they want to be.
Thaksin and his people have twice not accepted losing gracefully. God knows what is going to happen if they lose the third time.

How Many Headlines for Ling Ping

tomtardis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:31:19 +0000

If you have forgotten about who Lin Ping is because of all the recent Thai turmoil, he is the first panda born in Thailand. The 27^th of April was his 1^st birthday. I can only guess that all his future birthdays will be headline in Thai newspapers.

I was here a year ago and I am afraid to say that a year ago, Lin Ping looked like a little white rat. You have to understand that panda are quite small. They are about 1/9000 of their future selves. It is a wonder that panda babies are not squashed by their mothers. To be clear, I certainly don’t panda babies to be squashed.

After he was born last year, Thais went nuts about the little guy. The image of panda bears were everywhere. He had his own 24-hour channel. Local comedians made fun of the little guy. The little guy is a bona fide Thai celebrity and the little panda probably doesn’t even know it.

The Ghost of Thaksin

tomtardis — Sat, 22 May 2010 07:48:59 +0000

One of the problems that the current prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit, had with the red shirt protest of the last few months is that he is dealing with a ghost. The ghost has a name and it is Thaksin Shinawatra.

I do want to say that Thaksin is in fact alive. His spirit or ghost still exists in Thailand even though he has been in exile for the last two years. He is too chicken to go to jail for two years. He may not be here, but he is able to haunt Thai politics through good use of his money and through supporters he had in northern and northeastern Thailand.

When Thaksin was in power from 2001 to 2006, his policies partly helped people in the above-mentioned Thai regions. HE gave them everything that they wanted and he focused on them no other Thai PM had ever done before. He even had a program to give them free cows which meant a lot in the agricultural Northeast or Isaan as it is called in Thai. He literally gave them money There are pictures of him giving 1,000 Baht notes on the streets of Isaan streets in the Bangkok Post and the Nation. As a result, he viewed almost akin to a god in Isaan. Most red shirts come from Isaan and the Thai North.

Abhisit and the Thai government have to beat a person that is a legend, a spirit and a god. How do you beat such a person? You can’t use reason because he is above reason. You can’t kill him because he has become immortal in the eyes of his followers. You can’t argue with him because he is not here. It is very hard to beat somebody who is not even here.

Thaksin is like those ghosts in all those horror films. They can’t be touched. They can’t be killed because they are already dead. The protagonists of these movies like Abhisit will have to deal with the villains in the endless sequels of the original movie.

Thaksin is like Madonna. He has changed his image to suit his purposes. When he was in power, he was the decisive CEO dictator who squash his anybody in his way by using the Thai legal system. When he was out of power, he suddenly became an ardent supported of the democratic concept. He and his supporters said that he was the victim of a mysterious third party that was out to destroy all that he stood for. After his money was confiscated earlier this year by the Thai courts, he is Jesus, a fighter for social justice and a victim of the elites. How do you fight a person who keeps on changing his stand?

Abhisit is fighting a person who is not here and who keeps on changing like a changeling. It is no wonder that the Thai government can’t deal with such a man.

My Favorite Thai Holiday

tomtardis — Sat, 22 May 2010 07:46:08 +0000

My favorite Thai holiday usually happens in first or second week of May. Its date is based on astrology. Its official name is the Royal Plowing Day Ceremony. Early in the morning, people in traditional Thai clothing with some of them holding Thai farmer tools and equipment, stand in a field behind a Buddhist temple in Bangkok. One of them holds a cow. They then walk in a circle at least 9 (a lucky Thai number) times. The cow is then presented with a bowl of food. If he eats the food, it will be a good harvest. If he doesn’t like the food, it will be a bad harvest. All this presided over by the King or the highest ranking Royal family member available. The Crown Prince was presiding over the ceremony in 2010. The ceremony takes about 2 hours to do.

I am an American and I can say that it reminds me of the silliness of Goundhog Day in the United States. I also don’t think it is possible that animals can predict the weather. Humans can barely predict the weather even with high tech tools at their disposal. I will try to respect the traditions in the future,

Feel Sorry For

tomtardis — Sat, 22 May 2010 07:31:21 +0000

One group of people that I have felt sorry for during the red shirt protest of the last few months is the media people. Rain or shine, they have to be there night and day in case the Thai government finally does something to get rid of them. They have to listen to some speeches over and over again. They have to hear those clappers clap over and over again. They are probably sick of the color red. As far as I am concerned, they have one of the worst jobs in the world right now

Thai News Websites

tomtardis — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:52:02 +0000

As far as I know, these are the best Thai news website:

http://thainews.prd.go.th/en/

www.thailandoutlook.tv

www.bangkokpost.com

www.nationmultimedia.com

http://www.tmd.go.th/en (about Thai weather)

With these websites, you will get news about Thailand every day. You will not have to pray that somehow that there will be news stories on Yahoo or CNN about Thailand. They are expecially helpful with the current crisis about exactly what is happening.

Red Shirt Hatred

tomtardis — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:11:46 +0000

In the last few months, the red shirts have taken over the World Trade Center and parts of Ratchadamri and Ratchaprasong, roads in downtown Bangkok. The red shirts are officially known as the UDD, an abbreviation that I can never remember what it stands for, no matter how many times the Nation or the Bangkok Post say what it stands for. To me and to most Thai people, they will always be known as the red shirts or Se Dang (the Red in Thai).

Everybody in Thailand knows that they represent the interests of Thaksin Shinawatra. His primary goals is to make sure that when he comes back to Thailand, he will not serve a day in jail for the conflict of interest case that Thai courts convicted him of. He was only sentenced to two years, but he talks as if he has been sentenced to a hundred years. The Thai courts sentenced him in 2008 and he probably would have been out of prison by now if he actually took responsibility for his actions. He also wants to get back the money that the Thai government confiscated from him and his family. The big rumor is that Thaksin has been using the money that he stashed overseas to pay the red shirts to protest. There are pictures on the Internet of red shirts leaders giving money to some of the protesters if you choose to Google for them.

The red shirts have made speeches where they say that they are doing the protest for social justices. Whether they really believe in what they are saying is a big questions mark.

To me, the week of May 3^rd proves that the red shirt leaders only care about their own skins. The current Prime Minister, Abhisit, came up with a plan that will end with an election on November 14^th. This means that the Thai parliament will have to be dissolved in the last two weeks of September as an election has to take place 90 days after parliament has been dissolved. Even though this seems like a good compromise with the red shirts who have been asking for dissolution of parliament, they refuse to stop this protest. Do you know why they won’t stop? They will not stop unless they get amnesty for what has taken place during the protest. Like their master, they will not take responsibility for their actions and serve a day in jail for their actions. Could you imaging Jesus or Martine Luther King, Jr. taking a position? To me, they are most selfish protesters for social justice ever.

What have they done? They have:

-shut down a major part of Bangkok

-made it almost impossible to go from one part of the city to the other by motorized vehicle

-disrupted long distance train to keep soldiers from coming to Bangkok

-had two violent clashes with the Thai military in April of 2010

-disrupted service on the BTS Sky train by putting tires on the track

-could be responsible for the grenade attacks that have plagued for the past few months as the targets seem to be places that the red shirts hate

For all these actions, the red shirts want no punishment. It would be a great injustice if the red shirts get amnesty.

I do also have a personal message for the heads of Thai hospitals. If the red shirts come to your hospital and demand to search, you should tell them to go screw themselves. Chulalongkorn Hospital had to close for a week just because they allowed the red shirts to search the place. They had to send patients to other hospitals. Red shirts are just civilians so they basically have no authority. You should just tell to go to Hell. I am sure that they will appreciate it.

Thai Online Computer Games

tomtardis — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:34:19 +0000

If you go into any Internet café in Thailand, you will see that the Thai teenagers will be mostly playing online games, not surfing the Internet. These are the games that you will most likely see them playing:

Kart Rider (racing game)
Audition (a dancing game)
Cabal
Lineage II
World of Warcraft (could be called Warcraft III)
Fly for Your Life
Pangya (golf game)
Maple Story
Rangnarok
Three Kingdoms
Freestyle (basketball)
FIFA Online (football)
Ghost Online
Hip Street (like Audition)
Fantasy Tennis
Yulgang
Gun Alley

These are in no particular order. Someday, if I have the time, I will find out the web addresses.