It is simply wrong to say that Article 237 of the constitution, that calls for parties to be dissolved if their executive board approves electoral fraud, does not happen in the real world. It does, and it is one of the hottest topics for the CIO for the past couple of years. It is called compliance. For corporations, it is Sarbanes-Oxley, SOx, or often J-SOx the Japanese equivalent. For hospitals it is HEPA. For merchants we have PCI. For politicians in Thailand, we have article 237.
There are a few points that need to be cleared up first. Article 237 does not call for the automatic disillusion of a party for electoral fraud. It calls for the party to be dissolved (and the executive board banned for five years) if the executive board knows of, and does not prevent, electoral fraud.
There's a difference there, the difference between a company employee doing something illegal, and the company ordering its employees to do something illegal. One should (by common sense) by a personal crime, the other should get the company dissolved.
The grey area is when a member of the executive board commits fraud himself. In the case of Yongyuth "The Refrigerator", the PPP's argument was not that The Refrigerator had not committed fraud, but on the interpretarion of 237.
The Refrigerator was himself a party executive. It followed that it was impossible for a party executive (Refrigerator) to not know the fraud that an MP (Refrigerator) was doing as he was one and the same person. The PPP's argument was simply that article 237 should be interpreted as "other" party executives excluding the one who committed fraud. The courts did not agree and dissolved the PPP.
The Redshirts have spun this as the courts interfering in politics. That the courts keep dissolving Thaksin's parties for small reasons to keep him out of power. They neglect to mention the rationale for 237 in the first place, that is not so much to keep Refrigerator and Tux out of power per se, but rather to prevent an executive board from ordering mass electoral fraud.
But fast forward to Enron and beyond. It is that different from the compliance requirements companies have had to endure after the Enron incident? Redshirts often argue that in a democracy, people do not get sent to jail for something they did not do. Well, for compliance issues, a person can be sent to jail for failing to do something, be it having the accounts audited properly, failing to implement security or failing to keep logs.
In real business, people have to prove their innocence nowadays by proving compliance with SOx, et. al. Why should politicians be any different? Political parties should be held to higher standards than university clubs the same way big corporations that effect lots of people need to be held to higher standards than the shop around the corner.
The Yongyuth Refrigerator incident was not the best showcase for 237, but the idea behind it is sound. Taking it away would be akin to taking away SOx and turning back the time to pre-Enron. Would we want another Enron? Would we want another Thaksin?
Friday, 22 May 2009
Monday, 18 May 2009
Teaching the silent majority
Looking back at my childhood, the seeds for the current mess in Thai society were there all along, it only took a crisis to make the rift visible.
The incident happened probably in Mor two if I remember correctly. One of the class bullies (who had a rather elite surname come to think of it) was bullying someone. I stepped in to try and stop them and a minor fight ensued where I ended up being pushed against a window and breaking it. No lasting physical harm done, at least in terms of cuts and bruises.
However, the emotional damage from that event remains with me until this day. The teachers were called and I found myself in trouble for the fight. No, the guy who was bullied was not even involved as it was, in the teacher's eyes, a problem between me and that guy with the elite surname. Worse, we had to share the cost of the repairs to the window.
Even today, decades after it happened, I remember my anger and disgust at the incident, or rather at the teachers who doled out the punishment. It was not about the bullying, but the fact that they would not listen to reason and the fact that I stopped someone from being bullied in no way mitigated my cardinal sin of fighting in school. They did not care who started it, who was involved or why I got involved. All that mattered to them was the end result: That I was in a fight and I broke a window, thus I had to pay for the damage.
That said, even if I were to be in the Thai "Mai Pen Rai" mindset, I would have gone for the reprimand but not so much the financial costs involved in replacing the window? Does the school not have insurance? Guess not.
A reasonable person with common sense should have looked at the why, not just the what. Maybe I was not to be totally vindicated, but at least more blame should have been put on the person who started it rather than it being split down the middle. I stepped in to help someone else, got hurt and suddenly I was in the wrong and it was half my fault. That incident in school taught me that the only thing Thai society wants is for people to turn a blind eye and mind your own business.
Sounds very much like the Whiteshirt movement now that stands against both the pro and anti-Thaksin sides in the argument, telling both the Yellow and the Red to stop hurting Thailand.
Turning a blind eye is what Thailand is good at and it is what most of the people at all levels of society (the, ahem, majority) seem to like. It does not make it the right thing to do.
The incident happened probably in Mor two if I remember correctly. One of the class bullies (who had a rather elite surname come to think of it) was bullying someone. I stepped in to try and stop them and a minor fight ensued where I ended up being pushed against a window and breaking it. No lasting physical harm done, at least in terms of cuts and bruises.
However, the emotional damage from that event remains with me until this day. The teachers were called and I found myself in trouble for the fight. No, the guy who was bullied was not even involved as it was, in the teacher's eyes, a problem between me and that guy with the elite surname. Worse, we had to share the cost of the repairs to the window.
Even today, decades after it happened, I remember my anger and disgust at the incident, or rather at the teachers who doled out the punishment. It was not about the bullying, but the fact that they would not listen to reason and the fact that I stopped someone from being bullied in no way mitigated my cardinal sin of fighting in school. They did not care who started it, who was involved or why I got involved. All that mattered to them was the end result: That I was in a fight and I broke a window, thus I had to pay for the damage.
That said, even if I were to be in the Thai "Mai Pen Rai" mindset, I would have gone for the reprimand but not so much the financial costs involved in replacing the window? Does the school not have insurance? Guess not.
A reasonable person with common sense should have looked at the why, not just the what. Maybe I was not to be totally vindicated, but at least more blame should have been put on the person who started it rather than it being split down the middle. I stepped in to help someone else, got hurt and suddenly I was in the wrong and it was half my fault. That incident in school taught me that the only thing Thai society wants is for people to turn a blind eye and mind your own business.
Sounds very much like the Whiteshirt movement now that stands against both the pro and anti-Thaksin sides in the argument, telling both the Yellow and the Red to stop hurting Thailand.
Turning a blind eye is what Thailand is good at and it is what most of the people at all levels of society (the, ahem, majority) seem to like. It does not make it the right thing to do.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
e-Pen Rap is out
E-Pen, former PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair promises no violence and noat the Red Shirts will not disrupt the ASEAN summit. Of course, what happened was not exactly as he promised.
Enjoy. Kudos to @Trisee.
Enjoy. Kudos to @Trisee.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Yellow Coke
Coke has gone yellow, and here's the proof:
Now, I wonder what the new head of PR at Coke would say to this turn of events. Or is the number one brand in the world now preparing blue coke for when Newin is Prime Minister?
Now, I wonder what the new head of PR at Coke would say to this turn of events. Or is the number one brand in the world now preparing blue coke for when Newin is Prime Minister?
Set computers to Thai military time or be fined half a million
Thanks to @coldfusionPaul for this blog which warns of a hefty fine and curious interpretation of the Computer Misuse Act when it comes to keeping logs with correct timestamps:
if you have servers/workstations in Thailand you probably should know that as of aug-23rd every business computer in the kingdom has to set it's time to the new TST (Thai Standard Time) or get fined a wheelbarrow full of money (from 100,000 to 500,000 baht, that's about $2500 to $15,000 US, yikes). i can understand the idea of using a timeserver to keep stuff in synch (really, who doesn't?) but man, that's a whopping big fine for being "time dumb" (especially if that's a per computer fine!). this article claims one of the reasons for doing this is so that everybody hears the national anthem at the same time.
the Royal Thai Navy's Hydrographic department is in charge of providing a national time server & it looks like they got windows covered at least (yes they devoted more than 1/2 of that page to windows 95/windows ME, no Mac, no Linux--not sure what stats they're running off).
in any case, if you're in Thailand, point your time server at:
time.navy.mi.th
and bob's your uncle. i like the idea of having a "local" time server so we swapped tout de suite. works plenty fine. the navy, as usual, did a bang up job.
e-Pen: Reds will never disrupt the ASEAN meeting
Fast forward to 4:45 and hear Jakrapob Penkair say, "The Reds will never disrupt the ASEAN meeting."
Thanks to @Trisdee.
Thanks to @Trisdee.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
A little thought on democracy
Here's a thought. North Korea's formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Lao's name is the Lao's People's Democratic Republic.
Makes one wonder how totalitarian True Democracy is then.
Makes one wonder how totalitarian True Democracy is then.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Not all North East Thais like Thaksin
Not the original Youtube clip, but the captions make it so much more understandable. One also would object to the use of Lao rather than Issan Isan, but that aside, do enjoy.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Being yellow
Ask a dozen people what it means to wear a yellow shirt and you are lucky if you get no more than 13 answers. For this writer, wearing yellow is all about a middle class rebellion against the elite.
What does elite mean? For our red shirted cousins, elite is synonymous to aristocracy and the Establishment. But for this writer, years of working in government has driven one to despise another kind of elite entirely, the kind that did not play by the rules, had red tape torn up for them, received unfair promotions and appointments based on their connections and generally were rich brats who did not know much about how things really worked in government.
It just so happened that virtually all of the above could be connected to the Thaksin regime and not, as our red cousins alleged, the aristocracy.
One fairly pleasant person who shall remain anonymous entered the Owelian Ministry of Truth, henceforth to be referred to as MinTrue, at the level of Deputy Director General. Many people work their entire lives to get to that rank yet this person's key to success was not technical excellence, but rather being the offspring of a judge who made history by creating a new category of "innocently guilty" when he judged Thaksin's first asset concealment case.
Lower down the pecking order, a few were spared the agony, and it was agony, of signing in and out every day for work. The central affairs bureau took a sadistic glee in timekeeping, opening up the signing in book only a short time before work commenced on the fifth floor while most of us were 20-odd stories higher up. Having to take a lift in peak hours to sign in and then go back up again is one particularly traumatic memory of MinTrue minionship. But back to the point at hand. One very nice chap was spared the agony because of an uncle who was deputy Prime Minister under Tux. The other was the offspring of someone rho ran a pro-Thaksin television station.
Yet at the same time, the Central Affairs Bureau, obviously frustrated from catering for and finding excuses for these elite, took a sadistic pleasure in throwing the rulebook hard at others who lacked the Thaksinite aura of protection. How hard? How about invoking an ancient rule that makes it illegal for a civil servant to cross a provincial boundary without informing their commanding officer beforehand. That might have made sense when taking an elephant to Ayuthaya took days, but not in this day and age where Hua Hin is a half day trip.
Scattered throughout MinTrue were Thaksinites who enjoyed privileges simply because of their connections. Such privileges also included winning a beauty pageant despite the obvious fat, sorry, facts staring the judges in the eye. Performance mattered little, nor did capability.
Against this backdrop of double standards then came along the Temasek deal. The government changed the law on telecom holding on a Friday and, by pure coincidence, Temasek just happened to have 73 billion Baht in cash on hand to buy Shincorp off Thaksin's kids, cook and driver the next working day, tax free at that. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The backlash that followed was definitely led by the tax-paying middle class who had enough of this injustice. Was it led, as the Reds allege, by the old elite who had been displaced by Thaksinites? It never felt that way. Granted, there was the odd Khunying / bank owner who spend an inordinate amount of time dancing in the front row of the Mob to music from Zuzu, but by and large, the old Establishment preferred not to get involved with the antics of a son of a Chinese immigrant media commoner and played the neutral card. At least that was how it felt.
Media is often referred to as the forth caste in a three caste system in Thailand. The Establishment despises media and calls them the lowest of the low. To have this lowest of the low Chinese immigrant rise up and challenge the Thaksin regime, an act which they themselves had failed to miserably, was too much for most Thai "Hi-So" as they are called to take.
The middle class did not just want the change that Thaksin had delivered. They did not want change from one corrupt, self-serving regime to another corrupt, self-serving regime. But rather the proto-Yellows wanted justice, to see that nobody was above the law. They wanted a meritocracy, ideals that were later to become part of New Politics.
In that sense, Red and Yellow are not that different. Both are a protest, a rebellion against perceived injustice. But while the rationale is similar, the conclusions could not be more different. One side wants a strong, empowered Thaksin back to force a radical revolution for a better future on Thailand, Lee Kuan Yew style. The other wants a democracy of reason and reasonable representatives in power in the current, slightly modified, framework to evolve Thailand.
This but one man's vision of what it means to wear a yellow shirt. There are many others.
What does elite mean? For our red shirted cousins, elite is synonymous to aristocracy and the Establishment. But for this writer, years of working in government has driven one to despise another kind of elite entirely, the kind that did not play by the rules, had red tape torn up for them, received unfair promotions and appointments based on their connections and generally were rich brats who did not know much about how things really worked in government.
It just so happened that virtually all of the above could be connected to the Thaksin regime and not, as our red cousins alleged, the aristocracy.
One fairly pleasant person who shall remain anonymous entered the Owelian Ministry of Truth, henceforth to be referred to as MinTrue, at the level of Deputy Director General. Many people work their entire lives to get to that rank yet this person's key to success was not technical excellence, but rather being the offspring of a judge who made history by creating a new category of "innocently guilty" when he judged Thaksin's first asset concealment case.
Lower down the pecking order, a few were spared the agony, and it was agony, of signing in and out every day for work. The central affairs bureau took a sadistic glee in timekeeping, opening up the signing in book only a short time before work commenced on the fifth floor while most of us were 20-odd stories higher up. Having to take a lift in peak hours to sign in and then go back up again is one particularly traumatic memory of MinTrue minionship. But back to the point at hand. One very nice chap was spared the agony because of an uncle who was deputy Prime Minister under Tux. The other was the offspring of someone rho ran a pro-Thaksin television station.
Yet at the same time, the Central Affairs Bureau, obviously frustrated from catering for and finding excuses for these elite, took a sadistic pleasure in throwing the rulebook hard at others who lacked the Thaksinite aura of protection. How hard? How about invoking an ancient rule that makes it illegal for a civil servant to cross a provincial boundary without informing their commanding officer beforehand. That might have made sense when taking an elephant to Ayuthaya took days, but not in this day and age where Hua Hin is a half day trip.
Scattered throughout MinTrue were Thaksinites who enjoyed privileges simply because of their connections. Such privileges also included winning a beauty pageant despite the obvious fat, sorry, facts staring the judges in the eye. Performance mattered little, nor did capability.
Against this backdrop of double standards then came along the Temasek deal. The government changed the law on telecom holding on a Friday and, by pure coincidence, Temasek just happened to have 73 billion Baht in cash on hand to buy Shincorp off Thaksin's kids, cook and driver the next working day, tax free at that. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The backlash that followed was definitely led by the tax-paying middle class who had enough of this injustice. Was it led, as the Reds allege, by the old elite who had been displaced by Thaksinites? It never felt that way. Granted, there was the odd Khunying / bank owner who spend an inordinate amount of time dancing in the front row of the Mob to music from Zuzu, but by and large, the old Establishment preferred not to get involved with the antics of a son of a Chinese immigrant media commoner and played the neutral card. At least that was how it felt.
Media is often referred to as the forth caste in a three caste system in Thailand. The Establishment despises media and calls them the lowest of the low. To have this lowest of the low Chinese immigrant rise up and challenge the Thaksin regime, an act which they themselves had failed to miserably, was too much for most Thai "Hi-So" as they are called to take.
The middle class did not just want the change that Thaksin had delivered. They did not want change from one corrupt, self-serving regime to another corrupt, self-serving regime. But rather the proto-Yellows wanted justice, to see that nobody was above the law. They wanted a meritocracy, ideals that were later to become part of New Politics.
In that sense, Red and Yellow are not that different. Both are a protest, a rebellion against perceived injustice. But while the rationale is similar, the conclusions could not be more different. One side wants a strong, empowered Thaksin back to force a radical revolution for a better future on Thailand, Lee Kuan Yew style. The other wants a democracy of reason and reasonable representatives in power in the current, slightly modified, framework to evolve Thailand.
This but one man's vision of what it means to wear a yellow shirt. There are many others.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Thai Government fails to find facts on 13 April mayhem
The Thai government launches a website to respond to 13 April allegations, but forgets to populate it.
The Abhisit government has taken the public opinion war to the Internet by launching a website depicting its versions of events that led up to, and followed the incidents on Songkran day, 13 April. It also has an English language icon which when clicked results in this sight for sore eyes.
Yes, one could say that the government has nothing to say to foreigners, no facts to refute the opposition's versions of events. The website clearly says, "page not found". Cynics would laugh at the message it is sending out.
However, on the Thai language section, the site has a smattering of no doubt carefully screened pictures and a few video clips. It has a list of government announcements and news clips too. However, as of yet aside from the non-existent English language version of the site, it seems to totally lack any narrative or message and the viewer is left to browse through this scrapbook and come to his own conclusion as to what happened.
Dear Minister Satit, perhaps a simple message along the lines of, "We didn't kill anyone", might have been nice to start readers along the right way.
The only page that seems to be fully populated and narrated is the one with the committee members who set up the website. Yes, of course giving credit to the hard working bureaucrats who made thisembarrassing use of public funds shining beacon of truth is the most important thing. Obviously they had to work hard to find pictures of the event all over the Internet and often link to them in-situ, hard coding their pictures links into the factreport site without linking back to their authors' pages or giving them credit half the time.
One almost envisions someone suing the Abhisit government for breaches of copyright or even creative commons share and attribute clauses.
Thejoke site is produced by the Office of the Prime Minister under which Satit Wongnongtoey is the Minister to the PM's Office responsible for media.
The only redeeming feature is that the site uses the Drupal Open Source engine, which is a nice step up from other government run sites.
The Abhisit government has taken the public opinion war to the Internet by launching a website depicting its versions of events that led up to, and followed the incidents on Songkran day, 13 April. It also has an English language icon which when clicked results in this sight for sore eyes.
Yes, one could say that the government has nothing to say to foreigners, no facts to refute the opposition's versions of events. The website clearly says, "page not found". Cynics would laugh at the message it is sending out.
However, on the Thai language section, the site has a smattering of no doubt carefully screened pictures and a few video clips. It has a list of government announcements and news clips too. However, as of yet aside from the non-existent English language version of the site, it seems to totally lack any narrative or message and the viewer is left to browse through this scrapbook and come to his own conclusion as to what happened.
Dear Minister Satit, perhaps a simple message along the lines of, "We didn't kill anyone", might have been nice to start readers along the right way.
The only page that seems to be fully populated and narrated is the one with the committee members who set up the website. Yes, of course giving credit to the hard working bureaucrats who made this
One almost envisions someone suing the Abhisit government for breaches of copyright or even creative commons share and attribute clauses.
The
The only redeeming feature is that the site uses the Drupal Open Source engine, which is a nice step up from other government run sites.
Sondhi's not-quite name and shame press conference
For those of you who missed my live translation on Twitter, here's a tweet log of Sondhi Limthongkul's press conference held today at half past twelve.
All in all, not much new news apart from the claim that four of his attackers have already been "silenced" and a lot of sarcasm and rhetoric that probably got lost in translation. A proper write-up will follow tonight.
Update: Link to Thai transcript and recording at Manager.
# Sondhi - no more flashes please. Had a fever on Friday, 43 stitches, no brain injury. Will talk about assisination today, why and who.
# s: On 17 April 2552, two dimensions to it. One, me as media who is upholding the benefits of the country. Two as a leader of a mass movement about
# s: It is an attack on freedom of press that has never happened before in TH. Not personal, but to tell everyone up to Abhisit that...
# s: that even Abhisit can be killed; anyone can be killed by guns. How can Thailand, thai media, thai soc live like this?
# s: it is saying that anyone who fights openly; anyone who speaks the truth without fear - can be threatened.
# s: it is threating yellow, red any other colour that if you are too prominent, then you die.
# s: Who? Never before has an assisnation been used such weapons Aka, M16 and 2x M79. I saw it with my eyes tha they were well trained.
# s: I was 15-20m from the shooters. They used 4 cars, 10+ shooters. 5 CCTVs in the area were broken that day = people in power did it.
# s: They knew my car route == had been planning it for a long time. 4 cars. 1 went to left and shot. Then one overtook and shot from ahead.
# s: This is not a professional assassin, but a team to kill me. I believe it is an army team. Not the entire army.
# s: Since my shooting in Bangkok in front of Bank of Thailand, only Abhisit was worried about me and said that he would have to get to bottom
# s: But everyone else didn't say a thing. Felt it was normal to have weapons of war used in Bangkok. Some denied it. They didn't condemn it.
# s: This happened in state of emergency == someone big turned a blind eye. They said that these weapons are easy to find bullets weren't army
# Only 3-4 days ago did they say they will take care of army involved. They seem to want to say, go and die, I don't care
# 5x PAD leaders since 2549 and the 193 day protest... we kept quiet during red shirt protest. Proves who is violent.
# They want us democracy fighters dead (7 Oct), threatened (M79 attacks, 4 dead) and Don Muang attacks.
# One news source said that the Don Muang attacker and BOT attacker was the same. Told Thavorn and Wichai and they are about to arrest him.
# Sorry - not BOT, but constitutional court in previous tweet.
# New politics is more than bringing in new blood. PAD wants transparency and morals in politics. In all change, old power don't like it.
# Or new power who likes old power and doesn't want accountability. Be it in parliament, or threatening or media intimidation.
# It is a threat on PAD. Don't shake up old politics. This is dying thrash of old politics. But they forgot that PAD weapon is knowledge.
# More and more people gained knowledge during 193 days. Today there are millions of Sondhis who want a better future for Thailand.
# Some army like power, politicians who think that democracy = show of hands or old polit bureau, they all see this shooting as normal.
# I will not say who ordered the killing. Many people think it's Viriya, Pravit and Anupong. I don't think they planned it.
# But even it was true, I forgive you. I am happy to die for my country. But I am sad that my blood that spattered the ground...
# ... is not different from the blood of soldiers on KR / MY border. But I am sad that I was shot by people who are supposed to protect TH.
# Differences of opinion != have to kill. PAD has again proved we are non violence. Viriya's denials, I'm happy that she's not involved, BUT
# .. BUT you can't lie to yourself, and you will have to listen to your conscience until your last breath. I'm happy Viriya is not involved.
# I will give you a letter from HM the Queen's private sec on stopping the sale of t-shirts. You can judge for yourself.
# Over 200 rounds were fired. I was hit directly many times, once on the chest. There was a bruise on front and back.
# I have only one amulet, the amulet of righteousness. My attack has made people believe that good people are protect by the gods.
# My driver and bodyguard didn't die. My driver said the bullets were dancing around him. I was ready to die, but wanted TH, Buddhism and King
# I will not give up. Still have to rest, still very dizzy. Plan to go to some monasteries and go to USA, don't want to be here as a star when
# when police arrest who did it. Today, TH cannot go forward with this corruption, that corruption, vote buying is norm.
# If what we did was wrong, how would we be supported from 2549 with millions of supporters?
# s: this message goes everywhere, CNN, Japanese news, BBC. Question is who has AK, M16 and M79 if not the security forces. What mafia has it?
# Our protest is peaceful, we believe in new politics. I was the first to say that a new faction is building itself. We used to fight with Tux
# The reds have lost. 70% of red are arranged, they dont' have commitment, unlike PAD - 7 Oct, M79s. We believe we are right.
# Someone is trying to fill this void. If they are working towards new politics, we will be happy for them, but they want their turn in corrup
# Like the surayud government who thought it was their turn, Thaksin can't do anything, so they didn't do any reform and were in neutral.
# This will not bring PAD back to the street. Who is behind this? People who will lose their old benefits and resist with violence and bloodsh
# I can't speak for Abhisit, but I believe his life is likewise also in danger. I believe that Pattaya and MoI attacks were planned.
# I assume he has a better plan and more information than me (Abhisit). When thanee's investigation goes somewhere, he will have to decide.
Q&A starts here.
# I don't want revenge. I survived because of my good Karma.
# I have to be extra careful, life changed completely. Gunman still around and sources tell me that 4 of the gunmen have already been killed.
# I still hold a Thai passport ;)
# I am happy that PM changed the investigator from Jongrak to Thanee as JR said it was prob personal and he did the Santika case after all.
Other PAD leaders take to the stage now.
# somsak: 2550 constitution was designed to take care of corrupt officials, hence the cases started should end before we rewrite it.
# Pipob: 2550 is based very closely on 2540. But their behaviour remained the same. If they can change, then we will have our new politics.
# P: We do not believe changing the constitution will change anything, but if only the politicians changed, we would not have any problems.
# Somkiat: Everyone is under threat now, including PM, He had to sleep in section one commander's house. He has changed his secuirty team.
# Somkiat: this has led to bloody Songkran. Now the conflicts have moved to parliament re: constitution and amnesty. This will lead to chaos.
# Somkiat: Group of 40 senators immediately held a press con opposing the reconciliation committee make-up.
# 24-25... big PAD meeting at Impact. Please wait and listen to what we have. Chaos has come to parliment now.
# Uncle Chamlong: Enforcing law doesn't mean having to move in and kill protesters. We are hit with lots of lawsuits.
# chamlong: If Government were strong, things wouldn't be this bad re:ASEAN ++ through to Sondhi shooting. This ie because gov is scared.
# Pipob: MPs still lie in parliament - question is how can we change people, and empower constitutions?
# Suriyasai: Constituional comm will take 45 days to come to a conclusion, but they can't change it right away. Will take a lot more time.
# Somsak: If Tux hadn't cheated in elections, he couldn't have bought Ratchada land. You can't separate political crimes from real crimes.
# Somkiat: Chuan and Banyat have both opposed amending the constitution.
# Somsak: Please bring your hand clappers on 24-25 May, but gas masks are not needed :) THE END.
All in all, not much new news apart from the claim that four of his attackers have already been "silenced" and a lot of sarcasm and rhetoric that probably got lost in translation. A proper write-up will follow tonight.
Update: Link to Thai transcript and recording at Manager.
# Sondhi - no more flashes please. Had a fever on Friday, 43 stitches, no brain injury. Will talk about assisination today, why and who.
# s: On 17 April 2552, two dimensions to it. One, me as media who is upholding the benefits of the country. Two as a leader of a mass movement about
# s: It is an attack on freedom of press that has never happened before in TH. Not personal, but to tell everyone up to Abhisit that...
# s: that even Abhisit can be killed; anyone can be killed by guns. How can Thailand, thai media, thai soc live like this?
# s: it is saying that anyone who fights openly; anyone who speaks the truth without fear - can be threatened.
# s: it is threating yellow, red any other colour that if you are too prominent, then you die.
# s: Who? Never before has an assisnation been used such weapons Aka, M16 and 2x M79. I saw it with my eyes tha they were well trained.
# s: I was 15-20m from the shooters. They used 4 cars, 10+ shooters. 5 CCTVs in the area were broken that day = people in power did it.
# s: They knew my car route == had been planning it for a long time. 4 cars. 1 went to left and shot. Then one overtook and shot from ahead.
# s: This is not a professional assassin, but a team to kill me. I believe it is an army team. Not the entire army.
# s: Since my shooting in Bangkok in front of Bank of Thailand, only Abhisit was worried about me and said that he would have to get to bottom
# s: But everyone else didn't say a thing. Felt it was normal to have weapons of war used in Bangkok. Some denied it. They didn't condemn it.
# s: This happened in state of emergency == someone big turned a blind eye. They said that these weapons are easy to find bullets weren't army
# Only 3-4 days ago did they say they will take care of army involved. They seem to want to say, go and die, I don't care
# 5x PAD leaders since 2549 and the 193 day protest... we kept quiet during red shirt protest. Proves who is violent.
# They want us democracy fighters dead (7 Oct), threatened (M79 attacks, 4 dead) and Don Muang attacks.
# One news source said that the Don Muang attacker and BOT attacker was the same. Told Thavorn and Wichai and they are about to arrest him.
# Sorry - not BOT, but constitutional court in previous tweet.
# New politics is more than bringing in new blood. PAD wants transparency and morals in politics. In all change, old power don't like it.
# Or new power who likes old power and doesn't want accountability. Be it in parliament, or threatening or media intimidation.
# It is a threat on PAD. Don't shake up old politics. This is dying thrash of old politics. But they forgot that PAD weapon is knowledge.
# More and more people gained knowledge during 193 days. Today there are millions of Sondhis who want a better future for Thailand.
# Some army like power, politicians who think that democracy = show of hands or old polit bureau, they all see this shooting as normal.
# I will not say who ordered the killing. Many people think it's Viriya, Pravit and Anupong. I don't think they planned it.
# But even it was true, I forgive you. I am happy to die for my country. But I am sad that my blood that spattered the ground...
# ... is not different from the blood of soldiers on KR / MY border. But I am sad that I was shot by people who are supposed to protect TH.
# Differences of opinion != have to kill. PAD has again proved we are non violence. Viriya's denials, I'm happy that she's not involved, BUT
# .. BUT you can't lie to yourself, and you will have to listen to your conscience until your last breath. I'm happy Viriya is not involved.
# I will give you a letter from HM the Queen's private sec on stopping the sale of t-shirts. You can judge for yourself.
# Over 200 rounds were fired. I was hit directly many times, once on the chest. There was a bruise on front and back.
# I have only one amulet, the amulet of righteousness. My attack has made people believe that good people are protect by the gods.
# My driver and bodyguard didn't die. My driver said the bullets were dancing around him. I was ready to die, but wanted TH, Buddhism and King
# I will not give up. Still have to rest, still very dizzy. Plan to go to some monasteries and go to USA, don't want to be here as a star when
# when police arrest who did it. Today, TH cannot go forward with this corruption, that corruption, vote buying is norm.
# If what we did was wrong, how would we be supported from 2549 with millions of supporters?
# s: this message goes everywhere, CNN, Japanese news, BBC. Question is who has AK, M16 and M79 if not the security forces. What mafia has it?
# Our protest is peaceful, we believe in new politics. I was the first to say that a new faction is building itself. We used to fight with Tux
# The reds have lost. 70% of red are arranged, they dont' have commitment, unlike PAD - 7 Oct, M79s. We believe we are right.
# Someone is trying to fill this void. If they are working towards new politics, we will be happy for them, but they want their turn in corrup
# Like the surayud government who thought it was their turn, Thaksin can't do anything, so they didn't do any reform and were in neutral.
# This will not bring PAD back to the street. Who is behind this? People who will lose their old benefits and resist with violence and bloodsh
# I can't speak for Abhisit, but I believe his life is likewise also in danger. I believe that Pattaya and MoI attacks were planned.
# I assume he has a better plan and more information than me (Abhisit). When thanee's investigation goes somewhere, he will have to decide.
Q&A starts here.
# I don't want revenge. I survived because of my good Karma.
# I have to be extra careful, life changed completely. Gunman still around and sources tell me that 4 of the gunmen have already been killed.
# I still hold a Thai passport ;)
# I am happy that PM changed the investigator from Jongrak to Thanee as JR said it was prob personal and he did the Santika case after all.
Other PAD leaders take to the stage now.
# somsak: 2550 constitution was designed to take care of corrupt officials, hence the cases started should end before we rewrite it.
# Pipob: 2550 is based very closely on 2540. But their behaviour remained the same. If they can change, then we will have our new politics.
# P: We do not believe changing the constitution will change anything, but if only the politicians changed, we would not have any problems.
# Somkiat: Everyone is under threat now, including PM, He had to sleep in section one commander's house. He has changed his secuirty team.
# Somkiat: this has led to bloody Songkran. Now the conflicts have moved to parliament re: constitution and amnesty. This will lead to chaos.
# Somkiat: Group of 40 senators immediately held a press con opposing the reconciliation committee make-up.
# 24-25... big PAD meeting at Impact. Please wait and listen to what we have. Chaos has come to parliment now.
# Uncle Chamlong: Enforcing law doesn't mean having to move in and kill protesters. We are hit with lots of lawsuits.
# chamlong: If Government were strong, things wouldn't be this bad re:ASEAN ++ through to Sondhi shooting. This ie because gov is scared.
# Pipob: MPs still lie in parliament - question is how can we change people, and empower constitutions?
# Suriyasai: Constituional comm will take 45 days to come to a conclusion, but they can't change it right away. Will take a lot more time.
# Somsak: If Tux hadn't cheated in elections, he couldn't have bought Ratchada land. You can't separate political crimes from real crimes.
# Somkiat: Chuan and Banyat have both opposed amending the constitution.
# Somsak: Please bring your hand clappers on 24-25 May, but gas masks are not needed :) THE END.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Mark Rap (Abhisit Rap)
Purakhanda releases his third Prime Minister's rap, the Mark Rap.
Two weeks after he released the Maew Rap (Thaksin Rap), Klue Morana (Death Flute) / Purakhanda has found time between his concert and oboe rehearhals to finish the Mark (Abhisit) Rap. Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy.
Really, after the classical Mak (Samak) Rap and the e-Sarn Maew Rap, many were expecting something different for Mark, something altogether younger. At least his message is clear: Abhisit is here to clean up the mess that Thaksin left behind.
Two weeks after he released the Maew Rap (Thaksin Rap), Klue Morana (Death Flute) / Purakhanda has found time between his concert and oboe rehearhals to finish the Mark (Abhisit) Rap. Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy.
Really, after the classical Mak (Samak) Rap and the e-Sarn Maew Rap, many were expecting something different for Mark, something altogether younger. At least his message is clear: Abhisit is here to clean up the mess that Thaksin left behind.
New coloured kids on the block
Three new Twitter accounts worth mentioning, albeit all in Thai.
Both astv and dstation now have twitter accounts of their same respective names, though @astv seems to be intermittent and @dstation seems to be totally inactive, much like the station itself. There seems to be no sign as to whether these accounts are official or not.
Another is @pad4thai who claims to be a kid and is promoting the Yellow Shirt cause very vociferously. With that kind of name, it is only a matter of time before someone orders Pad Thai noodles from him.
One wonders how long these accounts will last in the Tweetosphere.
Both astv and dstation now have twitter accounts of their same respective names, though @astv seems to be intermittent and @dstation seems to be totally inactive, much like the station itself. There seems to be no sign as to whether these accounts are official or not.
Another is @pad4thai who claims to be a kid and is promoting the Yellow Shirt cause very vociferously. With that kind of name, it is only a matter of time before someone orders Pad Thai noodles from him.
One wonders how long these accounts will last in the Tweetosphere.
The greatest liar in the world
Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one day.
As they walked, they come across a sign:
"Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world."
"I am entering!" said Snow White.
After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, "Well, how'd ya do?"
"First Place!," said Snow White.
They continue walking and they see a sign:
"Contest for the strongest man in the world."
"I'm entering," says Superman.
After half an hour, he returns and they ask him, "How did you
make out?"
"First Place," answers Superman. "Did you ever doubt?"
They continue walking when they see a sign:
"Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?"
Pinocchio enters.
After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes.
"What happened?" they asked.
"Who the hell is Thaksin?" asked Pinocchio.
Source: One of those forwarded viral email messages.
As they walked, they come across a sign:
"Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world."
"I am entering!" said Snow White.
After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, "Well, how'd ya do?"
"First Place!," said Snow White.
They continue walking and they see a sign:
"Contest for the strongest man in the world."
"I'm entering," says Superman.
After half an hour, he returns and they ask him, "How did you
make out?"
"First Place," answers Superman. "Did you ever doubt?"
They continue walking when they see a sign:
"Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?"
Pinocchio enters.
After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes.
"What happened?" they asked.
"Who the hell is Thaksin?" asked Pinocchio.
Source: One of those forwarded viral email messages.
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