Comments

  1. Bystander says:

    All right. So, when I grew up in provincial Thailand, we have maids from outlying villages who live with us, take care of the kids, do various household chores. Come election days, we let them take a leave to go home to get paid by the various candidates. The way it works is that the community leaders such as the village headman will work for a certain party (aka Hua Ka Nan). He knows everyone in the village, so he will persuade people to vote for whoever he represent, and there will be some cash as a gift. I think that the way the villagers vote is not so much about the money as it is about their relationship with Hua Ka Nan, you know, the debt of gratitude. Of course, the money helps grease the wheel.

    The MP candidate outsource their vote buying to the Hua Kanan, who’s supposed to deliver certain number of votes. If the Hua Kanan doesn’t hold up their ends of the bargain, there’s a serious repercussion, like death, for example. So, the villagers know this, and if the Hua Kanan (local teachers, village headman, prominent villagers) are well loved, the villagers will oblige and cast their votes the way they’re told.

    In safe district, I was told that people will hang out in front of polling station, offering up their votes for the highest bidders. Late in the days, the price will go tumbling down, like 50 bath or less per votes.

    That’s how it is in my part of Thailand. Election is not hotly contested in my province though. We keep sending the incumbent back to the parliament. Things will be different in other localities.

  2. […] Kinley and Wilson’s account of the human rights training program that they both helped implement is one very informative perspective on what is, obviously, a controversial Australian initiative. It is particularly noteworthy in light of the even more controversial efforts to train Burmese counter-terrorism officers about which I have previously written. […]

  3. chris white says:

    Yeah – perhaps ‘tim tam’ is so culturally specific that only the white fellas get it.

    Or perhaps the reality mixing up ‘dimsum’, ‘noodle bar’ and ‘tim tams’ says something about ‘Thai’ identity that the proponents of an essentialist ‘Thai’ world view find difficult to come to terms with.

  4. […] Further to an earlier New Mandala post here is a detailed article from Asia Sentinal about “the end of the Thailand visa run.” […]

  5. What’s next …. perhaps a sense of humour?

  6. […] As I indicated in an earlier post I am interested in pursuing the discussion about vote buying in Thailand. But I would like to broaden the discussion somewhat to become a consideration of what might be called “local electoral culture.” I would like to invite New Mandala readers to submit their observations and insights about electoral behaviour in rural and urban areas of Thailand. How are elections conducted? What strategies are used to attract votes? What local values, cultural practices and social processes influence voting decisions? Does anyone have any good evidence that votes really can be bought with direct cash payments? How do local canvassers go about their business? How effective are local officials in influencing voting behaviour? […]

  7. Damian Doyle says:

    Very nice. Thanks for the link.

  8. Scott Moore says:

    Just came across this blog. Very much enjoyed your book “The Legend of the Golden Boat.” Took it with me to Thailand and Laos this summer and found it a fascinating read. Congrats.

    SM

  9. So-what says:

    Uh, you can get Thai food in London? Wow! What’s next… Indian food?

  10. Chris, SML is one of the Thaksin government’s “populist” policies whereby grants were made to villages for local development projects. The size of the grant depended on whether the village was small, medium or large (thus the English abbreviation SML which is regularly used in Thailand).

  11. Maruti says:

    The Thai monarchy, with all its real and perceived faults, is an important Thai institution and needs to be preserved for all time to come. The best way to preserve it by adhering strictly to the idea of a constitutional monarchy and not a extra-constitutional monarchy as appears to be the case in our country.

    If Thailand does not have competent politicians and public leaders to run the country then we should merge with Cambodia or Burma which have ‘strong leaders’. On the other hand if it does have leaders, who may not be world class but still competent, then democracy should be given a chance. ‘Rebooting’ democracy every time something goes ‘wrong’ is likely to send the computer of the nation into the dustbin of history.

    While the current monarch of Thailand is still highly respected and acceptable to most Thai people what about the future?

  12. nganadeeleg says:

    Did Thaksin plan a ‘Self-coup’ or make a plan to “lure the tiger out of the cave” ? I would not have been surprised if he had some plan to smash the PAD demonstrations, which is another theory I have seem in The Nation.
    Hopefully those opposed to the coup are also opposed to violence, but with Thaksin one never knows – at present he seems more concerned with what will happen to his assets and what charges he may face.

  13. Ross Pengilley says:

    I’ve also been to
    Vang Vieng,but only very briefly in September 2001,which would not have been at the height of the “fun”season.

    Did I miss something ?Or was I too exhausted after climbing up and down hundreds of very steeply inclinded stairways ,graciously assisted by the hand of a young Lao lady I might add..[Some benefits do accrue to gentlemen of advancing years].

    Who said “fun” is the Lao creed? Again,did I miss something during my 5 day stay in Viengchun? A few hours at “Le Club” was the only “fun” I experienced,but then I was staying in a Lao house out in the suburbs away from “Fun City”.

    A question:
    Why do Souteast Asians -Lao,Thai,Filipino -build steeply stairways?

  14. Curious says:

    I’m wondering why Chang Noi can’t say the “r” word. Well I guess if you are publishing in a national newspaper there’s your answer – you can’t say it. In that case then why publish at all, when all you do is continue fuelling the misunderstanding surrounding the event that it was a “military” coup. Isn’t it obvious “who benefits the most from the coup”? Just look at the Prime Minister! Look at the Cabinet! Look at the National Assembly! It’s not the miltary that is at the centre of politics, it’s the royalists.
    And “royalist” does not equal “conservative”.

    Better to blog it and tell it like it is.

  15. James Haughton says:

    I think all that quarreling, accusation, founding opposing groups, etc IS community.

  16. James Haughton says:

    I have been to Vang Vieng. I’m going to be culturally elitist and say “ugh”. “Served with a side of fun” is local slang for “put ecstacy in my fruit shake please”. I’ve never seen such a collection of drug-f@

  17. […] Trans-Asia trade across Burma is briefly discussed in this week’s Burma business report over at The Irrawaddy. One snippet describes a “Double take on Chinese border goods”. It states that: While border trade between Burma and China appears to be expanding, there are continuing glitches in cross-border business with India. Analysts speculate that the two situations could be connected. Trade via the crossing at Muse, between Burma and China, totaled $310 million in the first half of this year, said the Burmese Ministry of Commerce–apparently a rise of 21 percent over the same period in 2005. The bulk of that trade was Chinese goods coming into Burma, but perhaps the Burmese don’t really want them. Among merchandise blocked by Indian officials from entering Mizoram State at the Rid border crossing are . . . Chinese-made shirts, slippers, electronic goods and processed foods. […]

  18. nganadeeleg: Why on earth would Thaksin stage a coup? Also, where are these 200 people that Thaksin planned to hire? Find one of them. Surely, the new government would be wheeling them out for all to see.

    I much prefer Chang Noi’s take on the situation, also in The Nation.

  19. nganadeeleg says:

    Curious – I hope you are wrong.

    Your posts almost sound like you are hoping for trouble, which I find quite perverse.

    I prefer to be pleased that the coup was bloodless, and hope for a better future.

  20. Jenelle McCarthy says:

    The Chinese Government needs to be very sensitive to the fact that so many people’s life depends on this river system for their survival – any slight change in the ecology can have devastating effects on millions. Human life, cultures and traditions revolve around it and should not be exchanged for any money making ‘economic development’