Lovely feedbacks. There are vulgar, or to just plainly put them, rude words in every language. It is the kind of situation and atmosphere in what they are used and the manner in which the users deliver them, that dictate the meaning and the purpose as a final result. My knowledge of all swearing words in English lexicon does not make me feel disdain towards the rich language and the surrounding culture. But this does not imply that I believe blindly to “The king never smiles” or ” The Queen never swears” statements. Burmese is one of those beautiful. As an old saying goes “It is like bloody swearing if one does not know how to speak Burmese properly”. But in this case, as I believed, the application was deliberate.
The reason behind the conclusion made earlier is that they, U Ne Win, U Than Shwe including my great uncle who was a decorated military commander and divisional chief of eastern division, who later become a minister, kept the view that ‘all ethnic conflicts, civil war and as a result failed economy and untold suffering of people of Burma were caused by British Colonial Rulers and the interest groups these old master formed after in the West to continue the cause’ till the end. In this 21st century, even Americans are growing tired of constantly gulping ‘American Exceptionalism’ that the conservative groups in the upper echelon keep feeding them. However Victorian era commentaries remind me of the “Importance of Being Earnest”. They are classic and hugely enjoyable.
Alas! I thought hardliners only exist in military regimes. Yes, I have to say that majority of the Kachin who lives along to the border have so many options with their lives. Over 50% of them have Chinese relatives in the other side of the border. KIA leaderships are not 100% Kachin. They all mixed with Chinese. They can speak, read and write Chinese when no white-faced men (as they call them) around. It will be an extremist view when one believes majority of, over 70% of 1.5 million in this case, ethnic people in Kachin state live in or around KIA controlled territory. Anyone can make an educated guess that it is a complete dollop when someone say KIA (who does not respresent Kachin people) came to the explosion site and severed the arms, legs and heads of the victims. Anyone who watches MythBusters can tell you these are the result of the impact. Unless someone must have been watching SAW too many times. If one upholds a view that everything suffering and misfortune happened to Kachin or any other ethic group such as Chin, Mon, Karen, Rakhine (including Bangaladashis who calling themselves ethnic Rohingyas) were and are the sole making and direct result of Burmese Army (or wilfully misspelled ‘That’madaw, Burmese Royalist Killers Army) than they are no different from the egoistic and chauvinistic military commanders of Burma past and present, U Ne Win and U Than Shwe included. (I used ‘U’ title because my upbringing taught me even I a person disgusting nauseating it is not right for me to treat him or her with disrespect.)
Yes, it must be amusing for KIA and trying to figure it out what it means with the help of tsa pi!
Burmese state media creates more stories on Kachin while eliminates some sentences like “Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative”.
The irony for me is that nowadays even Burmese exiled media is quoting more on state media as though it is a credible source for “truth reporting”.
“- Why Cambodia? Do you support Hun Sen’s Murderous regime?
” etc etc etc etc
This list of questions are not just ‘leading’…. But also daft I am afraid…
Hun Sen’s leverage on internal Thai politics, which brings him huge kudos in Cambodia, is rather more complex than the answers these questions would ever elicit from Thaksin …… Nor, if you wish to be fair, was Nick ever there to cover this aspect of events…. Nor did he claim too be…. It is unfair criticism…..
@Asia Journo 99 – Can you link us to a source for your information?
@Asia Journo 102 – “FYI: The Cambodian government, OFFICIALLY, announced over 1m$ just in ‘lost revenue’ over this rally.”
Free entry fees to Angkor Wat were given to the 30k rally participants. A 3 day pass is normally $40/person, working out to 1.2m$. But to argue 30k would have even gone to Angkor Wat on their own without the rally has no factual basis. More likely, 30k people spending money in Siam Reap was a financial boon for Cambodia.
It’s an unfortunate fact that the state media is set in aspic regardless of the recent flourishing of private media outlets some close to the govt circles and even acting as cheer leaders but producing some very readable stuff with excellent colour photos.
The New Light still reads like The Working People’s Daily and the old NLM, with an unchanging diet of dignitaries (lists of names with full designation making up considerable column inches) opening ceremonies, giving awards, inspecting projects, receiving foreign state officials and so on plus public exhortations and ritual condemnations of the internal and external destructive elements including one kalama until recently.
A fair indication of the old mindset still in operation despite some good PR stunts of late and more importantly a very successful charm offensive. I guess they do know which side their bread is buttered and how to get it. Still on a roll with everyone cheering on, east and west, drowning out the Kachin’s voice.
I am a Teacher. If someone comes in after I leave for the day on Friday, writes something ‘insulting’ regarding one of the figures mentioned in Article 112, and I fail to erase the board until I come back to class on Monday morning (since I have no knowledge of what is on the board, didn’t write on the board, and unaware of certainly any 112 comments on it) am I too guilty of violating LM?
It’s a classic, Ohn. Messrs. Aung & plan B’s confusion, nay delusional state, is another typical of the kind of chauvinism that insists ‘my country right or wrong’. That’s what they call nationalism raising its ugly head, the kind that delivers an endless supply of cannon fodder.
I don’t think Prajadhipok can be fairly blamed for ruining the country. If you’re a republican that was the legacy of Vajiravudh. And if you’re a royalist it was the People’s Party that ruined the country. Prajadhipok’s failing was to be ineffectual.
I have never said “Thaksin’s aides”, i stated “high ranked members in Thaksin’s camp”. There is a difference, and no, i will not be any more specific.
Would you mind not to re-interpret what i have said, and not build a strawmen based on some strange assumption on what may, or may not be in Thaksin’s interest?
“Asia Journo”:
Again, very nice to lounge attacks from the cover of anonymity. Have at least the guts to name yourself, if indeed you are a “journo”, which i very much doubt, looking at the catalog of questions you fired in your post, half of them leading questions, the remainder being completely irrelevant to the event in Siam Reap (no – it was not my intention to write a whole novel on Thaksin’s or his son’s alleged misdeeds of the past years), or full of assumptions based more on your dislike than any evidence.
And secondly, my dear “colleague”, when you are lucky enough to get a few minutes interview time with Thaksin, than you just have these ten minutes. That means three questions tops, and not firing off a dozen questions that may take an hour to answer.
For what i am working on – i am most interested in the current issue of amnesty and reconciliation, which is the first time in the history of the past 6 years of conflict that a potential serious conflict between the Red Shirts and Pueah Thai party/Thaksin can develop.
And no, i do not see that my profession allows me to take liberties beyond anything considered good manners. I requested an interview with Thaksin, not with his son, and that means i will not jump the kid, bombard him with hostile questions and make an arse out of myself. I leave that sort of thing to others.
Also your statement of “everybody knows” disqualifies you from any sort of responsible journalism as well. I am also rather mystified what “a Bangkok photographer has showed in the past”.
Who?
What has this photographer shown?
When?
Why on earth should i include another pseudo analyses on Hun Sen, or write about business? There are more than a few journalists who know far more about Cambodia or business than me, who can do that. I limit myself to the Red Shirts here. This story is about “Red Shirts meet Thaksin”.
If you want a story on Hun Sen, or on Thaksin’s business interests, then write it yourself.
And no, i am completely rejecting the notion that i would be “100% pro-red”. If you read my work there are more than a few instances where the facts i presented strongly disagreed with Red Shirt propaganda, such as claims of non-violence – i have been the first photographer who photographed a Red Shirt protester with a gun back in 2008, or regarding the infamous “Abhisit tape” in 2009, or regarding the existence of the infamous MIB.
Where do i “always had a way to skew some facts just to ‘appear’ right”. Any proof or evidence?
Why then, dear “colleague”, did you not take the opportunity and travel to Cambodia, get an interview with Thaksin and fire your own questions (and possible give us all a laugh by being dragged out of the room for having exceeded the given time limit)? Or are you, if indeed you are a journalist, just another of these Bangkok (or Chiangmai) barstool reporters full of themselves and as full of opinions and very little presence in the field?
I guess it is well enough that you decided to hide your real identity… 😉
I wonder if you’re confusing “international” with “elite.” I might argue:
1) Do graduates of “non-inter” Thai universities “naturally” emerge with a better understanding of Thailand? I’m not talking about the excellent scholars that Thai universities have produced (e.g. Aj. Pavin), but the great mass of Thai university graduates shuffling around Paragon and Central Zen. One could argue that the education simply seals off the boundaries of Thailand’s elite bubble, rather than prompting them to “understand their own country.”
“Inter” universities do often produce upper-class twits with little to no intellectual value (I think of George W Bush here, but we could point at many other Ivy League or Oxford grads in this camp). But, even just within Thai studies, it is the places with strong “international” programs like ANU, Cornell, Kyoto, NUS, Columbia, Wisconsin, et cetera, which have best helped both Thais and foreigners understand Thailand.
2) Bringing universities up to “inter” status often means emphasizing things like independent thought and critical inquiry, especially when it means challenging assumed notions. You might argue that there is a fundamental clash between critical thought which questions authority and “Thainess” (e.g. the old saying “the disciple cannot think above the teacher”), but I (and many Thais) would disagree.
Exposure to outside ideas may not, in Aj Kalaya’s view, “help the nation,” if by “nation” one means simply “peace” or “unity.” But this is a dead-end way of thinking, and one which is going to doom Chula into irrelevance, parochialism, and blind nationalism if pursued too far.
Bad laws have never been changed by blind and slavish acquiescence to them. Otherwise there’d still be segregation in American schools and Apartheid in South Africa.
So stating that Jiew should just admit her guilt – even though she fulfilled her duty under CCA and removed the comments as quickly as possible -while saying you are opposed to both 112 and CCA is, quite frankly, bizarre.
The real question is why were Prachatai and Jiew targeted at that time by the Dem/Army government of 2008 to 2011? Well, we all know the answer to that. Prachatai were one of the few media outlets offering a more balanced account of events since the coup.
As for hysteria, isn’t threatening a 50year prison sentence for removing comments from a website a form of demented hysteria that literally beggars belief? Lese majeste is an abomination and is kept as a political tool by the elites to target and punish their critics.
I’m also not surprised you have no actual record of the case you mention. My suspicion is that it is apocryphal.
Oh Nick, never know when to stop… 2 ‘high ranked sources’ from the camp that has the interest… that is NOT fact checking by any serious journalist.
Come on, you’re better than this… Although you’re 100% pro-red, and have always had a way to skew some facts just to ‘appear’ right, Everyone knows very well that the reds ‘demonstrators’ are just as paid as any other. in fact, it’s often the same actors with different shirts (as a Bangkok photographer has showed in the past).
You, yourself wrote in your piece that you got a business card from Hun Sen’s bodyguards chief. So, he took some time off work to volunteer with Thaksin?
Ignoring Hun Sen’s hand in all this, and the business aspect of Thaksin’s rally in Siem Reap, is simply bad journalism. In his short speech on stage he even had time to send a business message to China! Di you forget about that part, or conveniently chose to ignore it?
Your love for the underdog can’t overshadow proper journalism and real research and fact checking.
FYI: The Cambodian government, OFFICIALLY, announced over 1m$ just in ‘lost revenue’ over this rally.
Asking the right questions is the key to good journalism, and you seem to have completely ignored all of them. Here are a few for next time:
– Why Cambodia? Do you support Hun Sen’s Murderous regime?
– How is Hun Sen involved?
– How much did this rally cot, and who paid the bill?
– How much did you get from the Cambodian government to organize your rally in Siem Reap?
-Why did you agree to be Hun Sen’s financial adviser 2 years ago?
– When will you order your sister to let you back in the country?
– How much did you gain from the whole red-shirt fiasco?
– Will you give some money back to Thailand? Will your Gardner, son, ex wife return money and assets they have stolen??
– Why have you not called to prosecute the criminal ‘red shirts’ who were killing people and burnt down central world? Shouldn’t you clean your backyard before demanding others to?
– Why do you think you shouldn’t be in jail? If only for all the white collar crimes you’ve committed?
– Do you think a man who runs away from the law should be a leader? is that the kind of role models you are breeding in the ‘red shirts’?
etc… etc… etc…
And one more thing, you spent a while sitting in front of Thaksin’s son, and all you could do (self admittedly) is kiss his arse? ‘It’s your private life, none of my business’? not a single question? Temasek fiasco? Mom fiasco? Pithongtae?
Last, lest we forget what the red shirts were chanting at the end… “Thakisn Hun sen! Thaksin Hun Sen!…”
Sicerely yours,
(As Hun Sen said about Thaksin: )Your “Eternal Friend”.
Not disputing your source for the $500k claim or that it is inaccurate but surely Thaksin aides have a self-interest in saying how much money is spent? The more Thaksin is claimed to have spent the better his generosity and image, right?
Fact-checking would’ve meant seeing at least some concrete paperwork not taking the word of a Thaksin aide…
Similar crowd to people who used to write filthy things on Aung San Suu Kyi are now helping their clumsy literal brothers-in-arms who with millions of dollars worth of ammunitions from China and Russia wasting away (yet people insist the poverty is due to this big, bad sanction- so now and soon all are going to be out of poverty like that Ashton woman said-can’t wait) with helicopters, 105 mm canons and all, has no realistic chance of beating far less staffed and equipped Kachin. The young Burmese soldiers’ blood is expendable whether it was 3000 or not.
Sad because there is really a ready audience to swallow them whole. And the enlightened free press and the opposition?
I don’t know Aj Kalaya or have any understanding of the views that actually underlie her comments. What I will say is that she is making what it is in general terms a valid and important point. The trendy “internationalization” of education can undercut universities’ ability to educate students to understand their own countries. Some faculties and departments of Chula clearly have deep problems. But to confuse these problems with some need for Chula to be “inter” is a big mistake. Think about it: a thoroughly “inter” Chula would produce graduates with as little grasp of their own society as Boris Johnson’s Eton and Oxford pal “Mark Vedge”.
The understanding of Thailand cultivated at Thai universities is, to be sure, a matter to be debated. But let these universities remain committed to cultivating such an understanding rather than offering students the shallow exposure to the Anglo-American world that typifies “international” education.
I hope somebody can fill in the missing info on Supachai’s BSc.
In the meantime check out ScienceAsia. It started out in 1975 as the Journal of the Science Society of Thailand – Yongyuth Yuthavong was the first editor – he did ten years. He came back for another spell in 1999-2000, renaming it ScienceAsia, and appointing our man Supachai as ‘Managing Editor’ – note this is exactly the same time as Supachai is moving over to the funding business.
In 2001 Yongyuth moved over to the editorial board and Supachai got a helping hand as managing editor in the shape of Soontaree Benjavongkulchai. Supachai retained this position until 2006 while Yongyuth hung around until 2009 – just after ending his stint as Minister of Science and Technology.
Supachai should have been starting his Phd around 2005, as it was supposed to be a three-year, ‘full-time’, ‘course’. So here we have him doing his PhD work, handing out grants on behalf of NIA to his tutor, and at the same time deciding which other researchers’ papers get published. Two supposedly full-time jobs in addition to his selfless endeavours for ScienceAsia!
Oh note ScienceAsia’s description of Supachai’s ‘managing editor’ role: “One Managing Editor, Dr. Soontaree Benjavongkulchai, handles manuscript processing, and the other Managing Editor, Mr. Supachai Lorlowhakarn, currently the Director of the National Innovation Agency, deals with lay-out and printing.“. Quite laughable.
One last thing: It’s interesting to see how in 2008 when Worachart Sirawaraporn took over as editor (and Supachai got his PhD) that ScienceAsia became totally dominated by Mahidol guys – Editor, ASsociate Editors, Assistant Editors, Advisory Board – all Mahidol. At one point there was just a solitary Chula representetive serving on the Editorial Board (with 19 others).
Public announcements are…, well, public announcements. I do not build my reporting on public announcements without proper fact checking.
The same amount, around $ 500 000, was confirmed to me independently by two high ranked sources in Thaksin’s camp, who naturally will have to stay anonymous.
And before i am misunderstood – i do not see any issue with large amounts of money spent on rallies. Rallies need funding, and that has to come somewhere from. Money spent says nothing whatsoever on the determination and political conviction of the attendants or organizers, unless attendants are simply hired. If that would have been the case in this Siam Reap rally, the images would be quite different.
As an example for the sort of images one gets when rally attendants are hired, look at this article please:
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The elephant and Myanmar politics
Lovely feedbacks. There are vulgar, or to just plainly put them, rude words in every language. It is the kind of situation and atmosphere in what they are used and the manner in which the users deliver them, that dictate the meaning and the purpose as a final result. My knowledge of all swearing words in English lexicon does not make me feel disdain towards the rich language and the surrounding culture. But this does not imply that I believe blindly to “The king never smiles” or ” The Queen never swears” statements. Burmese is one of those beautiful. As an old saying goes “It is like bloody swearing if one does not know how to speak Burmese properly”. But in this case, as I believed, the application was deliberate.
Kachin media war continues
The reason behind the conclusion made earlier is that they, U Ne Win, U Than Shwe including my great uncle who was a decorated military commander and divisional chief of eastern division, who later become a minister, kept the view that ‘all ethnic conflicts, civil war and as a result failed economy and untold suffering of people of Burma were caused by British Colonial Rulers and the interest groups these old master formed after in the West to continue the cause’ till the end. In this 21st century, even Americans are growing tired of constantly gulping ‘American Exceptionalism’ that the conservative groups in the upper echelon keep feeding them. However Victorian era commentaries remind me of the “Importance of Being Earnest”. They are classic and hugely enjoyable.
Kachin media war continues
Alas! I thought hardliners only exist in military regimes. Yes, I have to say that majority of the Kachin who lives along to the border have so many options with their lives. Over 50% of them have Chinese relatives in the other side of the border. KIA leaderships are not 100% Kachin. They all mixed with Chinese. They can speak, read and write Chinese when no white-faced men (as they call them) around. It will be an extremist view when one believes majority of, over 70% of 1.5 million in this case, ethnic people in Kachin state live in or around KIA controlled territory. Anyone can make an educated guess that it is a complete dollop when someone say KIA (who does not respresent Kachin people) came to the explosion site and severed the arms, legs and heads of the victims. Anyone who watches MythBusters can tell you these are the result of the impact. Unless someone must have been watching SAW too many times. If one upholds a view that everything suffering and misfortune happened to Kachin or any other ethic group such as Chin, Mon, Karen, Rakhine (including Bangaladashis who calling themselves ethnic Rohingyas) were and are the sole making and direct result of Burmese Army (or wilfully misspelled ‘That’madaw, Burmese Royalist Killers Army) than they are no different from the egoistic and chauvinistic military commanders of Burma past and present, U Ne Win and U Than Shwe included. (I used ‘U’ title because my upbringing taught me even I a person disgusting nauseating it is not right for me to treat him or her with disrespect.)
Kachin media war continues
Yes, it must be amusing for KIA and trying to figure it out what it means with the help of tsa pi!
Burmese state media creates more stories on Kachin while eliminates some sentences like “Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative”.
The irony for me is that nowadays even Burmese exiled media is quoting more on state media as though it is a credible source for “truth reporting”.
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
#102 Asia Journo
“- Why Cambodia? Do you support Hun Sen’s Murderous regime?
” etc etc etc etc
This list of questions are not just ‘leading’…. But also daft I am afraid…
Hun Sen’s leverage on internal Thai politics, which brings him huge kudos in Cambodia, is rather more complex than the answers these questions would ever elicit from Thaksin …… Nor, if you wish to be fair, was Nick ever there to cover this aspect of events…. Nor did he claim too be…. It is unfair criticism…..
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
@Asia Journo 99 – Can you link us to a source for your information?
@Asia Journo 102 – “FYI: The Cambodian government, OFFICIALLY, announced over 1m$ just in ‘lost revenue’ over this rally.”
Free entry fees to Angkor Wat were given to the 30k rally participants. A 3 day pass is normally $40/person, working out to 1.2m$. But to argue 30k would have even gone to Angkor Wat on their own without the rally has no factual basis. More likely, 30k people spending money in Siam Reap was a financial boon for Cambodia.
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
Nick
Ok – Whether you call them Thaksin’s aides or “high ranked members in Thaksin’s camp” is just semantics.
“Fact-checking” is not taking their word for it but asking to see a paper trail.
You didn’t and so that particular fact has not been checked.
Personally I don’t care if Thaksin spent $500K or $5K or $5. But your process of fact-checking in this instance seems a bit wooly.
That’s not a personal insult or an attempt to undermine your work, so please don’t take it that way.
Kachin media war continues
It’s an unfortunate fact that the state media is set in aspic regardless of the recent flourishing of private media outlets some close to the govt circles and even acting as cheer leaders but producing some very readable stuff with excellent colour photos.
The New Light still reads like The Working People’s Daily and the old NLM, with an unchanging diet of dignitaries (lists of names with full designation making up considerable column inches) opening ceremonies, giving awards, inspecting projects, receiving foreign state officials and so on plus public exhortations and ritual condemnations of the internal and external destructive elements including one kalama until recently.
A fair indication of the old mindset still in operation despite some good PR stunts of late and more importantly a very successful charm offensive. I guess they do know which side their bread is buttered and how to get it. Still on a roll with everyone cheering on, east and west, drowning out the Kachin’s voice.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn verdict (not) today
I am a Teacher. If someone comes in after I leave for the day on Friday, writes something ‘insulting’ regarding one of the figures mentioned in Article 112, and I fail to erase the board until I come back to class on Monday morning (since I have no knowledge of what is on the board, didn’t write on the board, and unaware of certainly any 112 comments on it) am I too guilty of violating LM?
This is poor law.
The elephant and Myanmar politics
It’s a classic, Ohn. Messrs. Aung & plan B’s confusion, nay delusional state, is another typical of the kind of chauvinism that insists ‘my country right or wrong’. That’s what they call nationalism raising its ugly head, the kind that delivers an endless supply of cannon fodder.
Rama VII and Hitler
HowLowCanWeGo#13
I don’t think Prajadhipok can be fairly blamed for ruining the country. If you’re a republican that was the legacy of Vajiravudh. And if you’re a royalist it was the People’s Party that ruined the country. Prajadhipok’s failing was to be ineffectual.
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
“Andrew Spooner”:
I have never said “Thaksin’s aides”, i stated “high ranked members in Thaksin’s camp”. There is a difference, and no, i will not be any more specific.
Would you mind not to re-interpret what i have said, and not build a strawmen based on some strange assumption on what may, or may not be in Thaksin’s interest?
“Asia Journo”:
Again, very nice to lounge attacks from the cover of anonymity. Have at least the guts to name yourself, if indeed you are a “journo”, which i very much doubt, looking at the catalog of questions you fired in your post, half of them leading questions, the remainder being completely irrelevant to the event in Siam Reap (no – it was not my intention to write a whole novel on Thaksin’s or his son’s alleged misdeeds of the past years), or full of assumptions based more on your dislike than any evidence.
And secondly, my dear “colleague”, when you are lucky enough to get a few minutes interview time with Thaksin, than you just have these ten minutes. That means three questions tops, and not firing off a dozen questions that may take an hour to answer.
For what i am working on – i am most interested in the current issue of amnesty and reconciliation, which is the first time in the history of the past 6 years of conflict that a potential serious conflict between the Red Shirts and Pueah Thai party/Thaksin can develop.
And no, i do not see that my profession allows me to take liberties beyond anything considered good manners. I requested an interview with Thaksin, not with his son, and that means i will not jump the kid, bombard him with hostile questions and make an arse out of myself. I leave that sort of thing to others.
Also your statement of “everybody knows” disqualifies you from any sort of responsible journalism as well. I am also rather mystified what “a Bangkok photographer has showed in the past”.
Who?
What has this photographer shown?
When?
Why on earth should i include another pseudo analyses on Hun Sen, or write about business? There are more than a few journalists who know far more about Cambodia or business than me, who can do that. I limit myself to the Red Shirts here. This story is about “Red Shirts meet Thaksin”.
If you want a story on Hun Sen, or on Thaksin’s business interests, then write it yourself.
And no, i am completely rejecting the notion that i would be “100% pro-red”. If you read my work there are more than a few instances where the facts i presented strongly disagreed with Red Shirt propaganda, such as claims of non-violence – i have been the first photographer who photographed a Red Shirt protester with a gun back in 2008, or regarding the infamous “Abhisit tape” in 2009, or regarding the existence of the infamous MIB.
Where do i “always had a way to skew some facts just to ‘appear’ right”. Any proof or evidence?
Why then, dear “colleague”, did you not take the opportunity and travel to Cambodia, get an interview with Thaksin and fire your own questions (and possible give us all a laugh by being dragged out of the room for having exceeded the given time limit)? Or are you, if indeed you are a journalist, just another of these Bangkok (or Chiangmai) barstool reporters full of themselves and as full of opinions and very little presence in the field?
I guess it is well enough that you decided to hide your real identity… 😉
University rankings from Chula’s perspective
@Suriyon Raiwa
I wonder if you’re confusing “international” with “elite.” I might argue:
1) Do graduates of “non-inter” Thai universities “naturally” emerge with a better understanding of Thailand? I’m not talking about the excellent scholars that Thai universities have produced (e.g. Aj. Pavin), but the great mass of Thai university graduates shuffling around Paragon and Central Zen. One could argue that the education simply seals off the boundaries of Thailand’s elite bubble, rather than prompting them to “understand their own country.”
“Inter” universities do often produce upper-class twits with little to no intellectual value (I think of George W Bush here, but we could point at many other Ivy League or Oxford grads in this camp). But, even just within Thai studies, it is the places with strong “international” programs like ANU, Cornell, Kyoto, NUS, Columbia, Wisconsin, et cetera, which have best helped both Thais and foreigners understand Thailand.
2) Bringing universities up to “inter” status often means emphasizing things like independent thought and critical inquiry, especially when it means challenging assumed notions. You might argue that there is a fundamental clash between critical thought which questions authority and “Thainess” (e.g. the old saying “the disciple cannot think above the teacher”), but I (and many Thais) would disagree.
Exposure to outside ideas may not, in Aj Kalaya’s view, “help the nation,” if by “nation” one means simply “peace” or “unity.” But this is a dead-end way of thinking, and one which is going to doom Chula into irrelevance, parochialism, and blind nationalism if pursued too far.
Chiranuch Premchaiporn verdict (not) today
John Smith (JC)
Bad laws have never been changed by blind and slavish acquiescence to them. Otherwise there’d still be segregation in American schools and Apartheid in South Africa.
So stating that Jiew should just admit her guilt – even though she fulfilled her duty under CCA and removed the comments as quickly as possible -while saying you are opposed to both 112 and CCA is, quite frankly, bizarre.
The real question is why were Prachatai and Jiew targeted at that time by the Dem/Army government of 2008 to 2011? Well, we all know the answer to that. Prachatai were one of the few media outlets offering a more balanced account of events since the coup.
As for hysteria, isn’t threatening a 50year prison sentence for removing comments from a website a form of demented hysteria that literally beggars belief? Lese majeste is an abomination and is kept as a political tool by the elites to target and punish their critics.
I’m also not surprised you have no actual record of the case you mention. My suspicion is that it is apocryphal.
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
Oh Nick, never know when to stop… 2 ‘high ranked sources’ from the camp that has the interest… that is NOT fact checking by any serious journalist.
Come on, you’re better than this… Although you’re 100% pro-red, and have always had a way to skew some facts just to ‘appear’ right, Everyone knows very well that the reds ‘demonstrators’ are just as paid as any other. in fact, it’s often the same actors with different shirts (as a Bangkok photographer has showed in the past).
You, yourself wrote in your piece that you got a business card from Hun Sen’s bodyguards chief. So, he took some time off work to volunteer with Thaksin?
Ignoring Hun Sen’s hand in all this, and the business aspect of Thaksin’s rally in Siem Reap, is simply bad journalism. In his short speech on stage he even had time to send a business message to China! Di you forget about that part, or conveniently chose to ignore it?
Your love for the underdog can’t overshadow proper journalism and real research and fact checking.
FYI: The Cambodian government, OFFICIALLY, announced over 1m$ just in ‘lost revenue’ over this rally.
Asking the right questions is the key to good journalism, and you seem to have completely ignored all of them. Here are a few for next time:
– Why Cambodia? Do you support Hun Sen’s Murderous regime?
– How is Hun Sen involved?
– How much did this rally cot, and who paid the bill?
– How much did you get from the Cambodian government to organize your rally in Siem Reap?
-Why did you agree to be Hun Sen’s financial adviser 2 years ago?
– When will you order your sister to let you back in the country?
– How much did you gain from the whole red-shirt fiasco?
– Will you give some money back to Thailand? Will your Gardner, son, ex wife return money and assets they have stolen??
– Why have you not called to prosecute the criminal ‘red shirts’ who were killing people and burnt down central world? Shouldn’t you clean your backyard before demanding others to?
– Why do you think you shouldn’t be in jail? If only for all the white collar crimes you’ve committed?
– Do you think a man who runs away from the law should be a leader? is that the kind of role models you are breeding in the ‘red shirts’?
etc… etc… etc…
And one more thing, you spent a while sitting in front of Thaksin’s son, and all you could do (self admittedly) is kiss his arse? ‘It’s your private life, none of my business’? not a single question? Temasek fiasco? Mom fiasco? Pithongtae?
Last, lest we forget what the red shirts were chanting at the end… “Thakisn Hun sen! Thaksin Hun Sen!…”
Sicerely yours,
(As Hun Sen said about Thaksin: )Your “Eternal Friend”.
Some articles:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/04/thaksin-cambodia
http://khamerlogue.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/cambodia-deploys-huge-security-for-thaksin-rally-who-pays-for/
P.s- #95: ‘sweaty’: “Unarmed protesters”? that’s just hilarious!
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
Nick
Not disputing your source for the $500k claim or that it is inaccurate but surely Thaksin aides have a self-interest in saying how much money is spent? The more Thaksin is claimed to have spent the better his generosity and image, right?
Fact-checking would’ve meant seeing at least some concrete paperwork not taking the word of a Thaksin aide…
Kachin media war continues
It is at once hilarious and sad.
Similar crowd to people who used to write filthy things on Aung San Suu Kyi are now helping their clumsy literal brothers-in-arms who with millions of dollars worth of ammunitions from China and Russia wasting away (yet people insist the poverty is due to this big, bad sanction- so now and soon all are going to be out of poverty like that Ashton woman said-can’t wait) with helicopters, 105 mm canons and all, has no realistic chance of beating far less staffed and equipped Kachin. The young Burmese soldiers’ blood is expendable whether it was 3000 or not.
Sad because there is really a ready audience to swallow them whole. And the enlightened free press and the opposition?
One might indeed ask!
University rankings from Chula’s perspective
I don’t know Aj Kalaya or have any understanding of the views that actually underlie her comments. What I will say is that she is making what it is in general terms a valid and important point. The trendy “internationalization” of education can undercut universities’ ability to educate students to understand their own countries. Some faculties and departments of Chula clearly have deep problems. But to confuse these problems with some need for Chula to be “inter” is a big mistake. Think about it: a thoroughly “inter” Chula would produce graduates with as little grasp of their own society as Boris Johnson’s Eton and Oxford pal “Mark Vedge”.
The understanding of Thailand cultivated at Thai universities is, to be sure, a matter to be debated. But let these universities remain committed to cultivating such an understanding rather than offering students the shallow exposure to the Anglo-American world that typifies “international” education.
University rankings from Chula’s perspective
I hope somebody can fill in the missing info on Supachai’s BSc.
In the meantime check out ScienceAsia. It started out in 1975 as the Journal of the Science Society of Thailand – Yongyuth Yuthavong was the first editor – he did ten years. He came back for another spell in 1999-2000, renaming it ScienceAsia, and appointing our man Supachai as ‘Managing Editor’ – note this is exactly the same time as Supachai is moving over to the funding business.
In 2001 Yongyuth moved over to the editorial board and Supachai got a helping hand as managing editor in the shape of Soontaree Benjavongkulchai. Supachai retained this position until 2006 while Yongyuth hung around until 2009 – just after ending his stint as Minister of Science and Technology.
Supachai should have been starting his Phd around 2005, as it was supposed to be a three-year, ‘full-time’, ‘course’. So here we have him doing his PhD work, handing out grants on behalf of NIA to his tutor, and at the same time deciding which other researchers’ papers get published. Two supposedly full-time jobs in addition to his selfless endeavours for ScienceAsia!
Oh note ScienceAsia’s description of Supachai’s ‘managing editor’ role: “One Managing Editor, Dr. Soontaree Benjavongkulchai, handles manuscript processing, and the other Managing Editor, Mr. Supachai Lorlowhakarn, currently the Director of the National Innovation Agency, deals with lay-out and printing.“. Quite laughable.
One last thing: It’s interesting to see how in 2008 when Worachart Sirawaraporn took over as editor (and Supachai got his PhD) that ScienceAsia became totally dominated by Mahidol guys – Editor, ASsociate Editors, Assistant Editors, Advisory Board – all Mahidol. At one point there was just a solitary Chula representetive serving on the Editorial Board (with 19 others).
Songkran in Cambodia: Red Shirts meet Thaksin
“Asia Journo”:
Public announcements are…, well, public announcements. I do not build my reporting on public announcements without proper fact checking.
The same amount, around $ 500 000, was confirmed to me independently by two high ranked sources in Thaksin’s camp, who naturally will have to stay anonymous.
And before i am misunderstood – i do not see any issue with large amounts of money spent on rallies. Rallies need funding, and that has to come somewhere from. Money spent says nothing whatsoever on the determination and political conviction of the attendants or organizers, unless attendants are simply hired. If that would have been the case in this Siam Reap rally, the images would be quite different.
As an example for the sort of images one gets when rally attendants are hired, look at this article please:
http://www.newmandala.org/2009/07/30/bhum-jai-thai-and-the-business-of-protests-slightly-gone-wrong/