Comments

I found a bio of Supachai Lorlowhakarn in The Nation. Basic info summarized here:

Supachai gained a master’s degree in biological science from Chulalongkorn University then spent ten years working for ICI Asiatic.

He got his big break under Yongyuth Yuthavong (got his PhD from Oxford). Yongyuth was the first president of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (1992-1998) and served as the minister of science and technology (2006-2008). In 1994 he left ICI to become a ‘government officer’ at NSTDA. He oversaw the Public Information Department.

In 2000 he was involved in setting up the Innovation Development Fund. The IDF became the NIA in 2003 and Supachai was the director. Over the first three years the NIA disbursed Bt176.2 million to 162 projects.

(an adviser at Chula had received NIA funding for research on a breast growth product – he tutored Supachai for his PhD.)

Does anyone read ‘fund’ without alarm bells ringing? Interesting that fella Yongyuth had faith in him, the article probably overstates this – he was minster when the article was written. The interesting thing is how in those six years he jumped from the news side to the ‘money’ side.

How connected is the ‘Little Tyrant’? I read that he is the son of a printer. How reluctant would Chula’s stance be in the absence of Supachai’s more vexatious (litigation, Wyn Ellis getting a brick through his car window) contributions to the debate? I mean are they just extremely backward at going forward or are they scared or are they deeply involved in the whole mess?

BTW Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an occasional NM contributor, is a Chula grad.

Why do the Kachins live in squalor when they have so many options? I really hope that this is brilliant satire that is beyond my comprehension, because if there are Burmans that really think this way we can write any chance of meaningful change despite or in spite of Mother Suu.

Well said, “aiontay”. Sometime all you have to do is ask.

Not sure that we should read much into Prajadhipok’s meeting/greeting with Hitler. In his famous 1933 “Economic Plan” (a year prior to Rama VII-Hitler meeting), Pridi himself cited Hitler’s presumed State-run economic policy in support of his own Plan

“At present Germany recognizes that the country does well with government running the economy, and hence has entrusted the government to Hitler who believes in the doctrine of government managing the economy itself”

(see the English text here, page 106 http://www.openbase.in.th/files/pridibook049part2_4.pdf )

In my view, foreign “Great Dictators” – from Hitler to Stalin, from Mao to Pol Pot – has never been an important issue in Thai political discourses, either in academic circles or in public at large.

were derived from Buddhist texts called Jatakas or Jatakas Tales. We Burmese in our younger years were narrated these stories by our elders; our parents, aunts and uncles or grandparents as a tradition. These stories usually end with a proverb or two for a quick recollection. All Burmese cherish these stories as they come from Sacred Buddhist texts. I have no qualms in accepting wordplays in part of the Prof TMMT. I however found comments made by Ohn and Moe Aung very derisive and offending to Burmese people and in concise Burmese culture. For example “lee” in “hsin lee khway hmyaw” is a vulgar burmese equivalent of “dick” let alone the pretext of the comments. Most of the messages were written with clear intention to belittle Burmese culture. Our Burmese culture suffered untold miseries during British colonial occupation. Burmese people are made to feel ashamed to be a Burmese. For me to forget those painful memories will be like asking a jewish person to forget the holocaust. And these comments serve only to invoke anger from a Burmese reader and engender hatred among Burmese and Ethnic groups. Atrocities of the Burmese army DOES NOT Warrant anyone to insult our culture. These comments are merely self-gratification of the writers as the saying goes, “Barking dogs seldom bite”.

Great photo ! Pavin, where is the cover inscription from? It must have been printed some weeks before the trip because in fact Prajadhipok did not depart until Jan 12th 1934 and he never returned, abdicating from England by letter in 1935. The official reason for the trip to Europe was to seek medical treatment in England, but this was just a few months after the failed Boworadet Rebellion and royal prestige was lower than ever – as always looks can be deceiving Charoenkhwan Sabye Sabye #2. I agree with Andrew #1 that this meeting with Hitler was probably not as sinister as our modern eyes might perceive. He visited many countries in Europe and no doubt he was trying to promote progress for Siam and perhaps bolster royal prestige a little on the way. But according to Thai gov website http://thailand.prd.go.th/ebook/imprint/page4.php he wished “to keep it as unofficial as possible” which does not suggest a concerted royalist campaign in Europe.

It will be naive to think that hardliners only exist within conservative groups and arm forces. What she did was exactly what people of Myanmar who stood behind her all these years wanted. She in the true democratic spirit upholds the cause of “by the People, for the people”. Well done Mother Suu! You have made me feel how to be proud like a Burmese again.

It’s very convenient for a person to sit in a comfy chair enjoying Commonwealth handouts such as senior allowances and pensions without a proper day at work during their existence in Australia airing discontent and distaste to genuine concerted effort to find peaceful solution and national unity which is supported by people of Union of Burma, Student Unions Leaders and members and mostly the party in opposition NLD. All of the stakeholders well and truly understand importance of National Unity, Peace and economic stability. All three comments above seem to be non-sequitor at best and in hind-side a well-orchestrated effort to impart the archaic vision of KIA that border-lined on insanity. Time has changed since Brang Seng started the KIA movement eons ago. And especially mindset of the ethnic Kachin has changed. With lightening fast growth of China, they can now see with their own eyes that on the other side of the China-Myanmar border people’s life are so much better and that they deserve the same for their lives instead of playing the refugees (IDP) for KIA. My argument here is simple. Why do the Kachin people have to live in such squalid condition when there are so many options they can choose? And why do the international community has to keep supporting the armed conflict where there are so many solutions. The genuine intention of Noble Laureate, Our Mother Suu should not be belittled and undermined in any case.

Sure she was testing the water. They’d hit the ground running, but quick to take stock of the situation especially public opinion, and sidestepped the issue which they characterised wisely as a technicality so you can’t call it a U turn.

Unlike Gerry Adams and other Sinn Fein MPs who did the same kind of thing, they don’t have the equivalent of Stormont to fall back on and still influence the affairs of N Ireland.