Yes, yes. If anyone can dig up any background on her I’d love to see it. I just tried on the internet and found nothing. She did say she did O Levels studying Macbeth so she was educated abroad or studied at a British international school here most likely. What is she? 40s?
She speaks of all of this enlightened artistic nonsense while the very picture on the cover of this DVD is outrageous with a picture of not only a mere lowly citizen with the Crown of Glory, but Thaksin. And red everywhere.
Where is her biography and why isn’t it on the website? Who is she linked to? Who is she associated with? What are her credentials?
not really as all this has been said several times before, hasn’t it?
‘What will be the future direction of Thai democracy amid this power rearrangement among the elites?’ is the question pavin ends his piece with. where are red shirts and thai voters in his analysis? does pavin really see them as a non-consequential actor in the entire thing?
i saw on an facebook posting that pavin once wrote about how ethical and moral abhisit was after he took power in 2008. does pavin needs to have a better grounding in how democracy itself works?
The presentation of Ing K in the Bangkok and Western media as some freedom-fighting anti-censorship crusader is plain wrong, I’m afraid.
She isn’t, wasn’t and never will be as freedom of speech for the Red Shirts and/or Thaksin supporters is not something that concerns her. I would even suggest that she very likely supports the Red Shirts being denied the right to freedom of expression and speech.
112? She’ll mouth a couple of platitudes in the Bangkok Post to make her look more “liberal” (in a Voranai “let’s crush this rebellion” Bangkok Post style) but her voice has been completely missing from the last few years debate on lese majeste.
Ing K is nothing more than another PAD-inflected anti-Thaksin propagandist willing to get into bed with violent neo-fascists and the killers in the military, whose film, like all her other films, would’ve disappeared into the discount-straight-to-video bin without a 2nd glance if it hadn’t been banned.
For her to be held up as an example by the world’s media as an example of censorship in Thailand while that same Bangkok-based Western media almost completely ignored years of Abhisit-led censorship is laughable and reveals, not only their lack of principles, but that the plight of ordinary Thais has been of little consequence to them.
Red Shirt radio station DJs in 2010, whose combined audiences would likely be 100 times that of any Ing K film, were not only getting their equipment seized and stations shut down they were also receiving very credible death threats. On an almost daily basis.
Where was Ing K then? Where was the Western media outrage then?
Once again the hypocrisy and true conditions are revealed.
[…] above and on YouTube here: New Mandala’s “Asia-Pacific future trends.” (Academics from Columbia University and the Australian National University answer the […]
@Ralph: I haven’t seen her other comments. Maybe she toned it down for the Post. You’re right, censors have an odd job description as it is. They must be incredibly corrupted by all the filth that they have to watch and rate…
Max: Censors everywhere are odd, simply because of the job they do. I have no idea why they banned this film, but it should be noted that Ing’s comments here don’t jive with the stuff she had at the SMD website, which was rather more confrontational than she now presents her views.
On lese majeste, she doesn’t just say it should be amended, but qualifies it:
“You’re calling for an end to censorship. What do you think about the lese majeste law? Should it be amended?
Yes, it should. The problem is it [the movement to amend the lese majeste law] is being used as a tool, most of all to damage the King and to make Thaksin look like a champion of democracy. That is why a lot of people who want it changed don’t want to join that bandwagon.”
Whatever her politics, I say let the film be seen.
Vichai N (2). That keeps you up at night? For a rational person, it would be the very much higher probability of death or injury in a collision with one of your lawless and incompetent fellow drivers.
James Ferguson’s article on neoliberalism is pretty good. Also I think this whole thread of comments is the best example of self-voting in the history of New Mandala. I think Keith Barney’s responses here are best because they seem moderate, rational and not emotionally driven, but who knows if that’s the case! Maybe there’s an undecurrent of neo-hate. This whole debacle could form the basis of a Khmer TV soap opera with more-than-usual histrionics. Probably could be funded by some neo-liberals, too.
Perhaps my own mangled lyrics of the Tony Orlando song is more appropriate:
“I’m comin’ home and I won’t do my time
Because I’ve got to know what is and isn’t mine
If you received my letter telling you I’d soon be there
Then you’ll know just what to do
If you still want me
If you still want me”
BTW I’ve not received any letter
and “I really never wanted HIM back!”
She does clearly state that she thinks 112 should be amended, after all.
So it seems that a lot of people assume that the censorship committee has banned this film because of political pressure. Isn’t it a bit hasty to assume this, though? From Ing’s previous films, plus what I have seen of the Shakespeare movie, the imagery alone would be enough to make most conservatives in Thailand deem it “inappropriate” for the nation. So, even though it might be an anti-Thaksin piece (and again, from what I’ve seen, it certainly is in parts, but that’s only part of the message as I see it), it does not really fit in with how you are “supposed” to express these views, in the eyes of your typical BKK middle class conservatives. In my opinion, it would have been banned under any government, regardless of which color.
Anyway, does anyone know more details on the make-up of that censorship board, and how long their terms are?
New Mandala readers following these discussions will likely want to digest the Thai language responses over at Pantip.com. They are preoccupied with the idea of “the butcher of Bangkok”. You can read the discussion here.
plan B,
The Kachin are Christian to a large degree. Your careless useless post indicates that you feel they should be good little Buddhists and go along with the Burmese majority.
Additionally, you feel that the plight of the Burmese people is the fault of DASSK – and your favorite boogie man, the West.
Maratjp: Yes, Kissinger is (in)appropriate here, for he considered academic debates small, but was as happy as can be bombing the shit out of small countries like Cambodia. Mass murder seems like a matter worthy of academic debate and a court somewhere.
This is the easiest question to answer. Today’s Bangkok news (which btw the way could easily happen in most Asian countries like Philippines, Cambodia, etc.) illustrates my point:
” . . . Over the Songkran weekend, this paper printed the heart-wrenching story of the entirely preventable death of yet another innocent bystander at the hands of zealous and out-of-control anti-drug forces. Sopha Piboon, a 60-year-old woman, was on her way home in a car driven by her husband Sujin when a pickup truck with several fully armed young men on board pulled over to the side of the road and flagged down the couple’s car.
The men did not wear uniforms and Mr Sujin thought they were bandits. His first thought was that he needed to escape. And he did. The armed men, who turned out to be non-uniformed border patrol police, chased the couple’s car, fired at it and killed Sopha. . .”
Nobody’s safe.
The Thai police could get me killed anytime at any place in Thailand . . . given their itch to shoot and encouraged by Chalerm/Thaksin.
Well Ohn, these people can’t put their own house in order but such a small matter has never stopped them telling the rest of us how to live our lives, has it?
As one of the contemptible Bamar I can assure you cynics like you and me have a damned good reason to be cynical. It’s from long and nasty experience. Don’t you kid yourself that we are each a monolithic entity with only ethnic and religious differences and no class divisions, and no great gap between the rulers and the ruled. It’s the same everywhere, and some of us do not merely scratch the surface and convince ourselves that a technological fix like the open market economy, globalisation, tech inputs and international capital will be the answer to all our problems, that catching up with Singapore, or the West for that matter with all its insurmountable crime and other social problems , is going to be the be all and end all.
You and I know that it’s high time these chauvinist militarist thugs got thrown out on their ear. The West is all too happy to embrace this ‘reform’ lark and above all ‘opening up’ the country, to welcome them to the new world order where money is the god of our time and deemed the sole purveyor of progress and happiness. The rest is window dressing, pulling the wool across our eyes and seizing the moral high ground. The bottom line is as ever Big Business. It transcends race, creed and cultural differences which cannot be allowed to interfere with its onward march in this brave new world.
Well, two things physically at the moment – but also they serve as impetus for further intellectual thought. One is the internet. The connection I have is very slow, so it keeps me awake waiting for pages to load to quench my addiction for white-noise. Two is the kids in the hovel next to my rather more luxurious accommodation. As I become more curmudgeonly, actual noise becomes more irritating, whereas it shouldn’t be. The white-noise should be the annoyance.
I cannot watch the video because of this connection, but since all those you’ve highlighted are China specialists, I imagine it’s a largely China focused episode. And rightfully so. However, two sociological categories are bigger than the population of China.
So, to the point: firstly, the amount of people who use the internet, and secondly youth (perhaps not in that order?). What impact the internet will have on political and economic space for people in different countries throughout the Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, and for the kids next to my luxurious abode making the racket, is what keeps me awake at night. I say this with a tab open for Marshall McLuhan who I don’t really know so much about.
The internet provides a different sort of space where whatever form of anti-liberal governance in a country is easily circumvented. For people in many places throughout the Asia Pacific, this provides an enormous avenue for liberalism where, without the internet, it might otherwise be circumvented. How the internet, with content like, for instance, this site, or even just the local politicians site or message board, will have an impact on political space is very interesting. And particularly so when considering, the potential impact on/for societies that are long engaged in ‘resistance’ movements against dominance. I have a soft spot for resistance which, for the few I meet, is easily reducible to being part Irish, and also, perhaps less known, to do with being part irresistible. At least it’s what I’m transcribing/blathering here now at one in the morning.
Southeast Asia’s Wallace and Gromit, minus the Gromit.
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Double, double toil and trouble…
Leah H @69:
Yes, yes. If anyone can dig up any background on her I’d love to see it. I just tried on the internet and found nothing. She did say she did O Levels studying Macbeth so she was educated abroad or studied at a British international school here most likely. What is she? 40s?
She speaks of all of this enlightened artistic nonsense while the very picture on the cover of this DVD is outrageous with a picture of not only a mere lowly citizen with the Crown of Glory, but Thaksin. And red everywhere.
Where is her biography and why isn’t it on the website? Who is she linked to? Who is she associated with? What are her credentials?
I’d love to know…
Thaksin’s freedom: The price of royalist-military dominance?
a ‘new analysis’ from pavin?
not really as all this has been said several times before, hasn’t it?
‘What will be the future direction of Thai democracy amid this power rearrangement among the elites?’ is the question pavin ends his piece with. where are red shirts and thai voters in his analysis? does pavin really see them as a non-consequential actor in the entire thing?
i saw on an facebook posting that pavin once wrote about how ethical and moral abhisit was after he took power in 2008. does pavin needs to have a better grounding in how democracy itself works?
http://thailandjumpedtheshark.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/deconstructing-pavin-chachavalpongpun.html
When Thaksin comes home
Nick: > “No Red Shirt hype, but this reporter here [me] who was at the scene …”
Any idea why your estimate should diverge so markedly with the one made by the ‘AFP reporter at the scene’ (10,000)?
> “who estimated the same number from the departures at the border checkpoints”
Do note that they were getting a free pass for Angkor Wat.
Double, double toil and trouble…
The presentation of Ing K in the Bangkok and Western media as some freedom-fighting anti-censorship crusader is plain wrong, I’m afraid.
She isn’t, wasn’t and never will be as freedom of speech for the Red Shirts and/or Thaksin supporters is not something that concerns her. I would even suggest that she very likely supports the Red Shirts being denied the right to freedom of expression and speech.
112? She’ll mouth a couple of platitudes in the Bangkok Post to make her look more “liberal” (in a Voranai “let’s crush this rebellion” Bangkok Post style) but her voice has been completely missing from the last few years debate on lese majeste.
Ing K is nothing more than another PAD-inflected anti-Thaksin propagandist willing to get into bed with violent neo-fascists and the killers in the military, whose film, like all her other films, would’ve disappeared into the discount-straight-to-video bin without a 2nd glance if it hadn’t been banned.
For her to be held up as an example by the world’s media as an example of censorship in Thailand while that same Bangkok-based Western media almost completely ignored years of Abhisit-led censorship is laughable and reveals, not only their lack of principles, but that the plight of ordinary Thais has been of little consequence to them.
Red Shirt radio station DJs in 2010, whose combined audiences would likely be 100 times that of any Ing K film, were not only getting their equipment seized and stations shut down they were also receiving very credible death threats. On an almost daily basis.
Where was Ing K then? Where was the Western media outrage then?
Once again the hypocrisy and true conditions are revealed.
What keeps you up at night?
[…] above and on YouTube here: New Mandala’s “Asia-Pacific future trends.” (Academics from Columbia University and the Australian National University answer the […]
Double, double toil and trouble…
@Ralph: I haven’t seen her other comments. Maybe she toned it down for the Post. You’re right, censors have an odd job description as it is. They must be incredibly corrupted by all the filth that they have to watch and rate…
Double, double toil and trouble…
Does anyone know anything about Ing K’s background.
If I recall correctly she is from a elite family, maybe royal?
Regardless of her supposed liberalism, she is admired by the yellows I know.
Double, double toil and trouble…
Max: Censors everywhere are odd, simply because of the job they do. I have no idea why they banned this film, but it should be noted that Ing’s comments here don’t jive with the stuff she had at the SMD website, which was rather more confrontational than she now presents her views.
On lese majeste, she doesn’t just say it should be amended, but qualifies it:
“You’re calling for an end to censorship. What do you think about the lese majeste law? Should it be amended?
Yes, it should. The problem is it [the movement to amend the lese majeste law] is being used as a tool, most of all to damage the King and to make Thaksin look like a champion of democracy. That is why a lot of people who want it changed don’t want to join that bandwagon.”
Whatever her politics, I say let the film be seen.
What keeps you up at night?
Vichai N (2). That keeps you up at night? For a rational person, it would be the very much higher probability of death or injury in a collision with one of your lawless and incompetent fellow drivers.
The straw man critique of neoliberalism in Cambodia
James Ferguson’s article on neoliberalism is pretty good. Also I think this whole thread of comments is the best example of self-voting in the history of New Mandala. I think Keith Barney’s responses here are best because they seem moderate, rational and not emotionally driven, but who knows if that’s the case! Maybe there’s an undecurrent of neo-hate. This whole debacle could form the basis of a Khmer TV soap opera with more-than-usual histrionics. Probably could be funded by some neo-liberals, too.
Sabai sabai!
When Thaksin comes home
Perhaps my own mangled lyrics of the Tony Orlando song is more appropriate:
“I’m comin’ home and I won’t do my time
Because I’ve got to know what is and isn’t mine
If you received my letter telling you I’d soon be there
Then you’ll know just what to do
If you still want me
If you still want me”
BTW I’ve not received any letter
and “I really never wanted HIM back!”
Questions for Abhisit Vejjajiva
I tried to find the first use of this term “Butcher of Bangkok” for Abhisit and it seems that it was Political Prisoners of Thailand (11 April 2010 – http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/the-butcher-of-bangkok/). Was there an earlier use? How about in Thai?
Double, double toil and trouble…
An interview with Ing in today’s Bangkok Post:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/289229/movie-ban-due-to-climate-of-fear
She does clearly state that she thinks 112 should be amended, after all.
So it seems that a lot of people assume that the censorship committee has banned this film because of political pressure. Isn’t it a bit hasty to assume this, though? From Ing’s previous films, plus what I have seen of the Shakespeare movie, the imagery alone would be enough to make most conservatives in Thailand deem it “inappropriate” for the nation. So, even though it might be an anti-Thaksin piece (and again, from what I’ve seen, it certainly is in parts, but that’s only part of the message as I see it), it does not really fit in with how you are “supposed” to express these views, in the eyes of your typical BKK middle class conservatives. In my opinion, it would have been banned under any government, regardless of which color.
Anyway, does anyone know more details on the make-up of that censorship board, and how long their terms are?
Questions for Abhisit Vejjajiva
New Mandala readers following these discussions will likely want to digest the Thai language responses over at Pantip.com. They are preoccupied with the idea of “the butcher of Bangkok”. You can read the discussion here.
My favourite line:
р╕кр╣Ир╕зр╕Щр╕Хр╕▒р╕зр╕гр╕╣р╣Йр╕Ир╕▒р╕Бр╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕Зр╕Юр╕нр╕кр╕бр╕Др╕зр╕г р╣Др╕бр╣Ир╕Др╕┤р╕Фр╕зр╣Ир╕▓р╕Эр╕гр╕▒р╣Ир╕Зр╕Ир╕░р╕кр╕Щр╣Гр╕Ир╕Бр╕▓р╕гр╣Ар╕бр╕╖р╕нр╕Зр╣Др╕Чр╕вр╕бр╕▓р╕Бр╣Ар╕Юр╕╡р╕вр╕Зр╕Юр╕нр╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕Ир╕░р╕зр╕┤р╕Ир╕▓р╕гр╕Ур╣Мр╣Бр╕Фр╕Бр╕Фр╕▒р╕Щр╕бр╕▓р╕гр╣Мр╕Др╕лр╕гр╕нр╕Бр╕Др╣Ир╕░
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Kachin State: Don’t mention the war
plan B,
The Kachin are Christian to a large degree. Your careless useless post indicates that you feel they should be good little Buddhists and go along with the Burmese majority.
Additionally, you feel that the plight of the Burmese people is the fault of DASSK – and your favorite boogie man, the West.
You’re wrong on both counts.
The straw man critique of neoliberalism in Cambodia
Maratjp: Yes, Kissinger is (in)appropriate here, for he considered academic debates small, but was as happy as can be bombing the shit out of small countries like Cambodia. Mass murder seems like a matter worthy of academic debate and a court somewhere.
What keeps you up at night?
This is the easiest question to answer. Today’s Bangkok news (which btw the way could easily happen in most Asian countries like Philippines, Cambodia, etc.) illustrates my point:
” . . . Over the Songkran weekend, this paper printed the heart-wrenching story of the entirely preventable death of yet another innocent bystander at the hands of zealous and out-of-control anti-drug forces. Sopha Piboon, a 60-year-old woman, was on her way home in a car driven by her husband Sujin when a pickup truck with several fully armed young men on board pulled over to the side of the road and flagged down the couple’s car.
The men did not wear uniforms and Mr Sujin thought they were bandits. His first thought was that he needed to escape. And he did. The armed men, who turned out to be non-uniformed border patrol police, chased the couple’s car, fired at it and killed Sopha. . .”
Nobody’s safe.
The Thai police could get me killed anytime at any place in Thailand . . . given their itch to shoot and encouraged by Chalerm/Thaksin.
Internationalising the Kachin war
KIA won’t be fighting for too long, Just watch this YouTube video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IvjcrAPLM4s
Internationalising the Kachin war
Well Ohn, these people can’t put their own house in order but such a small matter has never stopped them telling the rest of us how to live our lives, has it?
As one of the contemptible Bamar I can assure you cynics like you and me have a damned good reason to be cynical. It’s from long and nasty experience. Don’t you kid yourself that we are each a monolithic entity with only ethnic and religious differences and no class divisions, and no great gap between the rulers and the ruled. It’s the same everywhere, and some of us do not merely scratch the surface and convince ourselves that a technological fix like the open market economy, globalisation, tech inputs and international capital will be the answer to all our problems, that catching up with Singapore, or the West for that matter with all its insurmountable crime and other social problems , is going to be the be all and end all.
You and I know that it’s high time these chauvinist militarist thugs got thrown out on their ear. The West is all too happy to embrace this ‘reform’ lark and above all ‘opening up’ the country, to welcome them to the new world order where money is the god of our time and deemed the sole purveyor of progress and happiness. The rest is window dressing, pulling the wool across our eyes and seizing the moral high ground. The bottom line is as ever Big Business. It transcends race, creed and cultural differences which cannot be allowed to interfere with its onward march in this brave new world.
What keeps you up at night?
Well, two things physically at the moment – but also they serve as impetus for further intellectual thought. One is the internet. The connection I have is very slow, so it keeps me awake waiting for pages to load to quench my addiction for white-noise. Two is the kids in the hovel next to my rather more luxurious accommodation. As I become more curmudgeonly, actual noise becomes more irritating, whereas it shouldn’t be. The white-noise should be the annoyance.
I cannot watch the video because of this connection, but since all those you’ve highlighted are China specialists, I imagine it’s a largely China focused episode. And rightfully so. However, two sociological categories are bigger than the population of China.
So, to the point: firstly, the amount of people who use the internet, and secondly youth (perhaps not in that order?). What impact the internet will have on political and economic space for people in different countries throughout the Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, and for the kids next to my luxurious abode making the racket, is what keeps me awake at night. I say this with a tab open for Marshall McLuhan who I don’t really know so much about.
The internet provides a different sort of space where whatever form of anti-liberal governance in a country is easily circumvented. For people in many places throughout the Asia Pacific, this provides an enormous avenue for liberalism where, without the internet, it might otherwise be circumvented. How the internet, with content like, for instance, this site, or even just the local politicians site or message board, will have an impact on political space is very interesting. And particularly so when considering, the potential impact on/for societies that are long engaged in ‘resistance’ movements against dominance. I have a soft spot for resistance which, for the few I meet, is easily reducible to being part Irish, and also, perhaps less known, to do with being part irresistible. At least it’s what I’m transcribing/blathering here now at one in the morning.
Southeast Asia’s Wallace and Gromit, minus the Gromit.