I intend to submit an abstract on the effects of the 2011 flood in Thailand on stress and coping resources for the conference.
I wish to emphasize that the effects of the 2011 megaflood have NOT been mitigated in any substantial way. Neither in economic terms nor in psychological terms have I seen much progress begin made among residents of Salaya. Mahidol University came out of it relatively unscathed, and I myself was extremely lucky, but not so most of my neighbors and friends living in the surrounding communities that were inundated in waist-deep water for more than 6 weeks.
From discussions I have had with those who have relatives living or formerly living in Ayutthya, this hardship is true in spades for them. I believe that the current labor shortages in Thailand in the electronics industry are due to the fact that the workers from Isan, who lost nearly everything, are suffering psychologically from PTSD and are not willing to return from their upcountry villages to risk everything again. However, at this point this is merely speculation on my part, and will have to be confirmed with actual survey data, which I intend to collect.
Could have?
I think Universal Health Care, the Expanded HIV drugs acess program, the new airport, the BTS, and underground, are things that have indeed changed Thailand for the better.
The new mimimum wage will have additional effects as the buying power of mimimum wage earners start comsuming more telephones, microwaves, TVs and the like.
Also it seems that the ‘war’ with Cambodia is over.
I follow these events quite closely and most of my Thai friends were asking me after the election how soon Thaksin would come back. Believe me, they want him here.
Yes, Thaksin has problems but perhaps if the Democrats had put forth programs, and ideas, and criticised him correctly; they might have benefited at the ballot box. Instead they alligned with the most reactionary of the conservatives and lost their legitimacy through pettiness.
In any real liberal democracy, AV would have taken the shellacking as evidence of his own inadequacys as party leader and relagated himself to the some obscure committee and let whatever other competing wing existed in his party take over the leadership.
Why is this evidence albeit ugly lost to the West?
The Wa as a smaller ethnic group has done well due to their monopoly on the DRUGS and VICES trade naturally unaffected through out this useless careless policy period.
Enabling this ethnic group to be defiant due to their economic cloud.
A larger economic pie, at stake, presently absent in Myanmar, will always empower all participants therefore favor negotiation over present approach to conflict.
Is it so hard to accept that an economist that prompted this useless careless policy is now being called to be reversed by another one, albeit Nobel Laureate?
If only Taksin were all he purports to be, he could have had a profound and positive influence on Thailand and the direction it takes. However most of his positive deeds were to strengthen his political base, and his personal greed and megalomania created the fissure to remove him. It does seem the ground is being laid for his return, hopefully the country will survive it.
For all that what politicians anywhere offer any inspiration? Obama or Romney, do you prefer your war mongering with a left or right bias, either way the Treasury is being raped? Gillard and Abbott, do you prefer unsustainable lower or middle class welfare? No positive choices, just your perceived lesser of evils.
Thank you for your response and the references to your blog which I would find the time to visit.
You said, “Muslim jurist imported the Bible Old Testament Law via the hadis”. You should know that Christians use the Old Testament(OT) for reference only and the New Testament(NT) is the document we follow conscientiously. To me, the OT was about a God of vengeance, who judged the people by their works. If they did right, He would reward; if they did wrong, He would punish them. He even annihilited the cities of Sodom and Gomarrah due to the people’s sins. I find it very uncomfortable and disconcerting when I first read the OT.
However, by providence, Christians have the saving grace of the NT, where God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to preach His words and finally, to die for our sins. We are therefore saved, not by our works, but by God’s amazing grace. He even sends us His Holy Spirit to help and guide us in our faith.
Anyway, it is good to know that you are a liberal Muslim who do not agree with the death penalty for apostates. The more important question though, is whether you agree to any punishment at all. I define a liberal Muslim as one confident enough to allow complete freedom of religion, without intimidation and without coercion. Until and unless all people practise this freedom, there will never be real peace and that is the truth of the matter.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you….(John 14:27)
Dear Greg Lopez.
Your questions have all been answered,but you do not understand.
Let me put it again.
Is there not a moral issue to change your gods name, when it is stated in the Bible.???
A name,(a pronoun) cannot replace a noun(,god). This is proof that you have mistranslated your gods name, and obviously out of mischief. Why the need to chang the name of your god as stated in the Bible.??? Why the need to substitute illah(god) for Allah.??? Why not use Tuhan the right word for god in Malay.???
Answer please.!!! Is it to corrupt your own religion or to corrupt the Muslim religion.???
Let the courts decide on use of Allah..???… When the courts know nuts about religion. Let the Syariah courts decide..better still.
For the 2nd questions.
Christians are a threat to their own religion…for corrupting the one god into three god.
Similarly Christian are a threat to Islam and Muslims by saying /calling their god Allah and by saying that Allah has a son and is a three god.
My friend. Please read the Quran Allahs own book. It states clearly
1) Quran5:72/73 “they verily disbelief,who say Allah is the Messiah,son of Mary.The Messiah himself said,”Worship Allah,my Lord and your Lord”.Lo.1Whosoever ascribe partners into Allah,for him Allah has forbidden paradise.His abode is the fire.For evil doers, there is no helper.”
2)Quran5:73 “They verily disbelief who say Allah the third of three, when there is no god save the one godIf they desist not from so saying,a painful doom will fall on those who disbelief.”
3)Quran 21:98 “Lo! Ye and that which you worship beside Allah are fuel of hell.”
4)Quran 17:39 “This is of that wisdom of which thy Lordhas inspired thee.and set up with Allah any other god,least thou be cast into hell,reproved,abandoned.”
If you want to call your god Allah,please belief in what Allah just said.
Call you god Allah but do not follow the teachings of Allah.Does that not make you a hipocrit.???
The Bible Isaiah 44
6 This is what the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says:
“I am the first, and I am the last;
and besides me there is no God.
Bible god himself says that there is only one gog and one savior.
But Christians do not belief in these verse. Does it not make them hipocrits.???
What more can you defgend yourself with.??? Other verses of the Gospel. They contradict Isaiah 44. Howcan god contradict himself, unless one of your books is not gods book.!!!
I don’t know if many Red Shirts feel betrayed by Thaksin or not. The ones I spoke to during my 3month visit from Nov to Feb 2011/12 didn’t really mouth that sentiment. I spent considerable time in Isaan and the north plus some time at Imperial Lad Prao. I spoke, at length, to everyone from grass roots members to Thida.
I also spoke directly to the LM prisoners – they told me that conditions had improved dramatically for them since YL’s govt came in. They also made a number of claims that they were badly mistreated under the Dem govt and were completely ignored by Western media and Western human rights groups during that period.
Harsher crackdown on LM than under the Dems? Well, I went to the expert, David Streckfuss, and he said “nope”. I went to other very important human rights figures and they also said “nope”.
Increase in rhetoric, yes, but the number of actual cases proceeding to court has dropped. Significantly. The real terror on LM is still being driven by the PAD, Yellow media and Dems. The hate campaigns are just as effective as the law anyway.
So better prison conditions, less cases coming to court.
When they do get to court who gives the sentences? The govt? Nope. The judges. And I don’t think I need to spell out their political leanings. It isn’t’ for the Reds or Thaksin, let’s put it that way. If the govt did try to influence the courts one can imagine the outrage “Thaksin tries to control courts now.” Or some human rights stooge like Sunai Phasuk making a statement saying “HRW oppose the overbearing influence of the government on Thailand’s independent system of justice” or some Western journo like Crispin, just up for visa renewal, the horror of maybe having to live without an Isaan maid to clean up after him, saying “This is yet more evidence of Thaksin’s anti-democratic, Mussolini-style form of government” blah blah blah.
Yes, agree, govt has full responsibility to attempt to move things forward on HR and LM and on investigation into April/May 2010. From what I’ve been told is that army are threatening a coup if they do that. Should they ignore those threats? Possibly, but the outcome could be a horrific civil war and we all know who the US, the Western media and the human rights groups would side with should a coup occur. The Thai Army.
Most Reds and prisoners I spoke to seemed have a pragmatic approach to Thaksin. It’s a two way thing. If he gets too close to those who perpetrated massacre he could suffer at election, no doubt. But there has been no poll of Red Shirts – be very interesting to see one to see what they actually think rather than just anecdotal stuff you or I can provide here.
I also think economic factors could have a huge bearing on matters. If Thaksin improves economic plight of majority of Thais they will likely forgive him on other issues and vote him or his party back in.
That’s the same in pretty much every democracy I know of.
Oh yes. Thaksin will return for sure. The whole poltical drama follows this sequence: Returning of the A team (the banned TRT members)
-> new constitution -> a reconciliation deal which “makes everyone happy” (quote Thaksin) -> Happy Happy Amnesty -> Thaksin’s Grand Homecoming!
I shall copy and paste post 43 of Ajarn Somsak Jeamteerasakul then. He had read the article, and had copied and pasted the relevant parts, quoted from the Times.
Ajarn Somsak (post 43) wrote:
“The Australian‘s report, though quoting The Times‘s, is not the reproduction of the latter, which is much longer (12-13 paragraphs, compared to five or six in The Australian).
The part in The Times‘s report that verifies the letter’s authenticity comprises only one short part of a sentence, which read (my emphasis):
“… the four men write in a letter which has been verified by Mr Vacharaesorn, now a practising lawyer with a firm in New York state”
—–
I assume that the confirmation from the Times is an evidence which is strong enough to confirm the authenticity of this letter. If you are going to accuse that this letter is BS again (as I have seen in this thread countless times), you better have a really good evidence which shows that Times was lying. Oral accusation from Manager/ASTV or royalist Thai Televisions don’t count :p
What is likely though is the poorly trained ill equipped recruits in hordes walking into mined traps after traps in one of the most unforgiving terrains in the world against the locals.
Apart from money of dams, gems, woods and pipes, Bamar Chuavinsitc attitude of Bamar Sit-tut which is unchangable’ is feeding the frezy. There is NO INCREASING openness of news. They have absolute torrent of news they want to let out and complete darkness of news they don’t want.
All are predictable and absolutely stable traits of the Bamar Army. What is disappointing and will be the cause of the failure of current hula-baloo by everybody is the total ignorance of these inhumane sufferings -apart from blanket giving ceremonies- by the so-called “Democratic Opposition” which is acting more and more like the military government’s agents. In Burmese ‘ Thu lu, ko bac thar’ , their man in our camp. Aung San Suu Kyi is now official enforcer for the Military which she admires.
Yet the rightous cause of the Kachin will prevail in spite of all these and the same people will start to crow how they have valliantly defended the Kachin cause.
No one builds Thaksin up more than the royalists. These royalists are their own worst enemy. They make him so important. Ignoring him would do more to lessen his impact upon Thailand.
My opinion about him hasn’t really changed: he a bigger threat culturally than he ever was as a corrupt politician. He’s upstaged the wrong person.
Andrew Spooner # 10
“It’s comical that the only people that don’t want Thaksin back are the PAD who won’t run in an election, Democrats who can’t win an election and some Farang that can’t vote in an election.”
TBH, a considerable portion of the Red Shirts are starting to get fed up with Thaksin with this government’s refusal to do anything to release political prisoners, and an insane crackdown on LM. I, however, do not know whether those people ‘do not want him back’ or not.
As for me, now I feel indifferent about him coming back. I don’t really care whether he will have to be exiled for all of his life, or whether he can come back.
One thing I know for sure after this 2011 election, is Thaksin is a person who is ready to ‘step on anyone, even his own supporters’ to get what he wants. He seems to have influenced a lot 0f Red Shirts to become anti-Monarchy. When his sister won the election, however, her government (in which he is believed to be the ‘shadow PM’ behind his sister) betrayed their own supporters by initiating harsher crackdown and sentencing. In other words, Thaksin did not hesitate to arrest and jail his own supporters, just so that his political party would remain in power.
My brother used to tell me that he believed the CP will also be betrayed by Thaksin once he comes back to Thailand and took the PM office again (if that day will finally come). I initially took his assumption with a grain of salt, but looking at what is happening now under Yingluck’s administration, I start to believe his assumption more and more.
Fortunately, I am not a Thaksin fanatic. So I don’t really feel betrayed by this. I know for the fact, however, that many Red Shirts feel that they have been betrayed by Thaksin. I will be interested to see the result of the next election whether Thaksin’s party will still win an election by landslide.
Your views on the use of Allah is one of many views and is possibly a minority view. Other Muslims have interpreted it differently. As you know in Islam there are many debates and there is little consensus. Read this article HERE for the debate on apostasy. More interestingly, even PAS, the Islamic party of Malaysia, agrees that Christians can use Allah.
In a civilised nation, civilised people adhere to the rule of law, and do not burn the posterior of people they disagree with. It is behaviour such as yours that gives Islam and Muslims such a bad name. (By the way how is Islam a religion of peace if its adherents threaten to burn the posterior of people they disagree with.)
The key point:
What Christians call their God in Malaysia is a matter for the courts/judiciary to decide in a civilised democratic nation.
Malaysia’s Constitution states that the Courts/Judiciary has the powers to interpret and decide on government decisions.
Malaysia’s Constitution also states that Malaysians have freedom of religion. This includes calling their God/s in whatever manner they feel. It is not only Christians that call God Allah, but many other religions (e.g. Sikhs, Jews).
It was the Malaysian Government that banned Christians from using Allah. Hence, let the Courts/Judiciary decide.
But even more important, you have not answered the question (which is the focus of this article).
I would really appreciate if you can demonstrate to me and the readers of New Mandala and to the majority of Muslims that live peacefully with Christians, how some Muslims such as yourself, Ridhuan Tee, Ibrahim Ali, Harussani Zakaria, and members of PEKIDA, PEMBELA and PERKASA, can make the claim that Christianity is a threat to Islam and Muslims in Malaysia:
(i) when Islam and Muslims have privileged position in the Constitution;
(ii) that any change reducing or removing this privileges requires the consent of Malaysia’s monarchy who themselves are Muslims;
(iii) when Muslims constitute the majority (approximately 55%) while Christians constitute less than 8%;
(iv) all institutions – the public sector, the military, the police, the judiciary, in fact almost 99% of all top institutional positions in Malaysia are held by Muslims
(v) all strategic industries (minerals, transportation, telecommunications, banking, auto, etc) are controlled by Muslims.
So please answer the basic question – how are Christians a threat to Muslims in Malaysia?
Whether their long standing ties with the Baptist Kachin from colonial and missionary days to WWII or their Big Business interests will prevail in the US engagement strategy we shall find out in due course notwithstanding the media and public outcry. It will be a close call.
McCain and Webb have followed Clinton in calling for easing the sanctions, and JW in fact for a speedy end to the sanctions (surprise, surprise from the business crusader). The UN has always been a soft touch in Burma; perhaps we can expect it to be more assertive over issues of near genocide.
You get the feeling it’s something that will be decided mainly between Burma and China in dividing the spoils of the North, and also on how to pacify the natives. There is something of a Wild West feel too in Kachin State, and also Karen State where bizarrely domestic big business interests and go-betweens like Myanmar Egress are already involved from the start.
Hopefully the regime will find another viable exit strategy in dealing with these ethnic wars too other than just ‘killing the buffaloes or the injuns unless the railroad companies get what they want’.
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Natural disaster and the city – workshop
I intend to submit an abstract on the effects of the 2011 flood in Thailand on stress and coping resources for the conference.
I wish to emphasize that the effects of the 2011 megaflood have NOT been mitigated in any substantial way. Neither in economic terms nor in psychological terms have I seen much progress begin made among residents of Salaya. Mahidol University came out of it relatively unscathed, and I myself was extremely lucky, but not so most of my neighbors and friends living in the surrounding communities that were inundated in waist-deep water for more than 6 weeks.
From discussions I have had with those who have relatives living or formerly living in Ayutthya, this hardship is true in spades for them. I believe that the current labor shortages in Thailand in the electronics industry are due to the fact that the workers from Isan, who lost nearly everything, are suffering psychologically from PTSD and are not willing to return from their upcountry villages to risk everything again. However, at this point this is merely speculation on my part, and will have to be confirmed with actual survey data, which I intend to collect.
Thaksin wants to get off exile island
Could have?
I think Universal Health Care, the Expanded HIV drugs acess program, the new airport, the BTS, and underground, are things that have indeed changed Thailand for the better.
The new mimimum wage will have additional effects as the buying power of mimimum wage earners start comsuming more telephones, microwaves, TVs and the like.
Also it seems that the ‘war’ with Cambodia is over.
I follow these events quite closely and most of my Thai friends were asking me after the election how soon Thaksin would come back. Believe me, they want him here.
Yes, Thaksin has problems but perhaps if the Democrats had put forth programs, and ideas, and criticised him correctly; they might have benefited at the ballot box. Instead they alligned with the most reactionary of the conservatives and lost their legitimacy through pettiness.
In any real liberal democracy, AV would have taken the shellacking as evidence of his own inadequacys as party leader and relagated himself to the some obscure committee and let whatever other competing wing existed in his party take over the leadership.
Internationalising the Kachin war
Why is this evidence albeit ugly lost to the West?
The Wa as a smaller ethnic group has done well due to their monopoly on the DRUGS and VICES trade naturally unaffected through out this useless careless policy period.
Enabling this ethnic group to be defiant due to their economic cloud.
A larger economic pie, at stake, presently absent in Myanmar, will always empower all participants therefore favor negotiation over present approach to conflict.
http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/6718-burmas-turn.html
Is it so hard to accept that an economist that prompted this useless careless policy is now being called to be reversed by another one, albeit Nobel Laureate?
Placing Shanghai
Shanghai is not in the Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River Delta is in Guangzhou.
Thaksin wants to get off exile island
If only Taksin were all he purports to be, he could have had a profound and positive influence on Thailand and the direction it takes. However most of his positive deeds were to strengthen his political base, and his personal greed and megalomania created the fissure to remove him. It does seem the ground is being laid for his return, hopefully the country will survive it.
For all that what politicians anywhere offer any inspiration? Obama or Romney, do you prefer your war mongering with a left or right bias, either way the Treasury is being raped? Gillard and Abbott, do you prefer unsustainable lower or middle class welfare? No positive choices, just your perceived lesser of evils.
Islamic fundamentalists, Christian threats, Freudian slips
Dear Pak Yeh # 13,
Thank you for your response and the references to your blog which I would find the time to visit.
You said, “Muslim jurist imported the Bible Old Testament Law via the hadis”. You should know that Christians use the Old Testament(OT) for reference only and the New Testament(NT) is the document we follow conscientiously. To me, the OT was about a God of vengeance, who judged the people by their works. If they did right, He would reward; if they did wrong, He would punish them. He even annihilited the cities of Sodom and Gomarrah due to the people’s sins. I find it very uncomfortable and disconcerting when I first read the OT.
However, by providence, Christians have the saving grace of the NT, where God showed His love for us by sending Jesus to preach His words and finally, to die for our sins. We are therefore saved, not by our works, but by God’s amazing grace. He even sends us His Holy Spirit to help and guide us in our faith.
Anyway, it is good to know that you are a liberal Muslim who do not agree with the death penalty for apostates. The more important question though, is whether you agree to any punishment at all. I define a liberal Muslim as one confident enough to allow complete freedom of religion, without intimidation and without coercion. Until and unless all people practise this freedom, there will never be real peace and that is the truth of the matter.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you….(John 14:27)
10 April 2010
John Smith (comment #5)
“it is people like you that make… these hate filled rants that … screw it up just as much as someone that would support a coup.
Are you seriously claiming that my comments here on New Mandela screw up democracy as much as supporting a military coup?
For real?
And, in the same comment, accuse me of “shrill demagoguery”?
Next you’ll be accusing me of “hyperbole”…. oh….
Columbia and ANU discuss Asia’s promising trends
> “Kristy Kelly”
Phew, for one minute I thought you meant Kristie Kenney!
Islamic fundamentalists, Christian threats, Freudian slips
Dear Greg Lopez.
Your questions have all been answered,but you do not understand.
Let me put it again.
Is there not a moral issue to change your gods name, when it is stated in the Bible.???
A name,(a pronoun) cannot replace a noun(,god). This is proof that you have mistranslated your gods name, and obviously out of mischief. Why the need to chang the name of your god as stated in the Bible.??? Why the need to substitute illah(god) for Allah.??? Why not use Tuhan the right word for god in Malay.???
Answer please.!!! Is it to corrupt your own religion or to corrupt the Muslim religion.???
Let the courts decide on use of Allah..???… When the courts know nuts about religion. Let the Syariah courts decide..better still.
For the 2nd questions.
Christians are a threat to their own religion…for corrupting the one god into three god.
Similarly Christian are a threat to Islam and Muslims by saying /calling their god Allah and by saying that Allah has a son and is a three god.
My friend. Please read the Quran Allahs own book. It states clearly
1) Quran5:72/73 “they verily disbelief,who say Allah is the Messiah,son of Mary.The Messiah himself said,”Worship Allah,my Lord and your Lord”.Lo.1Whosoever ascribe partners into Allah,for him Allah has forbidden paradise.His abode is the fire.For evil doers, there is no helper.”
2)Quran5:73 “They verily disbelief who say Allah the third of three, when there is no god save the one godIf they desist not from so saying,a painful doom will fall on those who disbelief.”
3)Quran 21:98 “Lo! Ye and that which you worship beside Allah are fuel of hell.”
4)Quran 17:39 “This is of that wisdom of which thy Lordhas inspired thee.and set up with Allah any other god,least thou be cast into hell,reproved,abandoned.”
If you want to call your god Allah,please belief in what Allah just said.
Call you god Allah but do not follow the teachings of Allah.Does that not make you a hipocrit.???
The Bible Isaiah 44
6 This is what the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says:
“I am the first, and I am the last;
and besides me there is no God.
Bible god himself says that there is only one gog and one savior.
But Christians do not belief in these verse. Does it not make them hipocrits.???
What more can you defgend yourself with.??? Other verses of the Gospel. They contradict Isaiah 44. Howcan god contradict himself, unless one of your books is not gods book.!!!
10 April 2010
CT
I don’t know if many Red Shirts feel betrayed by Thaksin or not. The ones I spoke to during my 3month visit from Nov to Feb 2011/12 didn’t really mouth that sentiment. I spent considerable time in Isaan and the north plus some time at Imperial Lad Prao. I spoke, at length, to everyone from grass roots members to Thida.
I also spoke directly to the LM prisoners – they told me that conditions had improved dramatically for them since YL’s govt came in. They also made a number of claims that they were badly mistreated under the Dem govt and were completely ignored by Western media and Western human rights groups during that period.
Harsher crackdown on LM than under the Dems? Well, I went to the expert, David Streckfuss, and he said “nope”. I went to other very important human rights figures and they also said “nope”.
Increase in rhetoric, yes, but the number of actual cases proceeding to court has dropped. Significantly. The real terror on LM is still being driven by the PAD, Yellow media and Dems. The hate campaigns are just as effective as the law anyway.
So better prison conditions, less cases coming to court.
When they do get to court who gives the sentences? The govt? Nope. The judges. And I don’t think I need to spell out their political leanings. It isn’t’ for the Reds or Thaksin, let’s put it that way. If the govt did try to influence the courts one can imagine the outrage “Thaksin tries to control courts now.” Or some human rights stooge like Sunai Phasuk making a statement saying “HRW oppose the overbearing influence of the government on Thailand’s independent system of justice” or some Western journo like Crispin, just up for visa renewal, the horror of maybe having to live without an Isaan maid to clean up after him, saying “This is yet more evidence of Thaksin’s anti-democratic, Mussolini-style form of government” blah blah blah.
Yes, agree, govt has full responsibility to attempt to move things forward on HR and LM and on investigation into April/May 2010. From what I’ve been told is that army are threatening a coup if they do that. Should they ignore those threats? Possibly, but the outcome could be a horrific civil war and we all know who the US, the Western media and the human rights groups would side with should a coup occur. The Thai Army.
Most Reds and prisoners I spoke to seemed have a pragmatic approach to Thaksin. It’s a two way thing. If he gets too close to those who perpetrated massacre he could suffer at election, no doubt. But there has been no poll of Red Shirts – be very interesting to see one to see what they actually think rather than just anecdotal stuff you or I can provide here.
I also think economic factors could have a huge bearing on matters. If Thaksin improves economic plight of majority of Thais they will likely forgive him on other issues and vote him or his party back in.
That’s the same in pretty much every democracy I know of.
Thaksin wants to get off exile island
Oh yes. Thaksin will return for sure. The whole poltical drama follows this sequence: Returning of the A team (the banned TRT members)
-> new constitution -> a reconciliation deal which “makes everyone happy” (quote Thaksin) -> Happy Happy Amnesty -> Thaksin’s Grand Homecoming!
Crown Prince’s family update?
Response to Ricky #84:
I shall copy and paste post 43 of Ajarn Somsak Jeamteerasakul then. He had read the article, and had copied and pasted the relevant parts, quoted from the Times.
Ajarn Somsak (post 43) wrote:
“The Australian‘s report, though quoting The Times‘s, is not the reproduction of the latter, which is much longer (12-13 paragraphs, compared to five or six in The Australian).
The part in The Times‘s report that verifies the letter’s authenticity comprises only one short part of a sentence, which read (my emphasis):
“… the four men write in a letter which has been verified by Mr Vacharaesorn, now a practising lawyer with a firm in New York state”
—–
I assume that the confirmation from the Times is an evidence which is strong enough to confirm the authenticity of this letter. If you are going to accuse that this letter is BS again (as I have seen in this thread countless times), you better have a really good evidence which shows that Times was lying. Oral accusation from Manager/ASTV or royalist Thai Televisions don’t count :p
Crown Prince’s family update?
Thanks to CT for the link to the pay to read website of Rupert Murdoch.
Please copy and paste the text here for all to read.
3,000 dead Burmese soldiers?
Numbers will never be known.
What is likely though is the poorly trained ill equipped recruits in hordes walking into mined traps after traps in one of the most unforgiving terrains in the world against the locals.
Apart from money of dams, gems, woods and pipes, Bamar Chuavinsitc attitude of Bamar Sit-tut which is unchangable’ is feeding the frezy. There is NO INCREASING openness of news. They have absolute torrent of news they want to let out and complete darkness of news they don’t want.
All are predictable and absolutely stable traits of the Bamar Army. What is disappointing and will be the cause of the failure of current hula-baloo by everybody is the total ignorance of these inhumane sufferings -apart from blanket giving ceremonies- by the so-called “Democratic Opposition” which is acting more and more like the military government’s agents. In Burmese ‘ Thu lu, ko bac thar’ , their man in our camp. Aung San Suu Kyi is now official enforcer for the Military which she admires.
Yet the rightous cause of the Kachin will prevail in spite of all these and the same people will start to crow how they have valliantly defended the Kachin cause.
Thaksin wants to get off exile island
No one builds Thaksin up more than the royalists. These royalists are their own worst enemy. They make him so important. Ignoring him would do more to lessen his impact upon Thailand.
My opinion about him hasn’t really changed: he a bigger threat culturally than he ever was as a corrupt politician. He’s upstaged the wrong person.
Thaksin wants to get off exile island
June, and happy Songkran!
10 April 2010
Andrew Spooner # 10
“It’s comical that the only people that don’t want Thaksin back are the PAD who won’t run in an election, Democrats who can’t win an election and some Farang that can’t vote in an election.”
TBH, a considerable portion of the Red Shirts are starting to get fed up with Thaksin with this government’s refusal to do anything to release political prisoners, and an insane crackdown on LM. I, however, do not know whether those people ‘do not want him back’ or not.
As for me, now I feel indifferent about him coming back. I don’t really care whether he will have to be exiled for all of his life, or whether he can come back.
One thing I know for sure after this 2011 election, is Thaksin is a person who is ready to ‘step on anyone, even his own supporters’ to get what he wants. He seems to have influenced a lot 0f Red Shirts to become anti-Monarchy. When his sister won the election, however, her government (in which he is believed to be the ‘shadow PM’ behind his sister) betrayed their own supporters by initiating harsher crackdown and sentencing. In other words, Thaksin did not hesitate to arrest and jail his own supporters, just so that his political party would remain in power.
My brother used to tell me that he believed the CP will also be betrayed by Thaksin once he comes back to Thailand and took the PM office again (if that day will finally come). I initially took his assumption with a grain of salt, but looking at what is happening now under Yingluck’s administration, I start to believe his assumption more and more.
Fortunately, I am not a Thaksin fanatic. So I don’t really feel betrayed by this. I know for the fact, however, that many Red Shirts feel that they have been betrayed by Thaksin. I will be interested to see the result of the next election whether Thaksin’s party will still win an election by landslide.
Islamic fundamentalists, Christian threats, Freudian slips
@ Pak Yeh # 12
Your views on the use of Allah is one of many views and is possibly a minority view. Other Muslims have interpreted it differently. As you know in Islam there are many debates and there is little consensus. Read this article HERE for the debate on apostasy. More interestingly, even PAS, the Islamic party of Malaysia, agrees that Christians can use Allah.
In a civilised nation, civilised people adhere to the rule of law, and do not burn the posterior of people they disagree with. It is behaviour such as yours that gives Islam and Muslims such a bad name. (By the way how is Islam a religion of peace if its adherents threaten to burn the posterior of people they disagree with.)
The key point:
What Christians call their God in Malaysia is a matter for the courts/judiciary to decide in a civilised democratic nation.
Malaysia’s Constitution states that the Courts/Judiciary has the powers to interpret and decide on government decisions.
Malaysia’s Constitution also states that Malaysians have freedom of religion. This includes calling their God/s in whatever manner they feel. It is not only Christians that call God Allah, but many other religions (e.g. Sikhs, Jews).
It was the Malaysian Government that banned Christians from using Allah. Hence, let the Courts/Judiciary decide.
But even more important, you have not answered the question (which is the focus of this article).
I would really appreciate if you can demonstrate to me and the readers of New Mandala and to the majority of Muslims that live peacefully with Christians, how some Muslims such as yourself, Ridhuan Tee, Ibrahim Ali, Harussani Zakaria, and members of PEKIDA, PEMBELA and PERKASA, can make the claim that Christianity is a threat to Islam and Muslims in Malaysia:
(i) when Islam and Muslims have privileged position in the Constitution;
(ii) that any change reducing or removing this privileges requires the consent of Malaysia’s monarchy who themselves are Muslims;
(iii) when Muslims constitute the majority (approximately 55%) while Christians constitute less than 8%;
(iv) all institutions – the public sector, the military, the police, the judiciary, in fact almost 99% of all top institutional positions in Malaysia are held by Muslims
(v) all strategic industries (minerals, transportation, telecommunications, banking, auto, etc) are controlled by Muslims.
So please answer the basic question – how are Christians a threat to Muslims in Malaysia?
Internationalising the Kachin war
The only different now is Kachin instead of Karen.
How long before ad. for mercenary start appearing in Guns & Ammo┬о and similar magazine?
Internationalising the Kachin war
Whether their long standing ties with the Baptist Kachin from colonial and missionary days to WWII or their Big Business interests will prevail in the US engagement strategy we shall find out in due course notwithstanding the media and public outcry. It will be a close call.
McCain and Webb have followed Clinton in calling for easing the sanctions, and JW in fact for a speedy end to the sanctions (surprise, surprise from the business crusader). The UN has always been a soft touch in Burma; perhaps we can expect it to be more assertive over issues of near genocide.
You get the feeling it’s something that will be decided mainly between Burma and China in dividing the spoils of the North, and also on how to pacify the natives. There is something of a Wild West feel too in Kachin State, and also Karen State where bizarrely domestic big business interests and go-betweens like Myanmar Egress are already involved from the start.
Hopefully the regime will find another viable exit strategy in dealing with these ethnic wars too other than just ‘killing the buffaloes or the injuns unless the railroad companies get what they want’.