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It appears that the evidence relating to whether the Lynas operations posses a serious danger to human health has not been resolved.

This press statement addressed to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, from the Save Malaysia Stop Lynas civil society coalition once again draws attention to the fact that the Lynas plant is a health hazard among many other issue:

The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng is the world’s largest rare earth refinery project owned by speculators with no real experience in industrial processing or rare earth. Rare earth refining is linked with serious pollution and health risks. The plant is located in a densely populated area unlike most industrial estates. The closest housing estate is a mere 2km from the plant and within a 30km inland radius live 700,000 people.

The LAMP is the world’s biggest rare earth refinery owned by a lone-project speculative company with no previous experience. Its design is based on the Chinese technology. Yet approval and an operating license were given without due consideration into the full extent of its impact which will only be uncovered through a detailed EIA.

Srithanonchai (2) which government are Thai academics freely criticising? The de jure punching-bag Government; or the de facto absolutist Government?

Among the seemingly infinite ads for “whitening cream” running on Thailand’s many tv channels 24/7, all of them stating openly or indirectly that if only the viewer would “invest” sufficient funds on “whitening cream”, they, the viewer, would rapidly become more desirable, more successful, have more beautiful and/or more handsome girlfriends and/or boyfriends, live in a bigger better decorated house, wear more expensive and stylish clothing, have a higher status watch and smartphone, drive a larger and more expensive car, etc., etc., etc.

But even in this ocean of commercial and culturally approved white is much better propaganda, one ad in particular stands out, and that is of a lovely young mother in her 20’s taking care of her lovely little daughter, probably about 5.

Everything seems to be going well for the young, happy and smiling Mom as she ferries her daughter here and there, consuming food, snacks, nature, shopping, until a fatal moment where the Mom is trying to select what color paint to buy for some household project.

Looking through the color samples, the adorable daughter suddenly stops at the color brown. She points at the offensive color and then, with great sadness and pity, at her Mom’s brown skin tone.

Luckily, Mom is quick on the uptake and we cut to her immediately stocking up on a new “skin whitening” product and then to a sexy montage of her rubbing the cream onto her brown skin and quickly turning a beautiful transparent white, at which point the little daughter is all smiles, adoring at her now gorgeous Mom as never before.

Recently, I had a chance to listen to four policy-oriented presentations by lecturers from a university in Malaysia. I was rather baffled. Where Thai university lecturers would try to analyze the policies and probably criticize the government, their counterparts from Malaysia acted as if they were government spokespeople.

The point of debate here really is whether PAD still commands a considerable crowd. I personally believe that it is inappropriate to assert so early that this group is draining. PAD does not have an oceanic gathering like they did before, because it is not the high time for yellow mobilization.
I do think that many PAD supporters are milder royalist than those in Siam Samakkhi. Therefore the call to rally around the monarchy is less appealing than that of rally against Thaksin. At this point, many are watching how the new government is playing out the game.It cannot be more normal for people who are still waiting and seeing to stay home rather than go to the gathering.
But the fact that Thaksin’s return remains a highly relevant and attented issue for anybody (and there is a good chance that he will), one should not predict a silent PAD when the whole plan to bring Thaksin back eventually reveals in front of the public.

We are all hybrid and mongrel animals!
Thailand is a deeply racist society with discourses of exclusionary belonging founded in land, blood and purity: to be Thai can only be born Thai and to be a supreme being one must have pure blood-of course such mumbo jumbo has no foundation in the real it is the stuff divisive political ideology is made of!

MSF is a better NGO than most others.

The definitive solutions require unequivocal concerted effort to improve Education, Health Care and Economic well being of country like Myanmar.

Care of HIV is the least of the health Care priority in Myanmar.

Will continue to be so 2┬║ to the economic even if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the West continue to use this as a Litmus Test to progress.

MSF band aiding the larger problems created by the West vs SPDC such as treatment for HIV is overshadow by the others more common yet pressing ailments mentioned repeatedly by Dr Khin Nyein Chan.

There are more victims of malaria, TB, malnutrition and other condition that the westerners take for granted within Myanmar that make the concern for plight of the HIV infected a bad joke.

Maybe Goh WL was an advisor to Perkasa on their Chinese New Year “white envelope” fiasco. OR maybe Goh thinks its OK to hand out “white envelope” to old folks during CNY.

“why be so sensitive” I do not know.. The fairy tale of “no proof of corruption” in the BN govet is really wearing thin, but it does not seem to bother people like Goh. A beneficiary perhaps?

Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and exco member of PROHAM, a human rights advocacy group established by former Suhakam members, in a polite article asks why Najib Razak, despite his 1Malaysia and leader of the global movement of moderates rhetoric, and Malaysia being a member on the UN’s Human Rights Council, has not ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination?

Malaysia has now reached a status in the global community as member of the Human Rights Council and therefore we must be a shining example by not only ratifying the convention but role modelling as a progressive moderate nation. It must put in place the checks and balances to stop the abuses taking place in the name of affirmative action so that the real poor and low income will benefit from sustainable and empowering socio-economic transformation.

A rhetorical question, I would say, as many already know the answer.

“Garuda”:

First of all, the pictures of the PAD rallies you provided are all low viewpoint, wide angle lens pictures, which show basically the front row of protesters, and stretch out the perspective to make the images somewhat more interesting.
The same image taken with a slightly lesser wide angle, from a higher viewpoint will give you a more neutral assessment of the protesters that attended, which were at daytime on average days a few dozen at the stagearea, at night maybe 300, plus maybe another few hundred at the tent area, and a few dozen at the Thai Patriot Network stage.
I have taken such images from a higher elevation, but cannot put these images here into this comment. And again, i have not the time presently to write an article on these protests. There are presently more important matters i have to attend to than spending many hours, if not longer, than write here on new mandala an article for free just to win an argument.

As to Siam Samakkhi meetings not common: since their second public meeting on November 25th, 2011, i have attended two more until now (not counting Dr. Tul’s meetings), and in between i have been almost three months in Germany, and missed any meeting that may have been happening during that time. These meetings appear to me a lot more common nowadays than PAD meetings.

And no, on Oct. 7, 2008 at no time did the PAD cover the entire area you claim it has. The scene that day was that at each clash point up to several hundred hardcore protesters and guards engaged the police in these clashes, and the remainder if the area was quite empty. So ye, i stand by my count of about 10 000 PAD protesters that day.
Furthermore – that day the police was only on 3 locations at two points that day in the offensive – the locations were the doors to parliament, in the morning to open them, and again in the afternoon to open them again.
At all other clash sites that day, especially at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters/Royal Plaza corner at midday and at night, and at the escape route from parliament at Ratchawithi/Nakhorn Ratchasima Rd. intersection in the afternoon the police was on the defensive. and the attacker was the PAD. The police that day had one very clear assignment, which was to allow access to parliament. The police had no assignment to disperse the protesters beyond that, and did not attempt to either.
I am not privy to Chamlong’s and Pathumpong’s plans, and will not speculate about them. But i know what i have seen.

I also believe that you exaggerate the numbers of the latest PAD meeting, especially the fluctuation, and the numbers of protesters in the garden.

As to my views regarding what Pipob said about network building – yes, if the PAD would have done so in 2008 instead of disregarding election results, and occupying Government house and the airports it may have been better for the PAD (and Thai society in general). But the PAD did not – it went the way of radicalization, both in protest tactics, and in ideology, lost this way major mass support it had in 2006 (yet not in the claimed numbers – at no point did several hundred thousand PAD protesters gather ever, which you could clearly see from the numbers that fit Sanam Luang, where they held their largest protests: Sanam Luang, packed from one end to the next holds at most 100 000 people. The most the PAD ever had were somewhere in the range of 60 000 to 80 000 protesters).
The PAD has now to live with its history of very short term tactics, using increasingly radical ideologies, and being left with a hardcore of semi-cultist followers, while the reasonable PAD protesters that still attend do so without much enthusiasm, to say the least.
Pipob may have said what he did, but Sondhi said what Sondhi said. Who of the two do you think has more saying in the PAD?

In 2011 the PAD experienced severe infighting, and lost the support of Somsak and the Labor Unions, leaving a rump of the so called ASTV group, and allied the Santi Asoke sect. That’s it. No more hiso support, as Sondhi attacked HiSo PAD on the stage as not real PAD, no more military support after vicious attacks against Anupong, Prayudh and the whole military leadership over the Cambodia border issue, no more Chirmsak Pinthong, who was also heavily attacked on the stage, and naturally no more Democrat Party support after Abhisit, Kasit, etc were viciously attacked over the border issue.
The 2011 PAD backstage was very different than in 2006 and 2008: Hardly any visitors, most nights there were less than a dozen people backstage, including ASTV reporters. No more important people, no more glamor, no more media circus.

I have never bought the argument of “parliamentary dictatorship”. This was a paranoid idea from the start. On the opposite – in 2005/2006 the TRT party was already beginning to collapse. The emergence of the PAD is proof of that, as the most powerful leaders of the PAD (and a sizable portion of the ordinary protesters) were TRT supporters. Many powerful TRT politicians have begun leaving TRT already (such as Sanoh Tienthong visiting the 2006 PAD).
The ordinary TRT voters were more discerning that these former TRT supporters turned opponents gave them credit to, and have not been just uneducated tools, but voted based on policies that they favored, and and of course according to local politics (which are not just depending on “vote-buying” – which is another polemic argument regularly cited, but which, if looked at closer, are very complex mechanics, as are local politics).

And yes, i have also began covering this thing since Sondhi L’s Lumpini Park rallies, have been at PAD rallies, Caravan of the Poor rallies, etc.
And i have always attended openly, written my articles under my real name, and no pseudonym.
No Walk to Canossa, no hiding, and no running away from discussions with any side.