“The opening salvo was fired with reports claiming that trucks were delivering aid packages declaring ‘with love and care from Thaksin Shinawatra’, which caused an uproar in Bangkok due to the perception that Thaksin was attempting to hijack relief efforts to benefit his own public relations.”
No, the issue was not Thaksin hijacking the relief efforts to benefit his own PR, it was the fact that the supplies labeled as such had not been donated by Thaksin and were actually Government funded supplies.
As Bill says in post #3, people should be allowed to label their donations and the statement ” abhorrent waste of human and financial resources” is a strawman to divert attention from the issue of people labeling supplies in Thaksin’s name when he by his own admission had nothing to do with it.
For those with the time / patience you can analyse his friends list at http://www.facebook.com/maris.sangiampongsa
Includes for example Suranand Vejjajiva ex-TRT/PPP executive
Bangkok used to flood fairly regularly even in the central area. At that time governors used to get more pumps and make sure dredging took place etc.
Then along came the Bangkok flood defences that for several years have worsened things in Ayuthaya etc but spared Bangkok. With that came complacency and the dredging of canals and constantly servicing existing pumps and purchasing new ones seems to have become a mere secondary issue, also lost though lack of practice is the expertise of all those used to channeling and pumping to lessen problems in inner Bangkok. Then along came the big one and the Bangkok defences guaranteed the flooding of industrial estates and couldnt even spare Bangkok itself although a good effort has seemingly been made by the guvnor to divert water away from democrat voting inner areas into heavily populated but often PTP voting suburbs.
The big problem is that Bnagkok which is at the mouth of the Chao Praya does not it seem come under national control for water management. That needs to be changed so a nationally mandated government can make decisions based on national interest rather than through negotiation with someone whose only concern is local.
It may also be that not having any flood defences would better than what currently exists. At least that way there would be a kind of water based democracy based on where things naturally go. The alternative may be to have a flood tax for businesses and home owners protected by flood defences with that money going to funds to alleviate things and provide annual compensation in areas destined to be ravaged because of the flood defences. Certainly the current status quo cant hold. It has been a joke of competing agencies.
The mire of poltical attack dogs in the media trying to use it as a chance to change government has also been appalling and I may add noticed even by those not normally sympathetic to government in my experience. On the one had calling for national unity while on the other launching swathing unbalanced attacks on government while ignoring mistakes and excesses of the BMA and oppoisition while at the same time making shortages fete accompli by speculating on what will be short next and positively encouraging anger in citizens (Sorayuth is a classic at this) and managing at the same time to ignore a nasty mysogynistic and xenophbic attack on the PM while worrying more about her tears.
And of course revelling in the excesses of lunatic MP Karun who is at least out among the people getting smacked in the mouth while Dem MPs sit in their dry ivory towers of Paragorn making calls for an SOE so machine gun emplacements can be set up on the big bag defences and the people wading through fetid turd filled stagnant waters can be mown down for having the audacity to touch a sandbag and possibly causing the patent leather shoes of their betters to get a dirty mark. And of course as angry people try to remove a few bags, and certainly nowhere near as many as the expert Seri says will be need to make any difference to central BKK, we see the whirling heavy headed master of Bangkok that is the Sukhumband threatening all kinds of jail sentences for doing so.
“Thaksin appointed Maris Sa-ngiemphong, a high-ranking foreign ministry officer as one of his personal assistants.”
..And when Thaksin was removed from power, Maris went on to become Deputy Chief of Mission in Germany. His rise to the top position, to many in the foreign ministry, was a result of his intimate link to Thaksin.
So shall we expect the new team at the Thai Embassy in Canberra a little “red” now?
Why hasn’t Yingluck fired her Thai Agriculture Minister Theera for the monstrous bungle of the bursting dams?
Perhaps the Thai Agriculture Minister Theera (whose water management credentials are impeccable) had appropriately warned PM Yingluck of the dangers of the bursting dams, and Yingluck had not acted accordingly on the warnings???
I have to say that, as a person who donated clothing, a small amount of cash, and one of my Saturday mornings to packing relief goods into bags at the Chula University Center, I don’t feel unduly slighted that the foundation and the center are labeling the bags.
Perhaps the labeling is unnecessary, and maybe even a bit inefficient, but “abhorrent waste of human and financial resources” seems unduly melodramatic for sticking a small printed label on a bag.
At a dinner party I overheard a well-spokenThai lady refer constantly to the “clown prince” in conversation with her friends. I didn’t think much of it, passing it off as acharming oddity of the Thai accent in which substituting ‘l’ for ‘r’ is quite common. Later I got talking to her, and out popped “clown prince” again. When I raised it with her, she was adament: “No no, I mean it…he’s a f*%$#g moron!”
No bogus claims of ‘indigenous’ ethnicity, no territorial claims, no aggression/proselytizing on the native Rakhine….no discrimination, no persecution, period.
One of the issues with local-level initiatives on a major flood like this is that communities “upstream” seldom know the impact of their decisions “downstream.” This is simply because this is, at least in and around Bangkok, a 50 year event. We have seen communities in Rama II area fighting each other because as one keeps itself dry, another is flooded. Proper long-term planning must involve all stakeholders, but this is an emergency.
That said, saving inner Bangkok has clearly meant flooding elsewhere. This has been the case since Bangkok tried to protect itself with dykes and the millions upstream can rightly feel mistreated by the dry elite.
I am not sure if my comments here made people think I am anti royal or not. Anyways, I would like to make myself clear that I support Thailand to continue having the Monarchy. However, it is a conditional support, and my condition is that Princess Srirasmi be the next Queen.
In principle, the common good (preventing huge damage to densely populated and industrial areas at the expense of sparsely populated ones) should trump individual good… However, the communities which are flooder longer to save others should get proper compensation for their suffering.
If the authorities were clear about priorities, thorough in planning, competent and unified in their flood-management effort, they’d have more leverage against local protesters.
The way things look on the ground, a dozen agencies are doing their own thing, with high officials contradicting each other daily (all the way up to Sukhumbhand and Yingluck, not to mention lesser ones). They do not clearly know and communicate priorities — is it to keep inner Bangkok and specific industrial estates from flooding at the cost of longer & deeper in some other places?
You maybe refering to the recent promise by Mynmar Government to Bangladesh government to take back Rohingya refugees registered in UNHCR ofice in Bangladesh .
I was asking the current status of Rohingyas who are living in Arakan state – Myanmar .
According to UNHCR office in Myanmar there are around 800 000 Rohingyas living in Arakan state – Myanmar.
Recently Myanmar Parliament failed to recognized the status of those Rphingyas who are severly discrimated and sometime exploited by Burmese Millitary using them as forced labour , when they are already living in apainful poverty .
“Reading between the lines, I interpreted Agriculture Minister’s confession to the effect that: Oooops I should have paid more attention to those reports coming to my desks. But I think I sent copies of these damn . . . no I mean dam reports to the higher ups, straight to Yingluck, I think. But hey . . . what’s a good excuse to explain to the reporters???”
[my bold emphasis]
Right minister, wrong PM – see my post above yours for who was PM when. Given Theera’s pedigree/CV*, it’s astonishing that he got things so badly wrong – as Agriculture Minister under both Abhisit and Yingluck. Bangkok Pundit’s posts (using official data) make it clear enough when the (his?) key mistakes occurred and when they started to be corrected by increasing the much-belated discharge of excess water.
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The princess and the FROC
“The opening salvo was fired with reports claiming that trucks were delivering aid packages declaring ‘with love and care from Thaksin Shinawatra’, which caused an uproar in Bangkok due to the perception that Thaksin was attempting to hijack relief efforts to benefit his own public relations.”
No, the issue was not Thaksin hijacking the relief efforts to benefit his own PR, it was the fact that the supplies labeled as such had not been donated by Thaksin and were actually Government funded supplies.
As Bill says in post #3, people should be allowed to label their donations and the statement ” abhorrent waste of human and financial resources” is a strawman to divert attention from the issue of people labeling supplies in Thaksin’s name when he by his own admission had nothing to do with it.
Diplomatic movements in Canberra
In the embassies of many countries, where this division is usually called ‘Politics & Trade’, the Director is responsible for espionage.
Diplomatic movements in Canberra
For those with the time / patience you can analyse his friends list at http://www.facebook.com/maris.sangiampongsa
Includes for example Suranand Vejjajiva ex-TRT/PPP executive
Apparantly he’s also a fan of Spiderman.
Negotiating the flood
Bangkok used to flood fairly regularly even in the central area. At that time governors used to get more pumps and make sure dredging took place etc.
Then along came the Bangkok flood defences that for several years have worsened things in Ayuthaya etc but spared Bangkok. With that came complacency and the dredging of canals and constantly servicing existing pumps and purchasing new ones seems to have become a mere secondary issue, also lost though lack of practice is the expertise of all those used to channeling and pumping to lessen problems in inner Bangkok. Then along came the big one and the Bangkok defences guaranteed the flooding of industrial estates and couldnt even spare Bangkok itself although a good effort has seemingly been made by the guvnor to divert water away from democrat voting inner areas into heavily populated but often PTP voting suburbs.
The big problem is that Bnagkok which is at the mouth of the Chao Praya does not it seem come under national control for water management. That needs to be changed so a nationally mandated government can make decisions based on national interest rather than through negotiation with someone whose only concern is local.
It may also be that not having any flood defences would better than what currently exists. At least that way there would be a kind of water based democracy based on where things naturally go. The alternative may be to have a flood tax for businesses and home owners protected by flood defences with that money going to funds to alleviate things and provide annual compensation in areas destined to be ravaged because of the flood defences. Certainly the current status quo cant hold. It has been a joke of competing agencies.
The mire of poltical attack dogs in the media trying to use it as a chance to change government has also been appalling and I may add noticed even by those not normally sympathetic to government in my experience. On the one had calling for national unity while on the other launching swathing unbalanced attacks on government while ignoring mistakes and excesses of the BMA and oppoisition while at the same time making shortages fete accompli by speculating on what will be short next and positively encouraging anger in citizens (Sorayuth is a classic at this) and managing at the same time to ignore a nasty mysogynistic and xenophbic attack on the PM while worrying more about her tears.
And of course revelling in the excesses of lunatic MP Karun who is at least out among the people getting smacked in the mouth while Dem MPs sit in their dry ivory towers of Paragorn making calls for an SOE so machine gun emplacements can be set up on the big bag defences and the people wading through fetid turd filled stagnant waters can be mown down for having the audacity to touch a sandbag and possibly causing the patent leather shoes of their betters to get a dirty mark. And of course as angry people try to remove a few bags, and certainly nowhere near as many as the expert Seri says will be need to make any difference to central BKK, we see the whirling heavy headed master of Bangkok that is the Sukhumband threatening all kinds of jail sentences for doing so.
Diplomatic movements in Canberra
Excerpt from my book: Reinventing Thailand (p.8):
“Thaksin appointed Maris Sa-ngiemphong, a high-ranking foreign ministry officer as one of his personal assistants.”
..And when Thaksin was removed from power, Maris went on to become Deputy Chief of Mission in Germany. His rise to the top position, to many in the foreign ministry, was a result of his intimate link to Thaksin.
So shall we expect the new team at the Thai Embassy in Canberra a little “red” now?
Pavin
Managing people harder than managing water
Why hasn’t Yingluck fired her Thai Agriculture Minister Theera for the monstrous bungle of the bursting dams?
Perhaps the Thai Agriculture Minister Theera (whose water management credentials are impeccable) had appropriately warned PM Yingluck of the dangers of the bursting dams, and Yingluck had not acted accordingly on the warnings???
The princess and the FROC
I have to say that, as a person who donated clothing, a small amount of cash, and one of my Saturday mornings to packing relief goods into bags at the Chula University Center, I don’t feel unduly slighted that the foundation and the center are labeling the bags.
Perhaps the labeling is unnecessary, and maybe even a bit inefficient, but “abhorrent waste of human and financial resources” seems unduly melodramatic for sticking a small printed label on a bag.
The princess and the FROC
I have always wondered whether it is only in amazing Thailand that v.i.p.’s smile widely while they distribute donations to the victims.
Why are these v.i.p.’s (politicians and poseurs) smiling?
The princess and the FROC
“The Monarchy Strike Back”, almost made me felt like I’m watching Star Wars episode 5, I hope to see the conclusion in episode 6 soon.
Happy Birthday Thongdaeng
At a dinner party I overheard a well-spokenThai lady refer constantly to the “clown prince” in conversation with her friends. I didn’t think much of it, passing it off as acharming oddity of the Thai accent in which substituting ‘l’ for ‘r’ is quite common. Later I got talking to her, and out popped “clown prince” again. When I raised it with her, she was adament: “No no, I mean it…he’s a f*%$#g moron!”
BBC under fire on Rohingyas
Martin Niemöller,
Great quotation, shame it’s simply out of place.
No bogus claims of ‘indigenous’ ethnicity, no territorial claims, no aggression/proselytizing on the native Rakhine….no discrimination, no persecution, period.
As you sow so shall you reap.
BBC under fire on Rohingyas
Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.
George Owell
Happy Birthday Thongdaeng
Although Thongdaeng literally translates as “Gold” “Red,” I’m told it more accurately is used to describe the color “Copper.”
Long live the King and Happy Birthday to his lucky dog Thongdaeng.
Negotiating the flood
One of the issues with local-level initiatives on a major flood like this is that communities “upstream” seldom know the impact of their decisions “downstream.” This is simply because this is, at least in and around Bangkok, a 50 year event. We have seen communities in Rama II area fighting each other because as one keeps itself dry, another is flooded. Proper long-term planning must involve all stakeholders, but this is an emergency.
That said, saving inner Bangkok has clearly meant flooding elsewhere. This has been the case since Bangkok tried to protect itself with dykes and the millions upstream can rightly feel mistreated by the dry elite.
Happy Birthday Thongdaeng
I am not sure if my comments here made people think I am anti royal or not. Anyways, I would like to make myself clear that I support Thailand to continue having the Monarchy. However, it is a conditional support, and my condition is that Princess Srirasmi be the next Queen.
BBC under fire on Rohingyas
First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Negotiating the flood
In principle, the common good (preventing huge damage to densely populated and industrial areas at the expense of sparsely populated ones) should trump individual good… However, the communities which are flooder longer to save others should get proper compensation for their suffering.
If the authorities were clear about priorities, thorough in planning, competent and unified in their flood-management effort, they’d have more leverage against local protesters.
The way things look on the ground, a dozen agencies are doing their own thing, with high officials contradicting each other daily (all the way up to Sukhumbhand and Yingluck, not to mention lesser ones). They do not clearly know and communicate priorities — is it to keep inner Bangkok and specific industrial estates from flooding at the cost of longer & deeper in some other places?
The Western aid sector in Laos – days numbered?
Could you elaborate on what you mean by being caught blindsided on my remark, Paul?
BBC under fire on Rohingyas
Zaw
You maybe refering to the recent promise by Mynmar Government to Bangladesh government to take back Rohingya refugees registered in UNHCR ofice in Bangladesh .
I was asking the current status of Rohingyas who are living in Arakan state – Myanmar .
According to UNHCR office in Myanmar there are around 800 000 Rohingyas living in Arakan state – Myanmar.
Recently Myanmar Parliament failed to recognized the status of those Rphingyas who are severly discrimated and sometime exploited by Burmese Millitary using them as forced labour , when they are already living in apainful poverty .
Managing people harder than managing water
Vichai N (c27)
“Reading between the lines, I interpreted Agriculture Minister’s confession to the effect that: Oooops I should have paid more attention to those reports coming to my desks. But I think I sent copies of these damn . . . no I mean dam reports to the higher ups, straight to Yingluck, I think. But hey . . . what’s a good excuse to explain to the reporters???”
[my bold emphasis]
Right minister, wrong PM – see my post above yours for who was PM when. Given Theera’s pedigree/CV*, it’s astonishing that he got things so badly wrong – as Agriculture Minister under both Abhisit and Yingluck. Bangkok Pundit’s posts (using official data) make it clear enough when the (his?) key mistakes occurred and when they started to be corrected by increasing the much-belated discharge of excess water.
* http://eng.moac.go.th/main.php?filename=teera
(Note the extensive period spent actually within the Royal Irrigation Department itself as well as the water-related awards etc.)