There are several indications of surprise that Laos appears to have no censorship, particularly in foreign languages. There might be more if anybody wrote or translated into Lao — so far the only significant translation is Grant Evans excellent ‘Short History’…which did not endear Grant to the Ministry of Culture, although neither the English nor the Lao version are banned — I have both in my bookshop and no problem for the seller or buyer (not 100% sure about the author). Compared to its neighbours, Laos might well be the only ASEAN country not to have officially banned any book. Of course, to ban it one or more officials would have to read it. We should make no assumptions about comparative liberalism in Laos until Lao really begin to read. As for symbols of the old regime — has nobody noticed that Laos is the only People’s Republic to name its roads after kings, and to welcome visitors with statues of kings not revolutionaries.
And the three-headed elephant in the middle of the main road in from the airport. Maybe nobody could be bothered to knock it down, maybe nobody takes such decorations seriously except a few western or westernised academics.
thank you very much for puuting the documents on the net. I was searching for the texts for a long time already – and got just the copies of some Burmese versions of some of the letters (including Aung Gyi’s 1977 paper on the destruction of the Students’ Union Building). It would be worthwhile to publish a critical edition of the letters (including information about how they were distributed inside Burma in 1988) because they tell a lot about the “inner history” of the Tatmadaw and the personal relations between some main actors.
Vietnam was never a socialist state in a Marxist sense. It was a form of State Capitalism where the Communist Party tried to run a centrally organised economy as a state capitalist ruling class. It was capitalism because workers and peasants were ruled over by an authoritarian state which had its own interests. Their labour was also exploited. The appropriated surplus value was invested according to undemocratic decisions made by the party, not by workers and peasants collectively deciding what people needed. Workers were not allowed to join free trade unions and strikes were considered illegal. The Communist Party bureaucrats then switched to market capitalism. Many changed into suits and became private capitalists. Today the Party claims that it is “Socialism with free market capitalism”! …. an idiotic statement if taken at face value. The use of socialism by the Vietnamese ruling class is a fig leaf to justify authoritarian rule. Yet socialism is as relevant as ever in the world and S.E. Asia. Look at the market failure which led to the 2008 world economic crisis. We need to abolish the market. Look at the inequality that is rising (measured by the Gini coefficient). Look at the authoritarianism that still exists in many forms throughout the region. We need democratisation and real participation by workers’ and peasants’ councils in the form of the early Soviets. Look at the way that the wealth produced by millions is not used to satisfy real need and to protect our planet… Socialism is very much a possibility if we organise and it is extremely necessary.
Some twisted facts here. The Governor took matters into his own hands *after* the false evacuation warning by Plodprasob when it became obvious that FROC was dysfunctional and making a mess of the situation.
What I am personally disappointed in is that the government left it until last night to (almost) come clean about the real state of affairs. Had they told the truth people would have had more time to prepare or to leave.
To be sure, the floods really began during the Abhisit administration…
Unless more explanations were given, sooner or later someone gonna troll this.
I have seen graph of rainfall, dam water discharge, and even water level between two governments, but I have yet to see them all combined and make a good sense to pin point the start of the crisis, turning point, and point of no return.
[…] most obvious source of the problem is simply an inordinate amount of rain. Rainfall has been heavier than normal throughout the watershed of the Chao Phraya and its […]
Aim Simpeng: I find your writing very informative and do join with Robin Grant in anticipation of more on what you meant in your reference to Chalerm. While I found his low profile intriguing it was only that, an uncharacteristic low profile.
Equally, there is this by Ms. Amornthip Paksuchon, a researcher from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Ms. Paksuchon sets out very clearly the key responsibilities of the said department.
Ms. Paksuchon’s presentation is seeking department support for a trip to Japan to study disaster planning with the Japanese authorities and other experts (slide 45). The date of the presentation is this year, 2011, so the data she uses is taken from flooding in the south in 2010, as well as general information looking at flood risk, seasonal weather patterns etc.
She makes it clear (slide 43) that there is an urgent need to reform the current disaster managment plan.
Here is she is thanking people on her selection to study abroad with Jica and Asia Disaster ReductionCentre (ADRC ) Here at: http://www.adrc.asia/
Please take a close look at slide 35, which sets out the department budget for the last 8 years. If her figures are correct, it is huge; over 2 billion Baht for each of the last 3 years!
So, there’s a plan and a substantial budget.
I have no idea what to add to these snippets of information, except this.
I would like to know what has the department been doing for the last 4 years since the inception of the act, and how has it been spending its enormous budget?
Aim Sinpeng: Could you please elaborate on your statement that “Chalerm is not only doing nothing, he would at times be sabotaging the flood efforts”? I am not saying that the statement is untrue, but it is a serious accusation and really needs to be supported by hard evidence.
Since this crisis began, the media and cyberspace have been full of abuse and criticism of Yingluck and her Government, some of it of course justified, but much is unfounded or fabricated, the result of malice, spite and political point scoring. For example, the red shirt leader and PTP MP Nattatwut Saikua has regularly been accused of being absent from public view during the floods, but he has in fact been assisting Yingluck every day throughout this period.
Thanks Nick for opening up this subject and I do hope declared socialists like Ji Ungpakorn give considered responses.
China, whose economic influence grows every day in SEA, could have been added to your list of ex-socialist states and China’s conversion to capitalism preceded Vietnam’s and possibly forced the change in Vietnam.
Chinese exiled economist Minqi Li in his book “The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World-Economy” argues that capitalism, because of its inbuilt need for continual growth has not many years to go before it gives way to another system or perhaps chaos, destruction and war.
He argues that in many respects socialism in its various manifestations was largely successful. Even today one can point to Cuba’s successful health and education systems, which even folk in the USA are in envy, and there are many good stories from Eastern Europe.
For environmental reasons the world needs a “Degrowth” path to the future. A path away from absurd consumerism and the end of most world trade which will certainly need socialist planning to avoid terrible misery as for example hit Russia when socialism was abandoned in the 1990’s.
One side effect of a Degrowth path would be to return the once lovely cities of Vietnam into places of peace and beauty as they were before the motorbike,and now the fat limosines, took over from the bicycle.
Everyone is wondering when the 13th General Election (13GE) will be.
Predicting this is more difficult then finding a needle in a haystack. Signs of a snap election came as early as March 2010
The latest rumour is that Prime Minister Razak will dissolve Parliament on the 11-11-2011, five days after returning from performing the Haj in Mekah. 1-12-2011 will be nomination day with 10-12-2011 being election day.
This fits the more general strategy that the elections is best for Najib Razak if called for between 4th quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.
The celebratory mood and negative intentions of Thailand’s royalists, generals and rightwing is disgusting in the face of such a large scale tragedy for the ordinary people of Thailand. Hopefully, their Karma will come back to haunt them and they will live their next lives as cockroaches, rodents and soi dogs.
@J Alias There are many info disappearing in this article. Aggressive act of Sukhumbhan happened after the confusing evacuation warning by Plodprasob, so he announced that statement to control the messy situation after the mistake of FROC. Consequently, it became the water war like they said.
Inside FROC, there are also many problem in the organization between the red shirts and the others in FROC. A politician of Pheu Thai party who isn’t a red shirt and some non-government organizations coordinating with FROC already publicly complaint about the problem.
Someone is out to get the lovely pm who deserves special treatment because…..just because.
It is all a yellow amart conspiracy.
The army is playing games and trying to take over.
I’m in charge, but it is not my job…..can I get paid early this month because of the flood?
Ok now that we have the conclusions we agree on, let’s make up some facts.
By the way a couple of million people are in desperate need of help anso far all we see is a farce trying to pass itself off as a sincere and competent leadership function.
Nothing personal and nothing political, but excuse me we are in fact drowning
No pity, no excuses, and leadership so weak not worth analyzing. We r underwater, whoever is in charge is to blame if progress is not clearly being made.
Can’t stand the heat? Get out of the kitchen and let some else cook…..or perhaps nose up to the trough.
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Floods, hacks and the Nitirat effect
Suggest a look at this as a response to Patsan: http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/cpj-observes-censorship-on-floods/
Starting points: Laos in 1975
There are several indications of surprise that Laos appears to have no censorship, particularly in foreign languages. There might be more if anybody wrote or translated into Lao — so far the only significant translation is Grant Evans excellent ‘Short History’…which did not endear Grant to the Ministry of Culture, although neither the English nor the Lao version are banned — I have both in my bookshop and no problem for the seller or buyer (not 100% sure about the author). Compared to its neighbours, Laos might well be the only ASEAN country not to have officially banned any book. Of course, to ban it one or more officials would have to read it. We should make no assumptions about comparative liberalism in Laos until Lao really begin to read. As for symbols of the old regime — has nobody noticed that Laos is the only People’s Republic to name its roads after kings, and to welcome visitors with statues of kings not revolutionaries.
And the three-headed elephant in the middle of the main road in from the airport. Maybe nobody could be bothered to knock it down, maybe nobody takes such decorations seriously except a few western or westernised academics.
Aung Gyi’s letters to Ne Win
Dear New Mandala Staff,
thank you very much for puuting the documents on the net. I was searching for the texts for a long time already – and got just the copies of some Burmese versions of some of the letters (including Aung Gyi’s 1977 paper on the destruction of the Students’ Union Building). It would be worthwhile to publish a critical edition of the letters (including information about how they were distributed inside Burma in 1988) because they tell a lot about the “inner history” of the Tatmadaw and the personal relations between some main actors.
Best
Hans-Bernd Zöllner
Starting points: Vietnam in 1986
Vietnam was never a socialist state in a Marxist sense. It was a form of State Capitalism where the Communist Party tried to run a centrally organised economy as a state capitalist ruling class. It was capitalism because workers and peasants were ruled over by an authoritarian state which had its own interests. Their labour was also exploited. The appropriated surplus value was invested according to undemocratic decisions made by the party, not by workers and peasants collectively deciding what people needed. Workers were not allowed to join free trade unions and strikes were considered illegal. The Communist Party bureaucrats then switched to market capitalism. Many changed into suits and became private capitalists. Today the Party claims that it is “Socialism with free market capitalism”! …. an idiotic statement if taken at face value. The use of socialism by the Vietnamese ruling class is a fig leaf to justify authoritarian rule. Yet socialism is as relevant as ever in the world and S.E. Asia. Look at the market failure which led to the 2008 world economic crisis. We need to abolish the market. Look at the inequality that is rising (measured by the Gini coefficient). Look at the authoritarianism that still exists in many forms throughout the region. We need democratisation and real participation by workers’ and peasants’ councils in the form of the early Soviets. Look at the way that the wealth produced by millions is not used to satisfy real need and to protect our planet… Socialism is very much a possibility if we organise and it is extremely necessary.
Managing people harder than managing water
Some twisted facts here. The Governor took matters into his own hands *after* the false evacuation warning by Plodprasob when it became obvious that FROC was dysfunctional and making a mess of the situation.
What I am personally disappointed in is that the government left it until last night to (almost) come clean about the real state of affairs. Had they told the truth people would have had more time to prepare or to leave.
Nation, Religion, King – Episode 3
Thai language subtitles for episode 3, “King”, are now available. Just click on the “CC” button if you are having trouble displaying them.
For those who are interested, Prachatai also has a short report drawing attention to the final episode.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Managing people harder than managing water
To be sure, the floods really began during the Abhisit administration…
Unless more explanations were given, sooner or later someone gonna troll this.
I have seen graph of rainfall, dam water discharge, and even water level between two governments, but I have yet to see them all combined and make a good sense to pin point the start of the crisis, turning point, and point of no return.
Thai flood cause revealed: rain!
[…] most obvious source of the problem is simply an inordinate amount of rain. Rainfall has been heavier than normal throughout the watershed of the Chao Phraya and its […]
Managing people harder than managing water
Aim Simpeng: I find your writing very informative and do join with Robin Grant in anticipation of more on what you meant in your reference to Chalerm. While I found his low profile intriguing it was only that, an uncharacteristic low profile.
Managing people harder than managing water
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act, B.E 2550 (2007) (in English) can be found here:
http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0397.pdf.
Equally, there is this by Ms. Amornthip Paksuchon, a researcher from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Ms. Paksuchon sets out very clearly the key responsibilities of the said department.
http://www.adrc.asia/aboutus/vrdata/countryreport/nam2011_cr.pdf
Ms. Paksuchon’s presentation is seeking department support for a trip to Japan to study disaster planning with the Japanese authorities and other experts (slide 45). The date of the presentation is this year, 2011, so the data she uses is taken from flooding in the south in 2010, as well as general information looking at flood risk, seasonal weather patterns etc.
She makes it clear (slide 43) that there is an urgent need to reform the current disaster managment plan.
Here is she is thanking people on her selection to study abroad with Jica and Asia Disaster ReductionCentre (ADRC ) Here at: http://www.adrc.asia/
Her profile: http://www.adrc.asia/aboutus/vrdata/intro/nam2011_prof_e.pdf
Please take a close look at slide 35, which sets out the department budget for the last 8 years. If her figures are correct, it is huge; over 2 billion Baht for each of the last 3 years!
So, there’s a plan and a substantial budget.
I have no idea what to add to these snippets of information, except this.
I would like to know what has the department been doing for the last 4 years since the inception of the act, and how has it been spending its enormous budget?
Managing people harder than managing water
Aim Sinpeng: Could you please elaborate on your statement that “Chalerm is not only doing nothing, he would at times be sabotaging the flood efforts”? I am not saying that the statement is untrue, but it is a serious accusation and really needs to be supported by hard evidence.
Since this crisis began, the media and cyberspace have been full of abuse and criticism of Yingluck and her Government, some of it of course justified, but much is unfounded or fabricated, the result of malice, spite and political point scoring. For example, the red shirt leader and PTP MP Nattatwut Saikua has regularly been accused of being absent from public view during the floods, but he has in fact been assisting Yingluck every day throughout this period.
Starting points: Vietnam in 1986
Thanks Nick for opening up this subject and I do hope declared socialists like Ji Ungpakorn give considered responses.
China, whose economic influence grows every day in SEA, could have been added to your list of ex-socialist states and China’s conversion to capitalism preceded Vietnam’s and possibly forced the change in Vietnam.
Chinese exiled economist Minqi Li in his book “The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World-Economy” argues that capitalism, because of its inbuilt need for continual growth has not many years to go before it gives way to another system or perhaps chaos, destruction and war.
He argues that in many respects socialism in its various manifestations was largely successful. Even today one can point to Cuba’s successful health and education systems, which even folk in the USA are in envy, and there are many good stories from Eastern Europe.
For environmental reasons the world needs a “Degrowth” path to the future. A path away from absurd consumerism and the end of most world trade which will certainly need socialist planning to avoid terrible misery as for example hit Russia when socialism was abandoned in the 1990’s.
One side effect of a Degrowth path would be to return the once lovely cities of Vietnam into places of peace and beauty as they were before the motorbike,and now the fat limosines, took over from the bicycle.
Starting points: Vietnam in 1986
[…] October 26th, 2011 by Nicholas Farrelly ┬╖ Add a Comment […]
Starting points: Laos in 1975
True, I was quite surprise to find Grant Evans “The last Century of Lao Royalty” at the little book shop in Wattay Airport.
The 13th General Election in Malaysia
Everyone is wondering when the 13th General Election (13GE) will be.
Predicting this is more difficult then finding a needle in a haystack. Signs of a snap election came as early as March 2010
The latest rumour is that Prime Minister Razak will dissolve Parliament on the 11-11-2011, five days after returning from performing the Haj in Mekah. 1-12-2011 will be nomination day with 10-12-2011 being election day.
This fits the more general strategy that the elections is best for Najib Razak if called for between 4th quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.
Managing people harder than managing water
The celebratory mood and negative intentions of Thailand’s royalists, generals and rightwing is disgusting in the face of such a large scale tragedy for the ordinary people of Thailand. Hopefully, their Karma will come back to haunt them and they will live their next lives as cockroaches, rodents and soi dogs.
Managing people harder than managing water
@J Alias There are many info disappearing in this article. Aggressive act of Sukhumbhan happened after the confusing evacuation warning by Plodprasob, so he announced that statement to control the messy situation after the mistake of FROC. Consequently, it became the water war like they said.
Inside FROC, there are also many problem in the organization between the red shirts and the others in FROC. A politician of Pheu Thai party who isn’t a red shirt and some non-government organizations coordinating with FROC already publicly complaint about the problem.
More on Thailand’s rainfall
http://www.bangkokpost.com/feature/charities/203275/information-for-flood-donation
тЩж Prime Minister’s Office
Bank: Krung Thai Bank, Government House sub-branch
Account Name: PM’s Office’s Relief Fund for Flood Victims
Account Number: 067-0-06895-0
…….
тЩж The Thai Red Cross Society
Bank: Siam Commercial Bank, Thai Red Cross Society branch
Account Number: 045-3-04190-6
Fax deposite slip to: 02-250-0120
……..
тЩж Rajaprajanugroh Foundation
Bank: Siam Commercial Bank, Palace’s Office sub-branch (Sanam Sua Pa)
Account Name: Rajaprachanugrah Foundation
Account Number: 401-636319-9
Bank: TMB Bank
Account Name: Rajaprachanugroh Foundation, Sanam Sua Pa branch
Account Number: 046-2-44777-2
Fax deposit slip to: 02-281-1423
…….
тЩж Public Health Ministry
Bank: Siam Commercial Bank
Account Name: Public Health Ministry for Flood Victims
Account Number: 340-2-11600-7
For more information, call 02-590-7104-5, 02-590-7196
More on Thailand’s rainfall
Someone is out to get the lovely pm who deserves special treatment because…..just because.
It is all a yellow amart conspiracy.
The army is playing games and trying to take over.
I’m in charge, but it is not my job…..can I get paid early this month because of the flood?
Ok now that we have the conclusions we agree on, let’s make up some facts.
By the way a couple of million people are in desperate need of help anso far all we see is a farce trying to pass itself off as a sincere and competent leadership function.
Nothing personal and nothing political, but excuse me we are in fact drowning
Managing people harder than managing water
No pity, no excuses, and leadership so weak not worth analyzing. We r underwater, whoever is in charge is to blame if progress is not clearly being made.
Can’t stand the heat? Get out of the kitchen and let some else cook…..or perhaps nose up to the trough.