Politics is quite often alienated from economic reality and “redistributive politics” is just that, politics; a politics driven by class envy and ignorance of how wealth is created.
The most sinister aspect is the meeting between Prem and the Chairman of the Election Commission on May 22 reported above. Are redcards already being printed?
It should be pointed out that Apichart Sukhagganond, the chairman, has denied such a meeting took place and is threatening to sue a Pui Thai candidate who claimed that it did.
@charlesincharge Whether or not that is “more important” is highly subjective. For many of us, ancient and modern, Southeast Asian and not, establishing the most convincing interpretation of the texts though rigorous scholarship is quite important and something we have a vested interest in. In many regards the highest compliment one can pay to the tradition is to take it seriously by engaging it critically beyond disinterested reportage. Further, Mazard takes issue with the interpretations of his peers as much as with anyone else, so playing the Orientalism card I think is not justified at all.
If you read carefully, my post doesn’t talk about Yingluck at all but about how she has been presented — how professional communicators are managing her image.
I used to work in advertising. Thaksin was among the clients (20 years ago). The people he took to set up his in-house agency came from the company.
A lot of (wo)man-hours went into this poster. My guess is that the team started by doing some research or brainstorming about what they needed to communicate. They probably found that Yingluck is known as a name but little else. So their first objective was to make her real. Hence the 3D effect, the depth, the above-average space allotted to the visual, and the downplaying of other elements which would distract. (And getting the poster up so quickly, before the sidewalk got cluttered.)
Next my guess is that they decided she needed some gravitas, some seriousness to qualify as an acceptable candidate. So they made her look older and less attractive than she appears in casual press shots. Hence also the lawyer’s get-up, the absence of jewelry, the grey background, the static pose, the overall cool look of the poster (even more striking now in comparison to rival posters).
Next I guess they decided to signal her gender since that is her key point of difference. But this is tricky. Being female is a disadvantage, almost a disability, in Thai political life, especially in Bangkok. Remember how Samak stood for mayor against three women candidates who were cleverer, prettier, and more appealing than him, and got more votes than all three combined. But like a whole string of other female Asian leaders (Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Srimavo Bandaranaike, Megawati, Sheikh Hasina), Yingluck gets her political credentials and her male association from her spouse/kin. So they could take a risk.
The tool to stress her femininity is obvious. Hair is even more important as a signal of femininity in Thai culture than in western. And Yingluck has a fine head. But recognize they still had a lot of choices. They could hide most of it round the back with just a few curls showing. They could pile it up. They could spray it solid. But there is a rule in advertising about not going half-hog. So they went for it, the full lioness. My guess is that this was the most controversial and hotly debated point within the team making this poster.
Then the Shinwatra issue. I guess the team understood that the one thing that everyone knows about Yingluck is that she’s his sister. So they didn’t need to waste any space communicating that. I think on balance she looks less like him in this shot than in most others. My point is that the team just did not need to care about this.
Would I write the same about a male? Yes, have done. I wrote about Thaksin’s famous “pointing to the future” shot back in the mid 1990s. I have a whole presentation on the transformation of Thaksin’s visual image over 2001 to 2004. I wrote about all the posters in the 2000 senate election, the first election where many candidates took visual image seriously. The fact that most of these pieces are about the Shinawatra clan is because he understands this stuff. The Democrats don’t. Look at their first campaign round, which went up before the Yingluck shot. You can hear the reasoning: “People think Abhisit is remote from ordinary people so we’ll counter that by showing him mugging with real ordinary folk, peasants, workers, hillfolk, housewives.” Complete waste of money. You can’t attack simple convictions head-on.
Yes, policies are important. No, this image is not going to decide the election. But this kind of visual communication is very important in public politics, and gets rather little analysis here.
This original post has been translated into Thai at least twice. The second (on oknation blog) is a spectacularly bad translation. It misses or distorts almost every point; omits the line on “sexed-down”; makes it look as if the post is slavering over Yingluck; and compares me to Niwat Kongpian, a renowned soft-porn enthusiast. Hilarious. But I think this reaction is another indication of how striking, disturbing, and important this poster is.
I can’t agree less. Human rights must be respected by everyone. Lessons in Thailand show that we are far from having a single political party that believe in human rights.
I quite agree that after all this time any hypothesis about Christ, Moses, Muhammed, Gautama Buddha is a mix of hypothesis and unreliable sources.
Still we all like something to debate about.
Apart from those who believe that doubt and debate threaten the security of their personal space in infinity or their earthly regimes.
May we all continue to express our personal views in a spirit of peace and developing “the better angels of our nature” as a Pre-Darwininian Abraham Lincoln referred to it.
Now that the Thai government has arrested the American citizen for exercising his Free Speech rights inside the U.S. in regard to reading, translating, writing and discussing the role of the Thai monarchy, I wonder if the people participating in this conference in Melbourne will also be liable for following Thailand laws and subject to arrest the next time they visit Thailand, even though they are not Thai citizens and they are writing/discussing the role of the Thai monarchy in Australia.
These comments are very useful about one small part of this campaign.
Even more interesting would be the marketing research (how many and what kind of focus group discussion were asked, results discussed and how all these will be fed into the general campaign approach(es)) that is behind the “selling” or “marketing” of Yingluck as party leader and a GOVERNMENT leader.
This, after all, is the strength of the marketing experts that have been behind all of the campaigns that the Shinawatra money is paying for.
Even though at the moment I am writing for the USA, we live in Chiangmai and I would be very much interested in HOW the poster differs in Chiangmai from the Bangkok one and WHY it is different and would like to see the research results.
This article has nothing whatsoever to do with Southeast Asia. Why is it on the New Mandala website? Isn’t the more important question how texts related to theories of dependent origination were interpreted by Thai, Lao, Khmer, et al. Buddhists, rather than simply dismissing these, as the author does in his conclusion, as “misinterpretations”? An unfortunate return to the bad old days of paternalistic orientalist scholarship: the stupid Buddhists have their tradition all wrong, and can’t even recognize the “unambiguous” and “blatant” truths before their eyes!
Your comment: “It sounds like she will follow her brother on the violation of human rights (the use of force in combating against drugs).”
I agree with your comment, but I would add one thing: I hope she doesn’t follow the incumbent on the violation of human rights (the use of force in killing his own people in the streets).
Yingluk is unimpressive in all interviews I’ve seen. She is merely a puppet. For those hoping for redemption from the usual Thai political cocktail of corruption, greed and nepotism, I’m afraid Yingluk’s candidature is not it. She represents all of these things in extremis. So does the other side.
As usual, the Thai people will get the government they deserve, whoever wins the election. The political sideshow we are seeing now is not class warfare; it is an internecine struggle for power between factions of the same ruling elite. Revolution must come from the people; not those seeking to gain from it. Until Thais wake up and start doing it for themselves, I’m afraid they are condemned to the same rotten cycle of puppet politicians on all sides.
But she’s a fine looking lady though. The whole unedifying spectacle reminds me of Sarah Palin (gawp!)
This is her interview which is not quite impressive. Her points on political experiences and wars against drugs are appalling. It sounds like she will follow her brother on the violation of human rights (the use of force in combating against drugs).
I did not say you were a Buddhist Modernist, but you are espousing a Buddhist Modernist opinion when you say you “suspect” that the Buddha was actually a proto-Dawkins scientific materialist who did not believe in an afterlife. There are no legitimate grounds for believing that about him. He was a 4th century BC Indian man who believed all sorts of things you would not find palatable.
c7 “But a far greater problem is non registration and under declaration of tax.”
Some fairly startling statistics given by Korn last month in a Bangkok Post report:
He said only 18,000 people paid income tax at the highest rate – 37%. Each year about 9 million people file personal income tax returns with the Revenue Department, but only 2.5 million are required to pay tax after deductions are calculated. In fiscal 2010, the country generated 208 billion baht from personal income tax, the same as in the previous two years.
Most high-income Thai are likely to have got themselves nicely set up with a handy corporate structure that leaves very little (if anything) exposed to income tax.
Is there any kind of anti face slap campaign? I am sick of hearing about this kind of filthy behaviour. What can we do about it? It is pathetic and wrong. The 500 baht token fine and the hi so thug’s need to publically flaunt it. How dare she? It’s like an anti fine – pay it and it shows you are willing and able to act like an untrained dog in public.
“Has she presented anything in the way of Policy apart from the return of her convicted, corrupt brother?”
Yes she has – in numerous speeches and interviews which have been widely reported. There are also numerous policy proposals laid out on the PT website. Are you asking some kind of rather pointless rhetorical question – or do you genuinely not have access to those reports in Thai media and elsewhere? Difficult to imagine it’s the latter.
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Thailand can afford equitable social welfare
Lleij Samuel Schwartz – 11
Politics is quite often alienated from economic reality and “redistributive politics” is just that, politics; a politics driven by class envy and ignorance of how wealth is created.
Is that Ayn Rand or just one of her followers?
Yingluck on the streets
Stuart – 40
But she’s a fine looking lady though. The whole unedifying spectacle reminds me of Sarah Palin (gawp!)
I wonder if the truest words are sometimes spoken in jest?
Yingluck on the streets
Erewhon – 37
The most sinister aspect is the meeting between Prem and the Chairman of the Election Commission on May 22 reported above. Are redcards already being printed?
It should be pointed out that Apichart Sukhagganond, the chairman, has denied such a meeting took place and is threatening to sue a Pui Thai candidate who claimed that it did.
Unpopular facts about one of Buddhist philosophy’s most popular doctrines
@charlesincharge Whether or not that is “more important” is highly subjective. For many of us, ancient and modern, Southeast Asian and not, establishing the most convincing interpretation of the texts though rigorous scholarship is quite important and something we have a vested interest in. In many regards the highest compliment one can pay to the tradition is to take it seriously by engaging it critically beyond disinterested reportage. Further, Mazard takes issue with the interpretations of his peers as much as with anyone else, so playing the Orientalism card I think is not justified at all.
Yingluck on the streets
Native Thai #30 (and others)
If you read carefully, my post doesn’t talk about Yingluck at all but about how she has been presented — how professional communicators are managing her image.
I used to work in advertising. Thaksin was among the clients (20 years ago). The people he took to set up his in-house agency came from the company.
A lot of (wo)man-hours went into this poster. My guess is that the team started by doing some research or brainstorming about what they needed to communicate. They probably found that Yingluck is known as a name but little else. So their first objective was to make her real. Hence the 3D effect, the depth, the above-average space allotted to the visual, and the downplaying of other elements which would distract. (And getting the poster up so quickly, before the sidewalk got cluttered.)
Next my guess is that they decided she needed some gravitas, some seriousness to qualify as an acceptable candidate. So they made her look older and less attractive than she appears in casual press shots. Hence also the lawyer’s get-up, the absence of jewelry, the grey background, the static pose, the overall cool look of the poster (even more striking now in comparison to rival posters).
Next I guess they decided to signal her gender since that is her key point of difference. But this is tricky. Being female is a disadvantage, almost a disability, in Thai political life, especially in Bangkok. Remember how Samak stood for mayor against three women candidates who were cleverer, prettier, and more appealing than him, and got more votes than all three combined. But like a whole string of other female Asian leaders (Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Srimavo Bandaranaike, Megawati, Sheikh Hasina), Yingluck gets her political credentials and her male association from her spouse/kin. So they could take a risk.
The tool to stress her femininity is obvious. Hair is even more important as a signal of femininity in Thai culture than in western. And Yingluck has a fine head. But recognize they still had a lot of choices. They could hide most of it round the back with just a few curls showing. They could pile it up. They could spray it solid. But there is a rule in advertising about not going half-hog. So they went for it, the full lioness. My guess is that this was the most controversial and hotly debated point within the team making this poster.
Then the Shinwatra issue. I guess the team understood that the one thing that everyone knows about Yingluck is that she’s his sister. So they didn’t need to waste any space communicating that. I think on balance she looks less like him in this shot than in most others. My point is that the team just did not need to care about this.
Would I write the same about a male? Yes, have done. I wrote about Thaksin’s famous “pointing to the future” shot back in the mid 1990s. I have a whole presentation on the transformation of Thaksin’s visual image over 2001 to 2004. I wrote about all the posters in the 2000 senate election, the first election where many candidates took visual image seriously. The fact that most of these pieces are about the Shinawatra clan is because he understands this stuff. The Democrats don’t. Look at their first campaign round, which went up before the Yingluck shot. You can hear the reasoning: “People think Abhisit is remote from ordinary people so we’ll counter that by showing him mugging with real ordinary folk, peasants, workers, hillfolk, housewives.” Complete waste of money. You can’t attack simple convictions head-on.
Yes, policies are important. No, this image is not going to decide the election. But this kind of visual communication is very important in public politics, and gets rather little analysis here.
This original post has been translated into Thai at least twice. The second (on oknation blog) is a spectacularly bad translation. It misses or distorts almost every point; omits the line on “sexed-down”; makes it look as if the post is slavering over Yingluck; and compares me to Niwat Kongpian, a renowned soft-porn enthusiast. Hilarious. But I think this reaction is another indication of how striking, disturbing, and important this poster is.
Yingluck on the streets
Stuart,
I can’t agree less. Human rights must be respected by everyone. Lessons in Thailand show that we are far from having a single political party that believe in human rights.
Unpopular facts about one of Buddhist philosophy’s most popular doctrines
I quite agree that after all this time any hypothesis about Christ, Moses, Muhammed, Gautama Buddha is a mix of hypothesis and unreliable sources.
Still we all like something to debate about.
Apart from those who believe that doubt and debate threaten the security of their personal space in infinity or their earthly regimes.
May we all continue to express our personal views in a spirit of peace and developing “the better angels of our nature” as a Pre-Darwininian Abraham Lincoln referred to it.
Thai Studies conference in Melbourne
Now that the Thai government has arrested the American citizen for exercising his Free Speech rights inside the U.S. in regard to reading, translating, writing and discussing the role of the Thai monarchy, I wonder if the people participating in this conference in Melbourne will also be liable for following Thailand laws and subject to arrest the next time they visit Thailand, even though they are not Thai citizens and they are writing/discussing the role of the Thai monarchy in Australia.
Khunying face slapper
@Ralph ^
You deserve a round of applause for that comment Ralph. Priceless. Cuts like a knife, and oh so very true.
Yingluck on the streets
These comments are very useful about one small part of this campaign.
Even more interesting would be the marketing research (how many and what kind of focus group discussion were asked, results discussed and how all these will be fed into the general campaign approach(es)) that is behind the “selling” or “marketing” of Yingluck as party leader and a GOVERNMENT leader.
This, after all, is the strength of the marketing experts that have been behind all of the campaigns that the Shinawatra money is paying for.
Even though at the moment I am writing for the USA, we live in Chiangmai and I would be very much interested in HOW the poster differs in Chiangmai from the Bangkok one and WHY it is different and would like to see the research results.
Guy Scandlen
Unpopular facts about one of Buddhist philosophy’s most popular doctrines
This article has nothing whatsoever to do with Southeast Asia. Why is it on the New Mandala website? Isn’t the more important question how texts related to theories of dependent origination were interpreted by Thai, Lao, Khmer, et al. Buddhists, rather than simply dismissing these, as the author does in his conclusion, as “misinterpretations”? An unfortunate return to the bad old days of paternalistic orientalist scholarship: the stupid Buddhists have their tradition all wrong, and can’t even recognize the “unambiguous” and “blatant” truths before their eyes!
Yingluck on the streets
Nattavud Pimpa
Your comment: “It sounds like she will follow her brother on the violation of human rights (the use of force in combating against drugs).”
I agree with your comment, but I would add one thing: I hope she doesn’t follow the incumbent on the violation of human rights (the use of force in killing his own people in the streets).
Yingluck on the streets
Yingluk is unimpressive in all interviews I’ve seen. She is merely a puppet. For those hoping for redemption from the usual Thai political cocktail of corruption, greed and nepotism, I’m afraid Yingluk’s candidature is not it. She represents all of these things in extremis. So does the other side.
As usual, the Thai people will get the government they deserve, whoever wins the election. The political sideshow we are seeing now is not class warfare; it is an internecine struggle for power between factions of the same ruling elite. Revolution must come from the people; not those seeking to gain from it. Until Thais wake up and start doing it for themselves, I’m afraid they are condemned to the same rotten cycle of puppet politicians on all sides.
But she’s a fine looking lady though. The whole unedifying spectacle reminds me of Sarah Palin (gawp!)
Yingluck on the streets
This is her interview which is not quite impressive. Her points on political experiences and wars against drugs are appalling. It sounds like she will follow her brother on the violation of human rights (the use of force in combating against drugs).
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easier-stuff/238628/yingluck-s-english-language-interview
Khunying face slapper
Maybe she deserves a personal letter of praise for her sacrifice and love of nation and…
Unpopular facts about one of Buddhist philosophy’s most popular doctrines
I did not say you were a Buddhist Modernist, but you are espousing a Buddhist Modernist opinion when you say you “suspect” that the Buddha was actually a proto-Dawkins scientific materialist who did not believe in an afterlife. There are no legitimate grounds for believing that about him. He was a 4th century BC Indian man who believed all sorts of things you would not find palatable.
Khunying face slapper
There’s a FaceBook page on her now. Worth a look for the photoshopped images of the khunying: http://www.facebook.com/pages/р╕Др╕╕р╕Ур╕лр╕Нр╕┤р╕Зр╕Юр╕зр╕Зр╕Чр╕нр╕З-р╕Ьр╕╣р╣Йр╕Фр╕╡р╕кр╕░р╕Ър╕▒р╕Фр╕Эр╣Ир╕▓р╕бр╕╖р╕нр╕Хр╕Ър╣Др╕Юр╕гр╣И/105493766206677
Thailand can afford equitable social welfare
c7
“But a far greater problem is non registration and under declaration of tax.”
Some fairly startling statistics given by Korn last month in a Bangkok Post report:
He said only 18,000 people paid income tax at the highest rate – 37%. Each year about 9 million people file personal income tax returns with the Revenue Department, but only 2.5 million are required to pay tax after deductions are calculated. In fiscal 2010, the country generated 208 billion baht from personal income tax, the same as in the previous two years.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/230750/korn-wants-people-to-drive-development
Most high-income Thai are likely to have got themselves nicely set up with a handy corporate structure that leaves very little (if anything) exposed to income tax.
I found these rates for taxable income (i.e. after allowances/deductions) listed at http://www.taxrates.cc/html/thailand-tax-rates.html
Baht p.a.
0-150,000………………….Exempt
150,001 – 500,000……….. 10%
500,001 – 1,000,000……..20%
1,000,001 – 4,000,000…..30%
4,000,001 and over………. 37%
Khunying face slapper
Is there any kind of anti face slap campaign? I am sick of hearing about this kind of filthy behaviour. What can we do about it? It is pathetic and wrong. The 500 baht token fine and the hi so thug’s need to publically flaunt it. How dare she? It’s like an anti fine – pay it and it shows you are willing and able to act like an untrained dog in public.
Yingluck on the streets
c34
“Has she presented anything in the way of Policy apart from the return of her convicted, corrupt brother?”
Yes she has – in numerous speeches and interviews which have been widely reported. There are also numerous policy proposals laid out on the PT website. Are you asking some kind of rather pointless rhetorical question – or do you genuinely not have access to those reports in Thai media and elsewhere? Difficult to imagine it’s the latter.