Once again you continue to avoid addressing the flaws in the assumptions and conclusions of your article. You attack one small part of my post (which was in brackets) and ignore the main point which is that your assertion that the Buddha is depicted without physical abnormalities in the canon is wrong. Original textual research is one thing (and hardly difficult to achieve in the world of Pali studies where scholars are so few and the literature is huge) – unfounded conclusions and methodological flaws is another. Oh, and I’m sure repeatedly insulting your readers will add wonderfully to the reputation that you so crave.
P.S. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept that your attack regarding uс╣Зh─лsa-s─лsa is substantiated. Given that the topic is directly relevant to the issue of the Buddha’s having hair, of course it needs to be summarised in the article at fuller length than a mere citation in a bibliography. Furthermore, a summary would be required to an even greater extent in a context where I thought the role-play was meant to be scholarly master instructing the ignorant plebs about matters they have no time to read or research?
I would hope for clear leadership and directions when it comes to all forms of societal changes.
As it stand now, it is very clear that the Thais leader echelon doesn’t want to change the status quo, your hope will have to come at a cost which is unfortunate for the Thais as a whole. I do agree though that we still need what is called “spiritual leader” to lead the change. However, since the elites have been on their toe to get rid of such individual, it will takes quite a time to find and retain one.
“I would like to politely invite Stuart, Jim Taylor, Nick Nostitz to comment on election on Singapore. Their views will be really interesting.”
I only comment on things i know about. Singapore and elections in Singapore is a topic i have no idea whatsoever about. I won’t also comment too much on elections in Thailand as i do not have enough in depth understanding about this, and also not more interest expect how it influences street politics. There are others, such as Michael Nelson, who have studied the subject of elections here in Thailand deeply, and whom i will ask for advice and on whose work and knowledge i draw whenever i mention the subject anywhere.
I just comment on the Red/Yellow conflict, to the most part from a street level perspective.
That’s what i do.
Know your limitations.
before then, for those who have not known about this, “Governance, Human Rights & Development: Challenges for Southeast Asia and Beyond,
to be held at Thammasat University, this May, 19 (yes! same day as the one year anniversary of Rachaprasong massacre) and 20, 2011.
and the main topics to be discussed such as
“Moving towards a fairer society: Economic realities, populist policies and development in Thailand and beyond” by Chris Baker
– Dr. Anan Ganjanapan, and Dr. Charas Suwanmala
and
“A new social contract for Thailand: The way out of the transformation crisis?” Moderator: Dr. Chalidaporn Songsamphan
Discussants: Dr. Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Dr. Pasuk Phongpaichit,
Dr. Duncan McCargo, Dr. Kasian Tejapira
this might be a place better than the 11th Thai Studies at Mahidol, which will be held a discussion like, “Thainess” in the Face of Universal Human Rights Protection of Cultural and Linguistic Identity”
by Suwilai Premsrirat, Mahidol University, Thailand
Coeli Barry, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (Public Organization), Thailand
Discussant: Gothom Arya, Mahidol University, Thailand
I know it’s possible to get around but I just thought I’d point out that the article Andy pointed to in Asia Sentinel – a well-known outlet for terrorist lies and propaganda – is blocked by the MICT.
#93 I recall under Thaksin that many poor students were actually supported to come to Australia for studying under govt scholarships…Now, thanks to the falangist regime post 2006, scholarships revert back to the amaat so as they can promote a higher good abroad in the guise of the White Crow…
If a mad man screams in the marketplace, and no one is there to hear him, did he really scream? I wonder which would be the wiser choice – exposing such madness on news sites such as this, or not giving it any editorial space at all? Only Muslims get away with scandalous statements like these in Malaysia. Any one else would be arrested. It’s never been a level playing field, so why give the ‘privileged’ even more room to voice their madness?
Nuomi.
A vast majority of Thailand’s elite who have western masters and doctorate degrees gained them for there “face gaining’ attributes alone.
Their children are also sent abroad to study but on return face the futility of not being able to apply anything ‘progressive’ from their international degree. Many do not care as they follow their parents methodology of business.
The ability for people to learn and achieve can not be measured by their bloodline or class.
Given the opportunity any person across Thailand could achieve a Masters or PHD.
This is where the country fails its youth as by stereotyping the rural poor as ignorant and uneducated they fail to understand that all humans no matter their background given the right learning environment can achieve almost anything.
Unfortunately in Thailand the elite have deliberately centralized their wealth so as to restrict the gaining of knowledge. Knowledge is truly power.
Thai elites need a huge cheap unskilled workforce to maximize their profits in the monopolized businesses they control.
That Thailand is named the’ land of the free’ contradicts itself to the reality that one may certainly ask FREE FOR WHO??
I think I understand Nattavud’s point. He is not asking you to lead but he proposed that your statement is empty and meaning less in for change in Thailand.
And yes there are leaders in Thailand! Again, like all countries in the world we have both good and bad leaders and Thailand has long sufferred bad leadership.
There are about 20 million people living in the Isaan region.
This number can vary as many work outside of the provinces; a great majority in Bangkok in the service and construction industries.
The red shirt movement has strong support in the Isaan provinces especially Ubon Ratchathani and Udon. They claim to support the plight of the rural poor.
The Isaan language is an oral language and is closely associated to the Lao language both written and spoken. there are also strong cultural links pertaining to the arts and food culture, Think ‘Som Tam and larp.
The Isaan culture may be viewed as ‘marginalized’ as it is not acknowledged in the Central Thai Education system which is taught all over Thailand.
Isaan people are stereotyped in the mainstream entertainment media as backward and usually are resigned to comical roles.
It’s ironic as one of the most popular Thai movies to go mainstream on the international movie circuit was ‘Ong Bak’.
Tony Jaa an Isaan local took the Isaan culture to the world.
In terms of international recognition it has surpassed nearly all movies coming out of the capitals mainstream. These ironically can be viewed as truly marginalized as they lack the appeal to a world audience.
A vast majority of Thailand’s rice crop comes out of Issan yet the value placed on the role of rice farmers who feed the nation has never been viewed as a position of prestige, quite the opposite.
The Thai class system treats them much the same way as many other Asian nations in the region do, more or less like peasants with no real status.
Thailand is highly centralized to the provinces in and around Bangkok and fails in many cases to acknowledge the many sub-cultures that co-exist outside the capital be it in the north, north east, west and of course the southern regions where the Malay influence is prominent.
Bangkok may be the capital of Thailand yet it is the different sub-cultures together that make the whole of this diverse nation even if the mainstream media which is centralized in Bangkok paints a different picture.
It sounds like you’ve finally read the article. Congratulations.
You have not, however, read the literature on the so-called “marks of the great man” –and, unlike the question this article deals with, there is already an extensive literature of secondary sources on this topic.
You complain that I do not comment on the /uс╣Зh─лsa-s─лsa/ without noticing that one of the sources cited in my bibliography is dedicated to this subject (as stated in that source’s very title!), scil., Banerjea, 1931, “Uс╣гn─лс╣гa-┼Ы─лraс╣гkata (a mahapurusa-laksana) in the early Buddha images of India”. This article (now of 80 years’ vintage) very specifically addresses the mis-translation (and misunderstanding) of the term.
The study of the lists of the 32 marks (etc.) was already a well-worn issue when Rhys-Davids weighed in on it –and I certainly did not want to expand the scope of my own article to encompass a survey of that literature (nor do I repeat Banerjea’s conclusions).
If you are sincerely interested in researching the matter, I would draw your attention to Conze’s note that, of the 32 marks:
* The Theravada and Mahayana traditions disagree on numbers 9-10, 12, 15-17, 20, and 22-23, but,
* The two traditions agree on numbers 4-8, 13-14, and 29-33,
* …wheres they differ (partly agree and partly disagree) on numbers 1-3, 11, 18-19, 21, and 24-28.
Conze’s note on this matter reflects comparative reading of the Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan recensions, see p. 657, esp. fn. 3, of Conze’s (1975) The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom.
As I’ve stated above, I did conduct a survey of the secondary sources already available before writing this article, and I think there was a surprising gap in precisely the matters that I have tried to address.
There is no such paucity on the 32 marks –it was already extensively written about 100 years ago –although, by the same token, there is plenty of “bad scholarship” on that subject to be sifted through, but there is good amidst the bad.
You complain, also, that my approach is not "nuanced" enough to suit your tastes, Steve. You keep on complaining, and I keep on producing original scholarship based on primary source texts. Let’s see where we both end up ten years from now, hm? Good luck catching up with Conze and Banerjea.
Mahathir’s authoritarian style concealed the rot that was Malaysia, Nuomi. Since he left, it has all come out into the open. Malaysians are now dealing with the mess he’s left behind and things will get worse, before it gets better.
I understand perfectly the bitterness imbued in Enrico’s comment #9, and as another pointed out it is satire, and dark satire that is uncomfortably close to the truth. Perhaps not as uncomfortable or as dark as Swift’s A Modest Proposal, but close. Very very close.
I cannot and will never forget a life that’s lost possibly due to totally blocked traffic as a result of motorcade. I cannot forget nor forgive a young girl’s life forever scarred to serve the temporal lust of a ranking elite (in this case a high ranking government official).
I remember sneaking to the protest against Suchinda, because the night before my mother explicitly forbid me to go: you don’t understand, she said. Life in Thailand is cheap, free even. You’ll die for nothing, because nothing will change.
Today in May 2011, I looked back and agree, that my mom is not only right, she was also generous in her bitter statement. Black May may had gain us a tiny step forward – a puppet civilian PM, but notheless a civilian PM. Today, we had an egalitarian PM beholden to military and groveling to aristocrats self-rated above him. We’ve gone backwards a hundred years – well at least back till 1930s.
Education, my mom said. The only way things will change is to have a properly educated mass.
I looked at our current PM and wonder about Eton. I looked at the highly educated from Ivy leagues universities in US and UK and wonder about what they taught there? Why had these Masters and Doctors and PHDs return to Thailand with the Attitude that the poor cannot be trusted to make their own choice, do not deserve access to proper education and healthcare? Do not deserve to vote? Do not deserve to get higher prices for their hard toil in the sun – rice – while the middlemen with their Masters from the US and a ‘respectable’ family name sit in chauffeured limos telling the poor farmers ‘you cannot have more than B3000 for your rice’? Rice that the poor farmers spent a year cultivating with blood and toll? I don’t want guess what profit margins those middlemen are raking to afford a chauffeurred limo and sending at least one of their kids to study in the UK or US.
So yeah, I do understand the ‘hopelessness’ in that comment. That feeling that things are bad but not bad enough yet to fuel real change. That feeling that this in-between state is going to last a long long time. This unchanging nature of change in the Thai political landscape as the elite continue to propagandize their twisted message of ‘Thainess’ to mean “be happy with your lot in life and ignore life outside because outsiders do not understand ‘Thainess’.
Greg:
Failed state?! I had no idea that Malaysia’s in such sad state!
Last I ever read anything about Malaysia beyond headlines turning up on yahoo news! was when Mahathir just retired. Malaysia seems to be doing rather well then (relative to others in the region that is)
This goes to show how far I have move away from the region. Guess its time to start again. I supposed I will not recognise KL if I were to land there today.
Stuart.
Your second paragraph says it all.
Thailand has no true leaders as the continual cycle of ‘clique like behavior’ has become an accepted part of Thai social practice.
I also am “appalled by them” and have seen their direct affects on those close to me. They truly have no shame as they assume an illegitimate superiority due basically to the enormity of their ill gotten WEALTH. They are traitors and crooks who hide in shadow of the institution. They know they are untouchable as long as they toe the military’s line.
If they really cared for Thailand’s future generations as they continually claim they would bow their heads in SHAME and truly start a process of open dialogue and reform.
Will this happen, God only knows!
leeyiankun
Ive read quite a bit about the US involvement in fighting Communism in the region especially in Thailand. I understand the US has a treaty with Thailand that allows the US certain business freedoms not offered to other nations.
The UK and France also have certain concessions that were bargained in the past to thwart the threat of colonialism.
What interests me is the present foreign policy between these three world powers and the present establishment in Thailand. Maybe you could enlighten me further.
That the US, UK and France have supported autocratic regimes in the past for trade concessions in is no secret.
Do you see Thailand’s establishment linked to counterparts in these western nations and is the turning a blind eye do to Thailand been used as a buffer zone between neighboring non conforming autocratic regimes a factor?.
I’m intrigued that when there is enormous business investment from the west with direct links to ruling families who monopolize the economy, that the west rarely criticizes the establishment for the abuses of power that continue to plague the country.
Much the same could be said of western involvement in Arab countries where their catch cry for pushing democratic rights is quite obviously shallow when there are oil contracts at stake.
We have to be zen about these things and transcend the scum. It you are getting high blood pressure from this, he has succeeded. The whole point of this exercise is precisely to incite.
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The Buddha was bald
Once again you continue to avoid addressing the flaws in the assumptions and conclusions of your article. You attack one small part of my post (which was in brackets) and ignore the main point which is that your assertion that the Buddha is depicted without physical abnormalities in the canon is wrong. Original textual research is one thing (and hardly difficult to achieve in the world of Pali studies where scholars are so few and the literature is huge) – unfounded conclusions and methodological flaws is another. Oh, and I’m sure repeatedly insulting your readers will add wonderfully to the reputation that you so crave.
P.S. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept that your attack regarding uс╣Зh─лsa-s─лsa is substantiated. Given that the topic is directly relevant to the issue of the Buddha’s having hair, of course it needs to be summarised in the article at fuller length than a mere citation in a bibliography. Furthermore, a summary would be required to an even greater extent in a context where I thought the role-play was meant to be scholarly master instructing the ignorant plebs about matters they have no time to read or research?
Support for Somsak at Nang Lerng
nattavud pimpa – 13
I would hope for clear leadership and directions when it comes to all forms of societal changes.
As it stand now, it is very clear that the Thais leader echelon doesn’t want to change the status quo, your hope will have to come at a cost which is unfortunate for the Thais as a whole. I do agree though that we still need what is called “spiritual leader” to lead the change. However, since the elites have been on their toe to get rid of such individual, it will takes quite a time to find and retain one.
If tomorrow never comes…
“Nattavud Pimpa”:
“I would like to politely invite Stuart, Jim Taylor, Nick Nostitz to comment on election on Singapore. Their views will be really interesting.”
I only comment on things i know about. Singapore and elections in Singapore is a topic i have no idea whatsoever about. I won’t also comment too much on elections in Thailand as i do not have enough in depth understanding about this, and also not more interest expect how it influences street politics. There are others, such as Michael Nelson, who have studied the subject of elections here in Thailand deeply, and whom i will ask for advice and on whose work and knowledge i draw whenever i mention the subject anywhere.
I just comment on the Red/Yellow conflict, to the most part from a street level perspective.
That’s what i do.
Know your limitations.
News from northeast Thailand
to add to John
we should not forget that Phumjaithai, Nevin and other members are also Isan!!! (and they used to be a key man in forming the govt, many did not like)
oh Sarit and Thanom, the former Two Thai PM, though Thanom was from Tak, are also Isan-like (and many Thai middle class did not like them too!)
lots of tv scenes are also Isan-like, yet they have been distorted and subordinated, but Isan peoples like and dislike them
Thai Studies conference in Melbourne
before then, for those who have not known about this, “Governance, Human Rights & Development: Challenges for Southeast Asia and Beyond,
to be held at Thammasat University, this May, 19 (yes! same day as the one year anniversary of Rachaprasong massacre) and 20, 2011.
and the main topics to be discussed such as
“Moving towards a fairer society: Economic realities, populist policies and development in Thailand and beyond” by Chris Baker
– Dr. Anan Ganjanapan, and Dr. Charas Suwanmala
and
“A new social contract for Thailand: The way out of the transformation crisis?” Moderator: Dr. Chalidaporn Songsamphan
Discussants: Dr. Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Dr. Pasuk Phongpaichit,
Dr. Duncan McCargo, Dr. Kasian Tejapira
this might be a place better than the 11th Thai Studies at Mahidol, which will be held a discussion like, “Thainess” in the Face of Universal Human Rights Protection of Cultural and Linguistic Identity”
by Suwilai Premsrirat, Mahidol University, Thailand
Coeli Barry, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (Public Organization), Thailand
Discussant: Gothom Arya, Mahidol University, Thailand
Chulalongkorn abolished prostration
I know it’s possible to get around but I just thought I’d point out that the article Andy pointed to in Asia Sentinel – a well-known outlet for terrorist lies and propaganda – is blocked by the MICT.
Thai Studies conference in Melbourne
#93 I recall under Thaksin that many poor students were actually supported to come to Australia for studying under govt scholarships…Now, thanks to the falangist regime post 2006, scholarships revert back to the amaat so as they can promote a higher good abroad in the guise of the White Crow…
PERKASA to crush Christians
If a mad man screams in the marketplace, and no one is there to hear him, did he really scream? I wonder which would be the wiser choice – exposing such madness on news sites such as this, or not giving it any editorial space at all? Only Muslims get away with scandalous statements like these in Malaysia. Any one else would be arrested. It’s never been a level playing field, so why give the ‘privileged’ even more room to voice their madness?
Support for Somsak at Nang Lerng
Nuomi.
A vast majority of Thailand’s elite who have western masters and doctorate degrees gained them for there “face gaining’ attributes alone.
Their children are also sent abroad to study but on return face the futility of not being able to apply anything ‘progressive’ from their international degree. Many do not care as they follow their parents methodology of business.
The ability for people to learn and achieve can not be measured by their bloodline or class.
Given the opportunity any person across Thailand could achieve a Masters or PHD.
This is where the country fails its youth as by stereotyping the rural poor as ignorant and uneducated they fail to understand that all humans no matter their background given the right learning environment can achieve almost anything.
Unfortunately in Thailand the elite have deliberately centralized their wealth so as to restrict the gaining of knowledge. Knowledge is truly power.
Thai elites need a huge cheap unskilled workforce to maximize their profits in the monopolized businesses they control.
That Thailand is named the’ land of the free’ contradicts itself to the reality that one may certainly ask FREE FOR WHO??
Support for Somsak at Nang Lerng
To Khun Stuart,
I think I understand Nattavud’s point. He is not asking you to lead but he proposed that your statement is empty and meaning less in for change in Thailand.
And yes there are leaders in Thailand! Again, like all countries in the world we have both good and bad leaders and Thailand has long sufferred bad leadership.
Thai Studies conference in Melbourne
Dr.Nattavud,
I hope your conference a success. We at sydney uni. will submit papers to the conference.
News from northeast Thailand
There are about 20 million people living in the Isaan region.
This number can vary as many work outside of the provinces; a great majority in Bangkok in the service and construction industries.
The red shirt movement has strong support in the Isaan provinces especially Ubon Ratchathani and Udon. They claim to support the plight of the rural poor.
The Isaan language is an oral language and is closely associated to the Lao language both written and spoken. there are also strong cultural links pertaining to the arts and food culture, Think ‘Som Tam and larp.
The Isaan culture may be viewed as ‘marginalized’ as it is not acknowledged in the Central Thai Education system which is taught all over Thailand.
Isaan people are stereotyped in the mainstream entertainment media as backward and usually are resigned to comical roles.
It’s ironic as one of the most popular Thai movies to go mainstream on the international movie circuit was ‘Ong Bak’.
Tony Jaa an Isaan local took the Isaan culture to the world.
In terms of international recognition it has surpassed nearly all movies coming out of the capitals mainstream. These ironically can be viewed as truly marginalized as they lack the appeal to a world audience.
A vast majority of Thailand’s rice crop comes out of Issan yet the value placed on the role of rice farmers who feed the nation has never been viewed as a position of prestige, quite the opposite.
The Thai class system treats them much the same way as many other Asian nations in the region do, more or less like peasants with no real status.
Thailand is highly centralized to the provinces in and around Bangkok and fails in many cases to acknowledge the many sub-cultures that co-exist outside the capital be it in the north, north east, west and of course the southern regions where the Malay influence is prominent.
Bangkok may be the capital of Thailand yet it is the different sub-cultures together that make the whole of this diverse nation even if the mainstream media which is centralized in Bangkok paints a different picture.
The Buddha was bald
Steve,
It sounds like you’ve finally read the article. Congratulations.
You have not, however, read the literature on the so-called “marks of the great man” –and, unlike the question this article deals with, there is already an extensive literature of secondary sources on this topic.
You complain that I do not comment on the /uс╣Зh─лsa-s─лsa/ without noticing that one of the sources cited in my bibliography is dedicated to this subject (as stated in that source’s very title!), scil., Banerjea, 1931, “Uс╣гn─лс╣гa-┼Ы─лraс╣гkata (a mahapurusa-laksana) in the early Buddha images of India”. This article (now of 80 years’ vintage) very specifically addresses the mis-translation (and misunderstanding) of the term.
The study of the lists of the 32 marks (etc.) was already a well-worn issue when Rhys-Davids weighed in on it –and I certainly did not want to expand the scope of my own article to encompass a survey of that literature (nor do I repeat Banerjea’s conclusions).
If you are sincerely interested in researching the matter, I would draw your attention to Conze’s note that, of the 32 marks:
* The Theravada and Mahayana traditions disagree on numbers 9-10, 12, 15-17, 20, and 22-23, but,
* The two traditions agree on numbers 4-8, 13-14, and 29-33,
* …wheres they differ (partly agree and partly disagree) on numbers 1-3, 11, 18-19, 21, and 24-28.
Conze’s note on this matter reflects comparative reading of the Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan recensions, see p. 657, esp. fn. 3, of Conze’s (1975) The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom.
As I’ve stated above, I did conduct a survey of the secondary sources already available before writing this article, and I think there was a surprising gap in precisely the matters that I have tried to address.
There is no such paucity on the 32 marks –it was already extensively written about 100 years ago –although, by the same token, there is plenty of “bad scholarship” on that subject to be sifted through, but there is good amidst the bad.
You complain, also, that my approach is not
"nuanced"enough to suit your tastes, Steve. You keep on complaining, and I keep on producing original scholarship based on primary source texts. Let’s see where we both end up ten years from now, hm? Good luck catching up with Conze and Banerjea.If tomorrow never comes…
Mahathir’s authoritarian style concealed the rot that was Malaysia, Nuomi. Since he left, it has all come out into the open. Malaysians are now dealing with the mess he’s left behind and things will get worse, before it gets better.
Support for Somsak at Nang Lerng
I understand perfectly the bitterness imbued in Enrico’s comment #9, and as another pointed out it is satire, and dark satire that is uncomfortably close to the truth. Perhaps not as uncomfortable or as dark as Swift’s A Modest Proposal, but close. Very very close.
I cannot and will never forget a life that’s lost possibly due to totally blocked traffic as a result of motorcade. I cannot forget nor forgive a young girl’s life forever scarred to serve the temporal lust of a ranking elite (in this case a high ranking government official).
I remember sneaking to the protest against Suchinda, because the night before my mother explicitly forbid me to go: you don’t understand, she said. Life in Thailand is cheap, free even. You’ll die for nothing, because nothing will change.
Today in May 2011, I looked back and agree, that my mom is not only right, she was also generous in her bitter statement. Black May may had gain us a tiny step forward – a puppet civilian PM, but notheless a civilian PM. Today, we had an egalitarian PM beholden to military and groveling to aristocrats self-rated above him. We’ve gone backwards a hundred years – well at least back till 1930s.
Education, my mom said. The only way things will change is to have a properly educated mass.
I looked at our current PM and wonder about Eton. I looked at the highly educated from Ivy leagues universities in US and UK and wonder about what they taught there? Why had these Masters and Doctors and PHDs return to Thailand with the Attitude that the poor cannot be trusted to make their own choice, do not deserve access to proper education and healthcare? Do not deserve to vote? Do not deserve to get higher prices for their hard toil in the sun – rice – while the middlemen with their Masters from the US and a ‘respectable’ family name sit in chauffeured limos telling the poor farmers ‘you cannot have more than B3000 for your rice’? Rice that the poor farmers spent a year cultivating with blood and toll? I don’t want guess what profit margins those middlemen are raking to afford a chauffeurred limo and sending at least one of their kids to study in the UK or US.
So yeah, I do understand the ‘hopelessness’ in that comment. That feeling that things are bad but not bad enough yet to fuel real change. That feeling that this in-between state is going to last a long long time. This unchanging nature of change in the Thai political landscape as the elite continue to propagandize their twisted message of ‘Thainess’ to mean “be happy with your lot in life and ignore life outside because outsiders do not understand ‘Thainess’.
Chulalongkorn abolished prostration
Asia Sentinel has a similar analysis on the abolition of prostration.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3192&Itemid=185
If tomorrow never comes…
Greg:
Failed state?! I had no idea that Malaysia’s in such sad state!
Last I ever read anything about Malaysia beyond headlines turning up on yahoo news! was when Mahathir just retired. Malaysia seems to be doing rather well then (relative to others in the region that is)
This goes to show how far I have move away from the region. Guess its time to start again. I supposed I will not recognise KL if I were to land there today.
Support for Somsak at Nang Lerng
Stuart.
Your second paragraph says it all.
Thailand has no true leaders as the continual cycle of ‘clique like behavior’ has become an accepted part of Thai social practice.
I also am “appalled by them” and have seen their direct affects on those close to me. They truly have no shame as they assume an illegitimate superiority due basically to the enormity of their ill gotten WEALTH. They are traitors and crooks who hide in shadow of the institution. They know they are untouchable as long as they toe the military’s line.
If they really cared for Thailand’s future generations as they continually claim they would bow their heads in SHAME and truly start a process of open dialogue and reform.
Will this happen, God only knows!
Chulalongkorn abolished prostration
leeyiankun
Ive read quite a bit about the US involvement in fighting Communism in the region especially in Thailand. I understand the US has a treaty with Thailand that allows the US certain business freedoms not offered to other nations.
The UK and France also have certain concessions that were bargained in the past to thwart the threat of colonialism.
What interests me is the present foreign policy between these three world powers and the present establishment in Thailand. Maybe you could enlighten me further.
That the US, UK and France have supported autocratic regimes in the past for trade concessions in is no secret.
Do you see Thailand’s establishment linked to counterparts in these western nations and is the turning a blind eye do to Thailand been used as a buffer zone between neighboring non conforming autocratic regimes a factor?.
I’m intrigued that when there is enormous business investment from the west with direct links to ruling families who monopolize the economy, that the west rarely criticizes the establishment for the abuses of power that continue to plague the country.
Much the same could be said of western involvement in Arab countries where their catch cry for pushing democratic rights is quite obviously shallow when there are oil contracts at stake.
PERKASA to crush Christians
We have to be zen about these things and transcend the scum. It you are getting high blood pressure from this, he has succeeded. The whole point of this exercise is precisely to incite.