I’d love to see something along the lines of a series about institutions in the CLV countries. I thought the Thai institutions series was a nice way to learn more about aspects of Thailand we don’t often hear about. Especially with the Vietnamese Party Congress coming up next year, it might be great to learn more about how the party and the national assembly work.
Maybe I hang out in the wrong circles but I don’t know anyone who “believe[s] that the transition to genuine democracy will be a bloody one”. If anything, they don’t think there’ll be a transition to genuine democracy. Or it will take quite a long time.
And I don’t really see where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would get a “stick” to take to the negotiating table anyway, certainly not now. The idea is, in my view, completely unrealistic.
We publish views from lots of people — including you. Over the years our open-ness to different shades of opinion is well documented. And the beauty of the medium is that you can tell us what you think. I delight in learning from the collective experience, information and insight of the New Mandala readership.
And I have much interest in Thailand. Its just that I have few prescriptions. That’s a clear distinction.
This is the guys you support. Firing rockets and small arms fire at soldiers tasked with ensuring the safety of the public and restoring Bangkok’s CBD to the 20 million Bangkok residents after your guys hijacked our city and set up barricades to do what they do in this video.
You claim they’re not terrorists. Please post your definition of what constitutes a terrorist. I will post evidence matching your definition.
Dr Walker has been outspoken in his support for terrorists (sponsored by the ANU), saying Thailand was ‘provoking’ when they laid charges against Thaksin for funding terrorism. He said this after they burned Bangkok. After this video footage was filmed.
I’m sorry? New Mandala’s position is that violence is legitimate? But responding to violence with due process is ‘provocation’?
It’s no wonder you believe censorship trumps academic debate. Academics? Are you sure? I’ve never met a genuine academic who was frightened of debate to the point they censor their YouTube video comments.
Well of cause as a Thai I am supporting a proper and well functioning democratic system which unfortunately is not present here in Thailand. Why am I supporting democracy? I think every Thai citizen, regardless of poor they are or how little education they’ve got, should be able to decide the direction the country is heading and that a small group of the establishment shouldn’t be the one with the do it.
I don’t particularly support “who” in this case since my only opponent is the out dated and corrupted governing system. Is that a satisfactory answer to your simple question?
Jonny: This is the last comment I plan on wasting on you. You have asked me no question about “US forums censoring Al-Queda hate rhetoric and threats directed at the US President.” Or any other question, that I can see. In any event, the point is irrelevant to the issue at hand, the Thai state’s suppression of free speech through liberal but selective application of law. You’ve moved far afield from that, and now do nothing but rant. You meanwhile throw around terms like oppression and censorship with no apparent understanding about what they mean outside of your own fevered brain. You are incredibly unresponsive to the points other people have raised. Perhaps in your self-absorption, you missed my analogy pointing out that you have no more legal or moral right to go rabbiting on with your convoluted opinions on New Mandala than you do barging into a ANU classroom and lecturing the students. However, as several people have pointed out, you can easily start your own blog and it will be accessible to all the people who read New Mandala. There you can raise all these questions you have now brought up in bold type for which you are demanding answers.
jonny #52 – re. “Who – or what – do you support in Thailand? And why?”: Nich & Andrew are academics, & NM is an extension of their academic work, all the more valuable because it has opened up an avenue of discussion which non-academics interested in mainland SEA may participate in. Academics are under no obligation to “support” anything except the emergence of facts & the free discussion of those facts in order to give them meaning. The worst kind of academic becomes partisan, obsessively aligned to one side in the presentation of facts, especially in relation to political situations. This may cause them to leave out inconvenient truths from their analyses, and even to be ‘revisionist’. Obviously analysis & interpretation will be informed with the commentators’ sense of what is ‘right’ in a moral sense, and especially what the world considers is right, as evidenced in such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, legal decisions in various countries, and the publications of academic ‘experts’. I can’t see that Nich or Andrew have exceeded the boundaries of normal academic discussion in their own contributions, and in fact they’ve given ample opportunities for all sides to air their views, including articles from at least one non-Thai SEA academic who is distinctly partisan & puts forward unsubstantiated ‘facts’, in order to foster discussion.
Good academics are not ‘supporters’, they are observers & commentators. Your questions are inappropriate.
50 years ago the British Police were recognised as on of the best in the world…
Barry, funny you should pick that era as when the political correctness, do gooder, racist observant brigade started to bring down their reputation. I say that because withing a few years the Met (London Police Service) and the City of London police (covering just the square mile of the city) had managed to destroy their reputations without any help from the people you mention.
How did they do it? By corruption of course. What were they doing? Well taking money from criminals, organizing robberies to name just a couple. If the long running Operation Countryman had not be wound up early there probably wouldn’t have been a CID officer left in London. I do remember Deptford being down just one. See it wasn’t always Dixon of Dock Green.
So a claim that your positions have been outlined many times, in lieu of outlining them.
The last time you made that claim, I read through surely 2/3rds of the entire website including the comments – hundreds of thousands of words – and I was unable to find your positions on the topics I’ve raised.
Actually, the silence was quite deafening.
I would beg you to direct me to where you have justified New Mandala’s support of Thaksin by publishing his employee’s spin? If you have not, you’ll forgive my surprise at your oversight – and you’ll surely rush to qualify your continued support for a convicted criminal and killer of thousands of innocents (or do you believe he is innocent?). If you do, you’ll surely link me to your articles which criticise the extensive work undertaken by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who labelled Thaksin “a human rights abuser of the worst kind”. http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2004/07/07/not-enough-graves-0
Or perhaps you’ll explain why “no comment” is acceptable? Or why you feel a justifying / qualifying article addressing Thaksin’s human rights abuses and Red Shirt terrorism is not necessary? Whilst you support them by publishing the lies (provably so) of Thaksin’s million-$ shill whilst simultaneously waxing lyrical about the tragic nature of Thailand’s due process?
You claim no interest in Thailand, but I’m watching interviews you’ve conducted where you speak with authority on issues you now say you have no interest in – you quite clearly position yourself as an authority on Thailand’s political situation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWjb5iiHhs
I also know nothing about things I’m disinterested in.
I just hope our J.F.Lee is not naive enough to think that he is living in a Full-Democracy or Real-Democracy which is basically a myth.
I’ve been living in Thailand for the past seven or eight years, and in the USA for the fifty-tive years prior to that. I was naive enough, say twenty or thirty years ago, to think I was living in a “real-democracy”… although I realized it was “imperfect”. Today I am disabused of that notion. The Regimes in both Thailand and the USA are unrepresentative of the majority of their constituents, and hence undemocratic. I am certainly willing to concede that “full-democracy” is an endpoint on a continuum in any case, and is arguably unreachable in practice, along the lines of Zeno’s paradox, but I believe that more democratic societies are “more fit” in an evolutionary sense and so are the emergent species, regardless the actions of the rearguard.
The composition of democracy and dictatorship of a society depends upon how free or developed their economic system is or their markets are, I believe.
You and Milton Friedman can believe that. I don’t believe that. That’s neo-liberal eyewash as far as I’m concerned, peddled by Friedman himself as the CIA/Chilean Airforce bombed the Presidential Palace, assassinating the elected President of Chile and installing the brutal, murderous Generals in his stead.
Even for the well-developed societies the economic crises and troubled periods always brought back a certain degree of dictatorship into the running of the society. (Like nationalization or government-bailouts of failing banks and Auto-makers in US and others.)
The ‘nationalization’ of GM and the bailout of the ‘banks’ in the US was in fact a case of private capital sticking the public with its ‘toxic waste’ and emptying the US Treasury… for decades to come… in exchange. That’s ‘American-style democracy’ as a sort of counterpoint to ‘Thai-style democracy’.
In fact the USA had been ‘drifting to the right’ since 1980, and in 2000 it went off-scale. The tools of democracy are still there… there are just no democrats in America willing to roll up their sleeves and wield them. Democracy requires democrats, you know. I know there are proportionately more active democrats in Thailand than in America and I imagine there may be more in Burma as well.
Least-developed Burma has more dictatorship than democracy compared to more-developed Thailand which has more dictatorship than democracy compared to the much-developed US of A.
Yes, as a strict ordering I must agree, but I don’t see that that is at all directly related to ‘development’.
I sincerely hope Burmese democracy will gradually evolve from a so-called Sham-democracy to a Thai Democracy and then to a US Democracy over time as the markets in Burma become freer and more developed with the international cooperation and engagements.
I do too. Bolt the door and send Jim Webb packing. He has not the interests of the Burmese people, or the American people for that matter, at heart but the interests of the multinationals who confound ‘free-markets’ (hah!) with a more free political system. Webb and the multinationals care not an iota for a free political system.
Ask the Nigerians, ask the Palestinians, ask any people on earth who have tried to stand up for their iown interests rather than become the compradors of capital, as has, for example, the murderous, Map Ta Phut, Democrat Party in Thailand.
There are many words on New Mandala (and elsewhere…) that should give you a general sense of where I (and Andrew) stand on some of these issues. On the others I think you’ll find that I don’t have especially strong or partisan views. Prescriptions for Thai society are not usually interesting to me. My analytical/conceptual positions, for what they’re worth, are on the public record signed under my own full name.
So, to cut a very long story short, we are hardly uncomfortable defending our positions: New Mandala, since June 2006…
Hi Nicholas, I received an email from Andrew which only repeated your claim that you encourage diverse viewpoints. If that was true, perhaps you could explain why – finally – I’ve been able to ask a simple question:
Who – or what – do you support in Thailand? And why?
Do you support amnesty for Thaksin? If you do, please explain why? In light of the his crimes against humanity etc.
Do you support the Red Shirts’ violent dissent? If you believe they are not violent, what is your opinion on the YouTube speeches which quite clearly show Nattawut and Arisaman inciting large Red crowds to burn Bangkok? I’ve looked all over your website and it seems you have “no comment” – is that correct or have I missed your articles on terrorism being a valid means to an end?
Do you support a Thai monarchy that is not protected by the Constitution, modelled on the UK setup – or do you believe Thailand should rid themselves of the institution? Do you have any hard data from polls conducted to gauge the level of support Thais have for their monarch?
I am genuinely interested in hearing your opinions argued in an academic fashion. It is quite apparent to me from the nature of the censorship on New Mandala that you’re uncomfortable with defending your positions.
I hope you prove me wrong. Because I’m genuinely interested in understanding those who appear willing to ignore the indefensible – whilst crying foul at a government which takes drastic action to restore law and order.
Sorry. You received a polite e-mail response from Andrew where he explained our comments policies, and you then returned fire with 1200 words. Is it any surprise you didn’t receive a further “cute” e-mail from our end.
These meta-chats about NM comments policies and our “censorship” are a distraction. We have always been especially open to critical voices (of whatever persuasion). We just don’t want them to dominate every last conversation, and suck all the oxygen from other potential comments. Many of your fellow commentators understand the reasons for this.
@nicholas 49: Many comments? I count a single comment: “You’ve had a good run”. When I emailed politely requesting clarification, I was ignored. Kindly direct my attentions to these “many comments”.
If others have posted about your censorship, that should tell you something. Here’s an idea worth considering: Don’t CENSOR. Oh my. It’s so simple!
Alternatively, you can censor. But remove your comment claiming you encourage vigorous debate.
@tarrin 50: My pleasure, Sir. I will listen to you. Kindly talk to me and let me know:
Who or what do you support in Thailand, and why?
When you or anyone have answered this, I will read it, listen to what you’re saying – and then politely ask some follow-up questions. I am genuinely interested in hearing your arguments.
@superanonymous 51: Please don’t avoid the questions I’ve politely asked of you. Kindly explain why you are not wringing your hands over US forums censoring Al-Queda hate rhetoric and threats directed at the US President.
@werewolf 52: Your logic is fallacious. I am merely asking valid questions, which are either censored or ignored if they are not. I have no interest in the things you appear to desire, I’m merely interested in why an academic website claiming to have an interest in vigorous debate on Thai politics is publishing articles by Robert Amsterdam and censoring or ignoring polite questions asked in response.
I know free speech doesn’t exist on the Internet. That is my point. You concede the point, yet have no interest in explaining why the owner of Prachatai being arrested 2 years after breaking the law…is anything other than very delayed due process?
I just hope our J.F.Lee is not naive enough to think that he is living in a Full-Democracy or Real-Democracy which is basically a myth.
Every political system of a human society since the hunter-gatherers started settling down is a mixture of democracy and dictatorship.
The composition of democracy and dictatorship of a society depends upon how free or developed their economic system is or their markets are, I believe.
Even for the well-developed societies the economic crises and troubled periods always brought back a certain degree of dictatorship into the running of the society. (Like nationalization or government-bailouts of failing banks and Auto-makers in US and others.)
Least-developed Burma has more dictatorship than democracy compared to more-developed Thailand which has more dictatorship than democracy compared to the much-developed US of A.
So our J.F.Lee is basically living in a free market economic system which allows or requires higher level of political democracy than Burma and Thailand.
I sincerely hope Burmese democracy will gradually evolve from a so-called Sham-democracy to a Thai Democracy and then to a US Democracy over time as the markets in Burma become freer and more developed with the international cooperation and engagements.
“People may enjoy making “run-of-the-river” hydro and other small-scale hydroelectric schemes, but such lowland facilities can never deliver more than 1 kWh per day per person.”
╧А/200*1/2*╧БU3 is the maximum energy present in the body of flowing water per sq meter, without height. That’s not much and certainly not enough for utility grade power generation. Good alternative only as a renewable source for a small rural community with very little power availability.
That’s a disgracefully unfair tactic : putting words into my mouth which I never said.
Chris you are quite right, it’s a disgraceful tactic and it’s a shame we all tend to do it at times.
For instance we could look at yourself towards the end of your comment #52 in the Sanitising Thai Political History thread where you did it to my good self;-) I did answer that but you didn’t care to come back and correct a false assumption so I guess it’s pot and kettle situation.
Very interesting article. The reform of any police force always depends on the degree and extent of the reforms. Take for instance the British Police Force (or Service) as they are now called. They have been almost completely emasculated by the political correctness, do gooder, racist observant brigade. 50 years ago the British Police were recognised as on of the best in the world, now they appear to be a shadow of their formed self, almost universally disliked.
Will any reform in Thailand (in itself unlikely) try to achieve a balance as a strong fist in a gloved hand. I very much doubt it.
MattB, you dislike the color RED? Violence? Well, Nintendo has something to say about that. It worked well for millions of kids, did’t it? Mario Brs. , I mean. Not to mention, YELLOW is the color of a funky little critter from the same company. Pokemon?
The color Red does not represents violence, more than Violets & Green represents gore. To answer your very 1st question. YES, it is just YOU.
There’s no one else that can contributed to your bias to that extent.
That, and your attack on Chris Bale is disgusting.
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Topics for future discussion on New Mandala
Also, I suspect the results of Burma’s November 7 elections will provide plenty of fodder for new content.
Topics for future discussion on New Mandala
I’d love to see something along the lines of a series about institutions in the CLV countries. I thought the Thai institutions series was a nice way to learn more about aspects of Thailand we don’t often hear about. Especially with the Vietnamese Party Congress coming up next year, it might be great to learn more about how the party and the national assembly work.
Critics of Aung San Suu Kyi say…
Maybe I hang out in the wrong circles but I don’t know anyone who “believe[s] that the transition to genuine democracy will be a bloody one”. If anything, they don’t think there’ll be a transition to genuine democracy. Or it will take quite a long time.
And I don’t really see where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would get a “stick” to take to the negotiating table anyway, certainly not now. The idea is, in my view, completely unrealistic.
Prachatai manager arrested
Thanks Jonny,
We publish views from lots of people — including you. Over the years our open-ness to different shades of opinion is well documented. And the beauty of the medium is that you can tell us what you think. I delight in learning from the collective experience, information and insight of the New Mandala readership.
And I have much interest in Thailand. Its just that I have few prescriptions. That’s a clear distinction.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Prachatai manager arrested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdiQGgFndS4
(RussiaToday news clip of Red Shirts violence)
This is the guys you support. Firing rockets and small arms fire at soldiers tasked with ensuring the safety of the public and restoring Bangkok’s CBD to the 20 million Bangkok residents after your guys hijacked our city and set up barricades to do what they do in this video.
You claim they’re not terrorists. Please post your definition of what constitutes a terrorist. I will post evidence matching your definition.
Dr Walker has been outspoken in his support for terrorists (sponsored by the ANU), saying Thailand was ‘provoking’ when they laid charges against Thaksin for funding terrorism. He said this after they burned Bangkok. After this video footage was filmed.
I’m sorry? New Mandala’s position is that violence is legitimate? But responding to violence with due process is ‘provocation’?
It’s no wonder you believe censorship trumps academic debate. Academics? Are you sure? I’ve never met a genuine academic who was frightened of debate to the point they censor their YouTube video comments.
Prachatai manager arrested
Jonny – 52
Who or what do you support in Thailand, and why?
Well of cause as a Thai I am supporting a proper and well functioning democratic system which unfortunately is not present here in Thailand. Why am I supporting democracy? I think every Thai citizen, regardless of poor they are or how little education they’ve got, should be able to decide the direction the country is heading and that a small group of the establishment shouldn’t be the one with the do it.
I don’t particularly support “who” in this case since my only opponent is the out dated and corrupted governing system. Is that a satisfactory answer to your simple question?
Prachatai manager arrested
Jonny: This is the last comment I plan on wasting on you. You have asked me no question about “US forums censoring Al-Queda hate rhetoric and threats directed at the US President.” Or any other question, that I can see. In any event, the point is irrelevant to the issue at hand, the Thai state’s suppression of free speech through liberal but selective application of law. You’ve moved far afield from that, and now do nothing but rant. You meanwhile throw around terms like oppression and censorship with no apparent understanding about what they mean outside of your own fevered brain. You are incredibly unresponsive to the points other people have raised. Perhaps in your self-absorption, you missed my analogy pointing out that you have no more legal or moral right to go rabbiting on with your convoluted opinions on New Mandala than you do barging into a ANU classroom and lecturing the students. However, as several people have pointed out, you can easily start your own blog and it will be accessible to all the people who read New Mandala. There you can raise all these questions you have now brought up in bold type for which you are demanding answers.
Prachatai manager arrested
jonny #52 – re. “Who – or what – do you support in Thailand? And why?”: Nich & Andrew are academics, & NM is an extension of their academic work, all the more valuable because it has opened up an avenue of discussion which non-academics interested in mainland SEA may participate in. Academics are under no obligation to “support” anything except the emergence of facts & the free discussion of those facts in order to give them meaning. The worst kind of academic becomes partisan, obsessively aligned to one side in the presentation of facts, especially in relation to political situations. This may cause them to leave out inconvenient truths from their analyses, and even to be ‘revisionist’. Obviously analysis & interpretation will be informed with the commentators’ sense of what is ‘right’ in a moral sense, and especially what the world considers is right, as evidenced in such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, legal decisions in various countries, and the publications of academic ‘experts’. I can’t see that Nich or Andrew have exceeded the boundaries of normal academic discussion in their own contributions, and in fact they’ve given ample opportunities for all sides to air their views, including articles from at least one non-Thai SEA academic who is distinctly partisan & puts forward unsubstantiated ‘facts’, in order to foster discussion.
Good academics are not ‘supporters’, they are observers & commentators. Your questions are inappropriate.
Thai institutions: Police
Barrybankruad – 35
50 years ago the British Police were recognised as on of the best in the world…
Barry, funny you should pick that era as when the political correctness, do gooder, racist observant brigade started to bring down their reputation. I say that because withing a few years the Met (London Police Service) and the City of London police (covering just the square mile of the city) had managed to destroy their reputations without any help from the people you mention.
How did they do it? By corruption of course. What were they doing? Well taking money from criminals, organizing robberies to name just a couple. If the long running Operation Countryman had not be wound up early there probably wouldn’t have been a CID officer left in London. I do remember Deptford being down just one. See it wasn’t always Dixon of Dock Green.
Prachatai manager arrested
So a claim that your positions have been outlined many times, in lieu of outlining them.
The last time you made that claim, I read through surely 2/3rds of the entire website including the comments – hundreds of thousands of words – and I was unable to find your positions on the topics I’ve raised.
Actually, the silence was quite deafening.
I would beg you to direct me to where you have justified New Mandala’s support of Thaksin by publishing his employee’s spin? If you have not, you’ll forgive my surprise at your oversight – and you’ll surely rush to qualify your continued support for a convicted criminal and killer of thousands of innocents (or do you believe he is innocent?). If you do, you’ll surely link me to your articles which criticise the extensive work undertaken by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who labelled Thaksin “a human rights abuser of the worst kind”.
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2004/07/07/not-enough-graves-0
Or perhaps you’ll explain why “no comment” is acceptable? Or why you feel a justifying / qualifying article addressing Thaksin’s human rights abuses and Red Shirt terrorism is not necessary? Whilst you support them by publishing the lies (provably so) of Thaksin’s million-$ shill whilst simultaneously waxing lyrical about the tragic nature of Thailand’s due process?
You claim no interest in Thailand, but I’m watching interviews you’ve conducted where you speak with authority on issues you now say you have no interest in – you quite clearly position yourself as an authority on Thailand’s political situation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWjb5iiHhs
I also know nothing about things I’m disinterested in.
Critics of Aung San Suu Kyi say…
I just hope our J.F.Lee is not naive enough to think that he is living in a Full-Democracy or Real-Democracy which is basically a myth.
I’ve been living in Thailand for the past seven or eight years, and in the USA for the fifty-tive years prior to that. I was naive enough, say twenty or thirty years ago, to think I was living in a “real-democracy”… although I realized it was “imperfect”. Today I am disabused of that notion. The Regimes in both Thailand and the USA are unrepresentative of the majority of their constituents, and hence undemocratic. I am certainly willing to concede that “full-democracy” is an endpoint on a continuum in any case, and is arguably unreachable in practice, along the lines of Zeno’s paradox, but I believe that more democratic societies are “more fit” in an evolutionary sense and so are the emergent species, regardless the actions of the rearguard.
The composition of democracy and dictatorship of a society depends upon how free or developed their economic system is or their markets are, I believe.
You and Milton Friedman can believe that. I don’t believe that. That’s neo-liberal eyewash as far as I’m concerned, peddled by Friedman himself as the CIA/Chilean Airforce bombed the Presidential Palace, assassinating the elected President of Chile and installing the brutal, murderous Generals in his stead.
Even for the well-developed societies the economic crises and troubled periods always brought back a certain degree of dictatorship into the running of the society. (Like nationalization or government-bailouts of failing banks and Auto-makers in US and others.)
The ‘nationalization’ of GM and the bailout of the ‘banks’ in the US was in fact a case of private capital sticking the public with its ‘toxic waste’ and emptying the US Treasury… for decades to come… in exchange. That’s ‘American-style democracy’ as a sort of counterpoint to ‘Thai-style democracy’.
In fact the USA had been ‘drifting to the right’ since 1980, and in 2000 it went off-scale. The tools of democracy are still there… there are just no democrats in America willing to roll up their sleeves and wield them. Democracy requires democrats, you know. I know there are proportionately more active democrats in Thailand than in America and I imagine there may be more in Burma as well.
Least-developed Burma has more dictatorship than democracy compared to more-developed Thailand which has more dictatorship than democracy compared to the much-developed US of A.
Yes, as a strict ordering I must agree, but I don’t see that that is at all directly related to ‘development’.
I sincerely hope Burmese democracy will gradually evolve from a so-called Sham-democracy to a Thai Democracy and then to a US Democracy over time as the markets in Burma become freer and more developed with the international cooperation and engagements.
I do too. Bolt the door and send Jim Webb packing. He has not the interests of the Burmese people, or the American people for that matter, at heart but the interests of the multinationals who confound ‘free-markets’ (hah!) with a more free political system. Webb and the multinationals care not an iota for a free political system.
Ask the Nigerians, ask the Palestinians, ask any people on earth who have tried to stand up for their iown interests rather than become the compradors of capital, as has, for example, the murderous, Map Ta Phut, Democrat Party in Thailand.
Prachatai manager arrested
Jonny,
There are many words on New Mandala (and elsewhere…) that should give you a general sense of where I (and Andrew) stand on some of these issues. On the others I think you’ll find that I don’t have especially strong or partisan views. Prescriptions for Thai society are not usually interesting to me. My analytical/conceptual positions, for what they’re worth, are on the public record signed under my own full name.
So, to cut a very long story short, we are hardly uncomfortable defending our positions: New Mandala, since June 2006…
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Prachatai manager arrested
Hi Nicholas, I received an email from Andrew which only repeated your claim that you encourage diverse viewpoints. If that was true, perhaps you could explain why – finally – I’ve been able to ask a simple question:
Who – or what – do you support in Thailand? And why?
Do you support amnesty for Thaksin? If you do, please explain why? In light of the his crimes against humanity etc.
Do you support the Red Shirts’ violent dissent? If you believe they are not violent, what is your opinion on the YouTube speeches which quite clearly show Nattawut and Arisaman inciting large Red crowds to burn Bangkok? I’ve looked all over your website and it seems you have “no comment” – is that correct or have I missed your articles on terrorism being a valid means to an end?
Do you support a Thai monarchy that is not protected by the Constitution, modelled on the UK setup – or do you believe Thailand should rid themselves of the institution? Do you have any hard data from polls conducted to gauge the level of support Thais have for their monarch?
I am genuinely interested in hearing your opinions argued in an academic fashion. It is quite apparent to me from the nature of the censorship on New Mandala that you’re uncomfortable with defending your positions.
I hope you prove me wrong. Because I’m genuinely interested in understanding those who appear willing to ignore the indefensible – whilst crying foul at a government which takes drastic action to restore law and order.
Prachatai manager arrested
Thanks Jonny,
Sorry. You received a polite e-mail response from Andrew where he explained our comments policies, and you then returned fire with 1200 words. Is it any surprise you didn’t receive a further “cute” e-mail from our end.
These meta-chats about NM comments policies and our “censorship” are a distraction. We have always been especially open to critical voices (of whatever persuasion). We just don’t want them to dominate every last conversation, and suck all the oxygen from other potential comments. Many of your fellow commentators understand the reasons for this.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
Prachatai manager arrested
@harry 48: Think about your question. Seriously.
@nicholas 49: Many comments? I count a single comment: “You’ve had a good run”. When I emailed politely requesting clarification, I was ignored. Kindly direct my attentions to these “many comments”.
If others have posted about your censorship, that should tell you something. Here’s an idea worth considering: Don’t CENSOR. Oh my. It’s so simple!
Alternatively, you can censor. But remove your comment claiming you encourage vigorous debate.
@tarrin 50: My pleasure, Sir. I will listen to you. Kindly talk to me and let me know:
Who or what do you support in Thailand, and why?
When you or anyone have answered this, I will read it, listen to what you’re saying – and then politely ask some follow-up questions. I am genuinely interested in hearing your arguments.
@superanonymous 51: Please don’t avoid the questions I’ve politely asked of you. Kindly explain why you are not wringing your hands over US forums censoring Al-Queda hate rhetoric and threats directed at the US President.
@werewolf 52: Your logic is fallacious. I am merely asking valid questions, which are either censored or ignored if they are not. I have no interest in the things you appear to desire, I’m merely interested in why an academic website claiming to have an interest in vigorous debate on Thai politics is publishing articles by Robert Amsterdam and censoring or ignoring polite questions asked in response.
I know free speech doesn’t exist on the Internet. That is my point. You concede the point, yet have no interest in explaining why the owner of Prachatai being arrested 2 years after breaking the law…is anything other than very delayed due process?
Critics of Aung San Suu Kyi say…
Semi-Democracy? Sham-Democracy?
I just hope our J.F.Lee is not naive enough to think that he is living in a Full-Democracy or Real-Democracy which is basically a myth.
Every political system of a human society since the hunter-gatherers started settling down is a mixture of democracy and dictatorship.
The composition of democracy and dictatorship of a society depends upon how free or developed their economic system is or their markets are, I believe.
Even for the well-developed societies the economic crises and troubled periods always brought back a certain degree of dictatorship into the running of the society. (Like nationalization or government-bailouts of failing banks and Auto-makers in US and others.)
Least-developed Burma has more dictatorship than democracy compared to more-developed Thailand which has more dictatorship than democracy compared to the much-developed US of A.
So our J.F.Lee is basically living in a free market economic system which allows or requires higher level of political democracy than Burma and Thailand.
I sincerely hope Burmese democracy will gradually evolve from a so-called Sham-democracy to a Thai Democracy and then to a US Democracy over time as the markets in Burma become freer and more developed with the international cooperation and engagements.
“The Amazon of Asia” – Laos and the Mekong on ABC TV
“People may enjoy making “run-of-the-river” hydro and other small-scale hydroelectric schemes, but such lowland facilities can never deliver more than 1 kWh per day per person.”
╧А/200*1/2*╧БU3 is the maximum energy present in the body of flowing water per sq meter, without height. That’s not much and certainly not enough for utility grade power generation. Good alternative only as a renewable source for a small rural community with very little power availability.
Red art: Democracy Monument April 12 2010
Chris Beale – 21
That’s a disgracefully unfair tactic : putting words into my mouth which I never said.
Chris you are quite right, it’s a disgraceful tactic and it’s a shame we all tend to do it at times.
For instance we could look at yourself towards the end of your comment #52 in the Sanitising Thai Political History thread where you did it to my good self;-) I did answer that but you didn’t care to come back and correct a false assumption so I guess it’s pot and kettle situation.
Thai institutions: Police
Very interesting article. The reform of any police force always depends on the degree and extent of the reforms. Take for instance the British Police Force (or Service) as they are now called. They have been almost completely emasculated by the political correctness, do gooder, racist observant brigade. 50 years ago the British Police were recognised as on of the best in the world, now they appear to be a shadow of their formed self, almost universally disliked.
Will any reform in Thailand (in itself unlikely) try to achieve a balance as a strong fist in a gloved hand. I very much doubt it.
Red art: Democracy Monument April 12 2010
MattB, you dislike the color RED? Violence? Well, Nintendo has something to say about that. It worked well for millions of kids, did’t it? Mario Brs. , I mean. Not to mention, YELLOW is the color of a funky little critter from the same company. Pokemon?
The color Red does not represents violence, more than Violets & Green represents gore. To answer your very 1st question. YES, it is just YOU.
There’s no one else that can contributed to your bias to that extent.
That, and your attack on Chris Bale is disgusting.