#9:
the pink tape made their appearance only on 19 May, & some of us had the impression that it was to prevent friendly fire (given the position on the back of the helmet). the APCs on 19 May also had a pink triangles (wonder if the Thai army knows what it means :P) on them. prior to 19 May it was just ribbons of various colours (some with stripes) pinned to shoulders &/or coloured bandannas as #11 mentioned, not that visible from the back view.
Muupan: Thanks for taking the time of sharing your experiences & ideas.
It’s encouraging to see some Thais do some critical thinking on their own.
I’m teaching Social Studies in a government school in Bangkok & Critical Thinking is now being emphasized in the National Curriculum, but it’s not easy to teach when there are so many things that you kind of have to avoid bringing up or ask them to question.
@Muupan
As a close neighbor (Laos), I was beginning to think that Thais are so easily led. You’ve certainly given me faith.
My father is following the Thai media and his head has certainly been turned and he is pro-Abhisit through and through. We can no longer have a reasonable conversation about Thai politics without him going into a diatribe against Thaksin.
Let’s hope there’s many more of your countrymen with the same insight.
Just a bit of info on the ‘community’ viewpoint on this discussion. I have a large number of Lao relatives and friends living in Vientiane, and recently did a lengthy trip back to Laos. A number of times we heard the concern expressed by ordinary Lao people (ie. tuk tuk drivers, shopkeepers, houswives) that the Chinese are ‘taking over’ Laos. They refer to the settlement of Chinese families near the stadium (some mentioning numbers up to 50,000 people), the Don Chan Hotel, and especially the number of Chinese traders taking over shops in markets and streets in town. They blame the government for letting the Chinese in and allowing them to take over jobs etc. They are also recognising that Chinese and Vietnamese labour is being used, while young Lao men and women are unemployed.
This is the first time in my ten years involvement with Laos that I have heard anyone mention a specific criticism of the government (apart from some university students I worked with).
While I have grave doubts about the ‘success’ of some Western development programs that have taken place in Laos, I have no illusions that China will be successful where the West has failed.
None of the people I know or met have ever been ‘assisted’ by a Western development program, however you can be confident that the economic growth and investment being encouraged by the Lao Government and Chinese investment is doing them no favours either. In fact, my Lao husband and I noticed a marked growth in the gap between poor and rich. Mainly that the poor have become even less able to participate in the ‘market’ (ie. no increases in wages if they are employed, less unskilled jobs available, increased cost of food, accommodation and petrol, increased cost of education, etc) and the number of people with wealth has taken off! That is great for those wealthy people, but there is definately no trickle down effect happening for those at the bottom.
The previously mentioned idea (neptunian) of encouraging economic growth and not worrying about promoting concepts like ‘human rights’ because people will ask for them once their stomachs are full and they are gainfully employed – not sure if you have ever been to Laos neptunian, but the chances of the people asking the Lao government for their ‘rights’ anytime soon is slim to none – similar to their odds of having full bellies and being employed.
While regional investment in Laos is a positive development, encouraging a Chinese style market economy bodes ill for the equitable distribution of the benefits received from that market economy. A multi faceted approach including well managed tourism, resource and aid activities would be a more considered approach. But the Lao government is generally only interested in the players with the biggest wallet, so China is top of the list.
[…] This is the second of a series of videos on Thailand in Crisis that we are producing in conjunction with the Australian National University’s Youtube channel. This episode includes interviews with Professor Des Ball and Dr Marcus Mietzner. Episode 1 is available here. […]
The soldiers from different companies (or some other unit) each had a specific color identifier. Some wore colored bandanas. I think it merely a device for the soldiers to easily recognize members of their own unit. This may have been particularly important as their were reports of many mixed companies.
Thanks very much for your comments and analysis, much of it mirrored mine and the red leaning and recent convert to red-leaning side of my family. Things are certainly much worse now for anyone not-up-there and anyone not-pro-DP (and other status quo factions). Corruption has gotten worse too (even when compared to Miyazaki and SPK401, and I agree corruption under TRT over 5 years is milder at all levels) given how project-starved some of those politicians have been, And as much as I’d love to mention real figures (which I used not to want to because it actually made Taksin look good) I will have to hold back for the time being given the fact that I will have to make a trip back to Thailand soon. This alone tells me Taksin is the preferred PM: I never had to fear being thrown in jail when he was PM and even criticised him face to face before. At most I’d get sued – and seriously, if I said the things I said to him publicly without proof, I certainly can be sued in especially say England.
Now, at the very least, I have to worry about being blacklisted. I also have to worry about my family.
—
Finally, with respect to media control, I hope this will make you feel better. The northern folk are seriously not as ‘closed-up’ as you think. As long as phone connection, email, and mails are still working, I believe they will still be able to get ‘news’ from the outside. Many of my Isaarn friends working here, Australia and Singapore have been working hard at sending ‘news’ home because their relatives and friends no longer watch government TV except for soap operas for entertainment since they feel there is nothing there worthwhile to watch. Here where I am, ‘Ban nok’ workers are asking for help in explaining articles from sources like Economist, NYT and Aljazeera, then writing and sending information home.
If one is to worry, worry for the urbane Bangkokians who still rely on local and government news and kept spouting that ‘farangs’ do not understand ‘Thai style democracy’ and indulge in Taksin-the-Boogeyman scare-mongering. The few Bangkok friends I knew were the ones rushing to the Thai grocery stores every day to snap up the Thai papers to get the ‘real’ news about what is happening back there when these are the ones who can read English.
—-
There is one way foreign governments can help – that is to withdraw foreign aid (unless it is for improving infrastructure to places that needed it – no more white elephant projects) especially the US money for promoting democracy and military exercises with Thai Army. It is for this money that the illusion of democracy must be maintained in Thailand, get rid of that and perhaps a lot of things will become clearer. It will reduce power of the status quo if they have less corruption money to finance their lives. This will hit Bangkok hard, but will not affect the rural poor much because seriously they have nothing (from those foreign aid) to lose.
Up teacher exchanges into rural schools, volunteer to teach English and teach current affairs to rural schools, find a rural school to patronize and donate classic reading materials etc. You will be surprise how very smart (if without western academic logic base) and good at reasoning these rural people are.
Thank you very much for your comment. Actually my dissertation has very little to do with the Democrats, it is about politics of participation in rural development programmes.
In response to your question on what will happen when Chuan is no longer with the Democrats, I actually asked the same question to some of my interviewees. Many of them predicted that Southerners’ tie with the Democrats will not be as strong without Chuan (but could not tell how much it will be weakened). Furthermore, some even said that the Democrats are actually not “that strong” now, and it is more about the Southerners not having a better choice at the moment…(Well, I guess Thailand as a whole also does not have much choice left, and the Southerners might even lost their favorite choice soon :))
I also asked my interviewees their prediction on how successful the New Politics Party will be in the upcoming election. Most, including one NGOs that is the New Politics Party’s member, said that there is just a little chance. They said it will be very difficult for the New Politics to compete with the Democrats in the South as a whole, because votes to the New Politics will only come from limited sections of urban population.
Your question on why the Democrats still fail to expand to local level is very interesting. In fact, I actually found this happening not only in the South. From my observation of a few places I visited (North, Central, and South), most rural people I met actually relate themselves to national and local politics in a different way. They seem to think of national politics as something that is still quite far away. On the other hand, they take local politics more seriously as a part of their everyday life. I think this is probably because the effects that local politics have on them are much more immediate and tangible. Anyway, I have not done any serious research on this and have to accept that I still do not know much about it yet. May be I can keep this topic for my next report for the New Mandala.
I feel stupid now. I have read other letters from Susie and realize that it is a gigantic piss take. I must say that is a relief. The alternative was believing that someone could be so ignorant.
When I read the first letter from ‘Susie Wong’ I thought it was a joke, but reading the subsequent letters it appears that ‘she’ may be serious. If so, it is remarkable that she/he would be ignorant of the changes in Thai orthography that are a well known fact. Even more astounding is the claim that rifles were only introduced in Thailand in WWII! Stupefying is the claim that Thais in that era did not kill their fathers. But more to the point, why would anyone go to all the time and trouble to to fake these? To what end? Do you think anyone in the US or Europe would ever see or even care about this obscure form of Thai literature? Tell us you are joking Susie? And Somkit, are you in on the joke too?
Thanks Nick, I read your report once before it was blocked, and I also thanks Yahoo! for their yesterday pop-up news re-posted of your report once again. Today Prachatai post your news on line and it was blocked in a matter of one minute. I also support Dan Rivers, I know how terrify condition you people have to work on this bloody events, thanks gods you are saved. Thais people owed you on your report, we need foreign medias to tell the world for us. You people are the only powerful kit we have left, keep on trying your best for Thailand, good luck.
Thanks, Muupan. It’s good to hear a different and questioning Thai voice in among all the shouting of simple slogans from those Thai who just want to just dismiss what brought UDD to Bangkok – and to so many rallies around the country.
I think what you have said should be read by more people than will see it here (this is just a re-post of an article that was blocked by the government). Maybe New Mandala would consider posting it as a separate contribution?
In any case, I hope you will also post your thoughts in other places in Thai – so that the questions you are asking can also be considered by others. The government only wants its own “information” to reach them – and that’s not enough; to have any real chance of reconciliation, there needs to be a recognition of painful truths from all sides.
You commented that, ‘‘So, while not being blind to the reality of corruption lets not use that as an excuse to avoid some more detailed analysis of the merits or otherwise of various budget measures.’’
However, as we or the Thai public cannot scrutinise any use of public money in Thailand, so it follows that our capacity to properly analyze and critically assess is impossible from the start. It also follows then that we are left to speculate, and only speculate, on the ministry allocations while reading about big spend or mega projects in the media (eventually) without ever having the opportunity to examine the details in any way whatsoever.
Mere speculation hardly equates to informed discourse. But that is often the case in Thailand.
Furthermore, a number of the commentators here – it is unnecessary to list them – seem to agree with my view that corruption is an ever present feature of government budget allocation and spending in Thailand.
This consensus then – at least here – does indicate that corruption is a reality, and a reality that does need to be addressed when discussing this topic.
Let me be clear: I am not just talking about money being stolen, but also the sheer number of poorly planned and sub standard projects that never get completed, or quickly fall apart or collapse not long after completion.
If politicians, civil servants, middle men etc. etc. were not corrupt, how much more could or would the lives of Thai people improve, and how?
note LD #25
The article you cited comes from a questionable source-
…..Asia Times launches today; Asia’s new English language daily business newspaper.
Publication: Business Wire
Date: Tuesday, December 5 1995
“HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–December 6, 1995–The first copies of Asia Times roll off printing presses today in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, providing people in business throughout Asia with a new English language daily dedicated to Asian business news.
The launch represents the largest media launch of the decade in Asia. Publisher Sondhi Limthongkul, owner of M Group Thailand, will invest $60 million US dollars over the next 3 years to launch the paper.
Publisher Sondhi Limthongkul said: “It’s about time! Readers owe it to themselves to find an alternative business newspaper. Asia Times is the first Asian owned, Asian based regional business newspaper. This is the first time that Asians can hear the voices of other Asians. The launch of Asia Times demonstrates the first time Asians are breaking the western media monopoly in Asia”…… http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/7185461-1.html
Asia Times Online’s status as a Hong Kong company and its ownership are nebulous. Although it is registered in the territory, actually its editorial offices are in Thailand. It is widely assumed to be owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai tycoon and head of Manager Group, who started the original Asia Times as a newspaper but folded the print edition in 1997. The regional newspaper reportedly was losing US$1 million a month when it went under. http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1232&Itemid=204
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Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
#9:
the pink tape made their appearance only on 19 May, & some of us had the impression that it was to prevent friendly fire (given the position on the back of the helmet). the APCs on 19 May also had a pink triangles (wonder if the Thai army knows what it means :P) on them. prior to 19 May it was just ribbons of various colours (some with stripes) pinned to shoulders &/or coloured bandannas as #11 mentioned, not that visible from the back view.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
Muupan: Thanks for taking the time of sharing your experiences & ideas.
It’s encouraging to see some Thais do some critical thinking on their own.
I’m teaching Social Studies in a government school in Bangkok & Critical Thinking is now being emphasized in the National Curriculum, but it’s not easy to teach when there are so many things that you kind of have to avoid bringing up or ask them to question.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
@Muupan
As a close neighbor (Laos), I was beginning to think that Thais are so easily led. You’ve certainly given me faith.
My father is following the Thai media and his head has certainly been turned and he is pro-Abhisit through and through. We can no longer have a reasonable conversation about Thai politics without him going into a diatribe against Thaksin.
Let’s hope there’s many more of your countrymen with the same insight.
The Western aid sector in Laos – days numbered?
Just a bit of info on the ‘community’ viewpoint on this discussion. I have a large number of Lao relatives and friends living in Vientiane, and recently did a lengthy trip back to Laos. A number of times we heard the concern expressed by ordinary Lao people (ie. tuk tuk drivers, shopkeepers, houswives) that the Chinese are ‘taking over’ Laos. They refer to the settlement of Chinese families near the stadium (some mentioning numbers up to 50,000 people), the Don Chan Hotel, and especially the number of Chinese traders taking over shops in markets and streets in town. They blame the government for letting the Chinese in and allowing them to take over jobs etc. They are also recognising that Chinese and Vietnamese labour is being used, while young Lao men and women are unemployed.
This is the first time in my ten years involvement with Laos that I have heard anyone mention a specific criticism of the government (apart from some university students I worked with).
While I have grave doubts about the ‘success’ of some Western development programs that have taken place in Laos, I have no illusions that China will be successful where the West has failed.
None of the people I know or met have ever been ‘assisted’ by a Western development program, however you can be confident that the economic growth and investment being encouraged by the Lao Government and Chinese investment is doing them no favours either. In fact, my Lao husband and I noticed a marked growth in the gap between poor and rich. Mainly that the poor have become even less able to participate in the ‘market’ (ie. no increases in wages if they are employed, less unskilled jobs available, increased cost of food, accommodation and petrol, increased cost of education, etc) and the number of people with wealth has taken off! That is great for those wealthy people, but there is definately no trickle down effect happening for those at the bottom.
The previously mentioned idea (neptunian) of encouraging economic growth and not worrying about promoting concepts like ‘human rights’ because people will ask for them once their stomachs are full and they are gainfully employed – not sure if you have ever been to Laos neptunian, but the chances of the people asking the Lao government for their ‘rights’ anytime soon is slim to none – similar to their odds of having full bellies and being employed.
While regional investment in Laos is a positive development, encouraging a Chinese style market economy bodes ill for the equitable distribution of the benefits received from that market economy. A multi faceted approach including well managed tourism, resource and aid activities would be a more considered approach. But the Lao government is generally only interested in the players with the biggest wallet, so China is top of the list.
Thailand in crisis – ANU video series
[…] This is the second of a series of videos on Thailand in Crisis that we are producing in conjunction with the Australian National University’s Youtube channel. This episode includes interviews with Professor Des Ball and Dr Marcus Mietzner. Episode 1 is available here. […]
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
The soldiers from different companies (or some other unit) each had a specific color identifier. Some wore colored bandanas. I think it merely a device for the soldiers to easily recognize members of their own unit. This may have been particularly important as their were reports of many mixed companies.
Sondhi – return parliamentary powers to the king
Though if Bumiphol does – at this last minute – broker some sort of settlement, who would be strong/ foolish enough to argue ?
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
Dear Khun Muupan,
Thanks very much for your comments and analysis, much of it mirrored mine and the red leaning and recent convert to red-leaning side of my family. Things are certainly much worse now for anyone not-up-there and anyone not-pro-DP (and other status quo factions). Corruption has gotten worse too (even when compared to Miyazaki and SPK401, and I agree corruption under TRT over 5 years is milder at all levels) given how project-starved some of those politicians have been, And as much as I’d love to mention real figures (which I used not to want to because it actually made Taksin look good) I will have to hold back for the time being given the fact that I will have to make a trip back to Thailand soon. This alone tells me Taksin is the preferred PM: I never had to fear being thrown in jail when he was PM and even criticised him face to face before. At most I’d get sued – and seriously, if I said the things I said to him publicly without proof, I certainly can be sued in especially say England.
Now, at the very least, I have to worry about being blacklisted. I also have to worry about my family.
—
Finally, with respect to media control, I hope this will make you feel better. The northern folk are seriously not as ‘closed-up’ as you think. As long as phone connection, email, and mails are still working, I believe they will still be able to get ‘news’ from the outside. Many of my Isaarn friends working here, Australia and Singapore have been working hard at sending ‘news’ home because their relatives and friends no longer watch government TV except for soap operas for entertainment since they feel there is nothing there worthwhile to watch. Here where I am, ‘Ban nok’ workers are asking for help in explaining articles from sources like Economist, NYT and Aljazeera, then writing and sending information home.
If one is to worry, worry for the urbane Bangkokians who still rely on local and government news and kept spouting that ‘farangs’ do not understand ‘Thai style democracy’ and indulge in Taksin-the-Boogeyman scare-mongering. The few Bangkok friends I knew were the ones rushing to the Thai grocery stores every day to snap up the Thai papers to get the ‘real’ news about what is happening back there when these are the ones who can read English.
—-
There is one way foreign governments can help – that is to withdraw foreign aid (unless it is for improving infrastructure to places that needed it – no more white elephant projects) especially the US money for promoting democracy and military exercises with Thai Army. It is for this money that the illusion of democracy must be maintained in Thailand, get rid of that and perhaps a lot of things will become clearer. It will reduce power of the status quo if they have less corruption money to finance their lives. This will hit Bangkok hard, but will not affect the rural poor much because seriously they have nothing (from those foreign aid) to lose.
Up teacher exchanges into rural schools, volunteer to teach English and teach current affairs to rural schools, find a rural school to patronize and donate classic reading materials etc. You will be surprise how very smart (if without western academic logic base) and good at reasoning these rural people are.
Thanks.
Sondhi – return parliamentary powers to the king
A. Wales (c.24)
Maybe I understand what you’re talking about but I can’t really be sure.
What exactly is “the unspeakable”?
This could be a rhetorical question. You don’t have to answer.
But why can’t we speak the unspeakable?
Why does everyone speak this way? It’s like reading Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. Really. Indescribable. Unspeakable. Unfathomable.
Conrad had an excuse. He was a gifted Polish speaker grappling with the English language. He used negatives well.
We don’t.
I don’t say it either.
I commend the efforts of people like Muupan in another post to speak what they think in a language that obviously is not easy for them.
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
Can anyone explain why the soldiers had pink strips on their helmets in the videos Muupan linked to? I have no theory. It’s just a question.
Report from the South: From the day of Prong-Dong (Harmony) to the day of Prab-Pram (Suppression)
Khun Michael,
Thank you very much for your comment. Actually my dissertation has very little to do with the Democrats, it is about politics of participation in rural development programmes.
In response to your question on what will happen when Chuan is no longer with the Democrats, I actually asked the same question to some of my interviewees. Many of them predicted that Southerners’ tie with the Democrats will not be as strong without Chuan (but could not tell how much it will be weakened). Furthermore, some even said that the Democrats are actually not “that strong” now, and it is more about the Southerners not having a better choice at the moment…(Well, I guess Thailand as a whole also does not have much choice left, and the Southerners might even lost their favorite choice soon :))
I also asked my interviewees their prediction on how successful the New Politics Party will be in the upcoming election. Most, including one NGOs that is the New Politics Party’s member, said that there is just a little chance. They said it will be very difficult for the New Politics to compete with the Democrats in the South as a whole, because votes to the New Politics will only come from limited sections of urban population.
Your question on why the Democrats still fail to expand to local level is very interesting. In fact, I actually found this happening not only in the South. From my observation of a few places I visited (North, Central, and South), most rural people I met actually relate themselves to national and local politics in a different way. They seem to think of national politics as something that is still quite far away. On the other hand, they take local politics more seriously as a part of their everyday life. I think this is probably because the effects that local politics have on them are much more immediate and tangible. Anyway, I have not done any serious research on this and have to accept that I still do not know much about it yet. May be I can keep this topic for my next report for the New Mandala.
Even more Thai ephemera
I feel stupid now. I have read other letters from Susie and realize that it is a gigantic piss take. I must say that is a relief. The alternative was believing that someone could be so ignorant.
Even more Thai ephemera
When I read the first letter from ‘Susie Wong’ I thought it was a joke, but reading the subsequent letters it appears that ‘she’ may be serious. If so, it is remarkable that she/he would be ignorant of the changes in Thai orthography that are a well known fact. Even more astounding is the claim that rifles were only introduced in Thailand in WWII! Stupefying is the claim that Thais in that era did not kill their fathers. But more to the point, why would anyone go to all the time and trouble to to fake these? To what end? Do you think anyone in the US or Europe would ever see or even care about this obscure form of Thai literature? Tell us you are joking Susie? And Somkit, are you in on the joke too?
Update on blocking of Nostitz report
Thanks Nick, I read your report once before it was blocked, and I also thanks Yahoo! for their yesterday pop-up news re-posted of your report once again. Today Prachatai post your news on line and it was blocked in a matter of one minute. I also support Dan Rivers, I know how terrify condition you people have to work on this bloody events, thanks gods you are saved. Thais people owed you on your report, we need foreign medias to tell the world for us. You people are the only powerful kit we have left, keep on trying your best for Thailand, good luck.
Update on blocking of Nostitz report
That new prachatai URL you have linked to above is unfortunately already blocked.
Hero or villain? The life of Samak
Simon # 4 :
When Thaksin was PM, I actually started to miss Samak !!
Nick Nostitz in the killing zone (re-post)
Thanks, Muupan. It’s good to hear a different and questioning Thai voice in among all the shouting of simple slogans from those Thai who just want to just dismiss what brought UDD to Bangkok – and to so many rallies around the country.
I think what you have said should be read by more people than will see it here (this is just a re-post of an article that was blocked by the government). Maybe New Mandala would consider posting it as a separate contribution?
In any case, I hope you will also post your thoughts in other places in Thai – so that the questions you are asking can also be considered by others. The government only wants its own “information” to reach them – and that’s not enough; to have any real chance of reconciliation, there needs to be a recognition of painful truths from all sides.
Is 2 trillion baht populist enough?
Andrew,
Thanks for your interest in my earlier posts.
You commented that, ‘‘So, while not being blind to the reality of corruption lets not use that as an excuse to avoid some more detailed analysis of the merits or otherwise of various budget measures.’’
However, as we or the Thai public cannot scrutinise any use of public money in Thailand, so it follows that our capacity to properly analyze and critically assess is impossible from the start. It also follows then that we are left to speculate, and only speculate, on the ministry allocations while reading about big spend or mega projects in the media (eventually) without ever having the opportunity to examine the details in any way whatsoever.
Mere speculation hardly equates to informed discourse. But that is often the case in Thailand.
Furthermore, a number of the commentators here – it is unnecessary to list them – seem to agree with my view that corruption is an ever present feature of government budget allocation and spending in Thailand.
This consensus then – at least here – does indicate that corruption is a reality, and a reality that does need to be addressed when discussing this topic.
Let me be clear: I am not just talking about money being stolen, but also the sheer number of poorly planned and sub standard projects that never get completed, or quickly fall apart or collapse not long after completion.
If politicians, civil servants, middle men etc. etc. were not corrupt, how much more could or would the lives of Thai people improve, and how?
Surely, it’s just a coincidence
LesAbbey – 31
I dont think anyone is being overzealous here, blocking website and news channel should not be happening in a democratic loving country.
Thailand’s terrorists
note LD #25
The article you cited comes from a questionable source-
…..Asia Times launches today; Asia’s new English language daily business newspaper.
Publication: Business Wire
Date: Tuesday, December 5 1995
“HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–December 6, 1995–The first copies of Asia Times roll off printing presses today in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, providing people in business throughout Asia with a new English language daily dedicated to Asian business news.
The launch represents the largest media launch of the decade in Asia. Publisher Sondhi Limthongkul, owner of M Group Thailand, will invest $60 million US dollars over the next 3 years to launch the paper.
Publisher Sondhi Limthongkul said: “It’s about time! Readers owe it to themselves to find an alternative business newspaper. Asia Times is the first Asian owned, Asian based regional business newspaper. This is the first time that Asians can hear the voices of other Asians. The launch of Asia Times demonstrates the first time Asians are breaking the western media monopoly in Asia”……
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures/7185461-1.html
Asia Times Online’s status as a Hong Kong company and its ownership are nebulous. Although it is registered in the territory, actually its editorial offices are in Thailand. It is widely assumed to be owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai tycoon and head of Manager Group, who started the original Asia Times as a newspaper but folded the print edition in 1997. The regional newspaper reportedly was losing US$1 million a month when it went under.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1232&Itemid=204