It’s not as if the video was taken secretly by some paparazzi in the hedges. It’s quite clear that both the subjects knew they were being taped.
From various leaks in the past, it seems the Prince has a habit of photographing and video taping in situations that to most people would find somewhat embarrassing. The fact that he’s continued doing this over the years despite fairly regular leaks shows the world that he’s fine with it, and that we’re just getting our prudish panties in a bunch.
This is Thailand. For centuries modest ladies walked around exposing their breasts and my great-grandfather, definitely not an amart, had a dozen wives.
Russia 1948:
I have lived in rural villages in Russia for the past two years, and have been in the homes of dozens of Communist Party members. Every one of them proudly diplays a picture of the Stalin, and many have Lenin as well.
There is not one Russian amongst the many hundreds I have met here that do not genuinely love the Party Leader. This is nothing to do with any draconian law – it is about a genuine love for their Leader that some people just can’t get their head around.
In the Burmese army, the standard procedure for a suppression operation against a protesting unruly mob is to re-arm one 3-men squad of a standard 35-men platoon with single barrel 12 gauge shot guns instead of their normal automatic rifles like 7.62 mm G3.
Only that shot-gun squad, not other normally-armed squads, is to fire at the crowd for the shotgun pallets are not as fatal and damaging as the single bullets but they can potentially injure far more people if fired from a far-enough distance.
Thai army might have the same procedure, according to the photos on NM.
Though I have often been openly critical of the Thai monarchy, I felt sorry for the naked princess, who was probably only trying to please her husband. If Vajiralongkorn is pressured into discarding her before becoming King of Thailand, she will have the likes of Eric Campbell to thank for her misery. Even though it has long been available on the Internet, a decent man (and I don’t mean a prudish one) would have left the scene out.
I should be flattered, if it weren’t for the seriousness of the actual issue.
Clearly sir, you should avail yourself of some of the issues before deciding whether there is ado about nothing.
This is my fifth year in Thailand – and I can tell you – it ain’t nothing.
Just to base this one instance of Campbell’s ignorance of professional duty in a little ethical fact, take a look at the Media Alliance Code of Ethics.
Do think the potential future monarch released that naked footage to the public, or do you think her privacy was breeched?
Please… whose intelligence are we trying to insult here?
I’m not even going into the validity of the so called ‘report’ itself.
This is a matter of ethics, decency and common sense.
And all this while people are being blown up in the streets of Bangkok, over cloudy issues that the majority of Thai citizens themselves don’t fully understand.
Campbell knows full well which side of the fence he sits, and this is not lost on his viewers generally. In recent times, his pathetically veiled attempts to feign balance in his reporting, have become and industry standard joke.
This time he has gone too far. And I say ‘thankfully’. It lays his abilities as a serious journalist writ large at the feet of the consumer and his colleagues. I say let him retire to the back page of some checkbook tabloid, before his sensationalist attempts at self promotion does more damage.
The monarch, in other words, is not located in the crowded sphere of popular power, but floats above it, defined as sacred by constitutional fiat, backed by draconian law.Of course it has not always been like that, and when Bhumibol first came to the throne there were figures in the government that welcomed his weakness and malleability.
Hard line princes fumed about the impotence of a young, inexperienced and, in many respects, un-Thai king. It was an inauspicious start to a long reign. But powerful military men and politicians found it useful to cultivate the royal charisma.
The current assertions of Bhumibol’s central role in national security are the product of a 60 year process of political manipulation.
Spot on, Andrew!
King Vajiralongkorn definitely will be good for the democracy in Thailand.
Agreed with this statement, but I think the establishment also know about this too well and they wouldn’t let the price took over the power from his dad.
Wasn’t it Handley’s book that mentions the amount of Red Gaur or village scouts from Ayudhya and outside of Bangkok? I don’t have it to hand right now.
So are you saying that ISOP worked totally independent of the local provincial politicians in recruiting members?
Are we allowed to mention Samak in this argument or was he another embarrassment to the cause like Arisman is today?
StanG (39) – Sorry to be pedantic. Of course I agree with you that we can learn about what happened through other means than the TV.
But my original point of debate was about what you wrote in (32): “…it’s a widely accepted fact among non-reds that there was no massacre last Songkran and the army did their job very professionally…”
I would think these “non-reds” learnt most of what they know about what happened via the TV, which is government or military-owned or controlled and has a strong anti-Red bias. (Print media sources that are popular among non-Reds – Matichon, ASTV-Manager, Khom Chat Luek, The Nation, Bangkok Post, are also generally anti-Red).
That’s why I said it is not unusual that the non-Reds should take this view, but in my opinion it is not a very credible view for the reasons I gave.
I’ve probably bored NM readers enough on this issue, so we may have to agree to disagree.
I have lived in rural villages in Isaan for the past two years, and have been in the homes of dozens of red shirt supporters. Every one of them proudly diplays a picture of the King, and many have King Chulalongkorn up as well.
There is not one Thai amongst the many hundreds I have met here that do not genuinely love the King. This is nothing to do with any draconian law – it is about a genuine love for their King that some farang just can’t get their head arouund.
Bold essay. I’ve always thought that the closet republicans in the red camp would be smart to make visible and extreme pledges of allegiance to the monarchy now, safe in the knowledge that the post-succession environment will give the genuine royalists an identity crisis. Currently those crying “Save The King” are conflating the monarch and the monarchy. It’s an understandable habit after 62 years, but when many of those same people are, when pressed privately, unable to pledge outright loyalty to the future king, their approaching crisis of identity is plain to see. Perhaps it is the suppressed anxiety over this looming identity crisis that fuels their fervor for believing the reds are all terrorist, un-Thai republicans. Someone external must take the blame for what will more likely be an internal event — the reduction of the monarchy’s stature.
The shotgun shell pics are interesting. I went down to Silom last night (22 April) around 9 pm and saw a number of soldiers with these shells. Not that I’m a gun buff or anything, but looks like –
12 Gauge Shotshell Ammunition
For personal defense and law enforcement applications, the International Wound Ballistics Association advocates number 1 buckshot as being superior to all other buckshot sizes.
Number 1 buck is the smallest diameter shot that reliably and consistently penetrates more than 12 inches of standard ordnance gelatin when fired at typical shotgun engagement distances. A standard 2 ┬╛-inch 12 gauge shotshell contains 16 pellets of #1 buck. The total combined cross sectional area of the 16 pellets is 1.13 square inches. Compared to the total combined cross sectional area of the nine pellets in a standard #00 (double-aught) buck shotshell (0.77 square inches), the # 1 buck shotshell has the capacity to produce over 30 percent more potentially effective wound trauma.
In all shotshell loads, number 1 buckshot produces more potentially effective wound trauma than either #00 or #000 buck. In addition, number 1 buck is less likely to over-penetrate and exit an attacker’s body. http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm
As to the coloured ribbons, a soldier told me that it was an identification flash designed to stop ‘third-hand’ infiltrators (“р╕Хр╕┤р╕Фр╕Бр╕▒р╕Щр╣Др╕зр╣Йр╕Юр╕зр╕Бр╕бр╕╖р╕нр╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕кр╕▓р╕б”).
Suffice it to say that there’s a lot of different ordnance being packed by the army down at Silom (saw a couple of guys with seriously scoped HKs). You don’t want to be in front of the business end of any of it.
Is “Embarrassed Journalist” by any chance related to a certain freelance ‘journalist’ of British/Indian descent and instigator of LM charges against Jonathan Head et al? I think we should be told.
[…] and read in Thailand–has been less restrained. Issues have come to a head recently with The Economist writing about, and the ABC actually broadcasting, the notorious birthday party video in which the […]
[Vichai – your increasingly offensive comments are not welcome on New Mandala. You can make them on your own blog. Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly]
I think you are on shaky empirical ground to say that the Red Shirts are “firm admirers” or “genuine supporters” of the King.
Because they say so? Because they “seem” to be?
Thaksin a “genuine supporter” of the monarchy?!!
I don’t think the issue has anything to do with a “psychological mechanism” or a separation between the “sacred and the profane”. I think the explanation is much simpler.
You would know that while the lese majeste law exists it is simply not possible for a Red Shirt to say publicly, “no, I don’t support the King or the Queen because over the last four years they have done almost everything in their power to destroy Thaksin and his political party, who I voted for because they improved my life and that of my family”.
Even if there were supporters of the king among the Red Shirts, that support is based on an environment where (i) the lese majeste law has effectively censored out all public criticism of the king and royal family; and (ii) a 24-7-365 propaganda machine bombards people from infancy to the grave about the virtues of the King and royal family.
Also, I think your argument about the “politicians and propagandists” or the Red media trying to get people to “join the dots” comes close to the PAD’s line about the buffalo peasants being pulled by the nose or hired by the evil Thaksin and his politicians.
People aren’t idiots. Of course they are not going to come out and openly criticise the King. Of course they are going to “play the game” by outwardly affecting loyalty to the monarchy. But it seems to me that after the monarchy’s blatant political interference and attempts to destroy Thaksin over the last four years it is an entirely rational view for a Red Shirt to be opposed to the monarchy.
Your conclusion about the growing republican sentiment among the Reds, which I do think is valid, does not seem to follow from your observations about the loyalty of the Red Shirts to the monarchy.
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Eric Campbell on journalistic duty
It’s not as if the video was taken secretly by some paparazzi in the hedges. It’s quite clear that both the subjects knew they were being taped.
From various leaks in the past, it seems the Prince has a habit of photographing and video taping in situations that to most people would find somewhat embarrassing. The fact that he’s continued doing this over the years despite fairly regular leaks shows the world that he’s fine with it, and that we’re just getting our prudish panties in a bunch.
This is Thailand. For centuries modest ladies walked around exposing their breasts and my great-grandfather, definitely not an amart, had a dozen wives.
Royal reds, reds, and rebel reds
Russia 1948:
I have lived in rural villages in Russia for the past two years, and have been in the homes of dozens of Communist Party members. Every one of them proudly diplays a picture of the Stalin, and many have Lenin as well.
There is not one Russian amongst the many hundreds I have met here that do not genuinely love the Party Leader. This is nothing to do with any draconian law – it is about a genuine love for their Leader that some people just can’t get their head around.
Scenes from Sala Daeng
In the Burmese army, the standard procedure for a suppression operation against a protesting unruly mob is to re-arm one 3-men squad of a standard 35-men platoon with single barrel 12 gauge shot guns instead of their normal automatic rifles like 7.62 mm G3.
Only that shot-gun squad, not other normally-armed squads, is to fire at the crowd for the shotgun pallets are not as fatal and damaging as the single bullets but they can potentially injure far more people if fired from a far-enough distance.
Thai army might have the same procedure, according to the photos on NM.
Eric Campbell on journalistic duty
Though I have often been openly critical of the Thai monarchy, I felt sorry for the naked princess, who was probably only trying to please her husband. If Vajiralongkorn is pressured into discarding her before becoming King of Thailand, she will have the likes of Eric Campbell to thank for her misery. Even though it has long been available on the Internet, a decent man (and I don’t mean a prudish one) would have left the scene out.
Eric Campbell on journalistic duty
Again… more comments about me?
I should be flattered, if it weren’t for the seriousness of the actual issue.
Clearly sir, you should avail yourself of some of the issues before deciding whether there is ado about nothing.
This is my fifth year in Thailand – and I can tell you – it ain’t nothing.
Just to base this one instance of Campbell’s ignorance of professional duty in a little ethical fact, take a look at the Media Alliance Code of Ethics.
http://www.alliance.org.au/media_alliance_code_of_ethics/
Do think the potential future monarch released that naked footage to the public, or do you think her privacy was breeched?
Please… whose intelligence are we trying to insult here?
I’m not even going into the validity of the so called ‘report’ itself.
This is a matter of ethics, decency and common sense.
And all this while people are being blown up in the streets of Bangkok, over cloudy issues that the majority of Thai citizens themselves don’t fully understand.
Campbell knows full well which side of the fence he sits, and this is not lost on his viewers generally. In recent times, his pathetically veiled attempts to feign balance in his reporting, have become and industry standard joke.
This time he has gone too far. And I say ‘thankfully’. It lays his abilities as a serious journalist writ large at the feet of the consumer and his colleagues. I say let him retire to the back page of some checkbook tabloid, before his sensationalist attempts at self promotion does more damage.
Why King Vajiralongkorn will be good for Thai Democracy
The monarch, in other words, is not located in the crowded sphere of popular power, but floats above it, defined as sacred by constitutional fiat, backed by draconian law.Of course it has not always been like that, and when Bhumibol first came to the throne there were figures in the government that welcomed his weakness and malleability.
Hard line princes fumed about the impotence of a young, inexperienced and, in many respects, un-Thai king. It was an inauspicious start to a long reign. But powerful military men and politicians found it useful to cultivate the royal charisma.
The current assertions of Bhumibol’s central role in national security are the product of a 60 year process of political manipulation.
Spot on, Andrew!
King Vajiralongkorn definitely will be good for the democracy in Thailand.
Why King Vajiralongkorn will be good for Thai Democracy
Agreed with this statement, but I think the establishment also know about this too well and they wouldn’t let the price took over the power from his dad.
Statement by students and academics at ANU
Stuart – 47
Stuart we have a few more dead bodies for you from last night. Do they still count, or were they on the wrong side of the barricades?
Ominous signs
Tarrin – 24
Wasn’t it Handley’s book that mentions the amount of Red Gaur or village scouts from Ayudhya and outside of Bangkok? I don’t have it to hand right now.
So are you saying that ISOP worked totally independent of the local provincial politicians in recruiting members?
Are we allowed to mention Samak in this argument or was he another embarrassment to the cause like Arisman is today?
Thailand on the verge
StanG (39) – Sorry to be pedantic. Of course I agree with you that we can learn about what happened through other means than the TV.
But my original point of debate was about what you wrote in (32): “…it’s a widely accepted fact among non-reds that there was no massacre last Songkran and the army did their job very professionally…”
I would think these “non-reds” learnt most of what they know about what happened via the TV, which is government or military-owned or controlled and has a strong anti-Red bias. (Print media sources that are popular among non-Reds – Matichon, ASTV-Manager, Khom Chat Luek, The Nation, Bangkok Post, are also generally anti-Red).
That’s why I said it is not unusual that the non-Reds should take this view, but in my opinion it is not a very credible view for the reasons I gave.
I’ve probably bored NM readers enough on this issue, so we may have to agree to disagree.
Royal reds, reds, and rebel reds
I have lived in rural villages in Isaan for the past two years, and have been in the homes of dozens of red shirt supporters. Every one of them proudly diplays a picture of the King, and many have King Chulalongkorn up as well.
There is not one Thai amongst the many hundreds I have met here that do not genuinely love the King. This is nothing to do with any draconian law – it is about a genuine love for their King that some farang just can’t get their head arouund.
More scenes from the stand-off in Bangkok
The only thing missing from these photos is a wild eyed demonstrator holding up a, “Yes we can”, sign.
Eric Campbell on journalistic duty
Embarrassed Journalist,
You’re getting bent out of shape over very little. I saw the video of the future queen – much ado about nothing.
Why King Vajiralongkorn will be good for Thai Democracy
Bold essay. I’ve always thought that the closet republicans in the red camp would be smart to make visible and extreme pledges of allegiance to the monarchy now, safe in the knowledge that the post-succession environment will give the genuine royalists an identity crisis. Currently those crying “Save The King” are conflating the monarch and the monarchy. It’s an understandable habit after 62 years, but when many of those same people are, when pressed privately, unable to pledge outright loyalty to the future king, their approaching crisis of identity is plain to see. Perhaps it is the suppressed anxiety over this looming identity crisis that fuels their fervor for believing the reds are all terrorist, un-Thai republicans. Someone external must take the blame for what will more likely be an internal event — the reduction of the monarchy’s stature.
Scenes from Sala Daeng
The shotgun shell pics are interesting. I went down to Silom last night (22 April) around 9 pm and saw a number of soldiers with these shells. Not that I’m a gun buff or anything, but looks like –
12 Gauge Shotshell Ammunition
For personal defense and law enforcement applications, the International Wound Ballistics Association advocates number 1 buckshot as being superior to all other buckshot sizes.
Number 1 buck is the smallest diameter shot that reliably and consistently penetrates more than 12 inches of standard ordnance gelatin when fired at typical shotgun engagement distances. A standard 2 ┬╛-inch 12 gauge shotshell contains 16 pellets of #1 buck. The total combined cross sectional area of the 16 pellets is 1.13 square inches. Compared to the total combined cross sectional area of the nine pellets in a standard #00 (double-aught) buck shotshell (0.77 square inches), the # 1 buck shotshell has the capacity to produce over 30 percent more potentially effective wound trauma.
In all shotshell loads, number 1 buckshot produces more potentially effective wound trauma than either #00 or #000 buck. In addition, number 1 buck is less likely to over-penetrate and exit an attacker’s body.
http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm
As to the coloured ribbons, a soldier told me that it was an identification flash designed to stop ‘third-hand’ infiltrators (“р╕Хр╕┤р╕Фр╕Бр╕▒р╕Щр╣Др╕зр╣Йр╕Юр╕зр╕Бр╕бр╕╖р╕нр╕Чр╕╡р╣Ир╕кр╕▓р╕б”).
Suffice it to say that there’s a lot of different ordnance being packed by the army down at Silom (saw a couple of guys with seriously scoped HKs). You don’t want to be in front of the business end of any of it.
Eric Campbell on journalistic duty
Is “Embarrassed Journalist” by any chance related to a certain freelance ‘journalist’ of British/Indian descent and instigator of LM charges against Jonathan Head et al? I think we should be told.
The Economist stomps on some media taboos
[…] and read in Thailand–has been less restrained. Issues have come to a head recently with The Economist writing about, and the ABC actually broadcasting, the notorious birthday party video in which the […]
Thailand on the verge – podcast
[…] is the text of my presentation to Thailand on the Verge held at ANU on 21 April […]
Ominous signs
[Vichai – your increasingly offensive comments are not welcome on New Mandala. You can make them on your own blog. Andrew Walker and Nicholas Farrelly]
Royal reds, reds, and rebel reds
I think you are on shaky empirical ground to say that the Red Shirts are “firm admirers” or “genuine supporters” of the King.
Because they say so? Because they “seem” to be?
Thaksin a “genuine supporter” of the monarchy?!!
I don’t think the issue has anything to do with a “psychological mechanism” or a separation between the “sacred and the profane”. I think the explanation is much simpler.
You would know that while the lese majeste law exists it is simply not possible for a Red Shirt to say publicly, “no, I don’t support the King or the Queen because over the last four years they have done almost everything in their power to destroy Thaksin and his political party, who I voted for because they improved my life and that of my family”.
Even if there were supporters of the king among the Red Shirts, that support is based on an environment where (i) the lese majeste law has effectively censored out all public criticism of the king and royal family; and (ii) a 24-7-365 propaganda machine bombards people from infancy to the grave about the virtues of the King and royal family.
Also, I think your argument about the “politicians and propagandists” or the Red media trying to get people to “join the dots” comes close to the PAD’s line about the buffalo peasants being pulled by the nose or hired by the evil Thaksin and his politicians.
People aren’t idiots. Of course they are not going to come out and openly criticise the King. Of course they are going to “play the game” by outwardly affecting loyalty to the monarchy. But it seems to me that after the monarchy’s blatant political interference and attempts to destroy Thaksin over the last four years it is an entirely rational view for a Red Shirt to be opposed to the monarchy.
Your conclusion about the growing republican sentiment among the Reds, which I do think is valid, does not seem to follow from your observations about the loyalty of the Red Shirts to the monarchy.