I wonder if Dr Bunnag by any chance is related a friend with whom I went to school at Washington U in St Louis in 1986. His name is “Kai” a.k.a. Danuj Bunnag. I would like to resume contact with him if possible. I work for the U.S. State Dept and based in Wash DC.
Thanks,
AK
Excellent pictures.
Interesting to see the army blocking the road to Government House. They had refused to oblige with any such defensive manoeuvre as the International Airport faced the threat of terrorist attack by the PAD.
The rest is history.
The Phan Foundation was founded by the four children of Padoh Mahn Sha, the General Secretary of the Karen National Union, and Nant Kyin Shwe, in their memory. On 14th February 2008 Padoh Mahn Sha was assassinated by agents of Burma’s military dictatorship.
One of your contributors states that the Australian mining companies in Laos are laying off thousands of workers and cutting back contracts. While there has been one local press report (Vientiane Times) stating that 3000 people were being laid off by the biggest mine (LXML’s Sepon mine for which I work), this report was completely inaccurate. It is true that exploration cutbacks and the onset of the dry season meant that the equivalent of three hundred casual jobs involving clearing ground for UXO removal were temporarily not required. This is a seasonal phenomenon and not uncommon. However, even here instead of laying off workers directly the remaining UXO and general clearance work was, in co-ordination with local authorities and villagers, redistributed so that all previous employees in this area had part-time work. Otherwise in the last two months or so fewer than five Lao staff have been made redundant and around a dozen expatriates.
Despite this amendment to the statements of your previous correspondent, it is difficult to disagree with the core of his argument; Laos is unlikely (to say the least) to avoid being quite sharply impacted by world economic events. LXML contributed $US 140 million to the Lao exchequer in 2007-2008 and close to half the value of the country’s exports. Since copper prices have fallen by two-thirds since mid-2008 there is certain to be a major reduction in both government revenue and exports from this source in 2008-2009.
Off-topic: Have you finished your paper on socio-pedagogy already? The current talk about the “second round of education reform” might make it even more interesting.
I must say that the term ”The ultimate ideology” creeps me out a bit. Whatever the hell it means. However, all is forgiven with the sight of Leena Jang, Thailand’s premier MPILF.
I was thrilled when I saw Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn and former PM’s Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair greeting each other at this gathering. I know then the leadership is in good hands.
It is interesting to read on another site that Asia Books Limited is the distributor of the Economist magazine, in which a recent Feb 2009 edition was banned and a December 2008 edition was severely criticised for its content on Lese Majesty. Harry’s book Verisimilitude (published in 2005) was also distributed by Asia Books. Why haven’t the Thai Police looked into how this distributor is able to continually allow the release of offensive material to the Thai Monarchy? One would think they should be experts right? And if they don’t know and continually get it wrong, how is everyone else supposed to know??
In Davos, Abhisit said that honesty and integrity were at the heart of his government. It becomes clear why he did not mention “intelligence” when reading the following paragraphs from an interview with the ICT minister that appeared in Bangkok Post of February 1, 2009.
Q: Okay, but appropriate or not is subjective. You deem something as inappropriate, but that’s your opinion, not fact. So does that mean, given freedom of speech as an integral component of democracy, the government should have the right to direct their opinions on to the people? Or should it be the prerogative of the people to decide for themselves what is or isn’t appropriate?
Q: Yes, yes, yes. The government should have the right to direct. [A long pause] But let’s not use the term “direct”, let’s say we have the right to “give guidance”, to “suggest”, what is inappropriate.
Q: Either way, that results in censorship and bans. So what would you say to foreign media and governments condemning such action for being undemocratic?
Q: Like Minister Pirapan said [earlier on television], the Royal Family is our Father and Mother. The Father and Mother of the land. Would anyone allow people to insult their father and mother? Not us. Democracies are always different. France is different from America and South Korea. Can you accept it? Jumping at the chairman of the House and going thump, thump, thump [she makes punching gestures, in a reference to violence in the South Korean parliament]. It depends on the country and traditions.
Q: Both you and Minister Pirapan say that lese majeste is a matter of national security, like the example cited about America banning “terrorist” websites. One may argue that that’s a case of enemies at war – there’s death and bombing – a case of national security. How then do you make the link between Royal Institutions and national security?
Like Minister Pirapan said, it’s not about libel or slander. A lot of foreigners misunderstood. They don’t fully understand the law. It’s about national security. It’s the law of Thailand. We have our laws, they have theirs. We respect theirs, they respect ours, right?
It’s what our flag stands for. The colours of our flag stand for country, religion and King. What our flag stands for is our national pride … our national security. All of these are what Thailand stands for … for “country”, it’s about fighting foreign invaders … for “King”, it’s about protecting our revered institution.
Just came across this site and am very impressed by the discussions and the information on The stilwell road.
I would like to mention that in the year 2000 I along with a small team travelled the Stilwell Road and made a film on it : The Stilwell Road-Revisited.
We had to the journey in three parts – India, China and Myanmar as Myanmar would not give us permission to cross over into or out by road. So first we flew to Kunming and travelled by road to Wanding/Ruili. Then we filmed the India portion by road right from Guwahati to the Pangsau Pass, having taken permission to travel through arunachal Pradesh. Finally we did the Mayanmar portion by flying to Mytikina and then travelled by road via Bhamo to Lashio on the Mayanmar-China border. We were not permitted to travel from Mytikina to Pangsau Pass as we were told that the road was in very bad shape and could not be traversed. It was motorable up to Tanai
There have been many such cases in Cambodia during the recent years. See appeals issued by the AHRC. The UN Special Rapporteur also highlighted a number of cases in his 2006 report.
by Daniel Pedersen
Saturday, 31 January 2009 18:32
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – As night closes in on Noe Poh refugee camp, about five hours south of Mae Sot in northern Thailand bordering town with Burma, the road that skirts its edge clears of people.
One would have to be extremely credulous to believe that Tej’s comments are indicative “that frank and fearless discussion of the “institution” really is possible”. Consider the blurb evokes the hackneyed role of the “developer king” and his dogged sacrifices to meet his subjects all over the country so that they may enhance their quality of life. Well, nothing new to that.
Let us be very clear that the report shows Tej is a staunch defender of the need for legislation protecting the royal family, but the subject of contention is in the accusation of lese majeste. Tej is not showing the way!
It would have been good if the full transcript of the public lecture were available so that we can examine if there is anything more than the legalistic acrobatics to signal that Thailand is going the more progressive route. A zebra doesn’t change stripes nor a leopard changes spots. An informed observer will recognize this for what it is – a confusing attempt to “win hearts and minds” for the monarchy after it was criticized for supporting the PAD demonstrators (see Jan 29, 2009 Economist); perhaps still fresh in people’s memories.
Ralph Kramden’s reminder that Tej’s point is about “amend” not abolish is key.
I wonder what Tej’s explanation is for saying that “You cannot compare the members of the royal family of the United Kingdom with members of the royal family in Thailand.” Are the disparate status, inherent goodness, lifelong dedication, and selflessness (oh, and btw, the wealth) of these two royal families partly explained by the differences in lese majeste laws of the two countries? If indeed there is a correlation, what happens if we change these lese majeste laws in Thailand? Who gains, who loses?
One sparrow does not a summer make. To parapharase a senior offical quoted in The Economist article “A right royal mess” Dec 4, 2008, Long live the King, for without him we will perish. I think Tej realizes this in his heart of hearts.
January 31 marks the 60th anniversary of one of Asia’s oldest rebel movements–the Karen National Union (KNU). It is a day commemorated by Karen people all around the world.
Mr. FIREFOX who ever you are…… u got all wrong with what you said besides without Mr. C.C Singpho the Singpho would not have come to existence among the other tribes in Arunachal P… they would have been know as one of the loser tribe addicted to opium and other sorts of drugs, am sure you know about it… so get that in your thick rotten skull of yours. He is not Shiyam, he was born in a village called Balipathar in Assam few of his sisters got married to Shiyam families and Tai Khamt family probably. You must have misunderstood him seeing his families consisting of different tribe. These Singphows were warriors who call themselves “Trung” which was a name of a river flowing in Burma. If you find so many errors in him then why wont you go and ask him yourself he wont bit you rather than posting negative comments with your fake “firefox” identity. As far as i know him he is a well-mannered gentleman and religious, he was always successful through out his currier. I have never seen any drawbacks till today in his currier.. Because of huge migration & bonding relation with different tribes many of the Jingphow/Singphows have lost their track to there identity. In fact in this generation young kids cant speak their own tribal language because they often spend their child hood in boarding English school for better education. Firefox may be you should get you dna done and hope you don’t turn out to be a cross breed.
Good letter from AI. But their silence on lese majeste continues. I wonder if the silence is related to the hopeless splits set out in the article by Pravit at the Nation? A couple of quotes here:
“The divide comes after years of human rights monitors openly or secretly defending the PAD and mostly turning a blind eye to alleged rights violations by the group. The same can be said about others in the opposite camp. Nasty email exchanges have taken place over the past 12 months and some activists no longer want to even discuss rights matters with those in the opposite camp. It began when some well-known rights defenders clearly took sides with one camp or the other. Those on the PAD-camp urged fellow activists not to harshly criticise the PAD’s regressive politics and alleged rights violations and it snowballed into vicious arguments and finger pointing.
At one point last year, the Thai chapter of Amnesty International even issued a statement which could be read supporting the PAD – only to see their statement retracted after people in Amnesty’s main office in London intervened.”
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Tej Bunnag shows the way
I wonder if Dr Bunnag by any chance is related a friend with whom I went to school at Washington U in St Louis in 1986. His name is “Kai” a.k.a. Danuj Bunnag. I would like to resume contact with him if possible. I work for the U.S. State Dept and based in Wash DC.
Thanks,
AK
Maintaining the rage
Excellent pictures.
Interesting to see the army blocking the road to Government House. They had refused to oblige with any such defensive manoeuvre as the International Airport faced the threat of terrorist attack by the PAD.
The rest is history.
Maintaining the rage
LSS: I am your hairy Godbrother. Your wish (MPetc) is granted. Just call the Minister for Thai Commerce…
Volunteering to fight in Burma
The Phan Foundation was founded by the four children of Padoh Mahn Sha, the General Secretary of the Karen National Union, and Nant Kyin Shwe, in their memory. On 14th February 2008 Padoh Mahn Sha was assassinated by agents of Burma’s military dictatorship.
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/phan-foundation-award-given-to/
Laos too poor to get any poorer
One of your contributors states that the Australian mining companies in Laos are laying off thousands of workers and cutting back contracts. While there has been one local press report (Vientiane Times) stating that 3000 people were being laid off by the biggest mine (LXML’s Sepon mine for which I work), this report was completely inaccurate. It is true that exploration cutbacks and the onset of the dry season meant that the equivalent of three hundred casual jobs involving clearing ground for UXO removal were temporarily not required. This is a seasonal phenomenon and not uncommon. However, even here instead of laying off workers directly the remaining UXO and general clearance work was, in co-ordination with local authorities and villagers, redistributed so that all previous employees in this area had part-time work. Otherwise in the last two months or so fewer than five Lao staff have been made redundant and around a dozen expatriates.
Despite this amendment to the statements of your previous correspondent, it is difficult to disagree with the core of his argument; Laos is unlikely (to say the least) to avoid being quite sharply impacted by world economic events. LXML contributed $US 140 million to the Lao exchequer in 2007-2008 and close to half the value of the country’s exports. Since copper prices have fallen by two-thirds since mid-2008 there is certain to be a major reduction in both government revenue and exports from this source in 2008-2009.
Maintaining the rage
LSS:
Off-topic: Have you finished your paper on socio-pedagogy already? The current talk about the “second round of education reform” might make it even more interesting.
Maintaining the rage
I must say that the term ”The ultimate ideology” creeps me out a bit. Whatever the hell it means. However, all is forgiven with the sight of Leena Jang, Thailand’s premier MPILF.
Maintaining the rage
I was thrilled when I saw Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn and former PM’s Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair greeting each other at this gathering. I know then the leadership is in good hands.
Volunteering to fight in Burma
Amnesty Inter report 08
http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar
Lèse majesté and Harry Nicolaides
It is interesting to read on another site that Asia Books Limited is the distributor of the Economist magazine, in which a recent Feb 2009 edition was banned and a December 2008 edition was severely criticised for its content on Lese Majesty. Harry’s book Verisimilitude (published in 2005) was also distributed by Asia Books. Why haven’t the Thai Police looked into how this distributor is able to continually allow the release of offensive material to the Thai Monarchy? One would think they should be experts right? And if they don’t know and continually get it wrong, how is everyone else supposed to know??
Repression
In Davos, Abhisit said that honesty and integrity were at the heart of his government. It becomes clear why he did not mention “intelligence” when reading the following paragraphs from an interview with the ICT minister that appeared in Bangkok Post of February 1, 2009.
Q: Okay, but appropriate or not is subjective. You deem something as inappropriate, but that’s your opinion, not fact. So does that mean, given freedom of speech as an integral component of democracy, the government should have the right to direct their opinions on to the people? Or should it be the prerogative of the people to decide for themselves what is or isn’t appropriate?
Q: Yes, yes, yes. The government should have the right to direct. [A long pause] But let’s not use the term “direct”, let’s say we have the right to “give guidance”, to “suggest”, what is inappropriate.
Q: Either way, that results in censorship and bans. So what would you say to foreign media and governments condemning such action for being undemocratic?
Q: Like Minister Pirapan said [earlier on television], the Royal Family is our Father and Mother. The Father and Mother of the land. Would anyone allow people to insult their father and mother? Not us. Democracies are always different. France is different from America and South Korea. Can you accept it? Jumping at the chairman of the House and going thump, thump, thump [she makes punching gestures, in a reference to violence in the South Korean parliament]. It depends on the country and traditions.
Q: Both you and Minister Pirapan say that lese majeste is a matter of national security, like the example cited about America banning “terrorist” websites. One may argue that that’s a case of enemies at war – there’s death and bombing – a case of national security. How then do you make the link between Royal Institutions and national security?
Like Minister Pirapan said, it’s not about libel or slander. A lot of foreigners misunderstood. They don’t fully understand the law. It’s about national security. It’s the law of Thailand. We have our laws, they have theirs. We respect theirs, they respect ours, right?
It’s what our flag stands for. The colours of our flag stand for country, religion and King. What our flag stands for is our national pride … our national security. All of these are what Thailand stands for … for “country”, it’s about fighting foreign invaders … for “King”, it’s about protecting our revered institution.
The Stilwell Road
Just came across this site and am very impressed by the discussions and the information on The stilwell road.
I would like to mention that in the year 2000 I along with a small team travelled the Stilwell Road and made a film on it : The Stilwell Road-Revisited.
We had to the journey in three parts – India, China and Myanmar as Myanmar would not give us permission to cross over into or out by road. So first we flew to Kunming and travelled by road to Wanding/Ruili. Then we filmed the India portion by road right from Guwahati to the Pangsau Pass, having taken permission to travel through arunachal Pradesh. Finally we did the Mayanmar portion by flying to Mytikina and then travelled by road via Bhamo to Lashio on the Mayanmar-China border. We were not permitted to travel from Mytikina to Pangsau Pass as we were told that the road was in very bad shape and could not be traversed. It was motorable up to Tanai
Cambodia evicts its own
There have been many such cases in Cambodia during the recent years. See appeals issued by the AHRC. The UN Special Rapporteur also highlighted a number of cases
in his 2006 report.
Volunteering to fight in Burma
Refugee camp under threat
by Daniel Pedersen
Saturday, 31 January 2009 18:32
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – As night closes in on Noe Poh refugee camp, about five hours south of Mae Sot in northern Thailand bordering town with Burma, the road that skirts its edge clears of people.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1635-refugee-camp-under-threat.html
say hello to myat thu ma pi naa
Tej Bunnag shows the way
One would have to be extremely credulous to believe that Tej’s comments are indicative “that frank and fearless discussion of the “institution” really is possible”. Consider the blurb evokes the hackneyed role of the “developer king” and his dogged sacrifices to meet his subjects all over the country so that they may enhance their quality of life. Well, nothing new to that.
Let us be very clear that the report shows Tej is a staunch defender of the need for legislation protecting the royal family, but the subject of contention is in the accusation of lese majeste. Tej is not showing the way!
It would have been good if the full transcript of the public lecture were available so that we can examine if there is anything more than the legalistic acrobatics to signal that Thailand is going the more progressive route. A zebra doesn’t change stripes nor a leopard changes spots. An informed observer will recognize this for what it is – a confusing attempt to “win hearts and minds” for the monarchy after it was criticized for supporting the PAD demonstrators (see Jan 29, 2009 Economist); perhaps still fresh in people’s memories.
Ralph Kramden’s reminder that Tej’s point is about “amend” not abolish is key.
I wonder what Tej’s explanation is for saying that “You cannot compare the members of the royal family of the United Kingdom with members of the royal family in Thailand.” Are the disparate status, inherent goodness, lifelong dedication, and selflessness (oh, and btw, the wealth) of these two royal families partly explained by the differences in lese majeste laws of the two countries? If indeed there is a correlation, what happens if we change these lese majeste laws in Thailand? Who gains, who loses?
One sparrow does not a summer make. To parapharase a senior offical quoted in The Economist article “A right royal mess” Dec 4, 2008, Long live the King, for without him we will perish. I think Tej realizes this in his heart of hearts.
Volunteering to fight in Burma
Forever at the Frontline
January 31 marks the 60th anniversary of one of Asia’s oldest rebel movements–the Karen National Union (KNU). It is a day commemorated by Karen people all around the world.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=15037
Volunteering to fight in Burma
Pictures 60.Karen Revolution Day
http://picasaweb.google.com/lunswe/60thKRD#
Thanks to Dr.Lun Swe
Ministers at the Arunachal Pradesh Manau
Mr. FIREFOX who ever you are…… u got all wrong with what you said besides without Mr. C.C Singpho the Singpho would not have come to existence among the other tribes in Arunachal P… they would have been know as one of the loser tribe addicted to opium and other sorts of drugs, am sure you know about it… so get that in your thick rotten skull of yours. He is not Shiyam, he was born in a village called Balipathar in Assam few of his sisters got married to Shiyam families and Tai Khamt family probably. You must have misunderstood him seeing his families consisting of different tribe. These Singphows were warriors who call themselves “Trung” which was a name of a river flowing in Burma. If you find so many errors in him then why wont you go and ask him yourself he wont bit you rather than posting negative comments with your fake “firefox” identity. As far as i know him he is a well-mannered gentleman and religious, he was always successful through out his currier. I have never seen any drawbacks till today in his currier.. Because of huge migration & bonding relation with different tribes many of the Jingphow/Singphows have lost their track to there identity. In fact in this generation young kids cant speak their own tribal language because they often spend their child hood in boarding English school for better education. Firefox may be you should get you dna done and hope you don’t turn out to be a cross breed.
Thailand, international human rights and ISOC
Good letter from AI. But their silence on lese majeste continues. I wonder if the silence is related to the hopeless splits set out in the article by Pravit at the Nation? A couple of quotes here:
“The divide comes after years of human rights monitors openly or secretly defending the PAD and mostly turning a blind eye to alleged rights violations by the group. The same can be said about others in the opposite camp. Nasty email exchanges have taken place over the past 12 months and some activists no longer want to even discuss rights matters with those in the opposite camp. It began when some well-known rights defenders clearly took sides with one camp or the other. Those on the PAD-camp urged fellow activists not to harshly criticise the PAD’s regressive politics and alleged rights violations and it snowballed into vicious arguments and finger pointing.
At one point last year, the Thai chapter of Amnesty International even issued a statement which could be read supporting the PAD – only to see their statement retracted after people in Amnesty’s main office in London intervened.”
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/01/28/politics/politics_30094336.php
Repression
Sorry – the last quote is from
Pravit Rojanaphruk (The Nation, January 16, 2009)