I’m afraid I don’t have much of a substantive comment to make, but just to note that last night German friend, who is very involved with Burmese ethnic groups, called me last night from Bangkok to congratulate me on Obama’s win. He gone to a party the night before to celebrate. At the very least, Obama has attention of the international community.
It should also be noted that McCain and other Republicans Senators have taken a hard line towards Burma, and most of them have retained their seats, so that has to be factored in as well.
Finally, I’ll share a funny email a friend at work got from an African American old Marine friend. The email said that since the US didn’t follow through with the promise after the Civil War to give the ex-slaves forty acres and a mule, they’d settle for 50 States and the White House.
Perhaps the lack of interest in Asian language literacy stems from not knowing what to do with such a language after you learn it. How does the need for such a language come about?
Pretty much all the westerners that I know who learned Thai fluently and made a contribution to the country of Thailand were involved in some voluntary service organization like the Peace Corps and the Australian equivalent. They learned Thai from a combination of initial training course and then living and working in the community.
Then there are the engineers, journalists, corporate managers, highly skilled oil drilling technicians, etc whose careers led them, probably completely unexpectedly to Thailand. Missionaries are also quite numerous. English teachers and International School teachers are also quite numerous.
Then there are the handful of Asian Studies academics and PhD candidates doing research in the country, a very small group compared to these other groups, supposedly the end product of on-campus “Asian Studies.”
IMHO to accomodate these other important groups some combination of internet and on-site in-country programmes should probably be used. Little things like sponsoring MP3 downloadable Thai listening practice would also really help a wide variety of groups. Since any one academic specialty is going to be very thin, collaboration between specialists in different countries, including the Southeast Asian countries themselves, is essential but one sees very little of that. Small informal seminars would be a lot cheaper than, for instance, the great Mon Studies conference at Chulalongkorn last year that brought together academics from all over the world.
Ralph, you are spot on, ‘murky’ was precisely the comment that was cited in the complaint against me.
But I have not been charged. I have not been officially notified of anything further by the CSD, but unofficially I have been told that a decision was made not to press charges.
The phrase I used, in introducing an event at the FCCT, was ‘the murky issue of what role the monarchy plays in Thai politics’, meaning ‘unclear’.
If you consult a Thai dictionary murky is usually first translated as ‘dark’, and Lt. Col. Wattanasak, who made the complaint mistranslated it (or his ‘helper’ did) as ‘the dark role of the monarchy in Thai society’.
“Democrats tend to resist meeting with Burmese officials in any sort of forum.”
Frank, I don’t think that’s really the case (or at least not any more so than it is for Republicans). It was Condoleezza Rice who named Burma an “outpost of tyranny,” and it was George W. (and especially Laura) Bush’s hard-line non-negotiation stance on Burma that made this current US administration the darling of Burma’s exiled pro-democracy movement.
I don’t see why Obama’s argument for negotiation and against isolation with regards to Iran (another “outpost of tyranny”) should be fundamentally different for Burma. If anything, we may see a decrease in US government support (financial or otherwise) for exiled pro-democracy groups. Although, the current economic crisis would also be a significant factor for this (c.f. Ashley South’s recent article).
The Nation’s Kavi Chongkittavorn had this to say on the matter earlier this week:
In the foreseeable future, the Burmese crisis would remain high on agenda between Asean and the West. It remains to be seen how the Obama administration can make a breakthrough on Burma. His advisors said the US need to work with Asean on Burma to ensure that Rangoon lives up to its obligations as a member of Asean. It is easier said than done.
Both US and EU have up until now imposed the toughest sanction regime against the Burmese junta and its leaders. That hard-lined approach would not change in coming months unless the Rangoon regime has made an extraordinary compromise.
However, the aftermath of cyclone Nargis has given unique opportunities for Asean and international communities including US and UN-related agencies to work together in designing and implementing rescue, rehabilitation and recovery plans. Growing recommendations are that this cooperation, albeit flawed, should continue or even intensify to draw in the Burmese regime.
If these ceremonies seem weird to some of you, I would say the weirdest is the latest one performed by Sonthi L who offered ladies’ sanitary napkins (used already) to a highly respected statue so as to ward off evil influence ready to affect the PAD at Govt House. Ask your Thai friends about this.
Btw, the four-faced Buddha statue is in fact Phra Phrom and located in the Raj-prasong intersection, not Silom.
The fact of the matter is no one really knows, as Obama is sort of a blank slate that supporters paint their dreams on. That said, your last bullet point is most relevant. Democratic Party inertia tends towards preaching to countries outside the West on how to implement supposedly correct policies in areas such as labor, environmental, minimum wage, social policy, goverment structure, etc – without the use of military force- but with a heavy dose of Political Correctness (i.e. propaganda). Also, ASEAN relations may worsen as Democrats tend to resist meeting with Burmese officials in any sort of fourm.
What is spiritually developed anyway? Does that mean one can be become a 5th Dan in Spirituality and thereafter proceed to look down on everyone else. If so, we should perhaps remember that Thaksin, Sonthi and someone even higher are already doing that big time. For most folks it should perhaps be worded as something more like “having more time to ruminate over one’s own life”. Hardly possible when one is constantly being herded around by those who are intent on maximising their monetary/merit profits with a minimum of input.
Despite Mr. Thaksin’s shortcomings, his reformist policy of helping the long-suffering farmers in the Thai country side has made him the best prime minister for the country so far. Unfortunately for Thailand, there has been a lot of infighting and self-interest among those so-called elites in the Bangkok area. PAD claims to be fighting for democracy and against cronyism in the Thai politcal system, but then Thailand and most countries in Southeast Asia has always been like that. If the Thai Rak Thai Party and its successor party have been returned again and again to power by the Thai people in great numbers, PAD and other losing parties should not make a mockery of democracy by taking the matter into their own hands and carry out illegal and unreasonable protests which have taken the form of occupying government buildings. This makes them either bad losers or unruly queue jumpers who will never give up until they themselves are in the seat of power to rule Thailand.
In addition to my muddled post above, with regards to learning a language, what about a short weekly podcast that talks about the weeks most interesting stories on NM, and then after each story, re-enforcing everything with a Thai summary, or iterating the stories in Thai slowly alongside the English?
Ryan, you mention providing resources to make it easier for people to get over there. I’ve not seen other websites that manage to keep up a c0nsistent level of enthusiasm in order to serve as anything beyond an Orientalist advertisement. For instance, the TLC site:
… doesn’t really say much beyond join our lovely exclusive maroon club where we talk about the various aromas of teak. There are many links to US aid agencies, scholarship programmes and so on, but really this is not comparitively engaging. The beauty of NM is that it transports the commentators significance in the region to the readership on a consistent basis.
The biggest resource available here is the willingness of people to talk, and that certainly brings part of Southeast Asia alive as it is alive within the authors. However, to really transform Australia’s perspective, this sort of experience needs to be related on a much bigger scale — and to do that people who would otherwise be unable to have an opportunity to have any significance with Southeast Asia need to be provided with opportunities.
In Europe, undergraduates have many opportunities to study abroad for a year, for instance, the famous and ultra accessible Erasmus programme, which receives a great deal of funding. Why isn’t there programmes of a similar level of accessibility and popularity for Australians? The loaded answer is funding of $64 million is treated with the same significance as giving change to a beggar. To make a difference, NM could raise awareness of this issue by often raising it.
It seems that a people’s relationship with such spirits is what makes a place and keeps it (sometimes) safe from outside attacks. Wyatt relates that one old chronicle of Nan mentions several attacks (from Yunnan and Siam, 14th and 15th c) were repelled with the help of guardian spirits, who were then in Pua, an earlier capital. This chronicle “then gives us a list of twenty-one localities, each of which had regularly to provide specific quantities of lumber for the renovation or rebuilding of these halls [guardian spirit houses]”. Of course, this outsourcing is what marks a kingdom from a village, but there is otherwise a clear structural parallel. Wyatt continues; “The section concludes by telling how the spirits twice killed rulers who did not pay proper attention to them”. So, in reaction to your interesting piece, I think the classification of “external forces and more localised nodes of influence” may need to be tinkered with.
From a skills-acquisition perspective, studying Asian languages in Australia will always be highly difficult. There is very little that can be done to make up for the fact that exposure to a language is everything. In my humble opinion, a couple of hours in a classroom and the odd movie on SBS can, at best, keep up old skills rather than really allow you to learn a language to any level of fluency.
Moreover, there is a fragmentation issue. There is no single one language that for Australia makes sense as making the only “second language” and thus exactly how will we manage to allow students the exposure to the language? It isn’t like we are Sweden, who broadcast almost all their TV shows in English with Swedish subtitles- in their case because they have identified English as the de facto second language.
Thus, to me, the most important thing to encourage is interest in the country in general. We need to encourage people to get over to the country and spend time there learning the language. This seems to have two parts: firstly, an acknowledgment that learning a language is useful (Nich’s part about the school choices etc. is interesting here) and secondly, that going to the country itself is a necessary part of learning a language.
NM has a role to play in both of these I think. The first, identified above, may come from an expansion of the abbreviations series, or the “four-letter words” segment that encourages greater engagement with the language. The second may be in its ability to provide people with contacts/language resources/information that make it easier for people to head to SE Asia?
Either way, any kind of service that “brings alive” a country will be of considerable use.
Kickster: where have you been for the last 2-3 years. Please read previous posts before adding such trifling and sad comments. By the way TKNS seems to be circulating in Thai versions, so you can read, learn and enjoy!
Wasn’t “murky” the word that initially got Jonathon Head into trouble at the FCCT? BTW, reports recently suggest that he has actually been charged. Is that true?
I would reply to jonfernquest but could not remain in the bounds of NM’s policies.
“As Thongchai Winichakul noted a few weeks ago, the space for frank dissent and discussion is disappearing.”
It disappeared years ago. You must not have been living in Thailand during the Thaksin years and read the newspaper. Does government by cabinet decree allow for deabate or dissent?
If you were, then from a human rights perspective you must have missed the dead bodies on the street, I didn’t.
Or from a business perspective you must have missed the 50% non-performing loan rates of his populist loan schemes.
Marx and Socialism make things less murky? Please study the “Burmese Way to Socialism” which eventually became the “Burmese Way to Present Deplorable Human Rights State of Burma” with no dissent allowed at all. May I suggest the Crossroads article:
“Distrinctions with a Difference: The Despotic Paternalism of Sarit Thanarat and the Demagogic Authoritarianism of Thaksin Shinawatra” by Thak Chaloemtiarana;
Murky judiciary, then. I think one of Thailand’s problems is that the people refuse to be enlightened. Many Thais claim to be Buddhists, but their life conduct is quite contrary to the Buddhist Dhamma, for example, they promote hatred instead of love. A lot of them look for faults in others instead of good points. We Thais need to be much more spiritually developed to overcome our current problems. Overall, our lack of wisdom is frightening.
– fair-minded and reliable human rights reporting and
– consistent and objective rule of law
are sadly missing in Thailand right now
the behaviour of both the NHRC and the courts is shocking
the NHRC appears to be anti-government rather than fairly supporting everyone that is the subject of abuses, no reporting on human rights of PAD supporters caught up in expected violent events, no consideration for humans damaged by the PAD guards
the courts seem to be pro-PAD, eg. the ring leaders were charged, some charges were dropped, they were arrested and released on bail without conditions so they could continue violating
I think Paul Handley’s ,He doesn’t know too much like Thai people.
How can he marked this book and call it as “biography of Thailand’s King Bhumiphol”.In fact, He never interview my King or talking with my King by him self before .So,please don’t!!
Thanks Tony, Colum and Stephen for all your interesting comments.
Andrew and I will certainly take these suggestions on board when we next discuss future directions. We are always keen to hear about what is useful for students, scholars, journalists, and analysts.
Language related posts will, I’m sure, to continue to be a key part of the site. And, of course, we are always happy to receive contributions on language issues. Featuring that sort of material is, as I see it, one of our most important jobs.
With all that in mind, if anyone has further suggestions please don’t hesitate to pass them along.
Thank you Mungo for elaborating upon your sarcasm. I find your new posting more constructive. I do not disagree with you about the rampant corruption in Thai politics (or Thai society to be more accurate). But the so-called anti-corruption campaigns pursued by some state and societal actors against the TRT/PPP rather confirm my belief in double standards. It is not about ‘everyone is doing it’ but ‘why being lenient on certain groups or individuals’. I have yet to see a popular movement against corruption in the military and civilian bureaucracy.
My idea of ‘double standards’ also extends to the value judgment exercised by influential groups, such as the media (particularly print media) and anti-Thaksin political leaders and activists. For example, why are they so slow in condemning the PAD for their use of violence and disruptive actions? Why the PAD leaders, after being set free on bail, were allowed to continue their subversive activities, including laying siege to the Government House?
Briefly on to the FIDF case. Despite Sidh’s attempts to clarify on the FIDF regulations and the concept of conflict of interest, I continue to see it as part of the stretching of the judicary’s mandate to serve political purposes. The conviction of Thaksin on technical (only because he was the PM at the time) and ethical grounds (and funnily letting his wife go free) resembles the petty ruling on Samak, where the punishment was designed to fit a political objective rather than fitting the crime.
I’d like to add something on the rally and Thaksin’s speech ( by the way thank you David Brown for your personal accounts). I see both as part of the recent political and ideological struggles, which I think amidst the multiple meanings to be read, two fundamental issues are at play, namely distributive justice, and political empowerment. Broadly speaking, ideas about distributive justice cuts along the rural-urban divide of the PAD’s and UDD/pro-Thaksin’s constituencies. While the debates on ‘new politics’ and the future of Thai democracy, which deal with the question of who has the power to choose political leaders, touch upon the important issue of political empowerment.
This is a very interesting topic. Paul Handley seemed especially curious about it and about royal sacrality. Although he was sure on political events, I think this topic in itself is worth delving into. Certainly we can see different cliches of magicmen that both sides utilize, but it would take a sociologist who understands Thai religious beliefs, symbolism, rituals and their importance(combined with knowledge of Thailand’s social networks) to be able to study this phenomenon fully.
Any New Mandala academics up for it? I would like to pre-order your book.
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Regional reaction to Obama
I’m afraid I don’t have much of a substantive comment to make, but just to note that last night German friend, who is very involved with Burmese ethnic groups, called me last night from Bangkok to congratulate me on Obama’s win. He gone to a party the night before to celebrate. At the very least, Obama has attention of the international community.
It should also be noted that McCain and other Republicans Senators have taken a hard line towards Burma, and most of them have retained their seats, so that has to be factored in as well.
Finally, I’ll share a funny email a friend at work got from an African American old Marine friend. The email said that since the US didn’t follow through with the promise after the Civil War to give the ex-slaves forty acres and a mule, they’d settle for 50 States and the White House.
Studying up for an Asian future
Perhaps the lack of interest in Asian language literacy stems from not knowing what to do with such a language after you learn it. How does the need for such a language come about?
Pretty much all the westerners that I know who learned Thai fluently and made a contribution to the country of Thailand were involved in some voluntary service organization like the Peace Corps and the Australian equivalent. They learned Thai from a combination of initial training course and then living and working in the community.
Then there are the engineers, journalists, corporate managers, highly skilled oil drilling technicians, etc whose careers led them, probably completely unexpectedly to Thailand. Missionaries are also quite numerous. English teachers and International School teachers are also quite numerous.
Then there are the handful of Asian Studies academics and PhD candidates doing research in the country, a very small group compared to these other groups, supposedly the end product of on-campus “Asian Studies.”
IMHO to accomodate these other important groups some combination of internet and on-site in-country programmes should probably be used. Little things like sponsoring MP3 downloadable Thai listening practice would also really help a wide variety of groups. Since any one academic specialty is going to be very thin, collaboration between specialists in different countries, including the Southeast Asian countries themselves, is essential but one sees very little of that. Small informal seminars would be a lot cheaper than, for instance, the great Mon Studies conference at Chulalongkorn last year that brought together academics from all over the world.
Murk
Ralph, you are spot on, ‘murky’ was precisely the comment that was cited in the complaint against me.
But I have not been charged. I have not been officially notified of anything further by the CSD, but unofficially I have been told that a decision was made not to press charges.
The phrase I used, in introducing an event at the FCCT, was ‘the murky issue of what role the monarchy plays in Thai politics’, meaning ‘unclear’.
If you consult a Thai dictionary murky is usually first translated as ‘dark’, and Lt. Col. Wattanasak, who made the complaint mistranslated it (or his ‘helper’ did) as ‘the dark role of the monarchy in Thai society’.
Regional reaction to Obama
“Democrats tend to resist meeting with Burmese officials in any sort of forum.”
Frank, I don’t think that’s really the case (or at least not any more so than it is for Republicans). It was Condoleezza Rice who named Burma an “outpost of tyranny,” and it was George W. (and especially Laura) Bush’s hard-line non-negotiation stance on Burma that made this current US administration the darling of Burma’s exiled pro-democracy movement.
I don’t see why Obama’s argument for negotiation and against isolation with regards to Iran (another “outpost of tyranny”) should be fundamentally different for Burma. If anything, we may see a decrease in US government support (financial or otherwise) for exiled pro-democracy groups. Although, the current economic crisis would also be a significant factor for this (c.f. Ashley South’s recent article).
The Nation’s Kavi Chongkittavorn had this to say on the matter earlier this week:
Thaksin and the Brahmins
If these ceremonies seem weird to some of you, I would say the weirdest is the latest one performed by Sonthi L who offered ladies’ sanitary napkins (used already) to a highly respected statue so as to ward off evil influence ready to affect the PAD at Govt House. Ask your Thai friends about this.
Btw, the four-faced Buddha statue is in fact Phra Phrom and located in the Raj-prasong intersection, not Silom.
Regional reaction to Obama
The fact of the matter is no one really knows, as Obama is sort of a blank slate that supporters paint their dreams on. That said, your last bullet point is most relevant. Democratic Party inertia tends towards preaching to countries outside the West on how to implement supposedly correct policies in areas such as labor, environmental, minimum wage, social policy, goverment structure, etc – without the use of military force- but with a heavy dose of Political Correctness (i.e. propaganda). Also, ASEAN relations may worsen as Democrats tend to resist meeting with Burmese officials in any sort of fourm.
Murk
What is spiritually developed anyway? Does that mean one can be become a 5th Dan in Spirituality and thereafter proceed to look down on everyone else. If so, we should perhaps remember that Thaksin, Sonthi and someone even higher are already doing that big time. For most folks it should perhaps be worded as something more like “having more time to ruminate over one’s own life”. Hardly possible when one is constantly being herded around by those who are intent on maximising their monetary/merit profits with a minimum of input.
Thai politics from Chinese perspectives
Despite Mr. Thaksin’s shortcomings, his reformist policy of helping the long-suffering farmers in the Thai country side has made him the best prime minister for the country so far. Unfortunately for Thailand, there has been a lot of infighting and self-interest among those so-called elites in the Bangkok area. PAD claims to be fighting for democracy and against cronyism in the Thai politcal system, but then Thailand and most countries in Southeast Asia has always been like that. If the Thai Rak Thai Party and its successor party have been returned again and again to power by the Thai people in great numbers, PAD and other losing parties should not make a mockery of democracy by taking the matter into their own hands and carry out illegal and unreasonable protests which have taken the form of occupying government buildings. This makes them either bad losers or unruly queue jumpers who will never give up until they themselves are in the seat of power to rule Thailand.
David Tan
Studying up for an Asian future
In addition to my muddled post above, with regards to learning a language, what about a short weekly podcast that talks about the weeks most interesting stories on NM, and then after each story, re-enforcing everything with a Thai summary, or iterating the stories in Thai slowly alongside the English?
Ryan, you mention providing resources to make it easier for people to get over there. I’ve not seen other websites that manage to keep up a c0nsistent level of enthusiasm in order to serve as anything beyond an Orientalist advertisement. For instance, the TLC site:
http://tlc.ucr.edu/news/index.html
… doesn’t really say much beyond join our lovely exclusive maroon club where we talk about the various aromas of teak. There are many links to US aid agencies, scholarship programmes and so on, but really this is not comparitively engaging. The beauty of NM is that it transports the commentators significance in the region to the readership on a consistent basis.
The biggest resource available here is the willingness of people to talk, and that certainly brings part of Southeast Asia alive as it is alive within the authors. However, to really transform Australia’s perspective, this sort of experience needs to be related on a much bigger scale — and to do that people who would otherwise be unable to have an opportunity to have any significance with Southeast Asia need to be provided with opportunities.
In Europe, undergraduates have many opportunities to study abroad for a year, for instance, the famous and ultra accessible Erasmus programme, which receives a great deal of funding. Why isn’t there programmes of a similar level of accessibility and popularity for Australians? The loaded answer is funding of $64 million is treated with the same significance as giving change to a beggar. To make a difference, NM could raise awareness of this issue by often raising it.
The origins of power
It seems that a people’s relationship with such spirits is what makes a place and keeps it (sometimes) safe from outside attacks. Wyatt relates that one old chronicle of Nan mentions several attacks (from Yunnan and Siam, 14th and 15th c) were repelled with the help of guardian spirits, who were then in Pua, an earlier capital. This chronicle “then gives us a list of twenty-one localities, each of which had regularly to provide specific quantities of lumber for the renovation or rebuilding of these halls [guardian spirit houses]”. Of course, this outsourcing is what marks a kingdom from a village, but there is otherwise a clear structural parallel. Wyatt continues; “The section concludes by telling how the spirits twice killed rulers who did not pay proper attention to them”. So, in reaction to your interesting piece, I think the classification of “external forces and more localised nodes of influence” may need to be tinkered with.
Studying up for an Asian future
From a skills-acquisition perspective, studying Asian languages in Australia will always be highly difficult. There is very little that can be done to make up for the fact that exposure to a language is everything. In my humble opinion, a couple of hours in a classroom and the odd movie on SBS can, at best, keep up old skills rather than really allow you to learn a language to any level of fluency.
Moreover, there is a fragmentation issue. There is no single one language that for Australia makes sense as making the only “second language” and thus exactly how will we manage to allow students the exposure to the language? It isn’t like we are Sweden, who broadcast almost all their TV shows in English with Swedish subtitles- in their case because they have identified English as the de facto second language.
Thus, to me, the most important thing to encourage is interest in the country in general. We need to encourage people to get over to the country and spend time there learning the language. This seems to have two parts: firstly, an acknowledgment that learning a language is useful (Nich’s part about the school choices etc. is interesting here) and secondly, that going to the country itself is a necessary part of learning a language.
NM has a role to play in both of these I think. The first, identified above, may come from an expansion of the abbreviations series, or the “four-letter words” segment that encourages greater engagement with the language. The second may be in its ability to provide people with contacts/language resources/information that make it easier for people to head to SE Asia?
Either way, any kind of service that “brings alive” a country will be of considerable use.
The King Never Smiles?
Kickster: where have you been for the last 2-3 years. Please read previous posts before adding such trifling and sad comments. By the way TKNS seems to be circulating in Thai versions, so you can read, learn and enjoy!
Murk
Wasn’t “murky” the word that initially got Jonathon Head into trouble at the FCCT? BTW, reports recently suggest that he has actually been charged. Is that true?
I would reply to jonfernquest but could not remain in the bounds of NM’s policies.
Murk
“As Thongchai Winichakul noted a few weeks ago, the space for frank dissent and discussion is disappearing.”
It disappeared years ago. You must not have been living in Thailand during the Thaksin years and read the newspaper. Does government by cabinet decree allow for deabate or dissent?
If you were, then from a human rights perspective you must have missed the dead bodies on the street, I didn’t.
Or from a business perspective you must have missed the 50% non-performing loan rates of his populist loan schemes.
Marx and Socialism make things less murky? Please study the “Burmese Way to Socialism” which eventually became the “Burmese Way to Present Deplorable Human Rights State of Burma” with no dissent allowed at all. May I suggest the Crossroads article:
“Distrinctions with a Difference: The Despotic Paternalism of Sarit Thanarat and the Demagogic Authoritarianism of Thaksin Shinawatra” by Thak Chaloemtiarana;
Murk
Murky judiciary, then. I think one of Thailand’s problems is that the people refuse to be enlightened. Many Thais claim to be Buddhists, but their life conduct is quite contrary to the Buddhist Dhamma, for example, they promote hatred instead of love. A lot of them look for faults in others instead of good points. We Thais need to be much more spiritually developed to overcome our current problems. Overall, our lack of wisdom is frightening.
Murk
thank you
– fair-minded and reliable human rights reporting and
– consistent and objective rule of law
are sadly missing in Thailand right now
the behaviour of both the NHRC and the courts is shocking
the NHRC appears to be anti-government rather than fairly supporting everyone that is the subject of abuses, no reporting on human rights of PAD supporters caught up in expected violent events, no consideration for humans damaged by the PAD guards
the courts seem to be pro-PAD, eg. the ring leaders were charged, some charges were dropped, they were arrested and released on bail without conditions so they could continue violating
The King Never Smiles?
I think Paul Handley’s ,He doesn’t know too much like Thai people.
How can he marked this book and call it as “biography of Thailand’s King Bhumiphol”.In fact, He never interview my King or talking with my King by him self before .So,please don’t!!
Studying up for an Asian future
Thanks Tony, Colum and Stephen for all your interesting comments.
Andrew and I will certainly take these suggestions on board when we next discuss future directions. We are always keen to hear about what is useful for students, scholars, journalists, and analysts.
Language related posts will, I’m sure, to continue to be a key part of the site. And, of course, we are always happy to receive contributions on language issues. Featuring that sort of material is, as I see it, one of our most important jobs.
With all that in mind, if anyone has further suggestions please don’t hesitate to pass them along.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
“Speech by a special guest”
Thank you Mungo for elaborating upon your sarcasm. I find your new posting more constructive. I do not disagree with you about the rampant corruption in Thai politics (or Thai society to be more accurate). But the so-called anti-corruption campaigns pursued by some state and societal actors against the TRT/PPP rather confirm my belief in double standards. It is not about ‘everyone is doing it’ but ‘why being lenient on certain groups or individuals’. I have yet to see a popular movement against corruption in the military and civilian bureaucracy.
My idea of ‘double standards’ also extends to the value judgment exercised by influential groups, such as the media (particularly print media) and anti-Thaksin political leaders and activists. For example, why are they so slow in condemning the PAD for their use of violence and disruptive actions? Why the PAD leaders, after being set free on bail, were allowed to continue their subversive activities, including laying siege to the Government House?
Briefly on to the FIDF case. Despite Sidh’s attempts to clarify on the FIDF regulations and the concept of conflict of interest, I continue to see it as part of the stretching of the judicary’s mandate to serve political purposes. The conviction of Thaksin on technical (only because he was the PM at the time) and ethical grounds (and funnily letting his wife go free) resembles the petty ruling on Samak, where the punishment was designed to fit a political objective rather than fitting the crime.
I’d like to add something on the rally and Thaksin’s speech ( by the way thank you David Brown for your personal accounts). I see both as part of the recent political and ideological struggles, which I think amidst the multiple meanings to be read, two fundamental issues are at play, namely distributive justice, and political empowerment. Broadly speaking, ideas about distributive justice cuts along the rural-urban divide of the PAD’s and UDD/pro-Thaksin’s constituencies. While the debates on ‘new politics’ and the future of Thai democracy, which deal with the question of who has the power to choose political leaders, touch upon the important issue of political empowerment.
Thaksin and the Brahmins
This is a very interesting topic. Paul Handley seemed especially curious about it and about royal sacrality. Although he was sure on political events, I think this topic in itself is worth delving into. Certainly we can see different cliches of magicmen that both sides utilize, but it would take a sociologist who understands Thai religious beliefs, symbolism, rituals and their importance(combined with knowledge of Thailand’s social networks) to be able to study this phenomenon fully.
Any New Mandala academics up for it? I would like to pre-order your book.