The report referred to is the UNFPA report “State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the potential of Urban Growth” and can be downloaded from here: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/
An extended version of the article also appears on the UNFPA website here: http://cst.bangkok.unfpa.org/396_3337.asp
Perhaps their defense is that they are providing the truth people prefer.
It has to be said that the noble intent of blogsites like this is not matched by the intent of the electorate. In fact, most Thai electors are pretty much in favor of gunning down drug dealers without resort to judicial process, as has been pointed out by the pro-Thaksin apologists on this site umpteen times.. Pointing out to the electorate that this leaves them open to being terminated by any policeman with a grudge – plus the fact that they are destroying their opportunities to get out the real kingpins of the trade – does not seem to have any impact. About the only thing that might let them catch up with the outsider sentiments expressed on this site is a death in their own family brought about renegade politicians and uniformed men.
In effect, the electorate get the newspapers they deserve.
At the beginning of the drafting process, people such as Prasong and Somkhit challenged critics that they should wait for the content of the constitution before deciding about acceptance/rejection. The funny thing is that now that the final product is there, people also have enought reasons to reject the draft based on criticism of its content, besides basing their decisions on principles.
As I have mentioned on a different post, a No vote would show that the people are awake. The Anti-Thaksinites are looking in the rear vision mirror when they worry that a no vote might pave a way for the return of Thaksin. Its more a case of ‘Nee Sua Pa Jorakae” and we now face a yellow-clad but khaki-underneath Chalawan.
I haven\’t made up my mind whether to say yes or no to the junta- authored Thai constitution. But because Andrew Walker came out strongly moralizing against the \’hypocrisy\’ of the yellow shirts, but NOT against the \’hypocrisy\’ of the more criminal red shirts, I may just spite New Mandala and Andrew Walker and just say yes and to hell with New Mandala\’s hypocrisy!
As Suthichai Yoon (!) said, “My conclusion is, therefore, no matter which side you are on, don’t feel guilty about it. Approach the referendum on August 19 with your conscience and your head clear. No calamity is awaiting us either way.” (The Nation, July 12, 2007)
whether it is by force or sheer respect, we should credit the thais for their patriotism at least when it comes to wearing yellow and what it represents. in a thai night in durham, 40 or so thai students wore that ubiquituous royal yellow. i also saw a group of thai tourists in hoi an, vietnam all in yellow early this year. then another group in ha long bay. to say that group pressure forces thais to wear the shirt is, i think, too much. we would have to give ordinary thais some trust on their judgment on this matter.
If I needed one more reason to stop reading the Nation, this could be it. Slandering the BBC makes a change from slandering Thaksin, I suppose. Is it any worse that the emotional diatribes that pass for opinion in the newspaper?
– Evangelical missionaries are essentially a national security risk for Thailand
– They receive large amounts of money from outside the country.
– Sometimes from the US government (under Republican Bush).
– A New Republic reporter interviewed Matthew about this, if I remember correctly.
– They undermine Buddhism.
– They get deeply embedded in places, sometimes for 100s of years.
– They push every foreigner who isn’t an evangelical missionary out of the place by taking their jobs and questioning their legitimacy
– They never take a critical stance towards anything
– High level officials at my university were arrested for running a child prostitution ring, no word from the missionaries
– I used to ask the one sitting next to me if she remembered the lions in the colisseum
– They have an agenda that often sounds military in nature, like conquering all of northern Thailand up through Yunnan.
– Most are completely and utterly self-righteous.
– They don’t take indigenous institutions seriously, just something to convert.
– For example, the obese American guns and jesus guy majoring in English at the university I taught at, was always making fun of the English program and his studies, despite the fact that he was the only native and fluent speaker in the program, his missionary teacher laughed along with him
etc, etc, etc….
– The Catholic church on the other hand is a model of probity
Thank you Matthew. No one will ever a better job than you did ferreting out **the truth**, however…
The manager of Baan Chivit Mai is a very honorable man. That middle-aged or much, much older, male donor tourists pester young beautiful nubile females asking them for “dates,” as I’ve overheard, or even more straightforwardly if they can “get married” that is right now or at least in a week, would seem to be the natural result of having such a collection of young beautiful females in a highly visible tourist area in a room with big windows.
I go there for the free newspaper, air conditioning, bread (i’m a farang, after all), and to escape from my 8 dogs, but my wife doesn’t think so. She’s wrong. If there was another cafe that wasn’t just a hot noodle shop with one fan, without the nubile females, I would go there instead and read my books alone. IMHO a good business idea.
Like one missionary from Australia who I used to teach with told me, she didn’t trust any male alone with a female. In fact, there was a teacher who had this very suspicious, alternatively “father” or “uncle” relationship to many of his students, and was continually being reviewed for alleged favoritism, oh and also his wife left him when she found him in the car alone with a high school student. (Which reminds me, at Manerplaw, Kawthoolei, if a young male ABSDF Burmese male was found alone in a hut with a Karen girl, off to the wedding chapel immediately, or so I was told, so there’s clearly a pattern here) I don’t know, but I remember a American missionary told me that new christian converts at the university were whispering malicious gossip about me, saying apparently that I was romamtically involved with my best female student, both precocious and fluent (also nominally born a Christian, daughter of a police officer, but rebelling against everything in sight, dress code, her major law, Thai sexual mores, apparently having an affair with her French teacher, etc, etc) and who essentially taught my 20-odd student class herself or at least made it work so well that I taught those students for a whole year because they asked me back, and of course gave me glowing marks on student evaluations which the adminsitration takes way, way too seriously, often pandering to students who want a movie star, celebrity, entertainer teacher, not a “serious” teacher to actually learn and prosper and do honour to their parents, grandparents, country, etc, but getting back to the main point, given that the country still has entertainment zones where, let’s say, an aging European bachelor with sweaty palms, can fly in and find a so-called “rent-a-wife” in about 5 minutes, extreme perspecuity is called for in all matters in Thailand, if you are male, as for femafles, I don’t know, though I’ve heard stories…
Vichai (19): As I said, I thought you read postings carefully. I said I was in a cinema where this happened. You should be able to read that in my posting. Clear?
I think it is very important to be very clear about what the issues are here. If a person’s human rights are protected then their labor stores up in wealth and nutrition and property and what ever else they build and they are most able to protect and defend their lives and families. Take this away and they are degraded and downgraded, assimilated (not without pain and tragedy) and put in prison, etc ad endless.
That is why when mission websites hide all this information they are not telling people what is really going on for one and secondly they do not openly oppose it, so they benefit the perpetrators, and simplify the causes of the tragedy that fit their topic, salvation will bring life to the Akha people. While the mission compounds are safe, the Akha land is not.
I think that this is a very fundamental way in which missions play into the tragedy, create the tragedy and prevent a solution in order to strengthen their own hand.
As the Akha say, “the missions build a rice terrace on our backs that never goes dry.”
Considering what the missions claim they are about, there is significant evil in this deception. And really no ground can be found for not saying that the missions are trafficking Akha children from their villages to the towns, to the residential schools of taught dependency, while the Akha loose the land that is so valuable for them, and the missions cash in on it all.
For Jesus of course.
As stated, missions wealth, of these missions that hold Akha children, is in the millions of dollars, but they tell the donor the Akha are poor, or what problems they have which are fundamentally economic and caused by lack of human rights protecting the fruit of their labor.
What gets me best of all is the removal of children by these people, who love to talk of people like James Dobson and family values. A more corrupt people do not exist.
Generally EVIL people do not claim to be all that moral, as compared to missions who can justify about anything if it makes them a buck.
That is that there are not many other pushlished studies that I know of on the hill tribes on the part of missionaries. Published by non missionaries and anthropologists, there is quite a bit.
Hanks published some of the early stuff on the Akha and there is a host of other.
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“Rural no more”
The report referred to is the UNFPA report “State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the potential of Urban Growth” and can be downloaded from here: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/
An extended version of the article also appears on the UNFPA website here: http://cst.bangkok.unfpa.org/396_3337.asp
Humour
At least The Nation has a sense of humour.
Democratic double standards?
[…] couple of weeks ago I featured the comments of a journalist and human rights activist from the Philippines following his visit […]
Humour
Perhaps their defense is that they are providing the truth people prefer.
It has to be said that the noble intent of blogsites like this is not matched by the intent of the electorate. In fact, most Thai electors are pretty much in favor of gunning down drug dealers without resort to judicial process, as has been pointed out by the pro-Thaksin apologists on this site umpteen times.. Pointing out to the electorate that this leaves them open to being terminated by any policeman with a grudge – plus the fact that they are destroying their opportunities to get out the real kingpins of the trade – does not seem to have any impact. About the only thing that might let them catch up with the outsider sentiments expressed on this site is a death in their own family brought about renegade politicians and uniformed men.
In effect, the electorate get the newspapers they deserve.
Humour
Andrew,
You beat me to the punch.
No!
At the beginning of the drafting process, people such as Prasong and Somkhit challenged critics that they should wait for the content of the constitution before deciding about acceptance/rejection. The funny thing is that now that the final product is there, people also have enought reasons to reject the draft based on criticism of its content, besides basing their decisions on principles.
Humour
I also saw this picture and momentarily was in disbelief until I realized the sarcastic intent of the statement.
No!
As I have mentioned on a different post, a No vote would show that the people are awake. The Anti-Thaksinites are looking in the rear vision mirror when they worry that a no vote might pave a way for the return of Thaksin. Its more a case of ‘Nee Sua Pa Jorakae” and we now face a yellow-clad but khaki-underneath Chalawan.
No!
“Nor do I think the constitution should be judged simply on the merits of its various provisions”
Great advice, Andrew !!!!
No!
I haven\’t made up my mind whether to say yes or no to the junta- authored Thai constitution. But because Andrew Walker came out strongly moralizing against the \’hypocrisy\’ of the yellow shirts, but NOT against the \’hypocrisy\’ of the more criminal red shirts, I may just spite New Mandala and Andrew Walker and just say yes and to hell with New Mandala\’s hypocrisy!
No!
As Suthichai Yoon (!) said, “My conclusion is, therefore, no matter which side you are on, don’t feel guilty about it. Approach the referendum on August 19 with your conscience and your head clear. No calamity is awaiting us either way.” (The Nation, July 12, 2007)
National jaundice
whether it is by force or sheer respect, we should credit the thais for their patriotism at least when it comes to wearing yellow and what it represents. in a thai night in durham, 40 or so thai students wore that ubiquituous royal yellow. i also saw a group of thai tourists in hoi an, vietnam all in yellow early this year. then another group in ha long bay. to say that group pressure forces thais to wear the shirt is, i think, too much. we would have to give ordinary thais some trust on their judgment on this matter.
Catch 22 takes aim at the BBC, the KNU, the SPDC…Annie Lennox
If I needed one more reason to stop reading the Nation, this could be it. Slandering the BBC makes a change from slandering Thaksin, I suppose. Is it any worse that the emotional diatribes that pass for opinion in the newspaper?
Prachatai in English
This is a welcome addition indeed for all those who have become bored by the quality decline at Bangkok Post and The Nation.
Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai
– Evangelical missionaries are essentially a national security risk for Thailand
– They receive large amounts of money from outside the country.
– Sometimes from the US government (under Republican Bush).
– A New Republic reporter interviewed Matthew about this, if I remember correctly.
– They undermine Buddhism.
– They get deeply embedded in places, sometimes for 100s of years.
– They push every foreigner who isn’t an evangelical missionary out of the place by taking their jobs and questioning their legitimacy
– They never take a critical stance towards anything
– High level officials at my university were arrested for running a child prostitution ring, no word from the missionaries
– I used to ask the one sitting next to me if she remembered the lions in the colisseum
– They have an agenda that often sounds military in nature, like conquering all of northern Thailand up through Yunnan.
– Most are completely and utterly self-righteous.
– They don’t take indigenous institutions seriously, just something to convert.
– For example, the obese American guns and jesus guy majoring in English at the university I taught at, was always making fun of the English program and his studies, despite the fact that he was the only native and fluent speaker in the program, his missionary teacher laughed along with him
etc, etc, etc….
– The Catholic church on the other hand is a model of probity
Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai
Thank you Matthew. No one will ever a better job than you did ferreting out **the truth**, however…
The manager of Baan Chivit Mai is a very honorable man. That middle-aged or much, much older, male donor tourists pester young beautiful nubile females asking them for “dates,” as I’ve overheard, or even more straightforwardly if they can “get married” that is right now or at least in a week, would seem to be the natural result of having such a collection of young beautiful females in a highly visible tourist area in a room with big windows.
I go there for the free newspaper, air conditioning, bread (i’m a farang, after all), and to escape from my 8 dogs, but my wife doesn’t think so. She’s wrong. If there was another cafe that wasn’t just a hot noodle shop with one fan, without the nubile females, I would go there instead and read my books alone. IMHO a good business idea.
Like one missionary from Australia who I used to teach with told me, she didn’t trust any male alone with a female. In fact, there was a teacher who had this very suspicious, alternatively “father” or “uncle” relationship to many of his students, and was continually being reviewed for alleged favoritism, oh and also his wife left him when she found him in the car alone with a high school student. (Which reminds me, at Manerplaw, Kawthoolei, if a young male ABSDF Burmese male was found alone in a hut with a Karen girl, off to the wedding chapel immediately, or so I was told, so there’s clearly a pattern here) I don’t know, but I remember a American missionary told me that new christian converts at the university were whispering malicious gossip about me, saying apparently that I was romamtically involved with my best female student, both precocious and fluent (also nominally born a Christian, daughter of a police officer, but rebelling against everything in sight, dress code, her major law, Thai sexual mores, apparently having an affair with her French teacher, etc, etc) and who essentially taught my 20-odd student class herself or at least made it work so well that I taught those students for a whole year because they asked me back, and of course gave me glowing marks on student evaluations which the adminsitration takes way, way too seriously, often pandering to students who want a movie star, celebrity, entertainer teacher, not a “serious” teacher to actually learn and prosper and do honour to their parents, grandparents, country, etc, but getting back to the main point, given that the country still has entertainment zones where, let’s say, an aging European bachelor with sweaty palms, can fly in and find a so-called “rent-a-wife” in about 5 minutes, extreme perspecuity is called for in all matters in Thailand, if you are male, as for femafles, I don’t know, though I’ve heard stories…
National jaundice
Vichai (19): As I said, I thought you read postings carefully. I said I was in a cinema where this happened. You should be able to read that in my posting. Clear?
Catch 22 takes aim at the BBC, the KNU, the SPDC…Annie Lennox
Mannn, I spent the time reading this entire post (and comments) before I went to the link.
I just saw the words “The Nation” and “new contributor” in the first sentence and assumed we were talking about a journalist.
I am highly disappointed.
Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai
I think it is very important to be very clear about what the issues are here. If a person’s human rights are protected then their labor stores up in wealth and nutrition and property and what ever else they build and they are most able to protect and defend their lives and families. Take this away and they are degraded and downgraded, assimilated (not without pain and tragedy) and put in prison, etc ad endless.
That is why when mission websites hide all this information they are not telling people what is really going on for one and secondly they do not openly oppose it, so they benefit the perpetrators, and simplify the causes of the tragedy that fit their topic, salvation will bring life to the Akha people. While the mission compounds are safe, the Akha land is not.
I think that this is a very fundamental way in which missions play into the tragedy, create the tragedy and prevent a solution in order to strengthen their own hand.
As the Akha say, “the missions build a rice terrace on our backs that never goes dry.”
Considering what the missions claim they are about, there is significant evil in this deception. And really no ground can be found for not saying that the missions are trafficking Akha children from their villages to the towns, to the residential schools of taught dependency, while the Akha loose the land that is so valuable for them, and the missions cash in on it all.
For Jesus of course.
As stated, missions wealth, of these missions that hold Akha children, is in the millions of dollars, but they tell the donor the Akha are poor, or what problems they have which are fundamentally economic and caused by lack of human rights protecting the fruit of their labor.
What gets me best of all is the removal of children by these people, who love to talk of people like James Dobson and family values. A more corrupt people do not exist.
Generally EVIL people do not claim to be all that moral, as compared to missions who can justify about anything if it makes them a buck.
Matthew
Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai
Note:
That is that there are not many other pushlished studies that I know of on the hill tribes on the part of missionaries. Published by non missionaries and anthropologists, there is quite a bit.
Hanks published some of the early stuff on the Akha and there is a host of other.
Matthew