Thank you to Nicholas for a full report of this event.
I arrived to the venue about 20 mn before this talk show ended. When I asked whether the event ‘s organisers ever considered inviting Taksin to join the panel, Khun Rachel answered as Nich has noted above. But as I sat right in the front, I could see that three of the panellists had the language of discomfort written all over their faces upon hearing my question. I wonder what they would do had Taksin agreed to come. And sorry, given I’ve now learned of the fact that SOAS wasn’t the host of this event, who were those ‘we’ that invited Taksin for ‘this seminar’? Thai Society of SOAS? Junta’s PR agency? Royal Thai Embassy? None of these, I suspect.
After the seminar ended, I stayed on to chat with some of the panellists. One of them (no ID, alright?) confessed that he doesn’t think Taksin is the worst PM Thailand ever had. He even said ‘soon Taksin will invite me to dine with him’ (diew kor pai gin khao duai kan). Genuine Thai politics, I would say.
I got there late, don’t know if other Thais had posed some questions or challenges to the speakers. If not, shame on them.
I’m interested if a “suicide bomber” approach wont be tried. Somebody registers for Party X. That someone engages in election fraud in the upcoming election. That someone is caught, and his case taken to court. The court finds him and Party X guilty, and dissolves Party X and bans the parties. R.I.P.
A pretty effective way of eliminating your political opponents, I’d say.
I was expecting a drama but what I got is that usual theatre of absurd. No surprises on the tribunal ruling, apart from ‘Sanoh Tienthong, The Man for All Seasons’.
Now Thais just have to wait for the rule of the incompetents.
[…] decision by the opposition Democrat-except-when-we-cannot-win-an-election-and-then-a-coup-is-ok Party to boycott last year’s general election (because they knew they would lose) has now paid off […]
I would never call anybody a pompous bloviater unless he looked like Bill O’ Reilly on Fox News or worked as a columnist at The Nation.
By the way, Thaksin sent me the checks, but I haven’t gotten around to divvying up the money. The rumours are true. He is a cheap bastard. But I did get a nice note from Pojaman. She says “hi.”
Her orders were to give more money to Bangkok Pundit, because Andrew loquaciously bloviates too much on subjects of no social value.
Andrew, when you were secretly visiting Thaksin in China did you manage to talk to him about a pay rise? I see I am an “apologist for Thaksin’s fiasco at the South”.
I have seen and met Ajarn Sulak quite often… I am not a personal fan of him although I sympathesise with many of his ideas. I would not pay ┬г 45 for hearing him swearing. Even with refreshments. I prefer Mor Prawes….
At the EUROSEAS conference in September in Naples, a Thai PhD student will present a paper, equally based on field research, that might well provide an additional perspective on these issues (panel organizer is Joern Dosch):
Thailand’s old-style vote-canvasser networks: informal power and money politics
Anyarat Chattharakul, POLIS, University of Leeds
Old-style vote-canvassing networks have been the crucial part in Thai elections since the beginning of electoral democracy in Thailand. Vote-canvassers are called hua khanaen in Thai. The Thai public, in particular urban middle-class voters, see the term hua khanaen as notorious, involving with the abuse of power, vote-buying, and violent threat. However, hua khanaen and their networks are the most important electioneering mechanism in every Thai electoral candidate’s campaign at all electoral levels. Hua khanan play intermediary roles in linkages of political communications between politicians and local citizens. Normally, hua khanan are local notable figures with influential economic, political, or social positions. Their abilities to mobilize blocs of votes fundamentally derive from their patronage-base personal relations with local people. This paper will investigate the complex networks of Thai hua khanan. Who are hua khanan? What are their networks? How are they operated as electioneering mechanism? Why are these networks indispensable in successful election campaigning? And most importantly, to what extent and in which way have hua khanan networks been the internal factor for the fragility of democracy in Thailand?
Why wasn’t the talk kept more on track by Harrison? Surely the rhetoric coming from Surat, the bloviator, was able to be confronted?!
Since Surat Horachaikul is a lecturer in International Relations, he must be aware that what he was relating to the audience was escapist and thoroughly devaluing of Thai self determination, which ironically it seems the panel members construed in such a negative context, those 61.5 million people oh so helpless..
The only way historically of there being real change from such a rut is a peoples revolution. But of course, with so many apathetic, happy bureaucrats; no chance of that happening!
[…] Mandala readers in the United Kingdom will be interested to know that Sulak Sivaraksa will be speaking on “Spiritual Ecology” in London on 2 June.┬ According to the […]
[…] hosted at SOAS.┬ According to Rachel Harrison, Thaksin was invited to speak at SOAS after the controversial October seminar.┬ She said that “he was invited after the last talk but did not […]
[…] context on the background to this statement will find information from The Nation, and from the New Mandala archives, particularly helpful. ┬ With a convoy of Embassy vehicles parked out the front,┬ there […]
[…] after the coup”.┬ Unfortunately, very little of what was said touched on the big issues that must figure in any analysis of the post-coup situation […]
You don’t hear much about rural opinions much or what forms them, why they think the way they think, outside your work, let’s hope it inspires others to dig deeper in this area.
From the article in The Nation, one gets the impression that the main difference between Andrew Walker and the others, who have written on this issue earlier, is that he is slightly more positive about the villagers’ voting behavior.
The sentence ““Don’t be afraid. Rural people do have political values. They may be different but they’re still legitimate values” could come straight from Anek.
[…] is the report from┬ The Nation┬ on the seminar I delivered in Bangkok┬ on┬ earlier this month.┬ Rural voters not politically naive, says Aussie […]
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Report on SOAS event in London: “Thailand after the Coup”
Thank you to Nicholas for a full report of this event.
I arrived to the venue about 20 mn before this talk show ended. When I asked whether the event ‘s organisers ever considered inviting Taksin to join the panel, Khun Rachel answered as Nich has noted above. But as I sat right in the front, I could see that three of the panellists had the language of discomfort written all over their faces upon hearing my question. I wonder what they would do had Taksin agreed to come. And sorry, given I’ve now learned of the fact that SOAS wasn’t the host of this event, who were those ‘we’ that invited Taksin for ‘this seminar’? Thai Society of SOAS? Junta’s PR agency? Royal Thai Embassy? None of these, I suspect.
After the seminar ended, I stayed on to chat with some of the panellists. One of them (no ID, alright?) confessed that he doesn’t think Taksin is the worst PM Thailand ever had. He even said ‘soon Taksin will invite me to dine with him’ (diew kor pai gin khao duai kan). Genuine Thai politics, I would say.
I got there late, don’t know if other Thais had posed some questions or challenges to the speakers. If not, shame on them.
Electoral sabotage bears rich fruit
I’m interested if a “suicide bomber” approach wont be tried. Somebody registers for Party X. That someone engages in election fraud in the upcoming election. That someone is caught, and his case taken to court. The court finds him and Party X guilty, and dissolves Party X and bans the parties. R.I.P.
A pretty effective way of eliminating your political opponents, I’d say.
Electoral sabotage bears rich fruit
I was expecting a drama but what I got is that usual theatre of absurd. No surprises on the tribunal ruling, apart from ‘Sanoh Tienthong, The Man for All Seasons’.
Now Thais just have to wait for the rule of the incompetents.
Electoral sabotage bears rich fruit
Where does it say that a boycott is not allowed under a ‘democratic’ system?
The Democrats played their best hand, as did Thaksin & TRT.
Elections under Thaksin
[…] decision by the opposition Democrat-except-when-we-cannot-win-an-election-and-then-a-coup-is-ok Party to boycott last year’s general election (because they knew they would lose) has now paid off […]
High praise
Hey,
You should be quoting Matty at TJTS.
I would never call anybody a pompous bloviater unless he looked like Bill O’ Reilly on Fox News or worked as a columnist at The Nation.
By the way, Thaksin sent me the checks, but I haven’t gotten around to divvying up the money. The rumours are true. He is a cheap bastard. But I did get a nice note from Pojaman. She says “hi.”
Her orders were to give more money to Bangkok Pundit, because Andrew loquaciously bloviates too much on subjects of no social value.
High praise
Andrew, when you were secretly visiting Thaksin in China did you manage to talk to him about a pay rise? I see I am an “apologist for Thaksin’s fiasco at the South”.
The Nation on the rural constitution
TRT dissolved. 111 Executives banned for five years. Democrats acquitted.
Sulak Sivaraksa in London, again
I have seen and met Ajarn Sulak quite often… I am not a personal fan of him although I sympathesise with many of his ideas. I would not pay ┬г 45 for hearing him swearing. Even with refreshments. I prefer Mor Prawes….
The Nation on the rural constitution
At the EUROSEAS conference in September in Naples, a Thai PhD student will present a paper, equally based on field research, that might well provide an additional perspective on these issues (panel organizer is Joern Dosch):
Thailand’s old-style vote-canvasser networks: informal power and money politics
Anyarat Chattharakul, POLIS, University of Leeds
Old-style vote-canvassing networks have been the crucial part in Thai elections since the beginning of electoral democracy in Thailand. Vote-canvassers are called hua khanaen in Thai. The Thai public, in particular urban middle-class voters, see the term hua khanaen as notorious, involving with the abuse of power, vote-buying, and violent threat. However, hua khanaen and their networks are the most important electioneering mechanism in every Thai electoral candidate’s campaign at all electoral levels. Hua khanan play intermediary roles in linkages of political communications between politicians and local citizens. Normally, hua khanan are local notable figures with influential economic, political, or social positions. Their abilities to mobilize blocs of votes fundamentally derive from their patronage-base personal relations with local people. This paper will investigate the complex networks of Thai hua khanan. Who are hua khanan? What are their networks? How are they operated as electioneering mechanism? Why are these networks indispensable in successful election campaigning? And most importantly, to what extent and in which way have hua khanan networks been the internal factor for the fragility of democracy in Thailand?
Report on SOAS event in London: “Thailand after the Coup”
Why wasn’t the talk kept more on track by Harrison? Surely the rhetoric coming from Surat, the bloviator, was able to be confronted?!
Since Surat Horachaikul is a lecturer in International Relations, he must be aware that what he was relating to the audience was escapist and thoroughly devaluing of Thai self determination, which ironically it seems the panel members construed in such a negative context, those 61.5 million people oh so helpless..
The only way historically of there being real change from such a rut is a peoples revolution. But of course, with so many apathetic, happy bureaucrats; no chance of that happening!
Thanpuying Poonsuk Banomyong
New Mandala readers will be interested in an obituary for Thanpuying Poonsook Banomyong written by Sulak Sivaraksa. It is available from his blog:
http://sivaraksa.com/in-memoriam-thanpuying-phoonsuk-banomyong
It includes some very interesting details.
Best wishes to all.
Sulak Sivaraksa blog
[…] Mandala readers in the United Kingdom will be interested to know that Sulak Sivaraksa will be speaking on “Spiritual Ecology” in London on 2 June.┬ According to the […]
SOAS discussion on the Thai coup
[…] hosted at SOAS.┬ According to Rachel Harrison, Thaksin was invited to speak at SOAS after the controversial October seminar.┬ She said that “he was invited after the last talk but did not […]
Thailand after the coup: Event at SOAS
[…] context on the background to this statement will find information from The Nation, and from the New Mandala archives, particularly helpful. ┬ With a convoy of Embassy vehicles parked out the front,┬ there […]
More on the 2008 Thai Studies conference
[…] after the coup”.┬ Unfortunately, very little of what was said touched on the big issues that must figure in any analysis of the post-coup situation […]
The Nation on the rural constitution
You don’t hear much about rural opinions much or what forms them, why they think the way they think, outside your work, let’s hope it inspires others to dig deeper in this area.
The Nation on the rural constitution
From the article in The Nation, one gets the impression that the main difference between Andrew Walker and the others, who have written on this issue earlier, is that he is slightly more positive about the villagers’ voting behavior.
The sentence ““Don’t be afraid. Rural people do have political values. They may be different but they’re still legitimate values” could come straight from Anek.
The Nation on the rural constitution
Interesting. Well done. Almost everyone I’ve met in Bangkok thinks the rural folks are so naive they don’t deserve to vote.
A friendly reception
[…] is the report from┬ The Nation┬ on the seminar I delivered in Bangkok┬ on┬ earlier this month.┬ Rural voters not politically naive, says Aussie […]