I appreciate that the piece is an early and necessarily brief overview – but has this changed from 123 appointed & 77 “elected” (with those 77 coming from each province & drawn only from a pre-screened/-approved (by whom?) slate of candidates)? Perhaps needless to say, the powers of any such Senate are inevitably a key component…
To be absolutely fair, please ask the king and his royalists to remove the lese majeste law and see if the king is still “revered” and “loved” by the Thai people.
Why don’t your ask your king to abolish this despicable Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, then he wouldn’t have to waste his time pardoning his subjects for allegedly offending him. Remember now, Thai people feed him and his family, not the other way round!
I could not find any nations nor I could advocate that faith leader, religious workers and other spiritual leaders have ever distance themselves from social, cultural and political affairs of their own society. It is a matter of a ‘person’ either as a monk, a man or a ‘brother, father or sister’ alike in the Catholic communities. The Buddhist monks in Burma are not exceptional in engaging with local welfare and community issues. However, it is ‘how’ to engage and what’ to enage is a matter of each monk or num. Above all, 90% of the Monks in Burma are either leerning the text book ‘ Pariyatti’ or practicing of the meditation ‘ patipatti’ ‘as the westen known as ‘dhamma’. There are over 300 prominent schloar’s monks such as Rev Dr Nanda Marlar, Rev Dr Shain Naynisara and others who have balanced views on state and religion affairs. The Ma Ba Tha is a young monks who have minded to protect idenity and cultures but they have different approahces than other monks. May I ask all researchers, and western scholars to learn Burmese language but read the over 1000 books printed in Burmese on social, cultural, political and religious affairs dating back from the 5 A.D to the present day. The popular book title is called U Ka Lar’s Yazawin. The other titled by Kin Won Min Gyi’s books. Let’s find the truth within us.
“Neither can one take what will not be given nor give what is not one own”
The Chinese take what the SPDC was willing to give at times when the sanctions hurt and made the citizenry the most. But Myanmar belong to the whole citizenry. Not until then (hopefully not long) will the Junta realize they can not give away what they can not.
Nich
The colonial subjugation of Burmese, under most onerous condition from 1825 to 1948 failed to diminish or even change the culture. A culture base on Buddhism and Strong leadership supported by a hard working strong rural citizenry.
Do you really think a different time zone or any other gimmick to distinguish Myanmar from India and China?
I was a University student in Rangoon during the 1967 anti-Chinese protests. I remember some Chinese school students running around with their little red books from Mao and I remember the Cultural Revolution style purges in the Burmese Communist Party, but I didn’t get any gasoline or chocolate from the Americans or the Russians. This absurd story is made up probably by pro-Chinese elements in Burma. Chinese (and some Mianmarese) are very good at twisting the truth and rewriting history.
I also remember that Ne Win (aka Shu Maung) was half-Chinese and that his “rival” Kyaw Zaw got political asylum in China. The UWSA is the remnant of those Communist insurgents still supported by China.
Reminds me of the stories that made the rounds in the wake of the 1967 anti-Chinese riots of Soviet and US embassy personnel distributing gasoline and chocolate to the mobs (the forerunners of Swan Arshin) some of whom still in army vests or shoes.
If the Chinese embassy is likewise tempted to lend a hand in anti-Muslim riots it wouldn’t go amiss to be mindful of and to be prepared just in case for a possible repeat of 1967 as the generals run into more unforeseen hurdles in their way and the anti-Muslim fervor goes cold and stale.
I beg to differ with Tithipon’s comment on “You can say things but don’t talk bad on our king as your comments will hurt all the Thai people.”
Do you know how much Thai taxpayers’ money go to support your king and his empire each year? Do you know how much is the “promotional budget” which goes to advertise your monarchy’s greatness? It’s in the billions and billions of bahts! I’ll tell you if you don’t know. Factored in all the expenses, it’s about US $500M a year. The so-called “promotional budget,” more like propaganda budget, comes to around US $60M a year! Such money should have been better used to built schools, hospitals and pay for healthcare for the poor.
Don’t you know Thai king is the richest monarch in the world, according to Forbes magazine ranking, each and every year since 2001. Thai people should have the rights to speak their mind with regard to the monarchy without fearing reprisal.
The barbaric law of lese majeste is a travesty of justice. Using taxpayers money to pay for electricity, water, repairs and other palaces’ essentials located throughout Thailand is a very selfish act.
I doubt that most Thai people care for your monarchy any more, they are more concerned about making ends meet where the next meal will be!
If you disagree with me, you are welcome to give NM a list of what your king has done for the Thai people during the past 10 years. Royalists’ redundant citations of his 4,000 royal projects are more like child-play assignments from grade school, rather than any meaningful projects for the country! Lastly, Thailand belongs to all the people, not just your king alone.
One of the Chinese attempts to invade Burma occurred when the Burmese king was sacking Ayudhaya and the Thai monarchy, already under Chinese influence in those days (or they themselves were half-Chinese?) asked China for help. This “Sino-Thai-guanxi” is still pretty strong nowadays as everyone knows. In any case, this “hatred of the Kalars and the Rohingya Muslims” might have been a part of the grand Chinese propaganda strategy to soften up the Burmese populace against the present Chinese invasion, which is political, economic, demographic and of course cultural (just look at all the ads in Burmese magazines). I even remember looking up the Facebook page of the Chinese embassy in Burma about 3 years ago and it was full of pictures of Buddhist monks including a picture of the Chinese ambassador “kow-towing” to some Burmese monks (remember FB and Falun-Gong are banned in China; hypocrites!), They have deleted those pictures since then, but it was an obvious propaganda attempt by Peking to “instigate” a certain amount of religious “fervour” in Burma (China should do the same thing with the Tibets and the Uyghurs LOL), especially against the Muslims. Since China needs Lebensraum and naval bases on the Bay of Bengal, there has to be a certain amount of “cleansing” Burma of unwanted aliens, no?
Glad to note Nich use the term internationalisation rather than globalisation sucked into the vicious vortex of capitalist ‘free market competition’ and ‘free trade’.
To give some credence to MFKAT (Marayu Formerly Known As Tocherian) and his trademark Sinophobia, China needs to be counted as one of our traditional enemies, not just Thailand, since the first successful invasion of the country was Chinese, sacking Bagan in the 13th C, followed by four more albeit unsuccessful invasions against the formidable Konbaung kings in the 18th C much much later in history, not least the second successful Chinese ‘invasion’ of today.
The British governing Burma as part of India was greatly resented by the Burmese and it still rankles whenever an Indian person makes a rather insensitive remark,”Oh yes, Burma used to be ‘under’ India”. It’s not like Chiang Mai or Assam Manipur used to be under Burma, is it?
So unfortunately, there are no popular votes (let alone militarist chauvinistic ones from Naypyidaw) to be garnered in a referendum (one of those) for even being subsumed under a time zone of either Tayoke or Kalar.
HM the King is a very kind person and he has pardoned many lese majeste prisoners throughout the kingdom in the past years. HM needs the Article 112 protection, otherwise people can step all over him and his family. Don’t use your Western value on Thai people and culture esp. your so-called freedom of speech as it has no meaning in our country. You can say things but don’t talk bad about our king as your comments will hurt all the Thai people. If you are not happy with our rules, go live somewhere else.
It is not only the promenant people who should be remembered, it is all who suffer imprisonment under this law that only protects the “GOOD PEOPLE” and even some of them have been jailed.
The “Wolf Bride” is a prime example of the stupidity of those that defend the use of LM. For many years there has been a twisted view of history taught in schools and in history books. Henry Ford’s reputed statement that “All history is bunk” can be used to explain the purified and sanitised Thai version of history.
Fortunately now there is the internet for people to discover their real history without the deliberate and humiliating punishment given to dissenters in the Thai
educational system.
East is beast and West is best, huh? Wish it were as simple and B&W as that.
Monks engaging in popular struggle like students has a long and proud history in Burma. Identifying themselves as part of the family fighting colonialism first then unacceptable levels of poverty and miserable standards of learning lies at the heart of this activism.
country has responsibility to built their new life, we must brave to start , dont take any fear after eviction…the lesson is we on the right if we own legaly.
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Coups and constitutions
“The Senate is half-elected and half-nominated.”
I appreciate that the piece is an early and necessarily brief overview – but has this changed from 123 appointed & 77 “elected” (with those 77 coming from each province & drawn only from a pre-screened/-approved (by whom?) slate of candidates)? Perhaps needless to say, the powers of any such Senate are inevitably a key component…
Coups and constitutions
Half-elected, half-appointed Senate? In this correct?
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
To be absolutely fair, please ask the king and his royalists to remove the lese majeste law and see if the king is still “revered” and “loved” by the Thai people.
Riding for the royals
If you walking along the streets of bkk you see a million pictures of sirindorn but Not one of the crownprince. ..what will this tell US. …
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
Why don’t your ask your king to abolish this despicable Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, then he wouldn’t have to waste his time pardoning his subjects for allegedly offending him. Remember now, Thai people feed him and his family, not the other way round!
The threat of Myanmar’s extremist monks
Dear Sir
I could not find any nations nor I could advocate that faith leader, religious workers and other spiritual leaders have ever distance themselves from social, cultural and political affairs of their own society. It is a matter of a ‘person’ either as a monk, a man or a ‘brother, father or sister’ alike in the Catholic communities. The Buddhist monks in Burma are not exceptional in engaging with local welfare and community issues. However, it is ‘how’ to engage and what’ to enage is a matter of each monk or num. Above all, 90% of the Monks in Burma are either leerning the text book ‘ Pariyatti’ or practicing of the meditation ‘ patipatti’ ‘as the westen known as ‘dhamma’. There are over 300 prominent schloar’s monks such as Rev Dr Nanda Marlar, Rev Dr Shain Naynisara and others who have balanced views on state and religion affairs. The Ma Ba Tha is a young monks who have minded to protect idenity and cultures but they have different approahces than other monks. May I ask all researchers, and western scholars to learn Burmese language but read the over 1000 books printed in Burmese on social, cultural, political and religious affairs dating back from the 5 A.D to the present day. The popular book title is called U Ka Lar’s Yazawin. The other titled by Kin Won Min Gyi’s books. Let’s find the truth within us.
As the sun rises
“Neither can one take what will not be given nor give what is not one own”
The Chinese take what the SPDC was willing to give at times when the sanctions hurt and made the citizenry the most. But Myanmar belong to the whole citizenry. Not until then (hopefully not long) will the Junta realize they can not give away what they can not.
Nich
The colonial subjugation of Burmese, under most onerous condition from 1825 to 1948 failed to diminish or even change the culture. A culture base on Buddhism and Strong leadership supported by a hard working strong rural citizenry.
Do you really think a different time zone or any other gimmick to distinguish Myanmar from India and China?
Instead of it proud history and achievements?
As the sun rises
I was a University student in Rangoon during the 1967 anti-Chinese protests. I remember some Chinese school students running around with their little red books from Mao and I remember the Cultural Revolution style purges in the Burmese Communist Party, but I didn’t get any gasoline or chocolate from the Americans or the Russians. This absurd story is made up probably by pro-Chinese elements in Burma. Chinese (and some Mianmarese) are very good at twisting the truth and rewriting history.
I also remember that Ne Win (aka Shu Maung) was half-Chinese and that his “rival” Kyaw Zaw got political asylum in China. The UWSA is the remnant of those Communist insurgents still supported by China.
As the sun rises
Reminds me of the stories that made the rounds in the wake of the 1967 anti-Chinese riots of Soviet and US embassy personnel distributing gasoline and chocolate to the mobs (the forerunners of Swan Arshin) some of whom still in army vests or shoes.
If the Chinese embassy is likewise tempted to lend a hand in anti-Muslim riots it wouldn’t go amiss to be mindful of and to be prepared just in case for a possible repeat of 1967 as the generals run into more unforeseen hurdles in their way and the anti-Muslim fervor goes cold and stale.
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
I beg to differ with Tithipon’s comment on “You can say things but don’t talk bad on our king as your comments will hurt all the Thai people.”
Do you know how much Thai taxpayers’ money go to support your king and his empire each year? Do you know how much is the “promotional budget” which goes to advertise your monarchy’s greatness? It’s in the billions and billions of bahts! I’ll tell you if you don’t know. Factored in all the expenses, it’s about US $500M a year. The so-called “promotional budget,” more like propaganda budget, comes to around US $60M a year! Such money should have been better used to built schools, hospitals and pay for healthcare for the poor.
Don’t you know Thai king is the richest monarch in the world, according to Forbes magazine ranking, each and every year since 2001. Thai people should have the rights to speak their mind with regard to the monarchy without fearing reprisal.
The barbaric law of lese majeste is a travesty of justice. Using taxpayers money to pay for electricity, water, repairs and other palaces’ essentials located throughout Thailand is a very selfish act.
I doubt that most Thai people care for your monarchy any more, they are more concerned about making ends meet where the next meal will be!
If you disagree with me, you are welcome to give NM a list of what your king has done for the Thai people during the past 10 years. Royalists’ redundant citations of his 4,000 royal projects are more like child-play assignments from grade school, rather than any meaningful projects for the country! Lastly, Thailand belongs to all the people, not just your king alone.
As the sun rises
One of the Chinese attempts to invade Burma occurred when the Burmese king was sacking Ayudhaya and the Thai monarchy, already under Chinese influence in those days (or they themselves were half-Chinese?) asked China for help. This “Sino-Thai-guanxi” is still pretty strong nowadays as everyone knows. In any case, this “hatred of the Kalars and the Rohingya Muslims” might have been a part of the grand Chinese propaganda strategy to soften up the Burmese populace against the present Chinese invasion, which is political, economic, demographic and of course cultural (just look at all the ads in Burmese magazines). I even remember looking up the Facebook page of the Chinese embassy in Burma about 3 years ago and it was full of pictures of Buddhist monks including a picture of the Chinese ambassador “kow-towing” to some Burmese monks (remember FB and Falun-Gong are banned in China; hypocrites!), They have deleted those pictures since then, but it was an obvious propaganda attempt by Peking to “instigate” a certain amount of religious “fervour” in Burma (China should do the same thing with the Tibets and the Uyghurs LOL), especially against the Muslims. Since China needs Lebensraum and naval bases on the Bay of Bengal, there has to be a certain amount of “cleansing” Burma of unwanted aliens, no?
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
Khun Rose, I adore you. You do the right thing . Do what you believe. I appreciate your great heart.
The power be with you.
As the sun rises
Glad to note Nich use the term internationalisation rather than globalisation sucked into the vicious vortex of capitalist ‘free market competition’ and ‘free trade’.
To give some credence to MFKAT (Marayu Formerly Known As Tocherian) and his trademark Sinophobia, China needs to be counted as one of our traditional enemies, not just Thailand, since the first successful invasion of the country was Chinese, sacking Bagan in the 13th C, followed by four more albeit unsuccessful invasions against the formidable Konbaung kings in the 18th C much much later in history, not least the second successful Chinese ‘invasion’ of today.
The British governing Burma as part of India was greatly resented by the Burmese and it still rankles whenever an Indian person makes a rather insensitive remark,”Oh yes, Burma used to be ‘under’ India”. It’s not like Chiang Mai or Assam Manipur used to be under Burma, is it?
So unfortunately, there are no popular votes (let alone militarist chauvinistic ones from Naypyidaw) to be garnered in a referendum (one of those) for even being subsumed under a time zone of either Tayoke or Kalar.
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
HM the King is a very kind person and he has pardoned many lese majeste prisoners throughout the kingdom in the past years. HM needs the Article 112 protection, otherwise people can step all over him and his family. Don’t use your Western value on Thai people and culture esp. your so-called freedom of speech as it has no meaning in our country. You can say things but don’t talk bad about our king as your comments will hurt all the Thai people. If you are not happy with our rules, go live somewhere else.
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
It is not only the promenant people who should be remembered, it is all who suffer imprisonment under this law that only protects the “GOOD PEOPLE” and even some of them have been jailed.
The “Wolf Bride” is a prime example of the stupidity of those that defend the use of LM. For many years there has been a twisted view of history taught in schools and in history books. Henry Ford’s reputed statement that “All history is bunk” can be used to explain the purified and sanitised Thai version of history.
Fortunately now there is the internet for people to discover their real history without the deliberate and humiliating punishment given to dissenters in the Thai
educational system.
The threat of Myanmar’s extremist monks
Were you born racist or did it happen over time?
The threat of Myanmar’s extremist monks
East is beast and West is best, huh? Wish it were as simple and B&W as that.
Monks engaging in popular struggle like students has a long and proud history in Burma. Identifying themselves as part of the family fighting colonialism first then unacceptable levels of poverty and miserable standards of learning lies at the heart of this activism.
No happily ever after in tale of Kampung Pulo
country has responsibility to built their new life, we must brave to start , dont take any fear after eviction…the lesson is we on the right if we own legaly.
Remembering the victims of lese majeste
Thank you Rose for keeping the memories of these heroic people alive, and all to Newmandala for providing this platform.
No happily ever after in tale of Kampung Pulo
The perils of induced civilization …..