Allyn, your article was totally wrong analysis, you must learn what is “quick count” all about and don’t be over confident for “real count” or it seem you make some “discount” and “distortion” for putting the context that you done with Jokowi and Prabowo in the same tactics.
The world should respect all the populations that live around this “South East Asia” sea. The “South China sea” name is disrespectful to them. The “South China sea” name was coined by the ancient Western maritime explorers then adopted by their colonial powers. The colonialism is gone and this colonial vestige should not survive any longer.
There is mobile app “Showkie bookmarker/light” in Android and iPhone with a channel dedicated to South East Asia sea and you can use them to email/tweet any television news channel to promote the “South East Asia sea” name change. The journalists have the power to change it and they usually are fair minded if there are enough people to convince them. If you are interested, open Channels then go to options menu then select “South East Asia” to install it.
The gangster may be in jail but doesn’t mean his GANG will automatically disappear. As such, the gangster will still be able to call upon his gang to do his bidding even behind bars. You said it yourself that words matter, yet you don’t seem to grasp the meaning of the word ‘gangster’.
R, N England,
What a dreadful comment to make.
These multi billion Baht/dollar projects are only their to make vasts amounts of money for the few at the expense of the many. Capitalism at its most vulgar and destructive.
The capitalist PT govt and past capitalist govts. along with the illegal military Junta only want to put excess monies into their pockets.
DAMS RUIN EVERYTHING.
There are many alternative power sources available in Thailand to make new dams expensive white elephants that only benefit the wealthy corrupt people in Thailand and abroad.
Sceptic : geo-economic realities change. How can any serious student of this region dismiss as “fantasy” the idea that the current “Thai structure” will not – at some point, perhaps sooner than later – change or collapse ? There have been so many different politico-socio-economic entities – and shifting boundaries – in this part of the world, what’s to say we are NOT on the cusp of another ? Is the widespread believe in that ancient Buddhist prophesy – i.e. that a highly esteemed and revered dynasty would be nine times lucky, and the last a great one – mere “fantasy” ? Quite apart from your narrow focus on economics – and from within a rigidly liberal perspective it seems – there is the environmental question : Bangkok is simply sinking under rising sea levels, with ever-worsening floods, no matter how much Japanese style “concrete construction economics” is poured into delaying this. Eventually a new administrative capital will have to be found. And the most viable available is Korat – Nakhon Ratchasima. I.e. in Isaarn.
People shouldn’t be outraged if ANU lets Allyn to write his piece here. In fact, it is good if he comes out of his den and has a chance to humiliate himself in public.
First of all, sincere congrats on your commendable attempt to fathom the baffling political scene of Burma. Sympathies to the poor people of Burma of all races and religions for their sufferings.
Welcome Ms Cable to the deceptive world of accusations, counter-accusations, behind-the-scene rope pulling, scapegoating (excuse me for the poetic license) and mudslinging by apparently innocent crowds usually sponsored by the bogeyman, the military regime in civilian clothing. Politics is dirty elsewhere. It is dirtier by any standard here in Burma in the hand of military-cum-civilian non-government who are trying to cling to power by any means fair or foul.
In the process, they have succeeded time and again in pulling wool over the eyes of innocent citizens whose first priority is to survive from day to day, feeding from hand to mouth. It is a tragedy for a fledgling democracy which is but a ridiculous roadshow by soldiers in civilian garbs, who actually belong in military barracks. Double tragedy for racially and religiously diverse people of Burma who unsuspectingly fall for any trap set by the unscrupulous instigators widely believed to be henchmen of the old regime.
They are experts at instigating, espionage and counter espionage – pitting people against people, politicians against politicians, monks and against monks – you name it.
The latest disturbances bear the hallmark of these instigators – just look at ‘strangers appearing out of nowhere and start beating people up’. They are well organized, follow orders and disappear as suddenly as they come. After several riots and pogroms, the perpetrators are still on the run – or perhaps no attempt has ever been made to lay a hand on them because there is a powerful hand behind them. You keep seeing the same pattern and you get the picture. It is a de ja vu repeated so often people are jaded now but can’t let their guard down due to threats to their life and limbs.
And It is a very poor attempt to distract people away from the campaign for constitution amendment which is gaining momentum and many other positive achievements by the opposition.
Wirathu and his ilk are free to say and do anything because they are doing the ruling party a big favour. Every time Wirathu rants about race and religion and people buy his rhetoric, the Kyant Phoot (the popular derogatory name the ruling party is known by) gains its brownie points. He is simply used as a tool by henchmen of the old regime – who by the way are people of the present regime – whenever they want to play race and religion cards.
So, I would like to suggest caution when you try to evaluate situations here – particularly when you have not yet connected the dots.
The rants by Wirathu are but echoes of the regime’s voice. The political reforms you mention are superficial, done for the most part to reinforce the cling to power by the entrenched party. Some would go so far as to say these reforms are non-existent. A gentleman, a regular visitor to this site once commented ‘one must be brain dead to assume that there is democratic reform in Burma’
The past regime and its present proxy with their loads of black money has been ostracized by the democratic West and to get back into the fold, they need to give an appearance of reforms which you will find is not happening at all. The assumption that the regime is adopting ‘isolationist Buddhist nationalism’ is baseless. They are nominal Buddhists, doling out harsh punishments for the smallest of offenses to venerable monks, pitting prestigious monks against common monks and pitting races against races, religions against religions. They have no interest in being Buddhists nor nationalists.
Their assuming of such identities is solely for the purpose of seeking legitimacy and perpetuation of serfdom for long suffering people of Burma. I would like to say more to deal with other points but for the lack of space.
I don’t know what is this argument based on. It seems to be repeated by many Prabowo voters. But seeing how cleverly the camp has been in manipulating people opinion though media, I find it not surprising anymore.
What I know happened is that in the quickcount of 20004 first round, SBY was clearly leading, while Mega at second place and Wiranto at third place was close.
Mega announced going to second round based on the quickount, and the real count comes out the same.
In the second round, quickcount and realcount clearly show that SBY got a lot more votes than Megawati.
I believe that the issue extends far beyond political. It seems that education is only for the sake of being educated. Apologies for the generalisation, but some teachers have no motivation to teach student but merely repeat the contents of government textbooks. A lot students dread learning and will put up no effort in class. Their high school years are spent preparing for the many important exams they will need to get into a ‘good’ university. In Bangkok students of all ages are sent by their parents to tutoring to learn what?
Educators should work with students toward a greater goal. The current goal of simply getting this qualification or that university degree is one of the many problems that the thai education system faces.
In Finland there is a national effort for education. Teachers, arguably the most influential person for a student go through a highly selective process, which is more competitive that a doctor’s to ensure students get an excellent educator who can help them grow.
Thailand needs to seriously think about education. The system is outdated and ineffective. Releasing today’s mold of prescriptive curriculum will be a good first step on a surely lengthy journey to heal thai education. One day thai students may be able to think for themselves.
No one is able or wants to comment on the action taken by the NCPO re legal execution, I notice. Do you guys even know what happened. No, of course not. You merely regurgitate what others post
Your comments are not credible when you don’t even want to admit to facts that don’t support your agenda.
“especially silly crackdowns on peaceful expressions of opinion, do not augur well.”
I read two messages from this statement – that first the crackdowns were silly or relatively unimportant, but then that their fact does not augur well. Can’t have it two ways. The crackdowns, and those being blended with new legislation and new charter, are anything but silly. Of course there is divisiveness among even elites, but the general direction is to ensure that “in the name of the king” behavior of the past is perpetuated ad infinitum. Prayuth’s astute intellect, as such, coupled with his commitment to do what it takes to get his goals accomplished, are about as Thainess as it comes. He is only a man in uniform, however. Standing beside him are the ultra-conservative/ultra-royalists who would rather boil you alive than allow you to speak freely. That is part of the powerbase that made what Prayuth did, and his predecessors able to do, so dangerous and intractable.
Infrastructure projects like this always produce winners and losers. Whether they should go ahead or not depends on the balance of them. If the advocates for the losers always won, there would be no infrastructure.
These 969’ers don’t seem to realise that they are the ones causing irreparable damage to the purity of Theravada Buddhism by contaminating true Buddhist values. They certainly are not following all the 272 precepts for bikkhus. This is having a negative impact on the reputation of all Buddhist monks. I don’t think the 969’ers understand this because they are blinded by their intense and irrational hate (dawtha and mawha) towards Muslims Kalars.
Upon my own research on your profile, Mr, Rob Allyn, i came across 3 information that require your confirmation:
1) During the time you were in West Bank of Palestine after the peace accords in 1999, was it true that you were working for International Republican Institute then? http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rob_Allyn
The inability of Indonesian majority to feed themselves was ended in most part of the nation when Prabowo’s former father in law conceded his presidency in 1998, while the rest of the nation was equally enabled when Prabowo himself was discharged from his military post.
In regard to your prejudiced comment on certain ethnic minority, it was in fact a strategy of divide et impera, a social deception concocted by the ‘new order’ regime, Prabowo included, to undermine social unity. It served the regime in such a way that as long as the society was divided into segments of ethnicities, it would require less effort to intimidate each segment into submission.
Your perception in regard to the presence of foreign multinationals is also severely outdated as such cases existed during the reign of the ‘new order’ regime, yet it was not by choice but necessity required by the regime.
I’m curious about your reference to free market democracy, would it be in your interest that a geopolitical feudalism is in place instead? If that is the case, i’m afraid that you have been left behind by progress.
In light of numerous evidence that exhibits your lack of knowledge in current affairs, allow me to query your predicament. How long exactly have you been incarcerated or are you simply ignorant?
Please read carefully. i repeatedly stressed the difference between 1) objective burden (Thai tax rate very low, 76% of public funds go back to Bangkok) and 2) subjective/ discursive perception of Bkk middle class (“corrupt politicians robb our money to buy votes from greedy poor with populist projects”) and 3) a future social contract based on a social compromise under which the Bkk middle class would indeed bankroll the state with a much higher tax burden than today.
In the “Corruption discourse” essay, I referred to 2), in this text I spoke of 3).
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Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
Allyn, your article was totally wrong analysis, you must learn what is “quick count” all about and don’t be over confident for “real count” or it seem you make some “discount” and “distortion” for putting the context that you done with Jokowi and Prabowo in the same tactics.
Sectarian conflict in Mandalay
Where there are maggots the flesh must be rotten.
The Southeast Asia Sea?
The world should respect all the populations that live around this “South East Asia” sea. The “South China sea” name is disrespectful to them. The “South China sea” name was coined by the ancient Western maritime explorers then adopted by their colonial powers. The colonialism is gone and this colonial vestige should not survive any longer.
There is mobile app “Showkie bookmarker/light” in Android and iPhone with a channel dedicated to South East Asia sea and you can use them to email/tweet any television news channel to promote the “South East Asia sea” name change. The journalists have the power to change it and they usually are fair minded if there are enough people to convince them. If you are interested, open Channels then go to options menu then select “South East Asia” to install it.
Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
The gangster may be in jail but doesn’t mean his GANG will automatically disappear. As such, the gangster will still be able to call upon his gang to do his bidding even behind bars. You said it yourself that words matter, yet you don’t seem to grasp the meaning of the word ‘gangster’.
For democracy in Thailand, pay attention to Mae Chaem
R, N England,
What a dreadful comment to make.
These multi billion Baht/dollar projects are only their to make vasts amounts of money for the few at the expense of the many. Capitalism at its most vulgar and destructive.
The capitalist PT govt and past capitalist govts. along with the illegal military Junta only want to put excess monies into their pockets.
DAMS RUIN EVERYTHING.
There are many alternative power sources available in Thailand to make new dams expensive white elephants that only benefit the wealthy corrupt people in Thailand and abroad.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
Sceptic : geo-economic realities change. How can any serious student of this region dismiss as “fantasy” the idea that the current “Thai structure” will not – at some point, perhaps sooner than later – change or collapse ? There have been so many different politico-socio-economic entities – and shifting boundaries – in this part of the world, what’s to say we are NOT on the cusp of another ? Is the widespread believe in that ancient Buddhist prophesy – i.e. that a highly esteemed and revered dynasty would be nine times lucky, and the last a great one – mere “fantasy” ? Quite apart from your narrow focus on economics – and from within a rigidly liberal perspective it seems – there is the environmental question : Bangkok is simply sinking under rising sea levels, with ever-worsening floods, no matter how much Japanese style “concrete construction economics” is poured into delaying this. Eventually a new administrative capital will have to be found. And the most viable available is Korat – Nakhon Ratchasima. I.e. in Isaarn.
Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
People shouldn’t be outraged if ANU lets Allyn to write his piece here. In fact, it is good if he comes out of his den and has a chance to humiliate himself in public.
Sabah – UMNO’s fixed deposit?
can someone tell me what is the update between the Philippines and the neigboring countries regarding Sabah? I need your answers. ;0
Sectarian conflict in Mandalay
First of all, sincere congrats on your commendable attempt to fathom the baffling political scene of Burma. Sympathies to the poor people of Burma of all races and religions for their sufferings.
Welcome Ms Cable to the deceptive world of accusations, counter-accusations, behind-the-scene rope pulling, scapegoating (excuse me for the poetic license) and mudslinging by apparently innocent crowds usually sponsored by the bogeyman, the military regime in civilian clothing. Politics is dirty elsewhere. It is dirtier by any standard here in Burma in the hand of military-cum-civilian non-government who are trying to cling to power by any means fair or foul.
In the process, they have succeeded time and again in pulling wool over the eyes of innocent citizens whose first priority is to survive from day to day, feeding from hand to mouth. It is a tragedy for a fledgling democracy which is but a ridiculous roadshow by soldiers in civilian garbs, who actually belong in military barracks. Double tragedy for racially and religiously diverse people of Burma who unsuspectingly fall for any trap set by the unscrupulous instigators widely believed to be henchmen of the old regime.
They are experts at instigating, espionage and counter espionage – pitting people against people, politicians against politicians, monks and against monks – you name it.
The latest disturbances bear the hallmark of these instigators – just look at ‘strangers appearing out of nowhere and start beating people up’. They are well organized, follow orders and disappear as suddenly as they come. After several riots and pogroms, the perpetrators are still on the run – or perhaps no attempt has ever been made to lay a hand on them because there is a powerful hand behind them. You keep seeing the same pattern and you get the picture. It is a de ja vu repeated so often people are jaded now but can’t let their guard down due to threats to their life and limbs.
And It is a very poor attempt to distract people away from the campaign for constitution amendment which is gaining momentum and many other positive achievements by the opposition.
Wirathu and his ilk are free to say and do anything because they are doing the ruling party a big favour. Every time Wirathu rants about race and religion and people buy his rhetoric, the Kyant Phoot (the popular derogatory name the ruling party is known by) gains its brownie points. He is simply used as a tool by henchmen of the old regime – who by the way are people of the present regime – whenever they want to play race and religion cards.
So, I would like to suggest caution when you try to evaluate situations here – particularly when you have not yet connected the dots.
The rants by Wirathu are but echoes of the regime’s voice. The political reforms you mention are superficial, done for the most part to reinforce the cling to power by the entrenched party. Some would go so far as to say these reforms are non-existent. A gentleman, a regular visitor to this site once commented ‘one must be brain dead to assume that there is democratic reform in Burma’
The past regime and its present proxy with their loads of black money has been ostracized by the democratic West and to get back into the fold, they need to give an appearance of reforms which you will find is not happening at all. The assumption that the regime is adopting ‘isolationist Buddhist nationalism’ is baseless. They are nominal Buddhists, doling out harsh punishments for the smallest of offenses to venerable monks, pitting prestigious monks against common monks and pitting races against races, religions against religions. They have no interest in being Buddhists nor nationalists.
Their assuming of such identities is solely for the purpose of seeking legitimacy and perpetuation of serfdom for long suffering people of Burma. I would like to say more to deal with other points but for the lack of space.
Taktik Permainan Prabowo
Ini orangnya.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-11/fears-of-vote-count-fraud-in-indonesian-election/5591778
Prabowo’s game plan
I don’t know what is this argument based on. It seems to be repeated by many Prabowo voters. But seeing how cleverly the camp has been in manipulating people opinion though media, I find it not surprising anymore.
What I know happened is that in the quickcount of 20004 first round, SBY was clearly leading, while Mega at second place and Wiranto at third place was close.
Mega announced going to second round based on the quickount, and the real count comes out the same.
In the second round, quickcount and realcount clearly show that SBY got a lot more votes than Megawati.
Confused Thai Educators
I believe that the issue extends far beyond political. It seems that education is only for the sake of being educated. Apologies for the generalisation, but some teachers have no motivation to teach student but merely repeat the contents of government textbooks. A lot students dread learning and will put up no effort in class. Their high school years are spent preparing for the many important exams they will need to get into a ‘good’ university. In Bangkok students of all ages are sent by their parents to tutoring to learn what?
Educators should work with students toward a greater goal. The current goal of simply getting this qualification or that university degree is one of the many problems that the thai education system faces.
In Finland there is a national effort for education. Teachers, arguably the most influential person for a student go through a highly selective process, which is more competitive that a doctor’s to ensure students get an excellent educator who can help them grow.
Thailand needs to seriously think about education. The system is outdated and ineffective. Releasing today’s mold of prescriptive curriculum will be a good first step on a surely lengthy journey to heal thai education. One day thai students may be able to think for themselves.
Political economy of Thai political pathologies
No one is able or wants to comment on the action taken by the NCPO re legal execution, I notice. Do you guys even know what happened. No, of course not. You merely regurgitate what others post
Your comments are not credible when you don’t even want to admit to facts that don’t support your agenda.
As one poster said “it goes over my head”
Siamese dreams in the time of the junta
“especially silly crackdowns on peaceful expressions of opinion, do not augur well.”
I read two messages from this statement – that first the crackdowns were silly or relatively unimportant, but then that their fact does not augur well. Can’t have it two ways. The crackdowns, and those being blended with new legislation and new charter, are anything but silly. Of course there is divisiveness among even elites, but the general direction is to ensure that “in the name of the king” behavior of the past is perpetuated ad infinitum. Prayuth’s astute intellect, as such, coupled with his commitment to do what it takes to get his goals accomplished, are about as Thainess as it comes. He is only a man in uniform, however. Standing beside him are the ultra-conservative/ultra-royalists who would rather boil you alive than allow you to speak freely. That is part of the powerbase that made what Prayuth did, and his predecessors able to do, so dangerous and intractable.
For democracy in Thailand, pay attention to Mae Chaem
Infrastructure projects like this always produce winners and losers. Whether they should go ahead or not depends on the balance of them. If the advocates for the losers always won, there would be no infrastructure.
Sectarian conflict in Mandalay
These 969’ers don’t seem to realise that they are the ones causing irreparable damage to the purity of Theravada Buddhism by contaminating true Buddhist values. They certainly are not following all the 272 precepts for bikkhus. This is having a negative impact on the reputation of all Buddhist monks. I don’t think the 969’ers understand this because they are blinded by their intense and irrational hate (dawtha and mawha) towards Muslims Kalars.
Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
Upon my own research on your profile, Mr, Rob Allyn, i came across 3 information that require your confirmation:
1) During the time you were in West Bank of Palestine after the peace accords in 1999, was it true that you were working for International Republican Institute then?
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rob_Allyn
2) Is it true that International Republican Institute is a component of National Endowment for Democracy?
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Republican_Institute
3) Is it true that the objective of National Endowment for Democracy is to influence political outcomes and
civic society in lesser developed countries around the world?
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Talk:National_Endowment_for_Democracy
Thank you.
Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
Thanks for this lightfull post. It does, as the previous comment says, the conspiracy theories.
Every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard
The inability of Indonesian majority to feed themselves was ended in most part of the nation when Prabowo’s former father in law conceded his presidency in 1998, while the rest of the nation was equally enabled when Prabowo himself was discharged from his military post.
In regard to your prejudiced comment on certain ethnic minority, it was in fact a strategy of divide et impera, a social deception concocted by the ‘new order’ regime, Prabowo included, to undermine social unity. It served the regime in such a way that as long as the society was divided into segments of ethnicities, it would require less effort to intimidate each segment into submission.
Your perception in regard to the presence of foreign multinationals is also severely outdated as such cases existed during the reign of the ‘new order’ regime, yet it was not by choice but necessity required by the regime.
I’m curious about your reference to free market democracy, would it be in your interest that a geopolitical feudalism is in place instead? If that is the case, i’m afraid that you have been left behind by progress.
In light of numerous evidence that exhibits your lack of knowledge in current affairs, allow me to query your predicament. How long exactly have you been incarcerated or are you simply ignorant?
Siamese dreams in the time of the junta
Please read carefully. i repeatedly stressed the difference between 1) objective burden (Thai tax rate very low, 76% of public funds go back to Bangkok) and 2) subjective/ discursive perception of Bkk middle class (“corrupt politicians robb our money to buy votes from greedy poor with populist projects”) and 3) a future social contract based on a social compromise under which the Bkk middle class would indeed bankroll the state with a much higher tax burden than today.
In the “Corruption discourse” essay, I referred to 2), in this text I spoke of 3).