an excellent factual analysis. Just one small error: Australia does NOT use the first past the post electoral system, which is inherently less democratic than preferential voting systems.
Well the New Year 2013 will close without anyone having identified who this shooter-in-captured-by-Nick-Nostitz-camera is. My suspicion remains that this ugly guy in the photo is a shooter from the Red camp, captured by overzealous Reds at Rajamangala camp by mistake. NickNostitz himself could not account for, identify, or state whether this guy was in fact arrested by the police and his gun matched with any of the victims, Reds or RU students, during the RU/Rajmangala stadium riots.
But great Nostitz photos just the same. But very very sloppy coverage or follow up.
Year 2014 will even a lousier, more riotous and very politically violent year for Thailand, Vichai N predicts:
(1) Thaksin-the-Horrible continues to manage his puppets from afar ready to launch his vicious Black Shirts to serve bombs-and-blood to Bangkok ala Year2010 if his ‘hold’ on power is threatened.
(2) Puppet PM Yingluck continues on with her pathetic schmaltz that the recent amnesty bill was another Shinawtra ‘honest mistake’ so please forgive-forget and sniff..sniff and a few tears the protesters are breaking her fragile heart.
(3) Suthep and his outrageous 500,000 protesters, cheered by another 5-10 million Bangkok residents, could smell blood and won’t stop …. and yes will continue on in Year 2014 until the last Thaksin-servant-posing-as-parliamentarian are driven out of Thailand, or so they say.
(4) The Red Shirts will continue to be at the ready … to answer to the Thaksin call for action or reaction … the true puppets of the Shinawatra clan.
I can assure you that the most virulent criticism New Mandala has received this year was for featuring posts that were read as having a pro-royal slant.
Is New Mandala interested in allowing posts showing different opinions or points of view? It seems that unless one swallows the views of people like Marshall, posts are deleted.
The Thai media will continue to censor, Nich. But New Mandala does not allow criticism either does it. Talk of Marshall, fine. McCargo, Chambers, not acceptable. Free speech and opinion allowed. I think not.
This would be the problem with polls. Marshall would either delete comments he did not like or fix the results. People are now getting their own back by downgrading his posts. The following post says it all about his bias and power within new Mandela.
Andrew Marshall
No they weren’t unreported. Most of what you write is widely discussed amongst ordinary Red Shirts and others all over the country.
Your claims to some kind of “unique ownership” of your theory is therefore completely false.
And I’m utterly amazed you’d hang onto some ancient resentment because Matt Owen Rees didn’t like Thai Story. Wow.
To be honest I didn’t think it was all that either – it was over-written, covered too much old ground and relied on anecdote and hearsay far too much to be considered definitive.
You do some good work – just get off your exceptional high and pompous horse from time to time please.
I agree with Jim that why Muslim refugees don’t seek helps and shelters from those rich Muslim countries. It must be more comfortable for their religion practices. So far I see non Muslim countries,especially western countries are kindly welcome and accept Muslim refugees more than Muslim countries.
Since the conflicts of Muslims and Buddhists in Burma there are lots of Burmese Muslim or Rohingya landed in Thailand by boats and so many were killed on the journey. Why they don’t go to the neighboring country like Bangladesh which is a Muslim country who can provide their needs more for religion purposes. As sometimes I see the news about Rohingya refugees complaining Thai authority not allow them or provide them a place to pray for some reasons.
One thing is bugging me is that some Muslim people are so proud of their religion and claim that their religion is the world’s growing fastest religion but they like to fight with America more than look after their own people!
“Chinese warriors battling to expel the Burmese”
Quelle surprise!
As a stupid Burmese, I always thought China always practises a “peaceful non-interference policy” and never ever meddles in the politics of neighbouring peripheral countries! What a joke! Oh well, China will never change.
“In China, Thailand seems been portrait as a ‘opposite example’ of democracy”
That’s a good one Wang!
New Mandala can shut down soon if China has anything to say in Southeast Asia! We can all read “The People’s Daily” instead.
How about actually doing some polling, with some Thai studies grad students, perhaps? A telephone survey to land lines using online directories? Is that possible?
While UMNO is clearly not advancing democracy in Malaysia, I see no evidence that PAS and PR, given their preference for an Islamic Malaysia (PAS; and forgot their superficial ‘reform’ program which is all smoke and mirrors), and constant infighting and poor leadership by an unstable and inconsistent leader (Anwar), respectively, are advancing democracy in Malaysia by any programs or actions on the part of either Party. Lim Kit Siang, has contributed to advancing social and economic discourse in Malaysia, but he is advancing in years, and DAP continues, as it has from the outset, to suffer from a fairly homogeneous and non broad-based Malaysian constituency which hampers its nationwide political efforts and attempts to search for broad demographic appeal. Regardless of UMNO’s many faults, which include a failure to engender democracy in Malaysia (for a variety of reasons), none of the opposition political parties, in and of themselves, are
contributing towards democracy per se, other than the fact that they simply exist as opposing parties with a multitude of viewpoints which usually differ from those of BN/UMNO, which is insufficient by itself to engender democratic concepts and principles in Malaysia.
Agreed that there will probably be a coup within one month. For what it isn’t worth, I already disagree with it, 😉 and don’t know anyone who really knows why it is almost certain to happen. But apparently the Shinawatra/Damapong/Wongsawat/Red Shirt/Peua Thai lot think it might actually be good for them. But then again, Suthep and the flg-waving whistle people probably have other reasons to believe it will also help their case. Perhaps both sides are actually thinking that it might be good if someone sort of neutralish stepped in to deflect them from the horror they feel honor-bound to inflict on the rest of the country. The sort of bad stuff that low-lifers sort of wish they didn’t have to do, but DO anyway – just to prove that they are the ‘business’.
What I do know is that street-level Thailand, especially at New Year, doesn’t really have anything to do with political ‘frameworks’. And I’m constantly surprised how little you academics (both expat and local) really taste the day in your campus apartments, high-rise condos, gated estates, gin palaces behind high walls and overseas locations.
The main impression I am left with, at street level, with each passing New Year is that this country is drifting relentlessly downhill – as there is absolutely no one brave enough to run the country judiciously, or even non-judiciously. In other words, they can’t even run the country as an effective dictatorship without completely fumbling it and making themselves a laughing stock at both home and abroad.
With such a spinelessly irresponsible and useless elite, we’re unlikely to see anything at all good in this New Year or in many more to come. New Year and Songkrahn, and others, are now pretty much anarchistic celebrations – during which the powers-that-be take the phone off the hook. (If indeed, they aren’t earnestly engaged in making reckless whoopee themselves.) No one really ever wants to pick up the tab until shit suddenly happens to their family. At which point, it very gradually dawns on them that no one actually cares a toss about making this a better place to live, because real effort and serious intent is ‘not what we do here’. (Shopping until you’re dropping, and standing in line at the credit company to pay for it all, are so much more fun.) Unless that is, some populist doesn’t discover a way to turn his/her mob into a party-party.
But then again, since when has political science really ever had anything practical to say or do for the greater good of any country. As the Russians found out the long & hard way – the idealogues (if such creatures have ever really roamed this land)are a largely self-centred lot. They need our votes to make pretend democracy, but they don’t really want to end up running anything democratically. Neither do they really want to live cheek-by-jowl with the sort of people they so cynically exploit in their promotion of the ‘democracy’ scam.
Please read the link provided by L. S. Schwartz. Thailand, though not among the wealthiest of nations, has a long history of aiding refugees by providing food and shelter. Some of its more recent repatriation activities (I’m thinking especially with regard to Laos) are questionable, but Thais (except for some obscene human-trafficking types)are open-hearted people.
Can’t say the same for Islamic SE Asia nations. Muslim refugees arriving in Malaysia and Indonesia are pushed out to sea in decrepit vessels, having been told of the promised land of Australia, only to drown or be incarcerated on Christmas Island.
On the subject of polls, I’ve often thought it would be interesting if NM had some sort of poll facility. We ask a question (moderated) and get to see a tally of responses.
Question 1: A coup is inevitable within the next month (agree. disagree, don’t know)
For Barry Norman: Once upon a time in the 70s into the early 80s the anthem was played after the feature had ended. Always amusing to watch a few, invariably male, cinema goers – having just stubbed out their cigarettes – bolting for the exits to avoid the obligatory show of respect. Among their ranks perhaps the fathers or grandfathers of some of the ‘enforcers’ for the yellow, red, or whatever other colour shirt brigade.
For Boon: Perhaps you are confusing Wan (Wanchalerm) Yubumrung for his trigger-happy younger brother Duang (Duangchalerm) Bumrung. No matter, all cut from the same shitty piece of rag. At the very least it would be nice to see the term ‘Scumbag’ (Ai sa-wa) tattooed on the foreheads of Papa and his three slimey sons.
What can one say about the cast of characters involved Thai politics? Very ugly whichever way you turn.
Is anyone doing any good polling? Do we know anything about how people in the different regions, different age groups, with different educational backgrounds and professions, gender, ethnicity, etc view these demonstrations and the events of the day?
Gee, guys. It is pretty basic assuming that you don’t fundamentally believe that Muslim organizations are inherently destabilizing. If a majority percentage of the populous is Muslim and you have political parties that represent them, then they have a say in the government theoretically. You don’t really need a bunch of links to infer that, guys. I think residents of E. Timor and elsewhere might not wish to see ‘their fatherland’ described in such glowing terms. Try looking elsewhere, i.e., Sam Rainsy, if you are seeking anything remotely pluralistic in conception in this region…or any other, by the way.
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Malaysian elections, malapportionment, and redelineation
an excellent factual analysis. Just one small error: Australia does NOT use the first past the post electoral system, which is inherently less democratic than preferential voting systems.
Ramkhamhaeng: A view from inside the stadium
Well the New Year 2013 will close without anyone having identified who this shooter-in-captured-by-Nick-Nostitz-camera is. My suspicion remains that this ugly guy in the photo is a shooter from the Red camp, captured by overzealous Reds at Rajamangala camp by mistake. NickNostitz himself could not account for, identify, or state whether this guy was in fact arrested by the police and his gun matched with any of the victims, Reds or RU students, during the RU/Rajmangala stadium riots.
But great Nostitz photos just the same. But very very sloppy coverage or follow up.
Year 2014 will even a lousier, more riotous and very politically violent year for Thailand, Vichai N predicts:
(1) Thaksin-the-Horrible continues to manage his puppets from afar ready to launch his vicious Black Shirts to serve bombs-and-blood to Bangkok ala Year2010 if his ‘hold’ on power is threatened.
(2) Puppet PM Yingluck continues on with her pathetic schmaltz that the recent amnesty bill was another Shinawtra ‘honest mistake’ so please forgive-forget and sniff..sniff and a few tears the protesters are breaking her fragile heart.
(3) Suthep and his outrageous 500,000 protesters, cheered by another 5-10 million Bangkok residents, could smell blood and won’t stop …. and yes will continue on in Year 2014 until the last Thaksin-servant-posing-as-parliamentarian are driven out of Thailand, or so they say.
(4) The Red Shirts will continue to be at the ready … to answer to the Thaksin call for action or reaction … the true puppets of the Shinawatra clan.
New Mandala’s top posts in 2013
Any evidence Matt? How about this? http://www.newmandala.org/2013/02/04/tolerating-intolerance/
I can assure you that the most virulent criticism New Mandala has received this year was for featuring posts that were read as having a pro-royal slant.
New Mandala’s top posts in 2013
Greg maybe heroic in calling for PM Najib’s resignation, but I called for him never to be appointed PM in the first place !
New Mandala’s top posts in 2013
Is New Mandala interested in allowing posts showing different opinions or points of view? It seems that unless one swallows the views of people like Marshall, posts are deleted.
Andrew Marshall’s Thai Story
The Thai media will continue to censor, Nich. But New Mandala does not allow criticism either does it. Talk of Marshall, fine. McCargo, Chambers, not acceptable. Free speech and opinion allowed. I think not.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
This would be the problem with polls. Marshall would either delete comments he did not like or fix the results. People are now getting their own back by downgrading his posts. The following post says it all about his bias and power within new Mandela.
Andrew Marshall
No they weren’t unreported. Most of what you write is widely discussed amongst ordinary Red Shirts and others all over the country.
Your claims to some kind of “unique ownership” of your theory is therefore completely false.
And I’m utterly amazed you’d hang onto some ancient resentment because Matt Owen Rees didn’t like Thai Story. Wow.
To be honest I didn’t think it was all that either – it was over-written, covered too much old ground and relied on anecdote and hearsay far too much to be considered definitive.
You do some good work – just get off your exceptional high and pompous horse from time to time please.
Quality comment or not? Thumb up 19 Thumb down 14
Interview with a Palestinian refugee in Thailand
I agree with Jim that why Muslim refugees don’t seek helps and shelters from those rich Muslim countries. It must be more comfortable for their religion practices. So far I see non Muslim countries,especially western countries are kindly welcome and accept Muslim refugees more than Muslim countries.
Since the conflicts of Muslims and Buddhists in Burma there are lots of Burmese Muslim or Rohingya landed in Thailand by boats and so many were killed on the journey. Why they don’t go to the neighboring country like Bangladesh which is a Muslim country who can provide their needs more for religion purposes. As sometimes I see the news about Rohingya refugees complaining Thai authority not allow them or provide them a place to pray for some reasons.
One thing is bugging me is that some Muslim people are so proud of their religion and claim that their religion is the world’s growing fastest religion but they like to fight with America more than look after their own people!
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
“Chinese warriors battling to expel the Burmese”
Quelle surprise!
As a stupid Burmese, I always thought China always practises a “peaceful non-interference policy” and never ever meddles in the politics of neighbouring peripheral countries! What a joke! Oh well, China will never change.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
“In China, Thailand seems been portrait as a ‘opposite example’ of democracy”
That’s a good one Wang!
New Mandala can shut down soon if China has anything to say in Southeast Asia! We can all read “The People’s Daily” instead.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
How about actually doing some polling, with some Thai studies grad students, perhaps? A telephone survey to land lines using online directories? Is that possible?
Non-government actors advancing democracy in Malaysia
While UMNO is clearly not advancing democracy in Malaysia, I see no evidence that PAS and PR, given their preference for an Islamic Malaysia (PAS; and forgot their superficial ‘reform’ program which is all smoke and mirrors), and constant infighting and poor leadership by an unstable and inconsistent leader (Anwar), respectively, are advancing democracy in Malaysia by any programs or actions on the part of either Party. Lim Kit Siang, has contributed to advancing social and economic discourse in Malaysia, but he is advancing in years, and DAP continues, as it has from the outset, to suffer from a fairly homogeneous and non broad-based Malaysian constituency which hampers its nationwide political efforts and attempts to search for broad demographic appeal. Regardless of UMNO’s many faults, which include a failure to engender democracy in Malaysia (for a variety of reasons), none of the opposition political parties, in and of themselves, are
contributing towards democracy per se, other than the fact that they simply exist as opposing parties with a multitude of viewpoints which usually differ from those of BN/UMNO, which is insufficient by itself to engender democratic concepts and principles in Malaysia.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
Agreed that there will probably be a coup within one month. For what it isn’t worth, I already disagree with it, 😉 and don’t know anyone who really knows why it is almost certain to happen. But apparently the Shinawatra/Damapong/Wongsawat/Red Shirt/Peua Thai lot think it might actually be good for them. But then again, Suthep and the flg-waving whistle people probably have other reasons to believe it will also help their case. Perhaps both sides are actually thinking that it might be good if someone sort of neutralish stepped in to deflect them from the horror they feel honor-bound to inflict on the rest of the country. The sort of bad stuff that low-lifers sort of wish they didn’t have to do, but DO anyway – just to prove that they are the ‘business’.
What I do know is that street-level Thailand, especially at New Year, doesn’t really have anything to do with political ‘frameworks’. And I’m constantly surprised how little you academics (both expat and local) really taste the day in your campus apartments, high-rise condos, gated estates, gin palaces behind high walls and overseas locations.
The main impression I am left with, at street level, with each passing New Year is that this country is drifting relentlessly downhill – as there is absolutely no one brave enough to run the country judiciously, or even non-judiciously. In other words, they can’t even run the country as an effective dictatorship without completely fumbling it and making themselves a laughing stock at both home and abroad.
With such a spinelessly irresponsible and useless elite, we’re unlikely to see anything at all good in this New Year or in many more to come. New Year and Songkrahn, and others, are now pretty much anarchistic celebrations – during which the powers-that-be take the phone off the hook. (If indeed, they aren’t earnestly engaged in making reckless whoopee themselves.) No one really ever wants to pick up the tab until shit suddenly happens to their family. At which point, it very gradually dawns on them that no one actually cares a toss about making this a better place to live, because real effort and serious intent is ‘not what we do here’. (Shopping until you’re dropping, and standing in line at the credit company to pay for it all, are so much more fun.) Unless that is, some populist doesn’t discover a way to turn his/her mob into a party-party.
But then again, since when has political science really ever had anything practical to say or do for the greater good of any country. As the Russians found out the long & hard way – the idealogues (if such creatures have ever really roamed this land)are a largely self-centred lot. They need our votes to make pretend democracy, but they don’t really want to end up running anything democratically. Neither do they really want to live cheek-by-jowl with the sort of people they so cynically exploit in their promotion of the ‘democracy’ scam.
Happy New Year! 😉
Interview with a Palestinian refugee in Thailand
Please read the link provided by L. S. Schwartz. Thailand, though not among the wealthiest of nations, has a long history of aiding refugees by providing food and shelter. Some of its more recent repatriation activities (I’m thinking especially with regard to Laos) are questionable, but Thais (except for some obscene human-trafficking types)are open-hearted people.
Can’t say the same for Islamic SE Asia nations. Muslim refugees arriving in Malaysia and Indonesia are pushed out to sea in decrepit vessels, having been told of the promised land of Australia, only to drown or be incarcerated on Christmas Island.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
On the subject of polls, I’ve often thought it would be interesting if NM had some sort of poll facility. We ask a question (moderated) and get to see a tally of responses.
Question 1: A coup is inevitable within the next month (agree. disagree, don’t know)
Thai politics, 14 October and all that
For Barry Norman: Once upon a time in the 70s into the early 80s the anthem was played after the feature had ended. Always amusing to watch a few, invariably male, cinema goers – having just stubbed out their cigarettes – bolting for the exits to avoid the obligatory show of respect. Among their ranks perhaps the fathers or grandfathers of some of the ‘enforcers’ for the yellow, red, or whatever other colour shirt brigade.
For Boon: Perhaps you are confusing Wan (Wanchalerm) Yubumrung for his trigger-happy younger brother Duang (Duangchalerm) Bumrung. No matter, all cut from the same shitty piece of rag. At the very least it would be nice to see the term ‘Scumbag’ (Ai sa-wa) tattooed on the foreheads of Papa and his three slimey sons.
What can one say about the cast of characters involved Thai politics? Very ugly whichever way you turn.
How to understand Thailand’s conflict
Is anyone doing any good polling? Do we know anything about how people in the different regions, different age groups, with different educational backgrounds and professions, gender, ethnicity, etc view these demonstrations and the events of the day?
Another big weekend for Thailand
Gee, guys. It is pretty basic assuming that you don’t fundamentally believe that Muslim organizations are inherently destabilizing. If a majority percentage of the populous is Muslim and you have political parties that represent them, then they have a say in the government theoretically. You don’t really need a bunch of links to infer that, guys. I think residents of E. Timor and elsewhere might not wish to see ‘their fatherland’ described in such glowing terms. Try looking elsewhere, i.e., Sam Rainsy, if you are seeking anything remotely pluralistic in conception in this region…or any other, by the way.
Review of One Man’s View of the World
[…] http://www.newmandala.org/2013/12/13/review-of-one-mans-view-of-the-world-tlc-nmrev-l… […]
Interview with a Palestinian refugee in Thailand
Current Thai policy toward the Rohingya is similar toward recent Hmong refugees from Laos: detention and eventual repatriation.
As Syria is not a member of ASEAN, the Assad regime doesn’t get such “professional courtesy”.