Postcards from Thailand

Former Prime Minister Samak has died of liver cancer. He wasn’t a very nice person – an arrogant thug. In fact, he was totally loathsome – not only because he taught Thai people how to cook ham in Coca Cola on his TV cookery show, but also because he was a leader of the mob that tortured and murdered hundreds of university students on 6 October 1976 as they protested for democracy. Still, de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est.

The following report outlines (brilliantly, in my opinion) some of the horrors of that day: http://web.archive.org/web/20061210024133/http://www.hawaii.edu/cseas/pubs/explore/v1n1-art6.html (The link is to The Wayback Machine because the original article appears no longer to be online.)

According to The Bangkok Post “a royally sponsored bathing rite for him will be held at the Benchama Bophit Temple”.

Internet censorship strikes again, which is why I don’t know that The Times has refused to provide the Thai government with a copy of the recording of an interview with another former Prime Minister. Thank you, Nanny State, for protecting me.

The weather here is bitterly cold. At night the temperature is dropping as low as 19°C, and during the day it struggles to reach 30°C. Everyone around town is wearing thick jackets to stave off the cold. And further north it’s even colder. Sadly, several people have died of hypothermia.

Four of six ancient Buddha figures at a temple near here have been destroyed, and two Buddha figure heads stolen by thieves. The abbot didn’t bother reporting the incident to the police since they haven’t done anything productive following previous thefts. This sort of theft is pretty commonplace. I can only view with utter contempt the western collectors who fuel this trade.

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So, Thaksin and Hun Sen are new best friends. It wasn’t always like that. For decades there have been tensions between Thailand and Cambodia over various issues, such as the ownership of Khao Phra Viharn and the land around it and the rights to certain areas of seabed which are believed to have oil deposits. Also, Cambodia resents Thailand’s cultural dominance; much of the television watched and music listened to in Cambodia emanate from Thailand.

Still, Cambodia is now happy to provide Mr. T. with a house, to appointing him as a financial advisor to the government, and to give him a base from which to launch an attempted comeback in Thailand.

Cambodia is also happy to reject Thailand’s request for Mr. T.’s extradition. (He is, after all, a convicted criminal, sentenced to two years in prison.)

In the case of Hun Sen’s new “brother”, money can buy you love.

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A few days ago The Times published a report of an interview in Dubai with former Prime Minister Thaksin on its website. The next day that report was blocked. The nanny state strikes again.

The article wasn’t particularly significant – certainly not on a par with Luther’s 95 Theses, Das Kapital or On the Origin of Species. The mere fact that it was in English would limit its appeal to most Thais. Yet it is considered so dangerous that no one here can be allowed to read it.

Website blocking is a lot of fun! Imagine sitting at the computer all day searching the web for pictures of pretty ladies in a state of undress, carefully checking the site to make sure it really is pornographic, not artistic, then blocking it so no one else can see it. In fact, it’s such fun that there are several bodies in Thailand which are involved in blocking websites. The largest of these (by number of sites blocked) is the Royal Thai Police. Probably next in size is the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT). They send a (secret) list of sites to be blocked to each ISP. The ISPs apparently aren’t too keen on the job of entering this list onto their systems, so sometimes they don’t bother, and a site can be available through one ISP, but not through another. Finally, there’s CAT which was, until recently, the monopoly provider of Internet connectivity out of Thailand. (I presume that the newer providers of international connectivity are also involved in blocking, but I’m not certain.)

Thailand is a very puritanical country – pornography and sex toys are strictly illegal – not that one would get that impression from wandering through Patpong, Soi Nana or Soi Cowboy where prostitutes openly ply their trade, or from the open sale of “dirty videos” along Sukhumwit Road (one of the major tourist areas in Bangkok) or in Pantip Plaza (a shopping mall dedicated to computer equipment). And the sex industry isn’t only geared towards tourists and foreigners; every town has its brothel or two. OK, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that Thailand has very puritanical governments.

Of course, it’s not only pornographic sites that are blocked. Sites commenting on the situation in the south are blocked, as are those of certain political parties and political commentators, sites commenting unfavourably on His Majesty and the Royal Family, and sites which either comment on Internet censorship in Thailand or might help one bypass that censorship.

Fortunately (?), website blocking is getting more sophisticated here in Thailand. In the past, entire websites would be blocked willy-nilly. At times all of Youtube and WordPress have been unavailable because of a single offending image or text. However, I was pleased to find that it was just a single page on The Times website that is being blocked – the rest of the content is still available. And, amazingly, that content includes a full 12 page transcript of the original interview with Thaksin! I guess Nanny should try harder.

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Prasit Ruangsombat is a 68 year old man. He’s disabled, and his wife died a few years ago. There’s no-one to look after him, so he begs around town. On Sunday he was sleeping rough near one of the main markets in Ayutthaya, close to Chankasem Palace. He awoke to find himself engulfed in flames. He’d been set on fire (for the second time in a week!) by members of a gang who extort “protection money” from beggars. The cost of protection is, apparently, 400 Baht a day – that’s twice the legal minimum wage.

Passers-by took him to the local hospital where he’s recovering.

Sometimes I’m just lost for words …

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Consider the magnificent King of the Jungle with his swinging mane stalking proudly through the savannah under the baking African sun. Now consider the same beast confined to a small cage under the heat of the halogen lights of a department store in central Bangkok. Something’s wrong here, surely. The distress of the beast is palpable – alongside that of a white tiger similarly incarcerated and that of the baby elephant made to spend the day walking in circles under the spotlights.

Even worse is the state of a Rusa deer – a notoriously sensitive species. Then there’s the barn owl whose deep, wide eyes are forced to endure the ceaseless flashes from visitors’ cameras.

And let’s not forget the meercat, lemurs, ostrich and bat-eared fox …

The department store – Emporium (let’s name and shame) – is one of the top stores in Thailand. The lesson they seem to preach is that it’s OK to do anything whatsoever to defenceless animals in the pursuit of profit.

Worse still is the involvement of various other organisation that one might have though would have the better interests of the animals at heart: the Zoological Park Organisation (ZPO), the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, and the Chiang Mai Night Safari.

(Actually, the involvement of the Chiang Mai Night Safari doesn’t surprise me muchly. This night zoo was set up at the behest of former Prime Minister Thaksin in his home constituency purely to bring in more tourist dollars. Since its opening a little while back several hundred animals have died because of serious failings in their care.)

The chief of the ZPO is on record as saying “they will only be [at the shopping mall] for 10 days, not forever”.

So that’s OK then. Eleven days of torture bad, ten days of torture good.

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Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there were standards.

There’s a 1958 musical, Expresso Bongo, that includes a witty song with the lines:

“When I see this little bleeder
and compare him to Aida
… nausea.”

These are the words of a music promoter who, having fallen on hard times, decides to promote a rock & roll musician.

The song was banned by the BBC, and the subsequent movie of the same name (featuring the well-known English popular singer Clifford Richard) didn’t include the song; the word bleeder was deemed far too offensive.

Fast forward to today.

On the wireless one frequently hears a song by a so-called artist, Mika. Apparently aimed at prepubescent girls (who haven’t yet developed the nous to suspect the sexuality of a singer whose song video features him prancing around a teenage-style bedroom in a state of serious undress – no doubt much to the enjoyment of his gayer fans), his song “We Are Golden” features the line:

“Who gives a damn about the family you come from?”

I’m not concerned about his almost total nudity.  After all, nude wrestling was popular in classical times and is a perfectly proper pastime for an English gentleman.

I’m not concerned about his prancing. At least it was done in the privacy of his own bedroom. Poor lamb, he probably didn’t know there was a video recorder and operator in there with him the whole time.

I do, however, take exception to the filthy language. Damn is not a word to be bandied about in polite company. Heaven forfend some young, impressionable individual might hear such caddish language.

Standards are slipping.

Lord Reith, I trust and pray you’ll stop your gyrations soon.

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In Thailand the favourite meat is probably fish, closely followed by chicken (though Thai Chinese people tend to favour pork); many a meal is accompanied by a Thai-style omelette (usually studded with minced pork and deep fried), and a fried egg (or “star egg” as it’s known here) is an essential topping for chopped meat stir fried with handfuls of chillies and basil. However, chicken aren’t only appreciated for their eggs and meat. A few months ago I visited the home of former Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj. In the garden there were cages housing decorative chickens – more like bantams, really. Clearly there are people in Thailand who appreciate the prettiness of a nice cock.

Today, travelling to school on the subway, I noticed a man reading a magazine with photographs of beautiful cockerels seemingly in the peak of health. As he turned the pages more and more lovely birds were displayed. Clearly a cock-lover, thought I. Then I caught a headline: “School for Fighting Cockerels”. The beautiful birds featured may well have been ripped to shreds by now in some sordid and barbaric fight for the entertainment of some sick individuals. So sad.

Cock fighting is not against the law in Thailand, though the primary focus of the events isn’t so much the fight as the betting that surrounds it, which is illegal in Thailand (not, of course, that that stops its being widespread).

***

To find an image to accompany this Postcard I Googled Google Images for “Thailand Cock” – not an experience I’d recommend. Please burn out my eyes with a red hot poker now.

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In Bangkok, at Sanaam Luang, the large, open ground near the Royal Palace, about 300 people sleep rough every night. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) isn’t too happy about this. You might have thought that they’d be investigating how the problem of homelessness in Bangkok can best be resolved. They’re not.

In the district of Paak Khlong Talaat the traffic congestion is terrible. You might have thought that BMA might be investigating ways to relieve the choked streets. They’re not.

Now, Paak Khlong Talaat houses Bangkok’s largest flower market, so the BMA’s “solution” to both these problems is to turn Sanaam Luang into a flower market. With all the land covered by flower stalls the homeless will have to find somewhere else to sleep, and there’ll be less traffic in Paak Khlong Talaat.

There are a few problems with this apparent stroke of genius:

• Sanaam Luang is used for ceremonies and other official functions several times a year, so would need to be completely cleared for these
• The traffic around Sanaam Luang is already heavily congested. A flourishing flower market could only make it worse
• How will the merchants at the existing market cope with the extra competition?
• What will happen to the homeless?

It seems that the heady floral aroma has already affected someone’s senses.

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A young boy in Thailand is an absolute whiz at making paper aeroplanes. It’s his great passion in life. So good at it is he that he won the Thai national competition in 2008 and was invited to compete in the international Origami Airplane competition at Chiba, Japan.

You’d like to think that Thailand would celebrate its young people who excel. However, 12 year old Mong Thongdee (หม่อง ทองดี) was deemed a “threat to national security” by the Interior Ministry and was denied papers to travel. You see, Mong had the misfortune to be born in Thailand to migrant labourers from Myanmar and is considered a stateless person.

Mong Thongdee – a treat to national security

It took the personal intervention of the Prime Minister to persuade the Interior Ministry to change its stance, and Mong has now been granted a temporary passport so he can take part in the event. And, all being well, he’ll go. And I hope he does well for Thailand.

A boy of his skills could perhaps, in the future, be a great engineer or designer. However, Thailand will never benefit from his special talents. He’s on the list of stateless people to be repatriated to Myanmar on 28 February next year. There he and his family will face the tyrannical oppression of the junta faced by others of his ethnic group – a tyranny close approaching ethnic cleansing.

Sadly, this tale will have no happy ending.

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