Thaksin Sees Red

Thaksin's policy of denying funds to "red" zones in the South has drawn criticism from varied sources in Thailand, all of whom essentially agree it will lead to complete disaster.

The criticism has resulted in the first of probably many temper tantrums on the part of the Prime Minister during his second term. He has told his critics that they know nothing about the situation and that they should try going down to the region and living there for a month before reponding to the policy. He added sarcastically that he would pay for their life insurance if they went.

First of all, many of the critics of the policy are actually residents of the South and have already lived there for years, not merely one month, but Thaksin seems to take their advice no more seriously than anyone else's. Second, another major source of the criticism has been from the Democrats, who won almost every constituency in the South in the recent election and who have offered to share their own plan for peace in the South with the TRT to no avail. Finally, perhaps Thaksin should take his own advice and spend a month down there as I don't think he has ever spent more than a few days. I'm sure the Democrats would be willing to pay HIS life insurance (not that he can't afford it himself).

I predict that if Thaksin cannot learn to stop behaving like a spoiled child and come up with some responsible and workable solutions to the problems in South, Thailand could wind up having problems on at least the same scale as the Phillipines.

Thaksin Punishes the Deep South

Thaksin yesterday unveiled his new "solution" for the violence in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. The solution consists of dividing all towns and villages into three colour-coded categories according to their degree of loyalty to the government or sympathy with Muslim militants behind the violence. Villages that are unloyal to the government will be "red", those with divided loyalties will be "yellow" and those that are loyal to the government will the "green". The "red" villages are to be denied any funds from the Thai Rak Thai handout scheme known as the SML village fund.

Thaksin announced this policy, which amounts to economic sanctions against the majority of areas in the deep south, at a podium surrounded by sandbags. Critics have declared that the measures appear to be punishment for the ruling party's poor performance in the south in the recent elections.

The response from Muslim militants came in the form of a car bomb which exploded the day after Thaksin's announcement in front of a crowded restaurant in Narathiwat, killing at least five and injuring 50. It is the first car bombing ever in Thailand. The questin is how long before the bombings start to move north, indeed why they haven't already.

Another question is how long it will take voters outside of Thailand's south to understand what kind of man their Prime Minister really is, and how his policies could well lead the country to disaster.

The Youth of Vietnam

I recently returned from a trip to Ho Chi Minh City during Tet. It has been almost 30 years since the end of the Vietnam War and 15 or so since Vietnam started economic reforms and the opening to western tourism, but the youth of today seem to know little of and care less about past history. They are out in the nightclubs listening to mind-numbing techno and American rap. We visited one such club and, as two slightly aging white males, were treated with a fair degree of friendliness despite being both the only foreigners in the place and the only ones over 40 (or 25 for that matter).

I really think Ho Chi Minh would be rolling over in his grave, and I wouldn't blame him as I also find it depressing to see the place go the same way as every where else in this homogenized, globalized, and doomed world.

Yuttapong Calls For Dismissal of GLO Chief

Democrat candidate for Maha Sarakham, Yuttapong Charasathien, is calling for the dismissal of the chief of the Government Lottery Office which was responsible for the printing and distribution of ballots for the recent national election. Yuttapong, who I met at a wedding reception in Maha Sarakham in November of last year, says that extra ballots were printed and used in electoral fraud by substituting legitimate ballots cast for Democrat candidates with the extra ballots marked for other (most likely TRT) candidates.

Yuttapong is not disputing the results in his own constituency, in which he was the incumbent and the losing candidate, but gave a number of examples of other candidates from the Democrat and Mahachon parties who were defeated by TRT candidates even though they had consistently led in opinion polls before the election. However, when I spoke to him in November he had seemed genuinely confident that he would be able to retain his seat in the parliament.

Banyat Resigns

The leader of the Democrat party has resigned after failing to prevent the massive TRT victory. Maybe now there is hope that the Democrats can come up with a leader and some policies to truly challenge the looming police state.

BBC Coverage of Thai Election

The final result may be only slightly less disturbing than the initial exit polls which gave the TRT 399 seats. The Nation now has the count at about 374, not enough to avoid censure motions against cabinet members, but enough for the party of free giveaways to unilaterally change the constitution.

The BBC attributes the extent of the TRT victory to the good economy and to Thaksin's performance during the tsunami crisis. Funny then, that the TRT was virtually shut out of the South by the Democrats. Obviously the people who actually live in the South and experienced Thaksin's "leadership" during the tsunami aftermath first-hand don't see his handling of it in the same positive light as the rest of the country. According to an expat I talked to who lives in Phuket, Thaksin's visit to Phuket in order to "supervise" the relief efforts led to the closure of some roads for security reasons that hampered the efforts to transport emergency supplies and bodies. He added that everyone in Phuket was aware of this.

The BBC reports also fail to mention the accusations of massive fraud and vote buying that have surrounded the whole campaign.

Democracy Retreats

As the dimwits in Washington yammer on about promoting democracy in the middle east, it has just taken a major step backwards in one of their "major non-NATO allies", Thailand.

The Thai Rak Thai has won 399 seats out of 500 according to exit polls, so Thailand is now a one party state and Thaksin is now effectively dictator. Officially the TRT will need 400 seats but I'm sure that they will be able to pay one or two of the people elected from the other parties to join the TRT - perhaps the lone successful Mahachon candidate.

Reports from the Thai Electoral Commission and in the international press are noting that the election was far from free and fair with unprecedented levels of vote buying. Much of the payment for votes has been in the form of free mobile phones. Of course, Thaksin (or his family) owns the country's largest mobile phone company, so not only does he get to be dictator, he also gets to make a lot of money.

I predict Thailand has at least a couple of very painful years ahead of it.

The Situation in Patong, Phuket

Here in Patong Beach, Phuket. There is still evidence of some destruction from the Christmas tsunami, particularly along the beachfront, but for the most part things are normal here. That is to say, they would be if it weren't for the election which involves the banning of all alcohol sales between 6PM yesterday and midnight tonight.

Things were eerily quiet last night with virtually all bars closed. Hopefully, the powers that be will allow alcohol sales to resume a bit earlier than the official midnight rule this evening as it looked like the shops and vendors were suffering a bit last night, and surely they've been through enough lately.

I would personally recommend that people put Phuket and other parts of Southern Thailand back on their agenda as there is, after all, little chance of another tsunami hitting for at least the next couple of centuries. Not only that, the South of Thailand is the only region preventing Thaksin from becoming the dictator of Thailand, and for that they deserve our support.

Debating Cardboard

The debate at Thammasat occured, with all major parties aside from the Thai Rak Thai represented by real human beings. The Thai Rak Thai was represented by a life-sized cardboard cutout of PM Thaksin which simply sat silently with a smug look on its face for the entire debate, and refused to answer any questions.

One has to wonder whether it would have been much different had the real Thaksin been there.

Defacement of Election Posters

Took a stroll down Petchaburi Road yesterday and noted an abundance of election posters for various candidates all over. Some had been defaced with mustaches, funny-looking eyebrows, teeth coloured in to look like they were missing.

Notably, none of the defaced posters were of Thai Rak Thai candidates. Most, but not all, were of Democrats.