Feh, it didn’t quote for some verdamt reason.
Shouldn’t she have consulted a smuggler?
Nothing much happened yesterday (Saturday) despite the government’s vow to press on and take back more areas. The wife and I will be out and about today. We’ll keep our eyes open and see what’s what. Friday was still one big market in the street in the Siam Square area, I can tell you that.
But the numbers of protesters are said to be dwindling daily. One suggestion why this is so when the red shirts could maintain large numbers is that these are mainly from the middle classes, with most having jobs they can’t neglect for too long, even in Thailand. The red-shirt rabble in 2010 were largely yokels bused in from upcountry, mainly during the fallow season so they didn’t have much to do anyway back home and were paid to boot. (Or at least, they were promised payment, which in many, many cases never appeared, to much complaining.) That’s one thing about the present batch of protesters, the yellow shirts don’t have to pay them. When they speak of having enough money to carry this on throughout the year, it’s all logistics and security and such.
Back home on Sunday night, and it’s pretty quiet. It’s a holiday weekend for one. This year, Valentine’s Day happened to coincide with the Buddhist holiday of Makha Bucha Day, so a lot of people are out of town. We were back at Siam Square today, and it’s just a carnival atmosphere. LOUD today too, with a stage set up and entertainers. We passed above three other blocked intersections on the Skytrain. The authorities said they’d be continuing Friday’s operation that saw one site reclaimed, but they seem to be taking their time.
But perhaps the Thai government could take a lesson from Vietnam, which just today foiled a group of anti-China protesters in Hanoi with ballroom dancers and aerobics enthusiasts.
Maybe I spoke too soon. I said it was quiet, but now Suthep has pledged a total blockade of Government House starting tomorrow (Monday). The government has vowed to have Government House reopened by Wednesday, to allow the prime minister to return. (This is the place in central Bangkok that serves as the prime minister’s office, not to be confused with the Government Complex in northern Bangkok.) Since it appears to be already blocked off, I’m assuming he means he’s beef up the numbers of his people to prevent a retaking.
Better and more social-media-savvy than sending in riot police and tanks, I suppose.
Protester numbers do seem to be rising around Government House. If I were the prime minister, I wouldn’t count on working in my office there come Wednesday like that jerkwad Chalerm is promising.
And speaking of Wednesday, now protest leader Suthep is promising a “decisive battle” on that day that will oust the prime minister once and for all. This time for real!
Early Tuesday afternoon and the situation is turning violent. The police are moving in.
BBC is showing a standoff at one location – Phan Fa Bridge I think, over a canal near Khao San Road – in which the protesters have been shooting at the police, hitting several of them. The police seem to be firing back now – with rubber bullets or live rounds, it’s not clear – but the protesters seem determined to hold their ground. They’re not budging. A tense situation. And it looks like some protest leaders have been apprehended but not Suthep.
And I’m going out and about soon. Will keep my head down. Remember, this is a big city.
BBC did report a policeman dead.
Today (Tuesday) was one of the most violent days so far. One policeman shot dead, several wounded, one lost a leg from a grenade blast. On the other side, three protesters killed. Sixty-four injured all told, I think including the cop who lost a leg. It turned out to be only one protest leader captured, but he escaped in a mysterious manner shortly afterward. It almost sounds as if he had police help escaping, or the cops could have been completely incompetent, either one a possibility.
The protesters seem to have held their ground quite well. It was the police who finally backed off. Tomorrow might be interesting. I can’t imagine the police letting this stand.
I just learned of an interesting development. Central Thailand farmers don’t elect PM’s of Yingluck’s party, but rather PM’s reporting to Central Thailand crime bosses who have joined Yingluck’s coalition. The farmers themselves are less interested in the Mob-vs-Dubai dispute than in just getting paid for the rice they delivered to government warehouses months ago. With no money to show for last year’s crops, many thousands of farmers are borrowing from loansharks and headed for bankruptcy. Neither government nor private banks will accept their rice receipts as loan collateral.
Anyway, as I write, busloads of Central Thailand farmers, led by the political boss I mentioned a few months ago are heading to Bangkok, ostensibly not taking sides in the Yellow-Mob -vs- Red-Dubai dispute, but just to ask to be paid for their rice. I may be thinking too Machiavellianly, but once in Bangkok I wonder if they’ll become pawns of the Central Thailand politicians. Are Banharn et al ready to jump ship?
I for one would welcome a return to old-style Thai corruption, rather than watch the Fiend of Dubai and his sister continue insane economic policies while stripping the Kingdom’s Treasury as fast as they can.
The Civil Court has ruled the government does have the authority to enforce the emergency decree it issued. But curiously, it also issued a set of orders prohibiting the government from dispersing the protesters. So they’ll be out there for some time to come.
The blocked intersections are nothing more than a minor nuisance to everyday life. It’s pretty easy for drivers to avoid them. Traffic’s not been too affected that I can tell.
Another protester died of his injuries in Tuesday’s violence, bringing the death toll to five – one cop and four protesters.
And now we have hordes of rice farmers marching on Bangkok, angry over late payments in a government subsidy program. They’re entering the city now.
So the farmers are descending on the main Suvarnabhumi Airport today. They’ve been promised shelter in the long-term parking area. Looks like 700 vehicles with 5000 farmers, but the airport says only 1000 can stay with them. That probably means 3000 will squeeze in. Hope no one tries to pitch camp on the runways! But the streets are about to get more crowded. The farmers say they’re separate from the ongoing anti-government protests, they just want to be paid, but this is just going to add to the general mix.
And the protesters themselves have decided to focus on Shinawatra family-owned businesses, massing outside of those now, and believe me when I say there are a lot of Shinawatra family-owned businesses.
How in the hell do people eat if the framers are not paid?
Just add it to the downward spiral.
The government promised to pay above-market prices, expecting to hold back the rice in storage, thereby driving up global prices and still making a profit. But that hasn’t worked out. For one thing, India and Vietnam have stepped in to take up the slack, so prices have not risen like the government had expected. The rice is now rotting in government silos, and paying the farmers what was promised could just about bankrupt the country.
Although Bangkok’s newspapers do not make this point, my wife has many Facebook friends in rural Central Thailand who are cognizant of local politics. Chada, leader of the unpaid farmers now approaching Bangkok, is a close ally of Banharn and the Fiend of Dubai. Suspicion is that these farmers are unwitting pawns, who will be deployed as cannon fodder as circumstances unfold.
And the farmers have turned around and are heading back home after the government promised to pay them next week, if you can believe that. A bit naive of them. But they promise to invade Bangkok for real if payment is not forthcoming then, so I think we can expect them back. A few days’ respite now anyway. The government is floating the idea of selling some sort of “rice bonds” next Thursday to raise money to pay the rice farmers. Details are murky, but that idea is already being labeled a failure, because that’s the same day the prime minister must answer formal accusations of corruption involving the pledging program.
And we’re hearing that a bomb just went off at the main rally site of the Ratchaprasong intersection. Six injured and three cars damaged is what we’re hearing.
Yes, here’s a short blurb.
Sorry, haven’t checked in on this one here for a while. I saw this story on BBC News from their Thai correspondent, Jonathan Head.
He seems to be of the view, in that article at least, that the Yellows are just grumpy middle class folks from Bangkok. Sort of a case of sour grapes that the poor country folks win the elections.
That view is extremely distorted. It’s the common view in U.S. media, but I expect better from sources like the BBC.
First of all, the article you cite minimizes Thaksin’s corruption. He’s awarded major contracts to his own companies, invented a tax loophole when he sold AIS to Singapore, had the Bank of Thailand open its dollar window specially for him the day before the baht was devalued in 1997, etc. etc. As a petty example, while PM he negotiated to buy the Liverpool FC. When reporters asked him whether he was buying the club personally or for Thailand, his answer was “First we’ll see [what the price is].”
In addition to financial corruption, he allowed wholesale massacres of Muslims in South Thailand. In his “war on drugs” he encouraged Provincial Governors to assassinate, without trial, suspected drug dealers, even promising a vacation in France IIRC to the Governor who amassed the most corpses. Since major politicians in Thailand tend to be major criminals, many of these extrajudicial killings were to settle grudges, or even to reduce competition for a Governor’s or Police Chief’s own drug dealing.
Corruption is rampant in the electoral process in Thailand. Not only are votes bought retail ($10 and up – a good day’s wages here), but local politicians are bribed. Thaksin’s party has also bought support by promising unsustainable programs like the rice buying fiasco.
I don’t know about Northern or Northeastern Thailand, but it is misleading to say Thaksin’s rural support in Central Thailand (or rather the support of Mafia dons allied with Thaksin) is primarily from the poor. From my observations, much of his support here comes from people with political connections. University students are largely opposed to him.
Yet, Western media cannot see beyond the facile notion of “elections,” efforts to reduce electoral corruption being ignored. One is reminded of the “purple finger” elections staged by America in Afghanistan and Iraq. How’s those democracies working out for y’all?