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Thai politics

Once again, File under…

…If I didn’t mention this I would be failing to keep you updated on Thailand news:

The BBC reported last Wed.:

Proceedings in Thailand’s parliament have been interrupted after the graphic image of a semi-naked woman flashed up on giant screens during a debate.

The close-up picture of a young woman striking a provocative pose appeared on monitors as an MP addressed the house.

The images appeared in between footage of the debate, on a controversial constitutional amendment.

The session was halted and the monitors hastily switched off after an MP complained.

The origin of the images is now being investigated. The Speaker, Somsak Kiatsuranont, said an official told him that the image’s appearance was the work of hackers outside of parliament.

Hackers? Or could the image have come unwittingly — or even intentionally — from others in the building?

As The Nation says today:

Electronic devices of a particular brand were found yesterday to be capable of sending data to display screens inside Parliament and could be responsible for a recent “porn pic” scandal.

Kamphi Ditthakorn, deputy secretary-general of the House of Representatives, who chairs a fact-finding team investigating the scandal, said yesterday the culprit could be a Samsung smart phone.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident on the same day, The Bangkok Post said:

In addition, an unidentified MP was caught by an unnamed photographer looking at an erotic photo on his cell phone during the House meeting today.

Note that the MP was looking at a different image — not the one that ran on the large screens. Click through for a photo of the MP.

It turns, out, as The Nation said:

A red-faced Democrat Party MP, a son of former party leader Banyat Bantadtan, Thursday admitted that he accidentally viewed a porno picture during a parliamentary meeting Wednesday.

Nat Bantadtan admitted during the meeting held to deliberate the charter amendment bill in the second reading that he used his mobile phone to watch a porno picture.

So, to re-cap:

1) A graphic photo was displayed on large screens in the Thai Parliament.

2) Later, an MP was photographed viewing an erotic image on his mobile phone.

For more info on both events, see this post by Kaewmala at Asian Correspondent, and this one by Bangkok Pundit.

Embedded at the top of this post and on YouTube here: A Thai-language news report about the first incident.

(All emphasis mine.)

Categories
Thai politics

Economist on Thaksin and Hun Sen

Following my recent post on Thaksin’s Songkran rally next door in Cambodia, I wanted to point out a related Economist piece.

The story examines the exiled former Thai prime minister’s relationship with Cambodia’s PM, Hun Sen:

As much as the rally was a testament to Mr Thaksin’s popularity, it was perhaps even more a reflection of the unusual friendship that has burgeoned between him and Mr Hun Sen over the past few years. At a cost that the Cambodian government has refused to disclose, thousands of its security officers were deployed along with hundreds of support staff including street sweepers, electrical engineers, health workers and many more besides. While much of Cambodia had been shut down over the weekend to celebrate the Khmer New Year, which took place Friday, the authorities in Siem Reap went into overdrive.

Read the whole thing.

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Thai politics

Thaksin: I’ll Return ‘in the Next 3 to 4 Months’

Will former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra end his self-imposed exile and return to Thailand?

The AP reports that Thaksin, on a visit to Cambodia, said his homecoming isn’t far off:

Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra celebrated Thailand’s most important holiday in neighbouring Cambodia this weekend, telling thousands of fervent supporters who crossed the border to meet him that he intends to return home soon on his own terms.

Thaksin, ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of abuse of power and disrespect for the monarchy, led a song-filled rally to mark Songkran, the Thai New Year. Between appearances on stage, he worked the crowd in a manner recalling his past political campaigning.

Thaksin, 62, has been living overseas since jumping bail in 2008 to avoid a two-year jail term on a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated. Saturday’s event, just a few hours’ drive from northeastern Thailand, raises the question: Will he be celebrating the next Songkran at home?

Thaksin – by far Thailand’s most divisive politician – has said in the past few days that his return will be “in the next three to four months”, “not so long” and when “everything is stable”.

He sang several popular songs during his appearance on Saturday, with lyrics changed to stress his homesickness or urge his supporters to support his younger sister Yingluck, the current prime minister. He added an off-key rendition of My Way, which segued oddly into Let It Be.

(On the subject of Thaksin’s singing: Yes, embedded above and on YouTube is footage of him singing “My Way” and “Let it Be.”)

The WSJ, meanwhile, has this analysis of Thaksin’s statements:

Six years after the military coup that ousted him from power, Mr. Thaksin shows he has lost little of his potential to rub his opponents the wrong way. He remains a deeply polarizing force in Thailand at a time when this pivotal Southeast Asian economy is trying to reassure investors after last year’s floods swamped large parts of the country’s industrial belt. The rally in Cambodia also coincided with his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra’s push to change the country’s post-coup constitution and introduce a possible amnesty for Mr. Thaksin after she became prime minister last year following a landslide election victory—a move that could set the stage for a fresh round of turmoil in the country.

Mr. Thaksin’s foes already view the new government’s plans to change the constitution as a thinly-disguised attempt to enable the former leader to return to Thailand a free man instead of serving a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated. It is unclear what form the new charter might take, but analysts say the government could be looking at removing constitutional protections for the army officers who planned the 2006 coup.

At the same time, the government is also considering ways to introduce a potential amnesty for people caught up in Thailand’s political violence since 2006. A parliamentary House Committee on National Reconciliation—headed by coup leader turned politician Sonthi Boonyaratglin—has proposed a broad reprieve for key players in the country’s political conflicts, and also has suggested dropping all charges brought by the army’s now-defunct Assets Examination Committee—including the corruption case against Mr. Thaksin.

Elsewhere, on the topic of political reconciliation, The Economist says:

Almost six years after Thaksin Shinawatra…was ousted as prime minister in a coup by royalist generals, it might seem like time to move on. Not a bit of it, Thailand’s politicians seem to think. Legislators have spent the past few weeks arguing obsessively and bitterly about the rights and wrongs of the coup and its long aftermath—all, apparently, in the name of “national reconciliation”. The result, not unexpectedly, is not so much reconciliation as even more recrimination.

Read the whole thing.

And finally, for more analysis of what might happen if the controversial ex-PM were to return, see this New Mandala post: “When Thaksin Comes Home

(All emphasis mine.)

Categories
Thai politics Thailand

Thai Censors: ‘Shakespeare Must Die’ Must Die

The AP says:

Thailand’s film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” saying it could inflame political passions in the country where it is taboo to criticize the monarchy.

The Thai-language film “Shakespeare Must Die” tells the story of a theater group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a production of “Macbeth,” in which an ambitious general murders his way to the Scottish throne.

One of the film’s main characters is a dictator named “Dear Leader,” who resembles former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster in a 2006 coup sparked years of political turmoil between his supporters and critics.

Censors at the Culture Ministry issued a brief memo Tuesday saying that the film could not be distributed in Thailand because it “has content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation.” The memo did not specify which scenes were deemed offensive.

But, Ing K., the film’s director, said the censorship committee objected to anti-monarchy overtones in the film as well as politically charged content, including a scene based on an iconic photo from Bangkok’s 1976 student uprising showing a demonstrator being lynched.

“The committee questioned why we wanted to bring back violent pain from the past to make people angry,” Ing K. said in an interview Wednesday. The censors also disliked the attire of a murderer in the film, who wore a bright red hooded cloak – the same color worn by the pro-Thaksin demonstrators known as the “Red Shirts.”

The director called the ruling “absurd” and a reflection of the fear in Thai society.

Reuters reports:

Censors in Thailand have banned a film based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’, saying it could cause divisions in the country where an uneasy truce persists after several years of sometimes bloody upheaval and political polarization.

A trailer for the film, directed by Ing Kanjanavanit, shows scenes from Thailand’s recent past, including a 1973 crackdown on student protesters and street clashes in 2010 between the military and anti-government demonstrators in which 91 died.

“The film ‘Shakespeare Must Die’ has content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation,” the Film Censorship Board said in a statement late on Tuesday. “The film is grouped under films that are not allowed to be distributed in the Kingdom.”

The WSJ‘s Scene Asia says:

“Shakespeare Must Die,” a new Thai film that bills itself as a Shakespearean horror movie, tells the story of a dictator who suppresses a local staging of “Macbeth.”

But in a case of life imitating art, the Thai government — which partially funded the movie — has banned it, saying its content “causes divisiveness among the people of the nation.”

Directed by Ing K, or Samanrat Kanjanavanit, and produced by “Pink Man” artist Manit Sriwanichpoom, “Shakespeare Must Die” is based on the Scottish Play, with “some cinematic and Thai cultural adaptations,” according to a director’s statement.

And:

Shakespeare “is barely heard of in Thailand,” its website says, “a country that is actually living through Shakespearean times.”

The film’s official trailer, embedded above, is on YouTube here.

Categories
Thai politics

Yesterday’s Attacks in Southern Thailand

2012 04 01 southern thailand bombings

The AP reports:

Suspected Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated attacks in years in Thailand’s restive south, killing 14 people and injuring 340 with car bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists.

A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of Yala city, a main commercial hub of Thailand’s restive southern provinces, said district police chief Col. Kritsada Kaewchandee.

About 20 minutes later, just as onlookers gathered at the blast site, a second car bomb exploded, causing the majority of casualties. Eleven people were killed and 110 wounded by the blasts.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces — Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala — since an Islamist insurgency flared in January 2004.

The Wall Street Journal says:

The latest blasts coincide with a severe uptick in violence and tension in the region. In March, the Thai army said it was responsible for killing four civilians in Pattani province in January.

And:

Saturday’s attacks underscore how the militants are modifying their tactics by broadening their scope and searching out higher-profile targets, security analysts say.

And:

Saturday’s bombings, though, mark a fresh escalation in the conflict, turning it from a relatively low-intensity bombing campaign into one in which high-profile commercial areas are targeted.

Elsewhere, CNN has some video footage via MCOT.

Related: In Aug. I wrote a story for the Christian Science Monitor headlined “Muslim insurgency in Thailand’s restive south heats up.”

(All emphasis mine.)

(Image: Bangkok Post.)

Categories
Thai politics

Notes from Thai PM Yingluck’s FCCT Speech

2012 03 27 yingluck fcct

Somewhat belatedly — but as promised! — here are my notes from the remarks Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra made to journalists and others at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) dinner here in Bangkok on Fri., March 23.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of what she said — see the links to news reports below for that — but rather my observations from the evening that stand out, several days on.

  • First, a note on language: Yingluck choose to give the speech in English. As others have observed, she is a conversational English speaker, but she is not as fluent as her older brother, the exiled, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. And of course, her English is not nearly as smooth as her predecessor, the British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva.

    This meant that Yingluck’s speech lacked, perhaps, some of the nuance and technical details that it might have contained had she had delivered it in Thai, with an interpreter there to provide her remarks in English. (There was, however, an interpreter near the stage who helped her make sense of some of the more complex questions from journalists.)

  • I heard one member of the audience refer to Yingluck as being “coquettish.” I wouldn’t go that far, but she did seem to make every effort to be charming. She smiled frequently and appeared to be quite humble. And, before beginning her speech, she asked the audience to “please be kind to me, na kap ka,” simultaneously claspping her hands together in a wai and bowing. (Corrected March 28. Thanks to a commenter for pointing out the error.)

    Later, when one journalist asked a somewhat complicated question about whether she and Thaksin were playing a “double game” in which they pitted various establishment factions against one another, she responded by saying she didn’t really understand the question. But, she added, grinning: “…I never play games.” This produced some laugher from the audience.

  • Asked why, following last year’s floods and the upcoming minimum wage hike, multinational companies should continue to invest in Thailand, Yingluck said that investors will continue to recognize Thailand’s long-term business potential, as well as its location in the middle of Southeast Asia.

  • I spoke with some people who noted that some of Yingluck’s answers seemed somewhat vague or lacking in specifics. But these same observers said they felt that most professional politicians are focused on evading hard-hitting questions and sticking to their talking points.

  • In his first FCCT speech, former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was asked about his musical tastes. He noted that he liked hard rock bands like The Killers, Oasis, and Metallica, among others.

    So, on a lighter note, when asked what kind of music is on her iPod, Yingluck declined to note specific artists. But she did say, with pride, that she has some 5,000 songs on her device. She prefers “easy listening” music, she said.

  • Ultimately, my sense was that PM Yingluck’s performance was unlikely to sway most audience members’ opinions of her. Those who already disliked her were probably not won over by her grace or good humor.

    Similarly, those who already like her were probably not put off by any of her perceived shortcomings.

Elsewhere, you can find stories recapping the speech in more detail from AFP, The Nation, and the Bangkok Post.

For the record, my previous FCCT PM speech round-ups are here (2011, Abhisit); here (2010, Abhisit); and here (2009, Abhisit).

(Image: The Nation.)

Categories
Journalism Thai politics

Self-Promotion: New WSJ Southeast Asia Real Time Story on Google Street View’s Thailand Debut

2012 03 23 google street view thailand

The story is here, and begins:

Google Inc. today officially unveiled its new Street View service for Thailand, releasing online a vast collection of panoramic street-level images of the country.

That means that anyone with a Web connection can now view high resolution photos of everything from Bangkok street food stalls to the ornate spires of the city’s Grand Palace. There are also images of the northern city of Chiang Mai and the southern beach resort of Phuket.

Please check out the story and share the love, if you like it.

You can go to Google Street View for Thailand directly here.

(Image: Google Street View.)

Categories
Thai politics

Thai PM Yingluck’s FCCT Speech Tonight: Stay Tuned

A quick heads up that just as I did last year and in 2010 and 2009, I’ll be posting some notes from the annual prime minister’s speech to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT).

PM Yingluck will address journalists and others at Bangkok’s InterContinental hotel this evening. More details on the event are on the FCCT site.

I may be posting one or two snippets on Twitter, but regardless I’ll aim to put together a longer blog post that I’ll put up later.

All that by way of saying: stay tuned.

Categories
Bangkok Thai politics

Yellow Shirts Rally in Lumphini Park

2012 03 11 pad

The Bangkok Post today says:

The People’s Alliance for Democracy yesterday backed away from its threat to stage a major Bangkok rally against the charter rewrite in a move hailed by the government as a breakthrough in easing political tensions.

However, after a meeting of about 2,000 rowdy PAD supporters at Lumpini Park Hall, the group’s leaders said shelving the mass rally was dependent on two conditions. First, the constitution rewrite should not reduce the power of the King or change the structure of the monarchy, and second, it should not open the way for an amnesty for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his “cronies”.

The Nation, meanwhile, reports:

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will set up a committee to campaign for national reform instead of holding mass rallies to counter the Pheu Thai-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to PAD spokesman Panthep Pourpongpan.

Panthep said the group would launch protests if the government changes Article 112 of the Penal Code, amends the charter or any laws to waive penalties on Thaksin Shinawatra and his group, and when the time is right.

And:

It was the first mass rally of the anti-Thaksin PAD, known as the yellow shirts, since Thaksin’s sister Yingluck became the prime minister. More than 3,000 people joined the rally, which lasted from 10am until late evening.

(All emphasis mine.)

(Image: The Nation.)

Categories
Thai politics

Thaksin Tells Bloomberg He Thinks He’ll Return to Thailand This Year

The video is here.

UPDATE: There’s also a Bloomberg text story to go along with the interview. It says:

Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed as Thai premier in a 2006 coup, said his sister’s seven-month-old government will avoid the same fate due to her good ties with the army and expressed hope he’d return from exile this year.

“As long as there is no issue related to the monarchy, as long as there is no issue about internal security, the military will stay in the barracks,” Thaksin, whose sister Yingluck Shinawatra became prime minister in August, said in an interview yesterday in Seoul. “My sister works hard for the people, she respects the monarchy very much and she can work with the military without conflict.”

Yingluck’s push to rewrite the constitution risks sparking violence like in 2008 when a similar effort by Thaksin’s allies led to protests by his yellow-shirted opponents who shut down parts of Bangkok and seized its airports. Yingluck, a political novice before standing in July elections, is seeking to reassure foreign investors after floods last year swamped thousands of factories and caused the economy to shrink for the first time since 2009.