Love Is Blind

Love is blind - CFBT, a home for the blind with multiple disabilities in Thailand from Froggystyle

If you live in Thailand I'd be grateful if you could pass this around and share it. The Thai Version is here and the website for the Blind School is here.

Thanks.

Thailand - Future Maps

The CIA, Thailand & Corrupt Uses of Anthropology

PPT posted a comment by a U.S. operative on the manner in which the Americans helped re-make the monarchy in the teeth of the Cold War. We still haven’t been through all the more than 900 pages of reminiscences that download in one document, and there’s a lot of interesting material.

We felt the following might interest some of our readers, especially given the links between the royal family and the Border Patrol Police, “hill tribes” and many of the other people and interests listed in the account.

These comments are from James L. Woods, who was with the Research Analysis Division, Department of Defense in Bangkok from 1964 to 1967 and then was Advisor, ARPA [Advanced Research Projects Agency] Unit, Bangkok in 1969-1973. with annotations and bold by PPT:

…[I]n the fall of ‘64 I was in Thailand, probably working on a Long-range Assistance Strategy, and found an old management intern friend out there, Lee Huff, running a little office for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and we got together. He said, “I’ve just been called. They told me I’m going to be posted back to Washington rather abruptly. We’re looking for a replacement. Would you be interested?” I said, “What are you doing?” He explained that this was a special project – Project AGILE – under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency…. In Thailand it was still operating out of a hotel downtown and at the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering on the Chulalongkorn University campus, with a very small staff under Marine Colonel Tom Brundage…. Lee was running the social-behavioral science research program and asked if I would be interested….

…[W]e worked closely with them [the CIA] in the field, because they were operating out of AID/USOM, running the Border Patrol Police program, and also they were very interested in general in the issues of internal security and they had their advisors in many of the same agencies that we had ours…. We also did some work for something called CSOC, which was a Thai organization, the Communist Suppression Operations Command, run by General Saiyud Kerdphon, and there were a number of CIA advisors over there operating for the most part out of the embassy. We were all part of the country team and the ARPA field unit in Thailand was a U.S. component of that…. The U.S. approach was that this was a counterinsurgency-oriented program. Thailand was the laboratory for the soft side and Vietnam was the laboratory for the hard side or things that go boom. So in Vietnam – I would go over there from time to time, and they would come over to Thailand from time to time to escape Vietnam mainly – they were doing a lot of systems work – village information system, hamlet evaluation system, territorial forces evaluation system. They were doing stuff trying to evaluate how was the war going, for MACV. They were also doing ordnance testing; the Armalite rifle which developed into the AR-15, which developed into the M16…. On our side we were doing studies and analyses and systems research and a good bit of electronic research including remote sensing, trail sensors, testing different kinds of mobility equipment and communications equipment…. Our office – the Research and Analysis Division – was in charge of social and behavioral and systems research, and we worked for the most part through contractors. We brought in rather sizable teams from RAND, RAC – Research Analysis Corporation … – Stanford Research Institute, Cornell Aerolab, BMI, AIR – you name it, we had it – and a lot of individual scholars on contract.

We built some systems and libraries, which were turned over to the Thai, which hopefully they have found useful –for example, the Thailand Information Center with a gazillion documents. Everything useful that had ever been written about Thailand that we could find in the scholarly community was in there. We turned that over to a Thai university actually. Our hill tribes data base, we turned that over to another Thai institution, the Tribal Research Center, in Chiang Mai. The Village Information System, we turned over to a Thai ministry, although it was still very much in an embryonic state…. [PPT: Readers might find this related article of some interest, although the extent of U.S. involvement is not discussed in any detail.]

… [T]hey have Border Patrol Police, which was very much a U.S.-funded program, a lot of it. The CIA provided a lot of the equipment and guidance and so on, but the Thais have kept it up….

After going back to the U.S. and completing a course at Cornell University, with the doyens of Southeast Asian Studies there – George McT. Kahin is mentioned – Woods returned to Thailand:

I went back to the ARPA field unit, or research center, but I was posted immediately to Chiang Mai University in the north for a year as advisor to the dean, which sounds odd but we knew the dean from his previous position in Bangkok and he was trying to establish an expanded research program on northern Thailand, especially the tribal minorities problem. There was a Tribal Research Center, which the Thai government was attempting to operate, co-located at the university, and so my job was trying to build a tribal research program in the north working out of the university….

Much of their [RTG] information came from the Thai Border Patrol Police who were posted to the outermost fringes of the kingdom and were basically a CIA project or at least were getting support and training through the CIA part of USOM…. We were also sponsoring basic ethnographies by a number of anthropologists, European and American, at the time, again trying to collect in-depth ethnographic understanding of several selected lesser known tribal groups. So that’s how I spent a rather odd year as the advisor to the dean of the faculty of social sciences at Chiang Mai University….

This, of course, eventually came to the attention of the American Anthropological Association and some others and got them greatly excited. It’s cited in a book which was published some years later calledAnthropology Goes to War featuring me as one of the devils they identify as corrupting the practice of anthropology…

 .

Before the war went bad and became greatly unpopular, we had the leading American anthropologists on Southeast Asia on the consultant payroll and they were hard at work, and some of them stayed at work. Dr. Gerry Hickey – an expert on the Montagnards of Vietnam – worked with us throughout the war….

… We had Dr. Ladd Thomas, Northern Illinois University. Now, Ladd, I recall, was a political scientist, and he reported that students invaded his office and threw his furniture and books out the window….  The same thing was going on all over. We had a couple of very senior professors out in California, David Wilson, political scientist, and Herb Phillips, anthropologist, and they had been cutting-edge scholars on Thailand.Herb capitulated. David basically got up on his feet and told all his student and faculty critics to go to hell; they could think what they wanted but they weren’t going to interfere with his right to speak out. But Herb went over; Herb gave up.

Project Camelot is also mentioned. On the impact of this work, Woods says: “So I would say to the extent there was an impact, it was over on the counterinsurgency side where the CIA was very much involved as well and USOM with the USAID development programs…”.

BBC Blasts The Butcher Of Bangkok

The only reason the BBC blast the former PM of Thailand Abhisit (Mark) Vejjajiva is because the democrats are anti New World Order and Ultra Royalist so the BBC agenda here is to prevent this tosser getting elected again. 

As the BBC and my interests are the same here I'll share the video but it's important to remember that unlike the BBC I don't use people when it suits me without full disclosure. The BBC needs to be broken up and the decent cultural and art parts retained in some manner but the news is all corporate and militarist agenda. The British people shouldn't have to pay a licence fee for lies lies lies lies lies.

As an aside both the Royalists and the Pro Thaksin camps will criticize me because my allegiance is with humanity and not tribal. I know what Thaksin is going to sell off when he returns (the crown jewels?) and I know the censorship that the military gag Thailand with and exploit the Royal Family over.

The King & The President

On paper I have too many questions to be a devout Obama fan and I'm no Royalist either but this historic meeting between the longest serving King and the President of the United States gave me a good feeling. 

As far as I'm concerned the Royal Thai Army just got a fat American middle finger stuck up its dirty arse with a warning not to shoot peaceful Thai citizens with snipers ever again.

Word.

Thai Women Go Crazy For A White Vagina

Most people in Thailand are dark skinned but as the Chinese plutocracy run the country the advertising reflects their fairer skin. I've written extensively about the pernicious effects of skin whitening creams because if you ever do advertising focus groups you can listen to impressionable young office women choosing who they go to lunch with based on their skin colour as money, career progression and hanging out with the right people is all that matters in the dog eat soi dog world of commercial materialism.

More over here

Update: Original video censored.

Adrift

Exacerbated both by modernization so unchecked it has transformed the Thai central basin into a concrete jungle of industrial zones, housing estates and entertainment complexes with little of the natural irrigation once provided by canals, forests and fields, and the man-made city ‘big bag’ wall designed to divert the northern run-off from its natural passage through central Bangkok, the severe flooding of the 2011 monsoon season left hundreds of thousands of rural and suburban addresses abandoned in stagnant waters for several months.

Such a tragedy informs us that perhaps not only from the country (the provinces) has the capital truly come adrift, but humankind itself – greedy with resources and negligent of its imprint on the ecosystem – has, too, from our hosts, the planet, become far removed.

Written and directed by Rupert James.

Cinematography by Rupert James.

Camera assistant Sarun Srisingchai.

Music by Montonn Jira.

The Royal Court of Thailand

Freshly uploaded. I'd much prefer to use an elegant visual but until the deaths of 2010 protesters are represented fairly and investigated properly I wont pretend things are OK. They're not. I don't accept the Royal Thai Army's use of live bullets to clear peaceful political protest.

The King & Eye

I know I posted a clip yesterday but I had not idea these were available. Parts one and two don't quite make linear sense so there's repeition narrated continuously by Gielgud. It's not good manners to comment on the Royal Family and in this instance most of my mental projections came to life with the characters speaking English. It's very telling.

The King's English

The first time I saw the Thai King was on Television in Frankfurt 1992 when the Royal Thai Military did what they do best which is killing Thai citizens. In 20 years despite occasionally being close I've never heard him speak English and this is the first time. It's as good a clip as one could wish to see and know a little of the man. 

The Video is via this post from Andrew Marshall who is one of the few journalists I respect as he resigned his position from Reuters and wrote candid journalist reports that prevent him returning to Thailand any time in the near future. He resigned from Reuters to prevent his colleagues from being exposed to any danger.

It's a massively complex subject but the bottom line is the military run Thailand as indeed they do in the US or the UK if you really scratch away at the facade of democracy.

Time Lapse Photography Driving Through North East Thailand

One minute of video condenses a 200 kilometre trip of driving through North East Thailand. It's a lovely sampler of doing the real thing. Via Isaan Life

90+ Dead Unarmed Civilians Yet Royal Thai Army Snipers Claim: “We Used Fake Bullets”

Royal Thai Army snipers are now claiming they used fake bullets when called to answer in front of a civilian criminal investigation. General Prayuth Chan-ocha and the Prime Minister at the time Abhisit Vejjajiva should take responsibility but as you can tell from the malodorous lies (and the video above) there's no intention of being men about it. They shame the institutions they claim to serve. 

They let down the people they didn't kill. It's just business.

Is General Prayuth Chan-ocha Scared Of Going On Trial?

Thailand’s army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha is not known to be the smoothest talker and the most gentle person to handle the media. In fact, there were several incidents when he lost his temper while talking to the press too often – whether it was self-inflicted or sparked by a dumb question. Normally we’d would make fun of this in the Tongue-Thai’ed section of this blog and be done with it. However, the most recent flare-up by Prayuth is the epitome of the army chief’s problematic relationship with the media and also his own perception of his job.

Some background: In the ongoing insurgency in the deep southern border regions, four soldiers were killed in an ambush while on patrol in late July, all very visibly in front of surveillance cameras. The blunt nature of this incident has put the violent conflict back on the public agenda and, as it is usually the case, the government will introduce some quick, short-term initiatives to sooth the increased public awareness. It is the same case with the current Yingluck administration, which has, for example, set up a special command center for the South (and giving it an utterly stupid name).

It was in light of these events where army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha had to face press yet again over the separatist insurgency in the deep Southern provinces – and yet again, he just can’t stand being asked questions, no matter how critical. Just look at this video as he increasingly angry…

It hardly needs translation to see how his mood has shifted downwards, but there are some lines that are both very memorable and very questionable as well. Here are some with the time codes for the video above for you to follow along…

0:29 : There’re some things you just don’t get, no matter if I explain you to death with it, you’d still don’t get it!

0:37 : You think you can do better? Then you can take over as army chief…! That’s it! Period!

1:29 : Man…! Then you’re going to write again that I’ve blown a fuse – I’m angry as I’m normally am, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this job – so I gotta be able to get angry. I’m not a monk after all!

1:48 : All the brilliant journalists should gather around here and ask me – and if I answer them and they can’t follow-up with something, they should shut it!

3:18 : I’m already as calm as I can be and I’m exhausted – I was a little angry, but now I’m  good again!

3:28 : Anything else?! Ah?! Ok, I’m not mad at you! If I’d be angry I would have killed you all already!

Erm, yes…! I guess there were definitely no more questions.

Prayuth has also weighed in again on the controversial issue of the fraudulent bomb-sniffing device GT200, which have come up again in July after it was discovered that the bogus dowsing-rod is still in usage. The army chief came out to defend the ongoing usage of the GT200 while being totally oblivious to scientific evidence that it just doesn’t work. The armed forces are currently in search for new bomb detectors to replace, but haven’t finalized a deal yet. And Prayuth knows already who to blame for it.

“The media should help us find other alternative equipment to protect soldiers and police officers from bomb attacks. If you can’t find it, then don’t ask because it’s annoying,” the national army chief said.

“South ‘may be lost if UN intervenes’, army general warns“, Bangkok Post, August 10, 2012

The third incident was from last week when the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) – another highly politicized institution that has a long record of serving to whoever is in power – has indicated that they were going to summon military snipers for questioning for their role in the violent 2010 crackdown on the anti-government red shirt protesters, in which almost 90 people on both side have lost their lives.

Prayuth of course didn’t like the DSI’s insinuation that the army has actually killed people when the protests deteriorated quickly and he and the army’s spokesperson Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd (who ever since 2010 has been regarded as seemingly ‘impeccable’) have been touting the same line that no soldier has killed any protesters at all. They did that shortly afterthe crackdown and they did that again this time – so much so that apparently Prayuth made the bendy DSI chief apologize to him.

And just to make sure he also rammed his message that there were no snipers involved to the press as well – only for Prachtai to later that week exclusively reveal documents that there has been authorizations to use snipers during the crackdown, including the baffling revelation that of the 3,000 snipers rounds only 880 were returned.

But here is his now obsolete message anyways:

“What is a sniper? What person would use snipers? And do you know who the snipers are? Those who appeared to be soldiers [in the photographs or video clips] were just equipped with an enhanced scope. And the enhanced scope and the gun are not a sniper type. If you say what you don’t know, you’d better shut up. These things, which are used for marksmanship and are available for sale at informal markets for the purpose of shooting birds, are not sniper stuff. Don’t just ramble on.”

“CRES authorized use of snipers during crackdown in 2010“, Prachatai, August 21, 2012

And rambling on seems to be almost the only thing he does ever since he took the post of army chief in late 2010, already showing his outspokenness then. He reacts irritated nearly all time when dealing with the press and mostly sees no other way to lash out, throw a tantrum and divert attention from the matter itself, by either accusing the press of not supporting the troops – as most don’t have a problem with the soldiers, but rather with the one(s) who lead them – or simply taunting somebody else to take over his post.

The point that he could use media training or just let Col. Sansern speak for him instead has been raised many times already, but it would change little about the lacking professionalism of the Thai armed forces and in its outwards portrayal, since General Prayuth is one of these military figures that think that anger and bruteness are the only ways to show power, authority and self-assureness, while these erratical flare-ups though create the opposite.

Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and journalist currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He can be followed on Twitter @Saksith and on Facebook here.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha Of The Royal Thai Army

Army boss General Prayuth Chan-ocha has been insistent: in April and May 2010, the military didn't murder anyone. He and his spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, both deeply involved in those crackdowns, have repeatedly made absurd claims in spite of remarkable visual evidence.

In recent days, both have been on the warpath, sprouting more absurdities and, in Prayuth’s case, threats. AtThe Nation, Prayuth is reported as having required an “apology” from Department of Special Investigation chief Tharit Pengdit “for his agency’s pointing the finger at the Army for the deaths of many people during the unrest…”. The Army wants its impunity to remain in place, and even a half-hearted investigation could threaten that.

Tharit seemed to mumble something about it not being him who was making comments incriminating his buddies in the military.

.

The Army chief yesterday angrily commented on the remarks by certain DSI officials pointing the blame at the Army. Prayuth demanded that DSI not make statements about the military’s snipers and so on. Prayuth then babbled again: “Who were responsible for these casualties?” … My subordinates did not kill anyone, but they were shot at…”. Forget all of the evidence to the contrary.

Not to be left out, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva “warned the government of possible legal action for alleged political persecution in connection with the 2010 unrest and riots.” Abhisit seemed to think it a revelation that “certain politicians in power” linked his party to “the deaths of many red-shirt protesters in April and May 2010.” Wow, who would have thought!? Given the efforts at the International Criminal Court, Abhisit is sounding more thanalittle dull on this. We suspect that he just wants to prevent discussion and investigation of his role. If he was still in power, he’d be locking opponents up.

At the Bangkok Post, it is said that the DSI had “revealed earlier that state officers were involved in the deaths of red shirt demonstrators.” Perhaps the Post might have added that this was in legal proceedings. Why Tharit should be apologizing for his officers giving evidence seems only clear to pea brains.

Prayuth is cited: “I am not against anyone but my position needs to be understood because soldiers, police and people were killed and it is clear that officials did not fire at them…”. Further, he “also denied the army had used a sniper to shoot anyone during the crackdowns,…”. That is only clear only if one is deaf, dumb and blind and thinks everyone else is too.

This article appeared originally at Thai Political Prisoners

Barefoot In Benjakiti

Apart from being a nice park one of the advantages of the running path around the park's lake is that it's exactly 1.8 kilometres and so it's easy to keep a track of distance. That's not me in the promo but I did meet him once.

TPTB = The Powers That Be (On Their Way Out I Might Add)

Former Head of the IMF tells Tim Geithner His Fave Rape Joke

I don't agree with all of this writer but it's worth reposting for some gems of expression:

Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away, and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience.

- John Locke

When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humour.

- John Lennon

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

- Jimi Hendrix

Go Back to Sleep

Most of you that are taking the time to read this have already experienced some level of “waking up” over the past several years or longer.  Most of you have also probably felt from time to time that the knowledge you possess is a burden and have fully appreciated the meaning of “ignorance is bliss.”  I know this because I have felt these very same emotions at times.  The most important thing to remember; however, is that we are just awake individuals within a wave or cycle of awakening.  There were those that came before us and there will be many, many more to come after us.  Last Thursday, I was at Freedom Fest in Vegas for a brief stint and I had the honour to meet and break bread with some of the most influential minds in the Liberty Movement.  As I sat there at the table at Delmonico’s, thoroughly impressed with the intellect, commitment and total sense of purpose of the people around me I became more sure than ever that TPTB don’t stand a chance.  The problem for those control freak clowns is that ten years ago they had at least 95% of the American populace completely asleep.  I would estimate that number at the moment to be around 75%.  If I am  anywhere close to being right, that means that 25% of the population is at least somewhat aware that things aren't as they appear to be.  They are asking serious questions and looking for serious answers.  Breaking it down even further, I would say that 5% of the population can be described as fully awake and somewhat committed to fully committed.  This is something like 15 million Americans and is more than enough.  Most importantly, once you are truly awakened you never go back to sleep.  In my five years or so in this adventure I have seen the transformational process of many, many people within my personal circle of friends and contacts.  Not ONE, I repeat not ONE of them has ever fallen back into the matrix mindset.  It just doesn't happen and it reminds me of quotes about truth and lies.  As Mark Twain said “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”  Then there is the counter quote from I can’t remember who that “lies require commitment.”  Believe me, they are committed!  That said, too much is coming out now and what TPTB are doing in the markets is desperately manipulating everything so that another wave does not wake up.  There are terrified that this next wave of people will be the tipping point for their control structure.  They are correct but it is coming soon to smack them in the face no matter what they do.

Obama’s Executive Orders…Connecting the Dots

While we all know about the NDAA, which Obama signed into law late last year that opens the door to the incarceration of American citizens without a trial, what is a little less known are a series of Executive Orders signed by our Noble Peace prize winning Assassinator in Chief.  Of particular interest to me are Executive Order 13603, or “The National Defense Resources Preparedness,” and Executive Order 13618,  “The Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.”  You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to get what these EO’s are all about.  The first one basically gives government control of any and all resources it needs (and seemingly the ability to nullify or suspend existing private agreements) “if” there is a national emergency, while the second one does the same for communications.  So essentially our wonderful government that cares about us so very much is setting the stage to take total control (natural resources and the means of communication) whenever this national emergency that they seem to be fully anticipating comes to fruition.  A good summary of all the EO’s can be found here.  They expect the sheeple to be in such a catatonic state of fear and shock that they will beg for daddy government to take away all their rights and ignore the Constitution so that their EBT cards work.  Why else do you think the government is desperately trying to get as many Americans on food stamps as possible?  See my post “The Government is Encouraging More Food Stamp Usage, Calling it “Stimulus”.

Obama Tells Americans “Your Success Wasn’t Yours”

Regular readers understand that I do not believe there is “free market capitalism” in America today.  Sure there are remnants of it left, but increasingly there is simply crony capitalism in which the Federal government partners with large corporate interests to allow them to grow bigger, more powerful and importantly, more dependent on the government itself for its profits and influence.  This is deliberate, just as it is a deliberate plan to get more people on food stamps.  It is all about power and control.  That said, there are still many small businesses and also large business owners that got to where they are through their own blood, sweat, tears as well as intellect and vision.  While the 0.01% financial oligarchs and crony capitalists all over America should be exposed and called out for the traitorous parasites that they are, this should not mean we just lump all successful people into this category.  Yet, this is exactly what our pathological liar President did in his most recent demonstration of verbal diarrhoea.  I am sure everyone has already seen this clip, but I am mentioning it nonetheless because it is so significant.  He stated:

Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there… If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.         

I mean every time I think this guy can’t hit a new low he manages to achieve one within a week.  No mention of the fact that a top campaign contributor to him, Jon Corzine, is a thieving crook.  Nah, nothing to see here folks. Meanwhile, if you read between the lines of his little tirade (look how angry he looks in the video),  it is clear what he is trying to say.  You are a nobody.  You are nothing without the state and without the good graces of the political elite.  We own you.  If the political leaders in Washington D.C. that produce absolutely nothing but hot air and then steal from you left and right say that you do not even own your own success, then indeed you own nothing.  This fits in perfectly with the Executive Orders I referred to earlier.  The game plan and meme here is obvious.  You are cattle.  The government owns your land and its resources, your success and ultimately your mind.  Are we going to let them have them?

Peace and wisdom,

Mike

I left a comment as follows:

I live in Bangkok where Tim Geithner’s father was friends with my former landlady back in the 70′s. “Oh Timmy” she would exclaim in her perfect English accent when I mentioned the former Goldman’s treasury secretary who imposed IMF restrictions on Indonesia that nearly created a follow up civil war after the first one the CIA triggered when installing their man Suharto to take over democratically elected Sukarno in the 60′s (Let’s just say it was a one sided massacre)

Timmy’s father worked for the CIA fronted The Ford Foundation. I mention that because a level of awareness only fully flowers when one factors in Obama’s mother’s friendship with Tim Geithner’s father and her role doing similar CIA fronted work in Indonesia. Both Geithner and Dunam worked in microfinance which is one of those jobs a person can claim to be lending money or setting up a loan shark business and with the CIA it’s the latter.


I only mention this because all of Obama’s biographies skate over Obama’s work for Business International in New York another CIA fronted company. As P.W. Bridgeman once declared “A coincidence is what you have left over from a poorly formed theory”.


So while this post is an excellent start it seems to miss the most important chunks about the President and so you can see I’m the last to defend him for ideological reasons. But it seems to me that to obsess over what a politician says is somewhat trivial. Mitt will gut and fillet and Obama will do the same in his own way.


Awareness is a journey. Not a destination. I’m still trying to figure it out but I don’t ignore the fundamentals. I try and factor them in and it’s not easy.


Update: Somebody feels exactly as I do and highlights the data points that a sentient person must take into consideration.

Is Malika Boonmeetrakul Using Facebook & Google Before She Censors Facebook & Google?

There's a damning post on the "Democrat" opposition party's deputy spokesperson Mallika Boonmeetrakul (or มัลลิกา บุญมีตระกูล in Thai) at New Mandala. It was cogently and elegantly written by Dr.Pavin Chachavalpongpun at Prachathai originally and is a show of journalistic courage often absent in Thailand.


The question this raises is whether the likes of Google should withdraw the free Gmail they provide to allow people to snitch on the harshest and most sensitive political issue in contemporary Thailand? 


It's only right for digital giants to stay out of domestic political issues. But  should they facilitate censorship like the recent 20 year jailing of a 61 year old Thai man for sending rude SMS messages to Mallika Boonmeetrakul's Democrat Party that contravene Lese Majeste laws?


Update:


Some of the comments at New Mandala are well informed, astute and insightful:


Andrew Spooner writes: 



A week ago I wrote about the start of Mallika's pro-censorship campaign. What Pavin has missed out in his excellent piece is that Mallika announced her campaign at the exact same time as Ar Kong was being sentenced (see my piece here)


She also threatened to prosecute Anudith and MICT under article 157 if they didn't prosecute every single LM case.


Yet, at the same time, pro-Democrat voices in the Bangkok Post (Voranai etc) and Amnesty's pro-royalist Ben Zawacki are mouthing, for the first time, more liberal sentiment and condemning LM.


Personally, I sense a political strategy of pinning PT down from both sides. One pushing them towards more illiberal policies the other condemning them.


Remember that the Dems are utterly unelectable and completely incapable of forming policies that would be attractive to the Thai electorate. The only way they can ever get back into power is by destabilising the country.


I see Mallika wanting to make a name for herself, gaining coverage and attempting to set herself up as an arch defender of the "faith" and am certain Abhisit feels that there is a lot to gain from Mallika's stance.


SteveCM writes:


Abhisit is today tweeting that Ms Mallika’s proposal is not Democrat party policy – that’s fully four days after she (an official spokesperson for the party, remember) came out with it.


What to make of this belated input from the party leader? Did Mallika “go off the reservation” – or was she “flying a kite” for the leadership? One way or the other, it appears that she or it has now been hauled back in.


Ynot Writes:



Below is a copy of my response as appeared in Prachatai per Dr. Pavin’s open letter to Mullika, one of too many appalling Thai politicians.


It is very hard to shut down the internet. As soon as one site is shut down, another will arise.


I have one proposal for you (Khun Malika) that I think might help. Why don’t we stop teaching people to read and write? It seems the main problem is that people are using their reading and writing skills to spread their ideas.


Another idea might be to ban computers. We got along very well with typewriters just a few years ago. I don’t remember having any problems with people stating their unacceptable ideas to others.


As George Orwell said in the book 1984:


Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.