Christmas Eve, 2011

Bangkok

When everyone’s favorite dual personality Deputy Prime Minister/ ‘Johnny Cop on the Spot meets Sleuth Scoop Jones’ re: all intriguing things political and Thai, Chalerm Yubamrung announced he would be tasked with the ‘new (presumably legal, kinder and gentler) war on drugs’, many thought back déjà-vu-like, to the Ghost of Christmas past in 2003-4 when Thaksin famously commented, “The UN is not my father,” in response to the UN’s interest in opening an inquiry into the thousands of extra-judicial killings of suspected drug peddlers, who were infamously reported to have, by repeated police statements, died at the hands of fellow drug dealers, a la Mexico’s drug cartels’ turf war battles, when in reality the dreaded ‘black lists’ the police used as an implicit license to kill were the real cause of the problem.

Once someone’s name got on the black list, they were nearly dead meat; road kill- to- be, in which autopsies, ballistics tests and thorough investigations were rarely if ever/ never performed, nor even attempted and the level of someone’s involvement in drugs was pre-assured by virtue of some informant or village headman’s entering their name on a macabre sort of perverse Schindler’s List- a Thai style mini-pogram – a death list, in reality.

The objective at the time was not law and order- for it was the police who blatantly committed crimes far worse than the supposed suspects, but the striking of wanton fear into the hearts and minds of ANYONE who was even remotely associated with buying, selling or using drugs (marijuana included), or even thinking about contemplating it, and there was even a well- reported incident of a TV station cameraman who got close enough to Thaksin to ask in a swell of tears among many onlookers at a news event, “Why,…Why were my parents killed..??” as he broke down in tears practically beneath his feet. There’s a TAT promotional spot waiting to be blacked out for the ICT boys under Chalerm’s task force of internet/social media repression.

Is this simply serving the interests of the current powers that be, so that intimidating the press will be that much easier come T-Day? A resounding YES is in order.

Is using the new Lawful Intercept internet technology merely signaling the foreshadowing of a convenient backdrop for a possible return to the military dictatorship-style media blackouts of the past gone high tech? China here we come…

See Related Link:Lese Majeste Cases: “Text SMS messages ‘are easy to forge” http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Text-SMS-messages-are-easy-to-forge-30172608.html

Will Thailand Resemble China More in the Future or a Quasi-Thai 'Democrazy'?

So, here we are again in 2011-12, seeing the same old faces (with just the prima facie addition of a newer, prettier one in Yingluck, who is by now famous for sticking her head in the sand when the iron is hot, difficult questions are asked, or the floodwaters spill over, as the case may be) and the same old tactics, except with a new twist, thanks to some recent stirring of the proverbial pot by MP Chuvit Kamolvisit, the graft purge has now also extended to gambling, and even the well known denizens of Gambler’s Anonymous backsliders are feeling the pain, as the police cracked down (at last) on one of Bangkok’s Best Kept ‘open secrets’…. The Tao Pun casino went down like a roll of poker chips in Vegas in a lengthy raid which saw 200 arrested and interrupted an operation valued at a $1.5 million daily take or 45 million baht.

CASH- Black Jack, Do It Again... Roulette Wheels Go Round & Round...

Guess they had to figure out where to put all that cash, hmmm. “I know let’s stash it at Supoj Saplom’s house in Lat Phrao- No one will notice it there in the middle of a near billion baht Aladdin-like cash stash and 45 separate bank accounts (especially him) … Plus, he’s a super high ranking political phu- yai, and a hell of a nice guy in the Transport Ministry, so  his boss won’t do a thing or try to even question him if he’s discovered to be ‘unusually rich’, which is ‘unusually strange’, ….don’t ya think?” On second and third thought- no, it’s not and no, we shouldn’t …

Police who acted in the raid described the entire Trok Khao San neighborhood of Bang Sue as ‘casino friendly and police interfering’ while gamblers hurled what they could at the incoming crime busters. Chalerm is interested in the big fish and has instructed police to find out who is the real owner and AMLO (Anti $ Laundering Office) will also be tasked with tracing the money trails… If it’s been operating for the long time it’s estimated to be in operation (a few years, at least…) then there’s a huge wad of cash stuffed in some suitcases on a plane somewhere out of the country right about now. I know, they can stash it in Dubai, it’s worked out well for the ‘big boss’… Why not buy a few floors of the Burj Dubai and enjoy the marvelous views of Kuwait…or how about a mansion in Montenegro, we hear there’s a famously owned one going on the market soon,..- the owner says he won’t need it anymore soon…

Thaksin Has Recently Flown to Cambodia, HK, Brunei, Singapore... and Yes, Virginia-the North Pole

Finally the last laugh may be on Thai law enforcement, as the punishment for gamblers is way too severe- I mean it makes lese majeste and poor uncle SiMS look like jaywalking during a stroll in the park in Singapore- a jaw dropping MAXIMUM fine of …2,000 baht and 90 days in the cookie can. Ahah hah-hah… TIT all the way! $70! Then post bail and wait for court…. Probably they’d get a less severe sentence than Chalerm’s brawling sons used to face in their heyday…

If that’s the worst the legal system wants to hand out, then we should all agree to just make it legal… C’mon.

Think of all the carbon credits and combined fuel savings the country could gain with not having to need fleets of bus services for thousands of gamblers driving daily over the border to Cambodia from the waiting phalanx of VIP buses plying the route out of Lumpini park daily alone…  And then they could use all of that money to buy more over-inflated 5,000 baht Tablet computers for kids that can barely read a comic book (and that can already by bought for less than $100 each in the real world).

A few thousand baht of quality coloring/sticker/talking books per class would be an Amazing Thailand thing too, instead of the usual drop dead, drab, colorless black and white copies of senseless “Dan is a man. Jan is a WOman.” ‘textbooks’(sic), so many public school students even through the university level still get today in order to ‘cut costs’- and many have to pay for the copies. Sure after the Ministry of Education gets their slice of the cut, there ain’t a whole lot left, you know?

Alas, it’s classic ‘Thailand in Crackdown’ mode, as is fitting to all dictatorships at this the most generous time of year….

While we’re on the subject, a few other famous Ghosts of Christmases past have reminded us once again of the imminent likelihood of returning to the bad old days under Thaksin and his clony clan, during which famous utterances were all the rage… : Like after the Kru Se Mosque massacre, “74 of the culprits were killed and 4 were wounded” … as opposed to detained, jailed or questioned…? Pre-tried and sentenced to execution in the eyes of whom, …you? Surely not their families and friends, nor any objective law enforcement/legal analyst.

Eerie Reminder of Thailand Tsunami Disaster/Ghost of 2004 Christmas Past…? 7 years to the day!

Locals Panic as Huge Waves and Winds Lash Some Southern Provinces

See Related link: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Locals-panic-as-menacing-waves-and-winds-lash-some-30172631.html

On all things scientific, Thaksin assured, “A tsunami doesn’t automatically happen, but if the earthquake is strong enough, there is a possibility….” Indeed, as on nearly to this day 7 years ago, many will sadly remember the southern tsunami which forever changed the way the region treated the possibility of  such a disaster occurring after the once in a century event… and as the Japanese were so devastated by recently as well.

Let’s not forget either as we march on into a hopefully prosperous and more peaceful New Year, that here and there, there are many who were left behind in the wake of the two tragedies, claiming tens of thousands of victims combined. Then there are the flood victims who number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Many claim in the media to have been essentially abandoned and certain areas never received much government aid to begin with…. Check your voter cards now, folks, before you forget and get all charged up in pre-election hysterical ‘pie in the sky’ hype by some new pretty face, betting on the wrong horse- again. Any future government that over promises ‘magical prosperity’ will somehow be yours post election day, will invariably under-deliver… You can bet on that to win… We’re still placing bets that it won’t happen, not in a million years….(if it could be done so easily, you’d think someone would have figured it out by now, right?)

Our Co- Winner for man of the Year, Along with 'Captain Fantastic' Chalerm

In an obvious sympathetic and once again scientifically dead- on logical cue, (pun intended) explaining the reason for the deaths of dozens of young Thai Muslim men in the Tak Bai tragedy he professed, ”There are some who died because they were fasting (sure, blame it on Ramadan) and they were crammed in tight….” The genius of the man is simply astonishing. Yeah, and it was 150 degrees under the dark green, thick plastic tarp covering the truck bay while they lay stacked 6 deep atop one another like pigs going to slaughter. Got Any Air? Hell no…!

So, what can Thailand expect in terms of national reconciliation, both for the deep, dangerous and bitter divide in the Thai Deep South and the obvious, politically painful difficulties facing Thailand with such hardened polarization between color coded loyalties (all of which can be pretty much attributed to Mr. Wonderful)?

Well, since the past seems to be so loyally repeating itself, let’s look to another famous Ghost of Christmases past to divine the answer: “Now that they have tanks on the streets, it is time for the people to come out in ‘revolution’…. (been there done that…)  And when it is necessary, I will come back to the country.”

So, how do you define ‘necessary’ then- and for whom?

A structural, corruption- driven and regional political civil war amongst so bitterly divided and violent prone a nation that teachers, politicians and innnocents in nearby large cities and far off provinces alike are gunned down in cold blood before their families on the main streets will never accomplish real greatness in the eyes of  democratic ideals, justice and fair play for all- In fact it will remain all the more illusory…

The real gift of Christmas to a Thailand in need of deep social unity and healing would be to simply back away- like the Ghosts of Christmases past. But that would be too expensive a price to pay, would it not…?

Will History Repeat Itself in the Thai Political Landscape? Can Thailand Afford to?