The (in)right of the Red Shirts
Commentary on the political situation in Thailand, by Hans Bosch
To a large extent, I can sympathize with the Redshirts. You will only have to suffer for a penny every day, without any form of social or medical insurance. The Red Shirts are most right in the world to protest against this, although their 'class struggle' seems to contradict the interests of Thailand's largest capitalist, the former prime minister Thaksin, who fled. As super rich, he has succeeded in getting the poor part of the population behind him. Truly a trick that is unparalleled in the world!
Farmers Thailand
The demonstrations of the Red Shirts make no sense in this way. The economic and social damage runs into billions of Thai baht and if it continues like this, the protesters will fall on their own sword. Their protracted actions lead to layoffs in the private sector and in tourism in particular during the year. Occupying intersections in Bangkok may evoke a carnival atmosphere due to the lack of violence and may be good for mutual relations among the Red Shirts, in the end this 'bullying' solves nothing and only increases the dichotomy in Thai society.
A sharp improvement in red income, as predicted by Thaksin, is counterproductive. If wages rise faster than in neighboring countries, international companies quickly move production. Resulting in a disastrous rise in unemployment. That is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Populist politics is useless if it is not linked to structural solutions. The 40 euros that the lowest income received last year has largely gone into the pot with the tubers. That is, spend on useless luxuries like a new cell phone or lost playing cards or the lottery.
One of the first things the government should take action on is the fundamental improvement of education, in combination with controlled compulsory education (Thailand has too many laws that are never enforced).
In other words: no longer learning to recite everything by heart, but to think for yourself, discuss and ask questions. A
Education Thailand
an obvious fact for the Dutch, but highly unusual in Thailand. The teacher and the boss are always right, even when they are clearly wrong. More critical students lead to more critical employees, who are better able to stand up for themselves. Hopefully this in turn will lead to responsible unions, so that the working and living conditions of employees can improve step by step. An additional advantage is that the masses do not hobble like a mad dog after a super rich brat, who offers them a sausage that he can never provide in practice.
Hopefully a more critical population will also lead to less stupid programs on Thai television. The soap operas are horrible to look at and have nothing to do with reality. There is murder, rape and beating on TV, but when it turns out to be an 'act of love' the pixel machine kicks in. No wonder that the Thai viewer gets a rather strange picture of reality, which mainly takes place in Bangkok.
The next step is to skim off the immense (and sometimes inexplicable) wealth of the wealthy Thai. Not that this does much good, but it is optically extremely satisfying for the lower caste to see that their formerly untouchable bosses must now also bleed.
In addition, it is high time to contain endemic corruption. From police officer to senior civil servant, you won't get very far in Thailand without a bribe. The lower classes in particular are the victims of this, because 'corruptists' are wary of stopping motorists in a fat car and asking for a contribution to the cost of living.
What also helps is the abolition of the law that only graduates may become members of parliament. It would be better to look at the quality of the Members than at their qualifications. Which, by the way, are of much less quality in Thailand than in the rest of the world. It must be possible for farmers, artisans and/or merchants to have their say in parliament.
The exact opposite is true for the military. They are in numerous institutions and institutions, in parliament and even in government. The military has its own bank and in fact holds the government in a headlock. The task of the military is to defend the country and listen to a democratically elected government. And absolutely nothing else! In gratitude for the support to the current government of Prime Minister Abhisit, they can now choose just under 3 billion euros from the international 'arms candy jar'. Thailand may soon have two second-hand submarines. Its usefulness is questionable with the relatively shallow Gulf of Thailand.
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Not submersibles, but very nice other ships.. for the navy.
It is very complex. And the contradiction between the political currents has everything to do with the contradictions in Thai society. Should Thailand stick to traditional values and steer its own course or should Thailand increasingly become a capitalist free state following the American example.
It's not all that simple! Corruption is everywhere where there is power and not just in Thailand.
One solution would be to have a government elected by the people. That will not solve everything either, but it is also incomprehensible that the current government has been able to rule without any legitimacy for more than a year.
But like I said it's very complex.
One more thing…soap operas are the same crap all over the world. It is no different in Thailand ... just look at the saops from America (remember Dallas?), Australia (think about neighbors or As the world turns) or the Netherlands (good times bad times). Total nonsense of people trying to blackmail, kill and fix each other and then dive into bed with each other ten minutes later. But apparently there are also a million viewers a day in the Netherlands who follow that… so that is exactly the same in Thailand as in the Netherlands. the only difference is that the actors in Thai soaps look a lot better than those in Dutch 🙂 !!!
I largely agree with Hans.
Unfortunately , Peter did not pass on my address .
I myself am not a man with 1 wealth, but I am convinced of my idea to help the Isaan with the cooperation of 1 reasonable person from the red front to attract many tourists to the northeast at almost no cost.
I myself have good relations with 1 decoration from the king on my chest.
This because of my good idea, personally I don't want investors to use it again.
If there is no other option , I will join forces with them to help the Isaan .
Pim all ideas and projects to help people and especially in Isaan, which is still a fairly poor region, are good. It would be best if you could develop your idea or project with the local population. In this way it is supported by the people and not only offers temporary help, but solves a structural problem. I wish you the best of luck with it…
That BANK of the taharn=military is therefore called TMB=Thai Milirary bank and has been associated with ”our' ING bank for several years - they have now even added its logo.
By the way, poor rice farmers will be the least affected by the collapse in tourist visits. unless they have a lot of beautiful daughters in the famous places like Pa…. They are much more affected by the now somewhat realistic rice price that the new government pays them. Thaksin had another system that was very similar to that famous "milk pool and butter mountain" - read: rice storage halls where it is moldy - that we once had in the EEC.
And how can you suddenly expect teachers - who have never learned otherwise - to learn "critical" thinking? Incidentally2-China has become very big in a short time with an even more ancient education system-that is mainly aimed at counterfeiting and copying. In short: sympathy enough - but it all seems a bit too short-sighted to me.