Effects from emergency?
 

Any effects on nightlife from the emergency decree or the redshirts? The decree authorizes the government to ban gatherings of more than five persons. Songkran is starting.

-- Just like in that red dot at the southern tip of the MY. p'insular..
- But possibly as effective as the 'NO SMOKING.' ban in the a go-go bars - ha!
-- Bibi. --

psychotic reaction
 

barring any mass slaughter of the red shirt hooligans, I don't think nightlife as we know it will change much this week ... other than the obvious Songkran silliness. On my end of town (Sukhumvit/Thonglor) things are very normal; people out in the streets and going to bars and restaurants. Unrest? What unrest?

-- Try telling that to the crowds of young - and not so young -celebrants of Songkran in Tnn. Si Lom, where the most dangerous weapons are likely to be water-pistols & water-guns wielded by the merry-making participants.
-- Bibi. --

Silom had a group of people that looked to be more than 5 last night. Whereas Victory Monument was virtually a ghost town...despite the western media's attempts to make everything look bleak and dangerous.

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1180454.jpg

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1180457.jpg

http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/P1180443.jpg

Thanks
 

Thanks for the information, and nice pictures.

I don't think it's the "Western media" that's depicting things as bad--unless the English-language Bangkok media are also meant. Facts are facts, and all media have reported disorders in certain places, including Victory Monument, but not everywhere--which is why I was asking about particular impact on nightlife. Apparently none.

Thanks again for feedback.

Western media news doing good job.Can you name which one is wrong about area not to visit ?Only governments are panic with don't travel warning.

-- Seconded!
- A useful corrective to the sensation-obsessed media with their 'Exclusive.' and/or 'Eye witness reports.' from the safety of some watering hole or other, etc..
- Y'day., (14th.), a'noon. I walked-around DEMOCRACY MON'T. and was amazed at the lack of civil disobedience; the widows of that bastion of bare-faced and brutal American capitalism - McDo. - were unbroken and ordinary people were inside partaking of its usual delicacies.
- Although -to add some balance - later on walking nr. the Min. of Defence and Hd. Office of TMB. I did see some mil'y. gds. with small arms, while MORE were on foot-patrol armed with batons.
-- Bibi. --

I understand what you mean Stillthrobbing and Koreana, but for people outside Thailand, they have a sense that the entire city is dangerous and violent. I know because I have received e-mails from overseas expressing horror. Now they have gotten that impression from the western media not so much from what they have reported but from what they haven't reported. In my opinion they should, in all fairness to the travel industry at least, have given some emphasis to the vast clear, calm areas and the average citizens placidness. In my opinion, this uprising ended so quickly once the army decided to act was because of the local Bangkokians hatred of and attacks on the red shirts.

A good friend in Hong Kong had decided to spend a long week-end here starting this evening - thanks largely to cheap tickets from THAI. On seeing the initial news on TV - and despite my comments about everything being fine, he canceled his trip and is going to Taiwan instead. As the news of the insurgency being over ended up way down the order on news bulletins, I expect that will happen a lot now.

Newspapers clarify thsat demonstration only in certain areas but T.V. pictures very vivid.Depends if people only get impressions or read in depth which explains better.Since December Thailand is not a good look.

Western quality mags and papers even analyze background and connections which would not be allowed here.Try Guardian,Economist,NYT etc.

ps can anyone here predict what will happen ? i think unchartered waters.

-- As a small corrective to most of the medias' Sturm und Drang of the few days before the Songkran Fest'l. readers might like to go to the flg. web-site:

Bangkok of the mind

> scroll-DOWN to Red Clashes - hand-shake break: 14 apr 09..
-- Usual disclaimer. -- Bibi. --

There's an excellent analysis on this BBC page and clearly shows why this week has resolved nothing.

sickos
 

Yes, those are the sick people that are REALLY the cause of all this trouble: meat-eating supporters of fast food franchises!

But sadly, as another poster just pointed out, things may have returned to "normal" once again, but the underlying cause of all this unrest remains, simmering below the surface once again. The Tourism Authority of Thailand had best shelve their plans to promote Thailand as a safe and secure holiday destination until they can truly promise that is the case. I fear we will see more ugly events, such as we witnessed last week, in the kingdom before the year is over.

what's all the fuss about. i have been in the Philippines a number of times when one part of the army is fighting another part in the heart of the tourist district guns, tanks choppers the lot. however both sides are so concerned about their tourist trade they have a ceasefire to get the tourists out of harms way then they get back to shooting each other

Thaksin to face lese majeste claims??
 

Thaksin to face lese majeste claims??
------------------------------------------
With the suppression of democracy and the democratic rights of the people by the military and the royal aides through the frequent coups and the latest in 2006, Thaksin and the red shirts already has an uphill task. But then this has not deterred those people who cherished democracy to fade away.

When the red shirts start rallying a week ago at government house or blocking of road it was peaceful and orderly. They were receiving daily videos without any untoward incident. During the Asean summit in Pattaya, Blue shirt (most probably infiltrated by yellow shirt) starts to provoke the red shirt.

Lets go back to the time when an emergency decree was declared by the PPP government. Even though the yellow shirts has rampage through Bangkok, government house and the airport for more then a week, the police and military did nothing at all.

But the actions by the military against the red shirt are completely different.

-- I read the above and it reminded me all too vividly of my five or so yrs. in the RP. - ah, those were the days!
- If you're in the RP. as of now, or have visited in the recent past, perhaps you'd be good enough to up-date us all - in the appropriate thread - about the current scene there?
-- Bibi. --

-- But doesn't Khun Thaksin hold a special 'Diplomatic.' p'port. from some C. American Republic? I believe it was awarded specially in an attempt to tap Thaksin's alleged financial expertise in order to boost that country's sources of o'seas'. investments?
- In wch. case the Royal Thai Gov't, might have to tread warily lest its actions against Thaksin threaten diplomatic relations between the two countries. ;)
-- Bibi. --

can anyone seriously believe that fugitive Taksin has Nicaragua's interests at heart when he obtained the passport? What is he doing that job for anway? Where is his loyalty to Thailand?

-- 'Any port in a storm.', as the proverb reminds us.
- I fear lest there might not be an Extradiction Treaty between Nicaragua & Thailand - hence its attraction to him.
-- I u'stand. the DUBAI is under some diplomatic pressure to deny Khun Thaksin any safe haven therein.
-- Bibi. --

The Nicaraguan government made a rather pointed comment in announcing the grant of the passport that Thaksin was a democratically-elected leader.

Am I the only one getting increasingly pissed off by such comments? Yes, there was a military coup which toppled Thaksin's government. But was there - or was there not - a subsequent general election? And did not as a result of that election Thaksin's proxy party win the majority of votes and cobble together a solid coalition government? And were not 2 prime ministers, members of that very party, then found guilty of corruption by the courts and forced to resign? And did not one of the factions supporting Thaksin's proxy party then switch its support to the Deomcrats which then ended up with a majority in parliament? And is it not entirely unusual in democracies around the world that minority parties can form governments in the middle of a parliament's life without the need for a new election - e.g. Israel and italy? So what's undemocratic about all this post coup wheeling and dealing and the Demoocrats actually being in power? I really would like to know!

Of course, corruption has greased the wheels of Thai democracy for a long, long time. But do you seriously believe that the reason Thaksin came to power was only because he had the best policies? Of course not. He would probably never have reached that goal without the billions of Baht paid out in bribes to villagers around the country and other shenanigans.

I agree his policies once in power were populist. hence his ability to get re-elected with ease - an election which probably required less in bribes :-) But I firmly believe his ruthlessness (killing 2,500 people in cold blood and then declaring publicly that Thailand no longer had a drug problem!!), corruption and self-enriching schemes whilst in power (tell me: how as Prime Minister can you make almost US$2 BILLION by selling your share in a telecoms utility to an overseas government and within DAYS pass a law enabling you to avoid paying one satang of tax on that gain?), justified the coup. Ferdinand Marcos would have blushed at such blatant, open public manipulation of the system - at least in the first few years of his long reign of corruption.

But be that as it may, to talk about the need to restore democracy in Thailand is puerile. Thai-style democracy has never gone away! But if you want guaranteed free and fair elections, then you first have to eliminate the rampant corruption which in a recent survey places Thailand as the 17th (out of 18) most corrupt country in Asia. And how, pray tell, do you achieve that?!

Probably. Your rather superficial analysis fails completely to mention the partisan role of the Courts. In a Western democracy, which you try to invoke as somehow comparable to the Thai situation, the independence of the judiciary is a given, and shifting coalition partners occur entirely within the legislative wing. The role of the Thai courts is clearly part of a completely compromised set of institutions. The situation cannot be resolved until the death of the King who must bear total responsibility for this mess through his meddling via intermediaries. I don't think his death will solve the problem but it will at least reduce the number of players. As I'm having too much fun in Bangkok right now I haven't gone looking, but a friend tells me that the latest Economist magazine says the same sort of thing. When I'll be back after this trip depends on Bhumi's state of health.

I've made my point in answer to that of another poster and I stick to it. Since I do not think a political discussion is necessarily the aim of this Board, I will not take this further. Indeed with the lese majeste laws (like them or not) that may be rather difficult ground.

But since you have taken me to task re the Courts, let me just add that I did highlight the endemic corruption in all walks of life - and in my book that encompasses all organisations, not necessarily political. Nothing can change to my way of thinking until corruption is weeded out from public life. That is the cancer. Get rid of it, and there is a chance that a more traditional style of democracy may work.

What a cop out (or two). Having made a rather long post on political discussion you now want to shut the discussion down, deeming it irrelevant to the Board (it is, but why then start it up in the first place?). And why should any of us care about, let alone support, censorship - which is what lese majeste is all about?

See why we try to stick to cruising-for-sex here, to the exclusion of politics, religion, where-to-get-my-pants-hemmed, etc., etc.?