Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tak de kerja lain. (Nothing better to do)

Ever since the the military coup 3 years ago, Thailand has not been functioning. Protest after protest after protest that is sometimes no different from rioting has occured. Last year the Yellow Shirts opposed to Thaksin's gangs took over government buildings and the new airport. They finally stopped when they got their way and Samak resigned.

Now the Red Shirts have stormed government buildings, forced the cancellation of an ASEAN summit, and are demanding the resignation of the PM elected after Samak, Abhisit.

If you think you qualify as the concerned world-minded citizen that you should be, you would have already been reading up on the Bangkok protests the past few days.

Even if you are not the world minded citizen that you should be, but are the avid YouTube addict, you should definitely take a look at some of the videos of the protests. The ferocity and intensity of the people is really terrifying. Im not posting links but you can look them up on BBC, Al Jazeera, and yes, your favorite YouTube.

  • Flaming driverless busses are being used as unguided missiles.
  • Protestors are climbing aboard army tanks and the soldiers aren't even trying to stop them.
  • People are beating tanks with sticks and kicking them with their bare feet.
  • People tried to destroy the PM's car with their bare hands.
These obervations beg me to ask quite a few questions and state some assuptions.
  • What on earth has happened to the peaceful Thailand that we knew? Why is the country so deeply divided?
  • Where do all these people come from? The crowds are so massive. Are these all the unemployed people who have lost their jobs?
When the Yellow shirts were protesting, there was no Red Shirts around to combat them.
Now that the Red Shirts are protesting, there are no Yellow Shirts around to stop them. And these two colors are at odds with one another. But it seems that all they want to do is fight the Prime Minsiter. Even when the current PM resigns, another color will come up and protest
Is there a possibility that these are the very same protestors over and over again but just tukar baju? (wearing different color clothes?)

Cause it reeally seems like these people are not really fighting a cause but just want to vent some anger and mayhem. GO SEE THE VIDEOS AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.

To me, it just seems like these Thai people have 1)lost their jobs due to the economic downturn caused in part by the protests 2) never had jobs and just want some excitement in life.

whatever it is, it is seriously hurting Thailand. In economics, we have market failure. to me this is democratic rights failure. Clearly allowing these people to do what they want is not doing any good for the country. the miliary and the police are just standing there. Occassionally they bulk up and forced the protesters back with water guns and tear gass, and even live firing over protestor's heads, but in other videos they are just chillling back and lettting the protestors stand on their tanks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

its political mess. widespread corruption especially during Thaksin's time,. somethings are irreversible.. and many citizens face the music..

so perhaps, citizens are only channelling their dissatisfaction to whts's been done..in hope that such a pressure may lead to changes in the government level.