Several New Mandala readers have brought our attention to this latest junta madness. Thai junta head General Sonthi made these comments about the situation in Burma on Thai television last night. (I am not sure who is responsbile for the transcription/translation, but thanks.)
Regarding the dispersal of demonstrations, the Burmese government did not use military force. Police was deployed. That was the right approach. It has been used by every country—that the military must step back to let police take charge. But the actual tactics may vary from country to country. However, I think there is no violence in the current situation. Everything is under control. The Burmese government is still in control of the situation. On the reports that Buddhist monks were assaulted [during the dispersal of demonstrations], that cannot be concluded just from looking at the photos. As it happened in Thailand, sometimes people used violence against officials. So officials may have to defend themselves. There has been no political suppression. Burmese authorities should understand that it—getting Buddhist monks involved in the demonstrations—is a tactic used by demonstrators. So Burmese authorities understand that they cannot use violence against Buddhist monks. They must use soft approach. I was informed that Burma uses dialogue to solve the problem, and senior Buddhist monks have helped negotiate to end the problem. I do not think Burma will care [about international pressure], because it does not really depend on anyone. Burma has been taking care of itself all along. It does not accept interference from outside. Moreover, there are many countries that have discretely helped protect Burma—such as China and Korea. That is because Burma has plenty natural resources that many major powers want to have their hand on. We are neighbor [of Burma]. If we get involved, that will undermine our relationship.
24 responses so far ↓
1 lotus_in_the_hills // Sep 27, 2007 at 5:34 pm
This response was predictable. It is surprising that the Thai government hasn’t altered news of the Burmese demonstrations accordingly. One thing I’d like to call attention to the following:
“I was informed that Burma uses dialogue to solve the problem, and senior Buddhist monks have helped negotiate to end the problem.”
If by “senior Buddhist monks,” he means the Sayadaws of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, then all they’ve done to “negotiate” is to push the Burmese junta’s propaganda. This propaganda downplays the demonstrations as being nothing more than naughty young monks who aren’t listening to their elders (when, in fact, respected elder monks have been taking part in protests).
2 jonfernquest // Sep 27, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Westerners resemble Sonthi and his comments a lot more than they realise, despite their gratuituous displays of emotional outrage.
Apart from the cold analysis of killing that one might expect from a soldier, I found Sonthi’s political realism and analysis a nice change from what has been quite an emotional show and tell, like how can I outdo the last guy in rehashing events with hyperbolic adjectives, like what new names or deprecatory adjectives can I conjure up to call the generals. (Hint: Over the last 20 years they’ve all been used up.)
As far as more sanctimonious sanctions go, ***anything short of punishing China and Singapore*** for providing life support to the regime is ***gratuitous self-indulgence***.
We’ll condemn the regime but won’t say anything about the hypersensitive dictatorships (above) that make it’s continued existence possible.
Western hypocrisy or political realism of the sort Sonthi is addressing the Thai audience above with?
Many would find the idea of punishing China and Singapore for their support and active collaboration with the regime ridiculous. Too many other important interests are at stake in these relationships, they would say.
Pure moral outrage usually doesn’t lead to good analysis. The junta could well hang on as it has in the past. Then what?
Obviously westerners including myself would find Sonthi’s comments morally reprehensible. But these comments were in Thai and not meant for a western audience, so being a good anthropologist shouldn’t you try to analyse them from the ***emic standpoint of the viewing audience***, as you would, for instance, the democratic public opinion that supported killing over 2000 people without due process of law during the Thaksin drug war? That would be more enlightening. How different sectors of Thai society view Burma and how these attitudes developed over a long history of discourse studded with propaganda.
BTW As a Buddhist i am outraged by attacks on monks and when I lived in Yangon and turned on the TV everynight to watch Khin Nyunt and his cohorts make religious donations and perform ceremonies in belief that they would receive religious merit for this while they innocent civilians were hauled off as porters or unsuspecting youths press-ganged, well nausea would welled up inside of me, needless to say I turned off the TV.
3 col. jeru // Sep 27, 2007 at 5:59 pm
It would really be nice if PM Surayud departs from the usual protocol bullshit and starts criticizing the Myanmar junta for its harsh and violent suppression of the monks-led protests.
General Sonthi is backscratching his Myanmar counterpart . . . if General Sonthi sincerely wants to break into politics, he should have started giving harsh scoldings to the Myanmar generals for their repression of the monks protests.
4 Ex-Ajarn // Sep 27, 2007 at 8:53 pm
One dictatorship supporting another, what is the surprise?
5 Restorationist // Sep 27, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Reports are that Min of Foreign Affairs has refused to change the speech to say anything about Burma. But the pressure will be enormous from the US and Europeans.
6 Teth // Sep 27, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Hopefully the Burmese junta will be brought down. The Thai junta doesn’t want this because they are still afraid of the ‘domino effect’, which was actually a credible belief back during the Cold War, a time which the generals still think they’re in.
7 Amporn // Sep 27, 2007 at 11:40 pm
As of today 8pm. Sept 27, Rangoon now turns a killing field. Thousand People are still on the street and the military is still shooting at the mass protest. I wonder if we can do anything at all to stop this killing field.
8 Thailand’s mad Junta « With Bowl and Robe // Sep 27, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[...] from here - well worth taking a look [...]
9 Dickie Simpkins // Sep 28, 2007 at 1:28 am
Negative comments on the ‘Thai Junta’ aside, what is the current situation in Burma like?
Is there any of our friends in Burma who have any updates for us?
Or is there anyone here who can inform the web or blog sites from where we can get more information regarding Burma?
On the Thai Junta: Anything in Burma won’t affect here, the joke of the junta here promised elections in one year, and they are delivering it. They didn’t get many achievements in the past year, and they will probably just slowly move into the background.
I look forward to replies on web sites with information from Burma.
10 krid // Sep 28, 2007 at 2:55 am
The interview again reveals the categories Sonthi in thinking in: “restore order”, “repress dissent”, “power struggle/power sharing between police and military”, “no outside (foreign) interference and control”, “business interests and gas supplies”. Not a word of protest against the actions of his murderous cronies in Naypyidaw. What does it matter if the words of the most powerful man in Thailand, whose exit from the stage is still in doubt, were meant (only) for a Thai audience? This individual will take the second most important cabinet post and might become PM through whatever means at his disposal. Then again, one can only imagine what PM Thaksin today would have done about his crony capitalism interests in Myanmar.
11 Trev Butler // Sep 28, 2007 at 8:59 am
May I register my disgust of the comments by Sonthi, I worry this might be the fate of my beloved Thailand in the future, I am visting there in late December, but now have decided to only spend one night, and travel onto the Philippines instead. Also please do not forget about the Karen tribe in Burma, who have been so victomised so much, by the Bumese junta.
12 jonfernquest // Sep 28, 2007 at 3:52 pm
krid: “Not a word of protest against the actions of his murderous cronies in Naypyidaw. What does it matter if the words of the most powerful man in Thailand, whose exit from the stage is still in doubt, were meant (only) for a Thai audience? This individual will take the second most important cabinet post and might become PM through whatever means at his disposal…”
I would much rather have Sonthi express his true thoughts on the matter than dissemble and put on a show so I could share emotions with him.
What does it matter that it was for a Thai audience?
Even though I wish Sonthi would go back to his barracks and be a good professional soldier and stop playing politics, he is a smart guy and everything he does has a purpose.
I’m sure he figures that his audience would relate to what he is saying.
Obviously the enlightened liberals who read blogs or English language newspapers devoted to current affairs in Thailand and Burma are offended by what he says, but he wasn’t addressing them.
Maybe he screwed up and didn’t realise that his comments would be translated into English and splattered across this mornings op-ed section in the Bangkok Post, but I’m sure glad he says what he thinks.
Democratically speaking the opinions of enlightened liberals certainly didn’t mean much during the drug wars when tough talks, death lists, and police bribes replaced the rule of reason, will they mean anything now?
13 Blogger Jotman // Sep 28, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for providing the transcript — I will refer to it in an upcoming post. At Jotman.com I have been collating various updates from Burma.
General Sonthi must be asked to resign from any official capacity within the Thai state, that is, if Thailand wants to be regarded as an ethical or civilized nation.
This is not about Sonthi anymore, it’s about Thailand.
14 jonfernquest // Sep 28, 2007 at 4:08 pm
As an example of meaningless gratuitious emotions, take this statement by Singapore’s Foreign Minister:
Ministers of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, meeting at the United Nations in New York, were “***appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used”*** against protesters, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ai5WDAVpiwiw&refer=home
Singapore supports Than Shwe in everyway possible, providing medical facilities for him, a school for his grandson, a safe place for regime collaborators to access the outside world, funnel their money through and do business…he may have been “appalled” for the 30 seconds he was talking to the reporter, but action will not follow words and when the sound bite passes everyone will forget about it.
15 Sidh S. // Sep 28, 2007 at 5:45 pm
If GenSonthi’s interview was for a Thai audience, here’s PMSurayud’s UN speech, with references to Myanmar, for the international audience:
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/62/2007/pdfs/thailand-en.pdf
16 serf // Sep 28, 2007 at 6:02 pm
The General who did everything in his power to ensure that Thailand has to put up with even more refugees, economic migrants, cross-border criminals, the drugs trade, malaria and other diseases. The Myanmar Junta is essentially too lazy to deal with its own problems, so it exports them to Thailand to deal with. The Thai Junta cooperates in that process in exchange for a few measily contracts and golf games. It may be a good deal for Thailand’s elite, but its a lousy deal for everyone else.
17 krid // Sep 28, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Jon, the drug war was perpetrated by the military and the police under Thaksin’s guidance, vehemently supported by the coup-condoning Bangkok middle class. It will be a cold day in hell before we see any investigation into the drug war, Tak Bai, Krue Sae, southern disappearances with any uniformed perpetrator being brought to justice. It doesn’t matter what any “enlightened liberals” have to say in these matters as their voice in the mass media has been effectively silenced by the ruling dictatorship (unless they speak out ONLY against Thaksin).
Sonthi has shown that he’s a loose cannon (pun intended), having thought no further than order tanks to roll into Bangkok. His wavering in selecting a new c-in-c and regarding his political ambitions, his recent quoting of mass murderer Mao as a role model and numerous other statements over the past year show that he’s of very limited intelligence, overly ambitious without the ability to plan ahead, and thus very dangerous. The recent statements which have been give a scathing dissection in todays Bangkok Post editoral only again show how undifferentiated and one-sided his thinking is and how close his relationship with the criminal repressors of the people of Myanmar. And the unbridled power of such an individual is a clear and present danger for the democratic development of Thailand, whether this statement makes me an “enlightened liberal” or not.
18 jonfernquest // Sep 28, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Krid: “It will be a cold day in hell before we see any investigation into the drug war, Tak Bai, Krue Sae, southern disappearances with any uniformed perpetrator being brought to justice.”
Along with “police reform” which they tabled two times for a couple of days and then promptly disappeared. Still waiting for one of those valiant academics to do a PhD dissertation on this topic, which far outranks all the postmodernist discourse stuff you see nowadays in importance. It’s amazing how many city dwellers are completely unaware of what happening in the countryside of their country.
“…he’s of very limited intelligence…”
Even though I don’t like him and certainly hope that he stays out of politics, the fact that he pulled off a bloodless coup and transition period compared to 1992, indicates that he is neither: 1. mad, nor 2. stupid.
It will be interesting to see if he manages to wriggle himself into the cabinet. I’d still like to see good demographic studies on opinions and attitudes before attributing things to massive analytical categories like the “Bangkok middle class.”
19 James Haughton // Sep 28, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Sidh S (15) Thanks for the link. Certainly singing a different tune for the international than the national audience, aren’t they?
20 krid // Sep 28, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Jon, I agree that someone making it to c-in-c and pulling off a successful coup can’t be entirely stupid, but he probably should have been even smarter, such as planning his own graceful exit and following through with strengthening democracy and civil society instead of disenfranchising (through martial law and intimidation) much of the population for fear of the “old powers”. As I don’t see the coup as a solution I can’t have sympathy for a coup maker so I’m certainly biased. But in my view Sonthi has failed to belie my first negative impression of him through word or action, acting instead on what looks like fear of reprisals and stumbling through a situation that’s over his head. The Nation and The Bangkok Post have reversed their opinion as today’s editorials show and the general looks more and more isolated. Sonthi is not Saprang but he might still be dangerous when cornered.
21 Blogger Jotman // Sep 28, 2007 at 11:44 pm
When I read what Sonthi said… makes me want to puke. And consider his position in Thailand!
Now there is a post concerning this outrage up on my blog.
22 bruno // Sep 29, 2007 at 2:39 am
Good comment from Sonthi.
At last, why did he say only China and Korea that want resources from burma.
Why didn’t he say how much they have been squeezing the neck of Burma.
anyway, it’s impressive that he still knows that burma is its neighbor.
At last, he still cares for Relationship.
23 Sidh S. // Sep 29, 2007 at 4:04 pm
James, that is certainly a possibility. On the other hand, it might really reflect real differences between the two – also referring to the recent army c-in-c succession saga. I suspect that each actually preferred a different candidate between GenAnupong and GenSaprang. These differences may be subtle (reflecting their roles as a temping PM and a coup-maker, trying to dismount the tiger) – but could be quite critical…
24 Srithanonchai // Oct 1, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Update from Oct. 1 (BP): Burma “has developed its own military regime for a long time to protect its national interests,” said Sonthi. >> Hard to believe that anybody could make such an idiotic statement.
Leave a Comment
Please note: New Mandala encourages vigorous debate. However, for the moment we will only be publishing high-quality comments that make original contributions to discussion. There will, of course, still be space for pithy, humorous, eccentric and cheeky input. Short and sweet will usually trump long and involved. Repetitive ranting, unimaginative point-scoring and idle abuse will not be entertained. Comments which carry a real name are also more likely to be approved. Thank you for your ongoing interest and contributions.