…or so begins an analysis of Thailand’s current political showdown published in Britain’s Telegraph. As the current “final battle” lurches into Thursday I expect there will be many more similar efforts to probe beneath the surface of this now huge international story.
As long-time New Mandala readers are aware, on both the “Yellow” and the “Red” side there are all manner of social, cultural, historical and emotional drivers of the current crisis. This is not simply a showdown between the public leaders: Thaksin and Somchai, on the one hand, and Chamlong and Sondhi, on the other.
Of course, getting inside the myriad elements of the political conflict is a difficult job.
With that in mind, readers who do not follow Bangkok Pundit’s superb efforts to consolidate and analyse events should do so. As ever, the Pundit is right on top of things in his city with an enviably consistent stream of facts, reports and questions.
Unfortunately this open discussion and analysis of the current conflict isn’t really possible in the Thai media because of some of the players involved. It is only in parts of the international media, and online, that key issues driving the “final battle” ever really get a full airing, and are subject to wider public scrutiny.
Perhaps things would be different if the mainstream Thai press was free to report on all of the tensions ripping its society asunder. Perhaps.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Tony Loader // Nov 27, 2008 at 1:22 pm
On the other hand, there is the pathetic effort by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) correspondent which has thus far wholly failed to provide an analysis of the PAD’s motivation; thus, those Australians with just a passing interest in the situation in Thailand are misled into believing that the PAD are indeed fighting for democracy.
I would have expected much better from my ABC.
2 max // Nov 27, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Mr. Farrelly,
Thank you for directing those interested in the development of the current Thai crisis and exploring the historical sociopolitical contexts that have fomented such a distressing state of affairs. My question for you is this: Why has there been no public or editorial backlash toward the hatefully driven racist PAD rhetoric against Thais of Khmer and Lao ancestry. I don’t see how this could still be acceptable for the ostensibly educated society that i guess is already discredited by their legitimizing of the fascist aims and values of Sonthi’s movement. Is this reigniting any lingering resentment among leaders in the North and Northeast and others in the academic community who were victimized by zealous royalist/nationalist/xenophobes that prosecuted the extraordinarily repressive anti-communist campaigns of the 1970’s? Hopefully the army is not so monolithic that it can prosecute General Anupong’s war of ommision against the state. If so, I hope those military leaders less prejudiced against democracy and their brothers in the north and isaan when the junta-appointed courts systematically destroy their civil rights through their ‘decisions’ that have not already been ‘made’. Having already institutionalized the PAD’s incivilities through preordained judicial determinism and the practical declaration of a rule of law subject to selective enforcement, will the disenfranchised really be willing or able to fade away into the feudal dystopia that seems to be the dark course the courts have chosen?
Thank you for affording me at least a template on which to ramble,
Max
3 Ralph Kramden // Nov 27, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Tony Loader is absolutely right. The SE Asia correspondent for the ABC is a disgrace. Her reports show no understanding and no analysis.
4 Dorm // Nov 27, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Which begs the question as to how you can analyse a debate in which almost anything meaningful she at ABC could say is off-bounds if ABC wants to continue operating in Thailand
5 max // Nov 27, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Dorm, Tony, and Ralph-
Excellent points, indeed, devastating. I have found reporting in major American outlets committing serial crimes of omission in their respective coverage of the crisis, invariably oversimplified and/or deceptively slanted for successfully critical comprehension of the under informed reader. the lead photos of PAD protesters never show violence, just a bunch of middle-aged yellow-clad ladies in various states of transfixed ecstasy.
which begs the question that you raised… who are these international journalists and photojournalists that have established themselves as the monopoly purveyors of all news Thai?
Isn’t it more than likely that they have, by necessity, established mutually beneficial relationships with necessary poo yai’s to advance their careers and ensure their indulgence and comfort in a foreign land.
particulary for the largest international publications, a genuine lack of competition for such ‘exotic’ fare as a southeast asian silent coup does not leave time for the elaboration of the intricacies and implications of the very real abandonent of the rule of law that feeds the terroristic insurgency with the very real intent on destroying the Thai democratic process once and for all.
Journalistic isolation does not breed journalistic integrity.
journalistic independence, coupled with personal codependence on well-connected locals might broaden and deepen the scope of investigative freedom, but it also leaves the door open for unfettered bias to promote the agendas of those you rely on.
this will be a problem until the string get tautened for a prolonged repartee of court puppetry and ethnic persecution, leaving the military censors to regain control of the ‘facts’ that they choose to acknowledge or fabricate to be spit back out by a less abashedly toadying journalists. competition will resume furiously, seeing that there will be only one authorized news source.
i can just see Sonthi pining enviously for a life atop the Burmese kleptocracy.
6 Tony Loader // Nov 27, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Fortunately, the BBC’s Jonathan Head has bucked the trend (to his detriment), and provides some thoughtful analysis on the situation.
We should therefore be extremely grateful to the good folk blogging the crisis, especially New Mandala and Bangkok Pundit which are both essential sources of up-to-the-minute news.
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