Dear President Obama and Secretary Hilary Clinton:

Dear Sir and Madam:

Having watched the video of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton shaking hand with the controversial and torrorist Minister of Foreign Affairs from Thailand at http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=20844074001, I felt betrayed by the greatest democratic nation on earth. This gesture alone may have sent a wrong signal to the citizens of the many countries fighting for a true democracy. Mr. Piromya is one of the most hated and disgusted figures in the Thai politics, for he clearly represents the royalists and the PAD that seized international airports and illegally occupied the Thai Government House as well as caused protests nationwide after he had been appointed a Foreign Minister. The parties with whom he has been associated have conspired to sabotage Thai democracy and thus brought Thailand backward from its path toward a fuller democracy and properity and constructive leadership among Asian countries.

With the intelligence that the U.S. has, how can it be possible that Mr. President and Mrs. Secretary are not correctly informed about what actually has happened in Thailand since September, 2006? I am a Fulbrighter from Thailand, so I came to the U.S. with a hope to help the world understand many great things that the world could adopt as a model for the common progress of humankind. Instead, I found that even Fulbrighters from certain parts of the world, especially those from Latin America, came to the U.S. with extreme hatred against the U.S. as a nation mainly because of the foreign policies! I am sad to report that many of them have left the U.S. unconvinced of the opposite reality that I have been blessed to experience.
As you are trying to promote a true democracy across the globe, committing to it so deeply that you even removed many leaders and killed many innocent people in hope for planting seeds of democracy, you have shown hypocrisy, as presently again illustrated in the above video.

Thai people who fight for a true democracy have been unfairly and brutally oppressed by a network of undemocratic forces comprising the monarch's privy council members, the military, the surrounding interest groups associated with the first two groups, the PAD, which was established by Sondhi Limthongkul (check his records!) so as to carry out the propaganda dictated by the orders from the other three groups. I believe it is unnecessary to provide you both with too much information that you already have on file somewhere. I have heard that the new Ambassador, briefly after his first day in office in Thailand, went to see Prem Tinnasulanondha, who as allegedly known as a mastermind of the 2006 coup. Soon after such a meeting, the military was ordered to shoot at the protesters with an aim to suppress the redshirt protesters.

If you want to promote democracy, you cannot send wrong signals and compromise with the undemocratic figures. Your association with the Abhisit administration and especially your meeting with Mr. Piromya, Mrs. Secretary, with due respect, are the worst signal that you could ever send to informed Thai citizens. Many redshirt Thais have expressed their sympathy for the terrorists in the Deep South of Thailand and the reasons why some suicide bombers do what they do because of the lack of justice, structural violence, and perpetuated oppression. You could help so much in Thailand, as Thailand would be the best material for your project to make it a most successful democratic country, given the resources, geography, educational levels of Thai citizens, established infrastructure, the willingness to cooperate, etc.

I hope this humble note will reach the bottom of your heart and trigger the best part of your brains.

Sincerely yours,
A Thai Citizen

"Thai king gives royal assent to coup"--Vancouver Sun one day after the coup

Thai king gives royal assent to coup
Chiefs of the army, navy and airforce met the king today to discuss the formation of interim government

Jonathan Manthorpe
Vancouver Sun


Wednesday, September 20, 2006


Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has always found it hard to hide his distaste for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the billionaire businessman-turned-politician's overbearing and arrogant ways.

Now, it seems, the king has at least given quiet royal assent to a military coup that may end the political chaos and administrative dysfunction in which Thaksin's antics have mired the country for most of this year.

Thailand has been without an effective government or parliament since elections in April were declared invalid.

Thaksin called the elections to try to stem mounting public discontent in Bangkok over allegations of corruption by members of the prime minister's family.

Legal wrangling has stalled efforts to arrange new elections, which were again postponed last week.

Meanwhile Thaksin has stumbled along as caretaker prime minister and become deeply enmeshed in a confrontation with the military.

Soldiers and police loyal to army commander-in-chief Lt.-Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a Muslim known to be close to the king, seized control of key government buildings in the centre of Bangkok, the capital, on Tuesday.

It was announced on Thai television that a group calling itself the Council of Administrative Reform -- also translated in some messages as the Democratic Reform Council -- had taken control and that it is loyal to King Bhumibol as head of state.

Chiefs of the army, navy and airforce met the king today to discuss the formation of the interim government.

A senior official in the deposed government told Reuters news agency he believes one of the king's advisers, Sumate Tantivejakul, will head the reform commission and the interim government that will administer the country until new elections can be held.

On several occasions the king has publicly rebuked Thaksin or shown his displeasure with the prime minister. After Thaksin used police and officials to attack media that had been critical of him, the king gave the prime minister a public dressing down. King Bhumibol has shown displeasure at Thaksin's sometimes brutal handling of an insurrection by minority Muslims in Thailand's southern provinces and urged the prime minister to step down after April's farcical election.

The coup came while Thaksin was in New York attending the opening of the new session of the United Nations General Assembly and followed weeks of rumours, most of them put about by the prime minister and his allies, that the military was about to take power.

There have also been allegations that some army officers aimed to kill Thaksin with a car bomb in August, but the plot was discovered before the attempt was made.

After news of the coup reached New York Thaksin launched a futile counterattack by appearing on Thai television, declaring a state of emergency and warning the military not to take any illegal actions. Thaksin also attempted to fire Sonthi from command of the army and called on the Armed Forces Supreme Commander Ruangroj Mahasaranond to implement the emergency order.

Thaksin's broadcast was cut off after 10 minutes while he was still talking.

There have been 17 military coups in Thailand since the 1930s. The last coup was in 1991 and the country was returned to civilian rule the following year at the insistence of King Bhumibol after soldiers fired on pro-democracy demonstrators killing many.

This was typical of the stabilizing role the much revered king has played in Thai politics during his 60 years on the throne.

Many Thais have been looking to the king to sort out the current political mess.

King Bhumibol has always been cautious and sparing in his political interventions, however. He has encouraged leaders of all political parties to find a way out of the impasse and has made some suggestions, but has refrained from exerting his considerable authority in a heavy-handed way.

It is therefore unlikely that the king was complicit in the coup. It is far more likely that the coup leaders received King Bhumibol's blessing -- if they have done so which is not yet clear -- only after pledging a swift and orderly return to democratic rule.

Thailand's military is highly political, but also riven by factions mostly based on groups of officers who served as cadets together.

Not least of Thaksin's problems with the military is that the political chaos has disrupted the round of new appointments that usually takes place at this time of year. Three cliques of former classmates are vying to provide the candidate to replace Lt.-Gen. Sonth, who was due to retire next year.

It is ironic that Sonthi has been an outspoken advocate of the Thai military strengthening its professional abilities and staying out of politics.

Part of Sonthi's campaign has been to criticize Thaksin, whom the general and others complain has interfered in military appointments to promote his own loyalists. In July Sonthi fell out conclusively with Thaksin when he re-assigned about 100 middle-ranking officers whom he believed had been promoted simply because of their loyalty to the prime minister.

The result has been that Thaksin has very few supporters in the military, the most notable being Maj.-Gen. Sanit Phrommas, commander of the Second Cavalry Division.

In New York Tuesday Thaksin's officials told reporters the coup could not succeed and that the prime minister would return home after addressing the UN general assembly.

In all likelihood Thaksin would want to get a firm idea of what kind of welcome awaits him before getting on a plane.

It is hard to imagine at this juncture a scenario in which Thaksin's political career continues, but Thai politics work to a highly individual cultural script with its own possibilities.

Thaksin's rise to wealth and power was unconventional in the extreme. He started life as a policeman, but one that believed strongly in the opportunities of the information age.

One such opportunity was to sell computers to his own police force. This was so profitable that Thaksin retired from the police force in 1987 and set up a software marketing company named after himself, the Shin Corp.

In 1990 the company hit the jackpot by getting a 20-year concession from the Thai telephone authorities to run cellular networks. Thaksin rapidly became Thailand wealthiest man and most powerful tycoon.

In 1994 he turned to politics and founded his own party, Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais). In 2001 Thaksin's party swept to victory and the first majority government in the country's political history.

Voters were seduced by the desire that Thaksin could do for the national economy what he had done for his own company.

Thaksin's love affair with Thailand's urban voters didn't last long. The middle class quickly began to mistrust his arrogant and authoritarian tendencies.

But the poor, especially the rural poor, remained loyal not least because his personal fortune enabled him to spread the money that is usually exchanged for votes in the countryside. He won a second term in office last year.

What brought about his collapse was the sale in January of his company Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings for $1.9 billion US. To the outrage of many Thaksin's family found a way of not having to pay any tax on their profits.

Through most of February there were almost daily demonstrations in Bangkok calling for Thaksin's resignation. On Feb. 24 he tried to silence his critics by calling a snap election for April 2, but the main opposition parties boycotted the poll.

It was immediately evident the election could not produce a legal parliament and early in May the Constitutional Court ruled the election had been invalid. But it was also found the Election Commission had acted improperly and its members were fired.

It was only two weeks ago that a new Election Commission was appointed and plans for a new ballot in October had to be postponed until late November or, more likely, early next year.

E-mail: jmanthorpe@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2006


Copyright © 2009 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Human rights in Thailand: A terrible joke!

I have been overwhelmed by the incredible things that the Abhisit administration and ruling elites in Thailand have collectively said, publicized, and done. Their shameless deeds against democracy have gone far beyond what I could ever have imagined three years ago. I often become speechless as I see more of their disgusting lies and unfair treatments against their rivals and even the innocent people. Let me just talk about the very issue about human rights, in particular censorship in Thailand, so I am not too disgusted.

I was born a free boy roaming the rice fields on the buffalo back, singing as louldly as I wanted, going freely in and out of any house in my rural village in Northern Thailand, and growing up with absolute love, freedom and approval from my parents and people around me. So, censorship is truly a foreign notion to my free soul. I was too young to understand the political issues and the oppressive system that had perpetuated the vicious cycle that brought about a number of massacres in Thailand during the 60's-70's. Back then, there were no TVs, no newspapers, and nothing much beyond the peaceful, submissive, struggling images of people in my community and the little known world outside my district.

Growing up, I started to understand that there were so many restrictions; some sensible, but others ridiculous. Largely, I tried to understand and comply with whatever, pushing myself to be one of them--the successful ones under the existing systems. However, the more I learned about the structural violence in the form of suppressive propaganda, brainwashing in order to silence the people's voices, social practices that take away people's rights to be politically recognized and economically rewarded, and so on, the more I became more ideologically distant from the Thai ways. None of those negative perceptions and feelings truly got too strong until recently, after the 2006 coup and especially during the tyrannical acts of the ruling elites in creating a three-year-long political turmoil and in presently manipulating or directing the administration of Abhisit government.

The below message was erased only seconds after the submission, simply because it was titled with "The only way the Chakri Dynasty could survive"! I will find time to translate it into English later. Please revisit.


ทางรอดเดียวของราชวงศ์จักรี

เมื่อพูดถึงคนผิดและการจะต้องนิรโทษกรรม
คนผิดมันไล่มาตั้งแต่คนทำการรัฐประหาร คนลงชื่อสนอง
คนที่ทำงานรับใช้ คมช. คนที่ทำผิดกฎหมายทุกอย่างแต่ใช้เส้น
เช่น ยึดทำเนียบ ยึดสนามบิน ปิดถนน ยิงประชาชน ทำร้ายเจ้าหน้าที่
คนที่บังอาจยุบพรรคการเมืองของประชาชน คดีหมิ่น
คดีความทั้งหมดของคุณทักษิณและครอบครัว
คนที่ใช้อำนาจโดยมิชอบ (รวมทั้งศาลด้วย) และล่าสุดก็ต้องนับ
เอาพวก .ใสเสื้อสีแดง .ที่ก่อการเผารถและปิดถนน และที่สำคัญที่สุด
คือนายกทรราช และพรรคพวกเบื้องหลังการสั่งฆ่าประชาชน
และองคมนตรีบางคนที่ถูกกล่าวหาว่าเป็นฆาตรกร ทำผิดหน้าที่
ทำผิดรัฐธรรมนูญ และเป็นทรราช

ที่ว่ามาเนี่ย หากยกให้ไม่ผิดทั้งกระดาน มันก็ถือว่าเป็นเรื่องที่ไม่มีใคร
ฝ่ายไหนพอใจทั้งหมด หากจะยกเว้นเป็นบางราย มันก็ไม่จบ
งานนี้ ต้องยกผลประโยชน์ให้จำเลยครับ ยอมใจกว้างแล้วเริ่มใหม่
คือทางเดียวที่จะทำให้เราไม่ต้องมีสงครามกลางเมือง
หากมาร์คคิดจะเอาดีใส่ตัว ทิ้งชั่วให้คนอื่นอีกละก้อ
ผมบอกแล้ว ว่า เตรียมตายโหงทั้งคณะ และฉิบหายกันทั้งชาติ

และเมื่อนั้นมันก็จะก่อเป็นสงครามกลางเมือง
ซึ่งหนี้เลือดมันไม่หยุดง่าย ๆ และจะเป็อย่างนั้นไปตราบเท่าลูกหลาน
แล้วไทยเราก็จะเป็นเหมือนประเทศที่เราไม่อยากแม้แต่ไปท่องเที่ยว
หรือคนไม่ปลอดภัยแม้แต่จะไปเยี่ยมญาติต่างอำเภอ หรือไปเที่ยวต่างจังหวัด
ความยากจนวิบัติ มันจะเป็นเหมือนคำสาปไปชั่วลูกหลาน

และที่สำคัญที่สุด เมื่อเกิดสงครามกลางเมืองแล้ว
ราชวงศ์จักรี ก็จะต้องสิ้นสลายไป เพราะหาประโยชน์อันใดไม่ได้
โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งในสายตาของคนที่ต่อสู้เพราะคิดว่า ตนไม่มีเส้น และไม่ได้รับความเป็นธรรม
อันเป็นสาเหตุของการลุกขึ้นมาสู้ นับตั้งแต่การรัฐประหาร 19 กันยายน 49

เราแทบไม่เหลือทางเลือกอื่นแล้วครับ
นอกจากล้มกระดานแล้วเริ่มต้นกันใหม่บนกติกาที่
เป็นประชาธิปไตย คือ ยึดเอาเสรีภาพ เสมอภาค และภราดรภาพ ภายใต้นิติรัฐ และ
การไม่ทำการใด ๆ ที่ก้าวก่ายอำนาจอธิปไตยของประชาชน โดยผู้ใดก็ตาม

It's truly too much for me to write about everything wrong that the Abhisit administration has done over the past few months and things that his party, along with the destructive allies of it, has done since the coup in September 2006.
For all the accounts regarding ridiculous censorships in Thailand, please visit
http://facthai.wordpress.com/