8 replies to this topic

[mauRICE]

My Bangkok friends tell me that the Government and shopping complex owners in Silom organised a trade fair along Silom Road last Friday and Saturday night replete with concerts and gyrating dancers in skimpy outfits. Silom Road was closed for three days for this event and was packed to the seams with merrymakers. How quickly they've forgotten the hundred lives that perished in the brutal hands of this Government and its armed forces less than two weeks ago in one of the worst political genocides in Thai history. And therefore history is destined to repeat itself as nothing is ever learned in this country.

[mahjongguy]

My Bangkok friends tell me...

So you don't live in Bangkok. Do you even live in Thailand?

..one of the worst political genocides in Thai history.

For two months a group of 10,000 people did their best to cripple a city of 11 million. In the end, 88 protesters, armed protesters, soldiers, police, and innocent bystanders were killed. Everyone regrets it but the majority of the people who lived through it feel that the DAAD and their sponsors are responsible for every single death.

Please do your best to forgive those who are relieved that they survived and are now doing their best to live normal lives again.

[Haloi]

Everyone regrets it but the majority of the people who lived through it feel that the DAAD and their sponsors are responsible for every single death.

Either you work for the Thai government or you are one of these hopelessly deluded farangs who thinks it's chic to support Thai fascism. How on earth can you presume to speak for "the majority"of anyone in Bangkok, let alone the people who "lived through it." Maybe if you had to face soldiers with orders to shoot point blank into you and your friends around you, you might have a different perspective. Shame on you, you self-righteous prick. How dare you suggest that the victims of state-sponsored murder are to blame for their own deaths.

[mahjongguy]

Nothing to say to that.

[Bob]

How dare you suggest that the victims of state-sponsored murder are to blame for their own deaths.

Another black and white opinion in a world of grey. Although, as I've noted before, that I have been sympathetic to many of the redshirt notions, I'm not so biased as to blame all the deaths (even those of redshirts) only on the government. Others, including some of the redshirt supporters who engaged in some of the violence, certainly share part of the blame for the deaths on both sides. To suggest otherwise is intellectual blindness.

[Harold]

Another black and white opinion in a world of grey.

The fact that there are usually shades of gray in disputes does not mean that people should escape responsibility for their actions- on all sides. The problem in Thailand today is the the people in authority - the army, police and government - act with IMPUNITY, escaping all responsibility for their actions, while those opposing the system are treated to horrible double standards or no standards at all. If anyone is punished from the Bangkok violence, it will be red shirts and their supporters no one in authority will be touched. It's been going on like this in the Thais south for years - just look at Tak Bai and Khru Se - and now it's come to the entire country.

[Hedda]

" Everyone regrets it but the majority of the people who lived through it feel that the DAAD and their sponsors are responsible for every single death.

"What is even worse than laying the blame on the authorities is vilifying the people. I have never thought that we would have a state which has the people killed and seriously injured, and then accuses the people of the crimes. This is unacceptable. . ." Abhisit Veejejiva, 2008

On 7 Oct 2008, then Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat ordered a crackdown on the PAD protests in front of Parliament House, resulting in two deaths and over 140 injuries. The deaths and some serious injuries resulted from the improper use of obsolete Chinese tear gas grenades that should have been discarded long prior as unsuitable for crowd control. There was not a single protester death from gun shots because no live fire ammunition was used by Somchai's government against PAD.

Nonetheless, there were immediate calls for the prime minister to resign, among them these comments:

‘"For all that has happened, the PM cannot deny his responsibility, either by negligence or intention. ‘What is even worse than laying the blame on the authorities is vilifying the people. ‘I have never thought that we would have a state which has the people killed and seriously injured, and then accuses the people of the crimes. This is unacceptable. . .

Today, [the government] has lost legitimacy. We are demanding that the PM take responsibility. [The PM] can resign, or if he is afraid that by his resignation, the Democrat Party will take power, he can dissolve the House. He cannot just do nothing, because if he does nothing, it would be tantamount to damaging the country and the political system.

‘There is nowhere else on earth, in democratic systems, where the people are abused by the state, but the government which comes from the people does not take responsibility.‘For what we have said today, the government must not make the accusation that it is because we agree with all points of the PAD. Even if the PAD has done wrong, the government has no right to hurt the people.’

When reporters asked the MP why Somchai still stayed on as PM despite such a crisis, he replied: "I have no idea. I have never seen a person like this. If he were a normal human of the kind that I know, it would not have been like this."

The MP making those calls for Prime Minister Somchai to resign was none other than Abhisit Vejjajiva.

After becoming prime minister himself, Abhisit authorized the use of live ammunition against red shirt protesters, on both April 10 and May 19, 2010, resulting in 88 dead, and 1893 injured, with virtually all deaths resulting from gun shots. Perhaps the Prime Minister should now accept the judgment he presumed to pass on his predecessor not so long ago.

[gay_grampa]

My Bangkok friends tell me that the Government and shopping complex owners in Silom organised a trade fair along Silom Road last Friday and Saturday night replete with concerts and gyrating dancers in skimpy outfits. Silom Road was closed for three days for this event and was packed to the seams with merrymakers. How quickly they've forgotten the hundred lives that perished in the brutal hands of this Government and its armed forces less than two weeks ago in one of the worst political genocides in Thai history. And therefore history is destined to repeat itself as nothing is ever learned in this country.

I thought you would like to know that the Thai Stock Market is up again this morning (+11.56 points) (+1.57%)

How quickly they've forgotten the hundred lives that perished in the brutal hands of this Government and its armed forces less than two weeks ago in one of the worst political genocides in Thai history

I'm reminded of the often told tale of farangs in motoring accidents here in Thailand. The policeman says 'If you hadn't been here it would not have happened - your fault'

[Danny]

I thought you would like to know that the Thai Stock Market is up again this morning (+11.56 points) (+1.57%) tongue.gif . . .I'm reminded of the often told tale of farangs in motoring accidents here in Thailand. The policeman says 'If you hadn't been here it would not have happened - your fault'

Take a nap old man. You need it.