pete_r

Just came across a similar letter, from 1977: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/8363

Police Power in Thailand

By David L. Morell

To the Editors:

The following letter was recently sent to Thailand's Prime Minister Thanin Kraivichien by a group of thirty-eight American specialists on Thailand.

David L. Morell

Princeton University

His Excellency Thanin Kraivichien

Prime Minister of Thailand

Thai Ku Fa Building

Bangkok, Thailand

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

We, scholars who have devoted ourselves to the study of Thai society and culture and individuals who through our experiences have come to have deep attachments to the people of Thailand, are greatly concerned about the protection of civil rights of those who have been arrested on political charges since October 6, 1976. Knowing your commitment to the maintenance of due processes of law and your reputation as a practitioner of the law, we are certain that you will understand our concerns.

We are particularly concerned about the 111 people, including twenty-four still in prison, who were arrested on October 6, 1976 and who, while being charged with political crimes, have yet to be brought to trial. Many of these people are known to us to be former students, former labor and farmer leaders, and former members of political parties who desire only to contribute in any way they can to improving conditions of life in Thailand. We strongly urge that if the charges against these people are found to be insubstantial that they be dropped and that these people be allowed to return to take their places in society. If these charges are deemed to be more substantial, we urge that legal proceedings be instituted. We are certain, knowing your own commitment to justice, that when such legal processes are instituted that they will be conducted openly and with allowance for the presentation of a full and adequate defense.

We are also concerned about the thousands of people who have been arrested since October 6, 1976 on charges of "endangering society" and more serious charges. We know that many of the arrests have been made on the basis of unsubstantiated evidence, often provided by fellow villagers or neighbors. Knowing your desire to create a just society in Thailand, we urge you to bring to an end these indiscriminate arrests, arrange for the release of all those against whom the charges are without solid legal basis, and speed up the legal proceedings for those for whom the charges appear to be more substantial.

Our experience in Thailand makes us acutely aware that the power given to the police to arrest people on the basis of vague charges, such as has been the case since October 6, 1976, provides certain policemen with the strong temptation to use their power to extort money from those who have been charged. We have learned of a number of cases where villagers charged with "endangering society" have had to pay large sums of money to policemen to get these charges dropped. We know that such actions must be as abhorrent to you as they are to us.

We urge you to give your attention to these problems of civil rights and associated corruption which must be so alien to your own sense of justice and to your incorruptibility.

Edit: Fix quotes

Have the people (aristos and generals) who pull the strings been identified ...

I'm not trying to coerce anyone into saying 'the name of Jehovah' here (i.e. the Palace). Just trying to get a feel for who the power brokers are.

Prem possibly - but then he's not got any offspring to continue in the family way.

The mystery of it all reminds me of Thaksin's campain against dark influences. I don't recall he ever said who they were either.

The Nation (Not) has the answer: http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=380

Actually Switzerland has indeed joined the Schengen area since December 2008.

List of PTT oil prices: http://www.pttplc.com/en/nc_oi.aspx?

The Gasoline 91 (red label) is pure gasoline and about 4 Bahts/liter more expensive than the Gasohol 95 (orange label), which is a 90/10 blend of gasoline and ethanol. Whereas the Gasohol 91 (dark green label) is logically cheaper than the Gasohol 95.

Pump prices have gone up in February due to the re-introduction of the excise tax, which was suspended last year to help consumers and businesses when the gasoline was up to 38 Bahts/liter.

TTDI - Thai Tapioca Development Institute

http://www.tapiocathai.org/

I would add one more area of concern about the LM laws. I have been told to be carefull and anger Thai's because they could easily accuse me of breaking this law even if i didn't and there could be hel_l to pay. I have read about this fear posted on this web site by other people also. So it would seem that it can be used as a form of intimidation for us foreigner in Thailand. Anyone have any experiences along this line?

Fortunately no experience yet, but the tools are certainly in place. Aside from the LM laws, there's a website set up by this government, where you can report people you don't like online, be they innocent or not. Some communist regimes would have dreamed of that.

Quote from the BBC:

On the site's front page it is described as a means for Thai people to show their loyalty to the king by protecting him from what it calls misunderstandings about him.

It calls on all citizens to inform on anyone suspected of insulting or criticising the monarchy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7871748.stm

I take it's diplomatic language. "With all due respect" and so on.

Thanks adjan jb for providing the text of the letter faster than me.

[...]

There is simply no case. There's no climate of fear, there's no attempt at any serious discussion, there's no genuine need for discussion either. There's a few enthusiastic revolutionaries using all underhand means to make themselves heard, that's all.

[...]

Considering the replies since the thread re-opened, I'll beg to differ.

See also some of the comments in this thread: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Police-Raid-...-O-t247703.html

I think we should clarify who is "they" here.

Fifty foreginers or two organisers?

None of the names or prominent scholars are recongisable as Thai experts. I think they've just signed a paper because it's sounds good, without any deep knowledge of the matter.

Two organisers, on the other hand, are quite popular, with well known views. They, the orginisers/sponsors made it happen. It's not like Chomsky woke up one morning and felt like he should write a letter to Thai government.

Had people like Chomsky spent sometime getting up to speed, they'd realised that they are falling in the same trap they accuse the government of - using LM laws for political purposes, in this case publicity for Walker and co.

Just like Giles a week ago used a weak LM charge against his rather innocent book to stir up a lot of shit with his Red Siam communist manifesto. Just like Nicolaides used LM publicity to promote his book as "uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy" that actually has only one small reference to royalty.

These people have no integrity whatsoever.

Thongchai, the sponsor, sounds like his whipping up the paranoya with his "climate of fear" references.

Kudos for giving publicity to a letter you apparently dislike.

Now, rather than denigrating the authors and the signatories, could you move on to debating the ideas in the letter and outline what are the points you disagree with?

Thanks,

I was looking at insulation in the shop yesterday and noticed that the rolls of 75mm thick fiberglass covered with aluminium were really squashed down / packed tightly to fit into the packaging bags. I've read that squashing down the installation reduces the effectiveness, wouldn't the claimed R value be less then?

[...]

[...]

On the squashed down issue, I just bought a bunch of that stuff, supposed to be 4 inches, I'll open a bag and see if it springs back.

Swelters

I've started to install 4" fiberglass under the tiles last year (haven't quite finished yet - having to cut some to the right size to fit the roof space). The fibers do spring back when the rolls are opened and laid into place.

Thai website to protect the king

The government in Thailand has set up a special website urging people to inform on anyone criticising the monarchy. It has also established an internet security centre to co-ordinate the blocking of websites deemed offensive to the monarchy....

....this story continues on...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7871748.stm

and submit your ideas for bannable sites via...

www.protecttheking.net

That stinks. Now anyone who dislikes their neighbor can give them trouble with a few clicks.

What next, a ministry of denunciation?

I live in Sa Kaeo province. I just started experimenting with solar heating. I bought 3 30l black plastic jerrycans and put them in the sun for a day. By evening the water was 44 C and everybody enjoyed a hot shower and grandmother soaked her feet for half an hour.

I have lived in the centre if France and we used a spiral of black garden hose. Most of the days in summer and autumn the water was too hot to shower, we had to add cold water.

I really do not understand why people do not use this more in Thailand.

I have no idea how to work with those blue pipes, but I will enjoy learning it.

Thanks for these numbers: If 30l water can warm up from about 25C to 44C in a day, simply sitting in the sun, I guess we can be optimistic about the temperature a solar collector can reach.

I like the PVC blue pipes because they are cheap and easy to cut and put together. There's a good thread on joining PVC pipes here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Water-Pipes-t58174.html

Here's how I joint the plastic pipes.

Your plumber should cut the pipe square (no slanting angles).

Then he should remove all the burrs from inside and outside the cut edges (Fine abrasive paper should be used)

Now he should slightly abrase the inside of the coupling with very fine abrasive paper.

Do the same to the pipe where the joint is going to be made (abrase all around the pipe and for a bout two inches from the cut end).

Make sure the mating surfaces are spotlessly clean and absolutely dry before applying a coat of the jointing compound to the 'whole' of the pipe jointing area (All around the pipe for a good inch and a half from the cut end).

Now push the cut end of the pipe into the fitting as far as you can force it and before the glue sets sets give the pipe and fitting a single twist through about a quater turn - this ensures the joint is fully made around all the jointing surface.

I support all joints against a solid surface, perhaps tieing them to a support or when burried in the ground I put them in a close fitting concrete channel (U shaped).

Make sure that the whole system is pressure tested with water before back filling any trenches or plastering over any joints.

I useually tie a piece of tissue paper around each joint and leave the pipework under pressure for a few hours then go check all the tissues are still dry.

Wath out too for stressed joints. ie Somchai the plumber is three inches short of pipe, so he pulls the ends of the two pipes together to make them close enought to join - They will then be under constant stress and will eventually break at the joint.

I pretty much agree with Guesthouse about glueing pipe....except I have found no need to sand the outside of the pipe or the inside of the fitting.....if they are clean and dry I just put a light coat inside the fitting (being sure it is wetted all the way around everywhere) and a liberal coat to the pipe (again being sure it is wetted all the way around everywhere) and jam them together (no need to turn but sometimes I do anyway). I've glued alot of pipe and NEVER had a leaker.

Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. Did you use any special glue or jointing compound? I seem to remember reading some posts that the standard stuff isn't too good.

I used the standard PVC glue and will see how it holds. The important point when joining pipes is to avoid creating mechanical stress, which will weaken the joints sooner than later and results in leaks.

I wonder if since the above post jaideeguy or anyone else has made up a solar collector out of the blue pvc pipe?

Happy to say that we just finished one (see pic). My dad came for a visit, which helped to speed up the project.

I don't know how durable it will be yet, however some blue PVC pipes connected to the pump in my garden are exposed to the sun and elements and still holding after 4 years, without paint to protect them. So painted pipes should hold a fair amount of years.

By the way, a post on this thread suggested acrylic black paint to cover PVC, but the shop assistants at Homepro suggest enamel-type paint (typically used for metals)... Anyone has further opinions on which would be best?

The dimensions are ~200 x ~140cm, with 22 steps. The diameter of the steps is 1/2" and the diameter of the legs is slightly larger (3/4") as suggested by jaideeguy. We used small sections (~6cm) of 3/4" pipes to attach the T-junctions together. I also bought a specific tool to cut plastic pipes, which compared to sawing saves a lot of time and does not produce small plastic bits that need to be filed off. The cost so far is less than 1000 Bahts.

I'm also thinking of the size of the tank I should attach to it. Ideally I would like 80-100 liters at 40-50 deg C every evening, to provide enough warm water for the evening and morning showers for 2 people, but have no idea whether the volume of the collector (about 5 liters) will be enough to meet these requirements?

A question about the HP Mini 1000: Anyone knows if it is available with a Thai keyboard?

I've seen models with only US keyboards so far.

That one as well: http://dl.free.fr/

Send files up to 1Go.

Found the weblink:

http://pr.ku.ac.th/pr_news/headnews/KasetFair2552/main.htm

There's even a detailed map:

http://pr.ku.ac.th/pr_news/headnews/KasetF...552/Map2552.pdf

I got the news by word of mouth. The marquees are already up around the campus.

Lots of mango flowers in Bangkok too since middle of December. Maybe because of the cooler than usual winter?

Kaset fair is from 30 January to 6 or 7 February 2009.

It's on Bangkhen campus, entrances on Ngam Wong Wan road or Paholyothin road.

Yep, best of luck Simon.

Also both articles only suppose they were prostitutes (use of "may be" and "probably").

Democrats Celebrate 25th Anniversary of Non-Platform

Democratic Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said last night that his party's lack of opinions and positions has never been more popular

Full article here: http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=183

You can measure the civilisation of a society, by the way how they take care the less privileged and weak of that society

(unknow source)

That's close enough to a sentence in the preamble to the Swiss constitution:

"We, the Swiss People and Cantons,

[...] know [...] that the strength of a people is measured by the welfare of the weakest of its members;"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble_and_...al_Constitution

Wouldn't it be nice if such a sentence was added in the Thai constitution?

There are those who just don't have the mental facilities to become rich.

There are those who do not have the physical health to be adequately industrious.

There are those who have a debilitating combination of the two.

[snip for brevity]

A country stands for ALL it's people not just those who are ABLE to be industrious

and earn MORE than they need. Yes a man deserves the fruits of his labors,

but no man is an island, no man can live OUTSIDE of society,

and so society's needs MUST be considered if it is to function properly.

[snip for brevity]

Animatic, that's gotta be the first of your posts I find myself in agreement with. It feels a bit freaky.