wsmoh

I work at TU and take the same van service every day/night. I know who the van driver was that died and may have had one of the law students as a student this semester in a special class. I am waiting for the administrator to check the names as I don't read Thai. I would probably have been in that van-the last van of the night EXCEPT it is mid-term exam time so I am not at school late at night this week! I probably rode with some of the other dead or injured from time to time. If i saw there pictures I would recognize them.

All of the vans I have ridden in have seat belts. The seat belts are tied behind the seats in a tight knot so we can not use them--probably to squeeze one extra person in per row. That thirty baht extra per seat is how much a life is valued here I guess.

One of the victims (Mr. Kiattimant) is one of my best students. I have known him for more than two years and few days before his death we had a long talk about his future graduate studies in nano-technology. He was awaiting acceptance letters from MIT or Stanford. One of the brightest students and highly moral persons. A huge loss to this country for sure.

Every single Thai I know supports this man - I hope in the weeks and months ahead, he shows everyone a path towards peace, reconciliation and unity.

Every Thai I know hate this man. He can not do anything, becouse he is a marionette of persons, who order to kill Thai protesters.

To the ones who are attacking the PM and defending the reds and (claiming to defend) the poor let me ask few questions. Where did you buy your last ice-coffee? what car do you drive? when was the last time that you open your wallet for a poor? Did you pay a trip to Isaan and thought how to improve those people's life? Did you lose a shop and your main source of income in the last fire? Did you lose a beloved b the reds? did you go set and fight with them?

Hypothetically, if you are in the US and you broke a traffic light. The police asks you to stop, as red as you are, you decided to break the law and did not stop. The police will chase you (cars, helicopters, etc) and you will be on cops. They catch you, ask you to move your hands up, you did not. Instead you put your hands in your pocket. What do you think their next move would be????? The PM was far too soft on those violent protesters and he managed to separate the peaceful ones from the thugs.

I do not want to hear your answers. Just look at the man in the mirror.. and answer..

hopefully the red shirt "protesters" will tell their stories and quite possibly the truth will come out. The people don't have a clue as to what really happened, they don't seem to remember the soldiers just pushing back and using unbelievable restraint. The army did not just attack the people, and the people found shot in the temple were probably dragged there to safety. I find it very hard to believe that any soldier would shoot into a temple. Drag someone into a temple for safety sounds more feasible. Let the truth be told, flood the tv stations with the truth, start with education, and start with the truth. I've been reading the tweets @taksinlive, and they are not very supportive of him at all. Most are calling him a white shark and for his death. And the beat goes on...

where? what? who? when? can you please explain what you are trying to say, what truth are you talking about, and what is it about the white-shark tweeter?

something to think about

Suthikiart Jirathiwat and Pracha Maleenont are quite close to Thaksin Shinawatra. They are still on good terms. If the reds set the blaze it would not make sense at all.

Places burnt down are symbolic of regime/system and representation of success. However the perpetrators are sparing many business locations

Dusit, MBK, ASTV, Nation, SisaoTewes, Pullman Kingpower, all left untouched.

Those would've been the reds' targets. Remember who was feuding with Central and BEC before all of this? Who was the biggest enemy of the Central Group and Ch. 3 in the past 3 years? The direct beneficiary of the fire is not reds or Thaksin...it's the man who feuded.

The fire kills 5 birds with one stone: Channel 3, Central, Thaksin, Reds, Anti-Monarchists. Pongpat was used. Game over for Thaksin as he and reds are delegitimized, while opponents of Central/Bangkok Bank/BEC benefit. Think about this for a minute and you'll realise the missing jigsaw of this puzzle.

The men behind the blaze are the men who wanted to drive BEC/Central/BBL out of business and blame it on protestors. The fires irrevocably end the reds shirts movement for now, while Thaksin cannot conceivably ever return to politics or even to Thai soil.

The victims of the fire are not Thaksin/Reds's enemies. They are the enemies of Thaksin's enemies. Ultra-hardcore-right-winged conservative types stand to benefit from this chaos.

Watch the aftermath closely and you'll see. Those who are desperate about clinging on to power are required to create an element of fear in the heart of its population. The incentive is greater than those who are aspiring to attain power.

People will go to great lengths to protect remaining interests while the threat is eliminated to foster a rally-round-the-regime type of feeling.

The goal of the movement to eliminate Thaksin forever from the system was not accomplished until today. It is end-game for him. We lose. Regime wins.

May I stress not coincidence ASTV, Nation, PullmanKingPower, Dusit remain untouched. This battle is deeper than what meets the eyes. And SiSao is untouched.

I've talked with some Thai teachers at Chulalongkorn Univ (Red shirts) few days before the events in April 10th. They said the following "There has to be bloodshed, at least few hundreds have to die." When I asked them if they will join or any beloved one will join the riot to die, They said no. So, I asked "why do you want them to die." They said, "they have to die. We know things you do not know." After April 10th, I realized the fact they knew was the presence of the armed militants among the protesters. I never seen a person speaking happily about the potential death of his people that way. This is a personal experience, I am not asking anyone to credit or discredit. Just to share with you all.

Hats off to you, I live here for three years teaching at university and I can see the no-critical thinking strategy teachers implement in the students. When I break those barriers I got wonders of my students. Of course the majority of students resist. This is a main issue with Thais and the PM is one of the few who broke from those barriers but he has to paddle with the rest in the same boat.

Not to discount your claim, but I certainly hope you were teaching a non-language course. That grammar needs some serious help.

Nope, not language, rather technology related. But thanks for the comment, i did not revise the manuscript

Lincoln authored the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves. If Abhisit wants to be mentioned in the same sentence as Lincoln, he'll act like a statesman and put his Roadmap to Peace initiative back on the table. That would help heal this country.

Of course, it (Roadmap) will be implemented. But after doing all the damage, Reds and their sponsors & sympathisers would not be fair in expecting to have early elections. I shudder at the idea of the arsonists and their bosses being our Government. Mind you, I am a ordinary, plain and decent Thai who does not hate anybody or colour.

I have worked throughout Asia for the last 20 years and corruption is endemic, it countries poor. I too fear an election will yield another corrupt and inept government. I too believe Abbhisit is an honest and genuine person. I am not sure the same could be said for his entire cabinet. The same cultural issues that impede business in Thailand impede good governence. Junior staff never expressing what they think, mae pen rai attitudes, strong hierarchy( starts in school - where kids cannot challenge their teacher and learn criticial thinking) and the belief that certain people are born worth more, from "god" and lesser mortals must bow and scrape.

Hats off to you, I live here for three years teaching at university and I can see the no-critical thinking strategy teachers implement in the students. When I break those barriers I got wonders of my students. Of course the majority of students resist. This is a main issue with Thais and the PM is one of the few who broke from those barriers but he has to paddle with the rest in the same boat.

I agree that the Red Shirt leadership were foolish in not accepting Abhisit's compromise without trying to attach ridiculous conditions, but fail to understand how their surrender yesterday meant they abandoned their followers. Were they supposed to encourage their followers to fight to the death?

This is a stupid and irresponsible editorial.

Red shirt leaders knew by staying on the stage a bit longer they would have dangered their "own" lives. So, better off with the "red" friendly police and even though, they tried to pain a picture of self sacrifice. Now, the monster they created is out of control and they are there on the streets. I am more worried about those militants plus the useless Thai police. They both killed the feeling of safety and security in BKK.

I think the reds are basically peacefull, but Abhisit always changes his mind saying I will desolve parliament and organise elections, the putting all this on hold!

How can anyone trust him?

I would get violent too

Abhisit has to resign if he wants peace back in Thailand!

Wow, you would get violent burning building, looting, destroying thousands of people's jobs and main source of income (not talking about the owners of the mall) because the PM changes his words. So, now I am not happy with your words should I get violent. If you are Thai, then you really stink. If foreigner so please tell me where you come from to check what is going wrong there.

What amazes me is how gullible, idealistic and shortsighted some people can be. From the very beginning this had all the makings of a Thaksin organized uprising wrapped in a secondary and of little importance to him people's movement. Thaksin was owner of a large cell phone company and like Carlos Slim in Mexico royally screwed the poor who could least afford his services. I think many Thais see him for what he is and these bands of thugs are not representative of the true feelings of most Thais. However, these thugs must be dealt with an iron fist from this point forward. Bring in the tanks.

And it´s also amazing how stupid some people can be. Like it or not Thaksin has been the last President, that unlike this Monkey Abhisit, has been elected and despite the fact that of course not everything he did was good, he did a lot to develop the upcountry and not only Bangkok. But this struggle is not about him anymore, the fires you see today smouldered a long time in the society. It´s about justice and its about equality, maybe something that is called in the country where you come from Human Right´s. Do you really think that the thousands of people who protested peaceful are thug´s and terrorists ? How naive is that ....

Of course there are like in every demonstration a few troublemakers who try to make them heard through violence and they should be handled according to the law. But that also applies to the government, i have never heard of any government in a civilised country that is sniping people at will or mixing up a "Live Round Zone" with a "Shoot anybody you see as you like Zone". Not even the Iranian government during the demonstrations against the election a few months ago deployed snipers. There is coming far more terror from the Government than the protesters, they don´t even hesitate to shoot members of the press. The death toll of press members is 6 by now and i don´t remember any incident like this where so many journalists died. But go ahead seeing things through your rose coloured glasses. This conflict will not stop in the near future because movements can´t be shot, a lesson the Thai Government will learn.

And here just for you one of those dangerous red terrorist´s with his weapon of war waving ...........

Well said, why do not you now go join your friends on the streets looting and burning buildings.

Of course the Thai army, with all its weaponry and armour, can win this battle, much to the delight of all the armchair warriors in this forum.

However, winning this battle via more bloodshed in no way means winning the war. Driving the conflict underground presents some really awful possibilities for the whole of the country.

Before he earn the title of 'war criminal', Abhisit should have a long and hard think about the mess that he has helped to create. Negotiation really is the only way to solve this, and it may indeed cost him his precious job. It may also mean that he can't preside over the upcoming budget, and that his buddy Prayuth misses out on his chance to become the army chief when Anupong's tenure expires later this year.

Abhisit needs to get his priorities in order. He has turned into another Thaksin, with too many people hating him for there ever to be peace under hs rule.

Wow, I am impressed. For the fun of it, what was IQ score last time you toke the test??????

I assume most of you are not Thai like me. Then, what the hel_l is wrong with you guys? Please read and follow the history of everything and study Thai people psychology before throwing empty judgment. Here are some points to think of:

1- Law and rules are selectively applied

2-Many Thai people do not think of consequences (note bikes driving on platforms, driving wrong way,..etc)

3-Many Thai people are ready to follow (senior roles)

4-Many average people here do not know where to stop and do not see the "by-default" line (Calling you Farang in front of you, assuming you do not know)

5-Thai society on average is very closed, though many tourist but yet they are two categories farang and ka

Mix all of these, adding greed of leaders (UDD,PAD, Govt, Thaksin, you call it) and mingling paid criminals in between, you get what you see. This has been happening here before in different scale. It is just now going to leave a huge crack in Thai society, might not be heald but for sure will be forgotten a year later.Same as the attacks in Payathai last year.

Good luck