The Quill

Another thing, I should leave them (insert needless crudeness) alone? How about this. My trip over to Thailand and talking with people is just the same as me traveling across the street and talking to my mormon neighbors, is it not? What you're saying is I should not "bother" people who in your mind do not need my help. I'm not even saying I'll help them. I don't feel as though my talking with people is so harmful.

Well you seem to have got up IT's nose quite a bit. I am going to be a bit weird since it's Saturday.

When IT said leave "The Hilltribes" (needless crudity) alone, thats who he was referring to. Not Thais. I personally would be amazed to see a conversion of a Thai, without some form of monetary inducement.

I will try to get this thread back onto "how the Akha live". Leave the Akha (and the rest of the hill tribes people), alone. Don't speak to them, don't address them, don't give the flower kids money. (Buy them a meal is OK, but just shut up after you do it).

You are filled with the love and grace of your god. Good. They have their own faith, developed over millenia, then completely fried by the catholics and the presbyterians, (since we are in Chiang Mai), and they don't-need-you.

At the moment, Akha kids have no papers to identify them. Write to your congressman or whatever, and ask him to address the issue of Human Rights with the Thai Government. Akha kids normally don't get an education, see above for something to help. Akha kids have no access to medical care. See above again. Akha adults cannot legally work. See above.

This is applicable to others as well, just that it's a bone of contention for me.

Don't come here blathering about god, without a copy of the letters you have written to your political representatives, who make this country a wonderful partner in defending Iraqi rights, while allowing the same folks get away with killing the INDIGENOUS minorities.

I would be more than happy to see you in the Mango, as has been suggested, and tell you why you should be in USA, not Thailand, and debate you on the relative merits of xtianity over Buddhism and the need or otherwise, that Akha and other hill tribes have for another missionary, getting their rocks off trying to solve the worlds problems, in Thailand in 2 weeks.

Go home, raise money and then send it to someone who sets up educational programs for Akha and other Hilltribes, without the effluent of religious instruction as an attachment. Then, and only then, will I give you my vote. Personal bravery aside, thank you for your testimony, enjoy your stay here, but, like I said, leave the normal xtian target group alone.

For Songkran Newbies-

It’s the hottest and wettest time of year, if you’re brave enough

to venture out onto the streets. This month’s Songkran Festival (April 13-15

nationwide) is the Thai equivalent of the Georgian calendar’s December 31

New Year. But the similarities end there: this is a whole new bucket of icy

cold water.

Songkran, is Sanskrit meaning ‘to pass’ or ‘to move into, and is the first of a three-day series celebrating the change of the solar calendar. The dates are

calculated by astrologers, set according to the position of the sun in

relation to the 12 segments of the heavens. When the sun passes from the

sign of Taurus to the sign of Aries, the New Year begins.

Traditionally, Thai farmers are between seasons this time of the

year, waiting for the rain to come before beginning ploughing for a new

crop. The coming of the New Year marks downtime for celebration and

merit-making in anticipation of the – hopefully productive – rice-planting

season ahead.

Songkran observance begins early, with alms given to passing monks.

In Buddhist Thailand, most daily customs and practices involve some form of

merit making, but none to the extent of Songkran.

Later in the day, visits to older relatives and friends are made by

the young. A simple ceremony of pouring lustral or scented water on the

hands of elders – and Buddha images – signifies the purification of the

soul, thus making a fresh start. In more traditional homes, the elders are

sometimes bathed in scented water and given new clothes.

Some of the people make merit by releasing fish and birds. As April

falls in the middle of the hottest time of the year, the ponds and canals

dry out, leaving the fish stranded in small pools of water. People gather

stranded fish and keep them in jars of water until Songkran Day, when they

take them to the nearest river to release them, a gesture that symbolizes

the regeneration of life.

In the old days, as Songkran Day approached, Chinese vendors could

be heard about the city calling ‘fish to free’. More often, these days,

vendors offer caged birds to free… for a fee.

After the monks have received alms, the fish released and the

lustral waters poured – in short, all the filial and collective duties

observed – the water fights begin!

Water jars are set in strategic positions – a favorite spot is at

the corner of a busy thoroughfare. As people pass by in their spring finery,

dipperfuls, bucketfuls or sometimes tanks of water large enough to irrigate

deserts, are thrown at them. This is usually taken in good humor because the

thrower’s usually greeted with a reprise bucketful. The practice probably

originated with the belief that a few drops of water poured back into the

soil would ensure plentiful rainfall for the next crop.

As part of the water sprinkling/splashing, you’ll inevitably

encounter a person with a white powder or pasty substance and a zeal to

apply it to your face, neck or torso. This is one of the oldest Songkran

traditions, tying the ceremony to its Hindu roots in powder throwing

ceremonies. The white paste is a sign of protection and promises to ward off

evil. One is expected to leave this paste on until it washes off of its own

accord.

There’s always a chance to reciprocate with water and powder, so

long as you can locate a source yourself. But, don’t feel like a Scrooge if

you’re not buying the sanuk [fun] factor: you’re not the only one.

Traditionalists – in fact, just about any Thai over 35 – will wax melancholy

for the ‘kinder gentler’ Sonkran of yesterday, when participants would

bashfully flick droplets of water on each other rather than resorting to

all-out drench warfare.

Songkran April 13-15 nationwide. Info and full schedule on Tourism

Authority of Thailand News Room (www.tatnews.org)

After a bit of looking I found a few things about Songkran that others may be interested to know:

HEADS UP.

In the Songkran parade, the most important place is reserved for

Nang Songkran [songkran Princess]. Each year is represented by one of seven

Nang Songkran, the daughters of Khabil Phrom, one of the heavenly gods of

the Hindu-influenced Thai cosmology. Each of the seven daughters is

associated with a flower, a diet, and an animal – her mount during the

Songkran parade. Tradition has it that the position in which Nang Songkran

appears on her mount, indicates the time of the day that the New Year

actually begins.

According to legend, Khabil Phrom came down from the skies to ask

Thambarn – a prodigious young man who could speak the language of the birds

– three riddles. If Thambarn succeeded in giving correct answers, the god

promised him his head as offering, but if Thambarn could not give correct

answers, the god would cut off Thambarn’s head.

Thambarn asked for seven days to think out the answers. After six

days had elapsed, an anxious Thambarn went to lie down under a palmyra palm

tree where he overheard a mother eagle telling her young about a previous

bet Khabil Phrom had waged – and won – with another mortal. Thambarn then

learnt the correct answers to the god’s questions; consequently on the next

day the god lost the bet.

Thambarn summoned his seven daughters to prepare a tray for his head

and instructed them to carry it to a cave in the heavens – for if his head

were to touch the earth, there would be a universal conflagration, and if it

fell into the sea, the waters would dry up. The eldest daughter carried her

fathers head around Mount Meru, the Buddhist center of the universe, and

then kept it in Mount Krailat. Each year, another daughter takes her turn in

carrying the god’s head round Mount Sumeru, a myth that’s re-enacted in the

annual Songkran pageants.

I find it surprising that Admins don't take a pickaxe to Marshy and Flummoxed. Would be extra good for both of him.

Some time ago there was discussion about home schooling resources in CM.

I don't know a lot about it, but may be worth a search. I agree IT made a fairly wide generalisation, and I disagree with that, since I doubt he has kids in other than Thai schools.

I am happy to be told that is incorrect but certainly that is my view from several of his postings.

BANGKOKIAN: Thailand's own lord of the rings takes on the phantom army

Published on Mar 6, 2004

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's intelligence reports were rather accurate. Last week he came out to reveal that the mass labour union rally at the Bang Kruay headquarters of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand had been infiltrated by a "third party", resulting in what he described as an "inflated number" of protesters.

To this, the only explanation Bangkokian can come up with is that the Egat unionists protesting against Egat's privatisation may have enlisted the support of hobbits, wizards, elves and dwarves from the last instalment of the epic trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", following their decisive victory against the dark Lord Sauron.

Bang Kruay's climate was rather hot and humid compared with the more temperate Middle-Earth as Frodo, Samwise Gamgee and Gollum mingled with chanting union workers. Of course, the union workers in their yellow T-shirts could not see them and the TV cameras could not capture their images because they came from Middle-Earth fantasyland.

But some of Bangkokian's colleagues who went to cover the demonstration at Egat's head office in Bang Kruay claimed to overhear a rather interesting conversation among those Middle-Earth denizens.

Frodo: We have offered moral support to Egat's labour union because they are fighting a good cause.

Samwise: I hardly believe that after our battling against Lord Sauron we are confronting another equally evil enemy.

Frodo: Yeah, this is going to be tougher than "The Return of the King", when I had to climb to Mount Doom to drop the One Ring into the fires. Only then could the dark force of Lord Sauron be overcome. I am not sure whether I have the courage to do it this time.

Samwise: But this time you have to do the opposite - prevent Egat from falling into the volcano of the Stock Market of Doom.

Frodo: It's going to be the Fellowship of the Hydroelectric Dams. Who could have believed that the water at the dams, which feeds Thai farms, would be owned by the dark capitalists governed by greed?

Gollum: Master, is Egat's privatisation good? Or is it bad? If it enriches everybody, it must be good. If the money only ends up in the pockets of some people, then it must be bad. But then that's what's the matter with good or bad. It all depends on the eye of the beholder.

Samwise: Stop talking like that, or else I'll pluck your eyes out.

Frodo: Thailand is like Middle-Earth during the dark influence of Sauron. Yes, we have to stop Egat from falling into the Stock Market of Doom, otherwise Thailand will soon run out of electricity and water. A blackout has already taken place in California.

Gollum: I like the labour union, but I am not sure whether I can trust them. They look like nice people, but they also look mean sometimes. But master, I'll do whatever you tell me to.

Samwise: You only need to shut up and clear up your head.

Frodo: I don't know for how long the 50,000-strong phantom army of Egat's labour union workers and their allies can continue to hold out in their fortifications.

Gollum: But the prime minister said they only numbered 7,000.

Samwise: Don't interrupt while we are talking and using our thoughts.

Frodo: At present, there is a stalemate. The Thaksin government won't budge an inch to the labour union's demands for a delay to privatisation. The labour union will not soften their position either. They have threatened to show up at Government House to flex their muscles.

Samwise: I am not sure whether that's a good thing to do. Like the battle of the Two Towers, we have to guard our backs.

Gollum: Master, if we give our support to the dark side, we're sure to receive a handsome reward. We'll be allowed to subscribe to the Egat IPO without having to queue at the bank.

Samwise: Gollum, not again.

Frodo: We can't let the dark forces weaken our resolve. I think the only way to overcome this evil battle is to fight in allegiance with the army of the yellow shirts at Egat. Then we must open the gates to flood the Stock Market of Doom with the water from the reservoirs of the numerous dams of Egat. Then, and only then, shall this struggle be overcome.

Gollum: Master, can we win this battle while still guarding our right to subscribe to the IPO at rock-bottom prices?

Samwise: Gollum, you're always greedy. We belong to humanity, not to greed.

The Nation Saturday March 6

It is well known that the Thai government is severely lacking when it comes to the treatment of indigenous minorities, and people like the Burmese refugees. Nobody should condone their behavior, indeed they have been the subject of numerous reports by AI, HRW and other NGOs severely criticising them.

However the Evangelical God-Squad who come on a Mission to teach and convert the Heathen are a different matter. The majority of them come for a year or two, with support from friends and family in Midwest USA. They brainwash their "flock" and then return to their comfortable, cosmopolitan, Satellite TV, Microwave dinner life, leaving their newly Fundamental Christian converts behind like fish-out-of-water. They are the cause of more strife, unhappiness and heartache in this world than almost any other agent. Indeed, much of the bitterness and hatred which causes Islam and other faiths to rise up as terrorists can be laid directly at their door.

P1P's point is well made and I congratulate him for bringing it up.

Akha, for example, are called "Christian-Animists, as many of their ancestral ways become part of their daily lives, and are added to the "christianity" that they have been getting for years. Things like killing a pig and a chicken, before breakfast to read the future in its entrails, then off to church, then on returning home, make breakfast using the sacrificial animals.

When Baptists come into "christian" Akha villages, what are they converting the Akha to? The Akha for decades have embraced a form of christianity, handed to them by catholic missionaries early in the piece. Also there were some Presbyterians, who did a lot less damage according to some pundits.

Now we see the rise of the Chinese Baptists, centred in Mae Sai, who appear to be removing a lot of children from the villages, in so doing, perhaps inadvertently, supporting the Royal Thai Armies push (supported by the DEA), to relocate villages and villagers, from the Highlands where they have traditionally lived and farmed for generations, to the lowlands, where they can't grow the crops they know, can't get the normal food they are used to, and are exposed to new forms of illness they aren't equipped to fight.

It would be good to get a real view on the whys' and wherefores' from the Thai Government, rather than second guessing their reasoning here.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A call for an ethnic studies forum

Published on Mar 6, 2004

When the now-defunct Tribal Research Centre was inaugurated in October 1965, three people expected to attend the celebrations were killed in road accidents. This was taken as a bad omen.

The centre was cursed, a fortune teller once forecast. Its location within the compound of Chiang Mai University, with a small stream separating its main building from others, was interpreted by Feng-shui experts as disastrous. Land like this will never be rid of troubles, people said.

From its inception to its final chapter, the only official institute in the country ever designated to commission a study of the lives of highland people was mired in difficulties, misfortune and controversy.

The most notorious controversy - well known in anthropological circles in Thailand, Australia and the US - was the so-called "Thailand Controversy", which "divided the anthropological communities of Australia and the US in the early 1970s", according to Australian anthropologist Peter Hinton.

Hinton wrote an article that revisited this controversy in the Australian Journal of Anthropology in 2002.

At the eye of the storm was the Tribal Research Centre. At a time when the anti-Vietnam War movement had mobilised public opinion in the US, anthropologists working the field in Southeast Asian tribal villages were charged by prominent members of the American Anthropological Association with acting in conspiracy with American and Thai military strategists.

The charge went further, with accusations that some anthropologists working for the Tribal Research Centre, most of them Australian, were using the centre as a base to plot the elimination of the hill tribes. The details of this plot were said to be in a mainframe in the basement of the centre, said Choopinit Ketmanee, a former researcher there.

The charge was later found to be false and the accused filed a lawsuit against their accusers and won. But the distrust the controversy generated was deep-seated.

The Tribal Research Centre, which was later renamed the Tribal Research Institute, was shunned by some of the more sceptical anthropologists, its researchers condemned.

Refusing to be discouraged, the allies of the Australian anthropologists and their Thai assistants continued their work and guided the centre through the troubled waters. They compiled invaluable knowledge about the highland people of Thailand over the past 40 years, including more than 20,000 books, research papers, 80 films, microfilm, and slides, creating a major resource for academics, scholars and interested people.

Its final day came in October 2002. Bureaucratic restructuring dissolved the institute and transformed its confused researchers into administrative analysts, a position so alienating that they themselves were unable to analyse.

To add insult into injury, Chiang Mai University administrators asked the researchers to move out of their premises. At risk were the institute's library and other invaluable materials, until the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) decided to intervene and assisted in the removal of the materials.

The final chapter of the Tribal Research Institute was a sad one.

Indeed, its fate speaks volumes about the failure of the authorities to see the importance of research into ethnic highland people for the sake of their well-being and for knowledge itself. The end of the institute and the discontinuation of budget allocations for research was partly explained as being no longer necessary, as the "threats", perceived by the authorities, be they narcotics or certain forms of agricultural cultivation, had been brought under control and were manageable.

That two major problems - lack of citizenship and land ownership rights, issues that have for several decades deprived hill tribe people of their fundamental rights - remain unresolved and have conveniently eluded the authorities' concern. Or perhaps they were never really on the agenda.

Yet, the end of the institute should not mean an end to the need for continued research into ethnicity and ethnic groups - not just the hill tribes, but across Thailand. Even though our society has learned much since the time anthropologist David Feingold was asked by supposedly well-educated Thai academics whether he had seen the tails of the hill tribe people, misunderstandings and discrimination still prevail, necessitating more work to address the kind of thinking that considers the Thai "race" superior to ethnic hill tribes. Often, people with this mindset cannot think of the hill tribes as anything other than something to be exploited to the fullest extent for the benefit of tourism.

To maintain the legacy that began with the Tribal Research Institute, there is a need for greater coordination and an exchange of knowledge in ethnicity studies between educational institutes at all levels, in order to raise the level of knowledge about ethnic communities in Thailand for the sake of knowledge and, more importantly, for their well-being and society's better understanding of different groups.

Perhaps one way to do this is through an academic forum similar to the well-established Thai Studies Conference. This could be an annual ethnic groups conference, during which international and local researchers meet and exchange knowledge from the field, and discuss how to advance the course of the very people they study.

Mukdawan Sakboon

The Nation Saturday March 6, 2004

Nor is Dear Leader which is the most likely issue.

I have fond hopes that in the next 12 months, Thailand will wake up to the fact, that there are no leprechauns..even here...

Greg I don't own my home, but I have a work permit and have applied for a VAT registration.

They asked for, and got, the Tabien Baan, and a signed copy of the owners ID card, but he doesn't appear on any of the documents.

Why is that, based on your view about VAT registration and work permits?

He didn't appear to have a lot of problems crapping on this morning on the weekly "feeding of the chooks" as the long gone ex-Premier of Queesland used to call lying to reporters.

OMG another toxic apologist making excuses for Toxic not being able to play the game on the world stage. I wonder how long before Captain Moonface will wake up to the fact the rest of the world sees him as what he is..a puppet to a lot of baht.

Short stature, liar, corrupt perhaps? I never said that officer.

IPSTAR CONTROVERSY: US senator's charges labelled 'groundless'

Published on Mar 5, 2004

The Nation

A government official yesterday called US Senator Mitch McConnell's assertion that Thailand's policy towards Burma may have been shaped by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family business interests as "irresponsible and groundless".

"Thailand's foreign policy is not based on the interests of any particular company," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said McConell was entitled to voice his concern, but said Thailand's policy towards Rangoon was on the right track.

Leading lawmaker Senator Chirmsak Phinthong, however, said Thaksin must clear up the allegation to reasssure foreign businesses that investment in Thailand is not tainted by politics.

In a statement before Congress, McConnell - chairman of the US Senate Appropriations Committee - questioned Thaksin's "cosy relationship" with the military government in Rangoon in the face of narcotics pouring across the border.

"Some suspect that the raison d'etre can be summed up in a single word: iPSTAR," McConnell said, referring to the US$350-million (Bt14 billion) broadband satellite owned by Shin Satellite, a subsidiary of Shin Corp.

Shin Corp was founded by Thaksin and is still 53 per cent owned by his family.

Shin Satellite has been granted a concession to install 5,000 receiver stations in rural Burma.

McConnell also criticised the Bangkok Process - a multinational forum on Burma's national reconciliation that was launched last year - saying the gathering included neither the opposition National League for Democracy nor the United States.

Sihasak said McConnell's accusation was "self-righteous", "useless" and an attempt to "distort Thai foreign policies in expectation of some political gains".

"McConnell used to accuse Thailand of doing nothing to improve the situation in Burma. Now that we've started to do something, he is accusing us of being motivated by personal economic interests," Sihasak said.

"If the political situation in Burma improved, it would certainly benefit Thailand as its immediate neighbour and trade partners in the long run," he added.

EDITORIAL: Senate in a state of steep decline

Published on Mar 2, 2004

The writing is on the wall: the upper chamber of Parliament has succumbed to political interference and can no longer be relied upon to spearhead political reform

It would be a gross understatement to say that the elected Senate will have little to celebrate when it marks its fourth anniversary this week. What precious little the upper chamber may have achieved since its inception has been overwhelmed and cancelled out by a virtually unbroken string of scandals that culminated in the wholesale buyout of its supposedly politically-neutral members.| The 200 members of the Senate born of the 1997 "People's Constitution" were directly elected for the first time in Thailand's history in 2000 in a poll marred by widespread vote-buying and other electoral fraud.

Giving the Senate the benefit of the doubt, the public kept hoping that its members would somehow come to their senses and try to live up to high expectations that they would move forward badly-needed political reform.

The Senate, in a burst of youthful energy, offered a momentary glimmer of hope as many of its members appeared to be taking their job seriously by vetting legislation with rational debate and an apparent high degree of independence. For a time, the Senate even disagreed on certain key pieces of legislation with the ruling Thai Rak Thai-led coalition government, which commands an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives.

Armed with enhanced powers, the new Senate is tasked with vitally important roles, including the hiring and firing of members of the various independent organisations set up to ensure checks-and-balances between the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as transparency in governance.

In hindsight, the public should have known better, given the fact that most senators are political old-timers - including former MPs - and retired government officials, plus a sprinkling of academics, social workers and independent thinkers.

Little surprise, then, that a Senate composed of so many people with doubtful credentials should turn out to have questionable integrity. Self-respecting senators who perform their duty honestly are few and far between and thus have little if any impact on the working of the Senate as a whole.

As a political institution, the new Senate's precipitous decline was remarkable for its speed and the depths to which it has sunk. From an institution entrusted with the mandate to clean up Thailand's dirty politics, the Senate has been manipulated and then co-opted by the powers-that-be to become an active partner in corruption, the very crime that it was meant to eliminate.

The majority of senators have since abandoned any pretence of upholding the constitutionally-required impartiality. Many of them have been persuaded by the enormous power of patronage while others have been intimidated or blackmailed into submission.

Last month's election of the new Senate speaker was marred by alleged rampant vote-buying, blackmail and intimidation to get a senator with close ties to the Thaksin administration installed. This was in addition to the alleged rigging of appointments of many people closely associated with the ruling party to key positions in independent organisations, such as the Constitution Court, the Election Commission and the National Counter Corruption Commission.

The most vicious elements of Thai politics that have kept Thailand weak, backward and poorly-governed seem to have succeeded in consolidating their power to perpetuate their evil designs - the corruption of all aspects of Thai political, economic and social life.

Thailand's hard-won political reform now lies in tatters as the Senate is now dominated by unprincipled and ethically-challenged members.

It's time for freedom-loving individual members of the public, political action groups and civil society organisations not only to be vigilant but also to build a united front to ensure effective opposition against the insidious corruption that is undermining the country's democracy.

The Nation

The Nation

HARD TALK: 'Friend' - you've got to say it with meaning

The Nation

Published on Mar 2, 2004

Less than six months ago, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra believed he was on top of the world. The Apec summit he was hosting had his approval rating soaring in a way no political leader before him had ever seen.

His ambition to be recognised as a regional leader seemed to be within reach. Thaksin could even proudly count US President George W Bush as a friend. After all, the "major non-Nato ally" status accorded Thailand by Washington was probably the best deal Thaksin could bargain for in standing side by side with the US in its war against terrorism.

But that was October 2003, and Thaksin today might already be missing those "good old days". A succession of events, including the violence in the South, the bird flu, the iTV scandal, the humiliating loss in the Songkhla by-election, and the ongoing face-off with the Egat union, have somehow brought him back to earth.

Even his "friend" George seems to be deserting him. The damning report on the human rights situation in Thailand issued by the US State Department last week had Thaksin fuming. The Thai leader, of course, never expected his good friend in Washington to treat him this way.

Thaksin and Bush probably have different definitions of the word "friend". As a superpower, the US considers countries to be friends only when they serve its economic and political interests. And Thaksin certainly is not naive enough not to know that.

But Thaksin's outburst over the US rights report is a good indication of how he interpreted his friendship with the US. And that it was definitely not the way he thought it should be.

Thaksin apparently believed that from the day he shook hands with his friend George during the Apec summit in Bangkok, there would be only backslapping and sweet words between them. After all, didn't Thailand uphold her part of the bargain by giving Washington her wholehearted support to the war on terror?

It was certainly beyond the prime minister's comprehension why President Bush would allow such a critical report of Thailand's human rights record to come out. Apparently forgetting all the handshakes and the new-found friendship, Thaksin was swift to denounce Bush as a "useless" and "annoying" friend.

Well, it seems rather unfair for Thaksin to vent his anger on his old friend this way. The Thai prime minister probably has only himself to blame for not having made clear to Bush the meaning of "friend".

Thaksin should have told Bush that once they became friends, nothing that would stir up bad feeling should be said about each other. Even if your friend is in the wrong, you are supposed to turn a blind eye to it.

Therefore, as a friend of Thailand, Bush was not supposed to take any notice of the 2,000 cases of murder and extrajudicial killings in the name of a war on drugs - much less make a noise about it.

And if Thaksin was accused of attempting to roll back press freedom in Thailand, his friend George was supposed to be oblivious to it. He was also supposed to plead ignorance to the problem of corruption and all other forms of human rights violations in Thailand that were pointed out in the report.

After all, at least by Thaksin's definition, that's what "friends" are for. The only problem was that he somehow thought that his friend Bush shared this understanding.

The latest US State Department report on human rights practices in Thailand, therefore, came as a rude awakening for Thaksin. All of a sudden, it dawned on him that he has been wrong all along in his assumptions about friendship with Washington.

But Thaksin is not a leader who is readily apologetic about mistakes he makes. He would rather put the blame on someone else. And in this particular case, if there is to be a culprit, it has to be Bush.

Now that the American president has been relegated to the status of "useless" and "annoying" friend, it should be interesting to see how he makes it up to the Thai leader. Bush should know better than to think that one can cross paths with Thaksin and get away unscathed.

Bush mustn't forget that Thaksin is not someone who is ready to kow-tow to anyone.

Even the United Nations earned his ire for criticising his government's war on drugs.

Here is a little tip for the American leader on how he can atone for his offence. When Thaksin is unhappy with a newspaper, he would have its owner fire the editor.

Bush should know what to do with his secretary of state if he still wants Thaksin to consider him a "friend".

THEPCHAI YONG

Published on Mar 5, 2004

The Nation

Editors and reporters alike should use Reporter’s Day to consider the state of the country’s freedom of the press

March 5 is the day celebrated by journalists in this country as Reporter's Day. Traditionally, it is supposed to be a day during which journalists are allowed the luxury of taking time out to reflect on the state of their profession. There is little need for too much reflection this year. That the Thai press is in very bad shape is apparent to nearly everyone in the industry. Considering what has happened to the Thai media in the past few weeks, not to mention in the past three years under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, one can only conclude that the press has been cowed and co-opted by the powers-that-be to an unprecedented degree.

Thaksin continues to pretend that he does not know what is going on. He knows only one thing: If the economy is good, there will be enough advertising revenue circulating to keep all newspapers and media outlets alive. In a way, he is correct. But only half so.

What he has not said is that advertising, especially from state enterprises and companies affiliated with his family's Shin Corp, seems only to go to pro-government newspapers. Just flip through Thailand's dailies and it should be clear where the advertising money is going. It is also clear how dailies that enjoy extra ad revenue report each day's events.

Unfortunately, not everybody can read all of the roughly 20 dailies in the country in the interest of comparing content and editorial stance. No wonder some publishers and editors have so shamelessly become government cheerleaders.

Governments in other countries might have to control their media with an iron fist, but here it is not necessary as many media outlets seem more than willing to prostitute themselves. It is amazing that some publishers and editors would lie about the pressure and other strong-arm tactics that affect their editorial integrity. Thai journalists have repeatedly had to do their jobs in hostile environments during the more than 70 years since the country reverted from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary system. They have fought many battles against military dictators who tried to limit their freedom to monitor the government's performance. They invariably persisted and have always prevailed. When the government, no matter which one, tried to limit their freedom, they stayed united and fought back because the publishers and editors valued professional ethics above all else.

They were not politicians or businessmen, they were journalists and they all fought for press freedom. An onslaught on one paper or editor was considered an attack on all Thai media.

What is happening now is a different ball-game. Every media outlet seems to be in it for itself. Those in power are aware of this weakness and have exploited it to their advantage. The results are obvious. The Thai media community is divided.

Ad agencies have cleverly manipulated their accounts to please the government by focussing on pro-government media outlets. Obviously, the government's strategy is to polarise the media and break down their traditional camaraderie and solidarity.

In addition, Thaksin himself seeks to discredit newspapers that refuse to sell their souls. He has lashed out at dissenting media for not relying solely on information and propaganda provided by his government.

Let's not forget that it is the Thaksin administration that has lied about or unsuccessfully tried to cover up several issues, including the bird-flu epidemic. The government's way of communicating with the public is through bluff and spin. Unfortunately, many editors and journalists will likely be content to stay on the government payroll, and many members of the public will continue to be lulled into a state of ignorant complacency by the state's propaganda.

In honour of Reporter's Day, all self-respecting journalists must take stock of what is happening and think about how the erosion of the freedom of the press has affected them professionally and personally and, above all, how they can work together to restore their hard-won freedom for it is a prerequisite for any functioning democracy.

Hi

Common sense tells me not to post the editorial from the Nation today, March 2, but it makes the Post look emasculated.

Found it online at 3.00 AM while searching for the news.

Well worth a visit. Nationmultimedia.com.

Quill

I am trying to recover a disk full of documents fter a monumental stuff up in Chiang Mai by a local company, using foreign advertising and Thai staff.

Any suggestions please?

I mentioned above that the chairman has a son-in-law working for the paper.

He was the guy who would get into the computer, find out what was going in the paper the next day, and phone the editor asking for changes.

No one knows to what extent he was acting on his own or at the behest of his father-in-law. He is head of a management unit at the paper, but this would not normally justify his taking a work computer home, as he did, or the high level of access he enjoyed to the production system.

Anyway, in the aftermath of the editor losing his job a group of senior editorial people met this guy (the son-in-law) for lunch and told him his interfering in the editorial process was unacceptable. They asked him to return the computer, which he has now done.

Apparently the censorship crowd was shocked when the affair made it into the New York Times (among other overseas papers) and are feeling rather embarrassed and stupid.

----

I have thought long and hard before this. It isn't an automatic response to a new issue, it is a considered response to a long recognised issue:

Let me tidy this up for you a little. True, the board tried a few months ago to get rid of Veera. But your portrayal of him as a fearless proponent of truth and freedom of speech is way off the mark.

Veera cut copy at the behest of the chairman of the board. Normally that would have kept the chairman happy, but last week Veera became overzealous and spiked a column by a woman who regards the chairman as a personal friend. She took offence.

To the extent he was critical of the government, it was only because some copy managed to slip through without him seeing it. I can't emphasise that point enough.

He was on the phone on a nightly basis to production staff, telling them what headline to change, what copy to cut. In some cases he would take it upon himself to make these changes, without telling anyone. Guess who wrote today's front page story in which he is portrayed as a fearless defender of free speech?

The Post's coverage of the King's speech, in which the headline accused Thaksin of arrogance, upset Thaksin. But as I say, some things managed to slip through without Veera changing them.

The chairman apparently has a son-in-law who works at the Post who has highest-level access to what goes through the system. He phones Veera, who in turn phones the night staff to tell them what changes to make. The guy was a stooge, and his successor looks no better.

If Kowit had any spine, would refuse to take the job until any ''doubt'' about the Post's independence was cleared up.

(edited Feb 28)