A Speech By Mp Aphisit Last Year

[DavidHouston]

Friends,

Please help me understand and articulate the meaning of this paragraph from a speech by they then member of parliament อภิสิทธิ์. His speech was given in August of last year during the premiership of Prime Minister สมัคร and is quoted in this week's Matichon Weekly as follows:

This is the full paragraph:

"วันนี้ผมต้องพูดขัดใจลูกพรรคผม และขัดใจเพื่อนสมาชิกอีกหลายคน ส.ส. มักจะไม่เสนอให้ท่านยุบสภาหรอก ผมเองแค่นึกถึงว่าเหนื่อยยากแค่ไหนเวลาหาเสียง ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก แต่ว่าการยุบสภาจะเป็นการแสดงความรับผิดชอบอย่างหนึ่ง"

In individual sentence or clauses:

วันนี้ ผมต้องพูดขัดใจลูกพรรคผม และขัดใจเพื่อนสมาชิกอีกหลายคน

Today I need to speak out and disagree with members of my [political] party and place myself at odds with my fellow members [of parliament].

ส.ส. มักจะไม่เสนอให้ท่านยุบสภาหรอก

Normally, as a member of parliament, would not recommend that he [Prime Minister Samak] dissolve parliament.

ผมเองแค่นึกถึงว่าเหนื่อยยากแค่ไหนเวลาหาเสียง

I, myself, think that no matter how difficult and tiring campaigning is, . . .

ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก

. . . [plus the fact that] I don’t want to return [to my district] for the election,

แต่ว่าการยุบสภาจะเป็นการแสดงความรับผิดชอบอย่างหนึ่ง

. . . however, dissolving parliament is one way to show [that we are] responsible [politicians].

Translated this way seems to produce unclear thoughts. Would it be more understandable if translated this way?:

"Today I need to speak out and disagree with members of my [own political] party and place myself at odds with my fellow members [of parliament]. Normally, as a member of parliament, would not recommend that he [Prime Minister Samak] dissolve [this] parliament. However, I, myself, think that no matter how difficult and tiring campaigning is plus and despite the fact that I don’t want to return [to my district] for the election, dissolving parliament is the only way to show [that we are] responsible [politicians]."

Thanks.

[kriswillems]

Hi David,

This is just my opinion, but as you know I am often wrong.

ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก

Literally: I don't want to go (back) to vote again.

I don't think this sentence refers to moving back to a district for elections, but just to going back to "elections" in general.

In others words, I think it refers to moving back to the "event" (elections) and not to the place where the event is happening (district).

แต่ว่าการยุบสภาจะเป็นการแสดงความรับผิดชอบอย่างหนึ่ง

อย่างหนึ่ง = a way, one way

I don't think this sentence talks about "the only way", but just about a possible way.

but dissolving the parliament is a way to show responsibility.

(your first translation talks about one way, the second about the only way)

Edited March 13, 2010 by kriswillems

[DavidHouston]

Hi David,

This is just my opinion, but as you know I am often wrong.

ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก

Literally: I don't want to go (back) to vote again.

I don't think this sentence refers to moving back to a district for elections, but just to going back to "elections" in general.

In others words, I think it refers to moving back to the "event" (elections) and not to the place where the event is happening (district).

แต่ว่าการยุบสภาจะเป็นการแสดงความรับผิดชอบอย่างหนึ่ง

อย่างหนึ่ง = a way, one way

I don't think this sentence talks about "the only way", but just about a possible way.

but dissolving the parliament is a way to show responsibility.

(your first translation talks about one way, the second about the only way)

Thank you, Kris.

This is a case, it seems to me, where the literal meaning might be misleading in the context of the whole. As fo the language "ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก", either interpretation fits into the whole. However, with respect to the justification for new elections, I would have thought that Aphisit would want to be emphatic about the

need to demonstrate responsibility. The separate sentences are my attempt to understand each clause; the full paragraph tries to put the clauses into context. It is this latter process which is causing me difficulty.

Again, with respect to the sentence "ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก", the pronoun ผม seems to be the subject of the entire verb phrase "ไม่อยากกลับ". If he meant "the electorate" I propose that he would have said, "ผมก็ไม่อยากให้ชาวบ้านเดือดร้อนกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก", adding "ชาวบ้าน" as the subject of a second clause. What do you think?

I appreciate your thoughts and responses.

Edited March 13, 2010 by DavidHouston

[kriswillems]

อยงางหนึ่ง means one way, but also "a way". "a way" would be a better translation. Because the first translation (one way) makes Aphisit look "indifferent", non emphatic (because he would be admitting there are many other ways).

"The only way" is too strong (I think), he didn't say "อย่างเดียว".

He said "I don't want to go back to elections". "go back" doesn't mean physically moving here, it's more like moving back in time. Like in the sentence: "I don't want to go back to my youth" (if that's English).

So the sentence doesn't refers to physically moving to a district.

The subject is Aphisit. Aphisit doesn't want to go back to election-time...

Edited March 13, 2010 by kriswillems

[aanon]

ผมเองแค่นึกถึงว่าเหนื่อยยากแค่ไหนเวลาหาเสียง ผมก็ไม่อยากกลับไปเลือกตั้งหรอก

แต่ว่าการยุบสภาจะเป็นการแสดงความรับผิดชอบอย่างหนึ่ง

Merely considering the exhausting nature of campaigning, I would of course rather not go to another election; however, dissolving parliament is one way of demonstrating responsibility.

I think the link between the first two parts here is your main source of difficulty. Hope this helps.

[DavidHouston]

Thanks to both of you.