Insulting Stunt Doesn't Help With Reconciliation: Thai Opinion

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Insulting stunt doesn't help with reconciliation

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Provoking his opponents by singing a lewd song was an ill-advised move on the part of Thaksin Shinawatra when the country needs cool heads on both sides of the political divide

Thaksin Shinawatra is known as a man who likes to contradict himself. Therefore, it was not so surprising that, in Cambodia last weekend, he mocked his own reconciliation plea with an adapted Beatles song that his rivals, critics or detractors found hard to watch all the way through. "Let It Be" was sung in Thai as "Chang Mae Man" ("Screw it, I don't give a damn", or "screw their mothers, I don't give a damn what their mothers do").

He might have done it on the spur of the moment, with prompting from key red-shirt leaders, but he should have known better. At the very least, the big-hit video clip of his singing is not going to get him sympathy from the other side of the Thai political divide.

Thaksin may be trying to portray himself as a changed man who is renouncing vengeance for national reconciliation's sake. All we have seen, however, is a character switch back and forth constantly. He is subdued one minute, only to become provocative the next. This hot-and-cold attitude would not have been such a big deal five or six years ago, when information did not spread as fast as it does now. He does not seem to realise that the best way to help Thailand's rocky reconciliation process is for him to stay humbly on the sidelines.

The country's toughest choice now involves him and his wish to come home. It's already hard enough without him singing "Screw their mothers" for millions of Thais to watch. He was having fun - albeit emotionally-driven fun - singing this in Cambodia, but if he had only known the reaction of those who are not his supporters. Thaksin is not helping anybody or even himself.

Even a newspaper that is normally seen as sympathetic toward Thaksin has cautioned that to link "reconciliation" with his return could be dangerous. This underlines the main dilemma in the country's effort to get over the political crisis that has gone on for over five years now. One camp seems to identify Thaksin's return as a key condition for peace, while the other side sees his possible comeback as a trigger for new political unrest.

It is difficult to find common ground in this kind of divide. Yet a sincere, non-provocative, low-lying Thaksin would help the situation. Problem is, Thaksin apparently believes that humility means accepting guilt, so he needs to promote the "injustice" that he has suffered.

The Songkran reunions with his Thai red-shirt supporters in Laos and Cambodia were caused partly by homesickness and partly by an insatiable urge to advertise what he thinks is his undeserved plight. Whatever else happened over the border, the events culminated in his singing of "Screw their mothers", which has now overshadowed his previous calls for reconciliation.

One doesn't need to be a political guru to know whether an amnesty bill will go well with the song he has sung. "Dislikes" on YouTube far outnumbered "Likes". Most of the online comments have been offensive, but a common theme, reiterated in varying degrees of anger or disappointment, is that this Thaksin show came at a bad time and will not do the reconciliation process in Thailand any good at all.

Songkran is supposed to be a period of fun, happiness and forgiveness. One can get carried away when drunk. One can succumb to urges to sing an adapted song before hardcore political supporters. But the fact is that Thaksin should have let his supporters do the nasty job of taunting his political enemies. He's not supposed to be doing what he did on that stage in Cambodia.

Let's be fair and not proclaim Thaksin's version of "Let It Be" a huge blow to the reconciliation attempt in Thailand. Still, the attitude or mentality that led him to sing it should change as a quid pro quo. Of course, political peace is not up to Thaksin alone, but he can either help or he can rock the boat.

-- The Nation 2012-04-20

[Buchholz]

Title: Screw Their Mothers, I Don't Give A Dam_n What Their Mothers Do

Album: To Hell With Thailand

Artist: Thaksin and the Red Shirt Mobsters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsSd22t0NHY

,

Edited April 20, 2012 by Buchholz

[Somtamnication]

Wife got angry when I showed off my new Thai word of the day.

[Ricardo]

This is clearly a class-act, does anyone know, can it be booked for weddings or barmitzvahs ?

[Payboy]

Dim the lights.......Thailand has voted.......

[Ricardo]

Title: Screw Their Mothers, I Don't Give A Dam_n What Their Mothers Do

Album: To Hell With Thailand

Artist: Thaksin and the Red Shirt Mobsters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsSd22t0NHY

,

Nice photo, what other songs are on the album, perhaps a caption-competition might be amusing ?

- "They Did It My Way" for example ?

[h90]

Title: Screw Their Mothers, I Don't Give A Dam_n What Their Mothers Do

Album: To Hell With Thailand

Artist: Thaksin and the Red Shirt Mobsters

,

I really respect his work as comedian. My wife was speechless with open mouth when she saw that movie.....

I never saw her that way....

Great artwork...

[h90]

"Reconciliation"

I don't know why the Nation is so obsessed with that word.

PTP doesn't want reconciliation

Thaksin does not want it

the Democrats don't want it

the yellow shirts don't want it

the red shirts don't want it

[heiwa]

Obviously its better to burn out than fade away. The Taksin show should have ended long ago.

[Microwave]

I find it ironic that Thaksin chose Let It Be as the melody for his song. The English language lyrics to this song are about inner peace being found through religion, at least that's what I interpret the song to mean. Quite the opposite of the controversial lyrics which Thaksin sang in Thai.

[geriatrickid]

I find it ironic that Thaksin chose Let It Be as the melody for his song. The English language lyrics to this song are about inner peace being found through religion, at least that's what I interpret the song to mean. Quite the opposite of the controversial lyrics which Thaksin sang in Thai.

And one can interpret the lyrics to mean exactly was was sweetly warbled: To let it be and to move on. Those who don't want peace can go screw themselves as they aren't worth the time. It's actually a positive message: Life is too short to waste it on whiners and malcontents.

[siampolee]

This is clearly a class-act

Ricardo, my apologies for pointing out a presumed error in your post # 4.

However I do wonder if you actually inserted the phonic blend '' cl '' in error when writing the word class.

[maidu]

"Reconciliation"

I don't know why the Nation is so obsessed with that word.

PTP doesn't want reconciliation

Thaksin does not want it

the Democrats don't want it

the yellow shirts don't want it

the red shirts don't want it

I agree with most of what you wrote. However, PT and Thaksin keep pretending reconciliation is needed (it isn't) because it's part of their ploy to get the great tax evader back. If PT wasn't focusing all their calories on that false campaign, they might have to do what the Thai people elected them to do: Assist the Thai people, YIKES!

Title: Screw Their Mothers, I Don't Give A Dam_n What Their Mothers Do

Album: To Hell With Thailand

Artist: Thaksin and the Red Shirt Mobsters

Nice photo, what other songs are on the album, perhaps a caption-competition might be amusing ?

- "They Did It My Way" for example ?

Some more tunes on Thaksin's Greatest Hits album.....

I Fought The Law and The Law Lost

It's My Party And I Give Thailand The Finger If I Want To

All Day And All Of The Night (I'll whine and wimper and seek revenge)

Please, Please, Please (give me back my confiscated money. It was an honest mistake, I was going to pay taxes on the Temasak sale and all the back-handed stock transfers)

Onward Thaksin Soldiers

Sticky Fingers (eating jelly donuts while counting money)

I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent (yes, that song by Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, dates me)

Let's Spend The Night Together (now I want to screw you more than ever)

Sixteen Tons (stacking young Muslim men like firewood logs, in the back of idling Army trucks)

Mama Tried (I spent zero days in prison, doing life without parole....)

and his new release (not nocturnal release):

Eat My Jelly Roll * * * * * (Some of the lyrics): Bundles of money in a Jelly Roll Donut Box - Gets Sticky. It's hard to eat donuts with paper money sticking to them. Plus it's hard to count money with jelly dripping all over it. (sorry, I never was much good at rhyming)

Edited April 20, 2012 by maidu

[Thaddeus]

Thaksin Shinawatra is known as a man who likes to contradict himself.

Oh no he isn't.

[whybother]

Fair enough - you yellows - you really resort to gutter replies. Very childish. A childish reply lowers your cause. Please grow up. Childish replies is a sign of a very inferior brain. The posts on this board mirror the real red and yellow feud - Very few men grow up. Please write meaningful replies as to why yellow is better than red and stop wasting everybodys time with childish replies.

Who's saying that yellows are better than red? Get rid of both of them.

[Mosha]

Wife got angry when I showed off my new Thai word of the day.

I've shown the video to mine. I should have had my camera ready. She is pissed

[heiwa]

Fair enough - you yellows - you really resort to gutter replies. Very childish. A childish reply lowers your cause. Please grow up. Childish replies is a sign of a very inferior brain. The posts on this board mirror the real red and yellow feud - Very few men grow up. Please write meaningful replies as to why yellow is better than red and stop wasting everybodys time with childish replies.

Who's saying that yellows are better than red? Get rid of both of them.

Yep, this board clearly shows army governance is the only answer. Democracy is for Burma -not Thailand. Yellow and Red are just both too childish. Just wait to the yellows get out on the streets and bombs and hand grenades start going of in Bangkok again. History will repeat and show army rule is the only answer. The BTS closed recently. My guess would be... Edited April 20, 2012 by heiwa

[dru2]

Geriatric Kid

Never mind your pro-Red pro-Thaksin politics. I disagree with them but I had assumed - still assume - that you are a Thai-speaking, long term resident. You must surely realise, then, that this isn't just a harmless 'piece of fun', but the sort of deep, gutter insult that gets you shot, just like that, in this Land of Smiles.

Edited April 20, 2012 by dru2

[Valentine]

Fair enough - you yellows - you really resort to gutter replies. Very childish. A childish reply lowers your cause. Please grow up. Childish replies is a sign of a very inferior brain. The posts on this board mirror the real red and yellow feud - Very few men grow up. Please write meaningful replies as to why yellow is better than red and stop wasting everybodys time with childish replies.

Who's saying that yellows are better than red? Get rid of both of them.

This thread is not about whether red is better than yellow or vice versa but about the childish & insulting rendition of a fabulous Beatles song. I assume it was broadcast on red shirt TV & so wonder what the reaction was from those upcountry.

[soundman]

Inflammatory post and quoted replies removed from view.

[maidu]

I just watched the video. Who's the handsome tall guy on T's right (to his left while watching the video)? He gives a giant smirk each time every time T says 'Chang Mae Man' Granted, all the ass kissers do that in the video, but he's got to take the prize for consistancy and enthusiasm.

There, in plain view, are the brown nosers who are waving the false banner of 'reconciliation' while hoping Thailand will crumble enough for T to return. Thais don't need reconciliation. Thais get along well enough with each other. It's just some ever smirking ding dongs dangling at the fringes who are trying to create trouble. Are regular Thais strong enough to deal with some adversity without freaking out? I think so, though maybe it's wishful thinking. Time will tell.

[Buchholz]

I just watched the video. Who's the handsome tall guy on T's right (to his left while watching the video)? He gives a giant smirk each time every time T says 'Chang Mae Man' Granted, all the ass kissers do that in the video, but he's got to take the prize for consistancy and enthusiasm.

There, in plain view, are the brown nosers who are waving the false banner of 'reconciliation' while hoping Thailand will crumble enough for T to return. Thais don't need reconciliation. Thais get along well enough with each other. It's just some ever smirking ding dongs dangling at the fringes who are trying to create trouble. Are regular Thais strong enough to deal with some adversity without freaking out? I think so, though maybe it's wishful thinking. Time will tell.

He's Pheu Thai Party MP / Red Shirt Leader out-on-bail Korkaew Pikulthong. It seems that since his time in prison leg irons last year that his hair has greyed up a bit... or maybe he just stopped dying the color

.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Buchholz

[hellodolly]

I find it ironic that Thaksin chose Let It Be as the melody for his song. The English language lyrics to this song are about inner peace being found through religion, at least that's what I interpret the song to mean. Quite the opposite of the controversial lyrics which Thaksin sang in Thai.

And one can interpret the lyrics to mean exactly was was sweetly warbled: To let it be and to move on. Those who don't want peace can go screw themselves as they aren't worth the time. It's actually a positive message: Life is too short to waste it on whiners and malcontents.

So you devote your life to one,

[kurnell]

Reminds me of the old TV shows I watched as a kid with chimpanzees as the stars with English voice overs

[h90]

I find it ironic that Thaksin chose Let It Be as the melody for his song. The English language lyrics to this song are about inner peace being found through religion, at least that's what I interpret the song to mean. Quite the opposite of the controversial lyrics which Thaksin sang in Thai.

And one can interpret the lyrics to mean exactly was was sweetly warbled: To let it be and to move on. Those who don't want peace can go screw themselves as they aren't worth the time. It's actually a positive message: Life is too short to waste it on whiners and malcontents.

So you devote your life to one,

I think it must be very hard to defend Thaksin and the Reds day by day. Writing something complete ridiculous, knowing that it is ridiculous, getting the backfeeding that it is ridiculous but still doing it.......Again here geriatrickid can spin the story so that at the end the Democrats are wrong. They did wrong whining and the dearest leader just sing a song about it.....

Geriatrickid: Do you really believe what your write?

[phiphidon]

Title: Screw Their Mothers, I Don't Give A Dam_n What Their Mothers Do

Album: To Hell With Thailand

Artist: Thaksin and the Red Shirt Mobsters

snip video, just a waste of bandwidth to be repeated ad nauseam

,

Nice photo, what other songs are on the album, perhaps a caption-competition might be amusing ?

- "They Did It My Way" for example ?

Probably not, it will just mean pages of the usual suspects trying to outdo each other with meaningless diatribe, which, while it may be good for the TV hit meter, lends nothing to quality debate on this forum, and thats what we want, isn't it Buchholz?

Edited April 20, 2012 by phiphidon

[WhizBang]

And one can interpret the lyrics to mean exactly was was sweetly warbled: To let it be and to move on. Those who don't want peace can go screw themselves as they aren't worth the time. It's actually a positive message: Life is too short to waste it on whiners and malcontents.

Wow. That is an absolutely unbelievable stance. But then, nothing that the pro Thaksin, pro Red crowd do or say surprises me anymore.

However, to call Thaksin's antics a positive message is going too far.

Edited April 20, 2012 by WhizBang

[Thaddeus]

Reminds me of the old TV shows I watched as a kid with chimpanzees as the stars with English voice overs

Animal Magic?

[ratcatcher]

I was surprised how poor Thaksin's singing ability really is. I should have thought that all those late night sessions with Lydia would have improved his vocals.

On a slightly more serious note, he might have fared better singing that great Stones hit "I can't get no satisfackshun".

With his stylish shades, there may be a future for him in Las Vegas doing Elvis

[Thaddeus]

Any bets on how long it takes Noppadom or Amsterdam to come out with a "it didn't mean that" statement.