STOPPAGE TIME

Thanks for the ride, but now I'll go my own way

Tulsathit Taptim

Thaksin Shinawatra wants peace, seemingly at least.

BANGKOK: -- Well, there's nothing new there. He also has proclaimed his undying love for the monarchy. That's not news, either. What about his burning desire to return home? It's probably the oldest piece of information.

So, what made his latest phone-in to the red shirts so special then? Of course, he talked at length, but he had done it before a few times, when the connections were good. That the Democrat Party took his speech and turned it into self-serving babbling, and that Noppadol Pattama has had to clean up after his boss are anything but a surprise. Most elements of Thaksin's red-shirt address on Saturday are kind of "been there, done that".

What raised eyebrows was his suggestion on who stands between Thailand and reconciliation, or between him and the road home. He was expressing deep gratitude to the red shirts, all right, but the way he did it also looked like a sad farewell. If you did not hear it, imagine the romantic "thank you" in the movie when the hero and heroine are about to break up.

"We have come as far as we possibly could together" was the apparent message. Unless you can come up with another interpretation for "You are the boatman who has taken me to the shore. It will be a new journey for me from now on, and you can't simply carry me and your boat up the mountain", that is.

The Democrats were quick to say to the red shirts, "We told you so". Noppadol was quick to call that an old, dirty trick to pit Thaksin against his own supporters. ASTV website was quick to ask why Thaksin never talked reconciliation when troops were getting restless, red shirts belligerent and Ratchaprasong mall-owners were becoming nervous about possible arson. Giles Ungphakorn was quick to brand Thaksin an egomaniac.

Are the red shirts, or the extremists in their ranks to be exact, becoming the liability obstructing Thaksin's attempt to get amnesty and return home a free man? This ASTV question may irk many people in the multi-layered movement, but the long faces among red-shirt leaders listening to the phone-in were a tell-tale sign that ASTV was not the only one doing the irking.

The red shirts have landed Thaksin on the shore. After an uprising in 2010, they gave his party a landslide election victory last year and installed his youngest sister as Thailand's first female prime minister. The journey from the beach head to the mountain does not require tens of thousands of protesters camped in a business district or relentless social media demonisation of the "elite".

In fact, the journey up the mountain requires the exact opposite. If Thai politics remains volatile, any amnesty formula that Thaksin could benefit from will be labelled hypocritically detrimental to the government's proclaimed reconciliation agenda. Thaksin must have realised that his amnesty plan and real peace must go hand in hand. While he may have been wrong about many things, he is right about that.

As far as Thaksin is concerned, though, it's no longer a question of right or wrong. It's now a question whether his U-turn has come too late. When so many people have been killed, buildings burnt and prejudice against "the other side" runs stronger and stronger and deeper and deeper, he can't simply tell his supporters to just drop it. And this is only half of the problem.

In his strongly-worded statement, Giles insisted that Thaksin is not democracy; in other words, not something the majority of Thai people have been fighting for. That is what many on the other side have been trying to say, but coming from him it may carry more weight. What is democracy? What constitutes justice? Giles is bringing out this subtext to the Thai political crisis loud and clear.

It has been a weird mix from the start - one of Thailand's richest men declaring himself a champion of the poor, and a politician who flouted democracy in many ways becoming a symbol of the clamour for greater political freedom. He moulded the red shirts, and they in return moulded him, and thanks to some common interests, they blended and became a logic-defying political phenomenon.

Now, Thaksin wants out of this marriage. The logic he uses may be the most mind-boggling of all. I want to repay you, he told the red shirts on Saturday, but I can't do that by being so far away. Only when Thailand has real peace can I return home, and only then shall you receive my full gratitude. For the country to achieve reconciliation, we need your help. Please help me so I can help you.

No, these are not the words of a selfish man, Noppadol insisted. Of course, they are, the Democrats maintained. Of course, he is egoistic, Giles said, in unthinkable agreement with the Democrats. If Thaksin on the war path is controversial, him seeking peace is apparently a lot more so.

-- The Nation 2012-05-23

The age-old problem - what to with the useful idiots when they are no longer useful?

I suppose educating them is out of question.

Maybe the red shirts finally realise that after the sex with Thaksin and clan the truth is he's still married to himself and in his eyes all it was was another shag while the red shirts made the dinner and washed the dishes.

Used? Certainly.

Abused? Too dam_n right!

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Great article, very informative.

Hitler did the same to the brown shirts. Just saying

Great article, very informative.

Hitler did the same to the brown shirts. Just saying

Fault!!!

You are not supposed to learn from history.

Rest In Peace.

but then we'll have nothing to talk about.

Great article, very informative.

Hitler did the same to the brown shirts. Just saying

Who cares about the color if the skin aeeh shirts?.........

"It has been a weird mix from the start - one of Thailand's richest men declaring himself a champion of the poor, and a politician who flouted democracy in many ways becoming a symbol of the clamour for greater political freedom.".

As was rightly point out - he has driven the red shirts into a frenzy and now he has to somehow shut them down, otherwise they will become a thorn in his side too.

It was insanity to enlist the great unwashed and let them run amok - with no control - its like feeding a kid a bottle of nam daeng, and then wondering why its almost impossible to bring him under control again - when you bring out the crazies, they tend to overrun the place and getting them to simply settle back into village life and go back whence they came is going to be near impossible.

The counter theory is that with Thaksin no longer financing and/or paying attendance money, they will have to do it themselves. And, when asked to open the wallet to achieve their political ideals, they will find something more interesting to do.

As was rightly point out - he has driven the red shirts into a frenzy and now he has to somehow shut them down, otherwise they will become a thorn in his side too.

It was insanity to enlist the great unwashed and let them run amok - with no control - its like feeding a kid a bottle of nam daeng, and then wondering why its almost impossible to bring him under control again - when you bring out the crazies, they tend to overrun the place and getting them to simply settle back into village life and go back whence they came is going to be near impossible.

I've spent a lot of time up in "Isaan" and I can't praise it enough.

The atmosphere of the moo baan is one of people whose families have lived there a long time and they know and respect each other.

The life of a Thai rice farmer (ditto tapioca, sugar cane etc.) is hard - and they tend to just about get by. They will grow a few fruit and veggies, keep a few chickens and here's the big thng - they help each other out.

Generally they shower twice a day and keep their clothes clean. I remember having a favourite old shirt that had a small hole in it and was scolded for not throwing it!

Pretty much they get on with their lives without politics getting in the way.

The problem is that these areas afford very little in the way of oportunity for the kids and youths. The farming middle-men make the real money.

Do these people need a voice in parliament? For sure they do. They depend more on good policies than the middle class and up.

Is Thaksin or hss family that voice? NEVER!!!

Are the Red Shirt leaders as we know them today that voice? NEVER

The reds need a real hero - or a number of them - that can make the policies and investment required to bring the working class up a few notches where they can afford land, property, transport education.

Calling these people the "great unwashed" or "crazies" is just complete ignorance. They jumped on the wrong bandwagon - but it was the only one in town. How the grass roots progress from now onward will define politics in Thailand for the next generation.

As was rightly point out - he has driven the red shirts into a frenzy and now he has to somehow shut them down, otherwise they will become a thorn in his side too.

It was insanity to enlist the great unwashed and let them run amok - with no control - its like feeding a kid a bottle of nam daeng, and then wondering why its almost impossible to bring him under control again - when you bring out the crazies, they tend to overrun the place and getting them to simply settle back into village life and go back whence they came is going to be near impossible.

I've spent a lot of time up in "Isaan" and I can't praise it enough.

The atmosphere of the moo baan is one of people whose families have lived there a long time and they know and respect each other.

The life of a Thai rice farmer (ditto tapioca, sugar cane etc.) is hard - and they tend to just about get by. They will grow a few fruit and veggies, keep a few chickens and here's the big thng - they help each other out.

Generally they shower twice a day and keep their clothes clean. I remember having a favourite old shirt that had a small hole in it and was scolded for not throwing it!

Pretty much they get on with their lives without politics getting in the way.

The problem is that these areas afford very little in the way of oportunity for the kids and youths. The farming middle-men make the real money.

Do these people need a voice in parliament? For sure they do. They depend more on good policies than the middle class and up.

Is Thaksin or hss family that voice? NEVER!!!

Are the Red Shirt leaders as we know them today that voice? NEVER

The reds need a real hero - or a number of them - that can make the policies and investment required to bring the working class up a few notches where they can afford land, property, transport education.

Calling these people the "great unwashed" or "crazies" is just complete ignorance. They jumped on the wrong bandwagon - but it was the only one in town. How the grass roots progress from now onward will define politics in Thailand for the next generation.

You make an excellent case.

I am sure most of the so called anti Thaksin members on this forum have sympathy for the people that have been labelled "grass roots" .

Thaksin as a cunning politician realized the power of their numbers and has used, and continues to use, it as his means to increase his wealth and power.

What the underprivileged, poor and " grass roots people of Thailand need is a true moral leader who really understands their needs and grievances and most of all is not CORRUPT. That's a huge request since most of the so-called red shirt leaders have been corrupted and it's all about good old money.

Thaksin cleverly bought the loyalty of the masses for his own gains. Slowly the masses are beginning to realize that the man in Dubai is not all that he makes out he is. Basically he's a very clever con man who talks a good line and plays the martyr to the cameras. He is also one of the most overweening people Thailand has produced.

Here's a cut from Wiki about an event in England over 600 years ago:

The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the best-documented popular rebellion to have occurred during medieval times. The names of some of its leaders, John Ball, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar in popular culture, although little is known of them.

The revolt later came to be seen as a mark of the beginning of the end of serfdom in medieval England, although the revolt itself was a failure. It increased awareness in the upper classes of the need for the reform of feudalism in England and the appalling misery felt by the lower classes as a result of their enforced near-slavery.

I know that the people of Isaan and the other poorer areas of Thailand are not living in " enforced near-slavery", but what they do need is a Wat Tyler type to lead them and not a billionaire capitalist criminal like Thaksin or his ilk

They are in my opinion slaves of a kind to the middle men (millers and merchants) to whom they sell their rice and other crops. They have been promised the earth and now patiently wait and wait and wait for its delivery..