Phuket Opinion: Protesters impose will outside political sphere

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Protesters impose will outside political sphere
Phuket Gazette -

Protesters arrived for whistleblowing, not Sek's Rock ’n Roll. Photo: Gazette Graphics

PHUKET: This year’s Red Cross Fair ended on a bitter note, with incidents of lethal violence near the fairgrounds and a political protest that prevented one of Thailand’s most famous rock stars from taking the stage

The last-minute cancellation of a scheduled performance by Sek Loso left scores of excited fans deeply disappointed, once again demonstrating that Phuket is “all in” on the disturbing trend of protesting to achieve collective socio-political and economic goals, rather than relying on the rule of law, the foundations of which crumble with each successful protest.

This year’s Red Cross Fair at Saphan Hin, by far the largest event of its kind on the island, appeared even larger than those held in previous years. We hope the organizing committee will look into all the problems that blemished this year’s edition and take steps to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Though admittedly there is little the group could have done to prevent the protesters from sacking a key act on the final Saturday night, there are several other details that once shored up would make a huge difference for everyone attending the event.

Among the growing pains noted was that the scale of the event this year apparently made it necessary to extend the booth and exhibition area out onto the main road that runs to the tip of Saphan Hin, causing one of the worst traffic and parking problems the area has seen since the Songkran Festival last year.

With thousands of families arriving to enjoy the fair, the roadside booths forced parents with young children to brave walking in the street to reach the main event area.

Perhaps the best indication that the event had grown beyond the capacity of the venue was on the final night, when the featured Thai pop band playing on the main stage with a deafeningly loud sound system competed head on with a second large stage set up about 50 meters away, hosting a transgender cabaret show.

We have no doubt that this conflict of interest, between the desire to grow and the desire to produce a quality fair, has been noted by the Red Cross Society committee members and will be taken into account during next year’s planning.

However, what is deeply concerning and remains unknown is how the protesters will continue to impose their will on their fellow islanders.

Just last month they blockaded all but one MP candidate from registering for the controversial February 2 national elections, and though this action did not seem particularly democratic, it was a political action within a political sphere. To have these protesters expand their influence to something as good-willed as the Red Cross Fair is a very different matter.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Phuket-Opinion-Protesters-impose-will-outside-political-sphere-23224.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-01-12

[waza]

On the surface this appears to be saying that Sutheps protest group deliberately targeted and disrupted a Red cross event for their own political gains and the interference caused a loss of life. However, when you read between the lines of this article you realise that, more like the result of poor planning and poor execution on the part of the organisers. With no mention of what protestors did and what they were protesting about. Overall it appears that this article is trying to divert blame from the organisers to a group who were protesting the encumbrance of one stage on the other.

Edited January 12, 2014 by waza

[Guest]

Good article from PG, once again. They have upgraded their analytical writings for some time now.

@wasa: Growth pains was mentioned directly, not between the lines. That's one part of the problem. The other part was the bullying of the angry birdbrain mob, which was there to make an disturbance. One can hardly call that a political stance.

We have seen that behavior quite a lot here in Phuket. Tuk-tuk drivers blocking roads, tourist guides attacking Russian tourist companies and later on Chinese tourist guides.

[spare5]

Silly. They should rename themselves as "Yellow Cross/Yellow Crescent".

[tingtongteesood]

Silly. They should rename themselves as "Yellow Cross/Yellow Crescent".

Where in the article did it mention 'yellow' anything ? Where in the article did it mention that they were anti government protestors ? IT BLOODY DIDN'T. Read it properly. The 'protestors' were a group of lady boys having a shop 50 metres away and they tried to drown out the red cross with their noisy show..This has absolutely nothing to do with the government protests. Badly written crap.

[cocopops]

Silly. They should rename themselves as "Yellow Cross/Yellow Crescent".

Where in the article did it mention 'yellow' anything ? Where in the article did it mention that they were anti government protestors ? IT BLOODY DIDN'T. Read it properly. The 'protestors' were a group of lady boys having a shop 50 metres away and they tried to drown out the red cross with their noisy show..This has absolutely nothing to do with the government protests. Badly written crap.

More detail here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/694513-phuket-loses-seks-appeal/

[Guest]

Now the #phuketshutdown has begun at Phuket town. With some luck, this might solve the high season traffic problems in Phuket.

http://www.thephuketnews.com/protest-begins-in-phuket-town-43977.php

[tingtongteesood]

Silly. They should rename themselves as "Yellow Cross/Yellow Crescent".

Where in the article did it mention 'yellow' anything ? Where in the article did it mention that they were anti government protestors ? IT BLOODY DIDN'T. Read it properly. The 'protestors' were a group of lady boys having a shop 50 metres away and they tried to drown out the red cross with their noisy show..This has absolutely nothing to do with the government protests. Badly written crap.

More detail here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/694513-phuket-loses-seks-appeal/

I am going to do something that many people on here should but don't.

I am sorry, I had not seen this report previous to my comment and I was ignorant to the pertinant facts. My unreserved apologies.

Thank you for enlightening me with the useful link.

I would like to add that I feel the protestors did wrong in this case. If he was doing a charitable deed for a good cause then they should have allowed that to go on unhindered despite their thoughts about the man personally. If however he started with political crap during the show they would be in their rights to heckle him off stage - this would have been better in my opinion.

It does seem odd though the other article was about protestors and this article only talked about the cabaret show. It would bve nice to have 1 good article with all the facts instead of a number of different ones that say different things. It's getting hard to keep up...

Edited January 13, 2014 by tingtongteesood