All's well that ends well: The week that was in Thailand News - 16 April

rooster59 · April 16, 2016

All's well that ends well: The week that was in Thailand News

It was already Friday when the best quote of the week finally emerged from the Culture Ministry that all was indeed well with this year's Songkran Festival. Thank goodness for that.

Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat, followed up his statements from last month that the "pretties" at the Bangkok Motor Show would be well behaved, an event that ended up attracting local police for lewd behaviour, with this week's observation that the public:

"...generally cooperated with authorities in helping to conserve water, while inappropriate acts were reported to be significantly reduced through the related agencies' heavy campaigning."

To be fair to the honourable minister the quote was made after just one day of the Thai New Year. And he did use the qualifying word "generally". But he might have waited a few days before confidently declaring that all was hunky-dory.

Admittedly Thaivisa as much as any news organisation don't "generally" put the "joyous Songkran revellers gently splashing scented water in a spirit of friendliness and mutual happiness" kind of stories at the top of the news.

But still.....

It was hard to get away from the shootings, stabbings, riots, gropings, molestations.....oh and the matter of the alcohol fuelled road rage that left hundreds of men women and children sprawled helplessly over the nation's streets, highways and ditches.

All we are waiting for now is the statistical analysis that this was all an improvement over last year and we can return to normal life next week, that will probably be no different in all reality - though minus the waste of water.

For maybe gang violence in Kamphaeng Phet to shootings in Trang, the alleged rape in a toilet in Rayong to the Burmese man who "had no idea what it was all about" groping incident in Silom, are incidents not unusual in any week but which journalists love to spin with a sensationalist Songkran angle.

However, whether the carnage on the roads is "normal", and a study of the yearly death toll divided by 365 gives a hint that it is, there certainly is a decidedly unpleasant underbelly to the advertised happiest time of the year that Khun Vira, with his reinforced rose tinted specs, might have us believe.

Most interesting of the groping that wasn't allowed to happen came from a clip at RCA from the previous year's Songkran, posted on social media as a reminder to behave better THIS year. The hapless male groper, perhaps a year on thinking he had got away with it, was clapped in irons and fined 100,000 baht,no less, as beaming coppers looked on.

Wasting water seemed tame by comparison though perhaps the target of many revellers in clubs or on the streets was more along the lines of getting wasted.

Foreigners were not exempt from the bad behaviour, either, with a Rasta looking guy being done for being bare chested in Chiang Mai, one of many arrested for "inappropriate attire." Maybe the smile on his face was that the morality police had not found anything more incriminating rolled up in protective plastic in his pocket.

Still there was some light relief from Songkran madness though I use the term 'light' lightly. "Monk" Chao was banged up, not for having a porno mag under his bed, but for taking donations from the public on his rounds in the fake orange robes. I found it more amusing that some TV posters missed the irony of his saffron coloured Peugeot outside his lodgings!

And light perhaps for foreigners who have no understanding of Thai sensibilities when it comes to historic sites were the three westerners scaling the Ta Pae gate for selfies. Perhaps they got off lightly with just 500 baht fines.

Shocking rather than light was the 67 year old night club owner who took a taxi to a neighbouring fancy hotel and threw himself off the twelth floor into the lobby. Though we are waiting for more details, at least Songkran, surely, was not to blame for that...

Meanwhile our canine friends didn't escape the bad behaviour. A Bangkok sergeant was obliged to apologise on national TV after blasting one away with his gun. An ordinary member of the public bitten by one in the same area of police flats a few days later satisfied himself with the more sober response of a complaint to Phahonyothin police. Maybe he just wasn't armed, though that seems debatable given the prevalence of guns on display this week.....and the man making them and selling them on Facebook, no less.

Further four legged foul play involved "Whitey".

The cute mutt in Ramkhamhaeng, due to be found a new home after the holidays could also regret Songkran up in doggy heaven, as a chicken rice vendor despatched him with his carving knife in full view of CCTV.

Perhaps a reminder to do good deeds and accomplish important duties before New Year rather than wait for a future that may never come....

Or to ask my local chicken rice vendor to at least wipe his knife before cutting up my chicken, just in case he doesn't like dogs either.

Still at the risk of being labelled a ‘bah-humbug-old-farang-curmudgeon-stay-at-home' or gloating that at least I am still alive, there were some lovely scenes amid the bad.

The great majority of people did, as I am sure Khun Vira is thankful for, not only survive but had well dressed culturally sensitive fun with family and friends. I loved the clip of teenagers doing choreographed dancing by the roadside and another of five youths stopping a motorcycle each armed with huge buckets of water.....before filming themselves depositing their entire loads over their own heads!

It is that sense of humour and sanuk that makes Thailand so lovely so much of the time and was further epitomised in the true joy and respect shown as hundreds of relatives and friends in Uttaradit including the governor showed up to water the hands of the province's oldest resident, 108 year old Im.

Her glowing health and beaming smile perhaps was a throwback to the romantic days of King Chulalonkorn, Rama V, in whose glorious reign she was born.

Days when there was unlikely to have been the need of a culture minister and if one had suggested that men and women should cover up, would have been laughed out of Siam.

All's Well That Ends Well