That Was The Year That Was – the Thai Year in review - part 2

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That Was The Year That Was – the Thai Year in review - part 2

by Rooster

 

 

Big Brother is watching you but we are watching him too.

 

Few stories in the news this year did not have some reference to video surveillance of one kind or another. Whether it was the ubiquitous CCTV cameras in our Thai cities and towns – some of which actually seemed to work – or the hand held devices and dash cams we all seem to possess, crime and misdoing was recorded for all to see like never before.

 

While this was often a useful tool used by the authorities in bringing to light and often quickly solving a wide variety of crime, the cameras were often turned on corrupt police and officials themselves who were publically shamed and given nowhere to hide.

 

Police tried their best to make defamation counter claims but mostly these were little more than hot air aimed at deflecting the obvious that the public could see “before their very eyes” as magicians used to say.

 

Indeed, there was an increasing feeling that while Big Brother was looking at us, we were in turn looking at Big Brother and making him increasingly accountable.

 

And many cases both for and against the authorities would never have even come to light but for the surveillance so readily at hand.

 

In high profile cases of national importance – such as the attack on the Owen family in Hua Hin at Songkran – CCTV footage was pivotal in not only bringing the attackers to justice but in exposing the crime in the first place. The story soon reached a worldwide audience and the boot to the face suffered by Rosemary Owen made international news for days and Thai news for weeks.

 

How different it would have been if it had just been her word against the thugs. As it was the authorities were unable to keep it quiet despite the inevitable damage to tourism. From the tourism minister down they were obliged to switch to Plan B – accepting what had happened and actually doing something about it.

 

Police attempts to blame the people who had shared the damning footage in the wake of the crime were just saber-rattling. In the literally dozens of cases this year where the police claimed damage to their own image or that of the country through people posting online, there were literally no reported fines or arrests.

 

Indeed unless it can be categorically proven that posting video was malicious or misleading, it is to all intents and purposes becoming a non-crime. In this sense the loss of face of the Thai officials in going after video posters is greater than the original misdemeanor that was captured on camera.

 

Many who comment habitually on forums like Thaivisa were wont to suggest that there had been some kind of crime explosion in Thailand. For anyone who has been here five minutes and has actually followed crime and punishment in the kingdom – and Rooster has kept his eyes “pealed” for the best part of 35 years – will know the country has its fair share of crime and always has. Any image to the contrary is rose tinted twaddle.

 

But its exposure is now instant and everyone can see its consequences through media such as Facebook and the Thai news agencies who increasingly rely on it. All Thaivisa have done is up the ante in reporting this more visible crime via translations from Thai media giving the impression that crime is on the rise. That and an editorial policy to bring more Thai law-breaking into the domain of the English speaking world in general.

 

Do people really believe that criminal acts committed by the monkhood, schoolboys, stepfathers or road-ragers – to name but a few – are a modern phenomena? It would be just as absurd to suggest that police corruption and extortion has only just reared its ugly head because we can now observe it in a few clicks of a device in the comfort of our own homes.

 

Many surveys worldwide confirm the often pooh-poohed view that our societies are safer than ever. Cameras bring the crime to us as never before creating a misconception if not the mother of all urban myths about the perceived danger of the modern world. If you don’t believe me watch out for those who will disagree, almost incredulously from their standpoint, with such an assertion.

 

In terms of the Thai roads this year the footage we see on a daily basis confirms the horrendous driving habits that result in so much carnage making Thailand a ‘per capita’ number two on earth in the death toll stakes. Whether it was buses on the wrong side of the road, school vans going through intersections or motorcyclists doing the daftest of things on two wheels we all shook our heads in daily disbelief.

 

Not to mention the large number of road rage incidents caught on tape. Guns were brandished for the crimes of cutting in and even, it seemed, being beaten in a race away from the lights. Miscreants were rapidly brought to book as were those who got out of their cars to threaten others, such as celebrity Nott in the now infamous “graap my rot” case that received national attention.

 

In many cases of murder and assault the prevalence of CCTV seemed to provide the police with not only a major crime solving tool, but often their only palpable resource! Robbers who held up ATMs, revenge killings in public buildings, street attacks by rival student gangs, even attacks on street dogs and so many more were “solved” in days. There is hardly a story nowadays when CCTV is not up front and personal.

 

It seemed as though when police rolled out plans in Bangkok and the eastern seaboard to fit “cop-cams” on helmets it all was rather unnecessary. Initially skeptical suggestions that the police could decide arbitrarily when to have the cams turned on became rather a moot point – the public were probably already filming themselves anyway!

 

Officers accepting petty roadside bribes – an absolute way of life for anyone who has a key to a motor vehicle – became national name and shame news.

 

While it was true that CCTV was often conveniently “not working”, especially in some schools at the center of assault allegations, and famously in the high profile case of the Phuket land official who died in police custody, there seemed to be more than enough cameras where the evidence gathered was more than enough to secure a conviction…or at least an apology.

 

Some even took the fight to the streets with individuals like the northern Thai man who has campaigned about the illegality of certain road checkpoints that are touted as a tool in the fight against drug crime in particular but are often little more than opportunities to fleece the public for driving on the left, right or middle of the road as the whim suits.

 

Armed with cameras – and using such functions as Facebook’s “live” facility – netizens (a word we have been treated to continually on Thaivisa) have been able to take the law into their own mobile holding hands.

 

With the Thai population featured in various surveys as some of the most connected of societies on earth the speed with which CCTV footage and mobile phone video is disseminated increases.

 

To the point now where George Orwell’s “1984” warning, painting a disturbing image of the face watching us in an imagined future, is now looking like a decidedly two way street.

 

Rooster

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-12-23