"As father fades, his children fight"

Is the title of an article published in The Economist on the 18th of march this year.
This article was never published in Thailand and as such doesn't excist here... simple because that issue wasn't distributed here in Thailand... to prevent being banned/censured.

Even mentioning it here, while still in Thailand, makes it uncertain for me if it can remain here or will be totally blocked by Thai internetfilters.
As a politically very aware person like me, thats something which I experienced for the last time when with Jules Maaten, Maarten van Poelgeest and others at the World Youth Conference in Moscow in 1985, which, by the way confirmed my choice for the dutch liberals. But same time a very unpleasant experience to be censured, your words being taken out of contest by the local english newspaper/website, etc. simply because they support the other collor here, yellow.
Well, am Orange, allways have been, and very lucky same time it is also a mix of red and yellow... but thats a distinction they have a hard time following here ;-)

Because I refered the previous article, I thought it good if you also read this much earlier published article in The Economist.

Enjoy, Enlighten!!

PS You have to search for the article yourself, I can not get the link mentioned in my entry here, its simply filtered out, so have to still wait with that till I am back in Holland, sad but true!! rjv

Wise words on present day problems of Thailand, worth reading!! From Bangkok Post!

No need to add much because it sums up in a very good and blanced way what I have been talking and writing about myself these last weeks, here and on the Phukett Gazett forum.... my words being based on what I saw myself, heard thei talk about and explain to me, as well as I heard from the experiences of families in Kiks hometown and from his own family and himself.
Recognising them in the words of Dr. Pavia, fellow of the Institue of Southeast Asian Studies, made me decide to share them with you... specially because, ofcourse, he says it sooo much better then I could have, with more fact and less gut feeling then my own words sofar ;-)

Opinion » Opinion
SOCIETY

From the chaos may emerge a new Thai identity
Published: 19/04/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The fatal face-off between the red shirts and security forces in which at least 24 people were killed and more than 800 injured is the latest evidence that Thailand's "glory" days have come to an end. The position of power, long dominated by the Bangkok elite, is on the verge of collapsing.

The bloodbath on the Bangkok streets conveyed a firm message to the established institutions that their days of monopolising state power are over. Some local media are reluctant to use the term "civil war" to describe the ongoing brutal confrontations. Whatever one wants to call it, the conflict, with its deep roots in ideological polarisation, is on its way to generating political changes.

Already the violence that has erupted in the course of countless political battles has redefined the essence of the Thai nation. State-crafted national identity is under threat. Apparently, many Thais are in the process of finding a new meaning to being Thai.

Traditionally, Thailand has been a country proud of its perfection. It is the only country in Southeast Asia that successfully escaped colonialism, it is often claimed. The success, as past Thai leaders saw it, was made possible because of the trait of unity imbued in every Thai. This attribute also made some people feel that Thailand is supposedly more superior to its neighbours. This is how many Thai people perceived themselves. It is this same perception exploited by the state as it tried to construct a national identity.

In many ways, Thailand did have "glory" days. Over the past few decades, Thailand, despite being ruled by numerous despotic regimes, has enjoyed a certain level of political stability. The Thai two-faced strategy, being rebranded more appealingly as a shrewd bending-with-the-wind diplomacy, allowed the country to survive various kinds of threat. Political stability was buttressed by long years of impressive economic growth. There is no doubt Thailand is far ahead of its once war-torn neighbours.

It was the period when the political elite began to re-engineer Thailand's national identity, not only as part of identifying the Thai "self" in the face of supposedly inferior neighbours, but also strengthening the regime of the day by setting certain social rules in order to demand social obedience. Thailand became the "Land of Smiles" because Thais were seemingly happy under the benevolence of the elite in Bangkok. The Thai character, as echoed in the Thai national anthem, was strenuously promoted. "Thailand unites the flesh and blood of Thais. This is the nation that belongs to Thais in all respects ...The Thais are peace-loving", so goes the lyrics of the national anthem.

Beneath the Thai smiles, however, political domination in the hands of the Bangkok elite continued. Poor villagers in far-flung regions were told to remain subservient even when they were left in poverty and politically crippled. For many of them, being Thai was to be politically submissive. The leaders in Bangkok made decisions. The perceived uneducated khon ban nok (upcountry residents) followed them. The elite called this a "social contract". All Thais seemed to live happily in unison. Cashing in on this deceitful image, Thailand even declared to the world that they were welcome to come to "Amazing Thailand".

Throughout the Thaksin Shinawatra period, however, the billionaire prime minister shifted the political consensus. He did this with a series of populist programmes, such as cheap universal health care and ample village development funds. In a sense, he managed to put a genuine smile on people's faces, especially those in the North and Northeast regions. During his six-year administration, not only did they taste a more comfortable life, but they were also offered a chance to elect their favourite leader in a ballot box. Suddenly, their political voice became meaningful.

But their smiles seriously threatened the power interests of the Bangkok elite. Three years after the military coup, the Bangkok elite is fighting back against the khon ban nok who are now labelled as simply unintelligent and easily manipulated. The bloody confrontations during the previous weekend revealed that these villagers, in red T-shirts, are no longer subservient. They are seeking to reinvent a national identity of their own. They are eager to reject the top-down process of identity making, while campaigning for a bottom-up way of how Thais should express their nationhood.

The message of the rural residents is clear: a new Thailand with a new identity which is no longer submissive but one in which the Thais know their rights. The relentless demonstrations confirm the emergence of such a new identity which fiercely contests the traditional one created by Bangkok leaders. Occasionally, this new identity allows Thais to behave unconventionally, as seen in the Bangkok riot of April 2009 and the incident last weekend. It also reveals the unattractive truth behind certain Thai images. That is, the Thai nation no longer unites Thai blood and flesh, that this society is not homogeneous but comprises many different races, and that the people profess different political ideologies. They do not need to pretend to be same.

Thailand is now entering a new political landscape. Recent developments strongly suggest the anti-government forces are yearning to rebuild Thai society and make it more equal. While it will be impossible to remove class divisions, they just hope that the rapidly expanding membership of the "underclass" will be able to access politics without state obstruction.

How will this shape the future of Thailand? The state will have to come to terms with the shift in the people's perception of their identity. They will demand their rights and will protest more. The state will be assigned a new responsibility to ensure that their rights are protected, that their welfare is to be improved and that emerging human rights organisations be strengthened.

Thailand has long lived in a fairy tale world in which the supposed ideal of perfection effectively eclipsed the huge differences and fragmentations in society. The deadly conflict between the red shirts and the state authorities may demonstrate the ugliness of the real Thailand. But it also exposes its other side - the side that values the people's love of democracy and a more equal and just society.

Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a Fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

About the author


Writer: Pavin Chachavalpongpun
Position: Reporter

Goodbye Welcome Back in one day OR how the ashes of my plans were scattered all over...

Left: With relative optimism saying goodbye to Phuket... Phuket Iland from the air while taking off from Phuket Internatinal Airport last evening!

While taking off from Phuket last evening, I was contemplating my chances of actually making it to Amsterdam on Tuesday. I thought, expected that when they succeeded to open up the airports again that then I would have a very god chance getting back to Amsterdam on time, because I had a connfirmed seat on the tuesdaymorning flight from Istanbul to Amsterdam. My sincere strong hope was that I would just squeeze trough all this ash disaster striking out all over Europe and the rest of our planet.
Also knowing that if I would not be able to take my flight it might be a pretty long time before getting another chance!

Arriving in Bangkok, after witnessing a beautifull sunset over Thailand, also from the plane, I arrived at Suveranubumi Airport Bangkok...........First I had to collect my luggage, because at Phuket Airport they had refused to book all my luggage straight trough to Istanbul/Amsterdam.. had to check-in again in Bangkok, they told me, because no lugage was labelled trough to anywhere within the no fly zone above Europe.
Arriving with Thai Airways at Suveranubumi I first had to walk to totally the other side of the departure hall... Turkish Airlines is located totally oposite Thai Airways, max distance, haha... and that means quite a walk.
A very charming lady at the check-in desk of Turkish Airlines, was totally happy by letting me take the flight to Istanbul BUT she said, after that I had to wait.... and the situation wasn't that good right now to get stuck in Istanbul. She told me I would be far better of to wait here in Bangkok, THailand for when flights would get restored to Holland, then when I would do so in Istanbul, far beter off she said.
BUT my visa was running out last night and according to Thai law I had to leave Thailand that night. When telling her that, she went to confer with her supervisor, who then came back and told me that Thai Immigration waved all visa limitations for passengers who were booked on flights to Europe till the end of the month... so I would be totally safe if I would remain here in Thailand instead of finding myself in a possible very big mess in Istanbul. O, and Turkish Airlines wanted me to sign a waver of responsibility by the airline if I got stuck in Istanbul unable to get the connecting flight to Amsterdam.. hehe... makes decision-making even more easy huh? ;-)
With such stern advice of Turkish Airlines themselfs, I finally decided not to take the flight and wait here..... after thanking her I turned around and with the whole pile of luggage in front of me walked the whole hall back again to Thai Airways and get myself asap on the first flight back to Phuket............. all in all, arrived back home in Patong around 1 am, deadtired BUT received by a very happy Kik, and Gong, the housekeeper, that I made this wise decision.

The next morning, following the travelnews from Europe, I was more or less relieved that I had taken the right decision to cancel because flight in to Amsterdam were not yet restored and as such I would indeed have been stuck in Istanbul with no reasonable chance to get back to Amsterdam.

When contacting Turkish Airlines Bangkok, they told me in the most friendly way that I could not expect to fly back to Holland before the end of the month, and that they hoped early May would see me returned back to Holland...EARLY MAY??
wowwww,
pffff that would create a small mess, allmost or as much as when I had to suddenly rush from Holland to Thailand last november!

Have one possible 'trick' upon my sleeve though: use my Chine Airlines return ticket to Amsterdam on the 25th.. if they kept me booked on that flight that is ... have to wait and see... I try to get hold of China Airlines office in Amsterdam, but they seem pretty busy haha... so that might take a while.
I asked Turkish Airlines about validity of my ticket with them, and they told me I had a full year to use it BUT had to start using it leaving from Bangkok, so I could not turn the use of the ticket around.... hehe, ofocurse not.... tickets from here with certain airtlines are more cheap then from Europe.
Well, now it is wait and see when having been able to get hold of China Airlines if the 25th of April can gets back on the table as serious option or that I have to skip that one as well ;-)

Below: More sunsets over Thailand to follow while being 'stuck' here on Phuket, it could have been worse ;-)

Iceland derails Europe again by scattering her ashes all over ....

Above: Vulcanic ash being launched in the air, on their way to cause great consternation all over Europe by giving us a taste of pre-airtravel-times!

Oeps, and while she's at it, she also causes problems for a lot of people and businesses all over the world... but he, we all keep smiling because we can not blame anybody.....can we?????
Haha except maybe the Thai, they might say that the influx of tourist from Europe has ceased because of the Red shirts and pro Thaksin protest movement, as they did at times with the effect of the high Thai baht and the general financial situation in the world.
Ofcourse it also has another effect: The Thai raise their prices even further because of lack of tourists.......... haha, the more tourist you see in Thailand, the more they will drop (!!) their prices, the lower the amount of tourist, the higher they will raise their prices. Somewhat opposite the logic the rest of the world seems to follow, but then again, who says Thai logic is logic as well??

But more serious now!

The eruption of Icelands vulcano, and the scattering of her ashes all over the Old World, is causing the Old World some headaches. We have all been so accustomed to the relative comforts of airtravel, the speed etc. that we forgot the much more relaxing way of transporting ourselfs over Europe: Trains, boats, ships, road!

Ofcourse also the rest of the world, looking for ways to get in or out of Europe, are right now dealing with these dilemma's.

Tough chance though, I am afraid, that they will en masse drop airtravel all together and return to the more old fashioned and way more destressing way of travel by train or ship... and as such make it more avordable again so people like me, who would love to travel in the old ways, could afford to do so... because if you want to travel in the old ways these days, you beter have deep pockets and all the available time

Myself right now??

Am in constant conference with myself, what to do, howfar can I change my travelplans?
Thai law says I have to leave the country before midnight 19th of April.
My plane, via Istanbul, leaves around 23.30 hours from Bangkok, to arrive and leave tuesdaymorning from Istanbul to Amsterdam.
Now the big question is, will the flight Istanbul-Amsterdam be on as sheduled or not.

If not then I am stuck in Istanbul, is that worse or in some ways more attractive then elsewhere, like here ;-)
If getting stuck in Istanbul, for how long would that be then, how quick one can rebook to a next flight?
Where to stay in Istanbul?
No doubt I could do a massive amount of sightseeing in a ciity I allways wanted to visit.... and one of the reasons I took this connection, to see if the opportunity arrises to see some of this old gate between Asia Minor and Europe?
Is this that excuse?????

Am in limbo though, funny enough.... reason: I travel alone! If Kik would be with me I would have loved to get stranded in Istanbul and would not think twice of checking anything concerning flightconnections from Istanbul to Amsterdam, would take it as it happened.
But now?
What a wush I am, haha

Any idears, please let me know ;-)

O, and in case you say: Take the Orieint Express: that beautifull romantic trainconnection doesn't exsist anymore, it now only roperates between London and Venice ;-)

Read you...maybe ;-)
hugs

PS and thanks for helping me think and decide again!! ;-)

A relaxing but nonetheless pretty warm evening ;-)

Left: Kik & I preparing our food on a sissling hot plate, deliciously prepared beforehand by Kik & Gong, our housekeeper (and behind the camera).

Kik surprised me the other night with preparing a meal for us which involved us, me, but mainly him, haha, to prepare our food on a sissling hot plate.
Stories of my father and stephmother, having such a dinner at my brothers house, jumped up and were retold with pleasure.
Big difference though is, that Kik and I surrendered to the hot/warm weather by sitting as lightly dressed as possible at the table with two fans blowing from either side of us.
Its not often that we have the chance on a quite home dinner, because normally KIk has to work every evening on stage at Simon Cabaret, and in futur we will also have The Backstage to look after, so as such this is one of our last opportunities for such a meal in a long time.
All made possible by Kik, who has taken off from work for our last days together , before I leave for Holland this comming monday.
A pleasant surprise we both enjoyed... but it was very warm indeed, pffff... and ofcourse we could have switched on the two aircons in the living/diningroom, but well......fans, using much less energy, should be sufficient....so instead we dress a little less formal haha... our small contribution to the environement ;-)
By the way we try only to use our aircons when we sleep/go to bed because a good/decent night rest is truly valuable! ;-)


Right: Me, warm, hot as it is, with a totally relaxed and happy Didi in one of her usual begging positions. Didi is a very rare breed, she truly enjoys the warmth here and seems totally immune to it (which ofcourse she is not). More and more I get the feeling she wouldn't like me bringing her back to Europe if the situation dictated such! She seems to love it here, the freedom, the warmth, even the food, but above all all the attention bestowed upon her by the Thai here ;-)

Putting the trials and tribulations aside: We celebrated Songkran 2010, in other words : Happy Thai New Year!!!

picture above: It is simply impossible to avoid an abundance of blessings with water during Songkran, and I am no exception haha


One can be busy with politics and what is happening in and around Bangkok, and the world for that matter... when it is Songkran, its Songkran. Specially Thai p[eople have a flexibility to switch from the political and real fighting in Bangkok to simply celebrating its one and only true national holliday: Songkran, THai New Year!

For me personally I didn't want to surrender to the effects of the weekly injection of interferon I received, so we were very focussed on having some sort of a good time together and with our friends here!

Though I must admit I was saddend to see so much less people (tourist) to celebrate this happy Thai event, then previous years... even much less then last year, the year/high season which was dominated by the airport occupation by the now governing yellow shirts and also saw a significant drop in tourism compared with the year before... the last year without any major troubles in Thailand, a financial global meltdown, etc.
Also sad because whatever 'we' say, our governements seem to be determined to classify Thailand as a whole when they advice their inhabitants about travel, but except for a few days in september 2008, when the yellow shirts ran a trial run on 'their' 'own' iland Phuket with closing down the airport here, everything has been as peacefull as peacefull can be, at least on the political front that is ;-)
Its one of Phukets strong points, sadly overlooked by all or allmost all foreign governemnts when they make their assesments of the situation here in Thailand.

BUT when going out on mondaynight to start the celebrations of Songkran, with one of them being the blessings and symbollic washing with water, we all intended to shift aside all the lousy things that have happened to us and simply celebrate and truly hope on a better year, not only for ourselfs but also for our neighbours, friends and familly, among, ofcourse, everybody else ;-)
God and Bhudda only knows how much Kik and I, for one, need that, haha, not to mention everybody else!

It was decided that this year we would all meet in front of My Way to celebrate Songkran there with all the Simon people, and so, that part of Paradise Soi became more unsafe and wet then it allready was by the time we arrived on the scene haha

I was also surprised personally when all of a sudden the whole Simongroup turned on me and pushed me down on a chair, and paid me tribute, honor and wishing me as a group as well as individually a very happy New Year/Songkran.... it left me somewhat flushed and terribly shy.
Me shy? I hear you think, YES! ME!

When things like this are focussed on me personally I can get very very shy indeed, not when playing a role as major or city manager or chairperson of organisation x or y, thats different, a lot different.
BUT ofcourse it was also very cool indeed to receive this small unexpected tribute. I hope it is a sign that at least I do some things right in the way I try to behave here in this country which in its ways is so much different from my own home country.
Though in other aspects.... BUT that might be a subject for another rainy day when there's otherwise nothing much to report... maybe then I might go into the differences and similarities, seen trough my eyes ofocurse, bewteen Thailand and The Netherlands ;-)

Again, all of you, a very happy Songkran and who knows, next year we celebrate together, here on Phuket, in Patong at our Backstage (see also www.backstagethailand.blogspot.com) and/or at our home here!

Songkranhugssss xxx

HAPPY SONGKRAN or Thai New Year ....but now with mixed but nonetheless strangly positive feelings!!!

Left: The show allways goes on, after the tsunami, but also after Bangkok these last days, so we all will more or less celebrate the Thai New Year as only the Thai are able to... so we all get also very wet ;-)
And yes, Kik doing an hilarious act.

Tonight, the 12th of April, the Sonkran festivities will start here in Thailand and on Phuket.
On Phuket Sonkran is celebrated just a few days, in Bangkok, if all is quite and normal in the capital, it last a full 5 days... But when you go up to for example Chiang Mai then you discover Sonkran will last 10 days.
So, in theory, and if you organised it all carefully, you can celebrate Sonkran on Phuket, then again in Bangkok, and again in the far north of Chiang Mai.
You have some crazy people who do just that haha, they can't get enough of all the water splashing and the blessings it brings.

For myself one celebration is enough... and am blessed living here with Kik in the traditionally quite province of Phuket.

"The show must go on", life must go on, you can also say! Thats the general attitude I find here around me.
When close (young) friends and co-workers (suddenly) die, when national tragedy hits, like the tsunami and now also the protest and death in Bangkok, and everything in between ... the THai seem to take it al in their stride.

But as the ruling yellow coalition is slowly discovering, the people start to wake up and are not accepting it anymore. The bullshit, the disregard for fairness and equal treatment under the law, the decent treatment of the poorer classes, the ending of a servitude to their ruling classes.

It is/was bound to happen, one day sooner or later.

Those who know me know I detest violance and can not find any excuse for it to solve problems.
I am not allways against it though because I can imagine circumstances in which one has to use violance, liking it or not.
If such a situation applied for Bangkok these last couple of days: I highly doubt that. Can't find any justification sofar on either side!
I allways say: To start the use of violance is a clear sign of weakness, and in general is the start of the end for the one who started it!

I can only hope that these comming days we will be able to honestly celebrate Sonkran
and that the deathtoll as a consequence of drunken driving and reckless behaviour on the roads due to alcoholconsumption, will stay lower then that of the Bangkok violance of these last days... though I have to doubt that!

And for the new year: Less tears, more respect, common sense and honest smills for and to everybody!!

Hugs for you all!!