Monday, September 15, 2008
What's happening in Thailand
Some of my friends check my blog from time to time to see what is happening with me. Some have pointed out recently that I have been a little quiet lately and they hear on the news about sometimes violent protests in Bangkok and they have been wondering if I'm OK.
If you too have been wondering let me first say I apologise for the lack of communication. I didn't realise it had been so long since I had posted a blog. Here is what is happening for me: I continue to go to school two days a week. I continue to study Thai. I am making progress but still feel I have a long way to go. My life is busy but not exciting. While I am finding little to blog about I have been quite content with my time here.
About the problems in Thailand. I wish I really understood what was going on but I have to say I don't. I appreciate that for you overseas you understand it even less so to give you a little background, here is how I see it:
As you know there was a coup a few years back to oust Taksin because while he had been taking care of the Thai economy he was also taking care of himself. In Thailand there is a law that says you can't criticise the king. It seemed Taksin thought no one should criticise him either. Anyway they got rid of him, were ruled by the military for a couple of years and got a new constitution and the people elected a new government which just happened to be the supporters of Taksin. Now either the people like Taksin and his supporters or they don't value their votes very highly and were prepared to accept bribes for their votes. Well, that's what people are saying but I have to ask: Are there no whistle blowers? To buy enough votes to win an election there must be a lot of people involved. It just needs one to say no, speak out and someone should be charged. I'm assuming vote buying is illegal in Thailand???
Anyway, there is a group that was against Taksin and played a role in bringing him down. They are called PAD which stands for Peoples Alliance for Democracy. The same people are now protesting against the current government. Perhaps they have a valid argument. The government has never impressed me. But I'm not too sure about the PAD name. I believe their proposal is for the elected members to be only 30% of the seats of the government and the other members to be appointed. One of their leaders has more or less said that Thai people are too stupid to be trusted with a vote. They may be right and they may be wrong but I think their name is wrong. They would be more honest if they called themselves People Against Democracy.
Anyway they've been protesting for a long time and now another group that supports the government has been opposing them and this is what has started the violence. But despite what the media outside Thailand would have you believe the protests are confined to a small area and only affect the streets close to the government buildings. I don't think I would want to be staying in Khao San Road at the moment. That would be a little too close for comfort but I live a long way out of town and so far it's pretty quiet here. It's pretty quiet where I go to school too. Life goes on. People talk about it but in most of Bangkok there is not much happening. I'm comfortable being here. I hope you're comfortable about that too.
If you'd like a little more info on what's happening in Thailand, I suggest you check the Thai English-language newspapers Bangkok Post and The Nation.
If you too have been wondering let me first say I apologise for the lack of communication. I didn't realise it had been so long since I had posted a blog. Here is what is happening for me: I continue to go to school two days a week. I continue to study Thai. I am making progress but still feel I have a long way to go. My life is busy but not exciting. While I am finding little to blog about I have been quite content with my time here.
About the problems in Thailand. I wish I really understood what was going on but I have to say I don't. I appreciate that for you overseas you understand it even less so to give you a little background, here is how I see it:
As you know there was a coup a few years back to oust Taksin because while he had been taking care of the Thai economy he was also taking care of himself. In Thailand there is a law that says you can't criticise the king. It seemed Taksin thought no one should criticise him either. Anyway they got rid of him, were ruled by the military for a couple of years and got a new constitution and the people elected a new government which just happened to be the supporters of Taksin. Now either the people like Taksin and his supporters or they don't value their votes very highly and were prepared to accept bribes for their votes. Well, that's what people are saying but I have to ask: Are there no whistle blowers? To buy enough votes to win an election there must be a lot of people involved. It just needs one to say no, speak out and someone should be charged. I'm assuming vote buying is illegal in Thailand???
Anyway, there is a group that was against Taksin and played a role in bringing him down. They are called PAD which stands for Peoples Alliance for Democracy. The same people are now protesting against the current government. Perhaps they have a valid argument. The government has never impressed me. But I'm not too sure about the PAD name. I believe their proposal is for the elected members to be only 30% of the seats of the government and the other members to be appointed. One of their leaders has more or less said that Thai people are too stupid to be trusted with a vote. They may be right and they may be wrong but I think their name is wrong. They would be more honest if they called themselves People Against Democracy.
Anyway they've been protesting for a long time and now another group that supports the government has been opposing them and this is what has started the violence. But despite what the media outside Thailand would have you believe the protests are confined to a small area and only affect the streets close to the government buildings. I don't think I would want to be staying in Khao San Road at the moment. That would be a little too close for comfort but I live a long way out of town and so far it's pretty quiet here. It's pretty quiet where I go to school too. Life goes on. People talk about it but in most of Bangkok there is not much happening. I'm comfortable being here. I hope you're comfortable about that too.
If you'd like a little more info on what's happening in Thailand, I suggest you check the Thai English-language newspapers Bangkok Post and The Nation.
Labels: Asia, Bangkok, blog, communication, thailand
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Why do we hate?
I've written before about the unfortunate need we humans appear to have—we must have someone to hate. I'm not sure why but it is unfortunately one of our traits. When I was growing up we were taught, perhaps in subtle ways, that we should hate the Catholics we walked past on the way to and from school. It seems they were also taught to hate us.
Australian Protestants and Catholics seem to get on much better now but unfortunately it seems Muslims have become the new Catholics. It is so easy to point the finger and say those Muslims are terrorists but we seem to ignore the fact that it was our Western alliance that invaded Iraq on a flimsy pretext.
I believe if we are to stop the bloodshed coming from each of our societies those of us who disagree with it should stand up and be counted. I'd like to think I'm doing that from time to time through this blog.
It is up to Muslim people to also stand up and say that they disagree with the killing that is done in the name of Islam. The reason for writing this blog is to share with you an example of just that. This is an inspiring poem written by a Muslim woman in India. I hope you'll read it.
Australian Protestants and Catholics seem to get on much better now but unfortunately it seems Muslims have become the new Catholics. It is so easy to point the finger and say those Muslims are terrorists but we seem to ignore the fact that it was our Western alliance that invaded Iraq on a flimsy pretext.
I believe if we are to stop the bloodshed coming from each of our societies those of us who disagree with it should stand up and be counted. I'd like to think I'm doing that from time to time through this blog.
It is up to Muslim people to also stand up and say that they disagree with the killing that is done in the name of Islam. The reason for writing this blog is to share with you an example of just that. This is an inspiring poem written by a Muslim woman in India. I hope you'll read it.
Labels: blog, politics, terrorism
Friday, July 11, 2008
Don't wanna lose the old stuff
A few months ago I lost my storytelling website. Did you notice? The ISP account that it was linked to was closed and as I personally don't really need it, I decided to let it go. At the time it was still getting quite a few hits, maybe as many as this blog does, at times more.
A few days back someone pointed out that the link to my blog archives Jan - Aug '05 was not working. It's on an entirely different site from this one. It seems OK now but that got me thinking, if that site closes, all that stuff is lost and while I have backup of most of it, some bits I don't.
I have not been maintaining my personal website for some time but there is still some useful stuff on it. It comes to me (and you) courtesy of a kind relative's ISP account. If she make changes, I could lose that site too.
I've decided to gradually move all that stuff, or at least the worthwhile bits, to a new blog page that will be linked to this one. I'm starting with the storytelling site because it does not exist anywhere else at the moment. If you are interested in any of that stuff, bookmark this address: http://oznasia.wordpress.com/
A few days back someone pointed out that the link to my blog archives Jan - Aug '05 was not working. It's on an entirely different site from this one. It seems OK now but that got me thinking, if that site closes, all that stuff is lost and while I have backup of most of it, some bits I don't.
I have not been maintaining my personal website for some time but there is still some useful stuff on it. It comes to me (and you) courtesy of a kind relative's ISP account. If she make changes, I could lose that site too.
I've decided to gradually move all that stuff, or at least the worthwhile bits, to a new blog page that will be linked to this one. I'm starting with the storytelling site because it does not exist anywhere else at the moment. If you are interested in any of that stuff, bookmark this address: http://oznasia.wordpress.com/
Labels: blog, communication, websites
