Gay Boy Thailand

Bad idea

Former Thailand PM and billionaire Thaksin is in the news. Read the rest of this entry »

Boo!

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She is back

In our deeply compassionate coverage of figures in the former Thaksin regime, today the great news that Khunying Pojaman, wife of the former prime minister, has returned to Thailand. How we missed her.

Thaksin is still in London.

You wanted to see more of him?

Here are some of the photos I took today at Siam Station. Many had made various cartoons and posters making fun of the prime minister. One man was dressed up as Thaksin-Hitler, doing the Nazi salute. The police stood idle and watched. Click on any picture to see a larger version.

Today I went to Siam Station to see the demonstration. Seeing it on television is one thing, it is more impressive to have a large crowd up close. The atmosphere was festive and when marching someone would yell “Thaksin?” and the crowd would respond “get out!

The slogan is “Thaksin awk pai”, which also translates as Thaksin must go, or Thaksin must leave.

People were smiling and waving flags and banners, and the event looked more like a village fair than a political conflict. But crowd had lots of energy, and I could feel their determination.

A friend of mine send me a message on the mobile phone asking how many people were demonstrating. I replied I could see maybe 5 000. But some sections of the demo were held up by traffic police and could not join the main group, which set up camp (literally) under Siam Station.

At the same time opposition newspaper The Nation published an estimate of 50 000 demonstrators on their web site, which was a bit optimistic I’m afraid. Later in the day, after the offices closed and the crowd swelled in the cooler air after sunset, The Nation estimated that 100 000 people were there.

People were friendly and the demo guards let me through, looking at my camera and maybe thinking I was foreign press. One elderly Thai-Chinese man changed to shouting in English when he saw me.

I saw Chamlong, the tall and thin veteran political figure who led the anti-goverment demonstrations in 1992. He wore his customary blue shirt and sat on a on a truck writing autographs. Chamlong used to be Thaksin’s friend and mentor, but the friendship turned sour a while ago and Chamlong is on the street again, calling for the removal of Thaksin.

Paragon, Siam Centre and others had closed. Only security guards manned the locked doors. Some sultry policemen stood around in small groups, watching the crowds but not doing anything.

The participants were decidedly urban and middle class, but the organisers had made a few farmers and dark-skinned country folks walk in the front of each section.

Now the demonstrators are going to stay at Siam Station for a couple of days. From out of nowhere vendors have appeared, selling mats to sleep on and food. The organisers hand out free water bottles. The city of Bangkok, which is run by the opposition, has brought mobile toilets.

I will try to get a look at the pro-Thaksin camp at Chatuchak later.

Prime Minister Thaksin thought it was a good idea to have lunch in a food court in Silom soi 5 on Monday, being folksy and looking good for the media as part of his election campaign. This backfired when some of the shop ladies in the soi began to heckle the PM, shouting “Thaksin get out”.

“Thaksin get out” is the slogan of the opposition parties. I would say that when mother types like these women get angry with a PM he is in trouble.

Yesterday was hairy in our home, as Chalerm was practicing his hairdressing skills on the Noodle Girl. Chalerm has a three-month course in beauty, makeup and hair, which he attended two hours every evening. He has asked to do my hair but I tell him I am too scared.

Mother Noodle wai’ed me in the soi. So polite. I haven’t had anything to do with her, except that her daughter comes and goes and my boyfriend seems to be her quasi-son for the moment. She looks like a nice lady.

Chalerm called me and told me in an excited voice he had money for me. At some stage Farang D’s Thai boy manager must have dropped the send-a-messenger plan, as he had given Chalerm my payment instead. I told Chalerm to come home as soon as possible (”because I miss you too much!”). When Chalerm has money he likes to show it off to people, waving the bank notes around, and that can be more dangerous than he understands.

I can’t resist posting this picture from Pattaya Mail, showing Prime Minister Thaksin speaking to a crowd as part of his re-election campaign. The phrase “wet as a drowned cat” comes to mind.

Yesterday Chalerm said he had to get up ultra-early to go to Lopburi city. He will try again to get a replacement military exemption paper from the province military. He was supposed to leave at 4am and be back at 11am in time to go to his job in the office. I doubted it was possible to go there and back that quickly.

But when I called him this morning to hear how Lopburi was he was still in Bangkok, having overslept. Instead of answering the phone on the bus he was in Farang D’s office. He says he will try again tomorrow.

Farang D keeps coming up with improvements to the web site. I did more this morning. It is fairly easy stuff, just adjustments to what is already made.

I watch The Manager’s TV channel on cable for news about the demonstrations. They are mocking Thaksin now, rubbing his picture between their legs, supposedly a highly offensive gesture.

The demonstrations are not a political crisis in itself. What makes the situation unpredictable is that the opposition parties have decided to boycott the election, leading to all sorts of possible outcomes and robbing Thaksin of legitimacy. If he hangs on we could get a Marcos/Estrada/Fujimori situation here.

Not a Marcos situation - yet

I am thinking of going to Pattaya. It should be fairly quiet there by now. Temperatures are up and tourist numbers are down.

The Nation yesterday had a humorous piece about how to deal with pro-Thaksin taxi drivers, citing several people who had been kicked out of a taxi after getting into political arguments with the driver. The opposition slogan is “Thaksin get out!” The newspaper suggested people should say “Thaksin?” before entering a taxi. If the driver replies “get out!” the passenger can get in.