Out to Space

I have to say I am almost shattered with the unofficial result of the latest Thai General Election. It is likely to be in the favour of pro-Thaksin People’s Power Party (PPP). That means its leader, Samak Sundaravej (สมัคร สุนทรเวช), could get the first choice to be the next Thai Prime Minister and form the government. EEEWWWW!!!

He had been ministers many times and the hi-light would be the Minister of Transport while Thailand was in rise of bubble economy in the 80s where he could grant big projects under his authority. However, the long time in politics had taught him that he would never get to the top of the mountain because his strong base and supporters would never expand beyond Bangkok. So he’d rather be the big fish in a small pond and demote himself by going for local politics, which won him the Bangkok Governor title in 2000. But would that be enough for him? It could be until the big opportunity for him to grab the country’s strong hold of dissolved Thai Rak Thai voters and lead the party.

No one knows how long he would govern the country for, maybe until he lets Thaksin back in without any trials as promised or until another protest against his allies to lead to another coup. Have we learn something from the past at all? Here are some reminders:

• 1976: Samak was appointed as the Interior Minister under the military coup right after 6 October massacre in Thammasat University.
• 1992: He was a Deputy Minister in a military government and supported the Black May troops, even had a go with the furious media about the violence.
• 2000: As the Bangkok Governor, he suspended Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre project, just because he could and wanted to commercialise the space.

I honestly cannot trust this low-rent doormat. Mind you! I did not go to vote and have not voted for almost a decade since I moved to Sydney. I have just got a new Thai ID card but it was too late to register for overseas voting this election. But I have a feeling I am not going have to wait for another four years to vote in the next election.

The first 5 days in Bangkok were very frustrating without the Internet connection at my brother’s because it’s far away from any wifi hot spot coverage and I didn’t realise that MacBook Pro hadn’t internal modem. Who would have thought of that? We are taking broadband for granted. I had to carry the laptop around the city to get connected.

Eventually, I bought Apple USB Modem for a reasonable price, 2,000 Baht, from iStudio at Siam Discovery Centre. Now I am on the Net but have to get used to 56.6 speed.

Stilgherrian is following up Australian election. It turns out to be a boring one for him. Well, he’s going to see something different here with Thai General Election. It starts today with live coverage on the draw of party list election number. The draw has two stages. The preliminary sets the order for the party leaders to come up to draw the actual number for the election.

This is crucial to get an auspicious number: one and nine. Logically, they are easy to remember. However, most parties rely on superstition because there are not many differences in the policies. After the disintegration of Thai Rak Thai Party, its members moved across all over to other parties, as Thaksin bought them to upsized his party then, or formed new ones. So far I see the same old politicians in new parties, some are now the leader. One of them, Sanoh Thienthong of Royal People Party, who won the luckiest number, nine, gives an interview. He blabs how the event went into his favour not much of his manifesto. I can’t be less convinced.

The Great Wall of Sydney has already been dismantled but to complete the picture of APEC 2007 on the ground, the police has to be a big part of the jigsaw piece. Like it or not, they were the one who have to enforce the law and took the action on the streets. And they knew they would not be so popular, especially, the peak of the ground event—confrontation with the protesters.

The key strategy of this biggest police operation in Australia was using themselves as a fence closing Hyde Park North.

The only exit and entrance to the centre of the protest was on Park Street. The protesters could not move anywhere, let alone go near the restricted area. Although it turned out to be a mild protest, some officers were willing to strip off their dignity by removing their name badges during the operation so that they could not be identified.

However, most of officers tried their best to do their jobs.

Special power and more resources were given to this APEC event to insure the perfect face of Sydney but it turned the city into an authoritarian fortress. I disappointed in myself for not questioning them enough when it came to my encounter. Well, they’ve got guns.

APEC Meeting in Sydney is over. They had their say but does anyone hear? The protest in Hyde Park became just another long-weekend party with the police as the big bouncers. Protesters were trying so hard to get attention and send their massages through, which we all had heard before. The old tactics included placards, dressing up, music and dancing but there was nothing new or newsworthy to get reported by mainstream media. For many, life goes on.

The protesters.

The observers.

The inside outsiders.

APEC Leaders submit Tight security is largely in doubt but after the global embarrassment by the Chaser, the Great Wall of Sydney seems to be shaken. No more police hassling photographers of the Fence there is just a low tension between the police and the protesters in Hyde Park. Some of them even looks bored.