Also I would like to comment about other countries than Thai. Like Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia. There countries are also mixed with Chinese immigrants and even though they have different political policies or Government styles to manage Chinese people than Thai. There are very few problems about racism. Only people is only Muslims in southern Thailand, Southern Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian. So the point here is not ethics problem but it is muslim problem.
I am Thai with Chinese decent. I have read this article and I found a lot of people misunderstand about Thai with Chinese ancestors here. First of all, we do not consider ourselves as Chinese Thai. We just called ourselves Thai, that’s all. Secondly, it is very hard to distinguish who is Thai or who is Chinese, because most of Thais mixed with Chinese in some parts of their family line. Thirdly, most of Thai culture are mixed between India (Hindu) and Chinese sometime I don’t even know which one is real Thai, Hindu or Chinese. Even food that we eat everyday.
Thailand has pure Chinese nation about 15-20% and 40% are there decent ( 2 or 3rd generation), Also there are many other ethics ( Lao, Mon, Khmere, Indian ) that are completely mix with Thais. Only problem in Thailand is Southern Malay Muslims which are rejected to assimilate to Thai or other races and always make troubles. I think the problem is not RACE but it is MALAY MUSLIM cultures, that are hard to mix with others.
o Who are you and where have you been?
It was such a breath of essential fresh air.
What was this thing about Burmese or any other Little people around the world should be deeeelighted about abie able to make soap and socks for rich Americans as a “Reward” crap? So thousands and thousands of students and pouble alike died and suffered unconscionable atrocities in jails and other incarcerated areas or out in the open so that Burmese (oc every one in the accused country) can be slaves all the same but right at home rather than have to run away from corrupt-est Thai and Malaysian police?
It is more than obvious- staring- anything the4 Yanks touches turn into bloody shit, every single time, all the time. And that was a success! Obama’s Foreign Policy Success! One must be totally insane to believe that.
Yes, Chinese are characteristically ruthless and care little for environment or even their own mothers if comes to money. But being done by the “Whites” is little solace for people currently done by the Chinks anyway.
Myitsone Dam is not just a a few villages flooded. It is the life of the country Burma. Yes, Burmese nowadays are forgetful about what is valuable or not to them after being exposed to those wonderful “Western Values” with so many youngsters “Educated” in US, UK, Germany, Australia, etc. E.g Burmese now would rather march fro gay rights than for the Karens and Kachins being literally slaughtered like pigs in their own ancestral villages because these “modern” Burmese are so liberal and progressive. But if the Irrawaddy were to get dammed and destroyed, the life of Chinese of any sort in the land of Burma will not be worth living. It is so stupid of Xi to insist on such crap or even to use it a bargaining chip for other more palatable concession, both of which indicating how such horrible and worthless “Friends” they are for the Burmese and will reap such benefit in return.
For the third or a billionth rate country. What of it? What does it even mean? And how does it even little but matter?
Haiti was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant example. So long as the Burmese currently SELF-SUFFICIENT are so advanced and progressive to let themselves and their hitherto wonderful natural environment- no want of fresh water, land, coastal line, forest (destroyed as they are so far), minerals- and with sufficient food production allow itself to be f’ed up. then obviously they are not worthy of them.
The administrative expanse of the original Golkar political unit under Soeharto will never be matched again, in terms of geographical reach within Indonesia, as well as political hierarchical structure. Leaving aside the positive and negative aspects of former Golkar’s broad influence from village to Istana level, the new Village Law would operate under a more disparate Indonesia, a more democratic Indonesia (relatively speaking) and an Indonesia more courageous in expressing views in opposition to the status quo. President Jokowi has been rife with the Indonesian standard of grand visions and oversized illusions of grandeur.
Indonesia needs laws at all levels, but they need honest laws that are implemented and adjudicated by honest officials. That has rarely been the case. Fairness and equity must become entrenched in the Indonesian psyche. The problem is that this clashes with Islamic lifestyles and Shari’a Law, where fairness and equity are not judged on an even gender, age, sexual orientation and political field. Pancasila served a useful purpose when properly understood in secularizing religions (though banning Atheism and Communism) and initially reducing the Islamization of Indonesian institutions. With increased freedom, comes trade-offs, principally between integrity and corruption, civil society and Islamic society, and other issues. NO Islamic nation has been successful in balancing civil and Islamic traditions. It worked for a while in Turkey, but is not working now. Malaysia is falling apart as religious and nationalistic Malays provoke everyone else and UMNO gives into such radicalism to maintain power. Kazakhstan and Tajikistan maintain secularism only because the ruthless dictators who run the nations understand that they will be overthrown by Islamic radicals if they cease post-Soviet style autocracy. The rest of the Arab, Iranian, South Asian and Central Asian Islamic nations are all worse off, in terms of freedom, than even Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia, at the ‘periphery’ of the Islamic World. If President Jokowi does not realize that Indonesia IS the last test case for integrating traditional (adat), civil and Islamic principles into village law or urban law, Ahok better tell him pronto. It is on this ability to synthesize a Pancasila-like accommodation (not ideal, not perfect, but better than the alternatives) for Indonesians, that Indonesia as the largest (Pakistan and India are soon overtaking Indonesia) Muslim nation, will succeed or fail. No one likes to be told they are dishonest, but Indonesia is not done any favors by neglecting to remind the nation that they are awfully corrupt and that fact interferes with the ability to establish workable laws at any demographic level. Nearby Malaysia, far wealthier than Indonesia, is a perfect example of La Cosa Nostra leadership in Southeast Asia.
Jotman has a worth while blog page with pics here :
I am live-blogging from Thammsat University in Bangkok, the site of the massacre of 6 October 1976 where students were hunted down and murdered by right-wing militia groups. This weekend, interviewed on CNN and Al Jazeera, Samak Sundaravej, Thailand’s new prime minister, flatly denied the occurrence of the horrors.
On this campus in a garden a monument stands to the fallen students. Here I will set the Thai prime minister’s own words against the red stone of the monument.
Well, I definitely agree that Myanmar is “now” a third-rate country. What I’m saying is if you pursue “free trade” policies, you will, at most, become a country like Thailand. Economies like China, Japan, and South Korea did use a mixture of organizational strategies, government subsidies, tariff and protectionism to get there.
The ONLY way to prevent such a tragedy happening again, is for Thailand/ Siam to have a more federal system – UNDER THE MONARCHY. A massacre like this could not happen in Australia or Canada, because our militaries and police are too diverse among federal divisions, balance of power.
Shane Tarr – I’ve seen plenty of fried delicacies in Cambodia eg. Strung Thep rats, bats, spiders, etc. And of course the culinary choices rises as one gets closer to Cambodia’s capital. But “rats arse” ? Is that a course de cuisine speciality of Phnom Phen ? Best eaten while quaffing bia hoi ?
Thongchai Winichakul was one of the Thammasart U student leaders on the campus. He spoke to Witness about the attack that killed 46 TU students on Oct. 6, 1976 that haunts him to this day.
The People in the Picture will focus on a famous photograph, taken by Neal Ulevich, an Associated Press photographer. The photo shows a civilian vigilante attacking a university student at Thammasat University in Bangkok, on 6 October 1976.
Despite its fame, nothing is publicly known about any of the people in the photograph, not even their names. The researchers for The People in the Picture would like to make contact with any person depicted in this image, to hear their memories of the incident.
Sorry Mish but I think unfortunately this can and will go on. Hun Sen does not give a “rat’s ass” about what those who oppose him may think. One way or the other he deals rather “effectively” with them and I don’t see generation change coming quite as soon as you suggest. However, let’s wait and see!
Good article and one “backpackers” should read although I doubt most will. Actually if Cambodia had any decent safeguards for involuntary resettlement (and taking back public land and evicting small businesses without any form of compensation is a very good example) then the situation would not be so dire. However, Cambodia’s Inter-Ministerial Resettlement Committee is well-nigh useless on such matters because the Government does not consider loss of income of small businesses as a result of eviction from state land to be a valid issue. Of course we should not be surprised if we turn to the pathetic ADB and its actions over the nearly 1,000 households affected by the rehabilitation and upgrading of Cambodia’s railway system. Unfortunately for a lot of people affected by involuntary resettlement or displacement (misleading terms used by the ADB and WB), the loss of income-generation opportunities in actual practice are either not compensated for actual losses wholly or ven partially.
Myanmar will not be a second rate country – NO, Myanmar is now a third-rate country.
Your are right though about the USA. Everything that the USA does is about “strategic containment” and selling of military hardware. All that talk about “democracy”, human rights etc etc are just so much bull… Saudi Arabia?(staunch ally) Pakistan? (recipient of massive aid, albeit mostly guns) Thailand (staunch ally, now a bit shaky).. The list goes on..
The saddest lesson of all coming from Duterte’s war on drugs is that Filipino institutions, the Congress and the Courts, have been largely unable or unwilling, to provide the checks and balances meant to rein the excesses of a president betraying his oath of office by his total disregard for the rule of law.
In the absence of these institutional checks, as Mr Sanchez suggests, it is left to civil society groups to perform a role for which they are neither legally mandated nor sufficiently resourced.
The Duterte experience does have, alas, one redeeming feature. Hopefully it will provide a salutary warning to voters across the Pacific in the US presidential elections. They, especially sincere conservative Republicans, need to dispel themselves of the illusion that an intellectually-challenged, delusional demagogue, with scant regard for justice let alone democracy, can somehow be controlled once he is elected to the highest office in the nation. Counter-balancing institutions are only as strong as those who work within them.
“Transformed” the Education Ministry, ha! Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. Basweden coveted attention, craved it – anyone who has seen him action over the years knows this. His Cagub candidacy under the Gerindra ticket is pretty telling; it suggests that perhaps he had a run in with Mbak Mega. Either that or his monstrous ego probably crowded out Jokowi, Mbak Mega, and others inside and outside cabinet. He will move on to whatever is next – Baswedan is a high status creep and paid up member of Indonesia’s political elite.
Looking forward to Chinese education being allowed again in Thailand but quite unlikely given the rapid process of democratic regression over the past few years. Even Yingluck Shinawatra once bitterly complained if she was considered less Thai than others, shopping just short of saying her Chinese origin should not have mattered. On the other hand, even the most diehard Malay nationalists such as Mahathir concede the right vernacular education in Malaysia should not be questioned.
There was an English historian who wrote about Chinese in Malaysia. In fact, if you look at the history of Chinese emigration to SE Asian countries, like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia or even Australia, there is a pattern and also diversities according to the acceptance and political climate of each points of entry. I decidedly choose do not use the word country because at that time they were still colonies.
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A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
Also I would like to comment about other countries than Thai. Like Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia. There countries are also mixed with Chinese immigrants and even though they have different political policies or Government styles to manage Chinese people than Thai. There are very few problems about racism. Only people is only Muslims in southern Thailand, Southern Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian. So the point here is not ethics problem but it is muslim problem.
A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
I am Thai with Chinese decent. I have read this article and I found a lot of people misunderstand about Thai with Chinese ancestors here. First of all, we do not consider ourselves as Chinese Thai. We just called ourselves Thai, that’s all. Secondly, it is very hard to distinguish who is Thai or who is Chinese, because most of Thais mixed with Chinese in some parts of their family line. Thirdly, most of Thai culture are mixed between India (Hindu) and Chinese sometime I don’t even know which one is real Thai, Hindu or Chinese. Even food that we eat everyday.
Thailand has pure Chinese nation about 15-20% and 40% are there decent ( 2 or 3rd generation), Also there are many other ethics ( Lao, Mon, Khmere, Indian ) that are completely mix with Thais. Only problem in Thailand is Southern Malay Muslims which are rejected to assimilate to Thai or other races and always make troubles. I think the problem is not RACE but it is MALAY MUSLIM cultures, that are hard to mix with others.
The US, Myanmar and the dragon in the background
o Who are you and where have you been?
It was such a breath of essential fresh air.
What was this thing about Burmese or any other Little people around the world should be deeeelighted about abie able to make soap and socks for rich Americans as a “Reward” crap? So thousands and thousands of students and pouble alike died and suffered unconscionable atrocities in jails and other incarcerated areas or out in the open so that Burmese (oc every one in the accused country) can be slaves all the same but right at home rather than have to run away from corrupt-est Thai and Malaysian police?
It is more than obvious- staring- anything the4 Yanks touches turn into bloody shit, every single time, all the time. And that was a success! Obama’s Foreign Policy Success! One must be totally insane to believe that.
Yes, Chinese are characteristically ruthless and care little for environment or even their own mothers if comes to money. But being done by the “Whites” is little solace for people currently done by the Chinks anyway.
Myitsone Dam is not just a a few villages flooded. It is the life of the country Burma. Yes, Burmese nowadays are forgetful about what is valuable or not to them after being exposed to those wonderful “Western Values” with so many youngsters “Educated” in US, UK, Germany, Australia, etc. E.g Burmese now would rather march fro gay rights than for the Karens and Kachins being literally slaughtered like pigs in their own ancestral villages because these “modern” Burmese are so liberal and progressive. But if the Irrawaddy were to get dammed and destroyed, the life of Chinese of any sort in the land of Burma will not be worth living. It is so stupid of Xi to insist on such crap or even to use it a bargaining chip for other more palatable concession, both of which indicating how such horrible and worthless “Friends” they are for the Burmese and will reap such benefit in return.
For the third or a billionth rate country. What of it? What does it even mean? And how does it even little but matter?
Haiti was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant example. So long as the Burmese currently SELF-SUFFICIENT are so advanced and progressive to let themselves and their hitherto wonderful natural environment- no want of fresh water, land, coastal line, forest (destroyed as they are so far), minerals- and with sufficient food production allow itself to be f’ed up. then obviously they are not worthy of them.
Will the Village Law change rural Indonesia?
The administrative expanse of the original Golkar political unit under Soeharto will never be matched again, in terms of geographical reach within Indonesia, as well as political hierarchical structure. Leaving aside the positive and negative aspects of former Golkar’s broad influence from village to Istana level, the new Village Law would operate under a more disparate Indonesia, a more democratic Indonesia (relatively speaking) and an Indonesia more courageous in expressing views in opposition to the status quo. President Jokowi has been rife with the Indonesian standard of grand visions and oversized illusions of grandeur.
Indonesia needs laws at all levels, but they need honest laws that are implemented and adjudicated by honest officials. That has rarely been the case. Fairness and equity must become entrenched in the Indonesian psyche. The problem is that this clashes with Islamic lifestyles and Shari’a Law, where fairness and equity are not judged on an even gender, age, sexual orientation and political field. Pancasila served a useful purpose when properly understood in secularizing religions (though banning Atheism and Communism) and initially reducing the Islamization of Indonesian institutions. With increased freedom, comes trade-offs, principally between integrity and corruption, civil society and Islamic society, and other issues. NO Islamic nation has been successful in balancing civil and Islamic traditions. It worked for a while in Turkey, but is not working now. Malaysia is falling apart as religious and nationalistic Malays provoke everyone else and UMNO gives into such radicalism to maintain power. Kazakhstan and Tajikistan maintain secularism only because the ruthless dictators who run the nations understand that they will be overthrown by Islamic radicals if they cease post-Soviet style autocracy. The rest of the Arab, Iranian, South Asian and Central Asian Islamic nations are all worse off, in terms of freedom, than even Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia, at the ‘periphery’ of the Islamic World. If President Jokowi does not realize that Indonesia IS the last test case for integrating traditional (adat), civil and Islamic principles into village law or urban law, Ahok better tell him pronto. It is on this ability to synthesize a Pancasila-like accommodation (not ideal, not perfect, but better than the alternatives) for Indonesians, that Indonesia as the largest (Pakistan and India are soon overtaking Indonesia) Muslim nation, will succeed or fail. No one likes to be told they are dishonest, but Indonesia is not done any favors by neglecting to remind the nation that they are awfully corrupt and that fact interferes with the ability to establish workable laws at any demographic level. Nearby Malaysia, far wealthier than Indonesia, is a perfect example of La Cosa Nostra leadership in Southeast Asia.
Samak’s disgrace
Jotman has a worth while blog page with pics here :
I am live-blogging from Thammsat University in Bangkok, the site of the massacre of 6 October 1976 where students were hunted down and murdered by right-wing militia groups. This weekend, interviewed on CNN and Al Jazeera, Samak Sundaravej, Thailand’s new prime minister, flatly denied the occurrence of the horrors.
On this campus in a garden a monument stands to the fallen students. Here I will set the Thai prime minister’s own words against the red stone of the monument.
http://jotman.blogspot.com.au/2008/02/thais-dare-not-ask-this-question-to-me.html
A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
Any discussion should not be predicted on the speaker’s ethnicity or religion or gender.
The US, Myanmar and the dragon in the background
Well, I definitely agree that Myanmar is “now” a third-rate country. What I’m saying is if you pursue “free trade” policies, you will, at most, become a country like Thailand. Economies like China, Japan, and South Korea did use a mixture of organizational strategies, government subsidies, tariff and protectionism to get there.
Samak’s disgrace
The ONLY way to prevent such a tragedy happening again, is for Thailand/ Siam to have a more federal system – UNDER THE MONARCHY. A massacre like this could not happen in Australia or Canada, because our militaries and police are too diverse among federal divisions, balance of power.
Lights, cameras, inaction
Shane Tarr – I’ve seen plenty of fried delicacies in Cambodia eg. Strung Thep rats, bats, spiders, etc. And of course the culinary choices rises as one gets closer to Cambodia’s capital. But “rats arse” ? Is that a course de cuisine speciality of Phnom Phen ? Best eaten while quaffing bia hoi ?
Samak’s disgrace
Thongchai Winichakul was one of the Thammasart U student leaders on the campus. He spoke to Witness about the attack that killed 46 TU students on Oct. 6, 1976 that haunts him to this day.
From BBC news today: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37520961
Samak’s disgrace
this also needs to be seen by as many as possible
The People in the Picture will focus on a famous photograph, taken by Neal Ulevich, an Associated Press photographer. The photo shows a civilian vigilante attacking a university student at Thammasat University in Bangkok, on 6 October 1976.
Despite its fame, nothing is publicly known about any of the people in the photograph, not even their names. The researchers for The People in the Picture would like to make contact with any person depicted in this image, to hear their memories of the incident.
http://6oct-photo.com/contact/
Samak’s disgrace
probably not the best place for this , but unable to find an article more topical …….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02_tZXPqoy8
Lights, cameras, inaction
Sorry Mish but I think unfortunately this can and will go on. Hun Sen does not give a “rat’s ass” about what those who oppose him may think. One way or the other he deals rather “effectively” with them and I don’t see generation change coming quite as soon as you suggest. However, let’s wait and see!
The hidden cost of Cambodia’s coastal development
Good article and one “backpackers” should read although I doubt most will. Actually if Cambodia had any decent safeguards for involuntary resettlement (and taking back public land and evicting small businesses without any form of compensation is a very good example) then the situation would not be so dire. However, Cambodia’s Inter-Ministerial Resettlement Committee is well-nigh useless on such matters because the Government does not consider loss of income of small businesses as a result of eviction from state land to be a valid issue. Of course we should not be surprised if we turn to the pathetic ADB and its actions over the nearly 1,000 households affected by the rehabilitation and upgrading of Cambodia’s railway system. Unfortunately for a lot of people affected by involuntary resettlement or displacement (misleading terms used by the ADB and WB), the loss of income-generation opportunities in actual practice are either not compensated for actual losses wholly or ven partially.
A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
Cohen how come your “thousands” of Malaysian friends, never taught you to be more “halus” (refined), and less “keras” (coarse) in your hyperbole ?
The US, Myanmar and the dragon in the background
Myanmar will not be a second rate country – NO, Myanmar is now a third-rate country.
Your are right though about the USA. Everything that the USA does is about “strategic containment” and selling of military hardware. All that talk about “democracy”, human rights etc etc are just so much bull… Saudi Arabia?(staunch ally) Pakistan? (recipient of massive aid, albeit mostly guns) Thailand (staunch ally, now a bit shaky).. The list goes on..
How human rights can win Duterte’s war
The saddest lesson of all coming from Duterte’s war on drugs is that Filipino institutions, the Congress and the Courts, have been largely unable or unwilling, to provide the checks and balances meant to rein the excesses of a president betraying his oath of office by his total disregard for the rule of law.
In the absence of these institutional checks, as Mr Sanchez suggests, it is left to civil society groups to perform a role for which they are neither legally mandated nor sufficiently resourced.
The Duterte experience does have, alas, one redeeming feature. Hopefully it will provide a salutary warning to voters across the Pacific in the US presidential elections. They, especially sincere conservative Republicans, need to dispel themselves of the illusion that an intellectually-challenged, delusional demagogue, with scant regard for justice let alone democracy, can somehow be controlled once he is elected to the highest office in the nation. Counter-balancing institutions are only as strong as those who work within them.
Learning about politics
“Transformed” the Education Ministry, ha! Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. Basweden coveted attention, craved it – anyone who has seen him action over the years knows this. His Cagub candidacy under the Gerindra ticket is pretty telling; it suggests that perhaps he had a run in with Mbak Mega. Either that or his monstrous ego probably crowded out Jokowi, Mbak Mega, and others inside and outside cabinet. He will move on to whatever is next – Baswedan is a high status creep and paid up member of Indonesia’s political elite.
A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
Looking forward to Chinese education being allowed again in Thailand but quite unlikely given the rapid process of democratic regression over the past few years. Even Yingluck Shinawatra once bitterly complained if she was considered less Thai than others, shopping just short of saying her Chinese origin should not have mattered. On the other hand, even the most diehard Malay nationalists such as Mahathir concede the right vernacular education in Malaysia should not be questioned.
A rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric
There was an English historian who wrote about Chinese in Malaysia. In fact, if you look at the history of Chinese emigration to SE Asian countries, like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia or even Australia, there is a pattern and also diversities according to the acceptance and political climate of each points of entry. I decidedly choose do not use the word country because at that time they were still colonies.