He studied at Université de Lausanne, but didn’t graduate. As a student, he was seriously injured in a car accident, and while recovering, he got distracted by the 15 year old Sirikit. Engagement, marriage, and coronation put a stop to his studies.
>I still can’t help feeling somewhat strange when seing farang >wearing yellow t-shirts…
It definitely makes some people happy like my wife and mother-in-law who bought the shirt for me. It is not nearly as strange as wearing a Burmese baso (male sarong) as some foreigners do in Yangon.
>If somebody HAS respect for the king, why is it necessary to >demonstrate it in one’s clothing?
I don’t think it is, but I didn’t make the rules.
> More importantly, from the
> Thai perspective, yellow shirts do NOT express respect,
> but loyalty.
Thank you for the clarification, but how would loyalty differ from respect in a normal person’s life? What would an act of “disloyalty” entail?
BTW How did the meaning of yellow shirts become what it currently is?
>As for lese majeste – should not actually the junta be >charged with this?
IMHO Lese majeste is whatever the people in power decide it is, as evidenced by the Sivaraksa example cited above. Recently, one of my former Australian colleagues at the Thai university I worked at had aspirations to be a great writer, so emulating Salman Rushdie he included a bunch of scandalous lese majeste in his first novel, apparently hoping this would help sales. If he was hoping to stand trial and be thrown into jail, as it seems he was, he was severely disappointed, since after investigting him, the government withdrew the novel from the shelves but did not press charges. He then left Thailand went to Saudi Arabia and participated in scandalous jihadi (or anti-jihadi, it’s not clear) drama at a university, that was stormed by Saudi troops and made the New York Times. He contributed two op-ed pieces to the Bangkok Post detailing all his adventures. He seems like an opportunist to me.
The sooner the lese majeste laws are repealed the better.
Or perhaps leave the law on the books, but make it that the only person who can make the complaint is HMK.
The junta needs to speed up the constitution drafting & bring on the election as quickly as possible so the new government can deal with the southern situation
The insurgency is a much more important issue than political manovering, and if it is allowed to escalate further it will not matter which particular group of elites has the power, as everyone will be living in fear.
Srithanonchai, wasn’t’ this one of the reasons that Sulak was charged with lese majeste after the 1991 coup as he said that the coup itself was lese majeste
Interesting that in the early 1960s ANU backed out of giving King Bhumibol an honorary degree because, I think, Thailand was a military dictatorship and the king had never graduated from university in the first place. But some other Uni gave him one instead.
Constitution chairman wants to amnesty for coup leaders included in draft
The Constitution Drafting Committee’s chairman Prasong Soonsiri Tuesday asked the panel to ensure that the military junta will be given amnesty under the new constitution currently being drafted.
If so, it will be a first-ever amnesty in any of the so-called “permanent” constitutions.
“If staging a coup is wrong under the new charter, will the Council for National Security (CNS) be tried in a Military Court or what? It won’t be fair to them if after the charter is adopted, they all ended up going to jail,” Prasong told fellow drafters during the meeting.
The Nation March 20, 2006
This guy, Prasong, who was handpicked by the junta for the position of chairperson of the CDC (and who had supported Sondhi Lim’s protests at Lumpini Park from the beginning), and whose first way after the appointment was to Prem, must have a very wicked elite understanding of the term “fairness.” Small wonder that the putchists have been getting nervous of the growing trend to reject the constitution in the referendum…
I still can’t help feeling somewhat strange when seing farang wearing yellow t-shirts… If somebody HAS respect for the king, why is it necessary to demonstrate it in one’s clothing? More importantly, from the Thai perspective, yellow shirts do NOT express respect, but loyalty.
As for lese majeste — should not actually the junta be charged with this? After all, the king himself had not only issued a royal decree for an election to be held on October 15. Moreover, in an unprecedented gesture, he had unequivocally expressed his political will in a handwritten phratchakrasae (royal message) to Thaksin, attached to the royal decree. In this message, the king said that he had signed the amended decree because he wanted the nation swiftly to return to peace and order. In addition, he wanted the election to proceed in a truly orderly, clean and fair manner.
So, did the coup of September 19 not contradict what the king himself had set out for the country? And does the coup therefore not constitute a direct criticism of and counter action to the king’s decision? So, perhaps, Sonthi could join Thaksin and Jufer?
Thanks Srithanonchai, I came across one of these before. But can we talking ‘South’? have to go away from my town for a few days. will be back for more.
You cannot be serious when you as “why”? The answer is in the opening statement… to “further the University’s relationship with Singapore”. ANU is after all a business enterprise, although you may forget that given your perspecive.
IMHO the best way to show respect for HMK is to wear a yellow shirt (I wear mine on the weekends) and be silent.
Maybe trying to invoke HMK for one’s own selfish purposes (especially with lots of self-righteousness) should be considered an act of disrespect and an act of lese majeste.
P.S. I sure hope no one invokes lese majeste against me for suggesting this.
And the sad corollary to this sort of story which has been going on for decades, is that by working with them or citing their help or work, a westerner like myself might be compromising their safety.
Pig Latin: You’ve got all my sympathy! In that case, it is an honor that LKY accepts the honorary doctorate, not the other way round. Maybe, ANU should even include his son and his daughter-in-law? Since Singapore seems to be a family affair, so should be the honorary degrees! 🙂
I am firmly opposed to the granting of honorary degrees.
Some years ago the ANU granted an honorary PhD to a man who ,I believed, should have been granted the actual degree.In my view ,the honorary degree demeaned his contribution to Australian wildlife biology.
Whenever young South-east Asians ask me about the standing of the ANU,I tell them it is over-rated,even though all my degrees are from the ANU.
Paul, thank you for that information. Luce’s papers seem to be important for several reasons:
1. Mon epigraphy has Shorto’s dictionary which Burmese epigraphy lacks.
[Although I found this ref at UC Berkeley which seems to be a start: “Spelling of Burmese language words found on inscriptions on stone tablets of Pagan period, 11th-14th century with their equivalents in present day writing. (2001) Pu gam khet? Mran? ma kyok? ca abhidhan?, ka mha a / U? Mrat? Kyo?. Author Mrat? Kyo?, Mran? ma ca A phvai? U?.” ]
2. U Tin Htway in his paper: Tin Htway, U (2001). “Burmese epigraphy: G.H. Luce’s legacy yet to be unearthed,” Aseanie 7, juin 2001, pp. 35-58. Indicates that Shei Haung Myanmar Kyauksa is not reliable or adequate and that going back to Luce’s original notebooks is necessary.
3. The language of inscriptions really seems to require a mentor and familiarity with Luce’s working methods. I was wondering how useful this work is: Than Tun (1957) Notes on a course on Burmese epigraphy (Pukam dynasty) conducted at the Burma Historical Commission.
Translation/interpretation of Burmese inscriptions seems to have a lot of potential for online collaboration because translation is not always straightforward and is often contested.
On the gay side of life, Peter Jackson’s scholarly work on gay issues in thailand touches on gay establishments in Bangkok especially Silom Soi 4 and Soi 2/1 in relation to queer identities. See: Jackson, P. 2003. “Gay capitals in global gay history: cities, local markets, and the origins of Bangkok’s same-sex culture,” in Postcolonial urbanism: Southeast Asian cities and global processes. Edited by R. Bishop, et al., pp. 151-66. New York: Routledge.
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Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
[…] Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges? […]
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
He studied at Université de Lausanne, but didn’t graduate. As a student, he was seriously injured in a car accident, and while recovering, he got distracted by the 15 year old Sirikit. Engagement, marriage, and coronation put a stop to his studies.
Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
>I still can’t help feeling somewhat strange when seing farang >wearing yellow t-shirts…
It definitely makes some people happy like my wife and mother-in-law who bought the shirt for me. It is not nearly as strange as wearing a Burmese baso (male sarong) as some foreigners do in Yangon.
>If somebody HAS respect for the king, why is it necessary to >demonstrate it in one’s clothing?
I don’t think it is, but I didn’t make the rules.
> More importantly, from the
> Thai perspective, yellow shirts do NOT express respect,
> but loyalty.
Thank you for the clarification, but how would loyalty differ from respect in a normal person’s life? What would an act of “disloyalty” entail?
BTW How did the meaning of yellow shirts become what it currently is?
>As for lese majeste – should not actually the junta be >charged with this?
IMHO Lese majeste is whatever the people in power decide it is, as evidenced by the Sivaraksa example cited above. Recently, one of my former Australian colleagues at the Thai university I worked at had aspirations to be a great writer, so emulating Salman Rushdie he included a bunch of scandalous lese majeste in his first novel, apparently hoping this would help sales. If he was hoping to stand trial and be thrown into jail, as it seems he was, he was severely disappointed, since after investigting him, the government withdrew the novel from the shelves but did not press charges. He then left Thailand went to Saudi Arabia and participated in scandalous jihadi (or anti-jihadi, it’s not clear) drama at a university, that was stormed by Saudi troops and made the New York Times. He contributed two op-ed pieces to the Bangkok Post detailing all his adventures. He seems like an opportunist to me.
Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
The sooner the lese majeste laws are repealed the better.
Or perhaps leave the law on the books, but make it that the only person who can make the complaint is HMK.
Intelligence?
Part 2 by Zachary Abuza makes very sobering reading:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/03/21/opinion/opinion_30029807.php
The junta needs to speed up the constitution drafting & bring on the election as quickly as possible so the new government can deal with the southern situation
The insurgency is a much more important issue than political manovering, and if it is allowed to escalate further it will not matter which particular group of elites has the power, as everyone will be living in fear.
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
Singabloodypore has a post and appeal on this topic as well.
This is probably a stupid thing to say, but, the King really didn’t graduate university?
Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
Srithanonchai, wasn’t’ this one of the reasons that Sulak was charged with lese majeste after the 1991 coup as he said that the coup itself was lese majeste
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
Interesting that in the early 1960s ANU backed out of giving King Bhumibol an honorary degree because, I think, Thailand was a military dictatorship and the king had never graduated from university in the first place. But some other Uni gave him one instead.
Sonthi on manners and democracy
“Fairness for the military junta!!!”
Constitution chairman wants to amnesty for coup leaders included in draft
The Constitution Drafting Committee’s chairman Prasong Soonsiri Tuesday asked the panel to ensure that the military junta will be given amnesty under the new constitution currently being drafted.
If so, it will be a first-ever amnesty in any of the so-called “permanent” constitutions.
“If staging a coup is wrong under the new charter, will the Council for National Security (CNS) be tried in a Military Court or what? It won’t be fair to them if after the charter is adopted, they all ended up going to jail,” Prasong told fellow drafters during the meeting.
The Nation March 20, 2006
This guy, Prasong, who was handpicked by the junta for the position of chairperson of the CDC (and who had supported Sondhi Lim’s protests at Lumpini Park from the beginning), and whose first way after the appointment was to Prem, must have a very wicked elite understanding of the term “fairness.” Small wonder that the putchists have been getting nervous of the growing trend to reject the constitution in the referendum…
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
PL: Given that I have been living in Thailand for quite some time, your sentence “The ANU has bloody good libraries” really is sado. 🙁
BTW: Does ANU have an honorary degree promotion — offer one, get two more free? With John, I would say “The son is the future!”
Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
I still can’t help feeling somewhat strange when seing farang wearing yellow t-shirts… If somebody HAS respect for the king, why is it necessary to demonstrate it in one’s clothing? More importantly, from the Thai perspective, yellow shirts do NOT express respect, but loyalty.
As for lese majeste — should not actually the junta be charged with this? After all, the king himself had not only issued a royal decree for an election to be held on October 15. Moreover, in an unprecedented gesture, he had unequivocally expressed his political will in a handwritten phratchakrasae (royal message) to Thaksin, attached to the royal decree. In this message, the king said that he had signed the amended decree because he wanted the nation swiftly to return to peace and order. In addition, he wanted the election to proceed in a truly orderly, clean and fair manner.
So, did the coup of September 19 not contradict what the king himself had set out for the country? And does the coup therefore not constitute a direct criticism of and counter action to the king’s decision? So, perhaps, Sonthi could join Thaksin and Jufer?
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
Indeed Srithanonchai! Honorary degrees for all honorable enough to accept them!
Giving institutions enough credit in your existence to be either underrated or overrated is tantamount to sado-masochism.
The ANU has bloody good libraries.
Isan in the north
Thanks Srithanonchai, I came across one of these before. But can we talking ‘South’? have to go away from my town for a few days. will be back for more.
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
You cannot be serious when you as “why”? The answer is in the opening statement… to “further the University’s relationship with Singapore”. ANU is after all a business enterprise, although you may forget that given your perspecive.
Will Thaksin join Jufer on lèse majesté charges?
IMHO the best way to show respect for HMK is to wear a yellow shirt (I wear mine on the weekends) and be silent.
Maybe trying to invoke HMK for one’s own selfish purposes (especially with lots of self-righteousness) should be considered an act of disrespect and an act of lese majeste.
P.S. I sure hope no one invokes lese majeste against me for suggesting this.
Thwin Lin Aung’s education in Burma
And the sad corollary to this sort of story which has been going on for decades, is that by working with them or citing their help or work, a westerner like myself might be compromising their safety.
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
Pig Latin: You’ve got all my sympathy! In that case, it is an honor that LKY accepts the honorary doctorate, not the other way round. Maybe, ANU should even include his son and his daughter-in-law? Since Singapore seems to be a family affair, so should be the honorary degrees! 🙂
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
I am firmly opposed to the granting of honorary degrees.
Some years ago the ANU granted an honorary PhD to a man who ,I believed, should have been granted the actual degree.In my view ,the honorary degree demeaned his contribution to Australian wildlife biology.
Whenever young South-east Asians ask me about the standing of the ANU,I tell them it is over-rated,even though all my degrees are from the ANU.
Xat Lao
Paul, thank you for that information. Luce’s papers seem to be important for several reasons:
1. Mon epigraphy has Shorto’s dictionary which Burmese epigraphy lacks.
[Although I found this ref at UC Berkeley which seems to be a start: “Spelling of Burmese language words found on inscriptions on stone tablets of Pagan period, 11th-14th century with their equivalents in present day writing. (2001) Pu gam khet? Mran? ma kyok? ca abhidhan?, ka mha a / U? Mrat? Kyo?. Author Mrat? Kyo?, Mran? ma ca A phvai? U?.” ]
2. U Tin Htway in his paper: Tin Htway, U (2001). “Burmese epigraphy: G.H. Luce’s legacy yet to be unearthed,” Aseanie 7, juin 2001, pp. 35-58. Indicates that Shei Haung Myanmar Kyauksa is not reliable or adequate and that going back to Luce’s original notebooks is necessary.
3. The language of inscriptions really seems to require a mentor and familiarity with Luce’s working methods. I was wondering how useful this work is: Than Tun (1957) Notes on a course on Burmese epigraphy (Pukam dynasty) conducted at the Burma Historical Commission.
Translation/interpretation of Burmese inscriptions seems to have a lot of potential for online collaboration because translation is not always straightforward and is often contested.
From the New Mandala archive: Bangkok at night
On the gay side of life, Peter Jackson’s scholarly work on gay issues in thailand touches on gay establishments in Bangkok especially Silom Soi 4 and Soi 2/1 in relation to queer identities. See: Jackson, P. 2003. “Gay capitals in global gay history: cities, local markets, and the origins of Bangkok’s same-sex culture,” in Postcolonial urbanism: Southeast Asian cities and global processes. Edited by R. Bishop, et al., pp. 151-66. New York: Routledge.