Comments

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

While Yingluck was not a great public speaker, or brilliant in front of a camera, she was far from stupid. People who have never spoken into a camera often may not understand how difficult this is, and very different from a normal conversation. When you speak into a camera you have to be very conscious of everything you say, and have to limit every sentence to the absolutely necessary.
In contrast, newspaper interviews are much easier as you have more time and space to formulate your thoughts. Yingluck’s English was more than sufficient, and better than some. She was charming, and intelligent every time i have been present during interviews with her.
Abhisit, in contrast, speaks naturally, given his upbringing, far better English, is intelligent – but charming is not a term that anyone who interviewed him would use to describe him.

Yingluck is quite open with her emotions, as far as her position allows her, while Abhisit is always guarding his emotions, and a very difficult interview partner.

Anyhow, I do not understand the obsession with English as well. How many Japanese PM’s were/are fluent in English? I know that many German chancellors have had very limited English language abilities. So, they use translators. That is what they are there for.

Has anybody heard Prayuth speaking English?

ADAT

Indonesian, ultimately from Arabic. Custom, tradition – best thought of as ‘what people do over there that they don’t do elsewhere’. It’s pronounced more or less as written, with stress on the first syllable.

In Indonesian/Malay it’s an easy way of saying that you’re interested in local ikat, dance, architecture, weddings, funerary rites, etc, without (in my head, at least) sounded like a typical European tourist interested in ‘culture’. It also carries with it no necessary religious meaning – ‘Malay culture’ could include Islam, but ‘Malay adat’ probably couldn’t.

I think adat would serve a useful purpose when talking about something like Morris dancing in England. It’s not really English ‘culture’ in the way we normally use that term (it’s hardly a common or popular activity, or one that causes deep emotional stirrings in the English population), but it could be described as ‘English adat’, because it comes from England and nobody else does it (as far as I’m aware). It’s a way of talking about regionally-specific activities that may or may not have deep and enduring roots without making assumptions about their continuing importance to the local population.

It’s already used by English-speaking anthropologists in island SE Asia and Wiktionary already lists adat as an English word, but at the moment usage is restricted to academics and English-speaking Malaysians, I think.

I think simple affirmative words would be best, and most readily, make the transition to English.

Like khap or kha in Thai.

English needs more affirmative words.

Wis, means “already” in coarse Javanese – and is used frequently towards the end of conversations among equals that would otherwise end more ambiguously if one were speaking with persons that require different sorts of respect. It is also used to suggest to a friend you are ready to depart, for instance wis bung meaning “already brother”. I prefer it to sudah in Indonesian, which seems much drier.

Or iso, like bisa(I) meaning “can” – but rolls easier off the tongue.

There are plenty of these sorts of short, often affirmative, words in Southeast Asian languages.

Singapore is probably the best place to look – see the Talking Cock Coxford Singlish dictionary for much better, and more humorous ones: http://www.talkingcock.com/html/lexec.php

… yo wis

Considering what’s happened since May, we can only conclude that calling Yingluck “stupid”, was nothing more than psychological projection. And why is speaking English considered “smart” by these kamoey? Because it is the language of the comprador bourgeoisie, those who sell thai labor, appalling working conditions and environmental destruction cheaply to the multinational overseers. Again, considering what’s happened, why the hell Isn’t Chinese fluency the new mark of intelligence in Thailand? Methinks zhong wen shi fei cheng tai nan le for these sellouts. And isn’t it just too rich to see the rubber mercenaries with a big fascist rod up the schving aftershocks they sweated and toiled so long and hard on the streets to rid themselves of the so-called Shiniwatra diktatorship? Democracy in the cabinet? Where there is zero accountability? Except maybe to the space alien ufos? And providing debt relief through 12% extortion interests rates – as a source of debt relief/revenue? Cutting the ed budget while raising civil service salaries to buy them off? This is a short term agenda which is nearly as stable as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. When it explodes as it crashes with reality, you can bet it’s failings will be defended – as always – through extreme terror and violence. This is not a nationist coup, but a coup on behalf of international finance capital and ultra right wing corporate politics. Peons who defend it are as transparently ignorant as they claim Yingluck to be. So long, suckers.

We understand why she did it, but Yingluck’s biggest stupidity was trying to appease old generals, instead of calling them out on their insubordination & sabotage tactics.
At least she doesn’t have the blood on her hands that her predecessor & successor have.

Thanks Jim. What I wanted to say is this is a perception of those upper-class Thais, which of course does not reflect the reality.

little misleading opening sentence in this piece; Yingluck and her government were obstructed left, right and centre from pursuing reforms and governing the country, but in fact her policies were sound and well thought out, consultation undertaken with a wide range of stakeholders (unlike the royalist Democrat Party and now Prayut). The very fact that the amaat-military regime tried to mimic many of Yingluck’s policies is testament to this. We should not ignore the power of negative propaganda used by the pro-royalist machinery…

It’s quite simple. If Indonesia is to be the only Islamic nation, on the planet, that can sustain Islam and Democracy, concurrently, than Jokowi MUST succeed. If he does not, the last test and the last nation, Indonesia, will have proven that it is not possible in Islam, at all. Malaysia and Turkey have reverted already and Kazakhstan is secular, but ruled by a dictator who makes Kim Jong Un look normal. There are no other Islamic nations to test this thesis. Indonesia is the last. Don’t try to think of any other examples, there aren’t any.

My word is a Javanese word. Kunduran. It translates to “being hit by a truck that is backing up slowly.” I love the fact it encompasses so much in this tiny word. In English, you’d have to say, “Look out! You’re going to be hit by that truck that is backing up slowly. But in Javanese, you just say, “Awas! Kunduran!!. Genius!!

Yingluck was not Machiavellian like her brother. Not shrewd and sadistic enough.
Yes, she is stupid or, more precisely, a dolt.