Huge Protest Outside UK Embassy
Yesterday morning there was a massive demonstration outside the UK embassy near Central Chidlom in Ploenchit Road, Bangkok. The huge crowd of over 10,000 people with too much time to spare were protesting angrily blocking the whole road and effectively grinding the already awful Bangkok traffic to a complete halt.
They demanded the British government not grant political asylum to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and his family but instead extradite them back to face the many pending corruption charges in Thailand. The protest thankfully came to an end when the leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who led the huge protest, handed a petition to the UK ambassador to Thailand.
I am not the most qualified expert on Thai politics. In fact I stopped following it properly a long, long time ago because it’s pure money politics and I thought the more I tried to understand it, the more irrelevant it appeared to me. But as a former Politics student, I sometimes can’t ignore major political events/issues if and when they ever resurface on newspaper headlines. And this one was quite something if I must say.
Anyway, I thought the demonstration of yesterday was somewhat breathtaking and worth mentioning here. These people were pissed off to their nuts and to understand the degree of their fury and frustration, you just have to check this out:
What are your thoughts on this? Whose side are you on and do you think this long drama will end in peace, tears or bloodshed? Or you just couldn’t give a flying monkey’s!
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August 21st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
When Thaksin was running Thailand it was the best Thailand had been for a long time. now he’s gone it’s gone back to the way it was before.
my mate owns a bar in Estonia - he employs someone from England to manage the bar and work out the takings. My mate admits that the bar manager is pocketing money, but my mate don’t care cos’ he still makes money out of the bar and the manager does a good job - i.e it could be a lot worse.
Same deal really.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
@Tom - My mum was one of those demonstrators. I was really proud of her hahaha. Yes, send him and his wife back and I do hope the court is CLEVER and fair enough!
@Thaksin-lover - there’s a huge difference between managing a bar and running a country!
August 24th, 2008 at 1:25 am
I’m a bit disappointed that young Thais are indifferent about politics, society or the betterment of their OWN COUNTRY.
It seems many waste their education. One cannot go around touting one’s profile and belief in “HUMANISM” if they lack hope, direction and effort to make dreams come true for all humanity.
You may want to reread what humanism is and study its blossoming during the 19th century.
No true humanist stops following politics because it is still a necessary evil which runs the countries of the world.
A true humanist would wish to transform a necessary evil into “good”.
I’ve studied Thaksin, his cronies and his organized effort to promote himself as a messiah of democracy. People like “Thaksin-lover” cannot compare to the UNPAID and SINCERE effort by the People’s Alliance for Democracy. I may not agree with PAD 100% but I agree with most of what they have to say. People may dislike Sondhi Limthongkul but there are other people within the top 5 who are very decent—and we need their ideas for Thai society.
Thanks for the pics–take care.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Thaksin lover - yeah but what will you do if the bar manager starts pocketing more and more money to the point where your business can no longer be profitable and even run its finances into the red.
Alitta - ditto. There’s absolutely no excuse for corruption however good a job you claim to be doing for the country.
SJ - When I say I’m a humanist I refer it to my religious views. Humanism is a euphemism for Atheism if I can put it that way. I don’t like Thaksin for the obvious reason but I’m also not the biggest fan of PAD. As far as I’m concerned, their action is personally fuelled by their hatred of Thaksin and his cronies. If the PAD really did give two shits about democracy, where were they after the 2005 coup? Why didn’t they come out and protest against the unelected military government?
I’m a liberal democrat who wants the best for my country like everyone else. I do admire your wholehearted passion about Thai politics and wish there were more people like you too.
Thanks everyone for the comments, much appreciated!